Aria stared at the man in front of her. Dark eyes, visible under the black mask, which she knew all too well. Dark short curly hair and sunkissed skin.
Silverio Paulo was heavenly. Only if his personality was heavenly too.
“Ms Aria Leighton?” he said with creased brows while extending his hands for a handshake “you were marvellous out there,” he said referring to her opening act.
Aria smiled casually and was about to shake his hand when Abigor turned towards them and pulled Aria by her waist “She’s always marvellous” he commented confidently.
Aria blushed at the compliment and cleared her throat to control her heartbeat.
Silverio retreated his hand slowly dejectedly while stuffing it inside of his expensive pant pockets.
“Of course” Silverio agreed with a tight smile as he stared at Aria “By the way, have we met before?”
Aria’s breath caught up in her throat as her heart throbbed painfully against her chest, but she managed to pull off a glamorous smile.
“I don’t think I ever had a chance to meet the master of the Spanish Mafia, Mr Paulo” she replied as she stopped a waiter and picked up a shimmering flute of champagne. She ran her gaze around in the process and sighed in relief when she didn’t find Kahlil anywhere.
I hope he doesn’t come looking for me right now.
“Oh” he concurred while nodding stiffly “That’s right”
“Oh,” a sudden feminine voice made the three of them look beside them “Are we meeting important people now?”
The same dark glimmering dress came into Aria’s view, followed by dark brown hair and the same haunting green eyes as the woman looped her arm with Silverio’s.
“Sylvia” Aria groaned in her mind but made sure the small smile on her face didn’t waver.
Whereas, Abigor’s brain geared up and he remembered the woman standing beside Aria at the bar and also standing in the same direction where Aria was staring at earlier. His observation skills were exceptional and today they were truly paying off.
He pulled her even closer to his body in a protective gesture as Aria’s heart warmed at the gesture and calmed her down a bit.
“Oh, my dear Sylvia” Silverio commented giving the woman a small smile as he looked at the couple in front of him again “Please meet my sister, Sylvia Paulo”
“I didn’t know you had a sister.” Abigor commented while eyeing Sylvia suspiciously.
Sylvia stood tall, sometimes looking at Aria from the side of her eyes.
“Only a few people know, Mr Hayes” Silverio replied as he smiled a bit more “My sister is just too precious to me, I want to hide her from the world”
That remark left a bitter taste on Aria’s tongue as she rolled her eyes internally.
“You flatter me brother” Sylvia laughed humorously while Abigor’s face remained stony.
He didn’t find it amusing.
In fact, he didn’t find anything amusing now.
Their topics kept changing as they talked for a while. Sylvia maintained her fake laugh while Aria stood there as disinterested as ever.
Silverio’s gaze ran around Aria’s mask before finally landing back at Abigor “Mr Hayes I heard you were interested in the technology of our new missile?”
When Abigor didn’t reply, Silverio continued “If we help you to develop our new missile here, do you think you will help us to find the culprit?”
Abigor’s grip tightened almost painfully around her waist as Aria hissed lowly and gritted her teeth to suppress the pain. The word culprit made her look away as her heart throbbed in trepidation.
Contrary to how he was actually feeling, Abigor managed to pull out a mocking smirk at him “That’s what I wanted then Mr Paulo. Now my needs have changed, if you had the nerve to reject me once do you think I’ll accept your offer from a simple change of heart of yours?”
Aria’s confusion intensified.
What deal are they talking about? What culprit?
She looked at Sylvia but she looked as confused, if not more, as her.
Silverio’s once-friendly smile behind the mask fell as his grip on the flute tightened “Mr Hayes-”
“It’s not my fault your incompetent brother died, stop making a mess everywhere.” Abigor snarled as Aria’s eyes widened at his statement.
Whereas Silverio kept his calm and kept staring at a raging Abigor.
“And I hope your security network has improved. .” Abigor said further “. . otherwise there are attacks everywhere nowadays”
That’s when Silverio decided to reply “You cannot just threaten me Mr Hayes, did you forget the-”
“The Hayes-Paulo pact?” Abigor scoffed, interrupting him “It means nothing to me. You crossed me once by rejecting my kind offer and I don’t let the people who cross me live”
Aria gulped. Abigor sounded. . . sinister. It was his true colour after all. With her, he was just a mellow version of himself, but the rest of the world knew of his real nature.
Moreover, his anger on her just intensified the dormant rage on Silverio Paulo.
“Is this a declaration of war Mr Hayes?” Silverio asked, dangerously calmly as he noticed his now silent surroundings. People watching two leaders of the biggest Mafias going for each other’s throats.
“Consider it whatever you want, unless of course, destruction of just one mafia is considered as a war” he said slyly as his hand slipped from Aria’s waist and tangled up with her fingers.
Abigor looked down at her, rage still clouding his impeccable eyes “Let’s go, my love”
“My love”? Ok that’s new
They walked away quietly but before walking away Abigor could have sworn that he saw a small smirk playing on Sylvia Paulo’s face.
He frowned and looked down to look at his little companion beside him. Her face was the same emotionless one, no one could tell what she was thinking.
He thought that maybe making her meet Silverio would draw about some reactions from her. But she was still the same.
Was I wrong?
Did she not kill Salvador Paulo?
“I’m going to use the washroom” her soft voice pulled him out of his trance as he nodded curtly, still pissed off at her.
He turned around to look in the direction where Silverio and his sister Sylvia were standing. To his surprise, the area looked deserted now and not even a single trace of them could be detected.