Matteo’s POV
“It’s so nice to see you uptight with another woman while I’m here shriveling in pain.” Aurora yelled in rage, not minding that I was Capo and the fact that we were in front of my men.
I loved the defiant part of her, but I wasn’t in the mood for it. Besides, Francesco was waiting for me.
“What are you talking about?” I asked with a blank look on his face.
“The blonde woman of course. Your eyes were all over her body yet you preach to me about loyalty. For how long will I sing it to you like a rhyme that I didn’t kiss him or have anything to do with him?” She snarled, stomping her foot on the ground like a little child.
“I’ll find out about that soon.” I replied casually and dipped my hands into the pockets of my pants.
I badly wanted to trust her but it proved so hard to do that when I kept remembering the picture. I could only hope that I wasn’t making a mistake.
“Oh yea. Good luck with that, while I find a good young man and maybe do what you have all been accusing me of.” She ranted then stalked off with her hair flying wildly, leaving me stunned.
I had to tell Demetrio to stop her from doing anything stupid though I knew that he would do that without me asking. Aurora could be stubborn but this was the worst time to show that part of her.
“That woman is surely going to drive you nuts soon.” Angelo stated as I hissed. “But it’s sad to see that you don’t trust her.”
I gazed at him sharply. “How can I do that when I can’t forget the picture that lives rent free in my head? They looked so cozy together,” I ranted.
“Well, you’re about to find out the truth and if she was actually set up, then you might have to forget about her.” Angelo said, his words stabbing my heart like a dagger.
There was no way I would forget about Aurora. She was very important to me and she also had my child. Mine, she was.
?
The torture room looked the same as always. Clean and poorly illuminated apart from the small sash window that was all the way up to the decking and torture instruments. Nothing was fancy about the place where someone breathed their last in the worst manner ever.
Francesco glanced at me when I got in, then she walked to the hostage and removed the black mask that was used to cover his face. His eyes scanned the room in fright then settled on me.
I stared at the idiot that dared to come near my woman and a hundred and one ways to kill him flashed through my mind. I’d dissect his lips then use a tweezer to remove his eyeballs.
But first, I had to be sure that Aurora had nothing to do with him.
“So you were the one who decided to mess around with my woman?” I rumbled, taking slow steps towards him and imagining how fast his heart beat in uncertainty.
I loved how my victims used to be immersed in fear anytime they saw me. It was worse when they didn’t even know who I was, because they would be confident at first thinking that they could fight me until they saw the tattoo on my arm and the devilish grin that showed them that I knew nothing about mercy.
“Who are you and what am I doing here?” His voice bore a tremor as he asked the last question.
“You did something wrong and you have to be punished.” I said and folded my hands behind my back as I sat on a chair a bit taller than his. “Do you remember how your parents punish you when you go against their word? It’s the same thing I’m about to do to you, the only difference is that you won’t stay alive to tell the story.”
He shivered visibly, struggling to free himself from the ropes which kept him bound to the chair.
“No! You can’t do that to me.” He cried, swinging his gaze from Francesco to Angelo then me.
Marco, my enforcer, would have had a field day torturing his ass and making him beg for mercy, but it was quite personal and I wanted to handle him myself.
“Do you know who my father is? He’ll get you arrested and make sure you rot in jail.”
His threats were like music to my ears and they were filled with the humor I needed to forget about the misunderstanding with Aurora and how she threatened to be with another man.
Damn! I needed to speak with Demetrio again to be sure that his eyes were still on her.
“Shut up! Young man. I’m not here for games, I want to know what happened with you and the woman you kissed yesterday in Fernandez’ culinary school.” I demanded and he inclined his head.
I reached for his hair and pulled it so that we would be at the same eye level. “Look at me when I’m talking to you, Nicholas. What happened?”
He flinched and then his lips began to quaver. “Promise me that you won’t kill me and I’ll tell the truth.”
“Talk!” I barked and brought a knife close to his lips, rotating it slowly while my grip tightened on his hair.
“Ginevra… Ginevra sent me to do it.” He stuttered, his eyes pleading for his life.
My ears tingled at the name he mentioned but there were several women with the name Ginevra. “What is her full name?”
“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me.”
I pulled his hair then sliced his arm with the knife causing his screams to reverberate in the room. “Do you need more cuts to remind you of her full name?”
“I swear I don’t know.” He reiterated, crying like a baby. “I asked her but she didn’t tell me about it and I didn’t bother asking because I didn’t care. The only thing she said was that Aurora didn’t deserve the man she was dating, I guess she was referring to you.”
The knife fell off my hands and Angelo came behind me, holding my hands to prevent me from going crazy. How could she do that? And Aurora, I distrusted her and believed the pictures instead of her.
She’d never want to have anything to do with me anymore.
“We didn’t kiss. I only grabbed her and came closer to her so that the photographer could take a good shot. She slapped me after I did that.” He added and I scoffed, feeling bad at myself.
I had to get home and clear the air.
“Take care of him.” I said to Francesco and he nodded, taking the knife from my hands.
************
I took deep breaths as I walked into the house as gently as I could. I’d ignored every wrong thing that she did because of our past, but I couldn’t bear it anymore.
Fortunately, Ginevra rushed towards me to hug me. Everything made sense to me now. Her caring attitude, her subtle seductive moves and how she treated Aurora was proof that she did it.
“Don’t come close to me, Ginevra.” I said and she halted abruptly.
“Why?” She asked as surprise masked her features.
“I won’t explain anything to you, Ginevra. I’m your Capo even if you don’t see me as one due to our past relationship. I’ve kept you here for so long but you’ve overstepped your boundaries and I won’t allow you to keep hurting the woman I love. It’s not her fault that you can’t deal with your feelings, and I want you to know that you can never have me, Ginevra. Never!” I said firmly.
Her face turned red, her eyes misty as well but I didn’t care, not anymore.
“I’ll leave, Matteo but soon you will realize that not everyone is a saint and I’ll be there to offer you a shoulder to lean on when you find out the truth about her.” She said and walked away.