Chapter 13 New Plan
"How did you know about this?" my father asks. The partnership between the Ricci and the Algerians seems to be news to him. How could Dante know about this but not my father? He needs better informants if he wants his business to survive. He might as well recruit Dante to be his informant instead of my bodyguard.
"Remember how I always say I have eyes outside? That's how I found out about them," Dante says.
"How long have you known about this?" my father asks."
"Since April," Dante answers.
April is quite a long time to keep something as important as this to himself. How could he not tell my father about this sooner? If we had known about this earlier, I wouldn't have had to deal with Antonio and pretend to be interested in him.
"Two months. You've kept this information to yourself for two months?" my father asks. His gaze now gleams dangerously. However, he still keeps his cool, ready to listen to Dante's explanation.
"My apologies, capo. I didn't want to give any information without concrete evidence. I've been gathering more information about the rumour since April, and everything was only confirmed to be true one week ago," Dante says. So basically, Dante had known about the Ricci and the Algerians for a week. It's still a long time, though. He should've told us about this once he'd confirmed everything.
"You should've told me then. I wouldn't have continued our alliance with the Ricci, especially by arranging a marriage between our families," my father says.
"I'm sorry, boss," Dante says.
"It's fine. Don't do this again. If you have new information, let me know about it immediately, whether it's true or just a rumour," my father says.
"Yes, sir," Dante says.
"So, what do you think? Does this really mean the Ricci might also be working with the Romanos?" I ask.
"The chances are high. As Dante has said earlier, the Algerians work closely with the Romanos. The Ricci won't be able to work with the Algerians without the Romanos' knowledge. There's no way they're not working together as well. The Colombo was one of the Romanos' victims. A few years ago, they worked with a small group in Algeria to smuggle people into Italy. Once the Romanos found out they'd been working with someone in Algeria without their permission, they were killed in a nasty way," my father explains.
"What if we use their relationship as leverage? We could finally beat the Romanos by taking advantage of my relationship with Antonio," I say.
"We shouldn't. The danger outweighs the reward. They won't hesitate to torture and kill you if they find out about our plan," my father says.
"Are you going to keep being a coward all of your life? It's been fucking years! We always take the road with them and see what it brings us. They killed my mother and my brothers. They won't stop if we don't stop them. What's the point of avoiding the inevitable? It's better to act now than to let them beat us first. I'm not letting my mother and brothers' deaths go to waste," I say.
"If that's what you really want, sure. However, you must keep in mind that the Romanos are unpredictable. You can't take them lightly," my father says. They might be unpredictable, but even the unpredictable always have some pattern. We'll figure it out.
"I know, father. I know," I say.
"What's your plan?" my father asks.
"First, I need to get closer to Antonio. I'll try to fish out as much important information as I can from him. I'll make him slip and tell me all we need to know. About Antonio, you haven't truly agreed to marry me off to him, haven't you?" I ask. If my father marries me to Antonio too soon, all this effort might go to waste, and everything will be too late to fix. I don't want to get married to Antonio. It doesn't matter if he's our enemy or ally. I'm not marrying someone from this world.
"I only told Fabio and Antonio that Antonio has my permission to propose to you if your relationship goes well after six months," my father says.
"Six months? That's enough time to figure out if the Ricci wants us to get married purely for our alliance or their ulterior motive," I say.
"I could negotiate a longer time frame for you if you want," my father says.
"That won't be necessary. Six months is enough time to reveal their true selves," I say.
"Alright. If you need more time and help, just let me know, okay?" my father says.
"I will," I say.
Silence falls over the three of us. I tap my hand on my other arm, suddenly feeling awkward. I guess that's it. It's settled. I'm going to spy on the Ricci and see if they're working with the Romanos or not.
"Do you want to come with me to Rome? I'll be having a meeting with a new investor," my father says. A meeting, huh? I'm in. This is a good time for me to take the family business seriously. If I want to take down the enemy, then I must learn everything I can to do so. This is not the time to slack off anymore. This is my time to take my revenge for the deaths of my mother and brothers.
"Sure. Why not? I need to learn more about the business anyway," I say.
"Good. We're leaving tomorrow at 9," my father says. He then turns to Dante. "You're coming with us."
"Yes, boss," Dante says.
My father's phone dings. His expression turns gloomy as he lets out a sigh. I wonder what that's about. I know it's just work stuff, but it's gotta be important to him.
"I'm leaving again. There's a problem at the warehouse near the port," my father says. Those warehouses seem to get lots of trouble. Could it be the Romanos? I'm not sure.
"Okay," I say.
Once my father has left the room, I turn to Dante again. My father has confirmed his suspicion. That means I need to come up with a good plan to get Antonio to admit his hidden motive, if there's even one to begin with.
"Now that's been confirmed, I have to think of a good plan for Antonio," I say.
"Just do what you did earlier. Go on dates with him. Talk with him. Be kinder and sweeter, but don't overdo it. Just show that you're interested in him," Dante says. I'm not the kind of girl who can fake being kind and sweet to someone I don't like, but I'll try, I guess. For the sake of punishing the Romanos and what they've done to people in the past, I'll do it.
"That's easier said than done, though," I say.
"That's the only way to get any information out of him at this time. Physical threats would only make things worse," Dante says.
"I know. That's obvious. Whatever. I'll think about him later. We gotta prepare ourselves for our trip to Rome," I say.
"I'll go get my stuff ready now," Dante says.
"Okay. I'll be here. As always," I say, nodding to him. Dante squints his eyes as he stares back at me. Not in a sceptical way, but just in a playful manner. Two can play at this game.
"You'd better keep your words, or you'll face your consequences," Dante says.
"Yeah, yeah. I know," I say, rolling my eyes at his words. What will he do to me anyway if I actually try to run away? Punish me? As if.
"Now shoo. Get yourself fucking ready," I say.
"Yes, ma'am," Dante says with a grin at me and a salute. This man is silly. Gosh. I wish everything would stay this nice and peaceful all the time, but I know it's too much to ask. At the end of the day, we'll be strangers once again after I leave this place.