Chapter 42 Files
Once we're back at home, Carlo turns off the car, and Dante carries me straight to my bedroom. He puts me down on my bed, and I sigh at the feeling of my comfortable bed under me. I let my head fall onto the mattress and stare at the ceiling for a while.
I miss you so much, bed. I shouldn't have left you for a stupid function. I'd rather sleep, feeling the comfort of your soft yet firm surface, the calming warmth of my duvet, and the comfort of my fluffy pillows. I do a big stretch on the bed, feeling my back still hurts from the hours of sitting down at the function and in the car.
"You should go change your clothes and go back to sleep," Dante says. I look up at him, and he's still standing there near my bed.
"Okay. I'll do that in a few minutes," I say. I ignore his presence and stare at the ceiling again, letting my tight neck rest for a bit.
While I was asleep in the car, I think I bent my neck a bit too hard, and now it kinda hurts when I move it. The pain is still bearable, though. I think it will disappear when I wake up in the morning.
"You should do it now," Dante says.
Here he goes again. How dare he boss me around? I'm the boss here, and I can do whatever I want. I'm not letting him control me again as he did two weeks ago. Never again.
"I'll do it later. My back and neck still hurt from sitting for too long," I say.
"Alright then. Anyway, I have something to tell you," Dante says as he sits by the edge of my bed. My ears perk up at his statement. If he says he has something to tell me, it always turns out to be important. What does he want to say to me? I wonder what that could be about. If he couldn't wait until tomorrow, then it must be very important.
"What is it?"
"So, I've reviewed all the files from the Ricci that you've sent me while we're on our way here. And after further checks and confirmations, the files turned out to be authentic and not manipulated in any way, as in photoshopped or AI-generated. Giovanni and Marianna are indeed violent and murdered those victims, with the help of the Livaccari. I've contacted some of my informants while you were asleep, and they told me Giovanni has been working with Livaccari and Alvaro himself for quite some time. Other than that, there was something else that caught my attention," Dante says.
"What is it?" I ask, pulling myself to sit. Dante pulls out his phone, and I immediately get myself closer to him and sit right next to him. He scrolls through the many files I got from Valeria and forwarded to him. After a few more seconds, he stops and then hands me his phone.
"Here. This file. My informants haven't confirmed it yet, but it should be true considering it came from the Ricci themselves," Dante says.
I take his phone and skim through the file. It's basically a transcript of the conversation between Alvaro and Fabio. From what I've read, they've planned all the robberies and accidents that happened to my family in the past. Just like what Dante said, some robberies almost happened at the warehouse. If he didn't get the information from his guy, we'd lose all of our goods overnight, and all the guards there would probably die. Other than that, Alvaro and Fabio planned on kidnapping my mother and me. When they failed to get me and/or my mother, they made another plan. Unfortunately, this was an old transcript, from 2 years ago, so we can't use this to know what their next plan is.
Earlier, Fabio did say he was trying to help my father with our problems with the Romanos. So, does it mean he's working with Alvaro to get closer to him first before handing him to us? No, I can't justify his betrayal. If Fabio actually wanted to help us, he wouldn't suggest getting me and my mother kidnapped. He literally got his own men spying on my family, watching our every move and waiting for the right time to abduct my mother and me. Other than that, he wouldn't have let my mother die in Alvaro's hands in such an inhumane way. So, no. He's definitely not on our side. Not anymore. Or probably never. He's probably just waiting for the right moment for my father to stumble and let go of everything he has.
"Shit. So, it's true. The Ricci is actually working with the Romanos," I say.
"Unfortunately, yes. I'm worried about your father. What if Fabio did something to him while he was with him? Yes, your father has his men to protect him, but he's absolutely outnumbered. Three versus a minimum of fifteen men is a huge difference. They can't fight all of them and win. Because of that, I've had his phone tracked and sent some more men to the location for precaution. All we can do right now is wait for him to step out of the abandoned warehouse where Fabio took Giovanni and him," Dante says.
My father. Will he be okay? I really hope so. He's the only family I have left. Even though he hurt me in the past and made me cry and upset for countless times, he's still my father. Just the thought of losing him makes my heart ache. It's even worse if he dies by torture. I don't want him to go through the same pain my mother went through. Yes, I've blamed him for not protecting my mother and saving her, and I also thought of hurting him myself for letting my mother and brothers die, but still, as much as I hate him, I don't want him to die in such a painful way.
"I can't believe I fell for Fabio's lies. He sounded so convincing earlier," I say.
"It's okay. Don't blame yourself. He's just a good liar," Dante says. That's what makes it bad. I should've seen through his lies. How could I fall for his words? Unfortunately, we can't fully trust anyone in this kind of life, not even the partner you've been working with for years, especially someone whom we just met. All I can think about is my father. I really hope he'll be safe. Now that we know Fabio is a threat to us, I should let my father know about it later. Only if he came out of that place alive.
"Did you find anything else?" I ask.
"Not yet. I've asked my informants to get more info about the Ricci tonight and told them to report back to me by noon tomorrow. What's important now is your father's safety. There's a chance Fabio took him to that place to hurt him, but I don't think he'll do something that reckless," Dante says.
"What if Fabio is killing my father right now?" I say.
My eyes are tearing up at the thought of my father being dead. I just lost my mother a few months ago. I can't have my father die on me right now. I still need him. I hate to admit it, but I am nothing without him. What would I do with him? He didn't let me do much before, and if he dies tonight, I'm not sure what to do. I'd probably end up dead like him.
"No, he's not. Fabio won't kill him. I know him. The most he'll do is just torture him for a bit, not kill him in cold blood," Dante says.
"But, what could we do if we actually lose him tonight?" I ask
"If I'm being honest, we can't fight both the Ricci and the Romanos on our own. However, we've had more information than we did in the past few months. We're more prepared now, and that means we can make better plans than before. From now on, please, stay away from Antonio. I don't want something to happen to you. You know the truth now, so remember it. He's not on our side. He's our enemy," Dante says.
It sucks and kinda hurts to know that Antonio has been pretending to like me all this time. All the affection and care he gave me? Those are just acts he puts up to get closer to me. I've fallen for a guy who actually doesn't care about me. Fuck. He's probably planning to kidnap me at his father's order. From the transcript I've read earlier alone, it's clear that Fabio and Alvaro want all of my family dead just so they can claim our territory as theirs.
"I will. Should I still pretend to like him, though? I don't think I can do it after tonight. It's hard to stare at him in the eyes and pretend that everything is fine when it's actually not," I say.
"You should. We can't blow our cover just yet. We still need to find out their next plan. You can't give up just yet. You can do this," Dante says.
"I'm tired of pretending, and I'm absolutely shitty at it. You said it yourself that I'm bad at it," I say.
"You're actually not that bad. I'm just too good at reading people. If you're really that bad at acting, Antonio would've noticed it a long time ago. Just hang in there for a bit longer, okay? I know you can do it," Dante says.
You know what? He's right. Or maybe it was because I wasn't really acting. I actually fell in love with Antonio, and it's fucking stupid that it happened. How could I continue to act as if nothing happened, and his family didn't try to kidnap me and rob us for years? But then again, I must persist. There's no one else who can save me but myself. Yes, Dante can help me, but still, I am the only one who can truly save myself, not anyone else.
"Okay. Fine," I say.
"Anyway, you were out for quite some time. Like, twenty minutes or so," Dante says.
"That long? It felt like I was out for only one second," I say.
Twenty minutes?! Holy hell. I thought it was a maximum of twenty minutes, but it's not. Why was I unconscious for that long? Damn. Is there something wrong with me that I didn't know? Two weeks ago, I got a fever, and then tonight, I fainted and still feel dizzy until now. I hope it's nothing serious. I can't be ill. I need to be healthy to fight against the Ricci and the Romanos. I can't afford to lose more time. We need to make a plan and be ten steps ahead of them. We must be able to fight them while they're not paying attention. We must attack them while they're distracted.
Yes! A distraction. We must distract them and hit them when they're distracted. I guess my only way to distract them is by staying at the Ricci house. While I keep them occupied, Dante and my father could do something about Fabio and Alvaro. Not kill them, but just give them a warning of sorts, like what happened at the winery with my father, Dante, and our two other men.
"Nope. It's more than just a second," Dante says.
Dante's phone rings, and my eyes immediately go towards his phone. It has to be one of our men. I hope they have good news. Please let it be something good.
"Speak," Dante says. He listens to the man on the other side of the phone, and then his face falls. Shit. It can't be- my father can't be dead. Not yet. No. He should be alive. If he dies, who else can I rely on? Who else can I call family?