Chapter 43 Teased
"We lost Giovanni? How about Valentino?" Dante asks. He listens to the man's words closely, his eyebrows furrowed in focus. The frown on his face disappears, and he lets out a sigh of relief.
"Thank god. What happened to Giovanni? Did you find out what happened?" Dante asks. He turns to me and then immediately puts the call on speaker. Thank goodness he did that. I can't hear any shit earlier.
"We can't see it from out here, but there's a possibility Fabio and the boss were torturing him. I can see some blood on the collar of their shirts. We still can't confirm if it's true or not," Bennedetto says.
Blood on their shirts? If Giovanni didn't come out with them, there are only two things that happened: they either got him killed or tortured. Whatever. What's important is that my father is safe. Hopefully, it'll stay that way until he comes back home.
"Alright. Keep your eyes on the building. Try to get in there later and find out what happened," Dante says.
"I will," Bennedetto says.
"Okay. Be careful," Dante says, ending the call and then putting his phone away. His gaze shifts back to me, and his face looks relieved but also confused. Well, if I'm being honest, I'm as confused as he is. With this new information, I kind of hope Giovanni is still alive so we can question him later. If not, all we can rely on for now is the information we'll be getting from Dante's informants tomorrow.
"Well, I guess Giovanni just became Fabio and Alvaro's sacrificial lamb," Dante says.
That's what happened if you act like a wannabe gangster. All the violence Giovanni did was for nothing. He probably thought he would be one of the next powerful mafia leaders like my father, Fabio, and Alvaro, but unfortunately for him, it was just a dream too far-fetched to reach. In the end, he's nothing but someone who can be discarded so easily. How unfortunate.
"If Giovanni is actually dead, then we can't ask him more questions about the Ricci and the Romanos. He definitely has some information about them. There's no way Fabio and Alvaro would sacrifice him that easily. They're definitely trying to keep their secrets hidden, and that is by torturing or killing Giovanni," I say.
"That could be the case," Dante says, nodding his head in agreement. "Now that you know your father is fine, you should go to sleep and rest."
"When will he get back?" I ask. Dante turns around and checks his phone for a quick second. He then turns to me again with the news already in mind.
"He'll be back tomorrow. He's staying at a hotel tonight," Dante says.
"Okay. Can you stay with me?" I ask.
"Sure. I can stay with you. Now go and get ready for sleep. I'll be back in a few minutes. I need to get a change of clothes as well," Dante says.
"Okay."
While Dante goes straight towards the exit, I walk towards my walk-in closet. In there, I slip out of my black dress and put on a cotton pyjama set with short sleeves and long pants. After throwing the dress into the laundry hamper, I wash my face and brush my teeth. I then nervously go to the toilet and check my panties, and fortunately, I'm not on my period yet, but still, I put on a pad just in case I'm getting my period while I'm asleep. I have a feeling my period will come sooner than expected, so it's better to be prepared than regret it later.
I go back to my bedroom, and Dante is already on his usual side of the bed, which is near the window. His eyes are focused on his laptop as he types away a string of words on it. As he focuses on whatever he's doing, I can't help but stare at him.
This is the first time I've seen him dressed so casually. The black t-shirt and black sweatpants combination is definitely a good look on him. The short sleeves of his black t-shirt make it easy for me to notice his biceps. Gosh, he looks so scrumptious there. The way his hands are moving so gracefully yet strongly at the same time while he's typing on his laptop, I can only think of many other things he can do with his hands.
"Like what you're seeing?"
I snap out of my thoughts and see Dante smirking at me. Smirking, I get on the bed and crawl towards him. Unwavering, I narrow the distance between us, leaving only about ten centimetres of distance between our faces. I can see fear with excitement flicker in his eyes for a second. He's fighting his own feelings so hard, but he'll give up sooner or later.
"What are you going to do if I say yes?" I ask.
My heart is pounding in my chest as I stare right into the dilated pupils of his light brown eyes. Seconds pass, and Dante stays silent while staring back into my eyes. A glint of mischief appears in his eyes, and a smirk forms on his face as he puts his laptop on the nightstand. My heart beats faster in anticipation. At this point, I'm afraid Dante might be able to hear the sound of my heartbeat.
"This," Dante says.
A yelp escapes me as Dante pushes me and pins me onto the bed. With my hands over my head, I can only stare at him with wide eyes and my heart hammering against my chest faster than ever. He then lets go of me, ruffling my hair as he moves away from me and returns to his place. Scowling, I comb my finger through my hair as I glare at Dante. Amused, he lets out a chuckle, shaking his head as he grabs his laptop again.
"Now go to sleep," Dante says.
"No," I say, pouting angrily at him.
Damn it. He's unbelievable. He did all that just to tease me. I thought something was going to happen between us. I guess my expectation was too high. Of course he won't do anything like that with me. He doesn't even want me to know that he likes me. Why do I think he'll do things like that with me? I'm so stupid. It's obvious enough that he's still scared that my father will find out and scold him, or worse, punish him. My father is not here for the night, though, so he shouldn't be afraid. It's not like I'll snitch on him if he kisses me once or something like that.
"It's almost two in the morning. You should go to sleep, or you'll get sick again," Dante says.
"No," I say, standing my ground by scowling at the TV with my arms crossed over my chest while avoiding Dante's eyes. A sigh comes out of him, and the sound of his laptop snapping shut wakes me up from my daze.
"What do you want?" Dante asks.
What do I want? To sleep next to you. No, scratch that. I want to cuddle with you, but of course, you won't do that with me. How should I answer his question? Oh! Right. Let's make him tell me another bedtime story like the one he told me when I was sick two weeks ago.
"I don't know. Tell me a bedtime story again," I say.
"Again?" Dante asks.
"Yes. It must be a different story. I want to hear something new," I say.
"Fine. Get comfortable. This story will be quite long," Dante says.