Chapter 65: The Truth

Night finally comes, and my father and Dante are still not back. Without them around, I force Carlo to eat with me at the dining table so I have company. After the quick dinner, I go back to my room with Carlo right outside my room. As I wait for Dante to return from whatever he's doing with my father, I lie in my bed, watching a movie to get my boredom at bay.

Hours have passed, and I'm still not sure whether Dante and my father are back. Checking outside my door would be embarrassing if Carlo were still out there instead of Dante. I don't want to be disappointed by my own expectations. I guess I'll talk to him tomorrow in the morning. He's probably too tired to talk to me anytime soon anyway. I'd rather have him take a bit of rest before we discuss our situation again.

A knock on my door wakes me up from my daze. I stare at the door and then see Dante there. Noticing I'm still wide awake, he steps into the room and shuts the door behind him. As he approaches me, I take in his look. His hair is quite dishevelled. His eyes also tell me how tired he is. I can't help but feel bad about his current state.

"Hey," Dante says as he settles next to me. His expression tells me he's a bit nervous, but he still tries to hide it with a small smile. I return his smile for a quick second.

"Hi. So, what were you up to earlier?" I ask. He sits there, avoiding my gaze as he stares at the floor. I wonder what he was doing earlier. If he's out with my father for such a long time, something wrong must've happened.

"Your father took me to the warehouse in the north. Things are not so good. We just got raided by the Romanos' goons. At the moment, we sent some guys to track them down," Dante says.

Even at times like this, the Romanos dare to steal from us. They already have their own stuff, yet they took what's ours just because they're too damn greedy. Hopefully, they didn't take many things from us. Now that we're talking about the Romanos, I wonder if they already got one of Alvaro's sons, or any lead on where the rest of the family is.

"What did they take? And about the Romanos, do you have any ideas where they are now?" I ask.

"They took a few kilograms of cocaine. And about the Romanos themselves, they're still nowhere to be found, unfortunately," Dante says.

"Oh," I say, unsure of what else to say.

That's expected. I hate how good the Romanos are at hiding from anyone else. They have to be somewhere near us. There's no way Alvaro ordered his men around from afar. They must've been watching my family from a close distance, keeping a close eye on us.

Whatever. I don't want to think about them now. It seems they're too cowardly to do anything to us now and would rather stay hidden. They won't do anything too harmful to us anytime soon if they want to stay under our radar. Now, I need to talk to Dante about him and us.

"Uh, Dante. I want to ask you about something," I say. Dante lets out a sigh, already sensing where our conversation might go. He's that unwilling to talk about us anymore, huh? Why did he even go to me if he doesn't want to talk about our situation? He definitely wants to talk about it. All he need is a bit of encouragement. Well, I'm going to keep talking about it anyway until he tells me the reason why he doesn't want to be with me despite his feelings towards me.

"If it's about earlier, we'd better not," Dante says.

"Stop being so stubborn. I know you want to talk about it, too. But first, I want to talk about something else," I say.

"Fine," Dante says, keeping his gaze on the floor in front of him. Okay. This is it. Let's see if he's going to keep lying about who he is or not. If he won't admit to me that he used to be a capo, then he must have a bigger secret hidden inside him.

"You were actually a capo, huh?" I ask. Dante turns to me. His eyebrows are furrowed in confusion. Well, well, well. One of your secrets is no longer a secret to me. What did he expect anyway? For me to never know about his past? I would've continued asking others about it if he hadn't said it to my face first.

"Where did you know about that?" Dante asks.

That's a good start. At least he's not denying it. I wonder how he was when he was still a capo. Was he strict? From my first impression, he did seem strict. Was he a good leader? Oh, he definitely is a good leader if my father trusts him a lot. He must've done plenty of stuff that impressed my father.

"That doesn't matter. Why did you say you were only the head of security at one of the warehouses? You could've just tell me the truth," I ask.

"It is kind of the truth, but not the complete truth. Besides, it's not important. I'm just your bodyguard now and not a capo," Dante says.

"Why did you choose to be my bodyguard instead of continuing your job as a capo?" I ask.

Thinking about it for a bit, something probably happened while Dante was still a capo. I mean, what if he got demoted for doing something bad? Being a bodyguard for me could be my father's punishment. However, if this is truly his punishment, my father won't let Dante get too close to him and make him his second-in-command. Hell. My father would definitely not let someone who did damage to the family be near me all the time.

"Because your father wanted me to," Dante says.

"There has to be another reason," I say.

Dante stays silent in contemplation. The silence only agitates me as I get more impatient for his response. Why does he take so long to say anything? Is it a secret only my father and he know, or what? He'd better tell me whatever it is right now. If not, then I'll continue to nag him for answers.

"Come on. Just say it," I say.

"Your father wanted me to be his consigliere, and being your bodyguard was only my side job. However, after Giulio's betrayal, he made me both his second-in-command and consigliere. That's why I've been busy with him lately. He knows you don't want to step up, so he's preparing me to take care of the family in the future," Dante says.

So, all this time, my father has been preparing Dante to be the future leader of the Benetti family, not me? No wonder he doesn't let me get involved with the family's business anymore. He already has a new plan: Dante. Well, to be honest, I'm glad he has now realised I'm not a suitable person to lead the family. I never want to be a leader anyway. But if Dante ends up leading the family, then what will my future be?

"What? If you do end up being the leader of the family, then what will I be?" I ask.

"That, you have to ask your father, but not anytime soon. He can't know about me telling you this," Dante says.

So, that's why my father has been keeping me away from his conversation with Dante. He's been keeping this secret from me. Why is he even hiding this? If he let me know about this from the start, I wouldn't keep trying to run away. I only do it just because he forced me to do what he wants, which is get married to another powerful family and be the family's leader in the future. Now that I know this, I feel a bit at ease. I don't have to worry about being the perfect daughter anymore. I don't also don't need to worry about my future anymore.

"Okay. My only hope is he'll let me do whatever I want now that he has you as the next leader of this family," I say.

"I'm sure he will," Dante says.

Phew. Alright. That's settled, then. I won't be the next leader anymore. I'm happy about it, but at the same time I'm kind of worried about my future. Now that I don't really have any purpose in the family, then what will I truly be in the future? For now, all I can do is go with the wherever the wind takes me. I'll focus on getting the revenge for my mother and brothers.