Chapter 63 The Plan
ARYA’S POV
Giovanni stepped out from the study, positioning himself beside Enzo, and I felt my face flush with embarrassment.
I quickly tried to hide the Italian-English dictionary behind my back, pressing it against my spine like that would make it invisible.
But Giovanni's eyes tracked the movement immediately, and he raised his brows in suspicion.
"What's that?" he asked, his voice deceptively casual.
"Nothing," I said quickly. "Just a book I was reading."
His hand extended. "Let me see it."
"It's really not anything important."
"Arya." The warning in his voice was clear.
I reluctantly pulled the dictionary from behind my back and handed it over. Giovanni flipped through it, his frown getting deeper with each page he turned.
He stopped on a page I had dog-eared and let out a sharp laugh that held no humor.
"Were you spying on us?" he asked, looking up at me with those storm-cloud eyes.
"I wasn't… I stammered, trying to find words that would make this better. "I just wanted to understand what was being said!"
"Which is spying," Giovanni said flatly. "You were eavesdropping on a private business conversation using a translation dictionary. That's the literal definition of spying."
"It's wrong, Arya," he continued, his voice hardening. "You can't just lurk outside my study and try to translate confidential discussions."
"It involves me!" I interrupted, finding my footing now. "Whatever is happening here, whatever danger you're in, it affects me too! I'm married to you, and I have a right to know if there's some threat that could harm me!"
"You have no rights here except the ones I give you," Giovanni interrupted, and the coldness in his voice made me flinch.
"That's not fair," I said, but my voice was smaller now.
"Fair?" He laughed again, bitter. "This isn't about fair. This is about you staying safe and staying out of business that-"
"That what? That's too dangerous for my delicate feminine sensibilities?" I was getting angry now, my voice rising. "I'm not a child, Giovanni. I'm not some helpless damsel who needs to be locked in a tower while the men handle everything. I deserve to know what's happening!"
"You deserve nothing!" Giovanni's voice rose to match mine.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Enzo muttered, stepping between us with his hands raised. "Can we not have a lovers' quarrel in the middle of a crisis situation?"
"We're not lovers," Giovanni and I said simultaneously, our voices overlapping.
From behind Giovanni, Luca let out an undignified snort. "Sure seems like it from where I'm standing."
I glared at him, then turned back to Giovanni. "I want to know what's happening and I'm not leaving until you tell me."
Giovanni stared at me for a long moment, and I watched the internal battle play out behind his eyes. Finally, he sighed.
"Fine," he said. "Come inside. But you repeat none of this to anyone. Understood?"
"Understood."
As I walked past Enzo toward the study entrance, he leaned in close and whispered, "You always get your way, don't you?"
I winked at him, trying to project more confidence than I felt.
Luca tipped his head at me in acknowledgment. I gave him a tight smile and turned to Giovanni, who had positioned himself behind his desk like it was a fortress.
"What's going on?" I asked.
Giovanni was silent for a long moment, his fingers drumming against the desk surface. I looked at Enzo, who gave me a subtle hand gesture that I interpreted as ‘relax, give him time.’
Finally, Giovanni spoke. "I shouldn't be telling you this. In fact, you shouldn't even know about this."
"You've already established that I shouldn't know things," I said, unable to keep the sarcasm from my voice. "But I'm here now, so you might as well tell me."
Inside, I was dying to understand what could make Giovanni look this worried.
Giovanni groaned and rubbed his face with both hands. "Luca, you tell her."
"Me?" Luca looked surprised. "Why me?"
"Because if I tell her, I'll find a way to justify not telling her."
I gave Giovanni a look that I hoped conveyed my annoyance at being discussed like I wasn't in the room, but he pointedly ignored it.
Luca cleared his throat and stepped forward. "There's a new mafia family operating in this region. They've been making moves, trying to establish territory and build power quickly."
"Are they the ones who shot Giovanni?" I asked.
"Very smart," Luca said with approval.
"Don't encourage her," Giovanni warned.
I huffed but kept my focus on Luca.
"Yes," Luca continued. "They're the ones who shot the boss but it's not just that. They've been stealing shipments, intercepting deals, undermining established families. And this evenin…" He paused, his expression darkening. "This evening, they killed the head of the Marino family. He a very well-known, very respected man."
I felt the blood drain from my face. "They killed him? Just... murdered him?"
"During a family dinner," Luca said grimly. "With his wife and children present."
"They're declaring open war," I said slowly, the implications sinking in.
"Yes," Enzo confirmed from where he leaned against the wall. "And they're doing it in a way that's making it almost impossible to fight back. They're using technology we don't fully understand, staying completely off the radar,and moving like ghosts."
I looked at Giovanni and for the first time since I'd met him, I saw genuine worry in his expression.
"And now they’re targeting you," I said. It wasn't a question.
"We believe so," Luca said. "Which is why Enzo and I think the boss should return to New York. At least until we have more information about them’"
"You want me to run," Giovanni interrupted, his voice sharp.
"We want you to be strategic," Enzo corrected. "There's a difference between running and regrouping."
"I have to go to that masquerade ball," Giovanni said, his jaw set in a way I recognized as absolute stubbornness. "It's in three days and we already agreed that I would be going.”
"They could kill you there," Luca argued. "In a crowd, with masks hiding everyone's face? It's the perfect opportunity for an assassination."
"Which is why I'll have security-"
"Security didn't help the Marino family head," Luca interrupted. "He had a dozen guards. They still got to him."
They continued arguing, their voices rising, words flying in Italian and English interchangeably. I stood there listening, watching, as an idea began forming in my mind.
"What if I go?" I said suddenly.
The arguing stopped and everyone turned to look at me.
"What?" Giovanni asked.
I took a step forward, my heart racing but my voice steady. "What if I go to the masquerade ball instead of you? Or with you, but as the primary investigator?"
"Absolutely not," Giovanni said immediately.
"Hear me out," I continued. "You said it yourself, this rival mafia is targeting you specifically. They know your face but they don't know me. I'm a woman, which means most of these mafia types will underestimate me."
"That's because you're not trained for-"
"I can wear a mask," I interrupted, warming to my argument now. "I can move through that crowd, listen to conversations, ask questions without raising suspicion. People tell things to pretty women at parties. Things they wouldn't tell you or your men."
Luca was studying me with new interest. Enzo was grinning like I had just suggested the most entertaining thing he'd heard all week.
Giovanni looked like he wanted to put me back behind that vase in the hallway and forget I existed.
"It's not a terrible idea," Luca said slowly.
"It's a horrible idea," Giovanni countered. "She has no training, no experience, and no idea what she would be walking into."
"I have three days," I said. "You could train me.
The silence that followed was heavy.
Giovanni looked between them, then back at me. I could see the calculation happening behind his eyes.
"If I agree to this," he said slowly, "and that's a very big if… you follow my instructions exactly. You do what I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it."
"Agreed," I said immediately.
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "And if at any point I decide it's too dangerous, we pull you out."
"Agreed." I responded with a nod.
He studied me for another long moment, and I held his gaze.
Finally, he sighed. "Fine, we'll see," Giovanni said.
As I left the study, with Enzo's quiet "well played" following me, I realized what I'd just committed to.
I was goin
g to infiltrate a masquerade ball full of dangerous criminals, any one of whom might be part of the people trying to kill him.
What the hell had I just agreed to?