Chapter 98 A Visit

Chapter 98 A Visit
"Antonio. Hi. What are you doing here?"

I get onto my feet, still in disbelief of Antonio's presence in the room. With a paper bag in his hand, he steps closer to me with a smile. From the look of it, he definitely planned to visit the hospital before he called me. Why, though? His visit makes me nervous. Not because I'm afraid of being caught staying too close to Dante, but what Antonio might do to Dante if I'm not here with him right now. Who knows if Antonio has a dark plan for Dante. What if he planned to kill him right here, right now? Yeah. I don't want to imagine that.

"Alessandra. I didn't expect to see you here. I'm just passing by, so I decided to give Dante a quick visit," Antonio says.

A quick visit? Yeah. That's suspicious. Thank goodness I'm here. Whatever Antonio has probably planned won't happen now. Why would he even give Dante a quick and friendly visit? He barely knows him other than as my bodyguard. Maybe just maybe, the Ricci and the Romanos were planning to kill Dante when we got invaded at home, and Antonio is here to finish the job.

Shit. Now that Antonio is here, what should I say to him? I need to make an excuse about why I'm here. I don't want him to get suspicious of Dante and me. The last thing I want is for Antonio to think that something is up between Dante and me and then make him angry. I can't let our relationship break anytime soon. Not yet. Not when we're getting closer to finding the truth and getting my family's revenge.

"Oh. Wait a second. Didn't I tell you I'm here watching Dante while we were on the phone? I guess I forgot about that, but yeah. Since my father is out doing business as usual, I felt like watching Dante. Besides, after what happened at the house, I'm pretty anxious if the same thing happens again. Fuck. I can't even sleep well at night from worrying about another invasion. So, the hospital is my escape at the moment. It's a public enough place to prevent the same thing from happening again," I say, giving him a small, sad smile to seal the act.

Okay. I think that's a good enough save. Let's just hope Antonio buys my word. It looks like it. He's frowning now after what I said to him.

"I understand. I'm sorry about what happened. I can see you're not resting enough from how tired you look. Shouldn't you get some more rest? You said you were scared to go back home, so where are you resting? Are you sleeping here at the hospital?" Antonio asks.

"No. I go back at night with my father and sleep at home, but yeah. I can't really sleep. Even taking sleeping pills isn't helping," I say.

That's the truth. I can barely sleep in the past few days. Even though I know I'm safe now and nothing will happen, I still feel anxious about it. And very, very mad at the Romanos. I'm scared, but at the same time I'm also angry and want to jump them right at this fucking second. If any of those assholes is in front of me right now, I'll make them suffer until they beg me for their death.

"If you want me to, I can stay with you at night," Antonio says.

"You don't have to. I don't want to bother you," I say.

It's not that I don't want to bother him. I just don't want him close to me at all. With this weird feeling in my chest about his family getting involved in the invasion, I'd rather not stay that close with Antonio. He might try to kill me while I'm asleep, so no, thank you. His presence would absolutely make my insomnia worse as well. I hope he'll take the hint and stop talking about it.

Antonio chuckles, and my hope about him not talking about his idea any further disappears. If he still keeps up with his good-man acts that know about boundaries, after I refuse his offer once more, he won't talk about it anymore.

"I'm basically unemployed, so bothering me would be the last thing you can do to me. Just say the words, and I'll do it," Antonio says.

Yeah. Still a no from me. Wait. Huh. Now that I think about it, thank god I finally don't feel enamoured by him like I always do. I'm finally free! I'm not crazy in love with Antonio anymore. This is good news. I can finally be rational and stay focused on getting information about the Ricci and the Romanos.

"It's fine. Really. I'll be fine. You don't have to," I say.

"Alright. If you change your mind, I'm only one call away, okay?" Antonio says with a reassuring smile. I nod at him and return his smile.

"I'll keep that in mind," I say.

"Okay. Now that Alessandra is here, you don't mind me staying a bit longer, do you? I need to talk with both of you about something," Antonio says, his face turns serious out of nowhere.

The thoughts in my mind mix into one as I think of what Antonio might want to tell us. What is this about? Is he going to tell us something about his father again? I hope so. Even if it's false information, it's still going to be beneficial for us.

"Not at all. Please take a seat on the sofa," Dante says, gesturing at the sofa's direction. Antonio nods in return. Once Antonio and I are by the sofa, we sit next to each other. From where we are sitting, I can still see Dante. As Antonio puts down the paper bag, which I think if filled with food, I give Dante a look in silence, and he gives me a tiny shrug.

"What do you want to talk about?" I ask.

"It's about my father again," Antonio says.

I'm right. It's about Fabio again. What is he up to now? I hope it's nothing related to human trafficking anymore. I'm still angry and sad just thinking about such young girls being forced to do such disgusting, god-awful acts with men. They're the absolute horrible people.

"What about him? Did he do something else?" I ask.

"Not yet, but he will soon. Yesterday, Alvaro came by the house. He never visited our house before, so it was his first time there. I thought it was strange, so I decided to eavesdrop on their conversation. It turned out they were planning on seizing a shipment. Not just anyone's shipment, but your family's. They will do it later this week," Antonio says.

Are you fucking serious? They want to rob our stuff again? They're fucking insane. Whether if this is a ploy or not, it's still absolutely crazy. I mean, robbing our guns? For what? Using them on us? Selling them to their own clients? Why can't they just leave my family and our business the fuck alone? My patience is truly running thin. I don't know why my father hasn't taken any good measure to fight back against the Romanos until now. We need to put them in their goddamn place soon rather than later.

"What?! Why?" I ask.

"From what I heard, it's the schedule for the arms shipment, am I correct?" Antonio asks, specifically at Dante. He nods at Antonio, confirming his findings.

"Yes. Are you implying Alvaro and your father are planning to rob us?" Dante asks.

"Unfortunately, yes. Before I could hear all the details, I had to go back to my room because Mariano almost caught me. So, that's all I know. I don't think I can tell this through the phone, so I decided to tell you in person," Antonio says.

"After they attacked us, they want to rob us now? Unbelievable. What the fuck is wrong with them? I still don't understand why your father even got involved with the Romanos in the first place," I say.

"I'm not sure either. I didn't think my father would backstab your father just like that after working together for quite a long time," Antonio says.

"It's not your fault. Thanks for telling us about this. I'll warn my father about this later," I say.

"Anytime," Antonio says.

"Thank you again," I say.

"Don't say it. Staying quiet is not an option for me. I like you too much to let you get hurt again," Antonio says. My heart flutters from hearing his words, and I curse in my mind.

Fuck. What the hell is wrong with me? I already know he's bad, but I keep getting these stupid feelings towards him. Okay. Whatever. I'll just ignore everything. How my body reacts doesn't dictate my true feelings. So, no. I'm not letting Antonio cloud my judgement again.

I flash him a smile, unsure of how to respond to his words. My smile falters as unexplained feelings weigh down on my chest. A gentle touch reaches my hand, and now my hand is secure in Antonio's grasp. I let him hold my hand and sigh quietly.

What should I do or say now? Oh. I could say I want to rest now. That'll be a good excuse to make Antonio leave. If I don't say anything, he's going to stay longer than I'd like him to. Okay. I better put on an act right now.

I pull my hand away from Antonio's hold and let out a yawn. After yawning, I rub my eyes and turn to Antonio again. He stares at me in silence, waiting for me to say something. I inhale deeply and give him an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that. I feel sleepy now. Probably from the lack of sleep at night," I say, chuckling a little.

"No need to be sorry. I'll leave now so you can rest," Antonio says, getting onto his feet.

"Okay."

After leading Antonio out of the room, I go back to Dante's side. Before I can sit down on the chair, Dante pulls me towards him, making me sit next to him on the bed. He shifts away from me, giving me a space to lie down. I frown at him, trying to refuse sleeping next to him, but Dante only stares deep into my eyes, silently convincing me to lie on the bed with him. I'm not sure why, but now I suddenly feel sleepy even though I was only acting like it earlier. As much as I want to sleep next to Dante, I don't want him to feel uncomfortable by taking up the empty space on the bed. Even though the bed is a bit bigger than usual hospital bed, I still don't want to make him uncomfortable.

"Aren't you afraid my father will catch us together?" I ask.

"I'll worry about that later. Just rest here. If your father turned up here earlier, I can make an excuse," Dante says. I stare into his eyes, and my gaze is only met with seriousness from Dante. Okay. It seems like he won't back down now.

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yes. Come here," Dante says, trying to pull me closer to him. I give up making excuses and take off my shoes. I carefully lie next to him and try to put some space between us just so I won't accidentally put my weigh over his body and hurt him. Dante grabs me by the waist and close up the space between us. Without any other choice, I put my head over his shoulder and close my eyes. I can't help but smile at the feeling of his warm body against mine and slip into a dreamless sleep in Dante's arms.