22

"You want to tell me why the fuck you went looking for her at this hour in her room, Mauro?" I was glued to the door at Dante's determined voice, clearly jealous.

"Didn't you hear me? It doesn't matter why, the fact is she's not there and it looks like she drank," he whined and I heard a sigh.

"Well, let's go look for her, she can't be far," he finished saying and I heard the door to the room close as their voices drifted away down the hallway.

I left the bathroom with intentions of going back to my room before either of them saw me, starting that I didn't feel up to continuing Dante's game.

I feared the way he was provoking all those sensations in me, as well as being so vulnerable to his caresses on my skin.

It was clear that he had crossed the line that separated us and a moment like that could happen again.

I slowly closed the door to my room and felt like I was breathing again, after having had that constant fear of being discovered by Mauro and being alone with Dante.

He was a dominant man and he knew it; he had full knowledge of the power he now had over me and believed him capable of using it to his advantage, just as I was doing with him.

I took a quick shower, washing away the smell of alcohol and the memory of his hands on my skin, with a lavender-scented liquid soap.

I lost track of time, when knocks on my door came. Fortunately I had already dressed up and was ready to sleep, which I was not worried about anything else.

"Evie, are you inside?" my ex-boyfriend asked and I stopped.

"He's obviously inside, the door is locked and the light is on," his older brother replied wearily, "Can you go to sleep now and leave me alone?" he asked.

"I'm going to look around the garden, stay here," I heard Mauro's quick footsteps walking away down the hallway.

Just as quickly I closed the glass door and the window curtains; at that moment I hated that more than 25% of the room was with ceiling to floor windows.

I opened the door slightly, meeting Dante's impatient gaze.

"Evie!" he banged on the glass door.

"Answer him or he's not going to leave you alone," the black-haired one ordered and I nodded.

"I'm fine, Mauro, please let me sleep!" I shouted.

"What happened, you're not hurt?" I rolled my eyes at his fake concern and was about to go to confront him, but Dante stopped me with an arm around my waist. He gave me a short, but dominant kiss, as if he was trying to tell me with that that I no longer belonged to his younger brother.

"I'll leave before he decides to come back," he whispered against my lips and I nodded heedlessly.

"Evie, I'm going to end up breaking the window if you don't answer," he warned and I opened my eyes in surprise.

"Is he capable of doing that?" I asked Dante worriedly.

"As capable, as I am of paying fifty million dollars for your life," I tensed my jaw and walked away, "You need to talk to him.

"I know, but not now. You wouldn't want him in my room at this hour.

"Dead first," he sentenced, "Buonasera, Evie," he gave me a chaste kiss on the forehead, before walking away down the hall to his room. I sighed, feeling like my heart was going to explode.

I walked towards the curtains after closing the door, to find Mauro standing there, holding a rock in his hand.

"What do you care if I'm right or wrong, You want to play nice in front of your brother, You really are a cynical liar," I closed the curtain in annoyance, not waiting for an answer and fell on my bed, trying not to lose control of my feelings again.

However, everything was beyond me. It was more than me, no matter how hard I tried to overcome it. I was at the most confusing point in my life, the one where you don't know what's going on, let alone what to do.

------

"Excuse me? You were about to have sex in the pool while your boyfriend was in the same house?" asked Nina astonished, after telling her everything that had happened, "But girl, where have you been all my life?

"No, make no mistake, Nina. We are nothing," I denied, snorting.

I was pacing around the room, cell phone to my ear. I had the glass door wide open, catching the afternoon breeze; Dante had been out since early in the morning, leaving the message with the maid that she couldn't talk to Mauro without him being at the villa.

I sighed wearily.

"Are you done with him already?

"I don't have to finish something he didn't even start. He sold me out and it's time for him to pay," I sentenced and she laughed.

"You sound just like the people I know. Maybe you were born for this," she scoffed and I snorted.

"Never. I'm going to work with the law, being part of the Italian Mafia is not part of my ideas about what's legal," I exclaimed.

"You do realize that the person you live with is a dangerous mobster, right?" she objected, "No, more than that, he's the head of the Italian Mafia. What worse than that?

"Boss, yes," I bit my lips, knowing the risk involved.

"Well, he's the new boss chosen by the previous boss, but because of the decline in business by the previous Boss Di Marco, they decided the stronger leaders to fight for power.

"I know, he told me and it doesn't make me feel at ease to be in the middle of a gang war.

"No, my girl, it's more than a gang war. It's not slum fights, it's not enemies for pride; it's a lot of people's lives and money that you could never imagine. My father is out of his mind, if you saw him," she sighed, "He's one of Di Marco's go-to guys, but he's worried about the risk this fight could cause. Losing Dante Di Marco's support would be like falling into total misery.

"Does he have that much power?

"Too much, that this war could just be a senseless massacre," she pointed out and I tensed my jaw, "You need to watch yourself, Evie, it's going for a long time.

"I avoid thinking about that," I took a deep breath, "I want to ask you something, have you found out anything about my friend Lexi Depp?" I questioned worriedly.

"You know it's hard to get a girl who was sold on the black market, and more so because of her name. They don't care who they were or who they left behind," she clarified and I took the hundred, "However, with the pictures you gave me I...," her voice was interrupted by the sound of my bedroom door opening and my first reaction was to send the cell phone flying away into the garden.

With my heart in my hand, I watched as Mauro entered the room behind the maid.

"Signorina Lawrens, Mr. Di Marco sent his helicopter to pick you up. You will be traveling with Mr. Mauro to Venice," she informed me and I opened my eyes in surprise.

"What did he say?

"Dante is going to take you on a tour of Venice, walking," Mauro replied listlessly and walked away down the hall, leaving us alone.

"Yes, I'm finally going out," I stepped forward toward the maid, without first giving a sidelong glance toward where she had thrown the cell phone.

I sighed with concern. I hoped I hadn't broken it.