Chapter 22 Quite Surprising
Isabella, who was busy throwing stones, stopped in her tracks as she heard, “what the hell are you doing?!”
The position Isabella stopped, her reaction cracking Madam Paula up as she burst into laughter.
Isabella's right leg was far back, her right hand ready to throw the stone as her head remained focused.
One could say her demeanor at the moment was rather… unladylike.
Luciano saw this as his cue, thus, he stopped watching the live footage, going back to the work he was doing.
Isabella quickly stood straight, straightening her uniform as she gathered the apples The Don had requested for.
“The Don wanted freshly plucked apples!”, Isabella explained to Madam Paula who gestured for her to come closer.
“I bet he didn't want you throwing stones in his yard, did he?!”, Madam Paula asked, taking on Isabella's tousled appearance.
“This is new! I've never seen this side of you before!”, Madam Paula continued as Isabella came to a halt in front of her, the basket of apples in her hand.
“When does he want them?!”, Madam Paula asked as she smoothed Isabella's uniform.
“He wants them in his room as soon as I'm done plucking them!”, Isabella answered.
“Come on!”, I'll show you how I cut apples for The Don’s consumption!”, Madam Paula said following beside Isabella as they made their way into the mansion.
\~~~
Luciano tuned in to the live feed once again, not surprised to see the figure throwing stones at the fruits of the tree had already left.
He had seen nothing like it before to be rather honest.
He never knew a lady could throw stones at apples with such fervor. All the ladies he knew or that surrounded him always acted prim and proper.
Coloring their hair, acting all lady-like and being in his face, the smell of their outrageous colognes suffocating him.
He was sure they couldn't survive the things Isabella had gone through in the house, all the things he put her through.
Shaking his head, Luciano went back to work again, his green eyes fully turning towards the work he actually had to do.
He wondered why Isabella's resilience and determination stuck to his memory more than he would like to.
Isabella soon brought the apples in, Luciano dismissing her immediately after as a situation had suddenly come up.
Isabella was relieved seeing that he had dismissed her.
‘I don't have to be alone with him today!’, Isabella thought as she skipped towards the kitchen.
Together, the three ladies arranged the food stuffs into the pantry, cleaning up nicely as they finished.
Madam Paula went up to her room to get some rest leaving Isabella and Mia to clean up the dishes they had eaten with.
Isabella was rather surprised to hear vehicles driving into the mansion. Footsteps descended from the stairs as well, confusing both Isabella and Mia.
“What's going on!”, Isabella asked Mia as she dried her hands with a napkin.
“ I'm as confused as you are!”, Mia answered as both ladies peeped from the kitchen.
Familiar men came down from both vehicles, making their way into the house soon after.
Madam Paula came downstairs after Luciano. She had abruptly been woken up from the sleep which had just started getting good.
It seemed like there was a situation with Luciano.
“Come on girls, to your rooms!”, Madam Paula said, taking the girls by surprise.
She had worked for Luciano long enough to know that times like this meant he didn't want unnecessary people in his business.
Isabella passed by the living room as she saw multiple men scattered in the room, some of them making eye contact with her.
“Come on!”, Madam Paula urged loudly as she urged the ladies to go to their rooms.
\~~~~
Indeed a situation had occurred, a very disturbing situation.
There had been a chance to completely eradicate a threat to the operation, however, the mission set to carry this out failed in more ways than one.
That specific moment had been planned for months, men being in strategic positions over the past few months to get the right Intel.
The threat in question was rather slippery, avoiding social gatherings and maintaining a low profile.
It had been difficult to gather the amount of information they had.
All the efforts they had put in seemed futile.
“What happened?!”, Luciano asked calmly as he sat.
“We had moved in like we planned. But, he seemed to have gotten a tip that we were in the vicinity. All we know is that he fled!”, One of the men reported.
“How could he have fled with watch from a sniper!??”, Luciano asked, trying to make sense of the situation.
“The sniper was off a few millimeters sir!”
The entire room stayed quiet as Luciano thought.
“We need a new plan!”, Luciano said to the men gathered in the room.
“We gathered Intel already!”, One of the men said, stepping forward to show Luciano.
“He's going to be at his sister's event in two days!”
“Entry is strictly by invitation!”
“Our contact helped with invitations for a female and a plus one!”
“Any female that goes ahead with the plan cannot go with a male companion!”
“She has to go with a fellow female, both of them clearly presenting they're single and very ready to mingle!”
“Problem is, we need females!”
“Another problem is the eligible ladies in the operation are in San Francisco, finishing off a mission!”