AUTHOR'S POV
"I can't let him kill my son. No, I can't let Russo kill my son" Giovanni shook his head.
"I will do anything to save my son! I will do anything at all and I don't mind if I lose my life in the process! Russo should just take my life in exchange for that of my son!"
"Boss, we really have no idea what we can do." his right hand man replied and Giovanni stood up from his seat.
He walked towards a beautiful portrait hung on the wall and trailer his fingers gently over it.
"Rio bought this for me last year on my birthday. He told me he would get me a more expensive one this year but now, it seems like he would not be alive to witness any more of my birthday" Giovanni drew in a shaky breath.
"Have you been able to get any leads on where Russo is keeping Rio?"
"I am sorry, boss but there has been no leads. Russo has a lot of hideouts and some of them are very well hidden that we can't find them out. Some of them are even hidden in plain sight" he replied and Giovanni sighed.
"Of course. Rio could even be in this very same area and we would have no idea. Russo could be hiding him anywhere. I hate the guts of that man!" Giovanni hit the walk beside the portrait.
"I have begged him, haven't I? And I have promised that Rio would never do such again, what more does he want?! Rio didn't kill his niece, did he? Why is he... Why is he so heartless and cruel? Why is Massimo so evil?"
"Boss, I actually have an idea"
"What idea?" Giovanni asked with a forlorn look. He barely believed anything could help bring his son back to him alive.
"It seems like Massimo will only listen to this niece of his. If he took Rio because of his niece, then there are chances he would let go of Rio if she tells him to."
"And?" Giovanni asked.
"And we might have a better chance convincing her to help us convince Massimo. If we beg her enough, she should be able to help us get Rio out alive" his right-hand man replied.
"That's true" Giovanni's face brightened up a bit.
"Immediately. Send her an email. Apologize again for Rio's wrongdoings and tell her we would be honoured to have a meeting with her."
"On it, boss"
Giovanni breathed heavily, his fingers tracing the portrait once more.
"Please stay alive, Rio. I am going to... I am going to try my best to get you out of this."
*
ROSALINE
For hours now, I had been inside this room. The room was a large, beautiful one, similar to the one I and Russo had been occupying earlier. I hated that my body was still requesting for food, not caring that I was in this situation. I hadn't had breakfast and now lunch was due.
I pulled the throw pillow closer to myself. That plane crash was one that I had always blamed myself for.
I would never be able to forgive Russo if I found out that he was the one behind it and I swear I was going to be the one behind his death if I ever found out that he really did it.
I should have been on that plane too! According to the video clip, he intended to kill every one of us and if I had gotten on that plane with my family, I would have died.
More tears rolled down and I brushed them away but they were quickly replaced by more.
My phone beeped with another message and it was from the anonymous contact.
'Shall we meet?' the message read and I took in a deep, shaky breath.
Meeting anonymous people was never a good plan but this time, I wanted to find out the truth behind my parents death and this anonymous person seemed to be the only one who could actually tell me the truth.
'Yes, let's meet. I will choose the venue and time. And the meeting had better be worth it' I sent the text and dropped my phone back beside me.
Russo had come to the door several times to talk me...
"Sunshine" I heard his voice and immediately looked away from the door.
There he goes.
Over the past few hours, I had watched the video clip over and over again and each time, I watched it, my heart hurt at the possibility of the truth.
But what if it wasn't the truth?
No, there was at least an eighty percent chance that it was the truth. An eighty percent chance that Russo was behind my family's death.
"Caramia?" He called again but I gave no response.
Wasn't it quite ironic that the one who intended to kill me too was calling me Caramia so dearly with worry in his tone?
"Are you okay?" He asked and turned the door knob.
"Give me a response or the heavens know I am breaking this goddamn door down" I heard him groan.
"Are you ready to take me home?" I raised my voice.
"Open the door. Let's talk about this, Sunshine" his voice lowered.
"I have nothing to talk about with you, Mr. Massimo. I just want to go home right now." I demanded and everywhere fell silent.
I cuddled my knees on the couch, my phone lying beside me. I could make a few calls and ask for a chopper to come get me out of here but Russo could easily make that not happen.
"Fine, let's go home. Open the door, we will leave now"
I looked back at the door and then slowly got on my feet.
I wore my flip flops and walked over to the door. I unlocked the door and pulled the door open. Russo was standing there with a still worried look on his face.
"Cara" he cupped my face before I could stop him.
"Did someone tell you something?" He asked, raising my face up to look after his face.
"No, not at all" I replied.
I could not let him know that I knew something about what he had likely done.
"You know it is obvious when you lie?" His thumb gently caressed my cheek.
I felt my body willingly melting into his but I quickly pulled away from him.
"I am only out of this room because you said you are now ready to take me home. So are we leaving now or am I going back into this room?" I questioned.
"We are leaving but I will give you this apology first"
My brows arched. What apology was he talking about?
"I apologise in advance because in this case, I might be switching to some not very gentlemanly method to find out what went wrong with you."