Sold to the Capo-Chapter 50: AN ESCAPE ROUTE

ADRIANA’S POV

"Why are you making dinner? Would have expected Val to do it" I muttered, a bit nervous as he pulled out a chair for me.

Three days after he had shown me his mother’s studio, he had spent his time mostly away from the house while Val stayed with me but whenever he came home, he was always trying to make light talk.

"Well..." He circled around the table, coming to sit on the chair next to me. "Val’s not home and I can cook pretty well. I live alone if that hasn’t registered in your brain, Tesoro"

"Wow, I feel so motivated to stay for dinner by your words" I sarcastically retorted.

"What’s it gonna be? We have work to do tonight"

I was dishing out salad into my plate but when I felt his gaze on me, I looked up at him and frowned. "What?"

"What’s it going to be Tesoro? I did say I’d give you time, and I wanted to try something tonight." He returned his gaze back to his food, but he had already piqued my curiosity.

"What is it? What do you wanna try?"

"How to get you to stop flinching from touch. I want you to feel comfortable in your skin" He muttered under his breath.

"You’re not insinuating that.. uhㅡ" I couldn’t bring myself to say it but the sound of his fork clattering back to the plate made me know he understood immediately.

"No" He immediately countered.

Good. But then I heard him whisper something under his breath.

"Not yet, at least," He muttered, and I immediately frowned at that.

"What was that, Vincenzo?"

"I said eat up" he gruffly replied, his gaze fixed on his plate.

I toyed with the pasta for a second before tapping my fork impatiently on my plate. "I wanna ask you something"

He was on his second fork of pasta already and he looked up at me through hooded eyes. "Do I get to ask something in return?"

I thought about his question for a moment. "I mean... okay, that seems like a fair deal"

He sat back in his chair, swallowing down the remnants of what was in his mouth. "Then go ahead"

"Your mum..." I paused, sensing the air becoming thicker and his eyes becoming darker but still fixed on me. "How did she die?" I forced myself to say.

He was silent for a moment too long before he sighed. "Do you want the truth or do you want to know what everyone was made to think was the truth?"

With trembling hands, I reached out to grab a glass of water, forcing the liquid down my parched throat. "I want the truth, if you’re willing to say it" I was quick to say.

"I am willing, Tesoro. I’ll give you the two explanations and I want you to pick out the truth if you can. Some said she was killed by her husband in the dead of the night after an argument when she saw her son beaten up by his father. Others say her son killed her as a test to please his father because she had been caught with his trusted consigliere making her a traitor." He paused and folded his hands. "Pick one, Tesoro"

It was a no-brainer. "They pinned it on you, wasn’t it?"

"Do you think I did it?" He asked calmly, but there was a note of plea in his voice like he was begging for someone to understand him.

"No" I whispered.

He let out a ragged breath of relief and smiled slightly. "You know... I had to watch him shoot her, then he placed the gun in my hand and told me to never tell a soul." He started to explain, and I forced myself not to visualize it. "I was just 14. I had a fight with her a few days following it, and I was really mad at her because she didn’t want me to be introduced into that life at such a young age, but I had wanted to please my father so much that I... I thought she was holding me back... I tㅡ" His voice never once broke as he stared off into space, his posture rigid and unfeeling.

"So he killed her and made everyone think you were the one who killed her so people would fear you..." I muttered under my breath, my brows furrowed.

He clicked his fingers, a small smirk playing on his lips. "Yes, and he spun the story of my mother and his right hand to make it more believable. I know my mum had been seeing the man but I knew she had no feelings for him and there was nothing suspicious about what they were doing"

A tense silence followed and I felt bile rise in my throat. I didn’t like Vincenzo but I could understand his pain. Why he grew up like this.

But that didn’t justify all that he did to me in high school.

"Can I ask mine now?" His bored tone snapped me out of the haze I was in and I nodded quickly.

"Names" He smiled at me.

"What?" I was still confused by what he meant.

"The names of the two fuckers, Tesoro. I’m not going to ask you for any details about what they did. I. Just. Want. Their. Names" He growled, leaning forward on the table.

"Davis Miles and Jeremy Williams" I blurted out before I could stop myself, bile rushing up in my throat as I remembered them.

He muttered a curse under his breath and tilted his head back against the chair, his eyes blank. "I’m very sorry... for everything."

"What do you want to do with them?" I tried to ignore the sense of dread I felt as I spoke.

"Nothing they don’t deserve. Don’t worry yourself about it"

Silence then he nodded to my food. "Please...eat up"

I looked back down at my now cold food and I took a bite. It was a burst of flavors, but it tasted like sandpaper as I swallowed it.

"So how’s it going with the snitch anyways?" I asked as I took another forced bite of the food.

To be honest, I didn’t even think he was going to answer me; it was highly secretive, I think, and even though Salvatore had gone back to whatever place he came from, Val and Vincenzo spent their time talking in hushed tones.

Grace, who is our very beloved guest, had been given her own quarters, thankfully, so I didn’t have to see her face, but whenever Vincenzo came home, he had to go see her for some reason, and it pissed me off because I didn’t know what he was doing there.

"Waiting for him to make another move" Vincenzo finally answered, his phone beeping at the same time.

"It could be a she" I reminded him.

"Very unlikely. The person has to weigh at least 200 lbs, and the boots are male. I checked around the cottage where we went to. It’s a male" He took a deep breath like the very thought of the snitch was driving him crazy.

He was scrolling through his phone and seemed calm enough so I decided to ask him another question. "What’s Grace doing here anyways?" Not what are you doing with Grace? Nope.

I had asked him her purpose here but the man always kept straying from it like he had something to hide.

"If I tell you, will you tell me what you’re always discussing with Henry?" He muttered, his eyes still fixed on the screen of his phone.

I refused to let my panic show. How did he know I had been talking to Henry often?

"I just need some daisies," I muttered, playing with the food on my plate using my fork.

He raised a brow. "No daisies allowed here. Pick another flower and I’ll get them for you, you don’t have to ask him. Ask me," He emphasized the last word.

"It’s just a flower; forget it," I shrugged.

He suddenly sprang to his feet pocketing his phone. "I have to go. Stay here. Something came up" He explained hurriedly, his tone strained as he grabbed his coat from the next chair and checked the ammo in his gun, his eyes and movements frenzied.

"What’s wrong?" I cried out, standing up too, sensing the urgency in his tone.

"Nothing!" He shouted as he jogged to the door. "Stay here!" Then he was out and I heard the sound of vehicles and motorcycles leaving the mansion already.

I quickly ran to the window, staring at the cars racing out and I knew something had gone wrong.

The phone in my hand suddenly beeped, and I quickly checked it as I saw it was a message from Henry.

"This is the only chance we’ll get. Come to the left wing of the mansion now! It’s clear. Five minutes, Adriana! You have five minutes to get there so I can get you out of here!"

My eyes widened.

Fuck.