James & Alessandro Part 10

After that awkward lunch, sounds of whispers sounded throughout the whole mansion of which its content was unknown to me as the quiet words got past along from ear to ear of each servant, that now caused them to avoid me like the plague.

The people who would normally greet me with a polite smile whenever they saw me now seemed to pale at a simple eye contact before they scurried along as if my presence would cut their life short.

It could be seen as a good thing as there would be fewer eyes observing my every movement as I would plan my grand escape, but it would be a lie if I said that their sudden change in behavior didn't bring forth a frown on my face. Now that I am at least allowed to roam around the mansion after a longtime of confinement, I craved for some friendly conversations and if I am lucky enough physical contact with it but that has become an unattainable dream as the people are acting like scared bunnies.

Walking down the hallway, I came across one maid carrying some dried folded bedsheets. We made momentary eye contact and before I could even offer a smile, she swiftly scrambled away.

As her petite figure took a turn around the corner, disappearing out of my view, I let out a disappointed sigh and continued to trudge down the hallway until the sounds of grunts reached my ears and the air got filled with dense masculine scent.

At the end of the hallway, I came out on an interior bridge that was linked to the hall on the other side. Placing my hands on the railing, I looked down to see a few of Alessandro's men sparring with each other, filling the air with punching and kicking.

I guess I waltzed into their training room; I thought as I watched how one man threw his colleague over the shoulder on to the mat that was supposed to soften fall. It looked like they decided on the spur of the moment to spar against each other as they all were still wearing their suits- only getting rid of their coats that were now strewn around the floor, revealing the guns that occupied their holsters.

From the corner of their eyes, one of them caught me surveying them and decided to expose me.

"Look who we have here guys." The man nodded at me to have the rest of the men put a hold to their activities before craning their heads to look at me.

"It's the mistress of the house." He quipped out his snide remark that was supposed to cut and hurt me, but it was like a speck of dust that I could easily brush off me as I have heard worse ones before.

"And you are?" I questioned the man who a head taller was than everybody in the room but was like a dwarf compared to Alessandro. His upper body was broad, his muscles straining against the thin fabric of his white shirt. His brown wavy hair parted on one side while the other side was shaved to show the black snake tattoo that slithered across.

He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I'm Luca De Toro, the Caporegime of my men."

"Right, so what's your deal with me?" I questioned without beating around the bush.

"We are loyal to the Valentino family and whatever our Don decides we will follow it with no questions, but…" His nose scrunched up in distaste and as if he ate something bitter, he added with a sour expression, "why would he choose someone like you?"

He didn't need to elaborate what he meant by that. His whole body-language screamed how he disapproves of me being here. The men that were led by Luca nodded their head in agreement.

"What's wrong with someone like me?" I leaned on the railing, placing my left forearm together with the elbow of my right arm. Propping on it to rest my chin on my palm while glancing down at the men with mirth flashing my eyes as I thought that their hostility towards me was cute.

The men noted the amusement lacing my tone, bringing a sliver of annoyance on to their faces as they firmed their jaws.

"Manipulative, weak and vile. The only weapon that you have is your body and the sooner our Don realizes that, the better." Were the words that Luca spat out and those words sure as hell rubbed me the wrong way as I pushed away from the railing to straighten my back. Glowering down at the man bold enough to voice the concerns that he held for his Don.

I scoffed indignantly. "I may be vile and like to use my body, but in no way am I weak."

Luca snorted and brushed off my words dismissively. "I should have added a liar to the list. I highly doubt that those flimsy arms can inflict any damage."

"Ha! I can beat the crap out of all of you at the same time. You guys fight as if you have no sense of directions." I chided to see them narrow their eyes into a pair of slits.

"Let's make a bet. The loser does what the winner wants. If I beat you in fight, you will all become my lackeys." I offered.

Lucas wore a thoughtful expression as his eyes shined with intrigue. "Fine, but If I win you leave the house and never see our Don again."

My god, he sounds like a dramatic mother-in-law; I thought inwardly as I rolled my eyes at his words. "Let me remind you in case you all forgot- I am not here for my pleasure. I got dragged here against my will- heck I would love to leave this place this instantly if it wasn't for," I pointed at the thing enclosed around my neck to remind me every second that I was prisoner, "this collar and your oh so outstanding Don. So, you're going to have to convince your boss to let me go."

I watched how the gears were turning in Lucas' head for him to press his lips into a thin line before unfolding his arms to let them fall at his sides as he lets out a heavy sigh in defeat, acknowledging the truth in my words. "Fine, in that case, if I win, admit that you're weak."

"Deal." I accepted his deal and felt my lips twitch in a grin. Using my hand to grip on the railing as support, I jumped over it. As if I was a feather that was being carried by the wind, I landed softly with my feet on the ground. My hands slipped inside my jeans' front pockets as I raised my head up to notice the aghast expressions of the men who stood interspersed around the room.

The pin drop silence that reigned inside the room made me arched my brow and I asked, "What? I don't really know how to get here as I am still not familiar with this place. Jumping from there seemed the most plausible way." I explained, as I didn't understand why they were staring at me as if they saw water burning. "If you're done gawking at me, we could start our fight."

My eyes went to meet Lucas' dark brown ones, which were minimized to a pair of small dots. He closed his parted mouth and cleared his throat, trying to mask the shock that overcame him with seriousness. "Are there any restrictions on our fight?" He inquired.

"No restrictions and the match only ends until one of us gets knocked out or throws in the towel."

"You sure? You can't complain later that I didn't offer you a handicap." He eyed me with raised brows to be met with my aloof expression. I didn't open my mouth to answer his question as I didn't feel like saying things twice and he exasperated, raising his hands up as he shook his head at my stubbornness.

"Alright, don't say that I didn't warn you-!" Without finishing his sentence, he made a mad dash for me as he swung his arm wide, aiming it straight at my face. With a stoic expression, I tilted my head to the side and evaded his surprise attack to have him stumble forward. Not wanting him to bump into me, I sidestepped.

As he regained his balance, he couldn't conceal the astonishment on his face as he turned his head to the side to look at me.

"How childish." I chided, peering down at him as if I was looking at an ant. Lucas grounded his teeth and resumed with swinging his fists at me, which I kept avoiding elegantly. The men in the room all rooted for their caporegime while wishing for my demise, but the confident cry that filled the room became softer and lower overtime until only the shallow breathing of Lucas could be heard.

Sweat was dripping from his forehead, hitting the blue mat, marking his exhaustion on it. His hands rested on his knees for support as he tried to catch his breath. The men were watching in disbelieve. Gaping at how the man that they respected got reduced to a poodle of sweat about to collapse while I didn't even hitch a breath.

There was a faint grin on my face as I asked him, "You good?"

His eyes burned again at my taunting words and barked, "Stop dodging like a coward and start fighting me already!" He swung his fist at me, and I caught it with ease.

"Sure," I replied calmly before punching him square in the face to have him stumble back and fall to the ground. Clutching his face as he groaned in pain, he pulled his hand back to see it stained with blood as his nose bled profusely.

"I will fucking kill you!" He snarled viciously at me with his crooked nose, blood spatting out of his mouth as one of his teeth broke when I had struck his face. The foreboding words that he had spewed didn't even make my heart stutter in fright, and the smug grin on my face only grew bigger in width.

"Not if I kill you first." I cocked out a gun, aiming it at Lucas, who was still sitting on the ground. His eyes flared, and he went for the gun that was supposed to be in his holster but wasn't there. The pupils in his eyes shrunk in shock as his hand caressed an empty holster and whipped his gaze back at the gun in my hand.

"Lost something?" I asked, raising my brow, amused.

"You stole my gun." He remarked.

"I did? You left yourself so wide open, so I thought you wanted me to take it." When I had punched his face, I took the liberty of snatching away his gun while pain occupied him. "Admit that you lost."

He scoffed, "Over my dead body-AH!" The walls ricocheted an ear-splitting sound, causing everyone to recoil back at the suddenness of it. Their eyes closed before opening them again, wondering to themselves whether they were dreaming as they stared at the scene that had their minds running a mile. A small hole formed in Lucas' right shoulder, blood oozing out from it. Keeling over, small grunts of pain escaped from his lips as he clutched at his injured shoulder.

"You shot me?" Disbelieve freighted Lucas' voice as he looked at me. Vapor bellowed from the gun to fade into thin air as I shot a bullet from it few seconds ago.

"You said over your dead body. I was only giving you a hand in speeding up your dead." I smiled innocently. "I said no restrictions after all."

"You coward-!"

"Oh please, you have no right to teach me a lesson about righteousness when you guys carry guns with you everywhere. If this was an actual fight, you guys won't hesitate to pull out the gun." I rolled my eyes. "Now that I have shown that I'm not all talk, are you going to admit defeat, or should I add more decorations to your body?"

Receiving no response from Lucas, I slowly push down the trigger until a booming voice sounded throughout the room, "Stop right there." Everyone's attention got stolen by Alessandro, who stood at the door with Piero and Antonio. Piero whistled, impressed at my work while for once since our meeting, something rooted Antonio in place as he wore a stunned expression. Alessandro wore a proud expression on his face, the corner of his lips curling up.

How long have they been standing there? I wondered to myself, as the three men didn't make a sound to let everyone know of their presence.

"I would really appreciate it if you won't rid me of capable men Bambino."

I gave Alessandro an annoyed look, not pleased with him interrupting my fun. "Stop sticking your nose in something where it doesn't belong. You might lose it one day. They started this all by questioning my strength, so they should repent by receiving the full burn of their own words. This fight will not end until he throws the towel in the ring, gets knocked out or killed, and I certainly don't mind the latter one. "

Alessandro diverted his attention away from me to look at his man before settling his gaze on his caporegime. Lucas wore a dreadful expression on his face as he feared his Don's repercussion.

"Is that so?" Questioned Alessandro Lucas with a calm and collected voice that made everyone's muscles tighten out of nervousness. Lucas tightened his jaw before he answered, "I wanted to test whether he was worthy of you, Don."

"And?" Alessandro quired, arching his eyebrows as he wanted to know what the results were of the test.

With a defeated look in his eyes, Lucas averted his gaze from Alessandro to look down at the mat where he was sitting on. "He passed." His eyes then met mine to then adjust his seating position so that he was sitting on his knees. "I declare my loss. I am sorry for insulting you, Comare." The quiet tone of his voice was walking on the border of frustration and embarrassment. The sour look on his face told how much it pained him to admit his defeat, and I lived for it.

I grinned from ear to ear. "Welcome slave number one." I threw the gun to have it land in front of Lucas on the mat and added before turning around to walk away, "It only had one bullet, by the way."