Planting Seeds

Adelaide

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Romano cleared his throat, bringing my attention to him.

"So, tell me, cavolo, why did you steal that notebook?"

Shit.

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"I don't know what you're talking about." I lied, directing my attention back to the soup and away from Mano's prying eyes.

I could feel him smirk beside me, the bastard.

"I don't like it when people lie to me, carota."

He leaned closer and put his mouth next to my ear, whispering as if what he was going to say was the biggest secret in the world.

"Let's try again, why did you steal that notebook porro?"

I swallowed the lump that was beginning to form in my throat. The real reason I wanted the notebook was because I needed to make sure that everyone in the mansion had the same intentions that I did. I knew something was off, and it would serve as a place where I could write down any comments or situations that rubbed me the wrong way.

Should I tell him, or not? Can I trust him, or not?

When I turned my head to take a peek at Mano's face, I found myself wanting to trust him and his stupid smile.

They're watching

I felt my eyes harden as I looked away from him and into my bowl. Right now, I couldn't trust anybody. Not until I knew what was going on around me

I needed an excuse.

"I want to keep track of the different types of flowers in your garden." I lied, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Why didn't you ask me for it then? Why'd you steal it?"

I looked him in the eyes, pretending to be embarrassed.

"It's a little damaging to my bad girl reputation y 'know?" I told him, desperately hoping that he would take the lie and not question it any further.

Whether he believed it or not, I wasn't sure. He gazed into my eyes for a few heart-wrenching moments before sighing and leaning back in his seat with his arm still around my chair.

A feeling of uneasiness flooded my senses and I subtly looked around the food court. Was someone watching me?

I surveyed the room, an old couple a few tables to the right, a group of teenagers behind us, a family of three in front of us and two men a few tables away from them. All of the groups looked like they were in their own world but I couldn't shake the unmistakeable feeling of eyes on my back.

I quickly downed the rest of the bowl.

"Let's get out of here tata." I told Mano, keeping my voice low and my eyes up.

Without much protest, he slurped the rest of his noodles and we left to get into his car.

They're watching.

When we got back to the mansion I still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that was seeping into me. I rushed to get to my room as quick as I could and pulled out the notebook, leaving the bag of hoodies abandoned on the floor.

I dedicated one page to a suspect, all placed at the back of the book just in case someone decided to snoop. Instead of writing in English, I wrote in Latin since most people in the house didn't know Latin or know it well enough to decrypt the writing.

I'm a genius.

I went through all of the people that I had come in contact with since my time at the mansion, and luckily for me, it wasn't a very big list.

I started with the man himself, Romano Acerbi.

I racked my brain with anything that might've been suspicious about his behaviour since I'd arrived and the only thing that I could write down was his need to know more about me. Why did he want the knowledge? Were his intentions pure or was there something behind it?

Jaekyung was next.

I wrote about her odd behaviour after the mission and as much of our conversation as I could remember. She wanted me to trust her. Why? She seemed so adamant that we were going to fail, did she know more than she was letting on?

I hadn't talked to Malcolm enough to know his motivations in our little scheme, all I knew was that he was a wild card and that he had managed to get under my skin, scaring me through and through.

Lissa and Diego were mostly in the clear as, even though Diego was working for the CIA, his motivations were clear as day.

Matteo didn't like me, he made that very clear and I hadn't talked to him enough to be able to gauge what he was doing here or what he had to gain from it. Surely, his time was valuable.

Finally, the last person on my list was Jamie.

He had screwed up but had handed me an excuse as to why he had failed but it didn't sit right on my stomach. It felt off somehow.

I contemplated about his motives, what did he have to gain from ruining the mission?

I forced myself to entertain the idea that he could still be working for MI6 and that his death was all a big cover-up, eventually, I had to scrap the idea. That would be too messy.

I sighed and left the space under his name mostly blank.

I brought the notebook and pen down to the garden with me where I wandered around, trying to find flowers to document so that my lie to Mano would look real.

I spotted some lavender and squatted next to them to get a better look. I thumbed the tips of the stems and brought my fingers to my nose, relishing the smell of the beautiful flowers. I plopped down next to the bush and started sketching the flowers to the best of my ability.

"Glad to see you back."

Dante.

I glanced up at him before moving back to my flowers. I hummed slightly, acknowledging his presence but nothing more. Hopefully, he got the hint.

"Are you fond of lavender, Darwin?"

I bit back a snicker at the name he addressed me as, only managing to nod my head at his question.

"Do you mind if I ask why?"

I raised my gaze to his eyes and dropped the notebook in between my legs before laying on the cool ground. I sighed in content as the sun rays hit my pale face.

"They smell nice."

I eyed him closely as a small smile made its way onto his face.

He sat cross-legged next to me with his eyes trained on the flowers.

"It's the only lavender bush in the compound."

My gaze slowly drifted over to the lavender. My eyebrows furrowed. Why he was telling me this? I lifted my body onto my elbows, taking a closer look at his profile.

"What's your favourite flower?"

He seemed to contemplate his answer for a few moments, weighing up the options before he turned his head to look at me.

"There are too many beautiful flowers to pick just one, I love them all."

I felt a soft smile creep on to my face at his words. They were cute. I almost couldn't believe that he worked for the CIA with his wholesome attitude.

"Adelaide!" A loud voice shouted from the other side of the entrance, jolting me and Dante alike out of our trance.

I swiftly turned my head to see Jamie beckoning me over to him with a serious expression on his face.

I pursed my lips and tilted my head towards Jamie to tell Dante that I had to leave. He waved his hand dismissively at me, turning back to the lavender.

I started towards Jamie, my notebook tucked under my arm.

"What's up?"

Without answering, he turned into the house, leaving me to follow behind.

"You know who he is right?" He asked me, keeping his head forward.

"Yeah, why?" I answered to his back.

"Then tell me Ads, why are you still talking to him?"

He swung his tall body gracefully into a comfortable looking sofa. I took a minute to take in his appearance. Why was he questioning me about this? Did he not trust me? To be fair, I didn't quite trust him either.

"Have you finished your work?" I asked, completely avoiding his question.

He stared at me, his face serious and emotionless which only spurred me to level my gaze and return my stare the same way.

After a few seconds, without breaking our stare off, he replied,

"Yes."

I broke the intense eye contact as I made my way to the other side of the sofa.

"Go get your computer, we're going to go over every person entering that goddamn building," I ordered and he complied, standing up and making his way out of the room only to come back with his computer.

He pulled up several different documents which were all sorted by guest or occupation and the number of people that were there was mind-blowing.

"We might be here a while." He said, opening the first document.

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