Chapter 7

"No freaking way." Emilia and Sofia dissolve in chuckles, tears streaming from their eyes. I nod, clutching my stomach in laughter.

"A-and then he tripped over the guy on the floor and knocked himself out. I didn't even have to do anything."

We all burst out laughing again, Emilia almost falling out of her chair. I had decided to take a break today and hung out with Frankie or little man as I call him all morning. I had certainly grown close to the kid over the past 2 weeks. He too seemed to love hanging out with me and I didn't mind. He was adorable and I appreciated his innocence more than I could say. In the world I live in, the innocent smiles and laughter of a kid could really do wonders for your mental health or what was left of mine anyways. Frankie was currently having a nap and I was spending time with Emilia and Sofia. They had come home a little early from work and I was telling them some of my funny stories on the job. I had grown closer to the two of them as well. Sofia was like an elder sister to me while Emilia was the younger, more childlike one. Having never had any female friends or friends in general, it was nice to have someone to chat with and just spend time. However, the voice in my head never failed to remind me that all this was temporary. When this was over, I would go back to my old life and they would go back to theirs. The logical part of me was warning me to not get too attached but the masochist in me told me to enjoy this while it lasted and deal with the pain later.

Just then, one of Luciano's men, James walked in to the living room, a grave expression on his face. All of his men had been incredibly sweet and protective towards me since I got here.

"Ladies, I'm sorry to interrupt. But, Alessa, we have a problem." I immediately turned into business mode. Standing up, I walk towards him.

"What's wrong, James?"

"We need to move the three of you to a secure room now. Don's orders."

"James, what's going on?" Emilia asks, all of us worried.

James seems to contemplate telling us before giving in.

"One of Connor's men just entered the compound. He says he has a message from Connor."

My heart speeds up for a bit but I take a deep breath. We needed to stay calm and deal with this.

"Is he alone?"

"Yes, we have him in the basement right now." I nod, watching him closely.

"What else are you not telling me?"

James looks at me in shock before maintaining a neutral expression.

"That's it, Alessa."

I take a step closer to him and say in a low tone,"Do not lie to me James. What are you not telling me?"

He sighs,"He says he has a message for you and he won't talk to anyone but you."

I gather my thoughts for a second before nodding.

"Okay, Emilia, Sofia, follow the men to safety. Do as they say"

"Wait, Alessa, where are you going?" Sofia asks worried.

"I'm gonna see what he has to say."

"Alessa, Don specifically asked to keep you safe and away from him until he's back."

"Where is Luciano?" I ask James.

"He's on his way back. He should be here in 5 minutes."

"Good, then he can join us down there."

"Alessa, you need to follow-"

"James, I'm sure you know better than to stand in my way."

He stares at me for a few seconds before sighing in defeat,"You're gonna get me killed, you know?"

I smirk cheekily at him, patting his arm."I'll tell Luciano this was all my fault. Now, let's go."

James and I head towards the basement.

"Have you guys searched him and the car?" I ask James.

"The car's clean. No sign of any explosives. He's stripped to his boxers and tied to a chair. Don also increased the number of guards around the house and compound in case this is a trap."

Satisfied with Luciano's preparations, I hand him my tablet.

"Let me know if any alerts pop up. I wanna know if Liam tries hacking into our server."

James takes the tablet from me, frowning.

"I'm coming in with you."

I shake my head. "He may not talk with you in the room. I'm going in alone."

"Absolutely not. It's too dangerous."

I send him a dry look,"He's tied up unarmed and I'm an assassin. "

James still doesn't look convinced so I say,"Why don't you guys bring him to the room with the one way mirror? That way, you can see what's happening."

"Don is really gonna kill me."James mutters before opening the basement door. I look around, this being my first time down here.

We head into what looks like your standard interrogation room except there isn't any table. Connor's man is seated in a chair, his hands and legs cuffed. At the side of the room, there's a long table with tons of torture devices and tools.

James and the rest of the men head into the other room to watch while I go in to this room.

I close the door behind me, a cold expression on my face. The man looks to be slightly older than me and is staring at me with a smirk on his face.

"Alessandra Morino, it's an honour to meet a legend."

I raise an eyebrow at him, walking towards the wall in front of him, leaning casually against it.

"I hear you have a message for me..."

"Robert." he answers.

"Well then Robert, you're an idiot." I say in a flat tone. Robert chuckles,"And why is that?"

I shrug,"For starters, you're working for a bigger idiot aka Connor O'Sullivan. But right now, you just walked into the Italians territory alone to meet me. "

Robert's smirk drops a little at my words but he replies without missing a beat.

"You won't kill me. You need me to deliver your reply back to Connor."

"A dead body is a pretty solid reply, don't you think?"

His smirk drops completely and I laugh."Lucky for you, I'm not in the mood to kill someone today."

I hear him let out a small sigh of relief at my words and I continue,"So. what's Connor's message for me?"

"He wants to know if you got his earlier message." He says referring to when Connor broke into my apartment and did the whole coffee and knife stunt.

"I did. It was hard to miss."

"Good. That was your first warning. If you fail to take your rightful place beside him, he will have to resort to drastic measures."

"Such as?"

Robert smirks, making me want to slap his stupid face. "I heard Luciano Moretti's sister is quite the looker. No offence, I would rather have you but I'm afraid Connor has made you his."

When he mentions Emilia, my whole demeanor changes and Robert stiffens. I smile at him but its not a friendly smile. No, this was the smile of a predator toying with its prey before going in for the kill and right now, I was the predator and he knew it.

"Last I checked, Emilia preferred men with dicks." Robert looks a little confused at my statement but opens his mouth to probably spit out some sarcastic reply. A scream comes out instead of words. Faster than he could blink, I had whipped my gun out and shot him in his ..you guessed it..his babymaker. Blood starts gushes out as he screams in agony but I don't care.

I roll my eyes at him,"Oh shut up you big baby before I permanently remove your balls, not that you have any." That shuts him up but I can still see the fear on his face and that makes me smirk.

"Connor went to great lengths to send his message and even sent you here to get my reply. What kind of person would I be if I didn't make some sort of effort with my reply? You know, his message contained a significant memory for me, one I can never forget. It's only fair I return the favour and what is more prolific then the death of his former second in command, Ronan?"

Robert's eyes widen in fear slightly and he spits out,"You killed him, you little bitch."

"I did, didn't I? Can't say I'm sorry though.'I muse thoughtfully , making Robert even angrier. He strains against his cuffs and I smirk at his rage.

Walking slowly towards the table at the corner of the room, I pick up some brass knuckles. Fitting them on, I walk towards Robert who looks downright terrified now. Circling him, I say,

"I remember that day like yesterday. Ronan walked into the room and unchained me. But then, he tied my arms and legs with this really coarse rope. He kept rambling about how Connor always got the best ones and this time, he was gonna have a taste. Obviously, I was not on board with this idea. So, I kicked him where the sun doesn't shine." As I finish my sentence, I knee him exactly where I shot him, causing him to scream out in pain.

"I'm pretty sure I headbutted him too." I grab Robert by his hair and deliver a solid blow to his head.

"You bitch!"he screams at me and I pause in my steps. Widening my eyes mockingly at him, I say

"Oh I completely forgot. Silly me. This wasn't my first encounter with Ronan. Let's see, he broke my nose."Rearing my arm back, I deliver a solid blow to his nose. I hear the crack of the bone and blood gushes out. Ignoring his screams, I grab a knife, twirling it in my hands.

"I think there were a couple of slashes on my body too,"slashing his abdomen, deep enough to cause him pain but not deep enough to kill him.

"And then there were the broken ribs."Using the hand with the brass knuckles on, I hit him in the ribs. I knew just where to hit to cause pain but not affect any vital organs. I wasn't gonna kill the man, not today.

Robert lets out an agonized scream as I hit him and he tries to double over. I'm surprised Luciano and his men haven't entered the room yet. I knew they were watching from behind the glass but at this point, I couldn't care. This was between me and Connor.

Removing the bloodied brass knuckles, I place them back on the table and reach for the plyers on the table.

Robert stares at me, his breathing heavy and in pain.

"He also removed my fingernails. Was it on my middle finger or my ring finger? It's better to do both since I can't remember, don't you think?"

Robert lets out a sound of protest from the back of his throat and I smile cheerfully,"I'm glad you agree with me."

Another scream escapes him as I remove his fingernails from two fingers. I take a step back, observing my handiwork.

Nodding to myself, I wipe the blood of my hands on my tanktop, staining it red.

"He also ripped my underwear and bra but I'm gonna spare you that part."

"B-but you escaped..your bonds and..crushed his trachea..killing him." Robert says, pausing to breathe through the pain.

I nod,"But like I told you, I'm not gonna kill you."

"Why?" Robert looks genuinely confused and I don't blame him. I mean, I just tortured the poor guy.

"You want to know why Connor didn't kill me when he found out what I'd done? Ronan betrayed him, he put his hands on something that didn't belong to him. I think I did Ronan a favour by killing him before Connor got to him if we're being honest."

I walk closer to Robert, leaning in. He looks at me, fear on his face. In an icy tone, I say,

"I'm keeping you alive because I need you to relay this to Connor. Ronan died because he wanted something that wasn't his. Right now, Connor is making the same mistake. He can't have me because I'm not his. He can't have what the Italian's own because it doesn't belong to him. If he doesn't learn from Ronan's mistakes, he's gonna wish he stayed 'dead'."

Leaning back, I smirk at Robert, wiping my palms against my jeans.

"I trust you will relay my message word for word." Robert nods repeatedly, not wanting to anger me even more and I nod in satisfaction. Heading towards the door, I throw a "It was nice to meet you Robert" over my shoulder and leave the room.

Luciano is standing outside with Luca, Angelo and the rest of his men when I step out. All of them stare at me, their eyes full of shock and I even spot fear on some of his men's expressions. Luciano however just looks at me with a blank expression. I ignore them and walk out of the basement, heading straight to my room.

As I near my room, I bump into Emilia. Her eyes widen when she sees my bloody tank top and the expression on my face. She doesn't get the chance to say anything as I brush past her, slamming my door and locking it.

Stripping out of my clothes, I walk into the shower. It's only when I stand under the hot water do I allow myself to snap back to reality, to feel. The tears start rolling down my face as I remember that day, the day I almost got raped. I scrub at my skin until it's raw, wanting to get the feel of Ronan's hands off me. I'm lost in my own world when the cold water jolts me. Turning the shower off, I wrap a towel around my wrinkly skin. Changing into a comfy pair of shorts and Tshirt, I dry my hair and stare at my reflection in the mirror.

I look at the small scar above my eyebrow, my slightly crooked nose that never fully healed from being broken but most of all, I look at my eyes. Thomas always said I had beautiful eyes, that those icy bluish green eyes were my greatest weapon. To me though, it was my biggest nightmare. It was where my demons resided, the part of me that showed what a monster I was, what a monster I am. Today was proof of that. I had no doubt that everyone already knew that by now. I wasn't afraid of what they thought of me though. I was an assassin and they were the mafia for gods sake. Luciano didn't earn his reputation of being cold blooded by being a saint. What freaked me out was that I was putting their lives in danger. Yes, Luciano and his men were sort of at war with Connor but I was supposed to help them. Not drag Emilia and e rest of the family into it. Isabelle wasn't even someone I considered a friend but her death still hit me hard. If anything happened to Luciano or the others because of Connor's sick obsession with me, I would never be able to forgive myself.

I don't go down for dinner and I'm glad no one comes up to call me either. Knowing that I wasn't going to be getting any sleep tonight, not that I was getting much any other night, I grab my laptop and decide to get some work done. I had a little side project going on and that was going to keep me occupied. With that, I do what I do best, lose myself in work.

A knock on the door stirs me from my work-induced haze. Glancing at the clock on my bedside table, I frown. Who would be knocking my door at 2 in the morning? That person knocks softly again and I get out of bed to open my door. To my surprise, it's Luciano.

"Vincenzo, is everything okay?" I ask in a worried tone. Don't tell me Connor retaliated so fast.

He furrows his eyebrows at me,"Why would you think something's wrong?"

"Well, when someone knocks on your door at the two in the morning, it's either an emergency or a booty call and I'm pretty sure you're not here for a booty call."

He smirks at my words, leaning against the doorframe."And if I am?"

I raise my eyebrows at his sudden brazenness, "If you are, I'm sorry to disappoint. I don't do this sidechick shit. Brianna not answering your calls?"

He chuckles,"I know you don't and I don't care about Brianna. I'm here because I'm hungry."

I must have heard him wrong. There was no way he was at my door at 2 in the morning because he was hungry.

"Excuse me?'

"You're excused. I'm hungry, make me food."

I gape at him, not knowing whether to laugh or yell at this asshole.

"I am not your goddamn servant. Go get your own food."

He shrugs, "I would but I'd probably burn the kitchen down."

I stare at him like he's crazy."Then, go make a sandwich or something."

"But I want pancakes." he says matter-of-factly.

I stare at this guy for a few seconds, trying to figure out if he's joking but Luciano just looks at me with a straight face.

"Let me get this straight. You knocked on my door at 2 in the morning because you want pancakes?"

Luciano rolls his eyes at me, waving me off."Oh, don't be so dramatic. It's not like I woke you up or something. Besides, aren't you hungry since you skipped dinner?"

"I'm good, thanks." Right then, my stomach betrays me and lets out a growl. I was starving.Luciano looks at me in amusement,"You sure about that dolchezza?'

I growl in frustration and walk past him." For the record, I'm only doing this because I'm hungry."

"Of course" he replies, following me but I can hear the laughter in his voice.

We enter the kitchen and I grab a bowl. Luciano sits on a stool at the counter and I send him a dry look.

"How about you make yourself useful and grab the milk and eggs for me?"

"How about I sit here and watch you make me pancakes?"he counters and I glare at him.

"You're not getting any pancakes, you asshole."

"Oh come on, cara. Don't be such a meanie."

I pause in my steps and step closer to him. Placing my hand on his forehead, I check his temperature but it's normal. I take a sniff but I don't smell any alcohol, just his signature cologne.

"What are you doing?" he says, confused.

"You don't have a fever, you're not drunk and you don't seem to be high so what's wrong with you?"

He looks at me like the crazy one right now."What's wrong with you?'

"You're being too nice."I state and I swear his face falls a little before going back to his normal emotionless state.

"Would you hurry up and make my pancakes?"

I smile,"Now that sounds like you and I already told you, you're not getting any."

I was obviously lying because 10 minutes later, we were sitting opposite each other eating fluffy pancakes. Luciano takes a bite of his pancakes and his eyes snap up to mine in surprise.

"These are really good, Alessandra."

I narrow my eyes at him,"Were you expecting burnt ones, Vincenzo?"

He shrugs casually,"Honestly, I wasn't sure if you could cook. I was just hoping you wouldn't burn my kitchen down."

I send him a glare,"I'm no Magdalene but I can hold my own in the kitchen."

He chuckles and continues shoving pancakes in his mouth. We continue eating, enjoying the comfortable silence when Luciano speaks again.

"You know, I met this girl today." he states casually, his eyes on his food and I send him a flat look. "Do I look like your therapist?" He ignores me and continues.

"I've known her for a little while and to be honest, I didn't really like her when I first met her."

"Since when do you like anyone?" I mutter under my breath and he sends me a do-not-interrupt look.

"As I was saying, I wasn't sure if I could trust her but over time, she has proven to be quite trustworthy. She's incredibly sarcastic too."

"Vincenzo, I really don't wanna hear your about love life right now. Not ever actually."

"Something changed though today. I saw a different side of her."

I stiffen at his words and glance at him but he's still focused on his food, a neutral expression on his face. He didn't mean me, did he?

"And what side was that?" I ask, hoping my voice sounded casual and uninterested.

"The side of her that shows what a strong person she is." This time, I can feel his eyes on me and I refuse to look up.

"You know, I've always known that she's a badass but seeing her in action the other day and today, seeing how strong she is after everything she's been through, it made me realise what an incredible person she is."

"I don't think she sees herself that way." I say quietly and look up at him.

His eyes meet mine with such blazing intensity and I have to force myself not to look away from his soul searching gaze.

"Well then she's an idiot." That makes me raise an eyebrow at him and I put my fork down. Leaning my arms on the counter, I lean slightly towards him,

"Is she now?"

He nods, amusement on his face before it turns serious again.

"She's an idiot if she thinks that people are going to look at her any differently. I don't know what she sees in the mirror but I saw a powerful, strong, badass, capable woman today whose fiercely protective of the ones she cares about."

I'm speechless. Honestly, I didn't know what to say to that. I never had to worry or care about anyone before while on a job. In fact, Thomas and I never did this emotional shit despite him raising me. And I never worried about him because we always knew what we were. Master and protege. So, I just send him a small smile, hoping that he understands what I'm trying to say. He sends me a small smile back and we get back to eating our pancakes in silence. But now, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my chest.

"Do you even know how to wash a plate?" I ask Vincenzo and he scowls at me.

"I'm not a spoiled brat."

"I beg to differ." he sends me another glare and I chuckle. He takes my plate and starts to wash it along with his. I lean against the counter, watching him. When he's done, I wipe the plate and place it back in the cupboard. I turn around and find him looking at me with a smirk.

"What now?'

"You have a little syrup here." he says pointing to the corner of my lip. I blush and swipe my thumb across my lip. He chuckles and leans towards me. He swipes his thumb gently against my bottom lip, lingering for a second before sucking the syrup off his thumb.

I freeze, not expecting him to do something so intimate. Luciano clearly doesn't think much of it for all he sends me is his usual smirk along with a "Thank you for the pancakes, dolchezza." and walks out of the kitchen, leaving me staring at his retreating muscly back."