CHAPTER NINE

{Wednesday 26th of February 2025}

"Zee, you have a meeting with The Hoard tonight." Marco reminds him as he went through some documents in his study.

"I know," he simply nods. "Marco, is there still no lead on the ones who attacked Piccola?" It was rather baffling, it usually didn't take them this long to figure out the culprit behind such an attack, but somehow, the people who had attacked her were really good at covering their tracks.

"No Zee, nothing at all. It seems like they just vanished, like they disappeared with the wind. There's not a single trace of them anywhere. Nothing." Marco explains.

Zeno knew he had to find them. He had to find out who it was that dared to order an attack against Luna DeFalco.

"Alright, keep trying to track them down." He orders, and Marco nods compliantly. "Oh! and Marco, get me a girl after the meeting is over. You know what she's to look like." Marco just nods a yes.

"Sir," came a voice accompanied by a knock on the door.

"What is it, Johnny?" Marco answered in Zeno's stead.

"The Madam says she's ready to go out now." The voice from behind the door announces.

" Come in Johnny." Zeno speaks. The door opens and a boy in his late teenage years walks in. He was rather small and short for his age so everyone in the mansion called him little Johnny.

However, little Johnny was not to be judged by his height. He was small, but he had the sharpest eyes in Zeno's mansion, so Zeno had put the young man in charge of keeping an eye on the witch he had brought into his house.

Yes, there were cameras all over the place, but nothing was too much when it came down to Luna.

"Where the hell is she going this time? She's been out almost all day long." Zeno asks, finding it very hard to mask his irritation. The girl was driving him nuts. She'd just been in his mansion for two days, and it felt like two years. She was draining his life force.

"Sir, she said something about wanting to make her hair." Little Johnny explains further, causing Zeno to let out a loud frustrated breath.

"It hasn't even been three hours since she got back from shopping, why didn't she just do it then?" Zeno asks and the young boy shrugs because he also could not give an answer to that.

"Fine, just keep me updated." Zeno says.

"Uhm, well sir, she wishes that you would escort her this time."

"Why?"

"She did not tell me sir. She only stated that I informed you that she wanted you to escort—"

"DK! Let's go already!" She barged into his study. "I need to do my hair." Dressed up in her all black attire as usual, she stood there like a little dark elf on an assignment to torment him.

"Piccola, you can do that tomorrow, it's already getting late. You've been running around like a car without brakes since morning, aren't you tired?" He had promised her father to take care of her, and even without the promise to Edoardo, he would do almost anything for this little devil that stood before him.

"No I'm not." She replies. "And you don't have to come with me. I can go by myself. I don't think the people who are after me would be watching my every move. It's not like they will attack a girl at night nor can there be a killer in the salon." She knew just what to say to get him out of his seat.

"Fine, let's go." He swore underneath his breath as he stood up from where he sat and walked over to her. "Ladies first" he dramatically points at the door with a low bow, and she tosses her hair over her shoulders with the back of her hand, a somewhat suppressed smile curling up the side of her lips.

"Marco, I'll be back before nine. Make every arrangement for the meeting by then." He orders before following behind her.

Watching her acting like a spoiled brat, he just shook his head and chuckled. They spoiled her too much. Her father and himself. They doted on her way too much.

As they walked out of the mansion he began to sing, #She was the meanest cat, in old Chicago town#.

Almost instantaneously, she turned around and said, "Boney-M, MaBaker!"

He nodded with a smile and said, "Good."

Luna could not exactly remember when they had started doing this. Was it when she was little, when she was in her teenage years? She couldn't quite remember but it was sort of a game between them. A very random game. He'd randomly sing a line from a song and she'd guess the singer and song where the line was gotten from.

"I'll drive." He takes the keys from the driver who he had assigned to her and gets into the driver's seat, Luna dives in next to him. "Silver's Shine, right?" he asks, as he turns the key, and the rumbling sound of the car's engine resounds in the night air.

"You, even know the name of the salon I go to?" Shocking, was this fact to her. She knew he kept a close watch on her, but she had no idea he knew such little unimportant details.

"Piccola," his fingers suddenly touch her cheek and softy pinches her there. "I even know the names and house addresses of every single person that works there. I'll have to do a perfect job if I'm to keep a close watch on my little troublemaker."

Her heart was racing. Just that simple touch and her heart was racing mightily.