11 ~ Joint Strategy

Brinda

Two days later, a gentle tap on my shoulder woke me up. I flipped my eyes open to see Bullet. The thought that filled up my mind was that she came around to add more problems to the fire that was burning between Francesco and I.

I lowered my gaze and firmly in her hands was a tray containing varieties of fruits, water and a plate of food.

My stomach grumbled at the sight of the food. I had barely eaten anything since I had been locked up in my room on Francesco's order.

I expected Bullet to drop the food or pour it on my body but she didn't. Instead, she sat on the bed and assisted me up.

“I brought this for you,” she announced. Her countenance, not the usual frowning one.

“Thank you.” I appreciated it and started eating the fruits in a hurry, more like a glutton. Then I remembered how Francesco had forced me to eat the dog's food. I clenched my left hand slowly but in a strong way.

I cursed him under my muffled breath.

Bullet's warm touch on my hand dropped the feeling drastically. She smiled at me before she stood from the bed.

“Fernandez family.” She said but I continued chewing the fruits as I was less interested in her conversation. Then, my useless brain started working when I remembered that Marshall is the new leader of the Fernandez family.

“What about them?” I asked, my whole face lighting up.

“The Fernandez family happens to be the oldest mafia family in New York City. Right before the Dante family transferred to New York, they dominated everything. Shortly after the Dante and the Santini family arrived, everything changed as they became the leading families. The Fernandez's specializes in the distribution of oils. You know… Dark oil business.” She added with a wink.

I nodded my head. “I can't understand a thing in everything you've said. Can you explain better?”

“Can't you think?” She asked, bowing her head. “Think about this. Illegal oil business. Purab Chaturvedi. Marshall Fernandez. Francesco Dante. The recent deaths of the leaders of the two families. What can you think of?”

Hold on! My brain started picking up the pieces.

The Fernandez family are in charge of the illegal oil business while the Dante family are in charge of hard drugs. And we have Purab Chaturvedi, who Francesco killed recently.

That means, Purab Chaturvedi happens to be the link between those two. And if I remember, Francesco kept asking who his associates were. Could it be that the Fernandez and the Dante family were working together?

If they worked together, what led to the death of their leaders? That is, Francesco's faster and Marshall's father.

As of now, Francesco is on the hunt to find his father's killers. He probably thinks that the Fernandez family killed his father.

Marshall, on the other hand, wants to get back at me and he also wants to destroy Francesco because he thinks the Dante family are responsible for his father's death.

Now, what is the real connection? Could it be that someone else — an ally or enemy — killed the leaders of each family to tear them apart?

“This is insane. Why did Francesco now have to pull me up in all this?” I almost cried.

“That's how he behaves. He is only full of himself. He's quite selfish too.” She replied, rolling her eyes. She let out a deep sigh after. “I was brought to pay my father's debt.”

“What!”

“Yes.” She confirmed before she continued. “My father once worked with Francesco for a year or so… before he stopped working for him. I don't know if they ever had a disagreement. All I can remember is that Francesco killed him in my presence. Not only did he kill my father, he bought me at the nightclub where I worked to earn a living.”

“That's really sad.” My heart sank. “Does Francesco pay you?”

She laughed uncontrollably before she finally stopped. “Pay, you say? Don't tell me you expect a pay from him?”

“No.” I lied. I also wanted some cash to keep for myself after the whole charade.

“My pay is used to settle my father's debts. At least, I get to eat twice a day. That's enough.” She yapped.

“Why are you telling me this?” I questioned, curiosity nearly sending me to the pit of hell.

“Just in case you ever thought of escaping or you will leave here someday. Every single person that works for Francesco is just an instrument to get his hands on whatever he needs.”

“My case is different. Once I'm done with his request, I will leave.”

“Are you going to cross his dead body?” She laughed.

“Wait and see!!!” I uttered with a huge smile on my face.

“I love your fearless nature. Do you know I have the same poison you have in you inside me?” She hinted.

“What!” My eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“And I have been trying to get my hands on the antidote but I have been unable to. Francesco…”

I cut her off. “What about we search for it together? I also need it to save my life. In a twinkle of an eye, it will be a year.”

“Exactly,” Bullet pointed out. “I have barely three months left.”

At midnight, our footsteps were as silent as that of a graveyard as we made our way into Francesco's room while he was out on a mission he didn't let us know about.

I nodded at Bullet to begin searching. We splitted quickly and almost turned the room upside down. Our fate hanged in uncertainty as we hoped that every step we take doesn't cost us our lives.

We searched, searched and searched only to find nothing.

A few seconds later, Bullet called my attention to a drawer hung above in the room. Quickly, I climbed the chairs closer to it and used them as leverage all thanks to Bullet for her assistance.

I opened the drawer only to see a lot of bottles. Some contained poisons while the rest contained antidotes. I glanced through but the antidote of the Deadly Nightshade was nowhere to be found.

“Open them one after the other. You can perceive it then.” Bullet whispered from below.

Giving up, I jumped down. “I can't find it. Even if I smell them, I wouldn't know which one it is because I never used the antidote in the past, just the poison. The aim then was just to kill and not to find a way for the victim to survive.”

Bullet volunteered to use her as a test. I declined her proposal because it was risky. An antidote to a particular poison might add to the effect of the Deadly Nightshade if mixed together.

I told her that we should keep searching.

We continued while my search took a toll to the bathroom. A sense of euphoria washed over me as I remembered that when we dated, Francesco loved to keep his valuable items in the bathroom.

I started searching until I stumbled upon some drugs — Cocaine, marijuana and Indian hemp. I hissed before I tossed the bag behind me which resulted in a loud thud but I cared less.

In the course of my intense search, I opened another drawer in his toilet. And there it was — Another set of poisons.

I scattered the bottles while I searched through the drawer. And the result? There was nothing like an antidote to the poison in my body.

I shut my eyes before I hit my head gently.

My mind filled with several thoughts instantly — Is he moving around with the antidotes? Does he even have the antidote? Could it be that he never gave me the poison? No, he gave it to me. That was the exact same smell. I can't forget the smell of something I used to kill over thirty people.

In the middle of my thoughts, a hand tapped me gently from behind.

Then Francesco's cold voice came out. “Are you that impatient? I said I will call you when I need you. Right now, I think you are more anxious than I am.”

“That can never happen between us.” I snarled.

He laughed for a while as I struggled to close the drawer. “Do you think I will ever want to have sex with you? With someone like you that has a dry vagina?”

I felt a hollow ache within me.

In the past, I had a dry vagina and that contributed to the reason why we never had sex except from engaging in other sexual activities.

Francesco hated it.

Luckily, he disappeared and I met Peter, now Marshall who mended my broken heart. Not only did he do that but he also successfully helped me to get my first orgasm and now I have what is called a wet pussy.

“Now, I have a wet pussy. You ain't gonna have a taste of it,” my heart swelled with pride and happiness as I turned to face him. He was shirtless but I had no concern with that. “And it's better than that of the bitches you've fucked.”

His eyes quickly darted around the room, avoiding eye contact as he took the embarrassment in. He grabbed my neck and pushed me to the wall behind. “When I make you pay for your sin of trespassing in my bathroom, you will have no reason to talk again.” He added, pushing my chin up.

Then, I realized that I was on a mission. My face became haunted with fear as I remembered that I left Bullet in the room.

“What would happen now?” I thought.