Sold to the Capo-Chapter 58: THE RETURN OF THE GHOST

ADRIANA’S POV

It was already getting to late evening, and I found myself in the art studio that Vincenzo had shown me what felt like ages ago.

He had left me the key on that day, and maybe it was to show how serious he was about trying to help me, and now, when I looked around, I felt myself drawn to that one painting of his mum, my legs naturally finding their way to it.

I stared long and hard at it, trying to form a full picture of it in my head, to grasp the person who was the muse of this art but I couldn’t. Slowly, I reached a hand to touch it but then I quickly retracted my hand, knowing that I probably shouldn’t. Vincenzo wouldn’t want that.

With a small smile to myself, I wandered about the room, checking the other paintings like this was the first time I was here when I had been here a couple of times to ease my mind. It never got old here.

Suddenly, my phone rang, disturbing the peace of the environment, and I groaned, pulling it out and seeing Valentina’s name on the screen.

What did she want?

"Hello?" I finally picked up the call.

There was a faint sound of voices in the background, and Valentina’s voice sounded strained like she was walking or just really tired. "Hey, so Grace called." She went straight to the point.

"What does that have to do with me?", I asked, my tone a bit more rude than I intended.

"She’s worried about your behavior and said you locked up yesterday" Valentina replied, her voice soft but chiding.

"Yeah, I just needed some time to pack up Vincenzo’s stuff"

There was a slight pause then Valentina spoke up. "Look, I don’t want to get your hopes high, but I think the forensics reports are fake," She whispered into the speaker.

My hand around the phone tightened even more and my lips wobbled. "Explain"

"I don’t know, something’s definitely wrong here... keep an eye on Master LaRosa when he comes there. I probably won’t be there, but Salvatore and Henry will be there. Keep an eye on Ravolo especially" She warned.

Ravolo?

"That Bastard is coming here again?" I asked, my voice strained.

"He’s the most likely candidate to become the next Don" Valentina told me.

The thought made my skin crawl; I never realized how safe I was under Vincenzo until now; if I was given to Ravolo, I could only imagine the things he would do to me.

"Okay, I understand. Concentrate on your work and don’t bother about me. I’m fine" I looked up at the large painting of his mum on the wall as I spoke to her.

"Okay...bye"

We hung up, and I found myself staring at the painting again, but my mind wasn’t there again; I was thinking about how today would pan out.

After a while, I left the room, carefully locking it again before I left the house. Apparently, I wasn’t allowed to leave the house for now until Master LaRosa came according to the orders he had given them. Great.

I was basically under house arrest. Son of a bitch.

With that in mind, I just walked around the house aimlessly, giving slight nods to all the guards who stopped to bow to me, some offering a few words surprisingly. Justin, who was in the Cavalieri, jogged up to me as I walked back to the house, a grim look on his face.

"Hey," He greeted.

I stopped to look at him properly, sizing him up. "What?"

He shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. "I was just wondering, you’ve not been active for a few days, so I thought you would want to start training with us tomorrow," He suggested.

My heart ached at that. I had been training with Vincenzo for so long, and it just didn’t feel right to continue that one thing like his presence had meant nothing.

"No, thanks. I’m training solo" I smiled at him. I had been coming down in the evenings to practice my shots and I think I had gotten good at it so far. It’s still far from anything that good, but I was a decent enough shot.

He nodded and backed away. "Okay..." then he smiled again before walking away.

I kind of felt bad for just declining his offer when he was just trying to help but I didn’t want to accept it just to please them. I was tired of pleasing people.

Walking back into the house was a very comforting thing to do, and I grabbed a bite from the kitchen before I went to the room to grab my gun that I had under the pillow. The last thing I wanted was for Grace to come in and find it, she would definitely report it to Salvatore, and I didn’t want anything to do with that man.

Somewhere between the evening, I could hear the sounds of cars driving into the mansion, and I quickly stood up, peeping outside to see a Black Gordon Murray T.33 in between the fleet of cars driving in, and I immediately knew that I was looking at the car of Master LaRosa.

I had met the man once, but that was with Vincenzo; this was totally different now that Vincenzo was no longer here. I quickly shut the window as the cars came to a stop at the mansion. Then I quickly tucked my gun into my back pocket, and I wore my coat over it, also strapping a knife to my leg if I was threatened by anything.

The sound of the door pushed open made my eyes go wide, and I rushed out of the room only to bump into Henry, who had a grim look on his face. "Quick one, You don’t know who Grace is. You’ve never seen her, and she definitely doesn’t stay here, got it?" He said in one breath.

Huh?

The confusion on my face must have shown because he cursed silently and grabbed my shoulders. "Answer me. You can’t say anything about her no matter what, got it?"

I opened my mouth to talk but someone else beat me to it. "Henry. Get her down here, will you?" Someone from downstairs said in an emotionless tone.

Henry quickly took a step away from me, sending me a warning glance before he nodded at me. "Behave," He muttered under his breath as he gestured for me to go down the stairs, which I did, my steps slow and deliberate.

As I neared the bottom of the stairs, I did a quick sweep of everyone downstairs. Salvatore, who was already sitting down next to Ravolo, whose eyes snaked all over m,e, then about 10 other men who had to be Master LaRosa’s personal guards judging from the air around them.

Justin and a few other members of the Cavalieri were standing behind Salvatore, their faces grim and serious, and then lastly, the devil in a black coat who was staring at me with a blank look as I made my way over to them.

"Glad you could join us" Ravolo spoke up first, not hiding the fact that he was checking me out.

Bastard.

Without answering him, I sat beside Salvatore, aware of the gun pressing into my back from where I had tucked it. That was really uncomfortable but I kept my face passive.

"We’re all aware that we lost Vincenzo a few days back and while we do have to mourn the Don, we have to discuss who will become the next Don. I want to propose something. I intend to merge my business and this, merge the two families and take over for my late cousin," Salvatore began, his tone serious.

Master LaRosa kept his beady eyes on me though he listened intently to Salvatore. "However I already have a candidate. Ravolo here"

Salvatore beside me stiffened and so did it. Master LaRosa would have the final verdict and I didn’t want to imagine what would happen if Ravolo became the next Don. I would rather kill them and kill myself than subject myself to be under him.

"Then let’s cut to the chase. I’m a better match than him, Master LaRosa, what’s it to be?"

"Ravolo it is. The woman goes under him too. He’ll treat her properly," Master LaRosa announced, a smirk crawling up his lips, seeing how my face paled.

Salvatore gritted his teeth but he didn’t argue. "When does this take effect?"

"He’ll be named Don after the official burial for Vincenzo, but the woman is his starting now," Master LaRosa announced.

Ravolo gave a predatory grin and started circling the table to come to me and I was gently bidding my time for when I would pull out my gun and shoot him before they shot me. If I was going to die, I would take this bastard with me.

Just before he got to me and I was counting down in my head, muttering last prayers in my head, the door burst open and a gunshot rang out, Ravolo halting immediately, his eyes wide as he stared down at the blood soaking through his clothes.

My eyes widened and I was a bit stunned by the blood that splashed slightly on my face as he was close to me when he was shot.

Everyone was alarmed immediately,, and I heard guns being aimed at someone at the doo,r, but I didn’t immediately see the person until Ravolo’s body crumpled to the ground, and my eyes widened.

A man in a blue casual shirt and sweater with a bandage around his head was standing at the door, anger written over his face.

"Anyone who touches her dies by my gun, father. Tell your men to stand down" The person yelled, his gun pointed to Master LaRosa.

I felt a hollow ache in my chest, and tears pricked in my eyes, barely unable to believe it.

"Vincenzo?" The words escaped my lips in shock and confusion.