Sold to the Capo-Chapter 83: ONE DAY TO RISK IT ALL

ADRIANA’S POV

He had held me through the night, his hands wrapped around my waist protectively even though he seemed hesitant at first.

I couldn’t tell why he didn’t want to at first. He had been giving me the green light for a while, but now he seemed shut off. Was it because I was leaving? Maybe he didn’t want to show any sort of acknowledgment during my last day here.

My last day here... 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The words hit me again and I couldn’t still believe it. The sun had risen and I was sitting at the edge of the bed, my hands gripping the duvet tightly in my hands.

I had spent about 6 months here already and it already meant a lot to me. No matter how much it seemed to treat me at first, I had adapted and I owed it all to this place. To these people here.

If I was going to leave anyway, I wanted to go all out and do whatever I wanted without a care in the world. I wanted to take the risk here for just one day. I would probably never see them again. If the clash happened and ended, even if they were fine, I may never come back to Italy.

My father’s search was put on hold for me; I didn’t care about that again; coming here for him had taught me stuff, but it didn’t make me find him. Vincenzo said he had cleared all my debts, so if I had dangerous enemies now, it would be because I had been married to him, and the enemy might believe it would be a way to get a hold of him.

Would he even come if something happened? I knew I could at least try to defend myself in a combat but he would take my gun away. I was no longer in his house, I wouldn’t need that anymore.

As we lay in bed last night, he had told me that he would tell me some more details this morning which is why I was walking out of the room groggily right now.

Using my palms, I tried to tame my hair, sighing when I finally got it to stop looking like a bird’s nest.

Walking down the stairs, I looked around the house.

Empty.

Where was he?

I grudgingly walked back up the stairs to get freshened up for the day and when I was done with that, I sauntered to the kitchen for breakfast.

Surprisingly, there was a plate of toast, eggs, and juice already waiting in the kitchen for me. I had intended to quickly make something for myself but seeing breakfast on the table made me know that he had woken up a long time ago to be able to do this before he left the house.

With a sigh, I sat down and started to eat, forcing it to go down my throat.

I had less than 24 hours to get my ass out of here and it was still difficult for me to fathom it.

After breakfast, there was still no sign of Vincenzo so I decided to take a walk around the mansion one last time.

Immediately I got out the door, I saw Matilda, a member of the home guards coming to meet me, her snake tattoo peeking out the top of her neck as she had worn a turtleneck.

"Good morning" My voice came out hoarse as I walked down the slight steps that led to the mansion’s door.

She didn’t have any weapons on her today and she looked like she had just come back from the morning jog with the others. "Good morning to you, too; you look like you’ve seen a ghost," she pointed out.

Subconsciously, I reached out and rubbed at my face, a sigh escaping my lips. "I feel like it too" I muttered without thinking.

"What’s up here?" A deep gruff but playful voice suddenly interrupted.

I looked up at the man with a smile. "Castillo" I grinned.

Matilda looked at the man who had swung his arm around her shoulder to pull her closer in a playful manner. "What are you guys talking about? Looked serious when I saw Matilda checking you out" He nodded to me while clicking his tongue.

Despite the inner turmoil in me, I let out a smile. Castillo, a man with a rough exterior, but after my dinner with the Cavalieri that almost got me in trouble, he had opened up slowly but surely, just like everyone here. They hadn’t changed about me even once since then not even after the speculations that I was the one who had caused Vincenzo’s almost death then.

They probably didn’t know I was leaving; Vincenzo would keep it to himself so no one could alert the enemy; he still didn’t know who the snitch was, so he couldn’t risk my safety by telling someone other than Val. He told Val.

Val.

I hadn’t spoken to her since yesterday and I figured that I should talk to her about what had happened before I left the place.

"As much as I’d like to continue this conversation, I have to ask. Where’s Valentina?" I asked, looking over their shoulder.

There was no training today, and usually, she’d drop by the mansion to check up on me, but she was also keeping her distance. Just like Vincenzo.

"She’s somewhere in the gardens or something. Not sure though. The boss is in the blonde’s house" Castillo shrugged, a grin on his face as Matilda struggled with his hand that held her close.

"The blonde?" I raised a brow.

Matilda shot me a sorry look. "Grace"

Castillo shrugged again, a nonchalant look on his face. "Oh, that’s her name. Never spoken to her but she’s hot..." he paused, seeing the amused look on my face. "But you’re hotter" he added quickly.

A chuckle escaped my lips and Matilda used her hand to smack him. "If Don Enzo hears you saying that, you’re dead meat"

He smirked at me. "She knows I’m just joking around but seriously though..." He shrugged.

I waved a hand dismissively, laughing as I walked away, now walking normally. I turned around one last time to see both of them and a sad smile curved my lips.

Goodbye.

Turning back around, a sad look on my face, I walked to the gardens and unfortunately didn’t get to see Valentina so I decided to check her room in the quarters.

Walking there seemed to take an eternity, and when I finally got there, I knocked on the door,, and sure enough, there was the sound of footsteps. Then the door swung open, and the annoyance on her face morphed into surprise.

"Adriana..." she immediately came out of the house, shutting the door behind her.

She leaned against the wall, a confused look on her face. "Shouldn’t you be resting right now?" She asked and immediately, I felt like a jerk for my reaction the previous day.

"I’m fine..." I whispered.

She nodded, the same look on her face, but soon, the tapping of her feet on the floor made me know that she felt just as awkward as I did. "I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about Vincㅡ"

I immediately cut her off, not wanting her to think that was why I was there. "It’s totally fine. I’m not here to talk about that honestly, I just wanted to apologize, I overreacted yesterday without hearing the full story" I said, fiddling with the hem of my shirt

She looked taken aback and for a brief second, she looked away. "You don’t have to apologize, we’re cool"

"We are? I kinda missed my friend..." The words came tumbling out of my mouth, but she didn’t seem to mind; she just wrapped her hands around me, pulling me into a hug.

"I’ll miss you, you were the older sister I always wanted but never had. Thank you" She whispered into my hair.

Tears pricked my eyes as I suddenly realized how much I would miss her. "Thank you, Valentina... I don’t want to go... I... thank you..." no amount of words could be used to thank her for everything she had done for me.

She had been the one constantly telling me not to give up even when sometimes it felt like I wasn’t meant for this type of place and I would die at the slightest threat. She taught me stuff, she showed me stuff that I could never have known I was capable of because of how I had always been hiding.

With a chuckle, she pulled away, her voice cracking. "Have you seen Vincenzo?"

"No, I think he’s avoiding me" I smiled at her.

"He’s not avoiding you and you know it. He’s just worried about messing things up right now and doing something wrong. Are you gonna leave without even telling him that you like him?"

My eyes widened and I almost clamped my hand over her mouth. "Don’t say that. I don’t like him" I hissed. "I’m just fucking attracted to him"

She shrugged. "Keep lying to yourself, Rossi" She made use of my last name teasingly.

"Where is he anyways?" I asked, trying to maintain a cool composure.

"Grace’s house. They’ve been busy with work and he said he’d fill you in"

My heart skipped a beat at that. "Okay, I’ll thank him for everything he has done for me later"

Thank him for everything. Not tell him that I liked him and I wished he did like me too.

"Adriana..." Val’s voice brought me out of my thoughts.

"Hm?"

"Don’t just thank him. If you don’t say it now, you’ll end up regretting it for the rest of your absence from here.. and you know it"

She was right. I had to tell him before I left.