Chapter 168: What If I Refuse?
Chapter 168: What If I Refuse?
Adriano
"Isn't this exciting?" Raphael said and looked at me the same way he did when I was still a boy. He looked at me like I was still weak.
"Tell me the plan and get out!" I growled, not bothering with the fake smiles and crude words anymore.
If he doesn't leave now, the world would be seeing a new leader very soon and that was a title I refused to take on today. He made me wait in silence as he took a slow sip of his drink, an intentional act that made me see red. He knew and smirked in response.
"Since everyone will be centralized at a designated point, it will only require someone to loop the camera footage for an hour, a person to retrieve the wife and a third person to grab Lucas."
That is, this job is interesting for me and my brothers.
"And as for the others?" I dare to ask, already fearing where this was going.
"Gas leak, a tragic accident if you ask me." He shrugged as though he weren't talking about murdering thousands of people.
I know I have no right to act innocent, I have killed more than I can remember to count but innocent souls are going to die as a result of this plan. Children, families, waitresses and waiters trying just to do their jobs. What he was planning was a massacre and he wanted me to lead it.
"If we were going to grab Lucas and his wife anyways, why then do we need Camilla?" I challenged, needing to find a loophole. There is always another way.
"This was your plan, boy or has your love for her made you as damn stupid as I feared?"
Camilla is going to be the bait to not only plant doubt in Lucas's recruits but to lure her father straight into our hands. Fuck, I didn't think this through before.
"If the plans haven't changed, then why are we having this conversation? The world knows she is in our territory, her father will try to save her and apart from a date being set, this isn't anything new."
I know Raphael and for that reason, I know there is something so much bigger to this than what he was letting on. When that stupid fucking smile of his appearance once again, I mentally brace myself for the information I am about to get. This is what I have been waiting to hear but instead of words, he just reaches into his suit pocket.
He made me wait as he slowly retracts his hand, a small red box being pulled out, one that I hate to admit terrifies me. Popping the case open, he slid the smooth velvet across the table and into my hold.
"Being by your side make the world think she is some temporary fuck toy of yours. A ring however…." He grins, pausing dramatically.
"Imagine the amount of media we would get from one of the world's wealthiest bachelors known for never seeing the same girl twice announcing his engagement after years of rejecting women."
"No!" I snapped and tossed the box back at him.
"I am not marrying anybody and certainly not the daughter of the man who murdered our mother."
What I want is that when I marry Camilla, it is going to be with me on my knees worshiping the ground she fucking walks on, not one built up of lies and manipulation.
I know the day she will find out about her father and our involvement in his disappearance is going to cause everything to blow up. But I will spend the rest of my miserable life begging her if that is what it takes to get her back. She is my forever and I am hers always. It doesn't make sense but none of this fucking does.
"So, are you telling me you are fine having a woman who is not from our clan married to the heir of our mafia, publicly?"
Something is not adding up here and I can tell there is more to this. But of course there is, it wouldn't be Raphael if everything wasn't so damn cryptic.
"Obviously not, you will propose in public, walk her around with a ring on her finger for a while and then take care of the problem once she is in our hold."
I was supposed to play with her heart just to stab a knife into it until life faded from her eyes. The image of that caused something to change inside me, something I knew he noticed. I turned cold, my anger, terror and sadness all numbed into an expression I have mastered over the years of growing up in this life.
If I were to be the one to drag Camilla to death's door, then I would become death itself to keep her from passing through. I will become everything I have feared myself capable of becoming if it meant keeping her safe. Even if that means destroying myself in the process.
"And if I refuse?" I raised an eyebrow, my voice being forced into a state of cruelty and dominance.
It was one he met eye to eye with, clearly infuriated that I would even dare to say no. It meant all of his years of conditioning me broke, all by the thing he hated most which is love.
"I am invoking your first oath of two in exchange for dear brother's life."
This man is completely insane. I stood up immediately and he followed me but I refused to let even his physical stance put him above me.
When Gregorio pulled a gun on him a few weeks ago to protect our girl, he committed an act of treason in the eyes of the mafia. The rules are applicable to anyone in the clan, not minding related by blood or being the heir. So I had to make a deal to save my dearest brother.
"You will propose to that girl and you will do it in public. If you go against your word, not even blood relation you save you and your brothers."
I understood what he was saying perfectly clearly but I was done being controlled by him. I will fight to keep Camilla protected until I am buried six feet, Gregorio and Domenico by my side.
"Your brothers will be getting their own orders soon enough and it will do you all good to not push me on this." He said and he walked to the front door, myself following but done speaking to him.
A smirk was still worn on his face, smugness in his stance but what today made me remember was that Raphael underestimated me. He believes me to be weak and fearful and while I may be scared, I am anything but powerless.
My fear for Camilla's life is what will keep her alive even if I won't be a part of it. Leaning against the wall and watching his hand open the door, he moves halfway outside before turning back to me.
"You will take the girl to that little coffee shop of your aunt and propose to her there on the tenth of June where plenty of people can see." He said, but I didn't say a word, not even a nod.
I know this irks him and I take great pride in that knowledge. He physically doesn't falter though, maintaining that fake grin on his face until it turns into something real lethal.
"You don't seem as enthusiastic as I am but it is okay." He said slowly, his tone not matching his words.
"Maybe your gift will excite you for the real thing."
With that he stepped away and I didn't waste a second before slamming the door in his face. Like a fucking engagement ring makes me happy, it was a death sentence, one in which I still couldn't find a way out of.
Angrily walking down the hall and to the living room, my head snapped towards the unannounced opening of the elevator doors when the chime greeted me shortly after. Nobody stood where my eyes traveled but in a blink, a recognition crossed my eyes and panic gripped at my heart. It was Camilla.
Running over to the unconscious woman on the elevator floor, her wavy hair splays across her back over the same clothes she left in yesterday. I couldn't breathe as I crashed to my knees beside her body, realizing the pool of blood around her head a second before I saw a face I didn't recognize.
Despite the same hair and attire, the person before me doesn't have the light dusting of freckles across her cheeks or the cupid's bow shape of Camilla's lips.
'Maybe your gift will excite you for the real thing.' Raphael's words struck through my head.
I had thought he was talking about the engagement ring he left behind but this was so much worse. I was given the illusion of Camilla's death by a bullet wound to the head, only the point was made through someone completely different. This woman was likely an innocent caught in the middle of my father's lesson and paid the price with her life.
I was shaking as I remained kneeled on the ground and couldn't move until I heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind me. Gregorio and Domenico just got back home and I was about to fucking explode.
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