What Happens When Someone Crosses The Line?
Chapter 198: What Happens When Someone Crosses The Line?
Camilla
"Why do you have to go to Dubai at the last minute?" I asked.
It wasn't a planned trip and it wasn't for the club either. I am starting to come to better terms slowly about the whole mafia thing but whether it was ideal or not, it was a huge part of their lives and I changed it. However, that doesn't mean I still don't want to learn. They promised me that we could talk when I was ready and I think I am now even if it is just to be able to understand them better.
I could feel the intensity of Gregorio's stare especially at my question and based on the small pause of silence, I knew they were all choosing their words right now.
"How much do you want to know?" Gregorio breaks the silence first, staying true to their agreement.
I knew if I directly asked Domenico and Adriano would answer too but I didn't care who it came from as long as it was the truth.
"I don't want you to shelter me." I shake my head, tucking a slightly dampened piece of hair behind my ear as I readjust myself.
"I meant it when I said I love you and that includes this part too."
Even if I feared it would one day be the cause of a lot of compliance for us. I watched as Gregorio nodded, the act was so small that you would only be able to notice if you were looking for it but he nodded nonetheless. It was clear all of them wanted to protect me and I loved them for it but we all knew that wasn't their decision to make. Them choosing to talk told me they respected that.
"When we search our names, you will hear about Gravity and the strains of hotels and casinos we own but those provide very little to our actual worth." Gregorio started, moving up from my foot to my leg to massage it.
"It is the hotels that house some of the most wanted criminals as a hideout and the casinos meant for dealing where they players spend large and go home with large."
My mouth stayed shut as he spoke, simply listening even though I wasn't sure what this had to exactly do with their trip to Dubai. I could tell it was important however, just by the way Adriano's thumb continued to run over my hip as a nervous impulse he needed to relieve.
"I have always been good with numbers and that is why I can understand cheats without a second glance just through observance. Either way, people have to pay up at some point and that is when Domenico tries to talk. He reads people and when he finds they are ingenue, stubborn or straight up crooked, Adriano comes to play."
Tilting my head to the side, I looked at him as I regarded the new slight cut along his chin, barely noticing but still there. Had that from Dubai? Did he hurt the people Gregorio called cheats?
"We have only ever shown you the well behaved side of us but we have a reputation pretty much everywhere for what happens when you cross the line in our territory." Domenico added after a second and I knew he was still trying to soften things for me.
"What happens when someone crosses the line?" I asked.
I had a feeling I already knew but I didn't fear their answer. At this point, I am fairly sure there is pretty little they would be able to tell me that would make me scared of them. Adriano tightens his hold on me just as his mouth falls down to my ear, his breath whispering against my neck.
"Like Gregorio said, people have to pay up somehow. We give them three days to gather what is due and when he find that hasn't happened, their lives become a statement instead."
My breath held as he spoke and may make me fucked up but I couldn't help but feel a little warm at the idea of them taking what is ower to them themselves. I would never accept it if innocents were killed but the thought of them getting their revenge, making those who have double crossed them regret even thinking about it in the first place.
"Be careful how you are looking at us or we might believe you to be a little more like us than we thought, darling." Domenico's eyes flash with something because he knew the light flush of my cheeks had nothing to do with the champagne.
Shifting yet again on Adriano's lap, I didn't say anything for a moment, considering this was all very new waters for him to be in. When I first found out about the mafia, I was more mad that they hid it from me than the fact they were in it themselves. I know there are still loads of things I don't know about them yet but l want to.
"So that is what happens when someone steals from you?" I raise my eyebrows, Adriano keeping me hold of me as I learn forward to grab the bottle of champagne.
"Among other ways." Adriano said against my neck as I refilled my glass, but he didn't add more and I think I was fine with that for today.
To an outsider's eyes, the fact I wasn't trying to run in the opposite direction of them all right now might make me seem crazy but while I am kind-hearted, I never said I was good. I am not running for the sams fact that I didn't stop them from killing that man at the hotel. I am not running for the same fact that one day, I am going to kill Edward and when they are ready, I will offer to help them kill Raphael.
Sometimes there is not always good and bad, heroes and villains. Sometimes there are just two sides to differently similar stories.
"Can I ask you one more question?" I asked, a laugh mixing with my gasp when my feet were suddenly tugged forward until I was positioned into Domenico's hold with my legs over Gregorio's.
The tips of my hair dampened from the stir of water, Adriano somehow looking even hotter from watching me from that sight distance.
"You can always ask us anything, sweetheart." Gregorio said, his hands smoothing up and down my legs as an excuse just to touch me.
They were all a little intimate as they held me, their words sweeter when they spoke and I think it had everything to do with my confession and the fact that what we had wasn't going away anytime soon. It was a good feeling and I think it was one we were all a little high off right now.
"It is a little random and it might not even matter…" I kind of trailed off as I leaned into Domenico's front, exhaling as his hand came to play with my hair.
Hopefully, it wasn't personal or saddening but I knew the mafia wasn't exactly any of their first choice in career paths. I wanted to know more about what they dreamed of, in a life where the world wasn't so complicated.
"Nothing will ever not matter when it comes from you, Camila." Adriano said, moving to sit beside Gregorio as he held my eyes.
He meant every one of those words and the sincerity in his gaze made me blush a little bit. I loved how they never shut me down when I spoke. I was something so small but so big to me.
"This is just imagining but if the mafia never existed and you could choose any job you wanted. What would you want to do?"
I know this would never happen but that didn't change the fact I wanted to know what their aspirations were. Your dreams are always a huge part of you whether you get to live them or not. Just by their eyes, I could tell my question hadn't been what they were expecting. But when I watched as a small smile appeared on Gregorio's face, I knew no boundaries had been crossed.
"I have always been good at drawing and if I could, I would open my own tattoo studio." He said, surprising me enough for him to chuckle a little.
"How did I not know this?" I grin a little amazed because one, he doesn't have a single tattoo on his body and secondly, I have never seen him draw anything before.
Though, there also hasn't exactly been a lot of time recently for me to learn these things.
"Half of our ink was done by him." Domenico said, lifting his arm from the water before tracing his fingertips across his skin.
"This one is my personal favorite."
I tipped my head down to look over the design of a raven with its wings outstretched. The design resides on the top of his right hand above his pointer and middle finger. While it is small, I couldn't help but furrow my eyebrows in question about the fact the bird was cut into several pieces as though a knife had slashed clean through the image multiple times.
"Why is it split up like that?" I asked curiously and noticed the way he shivers slightly when my own fingers start to touch the intricate design.
It started with me watching and ended with me holding his hand, only making things all the sweeter
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