My Mafia Madness 3

Chapter 29 - Set Up

Roberto was beyond furious right now as he paced back and forth along the hallway just outside of one of Dante’s guest rooms, located back at his penthouse apartment.

By now it was three hours later, and the Gala Ball had long since finished, with the guests all having headed home for the evening.

Willow was currently inside, passed out from the powerful sedatives that poor Roberto had been forced to use on her.

And racked with incredible guilt, he couldn’t allow himself to relax, not even for a second after it had happened.

He felt terrible for doing such a thing to her.

There was no way in hell that Willow could possibly think to forgive him after this, he knew that much, and it broke his heart in two.

It appeared that their attempt at luring out whoever was working alongside Sophie in her attempt to try and blackmail Dante had suddenly backfired in their faces.

And in the heat of the moment, what with Willow panicking and threatening to ruin everything that they had planned with the entirely staged scene she had witnessed, Roberto was forced to step in and be the one to sedate his own girlfriend.

Stopping for a moment and taking a break from his constant pacing with a great big sigh, Roberto glanced across to one of the nearby chairs positioned up against the wall of the luxuriously decorated hallway and moved towards it.

Dragging it over, he positioned it right beside the door leading into the guest room before sitting down onto it and burying his face in his open palms.

He had no idea of what he should do right now…

Should he try talking to her whenever she woke up?

Would she even listen to whatever he had to say?

Had everything they had been through together come to an abrupt halt?

The sound of footsteps approaching suddenly alerted him as he lifted his head out of his hands and looked up to see the approaching figure.

It was his older brother, Dante.

Closing his eyes and turning his head away in anger, Roberto let out a breathy sigh as he struggled to control his inner rage over what had happened.

It wasn’t as if he had blamed Dante for any of this.

The truth was it was an unfortunate mistake, one they had not foreseen occurring amidst all of their planning.

But being his bigger brother and knowing that Roberto was in a vulnerable state of mind right now, Dante had come to have a chat and see how he was doing.

Because, even as ruthless and cold as he had to be at times in his line of work, deep down he cared for the ones he loved.

Dante grabbed the back of another chair before dragging it over as he began speaking.

“You planning on staying here all night?” the Don queried calmly, sitting down onto his own chair which he had positioned right in front of his brother.

Dante leaned forwards with his arms resting on both his knees as he looked to his brother.

“I’ll stay as long as I need to.”

Roberto spoke harshly, the evidence of his hurt showing within his tone.

“I want to be here when she wakes. I did this to her, I want to explain things… if she’ll hear me out, that is.”

Dante glanced at the floor as he nodded to show his understanding.

“Fair enough.”

Roberto lifted his head, along with his gaze as he looked to his brother with a more desperate expression now.

“Tell me we at least got something out of all this bullshit...” he pleaded.

“Something about who it was conspiring with that b***h Sophie?”

Dante pursed his lips together, avoiding eye contact with his brother as his chest heaved proudly with one of his large breaths.

And this was enough of an answer for Roberto who frowned, shaking his head from side to side, slowly and out of frustration.

“CAZZO!” (f**k!)

Roberto cursed aloud through gritted teeth.

“I placed a tracker on Sophie’s purse. We’ll at least have ears of whoever she talks to next. I know it’s not what you wanted, the concrete evidence of whoever is behind this, but… it’s better than nothing.”

Roberto shrugged.

“I guess.” he muttered, keeping his head hung low out of frustration.

A sudden thought crossed Roberto’s mind as he spoke, lifting his head up once more.

“What about Alexa?” he asked, instantly catching Dante’s full attention now.

“What about her?” the Don countered.

“Have you told her what happened there tonight?” Roberto queried out of curiosity.

Dante’s frown was hinted with warning as he gave his reply with a threatening tone to it.

“No. And there is no reason for her to find about it either.” the Don reminded sternly.

Roberto licked his dry lips, shaking his head as he spoke.

“Dante, you know it’s gonna come out somehow. Whether it’s through Willow or someone else. Alexa’s gonna find out-” he admitted.

But the Don cut in over him.

“-I’ll handle it.”

“Handle it? What does that mean?” Roberto interjected.

“Like I said…”

Dante spoke with his usual aura of authority and his brow lifted in obvious power.

“When the time does eventually come, I’ll handle it.”

Deciding it’s best not to argue with his brother, either out of logic-mindedness or pure exhaustion from what had happened this evening, Roberto rolled his eyes before he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone.

Dante watched as he unlocked it and began swiping through the photos that he had stored on his device.

Roberto was at that very moment looking at photos of Willow that had been taken over the past couple of months.

A smile began to force its way onto his mouth, curving his lips upwards as he slid from one picture to the next in silence.

And Dante could clearly see the happiness that this woman was bringing to his brother. Something that he hadn’t seen in either Roberto or Matteo in such a long time.

“You really care about her… don’t you?” the Don found himself asking all of a sudden, breaking the silence and causing Roberto to glance up from his phone.

Roberto’s expression showed the utter seriousness of his heart’s desire as he spoke his response aloud and with all honesty.

“I think I love her, man.”

This appeared to have rattled Dante a little as he shifted in his chair a bit before leaning back rather casually and resting his hand upon his bent knee.

“I know you probably don’t believe me and everything. I mean, we kinda just met, but-”

“-I believe you.”

Dante’s words had caused his brother to immediately silence, shocked by the Don’s confession as he sat upright for a moment.

“Seriously?”

Dante nodded his head.

“Six months ago if you’d have asked me whether I believe in something as meaningless as love, I would have told you outright no. Without question. After what happened with Michelle… the betrayal… I closed myself off, focused on the family business and kept my head in the game.”

Roberto listened intently to his brother as he opened himself for the first time in forever.

This was indeed a rare moment for the infamous Reaper!

“The day I met Alexa in the elevator, when I woke up in the morning, I had no plans to fall in love. To settle down and start a family of my own... I mean, why would I? I had the whole world at my very fingertips. I thought that there was nothing that could stop me… as it turns out, I was dead wrong.”

Dante let out a long, lengthy breath before continuing with his admission.

“But that woman… that beautiful, intoxicating woman... she brings me back to life without even knowing it. Whenever she’s around, I begin to feel again.”

Smiling, Roberto nodded his head in understanding.

“Alexa’s perfect for you, you know that?” he pointed out.

Now it was Dante who smiled, though it wasn’t a big enough smile to show his dazzling white teeth.

“You ask me if I believe in such things as love…” Dante prompted.

“And my answer is yes. I do believe in such things.”

The Don leaned forwards, reaching out and placing his hand onto Roberto’s shoulder as he looked his younger brother in the eye and spoke again.

“And if you love her… I mean truly love her… I warn you brother, to never let her go.”

Roberto, who was also staring deep into his brother’s matching eyes, smiled as he nodded once more.

“Not a chance in hell.” he announced confidently.

“That woman’s not going anywhere, even if I have to tie her down to my bed for the rest of our lives.”

Dante gave a dark chuckle as he leaned back once more.

“Be careful… I don’t know Willow in that way, but I get the feeling that she might like that.”

With one last smile, the Don rose from his seat and turned, beginning to make his way back down the hall to retire for the evening with Alexa in the master bedroom after their eventful night.

And glancing over his shoulder one last time at his brother, Dante could see just how special Willow had become to Roberto. There was no question in his mind anymore.

It seemed that he would have to find a way to convince the fiery red head to stay and give his brother a chance to explain. And in the morning, that was exactly what he planned on doing.

Dante would have a word with Willow himself... in person.

-

Before Dante made his way to the master bedroom, he made one last phone call to Nicola regarding the tail they had placed on Sophie after the ball had ended.

The tracker and inbuilt microphone that Dante had planted on her purse seemed to be working from what he had been told by his men, but he just wanted to make sure that they had eyes and ears on her before he went to bed.

As usual, the phone rang once before the underboss answered.

“Yeah, boss?”

“How’s it looking so far?” Dante spoke vaguely, in case their call was being monitored by someone outside of their family.

Not that it ever was.

They were always too careful for anything like that to possibly happen.

Still, it had become more of a habit for him since having been raised in such an untrusting sort of world.

“Eyes and ears are a go.”

Nicola reported, he too speaking vaguely.

“Looks like the package is currently staying in a room at Hotel Edison from what we can gather. Checked in around half an hour ago and has been alone in the room since then from what we can hear.”

Nodding, Dante spoke.

“Alright. Inform me if she speaks with anyone. I want to know as soon as it happens, got it?”

“Si, Capo.” (Yeah, boss.) Nicola replied before the call was quickly ended.

-

When Dante finally arrived in the master bedroom and walked into the room, he was surprised to see Alexa sitting up on the bed, her eyes on him as he closed the door behind him softly.

“Bella, what are you doing up so late. hmm?” he queried, shrugging off his suit jacket before placing it over the edge of a nearby chair.

Alexa suddenly dropped her gaze towards the floor now as she spoke rather hesitantly.

“I, uh… I couldn’t sleep.”

She managed to fumble together the last-minute lie, still refusing to meet his eyes a second time as he continued to take off articles of his clothing one at a time.

And of course, this made Dante feel wary that something might be wrong.

Frowning cautiously, he came over and sat beside her on the bed.

“What’s going on?” he questioned, clearly concerned for her wellbeing in their uncomfortable moment.

But what he hadn’t yet seen was the phone she was currently holding in her other hand, the one revealing an incredibly damaging photo that she had just been sent by an anonymous source.

Even this late at night.

A photo that had been taken without the Reaper’s knowledge.

“Bella? Talk to me.” he urged softly, reaching out his hand and placing it on her upper thigh.

But the moment his hand had made contact with her skin, Alexa flinched, pulling away and moving to stand up with a pained expression on her face.

Dante could see as tears began filling both of her usually warm and bright brown eyes.

Something was definitely wrong!

“Alexa, tell me what’s wrong. I want to help you.”

Shaking her head, she looked as if she were about to burst into tears at any second. The phone was still clutched tightly in her right hand as she stood staring at him in disbelief.

Maybe she was trying to convince herself that it was all a joke. Or a doctored photo. That would have made sense.

Before she could stop herself, her lips parted and she spoke what she was so desperately trying to prevent herself from saying.

“Do you love her?”

The sudden and unexpected question had the Don’s brows furrowing inwards in confusion as he narrowed his green eyes and tried to make sense of what it was that she was asking him right now.

“Love? Love who?” he queried.

“You know who!” she shot back at him, her tears finally bursting to the surface and pooling in the corners of her eyes as she continued to stand her ground.

“I asked you a question, Dante Romano! Do you love her?”

Still, Dante was baffled by the way she was suddenly acting towards him and he stood up to try and close the distance between them, to smooth things over before they erupted any further.

But with each of his steps in towards her, Alexa took a counter step backwards, clearly not wanting to be anywhere near him right now.

“Alexa, you’re not making any sense-” he tried explaining, but she quickly spoke over him, clearly beyond furious by now.

“-Is that right?”

She paused, holding out her phone with the screen facing him as she snapped her next remark at him.

“Does this happen to jog your memory?”

Coming in closer to him and taking the phone from her visibly trembling hand, Dante held it in closer towards himself so that he could see whatever it was that had his fiancé so highly strung.

Whatever it was, she seemed pissed!

And as soon as his emerald-green eyes fixated on the image displayed on her phone’s screen, his heart suddenly sank as a feeling of pure dread settled in its place.

His entire mannerism changed within that very moment, with his shoulders slumping over and his face falling in deepened despair.

It was a photo of him taken earlier on that evening, during the Gala Ball.

And in it he was locking lips with Sophie!