The Billionaire's Plaything

Chapter Twenty Three: Breaking Her

CARLO

The meeting had gone very well. Like papa used to tell me, ‘step into a room like you control it and watch it bend into your will.’ I had done just that and made sure he agreed to every damn term I had.

“Young madam is all over the news.” Lucio informed me as I entered my office. The meeting had definitely taken less than we had both expected.

“When is she not all over the news?” I retorted, my mind going to the message she had sent him some minutes into my meeting. Her message had been a reminder of how weak I had been to her charm last night and I wanted none of it.

“She has been lying low since the wedding. You can’t possibly have forgotten that last night was her first public appearance,” Lucio said.

No matter how many times I explained it, Lucio would never see a reason why I had to treat Elena like that. Would never understand why she deserves to live like this.

“Would they ever get tired of their national princess?” I drawled. Putting an intentional emphasis on the princess.

I chuckled as I saw the death glare Lucio was shooting my way.

“Regardless of anything or her media personality, you know very well that she didn’t choose this. And she definitely isn’t a spoilt princess that needs pampering.”

My brows knitted in irritation. I definitely didn’t want to sit there and discuss my wife.

“Okay. That’s enough, how is it going in Italy?” I asked him. All traces of our playful interaction disappeared immediately.

“About three capos have lent their forces to Daniel already” Lucio replied, his entire focus still on his laptop.

“And why exactly are you saying that, like it’s a good thing?” I asked, confused by his out-of place reaction. There were ten capos and I already lorded over three completely.

I was bidding my time for the remaining seven.

“Because we can patiently wait and see the ones that are for Daniel. We can also see if the ones that Gillian talked to but still went on to help Daniel. After all, he’s still the main force in charge.”

Lucio’s analysis was great, but something about it didn’t sit right with me.

Most of these men all wanted to be outstanding enough to be praised by their Don. If by any chance, they found out that they could get this done with this opportunity, they would definitely jump on it.

“I don’t think that’s safe. Sometimes, we have to let them see that we have something more to offer.” I argued, my mind whirling with ideas.

“We won’t have really faithful people on our team then.”

I didn’t reply to Lucio as I didn’t want to disrupt my thought process.

“Let’s go to Italy.” I said after a minute. “We have to be there also, even if it means exposing ourselves.” I added, knowing that was going to be his counterattack.

More than anything, my greatest card over Daniel was Elena. Unlike Elena, who was oblivious, I knew very well that only her and Daniel were biologically related, which was why he spoiled her to the extreme.

“Carlo, are you sure about this?” Lucio asked, his voice was laced with hesitation. Unlike me, he didn’t like to gamble or take extremely risky decisions like that.

“I have an ace card. And I do think that we can use this trip to get as many as six capos under us.”

He held my gaze for more than a minute, only nodding when he felt the resolution in my eyes was more than enough to get by.

More than for the business trip, I was glad I could leave home with a valid reason that wouldn’t have Lucio breathing down my neck about what was right and what wasn’t.

I really wasn’t looking forward to seeing Elena every day, not when she had awoken the desires and longing I had only managed to bury in months.

“Your wife?” As if reading my mind, Lucio spoke up as we reached the car. He opened the driver's seat and got in after looking around briefly.

This was something we both did subconsciously from years of living in the underworld.

I felt some slight bit of anger realizing that Elena wasn’t back home when I got back. She was definitely working late.

So much for sending me quite the number of messages.

“I’ll pack light and be down now.

” I informed him before heading inside the house.

****

My heart wrenched slightly as I saw Elena fall to her knees from the side corner of my eyes.

I was breaking her. Even though I didn’t want to.

I had expected that a daughter from her mother would be shrewd, cold and strong enough to handle all I had in store for her.

No way would I have imagined that underneath all that strong persona she had built to the outside was a really simple princess.

“Elena just came back” Lucio pointed out as I entered the car, he had most likely been there when she got back.

He shot me a look of blame and I shot him a nasty glance that told him I was definitely not ready for that conversation at the moment.

“Let’s go Lucio.”