To Play The Devil’s Game

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

‘’As the leader now, you are expected to be at the mafia lords meeting the following week.’’ Alessandro said.

It was two days after the ball and Luciana was still reeling with anger over what Reed had said. It was disgusting to say the least and one thing she would never allow was for him to talk thrash about her family.

‘’You’re still angry’’ Alessandro said.

It wasn’t posed as a question and Luciana didn’t bother to answer. She knew quite well that her anger was evident on her face and it might pop up sometimes until she finally destroyed Reed and everyone he loved. It was going to be her lifelong dream and that was something she would accomplish.

‘’Yes, i am still angry.’’ Luciana said, finally.

She realized that it would be rude for her not to answer him. After all, he was old enough to be her father and had taken up that role ever since her father passed away.

‘’Anger is like energy. Don’t feed on it too much so you wouldn’t get choked.’’ Alessandro said.

‘’I will destroy them all, crush them until they have nothing left.’’ Luciana vowed.

‘’And what is this look i see in your eyes anytime you talk about him hmm?’’

Luciana knew she couldn’t get that past him. Alessandro was very sensitive and very observant when it came to matters like this and she knew the best thing she could do was to come out plain to him and just tell him what was on her mind.

‘’I don’t know.’’ Luciana said.

She decided to play it safe by not implicating herself further. Alessandro gave her a look that screamed that he didn’t believe her. Of course, he wouldn’t. As a matter of fact, nobody would believe her.

‘’I see love and affection in your eyes sometimes when you look at him. It's almost like you want to be with him.’’ Alessandro said.

Now, Luciana knew she was in a tight corner with no hope of coming out from it. She just had to come clean with Alessandro. At least, one person would know how she truly felt.

‘’I think you are seeing wrong Alessandro.’’ Luciana chuckled.

That didn’t fool him as he gave her a pointed look that screamed ‘’liar’’. Luciana just had to come clean if she didn’t want this to drag on and on.

‘’Fine! I think I like him. I know it's not proper, in fact that’s a taboo but I really don’t know what I will do with my emotions. It's disgusting to even think about him that way when he had insulted my family.’’ Luciana spat.

Alessandro laughed, a deep belly laugh that came from within. Luciana didn’t know what was funny but she decided to stay quiet and watch what he wanted to do.

Luciana had a feeling that Alessandro was about to tell her something and she might not even like it but still, she wanted to hear what he had to say.

‘’Do you know its a completely normal thing.’’ Alessandro said finally.

That was not what Luciana was expecting to hear and she couldn’t quite keep the surprise off her face. Alessandro of all people was saying this? It was weird to say the least and she knew he saw the look of surprise on her face.

‘’Say what now?’’

‘’Yes my dear. In Reed’s case, I had already seen the look of affection on your face anytime you talk about him. Its like you always want to be near him.’’ Alessandro chuckled.

‘’Wow! It's how you analyze it so well.’’ Luciana chuckled.

‘’I studied human psychology at school so this comes easy for me,’’ he said.

That was news to Luciana but she knew her father would have known. It was no wonder that he was always good at reading human emotions and knew what she was thinking about.

‘’Wow! You know i had a feeling that you knew something about human emotions and thoughts.’’ Luciana chuckled.

‘’Yep! But that’s not the point now, child. The point now is that you need to control the way you feel about Reed. Remember child, he is your enemy and we wouldn’t want a situation whereby you’d end up falling for him and he would use that against you. You need to be smart and know what you’re getting into Diabla. No mistakes!’’ Alessandro said with a dead look in his eyes.

What he had just said was advice as well as a warning and Luciana knew she’d be a fool not to heed to it. Reed and his entire family had already given her enough reasons for any of them not to trust them and she wasn’t about to make a fatal mistake by falling for the enemy. That was something Luciana vowed not to do.

‘’I understand.’’ she said, finally.

‘’Good! I shall be in the library if you need me.’’ Alessandro said before walking out of the hall.

Luciana sighed, slumping on the sofa beside her. Her head was filled with a whole lot of things, some of which she didn’t quite understand. It was all a haze and a mix of different emotions.

‘’I know i’ll get through this.’’ Luciana murmured.

Just then, her phone gave loud beeps indicating she had a call. Luciana wasn’t expecting any call because she really had no friends. The life she lived wasn’t convenient to make friends and she had shied away from it even as a child. All her life, her father had trained her to become what she was today and she knew she couldn’t throw it all away just because she wanted to make a few measly friends.

Her guns, armors and swords were her friends and she cherished them more than anyone in her life which was good enough for her. Her phone rang again, alerting her to it. Luciana was momentarily startled because her mind was away from everything happening here.

‘’Who in heaven's name are you?’’ she said, swiping her phone open.

She stared at the screen in disbelief, her eyes widening in surprise. Enzo, her cousin, was calling. Luciana couldn’t remember the last time she had spoken to him. They were somewhat estranged because Enzo wanted to always assert his power over her just because he was a man.

According to him, he should be given the power to rule because he was a man and knows better but her father had shut him up and he never spoke of that issue again. But now that her father was dead, Luciana feared the worst but one thing she knew was that she would never give him a chance to intimidate her.

She was widely known as Diabla and she was going to assert her powers over him and everyone. Whatever he had planned out, Luciana would destroy it. That was another promise she would keep.

‘’What do you want?!’’ Luciana asked as soon as she picked up the call.

‘’Oh… is that the way to answer your dear cousin hmm?’’ Enzo chuckled.

His deep set voice had never been so irritating to her like now. She had no idea what he was truly feeling like and in that moment, she had never hated someone how much she hated him in that moment.

‘’For the last time Enzo, what do you want?’’ Luciana said.

She had already decided that if he didn’t give her a tangible reason on why he was calling her, she would cut off the call and block him for life.

‘’Well dear cousin, I just called to let you know that I would be coming for a visit soon. The air here abroad is starting to get to me and I need to feel the rich Italian air on my face. I need to breathe it in.’’ he said.

‘’Why don’t you just die over there? There’s really no point in coming back you know.’’ Luciana said.

‘’My word! Luciana, are you seriously wishing me dead?’’ Enzo said with a hurt tone in his voice.

‘’Yes. I really don’t know why you’re still alive because you have no use.’’ Luciana snapped.

‘’I will tell you i do have a use.’’ Enzo said, completely serious.

‘’Why do i sense a threat in your words?’’

‘’It's not, but a promise. Now that you are the head, I think you know what that means. By the way, please accept my condolences concerning your father’s death. It was terrible… terrible thing to have happened in the Andreas family.’’ Enzo said.

Luciana didn’t know if he was being serious about it or not but whatever it was, she wouldn’t give him a leverage to try anything stupid. She knew him and how dangerous he could be.

‘’Thank you. Now, get off my line.’’ Luciana snapped.

‘’Wait! Just before you leave, I just wanted to remind you that I would still be coming so you should expect my arrival.’’ he said.

‘’I hope not to see you.’’ Luciana said before cutting the call.

Now, she needed a drink and a very strong one at that. She made her way towards the small bar at the corner of the hall. She uncorked her favorite tequila, drinking directly from the bottle. Enzo just had this way of rattling her up but one thing she would never allow him to do was to frustrate her. She was bigger than him and any of that and she was going to show him that she was the boss.

‘’Bastard.’’ she seethed.

‘’Who?’’

Luciana whipped her head around to see Alessandro walking in with a single sheet of paper in his hands.

‘’Enzo.’’ Luciana said.

‘’Oh! The sly… What did he want? Anyway, that doesn’t matter. I just got this.’’ he said, handing her the paper.

Luciana read through and she realized that it was a formal letter from the association of all mafia lords for their meeting which was to be held the following week. The meeting was usually held every two years and now, the time for it had come.

‘’Don’t you think there’s a problem?’’ Luciana said.

‘’What problem? Go on, i’m listening.’’ Alessandro said.

‘’This meeting is to be attended by all the mafia lords and surely, Reed would be there. He’s going to know I'm the head of the Andreas and their greatest enemy. What do i do?’’ Lucina said.

‘’Absolutely nothing.’’ Alessandro said.

He picked up another glass from the counter before pouring a healthy portion of bourbon into his glass.

‘’Really?’’

‘’Yes child. I think it's time for Reed to know what he is dealing with. Now, the battle shall truly begin.’’

‘’You’re right.’’ Luciana smiled.

They clinked their glasses together and they both knew that good things were about to begin.