Sold to the Capo-Chapter 117: CURIOSITY
ADRIANA’S POV
It felt like the air has been knocked out of my windpipes as the man stared at us, a grin still on his face.
How did heㅡ
Vincenzo didn’t show that the news affected him, if anything, he looked more amused than worried.
This was huge.
Someone else knowing about the ledger? We were risking selling ourselves out to the other families.
"You’re not going to ask me what I want?" The man arched a brow, his gaze darting from Vincenzo to mine every few seconds, trying to gauge our reactions. "I do know about the ledger from a trusted source and I happen to find out that it’s no longer in your possession which is why I’m here, I’m sure you know that I won’t strike a deal if I could help it. I don’t like making deals with enemies" The man’s smile wiped away and was replaced with a deep scowl that made his forehead crease.
Vincenzo leaned forward in his seat, his hand on his laps as he looked at me for a brief second, shaking his head imperceptibly before he looked back at Don Luca. "Let me humor you then, what legder are you talking about because I’m pretty certain that I never mentioned having a ledger so your claim happens to be quite ridiculous" Vincenzo kept a straight face but I knew that he was stressed deep downㅡhis nails were digging into his palm already and his jaw was tightㅡ he wanted to know how much the man knew and not just accept it.
Don Luca was unfazed however, the man swiped a hand across his face and shook his head. "The Bratva attacked your ranks yet you’re still standing even without our help, the target wasn’t you, hm? I’m pretty sure every single one of those bozos at the meeting knows that but it seems that I was the only one lucky enough to find out that you happened to go back to Master LaRosa’s mansion that same day...almost immediately after the attack, I dare say." The man pointed out.
Vincenzo and I were silent, watching the man, waiting for him to go on with his tirade.
"Clearly, you lot were bothered that something had gone wrong there. You left your ranks in the hands of your officials which is something you would never do unless it was so important, I think it called for a little digging into, hm? I’m not going to tell you how I know but what I will tell you is that I know it’s not in your hands and I don’t know where it is but knowing you, it has dirt on everyone of us and I don’t care about them but I certainly will not sit back and watch my house crumble because of a stupid mistake" The man said, his lips curled into a snarl.
"Which leaves me with the question of what is your point?" Vincenzo’s voice was borderline dangerous and I knew he was probably calculating what this man wanted.
"I won’t rat you out to the others because my stuff are also recorded in that legder and while I know that you won’t tell me if it is, I would rather not make assumptions but let me just ask, please humor me.... Is the Carlos family deeds recorded in that ledger?" Don Luca asked, his voice curious.
I looked over at Vincenzo, wondering what he’d say to that and the man fucking smirked at Luca. "I guess we’ll just have to find out, yeah?" He said mysteriously.
Don Luca’s lips tightened in a thin smile. "You’ve made your point, you won’t tell me. Here’s what I propose, let me in on your plans on how to get it back and stop the Bratva or I will be willing to risk it all and rat you out to the other families. Who knows? I could use the chaos to my advantage" Luca shrugged and I felt tempted to butt in.
"How do you think you can be of help? Surely, you can’t be dead weight, yeah?" I asked, my voice slightly taunting.
Don Luca whipped his neck to look at me, confusion filling his gaze like he had forgotten that I was there. "Oh, Signorina... Of course I do not plan to be dead weight, Don Enzo knows that much. I’m quite... efficient at what I do and whatever you want to do, you’ll need my help or someone’s help and since I’m the only one who’s aware amongst the other idiots, you’ll have to rely on me" He paused and looked at Vincenzo who was knitting his fingers together, his face expressionless but his brows were knitted ㅡ an almost unnoticeable feature when he was stressed but I had known him enough to pick up on his little habits.
Don Luca was tapping his feet incessantly waiting for Vincenzo to say something and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t also anxious to hear what Vincenzo was going to say. Don Luca had a great point though and I knew it was already hard on Vincenzo with my plan and his plan combined so having an extra hand wouldn’t hurt, would it? It’d be very unlikely for Don Luca to betray us, his business was on the line as it was.
Vincenzo levelled him with a glare that would have sent most wishing that they would just crawl into the ground but Don Luca met his gaze head on, his chin slightly raised.
"You know, I could simply...take care of you to make sure you don’t talk. Right now" Vincenzo tilted his head to the side to smirk at the man, the gesture nothing short of predatory.
Was he... threatening to kill him? My heart caught in my throat and I looked at Vincenzo in alarm.
"I fully understand that, you have no reason to worry" Don Luca said, his jaw tight with anger, clearly not liking the blatant threat.
There was silence for a minute and I felt glad that Vincenzo was not actually going to do anything to the man, thankfully.
"So what do you say? Do we have a deal?" Don Luca asked, his tone back to normal.
I looked at Vincenzo also, expecting an answer, he seemed to be thinking about it deeply, weighing the options before he looked at me, a soft smile softening his features as he took me inㅡ probably the first positive facial expression that he had expressed in the last hour since we had sat here for the meeting.
"Well?" Vincenzo arched a brow, clearly talking to me.
Huh?
"What?" I asked, confused.
Don Luca also looked at me, probably wondering why Vincenzo was consulting me. That made two of us.
Vincenzo shrugged like I should understand what he was trying to say but when he saw the blatant confusion on my face, he sighed and looked back at Don Luca, his expression hardening almost instantly.
"My wife will let you know the decision" He said matter of factly.
I froze. Don Luca froze. Even time seemed to freeze.
What. The. Fuck?
Don Luca’s lips quivered slightly and he turned to look at me, a stony look in his eyes. "Signorina?"
I glared at Vincenzo but he shrugged once more and leaned back in his seat. "What is it? You should be the one to decide. You run the place" He smirked at me.
I take everything I ever said about this man that was good even if I meant it. Fuck him.
With a defeated sigh, I worked fast to come up with a decision then I decided to settle for the most beneficial option.
"Yes but note that this is not of your own rules and you will have to follow everything we say, we give the final verdict, yeah?" I waited for the man to acknowledge my words and it came with a tight nod that spoke volumes of how much he didn’t want to answer to me but he also didn’t want to lose this deal that he had set up.
I knew that the other bosses were not yet content with seeing me around important meetings and all but they would eventually grow used to it, they were already growing accustomed to it and so was i.
"I have to answer to Don Enzo, got it" The sound of Don Luca’s voice reached me, snapping me out of my reverie.
Just as I was about to open my mouth to confirm that, Vincenzo suddenly spoke up. "You have to answer to me and to my wife. Just to be clear" He replied.
This time, I didn’t even bother to argue, I just watched as Don Luca nodded and stood up. "Send me the details later" Then he was walking out of the house.
With him gone, I turned to look at Vincenzo as I wanted to clarify what had been bugging me since the beginning of this meeting.
Vincenzo looked at me, standing up as he did so, a small smile on his face. "Wanna say something?" He asked, taking steps closer to me.
"What did Henry do?" I asked and watched as the smiles drained from Vincenzo’s face.
I needed to know what the fuck had happened in the time that I wasn’t there.
