Sold to the Capo-Chapter 40: A SNITCH

ADRIANA’S POV

"Are you okay?" Val was gently massaging my shoulders as I gripped the edges of the bathroom sink, staring at my reflection in the mirror.

"I look okay but I don’t feel okay" my voice cracked after hours of disuse and crying.

Her grip on my shoulder tightened and she sighed. "Look, I’m sorry you had to witness something like this. It happens and... this happened... fuck..." she stopped and removed her hands from my shoulder, leaning on the wall beside me.

"Do you guys know what happened to her?" I grabbed a towel by the side and cleaned my hands up, flexing my fingers which were beginning to go stiff from the time I spent holding the sink.

Apparently, Vincenzo had called Henry and Val in the dead of the night and they had come here this morning when I had woke up from the corner I huddled in the previous night, the house was clean, the blood was gone and so was the girl... the body... her bㅡ

"With those types of marks and incisions, as well as the note engraved on her... my guess is a trafficked victim who got away and was attacked before they left her to die"

I felt bile rise in my throat and I suddenly felt the urge to throw up.

Valentina noticed my discomfort and she quickly placed a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, calm down. Don Enzo is looking into it" she assured.

"Does he even care?" I muttered.

"You’d be surprised how much he does," Val said vaguely, pushing herself off the wall.

Yeah, I saw it firsthand. I don’t think I’d ever recover from seeing him so haunted.

"Is he still in the cabin?" I asked her, wanting to see how he was faring this morning. Was he still like me who was seconds away from throwing up or had he gone back to the expressionless don?

"Yeah, he is" She gave a small smile. "I’ll clean this place up"

We had been here for about two hours and I didn’t want to leave but now, I wanted to go out and see what was happening.

I had trashed the bathroom the previous night and Val volunteered to help me clean up so I left the bathroom and stepped out into the living room, my gaze automatically straying to the space where the carpet had once been a few hours ago. They had gotten rid of everything that would show what happened here.

"Adriana?" I heard Vincenzo’s voice from the doorway as he stepped back inside, dusting off snowflakes from his coat.

I spied Henry and a few other men in front of the cabin, talking in hushed tones with their cars ready. We were leaving.

"Adriana?" He called again and I snapped my gaze back to his.

It was weird, he seldom called me by my name and even though I hated the endearment, I had gotten used to it already.

"Uh... yeah... you look... normal" Okay that was really stupid to say but he did look normal, like he wasn’t the one who had a breakdown the previous night

"How am I supposed to look?" He raised a brow, crossing his arms while waiting for a response, his gaze challenging as one of his men, Justin, came to stand behind him, waiting for an opening to talk.

Haunted. I was almost tempted to say it but I bit back on that comment knowing from the look in his eyes that he was daring me to say something in regards to what I saw the previous night and be damned if I would do that.

"Are we leaving?" I said instead

"This place needs to be checked out. There are a lot of things to look into right now" He frowned, turning around to Justin who whispered something, the atmosphere tensing.

I stuck my hands in my pockets, the memories of last night playing over and over like a broken record in my head.

Vincenzo looked back at me. "Which are you gonna ride? Me or Henry?" He asked, his gaze fixed on a piece of paper that Justin had fished out from his pocket.

The question caught me off guard and my left eye twitched while trying to process what he said. Something about it felt...wrong. Maybe it was the way he phrased it but...

He looked up at me again, handing the papers back to Justin who jogged back to his bike with it.

"You haven’t answeㅡ shit, I meant which car do you want to ride in?!" He crossed his arms, staring me down.

Oh.

I cleared my throat, a nervous chuckle escaping my lips. "I mean, I knew that obviously"

He scowled this timeㅡ like really scowledㅡ at me.

"Not everything is an innuendo, Tesoro" He huffed, gesturing for me to follow him out of the cabin.

As I stepped outside into the cool air, I couldn’t help but smile. The snow had fallen overnight more, blanketing the ground in a soft, quiet layer of white.

It wasn’t often that I found the cold comforting, but something about the stillness, the way the snowflakes drifted down without a sound, felt peaceful. It reminded me of a time before all this chaos—before last night. She was out here in this snow. Alone.

I breathed in the crisp air, feeling a strange sense of calm wash over me. The world felt muffled like the snow had softened all the harsh edges. I looked up, letting the snowflakes settle on my face, relishing the cold as it contrasted sharply with the heat in my chest.

But then a voice broke through the moment.

"Get in the car with me." Vincenzo’s words were abrupt, his tone hard as he stood by the door of the sleek black car, his gaze fixed on me like it was an order.

His eyes were cold, the harsh lines of his face sharp against the soft backdrop of the snow.

I blinked, momentarily taken aback. "I thought I could choose who I want to ride with," I said, raising an eyebrow, trying to mask the confusion in my voice. It was my choice, wasn’t it?

His jaw tightened, the muscle in his cheek twitching. "You wasted my time, so I made the decision for you." He didn’t even wait for a response before he turned his back to me, already heading toward the car.

I watched him for a second, the words lingering in my mind. It wasn’t like him to be this... dismissive. He usually had a sense of control, of being in charge, but now he just seemed irritated. Was this still about last night?

"Vincenzo," I called after him, but his stride didn’t falter as he reached the driver’s side door. The others started to make their way toward their own vehicles, preparing to follow us back to town.

I swallowed my pride and walked toward the car, sliding into the passenger seat without another word. The door slammed shut behind me, and the engine roared to life. The sound of the tires crunching through the snow was the only noise for the first few minutes as we drove away from the cabin, the awkward silence stretching between us like a taut string ready to snap.

Finally, Vincenzo broke it, his voice low, but with a tone that was unmistakably serious.

"I need you to do something," he said quietly, his eyes flicking briefly toward me before returning to the road.

I turned my head, curiosity flickering inside me. "What?"

He hesitated, fingers tightening on the wheel, his jaw clenched. "You shouldn’t associate too closely with anyone except Val," he muttered. His eyes never left the road, his expression unreadable. "There’s a snitch in my ranks. I don’t need you unknowingly getting close to the person until I figure out who it is."

A chill ran down my spine. A snitch?

I stared at him, wondering if I had heard him right.

"You really think someone is leaking information?" I asked, trying to understand it.

He was quiet for a long moment, his face hardening, before he answered, his voice almost like a growl. "I don’t think it, I know it. But I can’t risk the person using you."

I wasn’t sure whether it was the way he said it, or just the sheer intensity in his tone, but I felt the air in the car grow heavier. Every instinct I had told me not to ask more questions, not to dig too deep. He was already giving me more than he usually would.

"And Val?" I asked quietly, my voice barely above a whisper.

If he didn’t want me to associate with anyone much, why Valentina?

"Val’s safe. I trust her."

We drove in silence after that, the landscape outside the car window blurring into a monochrome of whites and grays.

And though I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, I didn’t say another word.

What was I supposed to say, anyway?

Absolutely nothing.