Sold to the Capo-Chapter 62: POWER OUTAGE

VINCENZO’S POV

"Are you deaf now or something?" My father hissed over the phone.

My grip on my phone tightened, and I struggled to regulate my heart rate. How had he found out what that was?

So I was right; he knew nothing about it, which meant that someone who was our snitch had struck again.

Fuck.

"I’m very well hearing you, but what I can’t fathom is what made you think I know whatever that is," I replied cooly, but to me, my heartbeat could probably be heard over the phone with how loud it was pounding.

There was a brief silence and I waited for him to say something, anything. Give me a hint of what he was thinking but he took his time.

"So you’re telling you that you don’t know what Gamma Haven is?" He inquired, his tone low.

"Yes not until you tell me what it is so that I can understand"

"Right... I don’t know how stupid you think I am, Vincenzo, I am your father... you got your traits from me. I’m the original here, and I don’t know how stupid you must think I have gotten. You’ve been secretive, and things have been happening; I’m not ruling this out. You know what happens to traitors in the family?" he paused, waiting for my reaction which never came verbal.

"Yes," I forced my voice to be calm and collected as I spoke. "I, however, don’t think I like you threatening me for something as stupid as this. It’s a hoax, and they’re trying to get us against each other; check your ranks," I growled into the phone, aware of the growing snow outside.

Adriana, who was in the kitchen, walked out, her brows furrowed as she looked outside at the snow before turning back to me, probably wondering why I was standing so agitated at the door to my study.

I quickly avoided her gaze, eager to get this conversation done before she would overhear me.

"Don’t fuck with me, Vincenzo. You’re crossing the line, is it the slut with you who’s putting ideas into your head?" He hissed, his tone condescending and it felt like something snapped.

"I swear to god, call her that one more time and I will burn you to ask, Master LaRosa or not"

"You’d protect the bitch over your father?" He hummed, his tone not sounding the least offended.

I was aware that Adriana had heard that tiny bit judging by the confusion on her face as she stood a few feet away, her arms crossed around her body, waiting for me to end the call.

"You fucking lost father rights after mum. You fucking lost it" I hissed into the phone, my voice pained.

"You’re showing too many emotions, acting too much on them these days..." He pointed out over the phone.

"Maybe I just realized that I’m human. Look, Master LaRosa, I don’t know what the fuck you thought you could achieve by calling me, but you’re only succeeding in pissing me off, and I don’t like it. Check your ranks and stop believing every shit said to you, okay?", I hung up without waiting for him to reply.

I gripped my phone tightly in my hand, my chest heaving as I tried to calm down.

"You okay?" Adriana asked as she took a step closer behind me.

My phone beeped with a message and I checked it, my eyes squinting at the message from my father.

"You’re beginning to remind me awfully of your mother, and it’d be a shame to make you end the same way," It simply read.

The anger in me boiled to a new level and I threw the phone to the wall, the phone smashing before falling to the ground. My heart was pounding, and anger filled my veins; Adriana gasped behind me and quickly shut up.

The sound of her scared gasp brought me to reality and I turned around to look at her, a silent plea on my face. "I’m sorry, I didn’t meㅡ"

"No, it’s fine... I was just startled, what happened?" She asked even as she took a step back.

Looking back at the mess I had caused from the phone I had smashed, I cringed inwardly, knowing that I had reacted badly to it, but hearing him refer to my mum’s case as something so casual had irked me. Adriana suddenly spoke up again. "Vincenzo?"

I snapped out of it and looked at her, confusion swirling in my expression. "What?"

"Are you okay?"

"No" I answered truthfully.

She tensed, clearly, not sure how to handle it now, and I smiled a bit at that; she didn’t have to take my tantrums; she should know that. "Look I’m not saying that I want you to start caring if you don’t want tㅡ"

"Do you wanna talk about it?" She suddenly asked and I froze, unsure why she was asking that.

"Why do you wanna know?" My words were uncertain. Did she have a hidden agenda?

"You seemed comfortable with sharing more stuff about yourself" She shrugged.

"Yeah, but I was the one who mostly volunteered. Can you text Val and tell her to quickly send a message to Don Luca?" I inquired, gesturing to my phone, which lay in a rubble now.

She immediately nodded and took out her phone, not bothering to ask any questions, before she started typing on it.

I shuffled closer to her, peering behind her back and smiling to myself when I realized that she wasn’t flinching or tensing as she usually was.

She knew I wouldn’t hurt her now. Progress.

"Okay, I’ve done it to her but the message is still sending. I think it’s the network" She muttered, raising her phone and turning around to get some sort of network before she suddenly jerked, noticing me behind her.

"When did you get here?" She frowned at me, her eyes narrowing at me. Stop sneaking on me," She huffed, going to sit down on the couch.

With a slight chuckle, I followed her closely. "You didn’t even notice, most of the time you’re always checking your back to make sure that I’m not there ready to kill you"

Her brows furrowed even more as she focused on her phone. "What’s that supposed to mean?"

"It means you know that I won’t kill you now" I whispered, taking note of the huff that escaped her lips.

"You wish" She quickly denied.

"Oh c’mon... " I stopped, deciding to let it slide before I changed the topic. "Is the message gone?"

She shook her head. "I think the weather is scrambling up the lines"

I groaned. "Oh shit, let’s just hope that it doesn’t get worse"

Suddenly she let out a gasp and started hitting her phone. "Fuck, there’s not even a single bar of network" She cursed, making me gently pull the phone out of her hands.

"Calm down, we can’t afford to have you breaking this" I muttered, dropping the phone on the coffee table.

She let out a disgruntled sigh and leaned back against the couch, finally looking at me. "What happens if this gets worse?" She asked curiously.

I looked up at the house lights when suddenly the lights went off and we were plunged into total darkness. "That... that happens" I muttered.

Her breathing quickened and I could hear her harsh breathing from the place I sat. "Vincenzo...?" She was muttering, panic in her voice as I heard her stand up.

I couldn’t see her in the dark and I needed to calm down. "Wait..." I cried out as I stood up. "Don’t move, just call my name and I’ll know where you are and grab your hand"

A few seconds later of awkward shuffling about, I finally grabbed her hand, gently rubbing circles on the back of her palm with my hands. "You’re fine, no one’s gonna do anything to you here. You’re safe" I whispered soothingly as I continued to hold her hand.

She began to calm down, even though I could still hear her rushed breaths. "I can’t see. I don’t like it" She muttered.

I pulled her closer to my chest. "Calm down, just focus on my voice. I’ll go get the fireplace burning, but I’ll hold your hand and take you there too, so you don’t feel bad," I promised her in a soft whisper.

With a soft, shaky breath, she let out a silent affirmation, and I started to lead her to the fireplace, my hand warm against her own as I got there, and in a few minutes, I got it burning.

"There you go..." I muttered with a soft smile as I turned to look at her in the dim crackling light of the fire.

My hands itched, and I wanted to take my theory to the next level; if she refused, it would be so embarrassing, even for me.

"Tesoro," I whispered, and she looked up at me to acknowledge my words. "I want to try something but you can tell me if I should stop"

Her eyes narrowed then widened when I cupped her face with one hand and leaned in closer.

Our lips were barely inches apart, and I stopped, giving her time, but she never said it. She never said the safe word.

So I pressed my lips against her, kissing her deeply.