Luciano shifted his gaze from Valentina to the rowdy men chanting his name.
He tossed the gun towards them, and watched as they all struggled to be the first to catch it.
Turning towards the door with a smirk of approval on his face, he walked right through it and it automatically shut behind him.
Vittorio counted about twenty seconds, before signalling to the girls to follow him.
"Where have we found ourselves?" Natalia whispered to Valentina as they trailed behind Vittorio.
"Natty, I thought at first heaven because of all the white colours. But there’s nothing heavenly about brutally killing someone," she paused, and scrunched her nose. "And rowdy men," she added.
With their bodies glued together, they slid into the opened door.
Valentina felt Natalia exhale softly. This room at least had more life in it.
For one it wasn’t painted all white. She noticed all of the furniture was wooden vintage. Hence, the woody scent which was heavily present in the room.
Her head moved around, noticing the miniscule paintings on the walls. Very abstract- definitely picture perfect.
One more time, her gaze moved, and came to rest on Luciano who was seated on a throne-like chair, whilst two women on each side wiped the blood off his face.
Internally, she scoffed at the optics presented.
Her attention was once again called forth when another door opened, and a guy grinning from ear to ear walked into the room.
"Hey boss, I have great news for you!" The smiling man chirped.
Valentina exchanged glances with Natalia, their eyes widened in complete shock.
Elio chuckled when he caught the look that passed between the girls. "My twin." He shrugged.
Valentina’s head exploded. The man that had just been brutally killed looked exactly like the grinning man.
The smiling man had also just confirmed it was his twin.
Why exactly is smiling man so unconcerned about the death of his twin?
"Sit, agnello." Luciano beckoned to him.
Elio’s smile widened, as he lowered his body to the marbled floor, beside Luciano’s chair.
"What the fuck?" Valentina thought, further confused by the craziness she was witnessing.
They were treating him like some kind of God.
She wondered why.
Was it the hair? Perhaps because it was longer than the average man’s hair. Or it could be the earrings. Designed like a cross, further projecting the godlike image.
"Pathetic, definitely not that."
Maybe it was the eyes. Sure it was uniquely gray, but still–
Her scrutinizing gaze moved past his face, further down.
The tattoos covering his neck? And his arms?
"It probably is his huge size."
She concluded that had to be it. Just staring at him alone could put the fear of God in anyone.
"Does help that he has the face of Lucifer."
"Shut up!" She chastised the treacherous voice in her head.
The last thing she would ever do was admit the scarily murderous man was handsome.
"Hell no!"
" Grazie. You can leave now," Luciano finally spoke up.
His voice, deeply rich, drew Valentina’s eyes to him..
And as if he knew she was looking at him, he looked at her too.
A chill coursed through her spine, but instead of shuddering, she jutted her chin, and squeezed her eyes to form a smothering look.
"I think I get it. I mean, we get it. You’re super dangerous. So scary. Can you explain why you kidnapped us now?" She blurted before she could stop herself.
"Val!" Natalia, who was almost shitting herself, pinched her from behind.
"What?! It’s not like I’m lying. He practically had us kidnapped. Did we willingly decide to be here? I don’t know if this is their behaviour in Italy, but in the states, the laws are very clear about kidnapping," she continued to run her mouth recklessly.
Natalia groaned internally. "Yep, she and her mouth will definitely get us killed," she thought.
His head tilted to the side, and his eyes twinkled. "What does the law say about sexual assault in the States?"
Holding back before, Elio couldn’t help the deep chuckle that spilled from his guts when he saw the look of horror in Valentina’s eyes.
"Se–sex-ual ass-ault?" She stumbled all over her words. "What are you talking about?"
"You kissing me out of the blue of course. Without my consent. So tell me, ragazza, what do your laws say about that?"
"Okay first of all, I already told you it was a mistake. I even apologized to you. But even if I didn’t, you took your pound of flesh already."
"Oh I did?" He lifted a fine brow. "Pray tell how."
" Tuhh, by dragging me into the room where your rude fiancé accused me of trying to steal you from her." She quoted into the air.
"Did she lie though? You did try to steal me by kissing me."
Valentina’s head doubled back. He was twisting everything! She couldn’t believe her ears.
"Okay, first of all, I would never try to steal another woman’s man. If I had known you were engaged, I’d have—"
"You’d have?"
His body leaned out in a way that drew Valentina’s eyes to the first three buttons of his shirt which were undone.
She could see the outline of his chest.
Sturdy, muscular–
"And now you’re undressing me with your eyes."
Her head shot up. "Oh my God, no! I was just lost in thought. That’s all. You’re perverse for thinking I’d ever have such– such perverted thoughts!" She snapped.
Luciano chuckled, and reclined into his throne.
"You’re just trying to get me upset, aren’t you? To what end? Why are we even here? What is this place?"
Luciano grew serious in a split second. "What were you two doing in Giovanni Ferrari’s house?"
"Uhmm, Natty answered this question already to that guy, I believe." She pointed to Vittorio, who was eyes deep in a screen.
He didn’t look up despite feeling Valentina’s beckoning stare.
It wasn’t really in his character to entertain spoiled bratty girls, when he could be making better use of his time.
"But I’m asking you now."
Valentina eyed Vittorio who blatantly ignored her. He didn’t even have the kind decency to look at her.
"What a weird ass!" She cursed internally.
"Well, it’s like Natty said before. We’re super huge fans of Mr Giovanni. So when we heard about today’s event, we hopped on the plane, and flew all the way here so we could meet him. I’m a photographer, so I was going to take pictures until we were told no pictures were allowed. That’s all."
Luciano stroked his chin, his eyes getting darker by the second, and every trace of humour on his face switching into demon mode.
"Mr Giovanni has received a lot of threats for his good work in fighting to put a stop to sex trafficking. Not everyone supported his ambitions. Now that he is retired and wants to focus on his family, there are people that would love to end his life for ruining their sources of income. How convenient that you two just magically happen to appear. You distracting me with a kiss while your sneaky little friend sneaked in. You distracting everyone again, while your friend made her way towards Mr Giovanni. Do you see why your excuses make no damn sense?"
"Oh God," Natalia trembled beside Valentina. "He’s onto us," she whispered to her.
" Shh, no he’s not," she quickly shunned her.
"If you have something to say, miss Natalia, do speak up. Do not let your friend push you into the kind of trouble you could have easily avoided."
Unable to look Luciano in the face because he scared her to death, Natalia just kept her head down.
"She has nothing to say to you that we haven’t said already," Valentina spoke in her stead.
"Is that why she can’t even look up? You’re hiding something."
"No, she can’t look up because you just casually killed a man like it’s nothing. She’s scared of you."
"But you’re not?"
Valentina’s heart catapulted. Scared she absolutely was. She just was better at hiding it.
"Should I be?"
Luciano’s voice dropped even lower than its natural deep baritone. "You would be stupid not to." His words were both a warning, and a prophecy.