** DANTE VINO POV **
After a much needed cold shower, I got dressed in my Armani suit, and headed back down to the kitchen.
I opened my bedroom door to reveal an exhausted looking Angelo standing in the hallway. He looked dreadful. The dark bags underneath his eyes were an indication that he didn't sleep as peacefully as I did last night.
"You look like hell" I stated as I walked past Angelo and closed my door. He quickly followed behind me.
"Dante, I think my room is haunted." Angelo said below a whisper as his eyes darted down the hallway. He seemed rather shaken up. I stopped in my tracks momentarily and looked at him as if he's gone mad.
"Angelo, why in the world would you ever think that your room was haunted. You're 18. We've lived in this house our entire life. Why would this so called 'haunting' happen now"
I questioned as we continued to walk down the long corridor.
"The lights were going crazy last night. I kept hearing noises and my door kept swinging open. I've done a lot of fucked up shit in my life brother. Maybe it's a spirit of someone I killed." He said, slightly turning pale as we reached the top of the staircase.
"Brother, if you think some poltergeist is haunting you for killing a handful of people, then I should have Satan himself following me around constantly for the amount of sin I have committed." I scoffed
"Dude, I'm not joking. Something is out to get me man." Angelo said nervously as he continued to look over his shoulder as we walked side by side.
"Were you drinking last night?" I said in an annoyed tone.
"Well... yeah." Angelo admitted as he scratched his head.
"Let me guess, you got fucking plastered again, didn't you?" I said through grit teeth.
"Yes, but-" Angelo said defensively before I smacked the back of his head.
"Fucking idiot." I mumbled as he groaned.
As I walked downstairs, the three girls were sitting at the dining room table. Natalia was throwing grapes, trying to make it into Isa's mouth, failing miserably.
The little vixen was typing away on her computer, an excited expression on her face.
"She's going to love it." Isa said before a grape flew through the air and hit her in the eye.
"Who will?" I asked curiously, raising my eyebrow at the annoying girls in front of me.
"No one." Rebel said, her smile fading in an instant as her eyes met mine.
"Let's go." I spoke as I started to make my way to the door, my siblings following suit.
"The meeting isn't here?" Rebel asked as she shut her mac laptop and stood up.
"No." I responded coldly as I walked out into the brisk November air.
"Our mother would have a heart attack if every Mafia member walked in here with their shoes on." Natalia laughed as she threw an arm over Rebels shoulder.
We piled into a blacked out Cadillac, and started towards our destination. The meeting will be held in our second largest warehouse, seeing as the first was attacked last night. I was sitting in the passenger seat, watching Rebel through the rear view mirror. She seemed deep in thought as her attention was focused outside the window.
The Cadillac slowly came to a halt and we exited the vehicle, Angelo acting unusual as he held out his hand to help Rebel out of the car. She smiled at him as she took his hand.
His face lit up like a child who just got a new toy, and a mentally scoffed at his pathetic attempt to be a gentleman.
We walked into the warehouse and made our way to the back conference room. Pallets of guns and weapons lined the entire facility, it quite an intimidating view.
Out of curiosity, I looked back at Rebel. I expected her to be anxious, scared even being in a warehouse filled to the brim
with illegal weapons.
"Ever handle a gun before?" Isa asked as she lightly nudged the little vixens shoulder.
She didn't seemed fazed, if anything, she seemed curious, carefully eyeing the pallets and tilting her head to the right.
She seemed to be thinking of something, as if in a daze. "Once or twice." Rebel finally responded.
Her voice was cold and serious.
As we neared the conference room, I could hear the commotion of my members behind the tinted glass door.
Their voices echoed throughout the warehouse, and their boisterous conversations filled the area with noise.
As soon as I opened the door, their booming
conversations ceased. I walked inside the deadly silent conference room and took my seat at the middle of the table.
The silence was soon replaced with cat calls and whistles. I turned to see Rebel walking in hesitantly, an eyebrow furrowed in skepticism towards the crowd of horny men.
"Who's this pretty thing?"
"Who's this bitch?"
"Damn mami!"
"I'd fuck you all night."
Anger flowed through me as I heard my men, and even some women, disrespecting her in such a vulgar way. I watched as she walked past one of the newer members of the Mafia, a punk kid with an inflated ego.
As she passed him, he flung back his hand, and roughly smacked her on the ass. She winced upon impact, the sound reverberated
throughout the room.
Her face was hard, and her eyebrows were furrowed. Her fists were balled at her sides, displayed the anger flowing throughout her tiny body.
The little vixens eyes went cold, within her hazel iris's were a mix of emotions I couldn't decipher. I grabbed my Glock from my waistband as she turned around to face the young fucker. Before he could take another step towards her, I shot him directly between the eyes.
Blood splattering across the room, drenching Rebel in the process. The room fell deathly silent once again.
Her face was unreadable, void of all emotion. She looked at the mutilated man in front of her, then her gaze slowly went to me.
"If any of you so much as look at this woman the wrong way, you will suffer a much worse fate than a quick death." I growled as the members of my Mafia stared at me wide
eyed.
I looked back at Rebel, blood splattered across her pale skin. Her eyes were still locked on me as if she was contemplating something in that fascinating brain of hers. I
nodded as I looked to the seat next to me.
She immediately walked over and sat beside me. I pulled out my pocket square from my suit jacket and offered it to her. She looked
at the silky fabric for a moment before grabbing it and wiping off the stale blood on her face, giving me a slight smile that made my breathing hitch.
"Clean that shit up so we can begin." I said, as I quickly regained my serious demeanor and motioned to the lifeless body on the other end of the room. After informing them of the attack on the main warehouse last night, I ordered them to gather as much information as the could on Xavier
Pavlovski, and to capture or shoot any Russian members on site.
I pulled out the cell phone confiscated from a Russian Mafia member, and handed it to Rebel.
"I need you to hack into this phone and gather as much information as possible.
I also need you to work and improve our cyber security for our estate, phones, anything and everything. You'll be working with Damon, he'll help you with anything you need." I said to her.
She nodded slightly and gently grabbed the phone from my hands. Her smooth skin felt like silk against my callused and rough hands.
"You're dismissed." I said coldly as I faced the Mafia members, everyone quickly scurried out of the conference room, leaving only Rebel and I behind in the empty office. I looked over at her as she stared off into the distance, her eyes were emotionless and her face was hard.
She was most likely going through shock from the murder that occurred only an hour ago. Her playful expression was diminished and her lips were set in a straight line.
"Rebel," I said as I hesitantly placed my hand on her delicate shoulder. Life returned back into her eyes, as if she was brought back from the dead. She looked at my hand on her shoulder, then back to up my eyes.
"Are you... okay?" I asked, my voice sounding awkward and uncomfortable.I was never very skilled when it came to comforting people, so this was all new to me.
"I'll be fine." She said calmly. I removed my hand from her petite shoulder and started to walk out of the conference room.
"Thank you." Rebel spoke out, causing me to stop in my tracks. I walked out of the office without turning around, a slight smile on my lips