CAMILLA
Dante kept his promise and made me his assistant. I was to sit in on his meetings, take notes and follow him out as well.
I would be paid too, I could use the money to buy whatever I wanted.
There were conditions though:
I would never disrespect him in front of others. Any complaints I had or grievances, I was to tell him in private.
I wasn't allowed to date anyone or flirt. I belonged to him
I was to never think about running away ever. He would hunt me down in whatever part of the world I disappeared to.
I agreed to his conditions and I started working with him. Maria was very surprised that Dante was willing to let me work.
On my first day, I met Geremia, who was Dante's cousin and head of security.
"I finally meet Dante's little pet," he told me.
"I am not his pet", I fired back at him.
He chuckled in response and patted my head.
"Little and fierce. He has always had a thing for fierce creatures" he replied.
"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.
"He once had a cat when he was little, a white fierce stubborn thing that left scratches on him whenever he picked it up. Dante loved that animal a lot"
"So what happened to it?" I asked.
Geremia's smile disappeared.
"It was shot by Dante's father," he replied.
I paled in shock when he said this. Before I could grill him further, Dante entered the office accompanied by a handsome man.
"I see you have met Geremia." he said as he gestured to Geremia.
"Yes I have," I replied.
He pointed at the man who had accompanied him.
"This is Valerie, my younger brother" he made the introductions.
I bowed my head a little to Valerie. "Good morning, Mr Russo" I said.
"Valerie is okay," he told me.
I nodded.
I looked at Valerie as he talked to Dante. Valerie was handsome like his elder brother. But, while Dante had a striking prince charming-like handsomeness, Valerie was devilishly handsome, his looks, the movement of his body screamed of elegance and danger.
I had heard of Valerie before. He was the leader of the Russo's family assassin guild.
The guild had the best trained assassins. They could move in and out of the shadows and kill someone before anyone would notice.
Valerie in particular was the best assassin in the guild. He had been trained by his grandmother, a revered assassin back in her days.
Valerie had taken his first job at the tender age of eight, killing an entire family of seven.
Since then his name sparked fear in the mafia world.
With the powerful power of the Russo family led by Dante and the threat of the assassin guild, the Russo's family were invincible and unstoppable.
Only a fool would attack them without adequate preparations. Conti had been a fool to even think about usurping power from Dante.
Snap! Snap! Dante was snapping his fingers in front of my face.
"Earth to Camilla, where did your daydreaming take you to?" he asked me, a trace of amusement evident in his voice.
"I wasn't daydreaming," I replied.
"I was calling your name for over a minute," he retorted.
"Where do you think your brother would run to?" Valerie asked me.
"I have no idea, we don't have any relatives that he could stay with. I just told him to run far away"
"Did he have any money with him?" Valerie asked me.
"No, but he had his credit card with him," I answered.
"His bank account was frozen by Sebastiáno and before then, he hadn't even withdrawn any money" Dante informed me.
I clenched my fists in anger, that bastard! How dare he?
"Camilla, I will put out a word and look for him but I want you to know that there is a possibility that he might be dead" Valerie told me.
I nodded my head, I also knew that there was a possibility that my brother might be dead but I was willing to hold on to faith that he was alive.
"I hope he is alive, I will look for him," Valerie told me.
"Thanks a lot, I am truly grateful for everything" I told him.
He turned to Dante, "I will be on my way now, come and see me off to the car" he told him.
"Why should I do that? You know the way" Dante enquired.
"It wasn't a request Dante" he repeated.
Dante sighed and looked at me. "Camilla scan these documents onto a flash drive, we will go out for a meeting later" he told me as he handed me a file.
I nodded and took the file from him. He left with his brother and I was left alone with Geremia who had an annoying smirk on his face.
"So little pet, tell me again, how you slapped Dante?" he asked.
I sighed in response and ignored him as I went to scan the documents.
DANTE
"Is there a reason you asked me to see you off?" I asked him.
"Yes, I wanted to talk to you in private," he replied.
"Okay, what is it?"
"What are you doing with Camilla? I asked you to treat her with kindness and not give her express freedom" he questioned me.
I frowned in confusion. "But that's what I am doing, I am treating her with kindness. She asked for a job to keep her busy and I gave her one" I replied.
"And you aren't afraid that she would run away?"
"She wouldn't dare to, she is a smart girl, she knows that I would find her before she even crosses the border"
"What if she conspires with your enemies and harms you?" he asked again.
I looked him in the face. "Has anyone tried to harm me and survived it?" I asked him.
"Someone almost did, someone you trusted too" he reminded me.
My eyes shut as he reminded me of a memory that I liked to pretend never happened.
"I am sorry, I know you hate being reminded of that event" he apologized when he saw the expression on my face.
"If you are sorry, why did you remind me?" I asked him.
"Because I want you to be cautious, be kind to her and also be cautious" he told me.
"I will" I assured him.
"Well that's all I wanted to say. You can go inside now" he told me.
"What about your mission, how did it go?" he asked me.
"Good, I killed the husband and his mistress, tortured them, sent a video to my client and then I killed them" he replied in a dull monotonous voice.
"How? Did the police suspect foul play?" I asked him.
"No, they ruled it off as a natural death"
"I don't understand how did you torture them and then kill them without the police suspecting a thing?" I asked.
"I used dolore eterno, it's an untraceable poison. It causes hallucinations and extreme pain, they begged me to kill them" he told me.
"And to kill them?" I asked him.
"I used sonno eterno, it stops the heart from beating. It also can't be traced" he told me.
I looked at him in awe. "I know right, I am awesome" he told me.
"You are a devilish genius, that's what you are," he told me.
He rolled his eyes. "I need to go, see you later," he said.
"Bye" I told him as I waved him goodbye.
I went back inside and saw that Camilla had finished doing everything I asked her to, she was also dressed and ready to go to the meeting with me.
"Now, this meeting will have some of the most powerful men in the mafia world in attendance. Do not look at anyone straight in the eyes, don't be rude or do anything stupid" I warned her. I had to warn her because any wrong move would make her dead.
"I won't do anything stupid" she told me.
"Promise me" I insisted.
"I promise," she replied.
I turned to Geremia, "Are the cars ready?" I asked.
"Yes boss, they are," he told me.
"Good, let's go," I told him.
We drove to the site of the meeting. It was the family home of the Ferrante mafia family.
Ferrante was very powerful and ruthless. He did anything and everything which would give him money.
From drug trafficking, to prostitution, to human trafficking, pimping of child brides. The man was evil and he didn't give a fuck about anyone's opinion.
I didn't like him but he was my business associate and I had to play nice.
I and Ferrante had never had any issues before since I respected his boundaries and he respected mine as well.
I looked at Camilla who sat quietly by my side, she was the one I was worried about. What if she did something that would cause problems there.
Maybe it was too soon to have let her escort me to a meeting. I just hoped that I hadn't made a mistake.