VINCENZO'S POV
"Fuck!" I cursed as soon as I heard her leave the room.
This was fucking bad.
I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror, a sadistic look on my face, the expression my father had taught me to don when I was a teenager.
Messed up family, messed up morals, messed up life. Everything about me was messed up and so was this fucking deal!
My hands clenched into fists against the cold sink and before I could stop myself, I swung at the mirror with my fists, my hand connected with the glass which shattered under the force, blood painting the shards that remained.
I didn't bother to look down, I could hear it, the steady drip of blood down my arm, I could feel the sharp sting but I reveled in it.
This was what I wanted. To feel something. Anything. Something other than annoyance, hate, or something as twisted as what my father would have wanted.
My conversation with Henry had gone fucking annoying. Firstly I had seen him speaking with Adriana and honestly, that wasn't what pissed me off, it was that she was comfortable with him. She wasn't supposed to be comfortable here, goddamn it!
My mind went back to my conversation with Henry earlier and I sighed.
"What did Jules say again?"
"No, he said only Natasha for that price. Samantha stays with him"
I had run a hand through my hair frustrated that nothing in my life seemed to be going right.
"Did you tell him the new price? 5 million" I had said.
Henry had explained that he did explain it to the man but the man was going to part with just one girl.
Son of a bitch.
"Well I really didn't want to pick a fight with the Mexican Mafia Don but he's pushing his luck too far and it's time for plan B"
Henry had looked a bit horrified and worried at that. "Sir, you do know that Master will not be happy to hear of it. This could go really bad. He will not want to know the reason"
"You know I operate. I always have a plan"
The sharp sting from the open cut on my fist made me look down at it, staring at the dark red liquid that was seeping to the bathroom floor slowly in droplets.
The human body was truly an enigma and I was always so thrilled to know what made a person tick.
I rinsed my hand, ignoring the way it hurt to do so but rather focusing my mind on the woman who was somewhere in my house.
Adriana Luisa Rossi.
One mention of her name and a familiar feeling swelled in my veins.
Hate.
I hated her. She was the one thing that bound me to my father's will again. She always was. Right from high school. I shouldn't have tried to help in high school, I should have killed her and made it seem like an accident yet I had wanted to help and she still grew up as a naive and weak little thing.
Pathetic.
I dried my hands and angrily pulled a bandanna out of my pocket which I wrapped against my hand before I walked out of the bathroom after cleaning up all traces of blood on the floor.
As expected she wasn't in the room again, probably somewhere downstairs.
I needed her for today, if I was going to get those girls from Jules, I would need her as an excuse to hide the truth from my father.
I left the room and walked downstairs, my eyes narrowing on Adriana who was staring at a large painting on the wall, her hand folded across her body tentatively.
"Enjoying the view?" I called out gruffly from the stairs and I noted the way she immediately tensed at the sound of my voice. Could she stop flinching or behaving like that? It was truly annoying and it disgusted me to a point.
"Ah, I just never realized that you were into art" she managed to answer, her gaze still fixed on the painting.
I walked down the stairs and stood behind her, not caring how tense she was by my presence behind her.
"I'm not," I said.
"Huh?" She muttered, refusing to turn around to look at me.
"I'm not into art" I clarified.
"Then why…" her tone had a clear hint of confusion.
"It was expensive," I said absentmindedly, looking at the painting in detail for the first time.
"So you simply bought it because it was expensive?" She asked utterly confused.
"It was an auction… it was the largest piece… I was the most powerful in the room. It suited me to get it" I squinted my eyes at the painting.
"Do you know what it means?"
"No. Neither do I care for the record. I'm simply keeping it because I think it suits me. Dark…brooding…"
"It's not really dark…" she quickly said.
"Do YOU understand it?" I turned the question back on her.
"Yeah, it's about suicide… for love. Ready to give it all… the lady here reaching out tㅡ" She was beginning to explain when I cut her off.
"Suicide. Death. Perfect for me. End of it. Told you it suited me" I asserted with a hint of curiosity in my tone which quickly died out as soon as I realized it.
I did not like art. Not after her.
Adriana's voice broke through the haze.
"Well, I was just trying to explain tㅡ"
"I'm not really asking Tesoro" I retorted.
Her nostrils flared and her lips twitched. "Will you just let me finish?!" She suddenly let out, her voice a tad higher than usual.
She suddenly froze realizing that she had raised her voice to me and so did I.
Impressive. Almost didn't think she had it in her.
"Oh. I'm sorry, I really didn't mean…", she swallowed heavily, her eyes dropping to the ground.
I sighed. This woman was really annoying.
"Make sure it never happens again," I said coldly, watching for her reaction which came with a brief nod.
This attitude was getting her nowhere. I wouldn't have given two fucks if she died but she was under my protection. I had given my word. Why did she have to make it so damn difficult?
"I will assign val to you", I simply said in place of all the possible things I wanted to point out to her.
"Bㅡbut why?"
"She's gonna be in charge of you. You seriously don't expect me to babysit, do you? Val would love the job", I snorted inwardly.
My phone pinged and I looked down at it for a brief second before I looked back up at Adriana, all signs of a smile wiped off from my face.
"Go upstairs. The bag in the closet. Wear what's in it. My visitors are on their way" I informed her.
She opened her mouth to protest but I levelled her with a glare. "Now" I growled.
She bit down on her lip before she walked up the stairs, anger in her stance.
One day… one day… I would bring it out of her. The part of herself that she wanted to hide but for now… I would focus on breaking her.