The plan

DANTE

I sat down in my study, thinking of the stupid impulsive purchase I had made tonight.

I had a lot of money though and this amount wouldn't put a dent in my finances but I was still annoyed.

This wasn't my nature, I was a thinker. I carefully planned my actions before I did them. Tonight was the first time in a long while that I had done something so rash.

The worst part was that I hated the impression this purchase would make in people's minds about me. It only showed that I was just like ever other hot blooded young man who could be moved by the beauty of a woman.

I could picture my business partners thinking about this and how this would affect my stand in the mafia world.

I sighed and rested my head on the table thinking of a way to change this narrative.

I heard a knock at the door.

"Come in" I replied.

My cousin Geremia walked in.

"There is a situation." he said.

Geremia was a cousin of ours. He had grown up with us after his parents had been killed by a rival family. Apart from Valerio, he was the only one I trusted.

"What is the situation?" I asked.

"I found a mole from the Conti family."

"A mole?"

"Yes, he doesn't know he has been discovered yet."

"How did he get in?" I asked.

"He came to look for a job along with the other boys from the slum. He didn't know that new intakes have heavy surveillance. It was easy to spot him making his little calls and relaying information."

"But how did you know he was from the Conti family, it could be any other family."

"He tried to entice another new intake to join him, the intake reported to their head who told me." Geremia replied.

"Hmmm, Conti dares to spy on me and plant a mole in my family." I said with a cruel smile on my face.

"What should we do? Permission to kill him?" he asked.

I looked at him bemused, Geremia was my head of security and he was blunt and blood thirsty. His only solution to problem was death.

I had no objection against death but at times a little delay of death served a good purpose.

"Not yet."

"Why?" he asked with a frown.

I sighed, I was used to people following my orders without question but my brother and cousin were the only exception.

"Let him continue reporting but this time we control the narrative. It is particularly fortunate for this to have happened, I needed a scape goat it seems Conti family have willingly offered themselves up."

"How do we change the narrative?" he asked.

"I am sure you heard I bought a girl at the auction tonight?" I asked him.

"Yes, Valerio texted me." he replied.

I sighed again, those two found it easy to use me as a subject of gossip.

"Anyways I will spend all my time this week with her and you are to let it spread that I am becoming weak and neglectful of my duties around the staff, tell the intake who reported to you accept the offer. Let the mole spread the word that I am vulnerable to the Conti."

"What purpose would that serve?"

"Conti is a greedy dumb idiot, he would come here to claim my position and that would be his end."

"Once again you have proven to me what a smart dangerous man you are." Geremia told me.

I shrugged, "I am awesome, I can't help it."

"I will go and put the plan in motion." he told me.

"Okay."

He turned to leave the room and then he turned to look at me quizzically.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Spending time with your purchase, is it really because of the plan or you want to enjoy your money worth?" he asked.

I flipped him off. "Fuck off." I told him.

He smiled and left the room while I mumbled obscenities at him.

The next day, the plan was put in motion. Immediately I woke up, I took my bath and without doing any of my work or routine check, I went to Camilla's room. Or at least that's what my staff thought.

The truth was that I had Maria secretly bring all my work stuff to her room. After eating breakfast with a sullen Camilla, I proceeded to do my work.

I had expected Camilla to remain quiet while I did my work but of course that was too much to expect from little miss fierce.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"I am working." I replied.

"Don't you have a study or somewhere you can work?" she asked.

"Why can't I work here?" I asked her, curious to hear her response.

"Well this is my space and I don't appreciate strange people in my space" she replied.

It took every bit of self control I had not to laugh.

"Well sorry to disappoint you princess but this is my house and every room in here is mine including this 'space' of yours. Understood?" I asked.

She kept quiet but I could feel the fury radiating of her. I couldn't help but look at her as I worked. She had been through a lot in just a couple of days. From a betrayal to her family's downfall and her parents death. She had gone through all this yet she remained strong.

Any other girl would have been crying and depressed yet she remained strong.

Maria had reported that she had cried herself to sleep last night.

Now she was quietly reading a book, there was no sign of the girl who had cried the previous night.

"Do I have to be cooped up in this room? This is illegal." she said after barely ten minutes of keeping quiet.

"I am pretty sure our very existence is illegal but here we are." I replied.

"Please master can I go out, this poor slave of yours needs the touch of the sun on her dry skin." she replied, giving a dramatic pose of dying.

I sighed, this was a classical case of buying trouble with my own money.

I looked at her and sighed for the umpteenth time.

"If you keep quiet and let me walk, I will take you out for a little stroll." I promised her.

Her eyes lit up in excitement.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Okay." she replied and went back to reading her book.

Surprisingly, she kept quiet and let me work in peace.

When I was done working, I looked up to see her still reading her book.

"Camilla." I called.

She looked up, "Yes."

"Stand up, let's go for a little walk." I told her.

I stood up and walked to her and stretched forth my hand.

She took it and stood up.

I opened the door and took her out of the house.

"Just so you know don't even try to escape. You will be shot immediately you try to escape." I told her.

"where would I even go?" she asked me.

"That's true."

We walked around my compound, I made sure to take her to places where my workers would see me, making sure that they would see me.

"Why did you buy me?" she suddenly asked me.

I looked at her wondering what prompted this question.

"Why are you asking?" I asked her.

"I am just curious." she replied.

"You were looking so beautiful and fierce on that stage and I was interested. And I hate Paolo so much, once I saw he was interested in buying you, I bought you to annoy him."

She looked at me in shock. "You spent one hundred and fifty million dollars to annoy him?" she asked me.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "When you are as rich as I am, an hundred and fifty million dollars is nothing to you."

"And you are also arrogant too." she remarked.

"It's not arrogance. I am just stating facts." I told her.

She rolled her eyes. "You spent my family's entire fortune to annoy someone." she told me.

"Your family's entire fortune is one hundred and fifty million dollars?" I asked her.

"Yes and I felt like a princess having that much money."

"Your family was much richer and greater when your grandfather was alive." I told her.

"And then my father ruined it by going legal, right?"

"You said it yourself, I didn't."

"Well I am glad my father went legal, he didn't want to run a crime family and he was brave enough to do what he wanted and I am glad of it."

I looked at her and couldn't help but smile. Camilla De Luca was an interesting person and she belonged to me.