Chapter VII

"Is this twenty-three year old business tycoon, Elliot Navarro's girlfriend?"

"Breaking news: King Pin Elliot Navarro spotted leaving the banquet of Seraphina Montmorency with his girlfriend Ariana Montmorency at his side!"

"Is there romance in the air? Ariana Montmorency and Elliot Navarro leave the birthday banquet together through the back entrance!"

"How many days until the wedding?!"

It had barely been two days yet the internet showed no signs of letting the incident at Seraphina's birthday banquet lay to rest.

The expensive attire worn by the guests and the shocking appearances of the rarest celebrities barely made headlines for more than three hours before a few photos suddenly surfaced on one of the popular media blogs.

And then there was chaos.

The extravagant details of the banquet and the jaw dropping guest list was long forgotten as the media flew into a whirlwind and two of the least expected people became the most searched topic for the next 48 hours.

And as expected, the Navarros were just as informed as the general public — maybe even more so thanks to their mysterious connections.

The Navarro Family Mansion was located at Delgany Hills, one of the most luxurious, expensive and highly guarded gated communities in Australia for celebrities. Delgany Hills was the second rated residential area to live. While it was highly rated, the community only had 34 home structures belonging to some of the wealthiest socialites in Australia.

Because of its prestige residents, the security system was quite tight. The security guards there don't joke around. If your name is not on the list, then don't even try to find another way to get inside. It was clearly impossible!

At the end of this gated community, there was a mansion which was worth 40 million dollars. Its features out shined all the other residences even though the entire community was filled with luxury households. The 23,650 square feet of space was owned by the highly influential Navarro Family.

Despite being located in a gated community, the Navarro Mansion had its own security system which was even harder to penetrate. Their tight security system wasn't because they were rich but because they had enemies that lurk in the dark. With La Famiglia still active in the dark, they can't trust just anyone with their safety except those who are truly loyal to them.

That evening, the setting rays of light gave the house a tranquil and fairytale like aura. However, while the exterior was peaceful, the interior was anything but at the moment. Sitting in one of the armchairs in the living room, Elliot had an unreadable expression on his face as he looked at the headlines on the tablet his mother had handed him.

On the opposite side, sitting on the sofa was a woman a year or two shy of fifty. Despite her age, she looked like a strong healthy woman in her early thirties. At first glance, anyone could see that the woman had been quite a beauty in her younger years and even as she aged, she did so gracefully.

"Well? Are you going to speak up or not?" Lady Anastasia Navarro tapped her foot in impatience as she glared at her oldest son who had to confirm or deny the headlines. "Is she your girlfriend? I at least want a grandchild before I die."

Elliot looked up from the tablet screen to the face his irritated mother. He ignored her — not because he didn't love or respect her, but because she was overbearing when it came to such topics — and lazily crossed his legs, propping his head on one of his knuckles as he continued scrolling down the article with the other hand with a black expression.

When his best friend and personal assistant, Carmelo Garza, had met him at the airport and informed him that there was a change of plans concerning the business dinner he was to attend that night, Elliot know his mother's sudden request to 'come home' had something to do with the headlines and her never-ending bizarre requests for a grand baby.

If it weren't for the fact that his father had also mentioned that he had some important matters to discuss, there was no way Elliot would chose his mother's lecture over a mock share-holder meeting.

Seeing her cold and aloof son ignoring her, Anastasia felt her mood further sour and she angrily turned to look at her husband, who was casually sipping his tea while reading through the paper of the day.

"Antonio, are you not going to help me? Look at him. I'm his mother yet he's ignoring me!" She frowned. "Do something!"

Antonia looked up from his paper. He had long known that his wife had grown use to her son's cold attitude and she didn't mind the way that he was, but like any other mother, she was impatient for her oldest to settle down and get married before giving her a grandchild.

The news of Elliot potentially having a girlfriend only seemed to intensify her desire and his lack of an appropriate response was irritating her.

Antonio glanced at his son. Elliot sat leisurely in his seat without a care in the world. Clearly his mother's words were going through one ear and leaving the other just as fast. Antonio didn't know what to say to his son. Even he knew that Elliot wasn't someone to provoke and there was a limit to his patience. Seeing that her husband was once again proving useless in the situation, Anastasia grew even more irritated.

"Elliot, just how long do you plan to remain single?! Is this the truth or is this another media scandal? If it is you better fix it and after you do, I'll find you a proper girlfriend. Besides, I already have one in mind."

At his mother's words, Elliot's eyes darkened and he raised his eyes to look at her. The reason why he rarely went home was because his mother was always trying to set him up with one woman or another. And he hated it. Each of the women she tried setting him up with would be after his money.

If it wasn't his money, they were simply willing to entertain him to boost their social status for their personal gain. As the thought crossed his mind, he suddenly remembered the first time he met Ariana at the hospital and how he had automatically judged her, labeling her as one of the women his mother tried to set him up with.

Thankfully he cleared the air with her as both times they had met proved to him that she was different from the women he'd met before. She felt like a breath of fresh air and it intrigued him.

"Eli, are you listening to me?"

"I don't need you to interfere in my private life." Elliot's cold eyes look at his mother.

"I'm your mother. I have every right to interfere in your private life! This is an important matter about your future!"

Elliot rolled his eyes and sighed.

Antonio closed his newspaper and put down his mug on the coffee table before dropping the paper beside it. He knew that if he didn't find a way to pacify his wife, she'd no doubt upset Elliot and it would probably end in an argument. While his wife was ranting away, his oldest son was sitting there like an arrogant king on his throne. He was simply unbothered by the entire situation.

"Love, at least let him explain." Antonio suggested calmly. "You haven't given him a chance to speak since he walked through the front door."

"Hmph!" Anastasia huffed out a breath.

Antonio shook his head at her childishness and stood up from his seat, motioning to his son to follow after him. Glad for an escape from his overbearing mother, Elliot quickly got up from his seat and followed after his father. Watching her son hastily follow after his father, Anastasia narrowed her eyes at both men, her blood boiling and invisible steam blowing out of her nostrils.

"How dare they leave all alone here?" She angrily mumbled to herself.

"Mom, how can you forget about me? I'm here you know."

At the sound of the voice, Anastasia looked up to the figure that had just strolled into the house and was now standing in the doorway. Unlike Elliot whose expression was forever arctic and unreadable, Talon always had a mischievous smile on his face that hid all of the sins he had committed, would commit and was planning to commit.

"Talon." Her eyes lit up at the sight of her younger son.

She flew off the couch and threw herself at him, planting quick kisses on his cheeks and chattering to him in rapid Italian. Talon simply laughed, barely able to answer her questions before she was firing another one.

"Sei a casa! (You're home!)" She pulled him into her arms and squeezed him tightly while he laughed, barely managing to choke out that he couldn't breathe in between his laughter.

"Si mamma, (Yes mother,)"

"Dove sei stato? Ti chiamo due giorni di seguito. Non sai come rispondere a una semplice telefonata? (Where have you been? I've been calling you two days in a row. Don't you know how to answer a simple phone call?)"

"I'm sorry," Talon gave a sheepish smile. "I was in France handling some business on Eli's behalf."

His mother didn't question him further and she simply nodded her head. While she wasn't pleased with the choice of her sons to follow in their footsteps of their grandfather, she understood that the mafia was a part of the world they lived in. Like any other mother, she worried about their safety more than anything else but she didn't try to persuade them to leave.

After all, she was the one responsible for Elliot being the head of La Famiglia.

Talon noticed the hint of sadness in her eyes at the mention of his 'job' so he decided to lighten the mood.

"Ma, how could you complain that you're alone? Did you forget about me?" He feigned a hurt expression as he squint his eyes at her.

While Elliot had traveled back to Melbourne the night of the banquet, Talon had stayed in France for an extra day before coming back. On his way from the airport to the mansion, the family's chauffeur had informed him that Elliot was at the mansion and the second he had switched on his personal phone, he'd received messages from his sister; something about his brother being on the headlines with a woman.

He didn't have time figure out who the woman was but he knew his brother going back to the mansion meant one thing; his mother was upset. Every time Talon went back to the mansion, he was sure to endure a lecture from his mother.

Of course, it was always worst for Elliot.

While Talon showed signs of generally being interested in women, even though his mother was upset about his playboy ways, she still had hope that he'd eventually meet his match. Elliot on the other hand didn't bat a single eyelash in a female's direction. He didn't show up with one in the media neither has he ever brought one home, so naturally Talon expected his mother to freak at the headlines.

"Why can't your older brother be more like you and show interest every time a pretty girl appears." Anastasia folded her arms and sulked.

"Mother," Talon groaned.

"What? I'm just saying!"

Talon shook his head and stepped further into the living room. He flopped down tiredly on the couch Elliot had vacated, picking up the tablet from the coffee table and reading the headlines. He scrolled through one of them, frowning and raising an eyebrow at the pictures.

Apparently one of the paparazzi was lucky enough to spot the two figures leaving through the back entrance and the photos of their faces were quite clear. Talon used his thumb and index figure to enlarge the photo and get a closer look at the woman's face.

Why does she look so familiar? He frowned to him himself, trying to figure out where he had seen her face before.

It was true that he had a habit of changing women like changing his clothes but he was sure that the woman in the photo wasn't someone he'd casually hooked up with at a party or a social event before.

••••••

In Antonio's study, Elliot was sitting on the opposite side of the study desk while his father sat behind it.

"I called you over because I've got something to discuss with you." Antonio began.

"Go on," Elliot nodded his head.

Antonio reached his hand over to the right and opened a drawer. He pulled out a stack of folders, sorting through them selecting one and holding it out in his son's direction. Elliot raised an eyebrow as he took the folder. He flipped it open and looked through the contents.

"Royale?" Elliot looked up at his father.

"It's a cosmetic company which had emerged three years ago,"

"And you're giving this to me because?"

"Because the company hasn't been around for long yet it's already rivaling top brands." Antonio leaned back in his seat with a look of uncertainty. "Apart from having an extremely clean record, no one really knows who the CEO is. He or she has never made a public appearance since the company started three years ago."

"You think it's them?"

"Anything is possible." Antonio looked at his son seriously. "Your grandfather said he had taken but that was five years ago. A company doesn't just spring up in the middle of nowhere and dominating without some form of help from a power source."

"Do you think they're trying to reestablish their roots?"

"Why wouldn't they? 75% of their property is under the Navarro control and your grandfather managed to successfully reduce their numbers. He not only dismantled their entire system, he took control of all their finances and liquefied it into our network. Even if they manage to reconstruct their system, there is no way they could get the funding to fully take off again...unless..."

"Unless someone is secretly backing them up." Elliot concluded with a sharp look in his eyes.

"Hmm," Antonio hummed and nodded his head.

"I'll keep an eye on them." Elliot looked down at the folder again.

Despite his calm and composed demeanor, on the inside his blood was boiling and rushing through his veins. The second he had locked onto his father's trend of thoughts he'd grown angry. He thought that they had learned their lesson when his grandfather wrecked havoc in the Underworld. For them to suddenly make another appearance would mean another round of chaos was brewing.

••••••

Outside the study, Talon was frowning at the picture on the screen. He'd been staring at it for five minutes straight before it finally clicked. With her makeup and hair done up, he wasn't able to immediately recognized the girl who he usually met at Quinn's place on the weekend, both girls usually lounging around in pajamas and lazily painting their nails at 2 in the afternoon while wearing one face mask or another.

Ariana Montmorency! Quinn's best friend!

He immediately sat up straight in his seat, catching the attention of his mother who was picking up the coffee mug and the newspaper his father had left on the table.

"What's wrong?" Anastasia looked at her son suspiciously.

"I know—"

Before he could finish speaking, the door of the study opened and voices came from the corridor. His father and older brother walked into the room.

"You know what?" Anastasia probed her younger son, unaware of the presence of her husband and eldest son. "Do you know the girl in the photo?"

"Uhhh..." Talon cast an uncertain glance at his brother over his mother's shoulder.

He caught the warning and coldness in the eyes of his older sibling. Turning back to his mother, he summoned his best acting skills and stood up from his seat.

"Nope. I have no idea." He quickly shoved the tablet in his mother's hand. "Just my imagination. By the way, I smell something delicious coming from the kitchen. Did you cook ma?"

Before Anastasia could wrap her head around his actions, Talon took off in the direction of the staircase with the excuse of wanting to shower before filling his stomach because he was hungry after a long flight. Anastasia watched him disappear skeptically but she couldn't understand the reason for his strange behavior.

However, Antonio had picked up on the 'snitch and I'll slit your throat' conversation between his sons. Instead of pointing it out, he simply kept his mouth shut and walked in the direction of the kitchen.

Once out of his mother's sight and safely behind closed doors, Talon whipped out his phone and quickly dialed a number. It rang twice before the line connected.

"Big problem-o. Elliot's here at the mansion." Without waiting for the other person to speak, Talon quickly explained the situation.

"Oh dear. How did mom get hold of him?" Quinn's voice came from the other end of the line.

"Apparently dad had something to speak to him about." Talon shifted the hand holding his phone as he shrugged off his coat. "Is the girl in the photo the same one you wanted me to go to the banquet with?"

"Yes. That's Ariana,"

"Well she's pretty hot if I might say so,"

"Talon!"

"Just kidding. Elliot already called dibs on her."

"Wait, what?"

Talon heard a beeping sound on his phone and he pulled it away from his ear in confusion. He looked down at the screen noticing that the call had disconnected. Figuring his ear might have accidentally pressed the button to hang up, he was about to dial Quinn back when there was an incoming FaceTime call from her.

He answered it.

"What do you mean Elliot called dibs on her?" Quinn's face appeared on the screen with a green face mask and a towel wrapped around her head. "My best friend isn't a gambling pawn the both of you can use to amuse yourselves."

"That's not what I mean," Talon shook his head as he dropped his coat on the ottoman at the foot of the bed before walking in the direction of his closet.

"Explain,"

"The reason why I didn't go to the banquet as her date was because Elliot stopped me."

Quinn looked confused.

"Elliot stopped you?" She wrinkled her brows in confusion.

Talon quickly explained the situation to her. On the night of the banquet, he was indeed in France on business but he'd hurried to finish his work so that he could accompany Ariana as her date. He knew how important Ariana was to Quinn and while he didn't have much interaction with her, Talon had grown quite use to seeing her at his sister's side.

After completing the last of his tasks, Talon had texted Elliot to tell him that he would be taking a flight over to London and he'd return to Melbourne the next morning since he was accompanying Ariana to her sister's banquet. Usually Elliot would respond with a simple 'hmm' so it really surprised him when Elliot stopped him from going.

Elliot had even gone as far as handing him some last minute tasks which would have taken hours to complete. To top it off, Elliot had ordered him to give Quinn and excuse that he couldn't make it. Talon found his brother's fierce objection odd and he initially intended to ignore his brother's order, but Elliot was one step ahead of him.

The second he made his way to the car to go over to the airport, Elliot's guards restrained him before tossing him into an SUV and dragging him to a hotel where they stood guard outside his room for the entire night.

At the end of his recollection, Quinn was dead silent on the other end of the line. She too found it strange that her brother wanted to attend the banquet in Talon's place. She was silent for a beat before she quickly informed Talon of what had happened the first time Ariana and Elliot had met at the hospital.

"What does it mean?" Quinn naively asked at the end of her narration. "Don't they hate each other? From the photos they seemed quite normal. Do you think Elliot's still upset and secretly planning something?"

Talon could hear the worry in his sibling's voice and instead of comforting her he rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Quinn. Just how stupid can you be?" He chided. "Are you that slow?"

"I'm not stupid! Neither am I slow!"

"Then why are you taking so long to figure it out?"

"To figure what out?"

Talon almost face palmed himself.

How do I have a genius as a brother and an idiot for a sister? He rolled his eyes.

"Slow poke, isn't it obvious that Elliot likes your friend?"

"Huh?" Came Quinn's confused response.

"Quinn, focus!" Talon snapped frustrated at his sibling. "Connect the dots! Elliot stopped me from going to the banquet, yet he went in my place. Just now, when I almost gave away Ariana's identity to mother, Elliot looked at me like he was going to slit my throat if I snitched. Do you get it now?"

Talon waited for a minute or two in silence before Quinn let out a sound mixed between a gasp and a squeal.

"Oh my god! Oh my god! OH MY GOD!"

Talon pulled the phone away from his ear at his sister's squealing. It took her a few minutes to calm down and in that time Talon undressed and wrapped a towel around his waist, walking in the direction of his bathroom.

"Tal, what do we do? Should we really set them up?" Underneath her giddiness, Talon could hear the faint traces of worry in her voice.

He frowned and stepped into the bathroom.

"What do you mean?" He asked Quinn.

"I mean, do you think its safe..." Quinn lowered her voice. "With Elliot being the head of La Famiglia and all that..."

Talon understood where she was coming from. Despite his calm, refined demeanor, Talon — more than anyone else — knew that Elliot was a very dangerous man. His head was worth billions and anything that revealed his weakness would be worth just as much. Elliot had followed in their grandfather's shadow and when it came to the mafia, he was ruthless and unforgiving. Any opportunity to get rid of him would benefit a lot of people.

Through the phone, Talon could feel his sister's panic. If the woman in question was just someone they both happened to know and she had no really connections with them, it would have been easier to come to a decision. But it was Quinn's best friend in question. If something was to happen, Quinn would most likely suffer the most, and while Elliot didn't act like it, his younger sister was much more important to him than the outsiders thought.

Talon felt his heart stumble into conflict. Usually he was clear minded and decisive about his actions but at the moment he didn't know what to say. On one hand, he wanted his brother to be happy. He had never a Elliot at Elliot's side in all his twenty two years of living, neither has he ever seen his brother act so strangely before. He wasn't sure why but he was smart enough to know that it had something to do with the green eyed woman who was also trending across the internet.

Taking a deep breath, Talon closed his eyes. He could clearly see the imagine of his brother and Ariana leaving the banquet together. It seemed like the two of them were and conversation and had failed to notice the paparazzi. Unlike most people who would think that Elliot looked like his usually cold self at first glance, Talon was able to pick up his brother's change of mood.

It wasn't much to be noticeable but it was enough for the younger Navarro to realize the change in the sibling he had closely clung onto since the second he came into the world kicking and screaming. He of all people understood Elliot's emotions and what was going on through his mind and think about the rare moment of his brother lowering his guard, he felt the struggle in his mind settle down.

Breathing in deeply, he decided to give it a try.

"We can give it a try." Talon opened his eyes and looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. "A little push, maybe. Just enough to see how they'd both react to each other and then we'll let them figure it out themselves."

At his confirmation, Quinn settled down. Before Talon bid her goodnight, the siblings quickly came up with a plan.

If cupid was taking too long to get the job done, they'd do it themselves.