Played

Cara's POV 

Antonio narrowed his eyes at me, then at Adonis's arm that was wrapped around my waist possessively. His eyes met mine again, and his lips curled up in a realizing smile.

"You decided to switch sides, mi amore (my love)?"

"I was never on your side." I hissed.

Okay, maybe at the beginning I was, but that was beside the point.

Luca stood opposite me with a hard look on his face, Antonio was still sitting with a smirk. I don't know if it felt right in this situation, yet I was digging the attention Natasha kept throwing my way through unbelievable glances. I could practically see the confused words written on her face, and it felt satisfying. 

It had taken a lot of self-control to prevent myself from snapping her neck, and I must say, the look on her face was worth it.

Antonio sat up.

"Even after you found out he had been lying to you? That he killed your father on purpose and hid the truth about your birth from you?" He gave a small laugh. "If I knew a good f*ck could make you change your mind, I'd have had you under my thumb since."

Adonis's arm tightened around me, and I placed mine on him to ease his tension.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, you're excused. You're not the one who did a shitty job at being the spy." He threw a disappointed look at Natasha, who seemed like she was about to pass out from anxiety

I shook off Adonis's arm, taking a step towards him.

"You made a mistake from the very beginning. Adonis wasn't my only target; you, your brother and Kane were too. I was going to let it go, but you just had to ruin it all. This was the only way to get to you."

He gave me a stiff nod in resignation.

"Fine amore (love). Feel free to pick sides, eh? It's a free world after all." His gaze seared into mine. "But know this. If I leave here alive tonight, you'd be dead before tomorrow comes." 

No matter how much I tried to prevent it, I couldn't help the small shudder that went through me at his threat.

There was no way he'd leave the mansion alive, right? We'd planned this too well to have him slip through our fingers once again.

"Adonis," Natasha finally spoke up in an iffy tone. "You never told me you made up with Cara?"

It seemed like she had thought about her escape route and decided to play ignorant. But Adonis remained quiet, so she continued, her voice sounding more frantic.

"I can't believe all our search was for nothing. How exactly did Antonio—

"Are you dumb?" Antonio cut her off. "He knows we're working together. There's no need to keep up the pretence."

"I don't know what you're talking about—

"Natasha." 

It was just one cold, hard word, but unlike the previous ones, it shut her up. 

Adonis leaned off the wall. 

"When I called off our engagement four years ago, do you know why?"

She shook her head negatory in reply.

"I didn't want to end up with a disloyal dog. A dog should be a dog; you can't take out its features and still call it a dog. That's just wrong." His lifeless gaze met her fearful ones. "Non puoi mangiare la tua torta e averla (you can't eat your cake and have it)."

I felt a thrill as his last words caused a feeling of excitement to course through my veins. There was something about him speaking Italian that made me feel good.

Natasha's face contorted into a constipated look. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish gaping for water, but she couldn't find the right words to say.

Even if she did find them, Adonis was too pissed to hear them out.

"You think you can stay under my roof and plot to destroy me? Didn't your father let you know I do not condone betrayal?"

"I never wanted to kill you." She defended. "I just wanted her gone! Cara doesn't deserve you; I do!"  

"Enough!" He breathed, barely above a whisper. "You should've verified your words before coming here. I never told your father about Cara's history, like you said. The only reason my men aren't sending a bullet straight into that empty head of yours is because of your father. This would be my last act of mercy towards your family. Our alliance is over!"

"Then send two bullets because her father asked me to kill you. I guess you're the only one staying true to the alliance." Antonio jested, and the whole room turned to him.

Was he being serious? Natasha's father was Adonis's closest ally; why would he want Adonis dead?

"That's not true, Antonio!" His daughter piped up. "I was the one who proposed we work together. I wanted Cara dead, not Adonis."

Antonio lazily picked at his nails.

"If you thought I'd waltz in here with no proper security, then you must be more gullible than I thought." He dropped the teasing tone. "Once bitten, twice shy, and your father was magnanimous enough to lend me a helping hand in exchange for Adonis's life."

Adonis chuckled darkly.

"You think those men around the mansion are protection? On my word, they would all drop dead. "His voice became deadly cold. "Just a word from me. I've waited for this day since you took grandfather from me. You are not dead because I have something worse than death planned for you, but if you want a quick death, Be my guest." Then he boomed. "Mario?"

"Yes, boss?" Mario called back, although he couldn't be seen.

"At my word."

This evoked a fit of laughter from Antonio's lips as he rose to his feet, energetically clapping his hands together.

"I see you're prepared, but you're not alone. I couldn't rely on your..." he eyed me. "So-called wife. I knew Amore (love) could betray me anytime; she was, after all, carrying your child and future heir, so I recruited one of your most trusted men. Seems like you've been a bad leader lately."

He waved over Luca, who had been watching the show quietly, with a blank expression on his face. It was hard to tell whose side he was on.

Would he let it all go for revenge? Or come over to our side?

"Show them I'm here for business." He gestured towards me. "I want two of her legs down!"

Luca raised his gun at me without batting an eyelid, and my panicked eyes moved over to Adonis, who was staring at him with a calm demeanour. 

What was this going on? Was there something I didn't know about?

In a split second, the gun was fired. It happened so suddenly. One moment, it was pointed at me, and the next, the bullet was lodging itself into Antonio's left thigh.

He collapsed to the ground, trying his best to smile through the pain but failing miserably.

Luca cocked his head at him.

"If you were going to steal information from the safe, you should've taken it all. Dimitri didn't kill my grandfather. He stopped his power-hungry cousin from ruining the family.  Something he should've done with your father." 

My jaw dropped open. 

Adonis and Luca were related?

"Thank you, Luca." I felt a deep vibration from beside me as the block of ice laced his fingers with mine. "For some reason, the word 'amore' was beginning to get on my nerves."