Suspicions III

Flashback: After Antonio's call to Luca.

Luca's face scrunched up in confusion as he stared down at his phone. 

Things were beginning to get real.

He was the last person he expected Antonio to call—well, Adonis was, but that wasn't an option— so the call had come as a surprise to him. Yet it didn't even hold a candle to the main stunner. 

'Your loyalty is being doubted because it is given to the wrong person. I'm sure your friend never told you that Dimitri killed your grandfather. How do you think your father became consigliere at a young age?'

Two things occurred to him the moment those words were out of Antonio's mouth. 

1.) Adonis was right. Their last conversation was being monitored as he'd suspected.

2.) Shock. How did Antonio get access to that information? Only a few in the Bernardi family knew about it. 

As if to confirm his first theory, Natasha stepped out of Adonis's room and her expression immediately switched from an anxious to a startled one the moment her eyes came in contact with his.

"Natasha? What were you doing in Adonis's room?" Luca asked as she pulled on an unnecessarily large smile as a cover-up.

"Oh! I needed to pee urgently." 

He raised an eyebrow at her quick save but decided against questioning it.

"Okay. Is Cara in?" 

She walked over to him, feigning concern.

 "No. She left with her things some minutes ago. I tried talking her out of it, but couldn't. I hope I didn't cause much trouble." 

Luca mentally rolled his eyes as he played along.

"It's not your fault. I think I'll talk to her. Let me see if she forgot anything. Would you like to come with me?" He offered, heading towards the room.

He needed to see Adonis and to do that comfortably, Natasha shouldn't be on the floor.

Knowing her, she'd probably refuse to avoid raising suspicions, and she did exactly that, stalking towards the elevator door.

"Oh no, I think I'd rather take a nap. It has been a long day, and I feel down about what just happened."

He shrugged with a small smile as he watched her get on the elevator. The moment the doors were shut, Luca wheeled around, back into Adonis's study.

"You were right. Natasha was still on the floor. I just saw her leave your room." 

Adonis looked up at the intruder before returning his eyes to the documents on the desk. He had guessed as much that she'd stay back to listen in on their conversation when everyone exited the room.

"I never knew acting came with the job. I'm sick of this."

Luca snorted, ungraciously dumping himself on the sofa.

"Not me. I'm loving it."

Adonis narrowed his eyes at him.

"I can see that. Your speeches were quite emotional." 

"What? I just repeated most of what Cara said. You were the dramatic one. You didn't have to slam your fist on the desk just to signal at the door. A cool look would've been fine." 

He gave his friend a blank look.

"You suck at eye gestures, dude."

"Whatever. Jokes apart, what are you going to do about Cara? She's pissed. I've never seen her that way, and Natasha just said she's moved her things."

Luca asked on a serious note. Adonis paused for a minute as he recollected the scene she pulled. 

Cara was truly the best thing that had happened to him. She was smarter than he gave her credit for.

His lips tilted into a smirk.

"Good. I will do nothing and wait."

Luca sat upright. "Wait? She might be gone by the time you're done waiting. Do you want her to leave? With your child?" 

"She won't be going anywhere,"

"You're not being serious."

"I am." He looked him dead in the eye to prove his point, then added, "She was acting."

It took Luca a minute to understand him clearly. Not that he was extremely surprised, but he thought the words she spouted were too harsh to be just acting. 

"The things she said...

"You mean the things you also said?" Adonis gave him a pointed look. "She had to be real, and I think she did an excellent job. You're the one who's been slacking." 

"Hey! I do not agree with that theory. Let's talk about the things you said to me. What do you mean by I've been slacking? I'll have you know that I am a very hardworking, good-looking, and diligent right-hand man, and I—

"The ancestral ring is missing. As well as some important documents." 

His eyes widened.

"You were serious about that? How come no one knew?" 

"That's because I'm the only one with access to the safe in here. I never thought about it."

"That just means no coronation until we find the ring. Were you also serious about not giving out information to Natasha's father?"

Adonis hummed.

"Then it's confirmed that she's working with Antonio then? 

"Yes. Amongst the missing documents is a file on Cara's investigation." Adonis confirmed, and Luca pondered on his word.

If important documents were kept in the safe, it meant the file on his grandfather's deeds should also be in there. That was probably how Antonio obtained that information.

"I think Natasha was the one who opened the safe. She was on the estate during the break-in, and now that I think about it, recently, she had been visiting frequently. What scares me is the implication behind those words..." 

He trailed off. Adonis nodded in agreement. 

If their suspicions were confirmed to be true, they'd lose an ally. Not just any ally but their closest one. Natasha was the apple of her father's eye, and only a fool would believe he wasn't aware of her actions.

He sighed heavily.

"We'll just have to wait and see. I have a feeling that Antonio might reach out soon." 

Luca pulled on a lazy grin.

"Oh! He already did. He told me to place a gun at the back door of the underground tunnel as revenge on the Bernardis for killing old man Romano." He snorted.

Adonis shook his head at his friend's playfulness. Leave it to Luca to deliver important information like it meant nothing.

"He got the info. from the safe."

"I thought as much." 

"When did he say he was coming?" 

Adonis's phone beeped. It was a message from Cara.

'SECOND FLOOR. VANITY MIRROR. DELETE.'

Another text popped up.

'MY BED (crying emoji), DELETE'

A deep laugh escaped his lips,

"Well, I thought you didn't have teeth but look at you flaunting them around?" 

He threw his friend a glance as his laugh died down into a chuckle. 

Does she think she's in an action movie or what? 

He ignored a dumbstruck Luca, heading straight for his room into their walk-in closet.

The sight caused him to shake his head in amusement. She was definitely enjoying this too much. 

"You didn't wait to hear my answer." Luca's voice called out as he caught up with him. "He said in—

"24 hours." Adonis finished. 

He stepped in beside Adonis. "How do you—oh." 

They both stood, looking at the work of art Cara left as a farewell gift, and Luca struggled not to burst into laughter.

"Yeah. We better to get to work then?"