Chapter 46: The PromiseDraco’s P.O.VI stood outside the cabin door, my hands fisted by my sides as I tried to steady my heartbeat.Never in my life had I thought that I’d ever be in a situation where I would be forced to do something that I had never had any intention of doing.For over ten years…I had searched for the woman, who had been the light in my life; who had literally saved my life by giving me her lucky pendant. And today, not only did I need that pendant; I needed that woman beside me as well.But as my luck would have it…I didn’t have either by my side. Neither my farfalla…nor her pendant.Taking a deep breath, I raised my hand and knocked on the door three times to let the person inside know that I was going in, before I opened the door a crack. The woman sleeping on the hospital bed didn’t see me at first. Her face was turned in the opposite direction and there were several tubes stuck to her body. Her left wrist was bandaged up tightly and it looked like she had just
Chapter 47: UnawareRegina’s P.O.V “You know about that?” My eyes widened in shock as Joel mentioned the word ‘farfalla’.“Only a few of us do.” Joel reached out to lightly touch the edges of the butterfly pendant around my neck. “Still…”His eyes narrowed on my face as he looked me in the eyes. “How did you find it?”“I was roaming around the house last night since I couldn’t sleep.” I sighed, trying to hide the fact that my heart was hammering inside my chest at just the mention of how I came in possession of this pendant. “I thought about going to the upper floors as well, but got tired before I could. So I went exploring these two floors instead.”“You went into the Capo’s office?” Joel’s voice wasn’t scolding, just curious.But before I could answer, I heard another voice join in from behind us.“Yes. She did. Her feet were loud enough to keep me up all night.”I turned around to frown at Rico. What makes him think he can just casually join in our conversation?“Uncle Riccooo!!!
Chapter 48: EngagedDraco’s P.O.V“Sire…it’s an engagement…not a funeral.”Gabriele wore a light brown jacket and formal pants with a sky blue shirt underneath. He had even gelled back his hair and appeared to be even better groomed than I did. His mood was certainly better than mine.“Then why don’t you replace me as the groom?” I told him straight away, adjusting the collar of my black tuxedo that I had worn over a black shirt and formal black pants.“Sire…I wish I could.” He bowed his head. “If there was any way I could help you out of this situation then I would have…but Donatello and I couldn’t come up with a solution in time.”I nodded, looking at my reflection in the mirror with distaste. I wasn’t happy at all and I think it showed on my face.Donatello had understood well when I told him that I wanted this event to be as private as possible. Any guests at all and there would be consequences.I didn’t want Gina finding out about this…I didn’t want anyone in the world finding ou
Chapter 49: Home Invasion Regina’s P.O.V “Joel?” I call out his name when I can’t get their attention immediately. There were about five of them, Rico included, that were surrounding Joanna as she stood in the middle of the group of men wearing all black suits and she was running from one person to another, engrossed in some game that had the rest of them smiling ear to ear. “Look at them!” I muttered under my breath. “Who would think they were badass mafia men?” All of them looked perfectly happy entertaining a three year old. I somehow got this feeling that Joel was probably the first amongst them to become a dad and thus, now all of them were proud uncles who loved their little niece like she was their own daughter. I would love to see them when Joanna grew up. That would be a disaster. Shaking my head, I went over to where Joel was sitting and tapped him on the shoulders with his phone. He looked up confused at first, before nodding and taking the phone from me and placing i
Chapter 50: Not BulletproofRegina’s P.O.VThe front gate was all but run over by the large black van that had crashed into the gate before the shots started getting fired.If I had to guess, I’d say that the first shot was fired by the guards at the gate to stop the approaching van itself.“I had called the Capo the second they broke through the gates.” The elder man, who wore a name tag on his jacket called Dominic, said through gritted teeth as he moved the mouse to control the angles of the camera. “But he’s in Detroit. He won’t make it in time if he gets on a flight even now.”“What about his men?” I asked. “There were a lot more security personnel here when I first arrived.”“Most of them have been assigned at the warehouses in Manhattan and Queens,” Dominic told me. “The Capo made sure that no one would try to steal from him once again.”“Are you asking for backup?” I asked him, not caring if he got irritated by my questions. Knowledge was key here and I very much needed this k
Chapter 51: The Capo de CapiDraco’s P.O.VThe news about the attacks on the warehouse came just before boarding the flight and both Gabriele and I knew that by the time I landed in New York, the majority of the fight would already be over.“It’s not just the Triad, but some members of the Chao Pho, a small group of the Thai crime ring, had decided to join hands with Jun Feng Li, Cheng’s nephew and lend him some of his men.” Gabriel narrated as he went through all the security footages outside the warehouses and the mansion itself.The only thing I was reassured of was that Gina was already inside the safe room and wouldn’t be caught in any of the cameras.“The main attack was at the house.” He frowned. “It’s like they were trying to find out if you had any weaknesses or they were using it as a distraction.”“Or both.” I told him. “Why go for one or the other when he could have easily killed two birds with one stone?”“Young and stupid.” Gabriele shook his head. “Jun Feng wasn’t in an
Chapter 52: The Truth about UsRegina’s P.O.VA strange continuous noise sounded from right beside me, like the continuous beeping of a heart monitor.A groan escaped my lips as I tried to open my eyes, but failed at the first attempt. Everything hurt, like I had been run over by a bulldozer and I was still lying on the ground, but at the same time, I could feel the softness of the mattress from under me.“Kid?”The familiar voice seemed like it sounded from far away…but I couldn’t tell who it was, or where it was coming from.And suddenly…images flooded in my head…The gunshot…me running up with Joanna…hiding inside the monitor room…the blood, the guns being fired…Joel coming up the stairs…and the shot…My eyes shot open as I gasped to get air into my lungs. Pain shot through my entire body, temporarily blinding me from seeing anything else.“Doctor!” I heard Joel’s voice from beside me, sounding panicked as he called for help. “Doctor! Nurse! Is someone out there?”It didn’t take lo
Chapter 53: Knowing for SureRegina’s P.O.VTwo months after the incident at the mansion, Draco had made sure to change everything in the house that he possibly so it could no longer remind me or anyone of the invasion.Joanna had been taken to therapy every week for the past two months as well and slowly but surely, she was recovering. When she had first come out of the house and had been taken back to her own home, she hadn't left her bed for days, curling up on herself like she was trying to protect herself from the events.It was true that she hadn't witnessed most of what had been happening around her, but she had heard the first few gunshots, heard too the shouts of pain from the guards…and that had been enough to terrify the child.Joel had brought her to visit me often after that day, because for some reason, she still remembered me saving her as a positive memory and had wanted to keep on seeing me. She called me her Maui…and I tried to take that as a compliment…even though I