After our breakfast, Pietro informs Elio the airport is clear. During the long drive, we don't talk.

Even though I've decided our deal is a good compromise and a fair price to pay, I can never forget Elio is a capo and can't be fully trusted. His alliances can change in a heartbeat and his true allegiance lies to his family and the Fenice business. I can never let my guard down.

Once we're on the jet, Elio gets on his laptop and I'm left reflecting on what life holds for me from now on.

I miss Ruby. I bet she would have laughed her ass off if she'd found out about this unlikely partnership. A prosecutor and crime lord working together. The cherry on top of everything is, my grandfather and dad, devoted their lives to wiping out the Mariano crime family and now I'm working with them. Ironic.

Elio shuts his laptop and leans back into his seat, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Has something new happened?" I hesitantly ask.

He sighs and rubs his brow with his hand. "A few of Esposito's men have interfered in the business, getting themselves and a few of my men whacked."

"I-I'm sorry to hear that," I mumble not knowing what else to say.

Elio rolls his eyes. "You don't need to fake sympathy."

"I was just trying to be nice," I huff. "Anyway, I was wondering since you're one of the youngest, do other capos take you seriously?" I twirl a strand of my hair around my finger.

Elio watches me blankly. "Of course, they do."

"Don't you ever need to prove yourself to them?"

He shifts on his spot, finally looking away from me and at the window. "I do, but every once in a..." his voice trails down and I study him closely. Begrudgingly he admits, "Short while."

A small smile curls my lips. I knew it. "So what's your plan for winning over and keeping these old and grey capos on your side?"

Elio scratches his forehead. "I haven't thought about it yet, but I'm sure it can be solved with a simple sitdown. Why do you ask?"

I shrug. "I was just curious since you seem to be the youngest and it's never easy to be surrounded by a bunch of people who are older than you, with more experience and all."

Elio leans back into his seat, planting his elbow on the wooden part of the armrest. "Let me guess, you chased after big gangs to stop your colleagues from comparing you and connecting whatever you do to your father."

I tangle my fingers together and instead of confirming him, I say, "And ever since you've become the capo, everyone in your gang and outside, has been comparing whatever you do with your dad."

"And you've always been the junior." He smiles.

Ugh, that nickname. It makes me cringe even now. "And whatever you do is never quite right, it doesn't reach the glory of your family name." I roll my eyes.

"You'd be damned if you make a mistake. They'd be like do you think your-"

"Your father would have done that?" I join in on his sentence, completing the last part together. I throw my hands up as I go on complaining, "They literally expect us to do what they did after twenty years of experience in like... five years."

"How dare you don't know on your first day what your dad learned after twenty-five years of being in the industry?"

I laugh and shake my head. "No matter what you do, you never get the credit."

"You screw up, you're a shame for your father."

"And if you outshine, everyone's like, well that was expected after all he's your dad," I huff and roll my eyes. The things I've heard more than I can ever count.

Elio chuckles and as we both quiet down and his gaze burns into me, a moment too late I realize what we've been doing. What I've been doing.

My eyes widen with horror. I not only have something huge in common with him, but I can relate to him on a much deeper level because of the struggles it comes with it. Like an idiot, I just agreed and spilled it out to him.

Fuck.

I purse my lips and twist on my seat, facing the window.

Dammit. He's an enemy. The bad guy. I'm supposed to have a wall around me, keeping him at a far distance at all times.

"Holy shit," Elio gasps and my attention snaps to him. "Hell has frozen over. Cerise Campbell, a prosecutor, can relate to the monstrous capo." A devilish smirk lifts his lips as he lays his forearms on the desk between us.

I glower at him. "Asshole."

He only laughs, the same beautifully deep sound, making my heart race and I look away.

This is so so wrong.

For the rest of the ride, I don't glance at Elio, not even once. I manage to avoid him even when we get off the jet and sit inside his black Rolls Royce. In fact, I sit extra close to the door to put more space between us.

Elio notices but doesn't comment on it.

Minutes tick by and I grow more self-conscious. I fear with the deal we made, the big red line separating me and Elio will blur.

He's in the off-limit zone. Even befriending him is off-limits. Dammit.

I shake my head and decide to distract myself with talking about fun stuff, so I face Elio. "Have you ever sent Marco and Pietro on a mission together?"

"What?" Elio frowns with confusion as he turns to me.

"You should definitely do that."

He stares at me skeptically. "Why on Earth would I do that? Marco is my advisor, he doesn't go on missions."

I roll my eyes. "Well fake one and send these two off together."

He narrows his eyes and leans to me. "Did you hit your head somewhere are you trying to set up a lame trap?"

I purse my lips and glare at him, as I motion my finger up and down at the shield. He huffs but presses a button regardless and the shield slides up.

I grin. "Believe me, it's a solid plan. Fake a problem, a big one, something only Marco and Pietro can solve." I intertwine my fingers. "Together." I giggle and readjust my position, the excitement making it impossibly hard to stay still. "And make sure they have to stay together for like over a week or two. If you manage to book only one room for them and force them to stay there, it'll be awesome," I squeal, pressing my palms to my cheeks.

I probably won't ever reach my own crush, but the least I can do before I'm killed is ensure at least one person is upgraded out of the misery of being stuck in the friendzone. Who better than Marco? This is good a thing to do.

"Have you gone mad Cerise? Did your last two brain cells kill themselves off? Why the fuck would I send those two off on a fake mission!"

My smile falls and I glower at him. "Are you freaking blind?"

At first, his brows jump with surprise before knotting together in confusion.

With a huff, I explain, "Marco has a crush on Pietro, and I'm trying to do something good, and with your help, this can get easier."

He opens his mouth but no words come out and his frown deepens as if evaluating my words and going over the bits and pieces of clues he has probably not paid attention to up until now.

"You're really stupid. You've known the guy your whole life and didn't catch that, and it took me like three days of talking to him to figure it out." I lean into my seat, with satisfaction.

"How about you don't interfere?" he suggests. "You have thousands of things to worry about," he says with disbelief. "And you're busying yourself with match-making."

I shrug. "He needs help, you don't know how hard these things can be, and I'm trying to do something good."

Elio studies me for a beat. "And you know?"

"Of course, I do."

He snorts. "What? Your high school crush refused to go to the prom with you and you're still recovering from it?"

"Asshole," I mutter.

"But I'm right." He raises an eyebrow, a cocky smile plastered on his face.

"No, you're not."

His smile instantly vanishes. "Is there... anyone?" he questions with uncertainty.

"That's none of your business." I glance at him from the corner of my eye.

Elio's features darken, but I can't tell why he's getting annoyed. "But you're single, you went on a date with that idiot," he mutters.

I smirk at him. "Maybe there's a crazy ex lurking somewhere, or an unofficial relationship stuck in the 'it's complicated' zone."

He rolls his eyes. "The last time you dated and ended it, was before you got into law school." Elio leans toward me, his scrutiny growing more intense. "I'm pretty sure that ex is not after you."

My eyes widen and I gape at him. How the hell did he know that?

"I told you I know a lot about you," he smugly says, as if reading my train of thought.

"You fucking stalker."

"I keep my enemies close, tesorino."

I'm about to throw back a witty comeback but the entrance gate of the Mariano mansion comes into view and I bite it back. From the window, I scan the area as the driver slowly passes through the gate.

The guards on either side of the gate were four when we left yesterday and now they're eight. On top of that, every few feet leading up to the mansion armed men have been stationed and they all appear rigid and tense.

"Elio." My voice is barely above a whisper but he hears it and I feel his eyes bore into the side of my head. "I think something's wrong."

He surveys the passing garden through his window before shaking his head. "I know all of them. My mom probably stationed them because of the attack last night."

"But they're all way too tense, it's like something has happened."

"Pietro would've called," Elio dismisses me and I scowl at him.

The driver goes past the fountain situated in the middle and halts the car in front of the gigantic mansion. Two tower-like buildings on either side of the main part of the mansion reach high up to the sky, behind the palm trees planted in a semi-circle with the main building in between. On each of the four stories, a beautiful white marble statue is placed, standing out against the beige color of the bricks.

Two of Elio's men open both doors and I get out, my heart thundering anxiously.

I can sense something's wrong and as Elio and I climb up the marble staircase leading to the main double doors, he catches on too. With a final glance at me, he steps inside and we're greeted by over a dozen men talking over each other in the hall.

Once they spot Elio, all of them halt and an eerie quietude falls over the place.

Marco pushes past everyone, coming to the front. He acknowledges me with a nod, but his expression is grim, his mouth set in a straight line. "Abbiamo un problema," he says to Elio.

Before Elio can say anything, Marco steps aside and all the men gathered around the place part for us to see the reason behind the ruckus.

A man is lying on the floor, his ankles are duck taped together and his upper half is tied with a rope, holding his arms at his sides.

I dare to thread closer to him, ignoring Marco who takes a step toward me as if wanting to stop me.

My mouth grows dry and my heart pounds but I stride to the man and once my eyes fall on his face, a horrified gasp tears through my lips.

The judge I've worked with for years lies dead, his lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling. He was alive two weeks ago, serving the verdict for Rodríguez's second in command. And now he's dead... probably because I'm alive. He had a life, a family, kids, wife.

My stomach churns as bile rises to the back of my throat and my head spins.

"Hit came with a note," Marco speaks, breaking the silence.

Unable to pull my gaze from the judge's dead body, I weakly ask, "What does it say?"

I hear a paper being unfolded.

"The nexta weel be closerr to you..." his voice trails down.

I blink rapidly attempting to gather my thoughts. "Unless I die."

"Vhat is going on Elio?" Slava asks.

I hadn't even noticed she's been present all along, but I can't bring myself to look at her.

From over my shoulder, I glance at Elio. A small piece of paper is in his hand and his lips have pressed into a thin line.

"I'm going to my room," I announce and hurry to the staircase and up the steps. My shaky muscles turn the task impossibly hard but I plod on until I reach the floor my room is located on.

I cross Elio's workroom. The door is ajar and no one is present in the hallway.

I pause. My icy fingertips reach for my necklace's pendant. I glance behind me. No one is around. I gulp, feeling dizzy but the longer I stand in front of his study, the clearer my head grows. I can't allow anyone else to be harmed, that's for sure.

My hand trembles and the consequences if anyone catches me in this room rattles in my head but it doesn't stop my fingers from curling around the doorknob.

With one final look at the entrance of the hallway, I step inside.

❈ ☯︎ ❈

Well, you really didn't think I'm going to let these two have an entire conflict-free chapter :')) hehehe, comment your thoughts, I love to hear what you guys think about the little bonding moment (of a sort) they shared on the jet.

And what do you think is going to happen next? What is Cerise going to do? and will she get caught? 👀

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to vote if you did!

[Edit #1 (24Feb 2023): And holy shit! CMC ranked 112 in Love from 2.3 million books today! I don't even know how to thank you guy! *.* <3333]

Stay safe, lots of love, happy reading ♡