XXXVIII

Bella found herself in a pair of jeans and a shirt that was too small for Enrique's wife to wear anymore. Her grandfather's office hadn't changed despite the fact that it was his sons that were now in charge of the family's business. The old man sat before her in his chair,  where as Enrique stood next to him. Next to her,  Angelo sat in the other seat and Luigi, the Don of the mafia family the Camorra family were allies with, stood next to Angelo. They had been summoned by the old man minute dinner was over and Bella knew she would be the topic.

"You've made quite the orders while you were here in the last week. You can't have me believe that's simply to protect yourself. So what's really going on neonata?" Lorenzo questioned as he watched his granddaughter fiddle with her sleeves.  She should have known better than to think they wouldn't find out,  being that they ruled the city after all. She let out a sigh, her black pools falling on hazel eyes

"I may or may not be planning something. I don't need anything from you guys and I know you can't be involved and wouldn't be able to even if you wanted to,  so I'll just keep you out of the loop yeah, it won't make a difference after all" she rambled off feeling nervous in front of the old man for some reason.

"We both know that's not gonna cut it" she knew if she told them everything she'd be forbidden to do it simply because she would be putting herself in danger. But she also knew that she wouldn'tet them stop her, and with that thought she figured she might as well.

"Fine. I'm going after Torres" she said so quickly the almost missed it

"Which Torres are we talking about here?" Angelo was the one to ask shifting in his seat to look at her.

"Deacon Torres, and maybe Giovanni Genovese as well" she said

"You're kidding right?" Enrique questioned with a chuckle and she offered a tight-lipped smile and shook her head

"No. I'm not"

"Have you gone nuts?!?"

"That's not gonna happen" both brothers spoke simultaneously and that grated on her nerves, the fact that they thought they even had a say in it

"I merely came here to let you guys know that I'm okay. I'll be leaving tomorrow. And there's nothing you can do about it" she said. The old man's sons looked at him incredulously as if to ask him to talk sense into her

"What did they do?" Lorenzo simply asked knowing it had to be bad if she was willing to put herself in danger simply to get her revenge on these men.

"I can't tell you. But with Giovanni, I'm pretty certain you can guess my motives" she said and the old man hummed with a nod

"I always did suspect. Your Nonna won't approve either,  you know that right?"

"I'd be surprised if she did" she said with a shrug and an appreciative smile on her lips.

"As long as it doesn't disrupt the Order then go ahead" Lorenzo gave her his blessing, yet minute she bit her lip, he let out a sigh,  running a hand over his face

"Bella" he warned and she was quick to explain

"News through the grapevine say Giovanni is planning something for the week of the Order and come on,  we both can guess on which day he's planning to execute whatever that is. And I'm pretty sure it involves both the Torres And the Russians,  so I won't be disrupting the Order if I'm gonna find it already disrupted" she defended

That was when she saw all of them look at one another as if they already knew or more so knew something she didn't and she was quick to question.

"Okay. What did I miss?"

"It might be that Giovanni Genovese is simply planning to announce the engagement between his nephew and your cousin Melina. A treaty between our families"

"That's how you heard of what happened to Luka. Why you asked me about it." she said more so to herself,  and when she let out a cold chuckle, feeling her heart squeeze at the news, she looked at her grandfather,  her face cold in attempt to keep her emotions from showing.

"Did Luka Genovese agree to it?" she carefully asked and the old man didn't miss it, for he was one of the few people that could read her like a book.

"He did, neonata. It's good for the family. The Genovese are the lead American Mafia, associating with them would be good for business, well as long as Luka takes charge after the wedding. I may not like his uncle, but him I trust" Bella felt like her head was about to explode and so was her heart.

"I see. Excuse me" she rushed out the words as she immediately stood up and left the office.

"So, I take it she somehow likes the Genovese boy, too?" Angelo more so stated rather than question and his father hummed with a nod.

"Maybe we should cancel the engagement, If we don't want Melina dead" Enrique suggested

"Does she like him That much?... Well then again, she's never reacted like that towards any other guys we tried setting up with her" Angelo said with a thoughtful look

"Question is why Giovanni would suggest that she tried to kill the man she obviously loves. And how the two know each other to begin with" Lorenzo stated

"You still do remember what she's planning right" Luigi cut in then and Angel groaned

"She won't change her mind" he said with absolute certainty

"Well then, in that case, don't mind if I join her right. She could use the back up. Since you can't help and all" The Don stated nonchalantly as if the notion of war against the Spanish crime family was no big deal.

Bella tried to breath minute she was within her old room in the Camorra villa. She didn't know what to think. A part of her found it hard to believe and she felt territorial over the man,  for he wasn't anybody's but hers. However, his agreement to the whole deal made her doubt and what she was certain of was that her heart ached at the notion of his betrayal, if she could call it that. After all they had never discussed what they were nor how they felt for each other,  she had simply assumed he haboured affections for her as she did him.

[Always so naive when it comes to guys.] Sin taunted chuckling,  she continued as bella ignored her

[You didn't think he actually loved you, right? Ha! don't make me laugh.]

Doubt clutched at her heart and she wondered if he really liked Melina or not. Did he find the woman to be better than her? Of cause he did,  Melina wasn't a mess as she was. She grew up in his world and their union would come with great benefits for both families. Where as she on the other hand would bring nothing. She understood how serious marriage contracts were in the mafia world. Although the Don married weather for love or not,  it was always a calculative decision based on what the other would bring to the table.

Oh gosh. Stop being a baby and get over it. Unless you want me to take over.

She refused to dwell on her emotions nor black out while her other half took charge, she stood up and headed for the door. She agreed with Sin, she had more to worry about beyond caring for a man that clearly cared for another woman more. She paid no mind to her uncles when she went passed them heading for the front doors.

"Bella Elizabeth Vitorria Sinclair Camorra! Step one foot our of that door,  and I'll have the boys drag you back here kicking and screaming" she heard Nonna's strict voice say to her behind her back and she stopped,  hand on the door knob. She turned to look at the old woman.

"But I have things go take care of nonna" she said deflated and the old woman's head shook

"No reason why you can't do it here. Your uncles might help too" she said

"It's my fight, not theirs" she said

"You're still not leaving. And I'd get my butt back up stairs if I were you. You know who your nonno is don't you? " the question more rhetorical than not. The old woman watched the young lady mutter out a 'fine' under her breath as she tried to keep her tears at bay. She heard what happened in her husband's office,  and a part of her ached for her granddaughter's hurt state.

Yet a part of her knew her husband better than anyone, to be certain that, where their neonata was concerned, there was nothing he wouldn't do. They may have other grandchildren younger than the woman, from their two sons,  however,  Bella was the last piece of their deceased first born and for that alone her husband was more protective of her.  Whether Bella knew it or not,  she had that old man wrapped around her finger.

However, that also meant he would be the hardest on her. Reason why her punishments were alike to when he would punish their boys, why he would make sure that, although he would let her fight this on her own,  she was more than ready for what may come.

That of course meant waking the girl up at the break of dawn only to have her sweating for hours on end with her uncles, either down in the gym or the training field. It meant her walking as if it hurt to take a single step, and bruises littered her tan skin in numbers.

Bella figured she should have also known that her grandfather would go so hard on her. Despite the fact that she doubted the whole intense training was needed, he wouldn't let up until he was certain that she was ready for anything. That included being tortured as an enemy would torture her, should things turn south and she find herself taken by an enemy. It was so precise she almost feared it being real,  and her nonno wouldn't stop until she could figure out how she would escape should she find herself incapable that situation.

However sore her body turned out in the first week that followed,  she was also grateful,  for it made her realise just how out of shape she had been. She had succeeded in ignoring the whole Luka and Melina situation for the whole week, and her breakdown helped in hiding in her focus on her objective. Alas, that was until she saw a picture on the front page of a magazine at a store one morning.

Hence she found herself pummeling one of the men in the gym, that had been arrogant enough to think he could take her. Being that she was in a bad mood, she hadn't bothered to warn him otherwise and they had gone straight into. She was straddling the man, her furious punches aimed for his face as he tried to block her hits. When Angelo walked into the scene, other men simply stood on the sidelines grimacing every now and again.

"What's going on here?" he questioned Sergio that had a cringe on his face. Shooting the man a glance  Sergio went to inform

"She may or may not have seen a certain lady on a certain man's arm in the papers together" and the uncle hummed and nodded

"Right. That makes sense" he said as he watched the man finally get an upper hand on his niece, who cared little for pain as he landed hits on her, for she seemed unrelenting. He feared she wouldn't stop until the man was dead and before he could approach the two, Sergio spoke up again

"I take it, your pa really isn't gonna break off the engagement then?" the young man curious. Angelo shot him a look with a smirk

"What do you think?" and Sergio could only look at him confused

"Then why... " Angelo chuckled and shook his head

"Just sit back and enjoy the show,  yeah" he suggested and walked towards the brawl before someone could turn up dead

When he stood close enough,  he whistled, officially halting the two's fight and Bella looked up at him in question

"What?" her breath slightly heavy and her uncle corked a brow

"Haven't you had enough?" he asked watching her split lip bleeding, and another bruise was starting to form on her cheek,  her black eye fading and her neck still had bruising on it. Although the young woman had a certain prowess about her,  she did look like a mess as she gazed up at him and he wondered if he should shoot the Genovese boy and get it over with or not. Bella shook her head

"Mhmm"

"Come on, your toys have just arrived, besides,  I've got a surprise for you" he informed. Bella let out a sigh then, glancing at the man that was also trying to catch his own breath,  and realised she was a goner minutes he mentioned a surprise, she reluctantly walked towards her uncle, who slung an arm around her shoulder.

"Want me to kill him for you? I don't mind" Angelo offered and she lightly laughed then.

"No, I'm good." she said as she tried to get to terms with Luka's choice. For if that was what he wanted, she wouldnt

force him.