Chapter 144 - Enemies Or Brothers

Santiago was staring at the sleeping woman beside him for an hour now. He lifted his fingers to trace her features but stopped himself when he remembered how unwilling she had been when she heard that they would be sharing the room. She immediately objected and demanded that she should be shifted to another room. 

Perhaps, he would have agreed if not for the fact that he had noticed her red rim of the eyes. She had clearly cried in the bathroom in the disguise of a hot bath. However, he knew better than to speak it out loud. 

It was better if she would tell or fight or even show an attitude for getting forced into this marriage than spending days alone in a cold room, crying.

It was almost Eight o'clock in the morning and she hadn't woken up. He wanted to wake her up but when he thought how difficult it would have been for her to fall asleep last night in this foreign room, he dropped his initial plan of staring at her further and with a sigh, he left the room. 

She wouldn't probably want to see his face first thing in the morning. 

On the way out, he called Emmanuel and asked him to return as soon as possible. 

Persephone woke up around eleven in the morning. The last day had taken a toll on her mental and physical condition. If she hadn't had the long sleep, it would have been difficult for her to adapt to this difficult time that she might be facing ahead. In short, her body decided to shut down to prevent itself from overworking. 

After freshening up, she was put in a dilemma. Last night, it was easier to wear Santiago's huge clothes to go to sleep. But what about now? Was she just going to rot inside this room without any proper clothes? 

As if on cue someone knocked on the door. She looked at herself, only checking that she was presentable did she open the door. 

Santiago wouldn't want his wife to appear in front of anyone in this condition, would he? 

As long as he didn't treat her like Alessandro Marino treated Carina, she would be fine for some time. If Carina thought that no one knew that she was treated worse than animals in her own house by her husband, then she was very wrong. 

As for the person standing at the door… 

Persephone blinked her eyes twice to gaze at the person standing at the door. He was a young body similar to Cameron, probably a few years older than him. However, this one had a sliver of innocence intact on his face that wasn't seen on Cameron's. In simple words, the person in front of her was capable of letting anyone let their guards down. 

Emmanuel cleared his throat before saying," Mrs Vitello, your mom sent your stuff. Where would you like us to place it?" 

Hearing him calling her as Mrs Vitello already did strange things to her. All indescribable. 

She showed him the spot and he placed her luggage there. 

"There is more?"Persephone's voice was faint when she raised the question. She sounded as if she had suffered grave grievances. 

Before Emmanuel could say anything, Romeo appeared with two more bags. 

Now it was Persephone's turn to be surprised. What on earth was Santiago thinking by leaving her alone with two boys? Did he send them to lighten her mood? Did he know what it signifies? 

Thankfully, Emmanuel and Romeo couldn't understand the weird thoughts going on in her head. 

Whatever! She decided to stay away from these two pretty boys! Santiago might be open-minded but she wasn't! 

Wait, was he testing her by letting these two boys around her? Did he wanna know if she was a woman of loose character? 

She didn't say anything and tried her best to stay away from both of the boys. 

Quietly, she opened the luggage and took out the clothes that she needed to wear and of course her daily medicines. 

Sometime later, Emmanuel appeared and asked if she would like to have her breakfast on the dining table or inside the room. Thinking it was better to stay inside, she had her breakfast inside the room. 

… 

"What happened?" Romeo couldn't help but ask when he noticed that his body friend had signed for the nth time in just an hour. "You seem pretty troubled." 

"Did you notice that Miss Persephone didn't recognise me?"Emmanuel could only share his predicament with his boyfriend. "Or is she acting quite well?" 

"How could it be that Miss Persephone didn't recognise you?" Romeo asked in return. "You guys, as you said, were pretty close. You passed the danger together. How could she forget you? Give her time. I'm sure her weird behaviour has something to do with Mr V. It's not easy being his wife." 

"Mr V is not a bad man. He is just different," Emmanuel retorted. "I know you are not used to his temper and circle of people. But trust me, I had seen people worse than him. He could have left me in the wilderness to fend for myself but he didn't. If you do something kind for you, he will return your kindness tenfold. As for Miss Persephone… She loved him a lot. You saw yourself too, didn't you?" 

Romeo ruffled his hair lovingly and said, "You are so gullible. Yesterday, you were pretty angry at him. But when you saw that his wife was Juliet, he became Messiah in your eyes once again. And don't forget that they were just pretending to be a couple that time. Now, it is different." 

Whether they were pretending or not, it was the talk of another time. The main question that was troubling both of them was why Persephone was behaving the way that she was. There were many scenarios going in their head but none of them was ready to share them. 

…. 

Inside, Persephone did some meditation and yoga as recommended by Valencia, her doctor before searching for a book to pass the day. 

Thankfully, her mom had packed her phone along with her kindle. Everything was fine for now…. 

When Persephone was trying to make her mind believe that she was in peace, Santiago's whole plan was shattered like it was fragile like glass and someone had thrown it straight on the floor. 

Someone was messing with him. That too badly. 

There was someone in the shadows who didn't want the Mafia families of Newyork to negotiate or one could say that they didn't want him to be the middleman. Heads of the family were suspecting him now but since they had no proof to prove that he had ulterior motives aside from the one they weren't aware of, they couldn't do anything to discard him. But it wouldn't be late before they find the evidence. 

He was alone to deal with the mess that he was stuck in. If any of his other brothers (Darkhorses) was here, it wouldn't be so difficult for him. However, it was just wishful thinking on his part to see all of them together again. Their paths were different and so were their destinies. 

As Nash has said in utter anguish that he wholeheartedly wished to not come across any of them once again. He dared not say that Nash's words were still haunting him. 

Closing his eyes, he rubbed his face and heard what his subordinates had to report. 

"When?" Santiago's face darkened when he heard the last point. 

"Two days ago, Richard was found dead in his house by Don Marino," His subordinate said. "He threatened the doctors to not let the information leak that Richard was dead before they reached." 

"So, Alessandro didn't want Richard's death to ruin her daughter's wedding?" Santiago scoffed. 

The subordinate shook his head. "It couldn't be only that. I assume that it was because the cause of his death was suspicious. His call records show that he last talked to Don Marino before his death. The hospital reports show that he died of cardiac arrest, very similar to how the Scuderi couple died." 

"Scuderi couple?"Santiago repeated the words. He seemed to have remembered something. "Stop looking for who killed him. Rather focus on what we wanted from him. Whoever killed Richard knew that he was about to betray Don Marino once again. That bastard couldn't die before giving me the information that he promised." 

"We are working on it, Boss," His subordinate said before leaving the room. 

"I hope it's not you, Killian," Santiago murmured. Wasn't Killian's little spy who killed the Scuderi couple? Why would he kill Richard? What did he want from Richard? As much as he knew, Alicia's disappearance has nothing to do with him. 

"I hope I won't become enemies with any of you, my brothers. What calamity would it be if I had to stand against any of you one day?"