Secret Crown

XVIII. Eighteen

Scarlett

My mind was clouded with nothing but the idea of Adrián and me. He was imbedded in my every thought that it had me thinking, Maybe in another world, our families could have introduced us to each other and formed a union between us. We both fell asleep an hour after we had arrived from dinner. I had woken up around midnight to feel safe and warm in Adrián's arms. I lifted my head off of his chest and smiled at his handsome face. Our hearts beating at ease as we lay together had me feeling things I never had time for. There was never any room for any of this in my life. It was always about working, paying off debts, and finding the money that was rightfully mine. Adrián had come into my life like a meteor hitting earth, and now that I had him, I wished he'd rush me to the altar like I knew he wanted to, but we couldn't, at least not right now. And this night, while we were on the rooftop, it felt like he knew what I had hidden without telling me directly. I gave him a kiss on his forehead as he soundly slept and slowly pulled myself away from him. There was a job I had to carry out.

I crept around the room looking for some of my clothing in the darkness and quietly made my way towards the bathroom, where I found his closet through an adjacent door. The lights automatically turned on as I began walking around inside. It was all modern and dark, with multiple suits hanging amongst other black and gray clothing that went with his dark energy. I didn't ever think I'd seen him wear anything with color on it. At the center of the island was his holster, with his two guns in it, surrounded by a bunch of fancy watches and chains in gold and silver. As I slipped into the scrubs from two days ago and the coat he had covered me with the day of the car chase, I thought of a way to get out of here without getting caught. I knew where I was headed, and it would be pointless to take any weapons, so I did the next best thing in hopes of Adrián finding me and made my way back out to the room, grabbed one of his phones off the bedside table, and stuffed it into my pocket.

As I exited his room, the house was silent and still. I carefully closed the door behind me as quietly as possible, without making a sound. He had said this entire wing of the house was his. The halls were dark, with only the moonlight from outside shining through the windows that overlooked the vast property. One of the perks of being rich was that there was no outside noise pouring in from the busy streets or loud police sirens—not even a plane or helicopter above. This was a bad thing for me, as the faintest of noises could be heard in these halls. As I found my way back towards the main spiraled staircase, I could hear a man and woman making their way up the stairs. "Mi reina (my queen), leave him be," the man suggested as they were walking up the stairs. I quickly scrambled back towards the hall, opened the closest door to my right that had a pink sign on it reading Nora, and quickly entered the bedroom, closing the door as softly as possible behind me. I rested my back against the door as I tried to catch my breath. My heart was pounding in my chest as the two people stopped right in front of the door I was hiding behind. "Mateo, I just want to check in on him." The woman said, "He's our firstborn; he's still my baby." She lowly pleaded, "Please, mi amor (my love)."

"No, Rosie, leave him be." He responded, "If another baby is what you want, we can make it happen." He teased her, followed by a small scream and playful laugh as it sounded like the man had carried her away.

Get a grip, Scar. I couldn't believe that I was standing so close to the devil in Chicago. As the hall went silent again. I waited in the silent bedroom to make sure that they were gone. The dark room had all its furniture and bedding covered in white protective sheets. As if it was stuck in time waiting for an owner that will never come. I carefully poked my head out of the door and looked both ways before finally emerging completely out into the hallway and making my way downstairs towards the garage where we had come in through. I was lucky enough to not have run into anyone else on the way back out. The garage was full of classic cars mixed in with high-end luxury cars and muscle cars; it easily held around twenty cars per row. Adrián had said he loved collecting classic cars, and as I walked by the cars, I could easily pick out which ones were his. As I reached the end, I found a door that led out into the vast property. The main road that led to the house was well lit  and crawling with guards. It was something I had to avoid on the way out. I walked through the edges of the property until I reached the end and began climbing my way over the high, cemented wall. My body landed onto the main street with a heavy thump as I landed with my feet wobbly. The roads were quiet, and the sidewalk was narrow. It was not meant to be pedestrian-friendly in a neighborhood like this, not when everyone here was living in castles and had a different car for every day of the week. The neighborhood was luxurious as the grand mansions peaked through their high gates and walls.

The land on which the Lombardi's home now stands used to belong to us Catalano years ago. I couldn't blame them, though, as they had no part in taking over unclaimed property. The cold night's air blew hard on my face, causing me to shiver and tighten Adrián's coat on me. I popped the collar up as I made my way through the silent streets. His scent lingered strongly on the coat as if it had been soaked in his masculine scent, which only made me miss him and wish I was back cuddled up next to him. The farther I walked away from the rich neighborhood, the shadier things began to get. For anyone else, it would freak them out, but to me, it was home as I got on the train and made my way back home. I wanted to stay with Adrián, but there was a plan I had to follow. For years I had prepared to face and hunt down the man who killed my father, and thanks to Adrián, my father's killer had a name and face: Salvatore Romano. My mother had said my father's killer had the only clue as to where the lost fortune was. It's funny how it all played out like this, and instead, it was Salvatore who had found me. Lucikly for me, Salvatore was dead as of two nights ago. Now I was prepared to voluntarily go back into my enemy's grip, finish off the last Romano, and get what I needed. I felt extremely guilty lying to Adrián about not knowing about my past. But this was something I had to do alone. As much as I wanted him to help me now, I knew he couldn't—at least not yet.

As I got off the train an hour later and walked the familiar path home, I could already see in the distance two blacked-out Maserati SUVs. One was under a tree right across from my house, and the other was parked in the alleyway that led to our neighbor, Mr. Cabrero's house. I stuck my hands into my coat pockets and continued walking as if I hadn't noticed anything. I opened the gray short gate that led into my home's walkway and continued walking up to my front door. My hands were anxiously shaking as I struggled to put the key into the knob. One would think that having been taken as many times as I had, one would get used to it, but that wasn't the case. I led myself inside my home and was met with silence and darkness.

Everything was still in its place, just as we had left it. Except as I reached the beginning of the stairs, a light was shining above, coming from my bedroom. I slowly walked up the creaky stairs, took a deep breath as I reached the top, and continued walking towards my bedroom. As I slowly pushed open my door completely, I could see the reflection of Luca sitting down on my armchair in the corner of the entrance.

"Well, hello, Scarlett," he greeted me as I walked completely into the room. My face went pale, and my eyes widened with shock. "Little Red Riding Hood has come home to the big bad wolf." He grinned as he rose from his seat. He was wearing a black turtleneck, a black long coat, and jeans. His black hair was combed back, and his eyes were dark brown. He fixed his coat and centered his silver necklace of a cross around his neck. "Do you know who I am?" He asked.

"Luca Romano," I replied.

"Yes," he grinned, "you saved my life, amore. But there is still something else you must do for me."

"What is that?" I asked as I took a step back as he walked closer to me.

"You were promised to me, so I'm here to collect you." He grinned. He quickly closed the space between us, pulled out a syringe, and lodged it in my neck. The world around me began to spin. My balance was gone, and I fell to the floor as he watched from above with an evil smirk while my body went numb. "But first, there's someone dying to meet you." He said this as my world turned dark.