No Strings Attached

CHAPTER 26

"Are you sure you're not still injured badly?" Ari asks for the millionth time.

I roll my eyes at him and groan, "Yes I'm sure. Issy's been taking care of them for me," I repeat myself yet again.

"Have any of them hurt you?" Gabriel asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Not any more than I've hurt them," I smile,

"Apart from their egos?" Everett snickers, slapping his knee as if he's just told the funniest joke in the world.

"No, I shot Vincenzo yesterday," I say in a casual tone.

Griffon chokes on his water as they all look at me, "I mean I can understand why you'd do that, but why did you do that?" he says in a dumbfounded tone.

I shrug, "He needed to learn how to speak to me properly," I say, skipping over the part where he had me bent over his office desk.

"Why?" Ari asks sharply, "What did he say?" his tone is one of an overly protective father and I can't help but smile.

Again I shrug, "I just taught him to watch his tone when he speaks to me," I reply absentmindedly.

Ari raises an eyebrow at me but doesn't say anything else on the matter, his shoulders stiffening as he repositions himself on the couch.

"He hasn't tried anything with you has he? Because I have no problem breaking the deal we just made and killing him," he says slowly, looking at me intently as I feel the air in the room shift.

"Fuck no, I've been completely fine staying here," I reassure him, flashing him a small smile to try and ease his worries.

"Just so we're clear, none of us have a problem with breaking off this new alliance which Gabe so kindly sprung on us," Everett says, looking at his twin for back-up, who quickly nods in support.

Griffon opens his mouth to say something but is interrupted by a knock on the door, Alessio's head emerging.

"Sorry to interrupt your little debriefing session, but Enzo's called a meeting to figure out how to go about everything," he says, flashing a grin as he sees our unimpressed faces.

"We'll finish this later," Ari says, huffing as he abruptly stands up.

The twins nod in unison as they also stand up, Gabriel following suite as we all follow Alessio through the hallway and into a large meeting room.

We all file into the room and I try not to shiver at the tenseness of the room as we all sit at a table, searching for Lea's eyes as she flashes a smile at me.

I turn to face Vincenzo as he clears his throat, the table falling silent as he begins to speak.

"I've spoken to Dad about this, and we both think it's best if one of you takes the lead for this mission," he begins, his gaze darting between Le Aquile Rosse and myself. "You obviously know Leonardo better than any of us, so it makes sense if you take charge," he takes a breath as if it's paining him to say this.

Ari smiles warmly at Vincenzo before looking at me proudly, "I speak for the whole gang when I say Ana would be perfect to lead us into this," he says, and I silently curse him for his faith in me for this.

"With your help of course," I laugh nervously, widening my eyes at him to take the hint.

Gabriel must catch this because he quickly comes to my aid, "We'd be happy to help out here, we know Leonardo and his little, uhm, ways quite well," he says.

"Perfect," Vincenzo says, giving us a tight-lipped smile, "Where do you think we should begin then?"

"I think it's important to say that we were by no means Leonardo's most trusted men," Griffon says, "He knew we were loyal to Castro and I think he knew we only stayed with him because of Ana,"