The Wrong Guy

05 | New Beginnings?

*Exactly eight months and 11 days later...*

Eleanora looks up from her work and puts down her pencil when she heard her children's cries. The two were probably fighting again and cry when the other starts crying. 

Abigail and Alexander looked up with their glassy eyes and ran towards her.

"What were you guys doing again? Hmm?" Abigail tries to explain, but then she started crying again. Seeing his twin cry, Alexander began to cry.

She heaved the two up, slightly struggling and put them both on the sofa.

"Now, tell me why are the two of you crying? Did you guys pull each other hair now?" They shook their heads.

Abigail pointed towards the main door and started crying again.

"What's there, Abi? Alex? Want to tell me?" The two drags their mother by her hand to the door, and she peers through the pinhole.

Her heart almost stopped at the man standing in front of her door, holding a bouquet of tulips.

"Abi, Alex, go to your room and lock the door first. Don't come out until I tell you two to do so." Their lips trembled, but they did what they were told to do. Eleanora unshielded her katana and walks to the front door.

If her family could not find her, how did he find her?

She took a deep breath and opened her door.

"I'm just here to talk. No need to get all defensive. It's just me. No one else is with me." She stares at him, then lets him in.

He glanced around and stepped into her apartment. It is small and cosy, totally the opposite of what he had expected. Eleanora puts the katana shield on and pour some water into a glass and passed it to him.

"Sit down here. Don't move." She is still cautious of him, but she knows she can beat him up, which reassured herself.

Eleanora knocked on her kids' door, and they opened it slightly.

"You guys can come out. Did you mistaken Massimo for some stranger?" They shook their heads. She held out her hands towards them; they took hold of her hand came out of their room.

Massimo sat at their tiny couch, staring blankly at the glass of water. The twins relatively relax and then stood behind their mother.

"What's your deal? Why are you here?" Marco did warn him about how blunt Eleanora could be, and he has to get used to it if he wanted help from her.

"I need your help." Eleanora frowns and then looked at him in confusion. 

Does the most significant mafia leader need help from her? What help could he possibly need from her when he is so influential.

She pulls her children with her and sat on the opposite couch across him.

"Speak. What help could you possibly need from me?" When she left her family, she was already done with the mafia stuff.

"Marco said that you are the only person that could help me. Laura has been kidnapped, and I need your help to find her." 

Eleanora smirked a little and shook her head in disbelief.

"No. I can't help you." He watched her whispered something into her kids' ears, and they ran to their room. 

He stood up from the couch and pushed her down against the sofa, with her arms held up above her head.

She expected him to get riled up and had instructed her kids to go back to their room.

"Why won't you help me? Do you need money? What do I need to do to get you to help me?" He sneered at her.

"Exactly this. You expect me to help you after what you have done? Save it. You can go find other people." He loosens the grip around her wrist and Eleanora got off the couch.

"Now leave and don't come back." She pushed him out of her apartment and slammed her door shut.

She left Italy partially because of him, and now he is seeking help from her. Eleanora placed the tulips into a vase of water and sat by the kitchen counter. Her head is hurting from the sudden appearance of Massimo and now the disappearance of Laura.

Abigail crept behind her mother and tugs on her pants.

"Why is that scary uncle here? I don't like him." Eleanora pulls her daughter into the lap.

"Me too, Abi. I don't like him here." 

When he is near her, she feels uneasy. It's his fiance that is missing, how does it concern her?