Sweet Truths & Silent Lies ✔️

CHAPTER 05 - ❝the devil himself❞

CHAPTER FIVE │ THE DEVIL HIMSELF

SCARLETT DEL GATO

The birds chirping and the wind sifting through the tall, green trees didn't drown out the pounding of my heart against my ribcage. With the way Giovanni was smiling at me, I think he could've heard it. Hell, I felt it in my throat too.

Pounding.

Pounding.

Pounding.

I wipe my clammy hands against my jeans, ridding them from the sweat.

My hands tremble at my sides and my veins were pulsing visibly beneath my skin, no doubt. I could hear Vito's sigh behind me and the fact that he placed his gun back where it belonged: in the waistband of his pants. I think I preferred the gun to the back of my neck now instead of being in front of Giovanni's gaze.

I look at Giovanni, seeing nothing but hints of amusement inside those blue eyes of his. He had his signature smirk on his mouth too-the one that brought goosebumps to my flesh and one that made me shiver out of pure fear.

"You can't keep me here forever, Giovanni." I tell him, my words coming out of my mouth in a shrill manner, as if I was speaking too fast, letting the words come tumbling out of my mouth. "I will find a way to escape, one way or another."

I hated showing him that I was, in fact, afraid of him, of them. He clearly found it amusing that his smirk alone brought goosebumps to my skin. He found it amusing when I would shiver out of pure fear. He found it completely hilarious that I had my hands clenched at my sides, trying to keep them from trembling.

Giovanni lifts his hand into the air. Thinking he was going to slap or even punch me, I flinch and screw my eyes shut as I waited for the stinging pain of his slap across my cheek, but the slap or punch never came.

I slowly open my eyes again, seeing a fraction of a frown between his perfect, thick eyebrows. It's like he didn't expect me to flinch when he lifted his hand into the air, but I wouldn't put it past him, either. He was remorseless after all.

The frown disappears from his face and the amusement is back in a matter of seconds. "And if you do manage to escape, emphasis on if," he adds, the signature smirk glued to his mouth yet again, "where would you possibly go?" He asks, lifting his shoulder questioningly. "Would you go to your best friend, Eden?" He tilts his head to the side, the look on his face of pure satisfaction.

My heart drops to the ground.

He knows about Eden. He knows that she is my best friend.

My reflexes kick in when I slap him across the face out of pure instinct. The palm of my hand stung after it connected with his chiselled cheek and it turned red immediately, his cheek had my fingerprints glued against it. His face swept to the side after the slap, but the smirk never disappeared from his face.