Fiery Revenge⎪✓

78

☀︎

The trusted ones enter Xavier's office, leaving the mass of people downstairs to fend for themselves. Joseph and Owen are talking in the corner, both of them appear carefree even with the current situation. Xavier sits on top of his desk, leaning backward on his palms with insignificantly parted legs. The stance is very attractive, and I tear my gaze away from him, right as Marc walks up to me with a smile. 

"Are you worried?" He asks me, the question seems genuine enough. 

"I guess," Shrugging my shoulders. "Not because of me though, I'm concerned for all the men who have families to return home to."

Marc smiles and sits down next to me on the couch, "We'll be fine, Eloisa. They know we're going to attack, but we're a significant and very powerful mafia. No matter how much they prepare, they won't be able to get us down."

Looking into his blue eyes, "You sound so certain."

"That's because I am."

"Watch out, Marc. Confidence might get you killed," Telling him this he smiles at me. 

"Still the pessimist then?"

"You can't take the negativity out of a pessimist," I play, lightening the mood a little bit. 

"I wouldn't even know what that would equal, a pessimist with no negativity," He reflects. 

"Not strong in maths then?" I smirk at him.

He retaliates, "God knew I would be too powerful if I could do maths."

This is how our conversations go each and every single time we talk, it's quite entertaining and I catch Xavier's humored eyes as well. I admire how he's completely confident in him and me, some of the men I've met before would've slapped me for talking to anyone else. 

Particularly ones I've kissed, and in front of them at that. 

Xavier is not like that. He trusts me and that definitely shows, it makes me comfortable that he isn't trying to pull any of my independence away from me. Not that I would've allowed it, but still, the mere fact that he isn't even trying is making me happy. 

"The revulsion from how you guys stare at each other is provoking my gag reflex," Marc speaks out in humor. 

Turning to him with a smirk, "Amateur, you have a gag reflex?"

"Ew!" He exclaims and shoves me away from him. "That's fucking sickening!"

The entire room chuckles at his reaction, including myself, he's such a clown all the damn time. Laughing and joking around is a great distraction, but we really should navigate through the attack once again. We should be serious and keep our thoughts where they should be, it just isn't that simple. All of us know there is a high risk we won't get out alive.

As if all of them had the exact same thought process, we glance around the room with solemn expressions on our faces. Reality hit us like a ton of bricks. 

"We probably should run it over again," Roman expresses, shattering the silence and Xavier nods before standing up from his position. 

"As we know, our group will split up in two, some of us guarding the entrances we know of, the others entering through the new entrance," This is precisely what we have been planning, Xavier planned for him and me to go together. "All of us will have a lot of members distributed to tag along. Joseph, I need you to deal with the weapons after our meeting, get everyone in their gear and ready to go."

Another hour is spent running the plan through once more, agreeing on every detail and guaranteeing that all of us know what we need to do. There is no room for a misunderstanding tonight. My fingers crave to go out there, frantically wanting to know who the hell Dracona is to me and finally killing Carlos Romano off. 

I take a break from the meeting and call Rocco, asking him to close The Dungeon for the night and to go home. It would distract me if I knew he was inside the club, too close for comfort. He will be endangering his life if he shows up tonight, I sincerely wish he believes me and stays away. 

Otherwise, I have to kill him myself. 

Hanging up on the phone, I enter the office again and meet the stares of the trusted ones. Xavier is gazing at me with an unreal depth, both of knowing what will happen tonight. Looking at the clock on the wall, we have to go in about an hour to get this plan executed. 

"Are we ready?" I ask all of them, receiving nods in return. 

Xavier walks up to me, "We still don't know who Dracona is to you, no matter what or who I need you to stay calm, okay?"

"Have you never seen me fighting before?" 

I know he has and he nods to my words, "Sì, rimanere senza emozioni." (Stay emotionless).

"Lo farò," (I will) Promising this, he seems content and smiles tenderly at me. 

Xavier turns to Joseph, "Get the mafia geared up, you have an hour."

He nods in response and hurries out of the room. 

"Owen, clear the garage and ready the cars now," He orders again and Owen leaves us immediately. 

Marc steps up to us, "Boss. Roman and I will manage the meeting downstairs while Joseph hooks them up with weapons. We will run it through exactly as you told us here, is that okay?"

"Yes," Xavier nods and both of them walk away from the room, closing the door behind them and leaving me alone with the beast in front of me. He stares down at me with mixed emotions swirling in his dark eyes, "You need to be cautious tonight, Eloisa."

"As do you," I tell him, my throat contracts at the thought of him getting hurt. I feel more for this man than my mind dares acknowledge, "We are on the frontline."

He knows of this and confirms my statement, "Yes, we are. I'm the boss and have to walk front, you are powerful as hell and I know we'll be okay. Do you need some weapons from the mafia?"

Shaking my head, I lift one side of my black coat, showcasing at least four different weapons, "I think I'm covered."

The concern is written on his features and he cups my cheeks, staring into my eyes, "Please be careful."

My hands grab his wrists and I place my lips against his, he reciprocates with such passion it makes me emotional for some damn pathetic reason. I deepen the kiss for a short while before pulling away from him, he draws me closer and leaves a simple kiss on my lips again. 

"I'll be fine, Xavier," Reassuring him seems futile. 

"Of course you will," He nods his head. "You're Eloisa Martinelli, the insane woman who has managed to wound me more than anyone else breathing person. The woman who takes down groups of attackers for the hell of it. I truly don't question your strength, I'm just worried because I care about you."

I'm extremely worried about him as well, but I can't seem to show it. He needs me to be strong right now, not even entertaining the thought of anything happening to either of us, "I care about you."

He kisses my forehead and the action has my gut fluttering, "We should join them, all of us are leaving in a short while."

"Let me just get one thing out," I say and take a deep breath, he looks at me patiently. "I really do care about you, Xavier. The thought of you hurt nauseates me, I don't even want to entertain the idea. But this fight is more than our feelings for each other, if anything happens to me down there, you need to make the best decision for your mafia, not for me. Okay?"

"No, non posso prometterlo." (No, I can't promise that). 

I groan at his response, "But I want you to. The mafia is everything to you and they need you. This isn't me sacrificing myself, but I don't want you to risk your life for me. That's the only thing I'm saying."

"I can't promise you anything," He shakes his head. "I need you, too. It doesn't matter if they need me, I need you."

Not knowing how to answer his honest words and the passion glowing in his eyes, I pull him closer by his shirt and allow our lips to meet one last time before departing the protection of the office. Both of us will be okay, we need to be.