CHAPTER C
~~~
THERE WAS A thick silence heavy in the air. As they all had their breakfast, no one said a word.
Sophia was in a cheerful mood. She was eating and innocently bobbing her head side by side as she silently hummed to a song. Saige was watching Lucas and Luciano, who were silently eating as if they didn’t have a small argument the previous night, from time to time as she used the silence to conspire on how to get the note. Valerie was just being herself as she basked in the silence while eating. And Chase was just… indifferent.
Saige’s lips curled up into a sly smile when her eyes fell on the bruise Luciano’s punch had left on Lucas’ nose. “Lucas,” She fake- gasped, breaking the comfortable silence in the dining room. “Did you have a fight with someone?”
Everyone stopped eating, and all their eyes were on Lucas.
Lucas frowned and shot her an irritated look. “What?”
She stared at the bruise. “You have a bruise on your nose. Looks like it was a bad punch,”
Lucas was the cool, reserved, and responsible type of person who never got into fights, unlike Luciano. Lucas, getting into a fight, surprised Chase, and he looked at him. “Lucas,” He didn’t need to say more. His eyes were asking for an explanation.
“This,” Lucas rubbed the spot where Luciano had punched him. “It’s nothing serious,”
“Since when did you start getting into fights?” Chase asked, dropping his cutlery in his plate.
“I didn’t get into a fight, Don,” He replied. “It’s just -”
Luciano cut him off. “I punched him,”
Saige raised a brow. “Why would you do that?”
“It’s not your business why he punched me, “Lucas snapped.” Just mind you fucking business and eat,”
“I was only worried about you,” She shrugged. “After all, you’re my-,” She directed her gaze to Sophia who was staring right back at her. “You’re my husband’s little cousin,” Her gaze snapped back to Lucas. “Please don’t-,”
Luciano cut her off in a cold, icy voice. “You want to know why I punched him? Fine,” He placed both of his palms flatly against the table, gazing into her green eyes. “I punched him because he fucking hid something from me,”
Lucas’ voice came out hard, full of warning. “Luciano,”
Interesting. Saige smiled slyly. “It’s so bad that your own twin brother would hide something from you. From the looks of it, whatever he may have hidden from you is important. Why don’t you share it with all of us? We’re a family,” She smiled at Sophia. “Aren’t we, Soph?”
Chase said nothing. He stared at the three of them, trying to understand what was going on.
One thing was clear; Lucas and Luciano were hiding something, and Saige was trying to manipulate Luciano into saying it out. But what could it be? He only hoped it wasn’t the truth about Sophia’s real mother.
“Don’t bring her into this,” Lucas warned.
Saige ignored him. She stared back at Luciano, her smile growing wider. “Tell us,”
Luciano shrugged. “It’s not as serious as you think it is, Saige. It’s just that Lucas is in love with the girl I love,”
Saige’s smile dropped, and a frown masked her expression. It was a lie. She was sure Luciano was lying.
She wanted to make sure the truth came out to the open. “Is love allowed in the mafia world?”
Lucas was tired of whatever she was trying to play at. She sounded as if she knew something and wanted them to say it out. He couldn’t give her the satisfaction. “I see. You’re trying to become a perfect Donna. It’s nice to see that you’ve finally accepted that love doesn’t exist in our world. I’m happy you’ve finally managed to walk out of your delusion that Don would reciprocate your obsession,”
Her right palm lay flatly against the table, and she snapped, her eyes narrowing into slits. “Lucas!”
“Enough,” Chase retorted. “Enough of all this. If you want to have arguments, don’t do that here,” He turned to look at Saige who was seething with anger, glaring daggers at Lucas who had a smug look and smile of satisfaction on his face, showing that he had hit the spot he wanted to hit in Saige. “You are the Donna, Saige. I won’t tolerate such behaviour from you,”
Saige scoffed. She stood up, scraping the chair on the tiles, knowing Chase would be upset with her for what she just did. “Excuse me,” and she walked away.
Sophia stared at everyone on the table. She had lost her appetite the moment Saige claimed Chase as her own husband in the room. It was expected.
She slowly stood up. “I- I’m going to my room. Enjoy your breakfast,” She left as well.
Chase leaned his back on his chair and rubbed his face with his palms before letting out a sigh. “Vedo che Luciano sa la verita adesso,”
{“I see Luciano knows the truth now”}
~~~
Sophia slowly walked down the stairs till she reached Chase’s study. She knocked on the door, and once she heard a muffled ‘come in’ , she opened the door and walked in.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.
Chase was seated behind his large, black desk, working on his laptop, a few papers scattered all over the desk. He wasn’t putting on his suit coat and waist coat any longer. They were both dropped neatly on the arm of the chair while the sleeves of his button-down shirt was rolled down. His dark hair which was gelled in the morning, was looking unruly and dishevelled, as if he had raked his fingers through them a thousand times as a few strands fell over his forehead.
Without looking up from the laptop, he asked. “Any problem, Gattina?”
{“Kitten”}
Sophia bit down on her lip and nodded. When she realized that he wasn’t looking at her, she spoke up. “Yes,” She gulped lowly. “I’m bored,”
Chase whipped up his head to look at her, and Sophia’s heart fluttered as she stared at the single strand of hair that was falling over his eye. Her stomach did a flip flop at the intensity of his gaze on her. “Come,” Chase’s voice broke her out of her thoughts, and she swallowed.
Sophia took slow steps towards him. She went around the desk and plopped up on the desk, directly in front of him beside his laptop.
Seeing the way, she made herself comfortable on his desk, Chase shut his laptop, pushed it aside, and then gathered all the papers on his desk before putting them in a file. “You said you’re bored?” He turned to face her.
Sophia nodded. “Can I go out?”
Chase raised a brow at her. “To?”
“Anywhere,” She replied, her hands finding their way to his messy hair. She pushed back the strands that were falling over his forehead back to their main original place. “I want to leave the house. Val isn’t around. Lucas and Luciano went out together, and my laptop is boring now. I’m tired of playing all the games on it,”
Chase plopped his elbow on the desk and held his chin between his fingers, staring at her. “You can download new games,”
Sophia pouted. “But I want to go out,”
“Hmmmm,” Chase’s hands went to her silky locks, and he caressed them gently, threading his fingers through them. “I think I’ve told you how much I love your hair, it’s texture and its colour,”
“Countless times,”
“And your freckles?” He looked at them smeared below her eyes. “Have I told you I love them a lot too?” He looked into her eyes.
“Are you trying to change the topic?” She asked.
Chase shrugged and pulled his fingers from her hair. “You can take it any way you want,”
Sophia folded her arms across her chest. “Chase,”
“You can watch movies on your laptop, Sophia,” He replied, not looking at her as he switched back on his laptop.
“I’ve watched them all,”
“Download new ones,” He said, still staring at the laptop screen.
“I don’t want to,” She whined. “I want to get a tattoo,”
Chase’s fingers that were above the keyboard halted, and he looked back at her, disbelief and shock contorting his features. “You what?”