A quiet whimper filled the room. All heads turned towards the couch where Anastasia was sitting. They’d forgotten that someone was listening to their conversation. And she most certainly shouldn’t have been. Noah moved towards her immediately, but Flavio pulled him back by the arm. The Capo looked at his brother and snarled at him.
"What’s wrong Anastasia?" asked the Underboss, ignoring his boss’ disapproval. He must have seen something in the girl’s eyes that no one else had.
"My father was the one who favored cutting off the hands of his victims," she explained in a barely audible whisper.
"Your father is fucking dead, sweetheart. So, you cannot talk your way out of this with false information," the Capo seethed.
He was close to losing control. There were so many obstacles not only with Lynette’s case but also his Capodecina’s murder. It was all connected but no one seemed to be able to make anything out of it. Even Flavio.
"Noah," Flavio murmured seeing the expression on his face. It was never a good one and it meant trouble most of the time.
TheCapoignored his brother and walked up to the girl, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her close to him. Fear glimmered in her eyes and tears started strolling down her cheeks. Noah rolled his eyes at the girl’s reaction. It annoyed him to no end.
"You seriously need to learn to be more gentle, Noah," said Drew, getting closer to them.
"This is me being gentle," he snorted, letting go of Anastasia. She fell down to the couch from the rough gesture. ”Tell me everything you remember from the restaurant incident. No matter how unimportant it may seem,” he ordered, keeping a safe distance between him and the girl. There was no use in making her even more scared. She already looked as if she was about to have a panic attack. And if not for her comfort, then for his sanity, he preferred not to give her more reasons to cower.
She blinked a few times, trying to calm herself. But the shaking didn’t go away.
"There’s really not much to tell. I came into the restaurant and my father told me to sit down and order whatever. He was angry at me for most of the time, so he didn’t talk to me or explained anything for that matter. No one there looked out of place. I only knew my father’s men. There were three waitresses from what I saw. But that’s it. Until I heard the shooting. People were panicking, hiding under the tables. One of his men pulled me down as soon as possible, even though father didn’t seem worried about me at all. But somehow, I hit my head trying to hide from another gunshot and passed out. I woke up when one of your soldiers brought me down to the basement."
Anastasia seemed to be telling the truth. She had nothing to gain by withholding anything. But at the same time, her information didn’t help much. "Leave us alone." Noah ordered, as both Isaac and Drew left the room. Flavio had always been present when Capowas dealing with business, and he was without a doubt going to stay for this.
"Why did Cesarino hate you?" he asked, sitting down on the table in front of the girl.
They heard how the man had treated her and what he was calling her in the basement. As if he didn’t love or care about her. But the reason for it hadn’t mattered before. Whatever it was, had no impact on his Famiglia. However, right now Noah was trying to figure out what to do with the girl. He couldn’t send her back. He wouldn’t.
The girl fearfully looked at the man, swallowing hard. Her eyes indicated to theCapo that there was much more than just her being afraid of him. There was shame. And it lightened up a spark in him.
She reminded him of his sister. Whenever Sienna had done something wrong, she wouldn’t be able to look Noah in the eyes and her expression was all the same. The sight of her got to Falcone. Protectiveness welled up in him. He tried to talk himself into remembering that the girl in front of him wasn’t his sister. She was a stranger and he had no duty to protect her.
"Anastasia, I asked something so answer me," he drawled. Anastasia looked up at Flavio, clearly searching for any indication that it wasn’t the worst idea ever to rely on the Capo’s mercy. Being in the Underboss’ presence for the past days had made her shallowly trust him.
"I kissed my bodyguard," she admitted.
Noah frowned. That wasn’t all. "Kissed or fucked? There’s a big difference, sweetheart. First gets your bodyguard killed and you watch the execution, the latter gives you all that, as well as being called a whore and getting dragged to Seattle to be part of the slaughter."
She didn’t have to answer at this point. The way she started crying quietly was enough for the man to come to the conclusion himself. He gazed at his brother, but he gave no hint of any emotion. He was standing by the couch, looking at the girl. Noah would pay millions to find out what his Underboss was thinking. The man was always a mystery and rarely gave away the way he was analyzing, thinking. It was always out of the box and straight to the point.
Impressive.
Noah grunted. "Alright, Flavio will take care of your living arrangements. Whether it’s a hotel or an apartment, I don’t care. But you’re going to be guarded, so no trying to escape," he said, surprising Anastasia. She wiped out her tears, taking a deep breath.
"You’re not moving me to the whorehouse?" she asked doubtfully. She clearly thought that her confession would pave the way to suffering the worst degradation possible.
Capolaughed darkly. "You haven’t broken my rules, so I don’t see a reason for such a thing.
