CHAPTER 48: SEQUELA

Valentina and Natalia clung to each other’s skin in an embrace, whilst sitting on the floor in their room.

"I’m so scared Val," Natalia kept on repeating.

Valentina had no other comforting words to offer, so she just silently remained in her thoughts.

It was very strange how everything had played out.

However, the bottom line remained that something was amiss, and there was no way to find out what it was.

"Val?" Sonia called in a low voice, as she opened the door and stepped into the room.

Her brow drew together in fear when she didn’t catch a glimpse of either girl on the bed. But then she looked down, and a soft exhale left her.

"Val," she walked over to where the girls hurdled together, and lowered herself to the floor with the tray in her hand.

Valentina slowly looked up to see Sonia’s doe eyes staring pitifully at her.

"Hey," she said.

"I bring food miss Natalia cook." She placed the tray on the ground in front of them.

Natalia uncurled herself from Valentina’s hold, and proceeded to take a peek into the tray.

"It is well-done. Thank God. You have to eat now Val. You haven’t eaten all day."

"No," Valentina was quick to shake her head. "I don’t feel like eating. My stomach can’t withstand food right now. Tell me Sonia, what is all this about?"

Sonia’s shoulders sank as she sighed. "I don’t know. Neravalle quiet. Too quiet."

"Is there like an ongoing attack? Nothing makes sense!"

"It really doesn’t, Val. The brutal guy just marched in and whisked me away without giving any explanations. My wrist still hurts from how tight his grip was," Natalia whined.

"Sorry miss Natalia. Sorry Val. I don’t know." She shrugged her slagged shoulders.

"Thanks Sonia," Natalia turned to Valentina. "Hey, you really should try and eat, even if it’s a bit. You haven’t had anything all day. You’ll grow weaker," she said with concern in her voice.

"Let me grow weaker. I don’t want to eat anything." She rose to her feet, and climbed on the bed.

With one upward pull, she covered her body with the blanket.

Her thoughts were filled up with Luciano. He had kissed her, yet couldn’t come explain to her what was happening.

"Men," she thought, as her heart swelled up in annoyance.

****

The next morning, Luciano woke up with a headache.

He opened his eyes, and quickly closed them back.

But after counting to ten in his mind, he was able to open his eyes again.

His head turned to the side, and his brows furrowed when he saw Daniela smiling sheepishly at him.

"Hey babe, good morning."

"Good morning," he said, as his thoughts ran.

It only took a few seconds for him to recall everything that happened the previous day.

"I have to go," he said, already dragging his body out of her bed.

"That’s okay. Do you want me to prepare you breakfast?" She sat up, watching him put on his clothes.

"Don’t stress yourself. Let the chefs do their job. All you need to do is rest." He leaned towards her, and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

Daniela broke into a giggle. "You’re being very affectionate," she said as he pulled away.

"Yeah well, you’re deserving of it. See you later."

"Bye!" She waved at him until he disappeared through the door.

Immediately, she grabbed her phone, and began to dial her mother’s number.

Luciano had barely made a turn towards his room when he stumbled into Vittorio and Salvatore.

"You called it," Salvatore whispered to Vittorio.

"I did. And it’s good this way. Daniela is good for him," he whispered back to him.

"Is she?" Salvatore thought, but didn’t say it out loud.

"Good morning Luce." Salvatore saluted.

He stopped to acknowledge them. "Where are you both headed?"

"We were looking for you, Carpo," Vittorio said.

Luciano rolled his eyes. It always sounded strange to him hearing Vittorio call him boss, even though technically he was to him too.

"Well you’ve found me." He continued walking.

Both men fell in place beside him, putting him in the middle as they followed him to wherever it was he was headed.

"Did you sleep well?" Salvatore couldn’t help but ask.

"Depends on what you consider sleeping well," he replied.

"Let’s not get into that," Vittorio added.

He didn’t want to risk ruining the mood this bright and early.

"Don’t walk on tiptoes around me. If you both have something on your mind, tell me."

Vittorio and Salvatore exchanged glances. The coin was tossed through their mind and swiftly.

Vittorio lost. He had to be the one to say it.

"Adin didn’t get to finish his report to you last night. We were wondering if you’ll like to–"

"Let’s go." He cut him off, and switched directions towards the information room.

Luciano walked into the room hoping to be slammed in the face by the damage he caused the previous day.

But he was pleasantly surprised when he saw everything had been replaced swiftly.

"I forget how efficient you all are," he said as he took a seat.

"Is that a compliment?" Salvatore mouthed to Vittorio who shrugged in response.

The screen came on again, and this time, it was Adin alone.

"Good morning carpo," he said on seeing Luciano.

"I want you to go straight to the point, Adin. Hit me with all of the hard facts."

"Sì. From the files I saw, it doesn’t show how Valentina survived. But it is on record that she lived in a castle– that’s what that particular house of Allen Wallace was called, because it was practically built like a castle. Well she lived there with Maria Esposito Gomez, the mother of Natalia. She was Valentina’s nanny, and also Bianca’s maid turned best friend." Adin paused to switch to the next slide he was reading from.

Luciano played with his chin, as wrinkled lines marred his forehead.

"Valentina grew up in the mansion without ever stepping out. All her education was done online. Valentina’s first public appearance was a year ago, after the death of Maria Esposito. That’s when the government really began monitoring her movements."

"Why are they monitoring her movements?" Luciano asked.

"Well, according to the rest of the sealed documents, Allen Wallace bragged about how his four year old daughter at that time was the only one other than him, who had knowledge of the map."

Luciano sat up, and uncrossed his legs. "She knows about the map?"

"No one knows if he was just bragging for the sake of annoying his rivals. But yeah, there are several accounts of him bragging that she was so smart, she knew the map by heart."

"My father died before he could get his hand on it," Luciano said in a bone chilling voice.

"Indeed. That’s why she is so protected by the government. They want the map too. Another person who wants the map is Ross Voltron."

Luciano’s gaze sharpened at the mention of that name. "He does now, doesn’t he?"

"Yep. He says after the death of Allen, most mafia fractions in the states fell apart. The Italians are winning the mafia wars because of their numbers. If he gets his hand on the map, it puts him above all others. Not just between the states and Italy. But all over the world."

Luciano jumped to his feet. "Maybe she isn’t better of dead, after all," he declared. "Bring her to the punishment room by noon," he ordered, as he walked out of the room.