Menacingly

Chapter Six

Angela was surprised to find Adrianno up and dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants, reading the paper, the next morning when she woke up. He was sitting at the breakfast bar, his leg crossed over the other as his eyes scanned over the pages. Did she pretend he wasn't here and not speak to him? Or did she say good morning? When she looked at him in the corner of her eye, he didn't seem too happy so she decided to keep any interaction between them short and sweet if even needed.

She snuggled into her dressing gown as she made a pot of coffee. She turned around, he still hadn't moved an inch or even acknowledged she was there. Was he annoyed because of her appearance last night in the living room? Maybe. Those men and Adrianno seemed to be having a very important discussion and she knew she may have walked in at a bad time.

"Would you like some coffee?" she said quietly. As soon as the words were spoken, she regretted it, she wanted to take them back and go into hiding in her room again. He glared at her, making her almost flinch but then she supposed that was easy, she was afraid of everything.

He looked back down at his paper then and she took that as a no. She wanted that person from the other day to show up again: the one who joked and at least talked to her a little, even if he made her feel stupid.

"I'm sorry about last night." She had told herself not to talk to him so why had she done it again? It felt like she wanted to talk to him but she knew how scary he could be. Maybe it was just because she hadn't had much human contact in a while now, she reassured herself. Or maybe she was just plain curious about this man she lived with and knew nothing about. "You know, if I knew you were still there I wouldn't have come out of my room- Wait, not that I avoid you or anything, well yes I do but-"

"Stop rambling." He ordered calmly, turning the paper to read the next page.

"I'm sorry." She said again. "I-I just wanted you to know that I didn't do it on purpose, I was just so bored in my room and decided to go outside for a while but you were still there. It won't happen again."

"Stop saying I'm sorry Angela." He breathed out.

"I'm sorry- Oh wait, no. I'm not." She was getting herself in a rut now and didn't know what to say. He seemed to be getting annoyed now and she didn't want that. She looked at his burning eyes, they made her shiver.

"Stop saying I'm sorry god damn it!" he raised his voice and slammed his fist down on the table. She jumped back a little and put her hand over her mouth, the noise of everything on the breakfast table as he smacked his hand down on the table made her eyes shut for a moment. She nodded slowly and walked briskly to her room, leaving her coffee sitting on the counter top behind her.

She left him in the kitchen alone, feeling slightly regretful. He had an urge to bring her coffee to her and apologize himself but he fought it off. He kind of felt something when he saw how frightened she looked standing in front of him. It was like a slap in the face. But Adrianno never felt anything so he didn't think much of it.

He was so used to not sleeping, that he didn't even feel tired anymore but Adamo and his discussion was still playing on his mind. It made him furious, he never liked when he didn't get his own way.

Adamo was a member and very high up in one of the rival familia's in New York. They had been fighting over territory but Adamo had played dirty and somehow backed Adrianno and his men into a corner unexpectedly. He needed to have a talk with them all, his father wouldn't be happy about this either.

Then Angela had walked out and distracted Adamo and his other men from what they were talking about. They all eyed her with curiosity, he wanted to kill every one of them as they sat there in his apartment, drinking and smoking but he wouldn't. Sure, he couldn't blame them at all, Angela could be seen as quite a catch but he wouldn't go for her.

Adamo offered to not make the deal so bad in return for taking the girl but Adrianno declined. God knows what he and his perverted men would do to her, they were capable of anything. Women were mere objects to them, even their wives.

Adrianno couldn't get on his high horse as regards to that discussion about women: he hadn't treated any woman that well either but it was a different kind of treatment. They were sick, while he may have had a lot of one night's stands and used them for his own pleasure. He never needed one to love, just to grace his bed once or twice and then leave.

But him declining Adamo's offer was playing on his mind a bit, why? He asked why so many times that might when he lay in bed, looking up at the ceiling above him but could not come out with any answer. It was irritating him, she was irritating him and she wasn't even doing anything. Her nicey-nice act couldn't late for much longer could it? She would soon stop tip-toeing around like a quiet shelter dog that jumps every time it sees a new person and barks when there are loud noises.

Mike called him again, wondering when he could come up, to see her obviously but he was pretending it was just to see his brother. Mike was foolish and naïve. He genuinely liked this girl, thought she could be sweet if I didn't lock her up in a small space all day and told me what I was doing wasn't fair. What else was I supposed to do with her?

It had to all be a front didn't it? Her quietness, her cuteness (for want of a better word), the way she crept around, trying not to get into any trouble but that was as she seemed to be: trouble. She had vacated his thoughts for too long and she had only been here three weeks. They hadn't even had a proper conversation for god's sake?

He should've just given her to Adamo, but the thought of her getting sold off like some sort of animal once he had finished with her made his skin crawl. Adrianno was still deciding what exactly he could do with the girl but he needed to make a decision sooner rather than later. He needed to clear his head, today was his day off and he had already started the day off badly.

While Adrianno wrestled with his thoughts in the kitchen, Angela showered and dressed herself. Once she put her hair in a ponytail, she got to work on cleaning the apartment and avoiding Adrianno. She had decided to use the approach of speak when spoken to and ignored him when she bent down under the kitchen sink to get what she needed for cleaning.

She hadn't noticed him looking at her intently when she had her back to him, she held her head up high when she walked around the kitchen and never once even threw her eyes in his direction. He wanted to be glad but he wasn't really. He heard the vacuum buzz in the background behind him but never turned around.

She cleaned around for a few hours until the whole apartment looked like a show room. Adrianno had moved around her and was now sitting in the living room watching TV while she was in the kitchen, sitting on the floor trying to get a stain off of the polished marble floor.

There was a knock on the door and her heard Adrianno get up to answer it.

"What the f**k are you doing here?" he asked, annoyance clear in his tone.

"What? I can't come and see my big brother every once in a while?" she heard a familiar voice say, it sounded a lot like Mike but were they brothers?

"Whatever." Adrianno growled and closed the door. She could hear Mike walking around and although she did want to have an actual conversation with someone other than herself, she didn't want Adrianno to get angrier at her.

"Hey shortcake, fancy seeing you here eh?" he walked into the kitchen, Adrianno hot on his heels. She was about to give him a short hello but when she saw Adrianno's angry expression, she gave Mike a meek wave and smile before going back to what she was doing. "You have her cleaning floors Adrianno? She's not a slave." Angela didn't want Mike to cause a fuss so she looked up at the two men and spoke.

"It's fine, I'm just cleaning around." She said gently, trying not to make either of them push it any further.

"No it's not fine, get up. Adrianno can send for a cleaner to that if he wants." Mike replied but she didn't move, only looked between him and Adrianno.

"He didn't ask me to do this, I'm doing it myself." She told Mike, so as he would not say anything else to Adrianno, who was standing there in a rage. His jaw was clenched and he seemed to be turning red with fury.

"Get up. Now, you aren't fit for the floors. You deserve better." Mike held out his hand to help her up and she took it hesitantly, still keeping an eye on Adrianno who had yet to speak. Maybe Mike liked getting at his older brother, Angela thought, because he found all of this quiet funny. Angela on the other hand did not, she was scared actually. Adrianno's glare was burning a hole in her head but Mike had a hint of humour in his voice, he smiled at her when she got up. She tried to smile back and then picked up the things from the floor.

"I'm going to get dressed." Adrianno grumbled, storming off and slamming his bedroom door behind him.

"Touchy much." Mike joked and nudged her playfully.

"Ha." She let out a fake laugh but she was trembling inside, would he do anything when Mike was gone? She hoped not, she hoped he would just leave her alone.

"Let's sit down." She followed him to the living room and sat down beside him on one of the couches. "You know, you're very quiet today Angela." He eyed me with curiosity.

"I'm always quiet." She joked and he chuckled.

"A lot more quieter than usual is what I mean. I hope he isn't bossing you around?"

"No, not at all." She said quickly.

"I'll talk him into letting us get out of here for a couple of hours soon, don't you worry Shortcake." He grinned at her and she smiled faintly.

"It's okay, don't worry about me. I'm fine up here." She lied to him.

"You are not-"

"Let's go." A now suit clad Adrianno ordered and grabbed his coat. They both hadn't noticed him walking into the living room while they were talking.

"I'll see you later Angela." Mike said before getting up from the sofa and following Adrianno. "Try not to have too much fun up here." He said sarcastically and she tried to stifle a giggle.

"Shut up talking and hurry up." Was the last thing she heard Adrianno say to Mike before they left her sitting on the couch, all by herself in the noiseless apartment. Today was not a good day for her, she woke up with a cloud of sadness and anxiety hanging over her and then the incident in the kitchen had made her feel worse. The quietness that surrounded her made her feel completely and utterly alone, because that's what she was.