Stephano

4. eunoia

Eunoia (u-no-ee-ah)

N. Beautiful thinking; a well mind

♡

Her mind was left blank, besides the pounding throb that was left in the back of her head resulting in a headache. Riley's heart yearned for her friend, she felt as if it had been shattered into bits of pieces, and the phrase that killed her slowly interrupted her joyful aura.

Confusion was knocking at the door, and her mind only rose with questions that surfaced the water of pity and allowed itself to gaze upon the sunlight of unhappiness. Nothing made sense, all she knew was this man wanted something to do with Amara. In her mind, it seemed as if the man was out of blood, and his victim was her best friend.

The one question that kept running through her mind was why? Amara swore to tell Riley everything, yet this secret that had never been revealed is still left as an unsolved mystery.

A knock that sounded at the door immediately dropped the thoughts that were circling her mind. Riley sat up on the bed and watched as the door opened to reveal a man who was the size of the incredible hulk."

Come with me," he ordered before leaving the white wooden door ajar. The room was dark and the little amount of light that seeped through the room dilated her pupils that had grown accustomed to the darkness.

She set one foot on the clean carpeted flooring before stepping down on her other one. Her legs were weak due to the little amount of movement she had in her muscles from being crammed up for so long. After a couple of steps, she was walking normally. She followed the bulky man out of the room. The halls were dark, only the lights within the ceilings gave her the ability to not be swallowed up by the darkness.

The transition from the white carpet to the black tile floor was clear as her heels clanked against the contact made with the sleek tiles. The amount of silence was screaming with anticipation, it had her clawing in fear at what was to come.

To briefly mask her terror, she continued staring at the decorated halls. Paintings of different signs that she understood so little meaning behind astonished her. It made her curious to find out what each meant.

The walls were painted a black color and a beautiful long silk red runner was directly in the center of the hall. The beautiful candles that were left in holders were hung precisely in every corner. Everything about the building was magnificent and had its own meaning giving it the dangerous edgy look.

She looked straight in front of her with her eyes cast down. The man continued leading her down the long hallway until they were met with a door that had two men standing outside of it with their gun placed diagonally across their abdomen.

The man who was leading Riley nodded his head at the two, who then, returned the gesture before opening the door.

Inside, was an office. It was huge, the black walls were still present along with the black tiles. A desk was directly across from her view as she stood stiffly by the door waiting for her next instruction. A white armchair was placed at an angle in front of the granite topped desk along with another on the opposite side. A leather swivel chair sat right behind it. Everything seemed so expensive as she gazed upon the golden gun that was hung above the couch that was sprawled out in the corner of the office.

The words Omerta was written beautifully on the opposite side of the wall. The abstract font was eye-catching and Riley narrowed her eyes at it, trying to understand what exactly those words meant.

"Boss requested for her to be seated," one of the men from outside the office had said. His voice was gruff. He didn't even allow so much as a crack of any type of emotion. It was an empty voice that was so loud of a message. The muscular man who wore nothing who had walked her into this place, nodded his head before reaching his rough hand at the bicep of Riley's arm and pushed her down into the white seat. The chair adjusted to her body as she felt herself molding into it. It was very comfortable, in fact, she felt as if it was many times better than the bed she had at home.

She looked up to catch the eye of the man only to see her own reflection. People say "the eye shows all", but when numbed—the eye can hide feeling that is kept so deep inside to the point that it gets just as easy as faking a smile. He turned away and went out of the door leaving his loud footsteps to echo through the room.

This room specifically smelt of spice, it allowed her to taste the expectancy of horror that may come. Her hands felt clammy and sweaty due to her nerves that skyrocketed every moment she exhaled a breath.

Deep down, Riley knew something was to come and once again her useless amount of cluelessness came dinging away like a train going full speed. The revolution of prediction wasn't healthy being the only thing she could fear.

The door banged open followed by the sound of a loud sigh. The sight caused her to immediately tense up and leave her body to react in a way she didn't want it to. "F*ck! F*ck! F*ck!" the voice of Stephano screamed in vexation.

Riley didn't bother to turn her head, just continued to play with her fingers. "Those f*ckers must think this is funny!" He irritatedly yelled completely forgetting that Riley was seated in the room.

Slowly, she turned around at the tattooed beauty. His jaw was clenched along with his fisted hands as he stared down at the paper in his hands. "Damn Lucifer, what did you do?" he muttered still looking at the paper as if it held some type of prize that could only be seen if you looked in the depths of it.

Riley took this time to actually study his features—his dark brown hair was slicked back, his jaw-line was in full definition due to his state of aggravation. He had a small pointed nose above his pink angelic lips. His blue eyes were concentrating on the paper that was within his hard hold.

Finally, he looked up and as an instinct, she quickly looked away hoping he didn't see her staring, but deep down she knew he did. "Little lady," he acknowledged her presence. Even though he had called her out of her name, she looked up already knowing it was her he was referring to.

"I really don't know what to do with you, so I'm going to give you decision. Keep in mind, I don't normally do such negotiations," he began after ripping the paper up to shreds. Her attention was on him as he looked at her with such intensity.

She was going to nod so he could continue, but then the thought of knowing he'd want her to speak crossed her mind so she settled on muttering a small okay.

He walked over to the desk and sat down in the chair. "Omerta, the code of silence. It's what we do around here. If your mouth is sealed then you shall never be put to sleep with the reasoning behind breaking the code. I don't even care if you are put on a death wish, your mouth doesn't f*cking open. What you see, you shall never speak of to anyone. Otherwise, you will be dead by the next time you blink your eyes. Such as Johnny here-" he stated at the same time the doors opened.

The sound of a body hitting the ground pierced her eardrums. Riley turned around in a whiplash to see an older man around the age of forty crying on the ground. His arms were tied behind his back along with his legs as he hid his face on the floor. His sobs were both seen and heard when the sight of his shoulders bobbing up and down was clearly visible.

She didn't even notice when the scary man got up from his chair until she saw him kneel down beside the victim and roughly grab him by the hair while yanking his head up and speaking to him in disgust. "Tell her exactly what you did."

"I told the Americans where Stephano is located and they told the Mexicans-" he began crying uncontrollably making him squeal his hiccups out "-I broke the code of Omerta," he finished explaining.

"Now, let me demonstrate what happens to those who can't keep their mouths shut," Stephano said. It all happened too quickly, she was frozen. She couldn't move, nor could she speak. The man on the ground was crying and pleading for his life when all of the sudden Stephano wrapped his hands around his head and snapped it without any sort of sympathy.

All Riley could do was stare, she only gazed down at the man who was taught a lesson. His neck was twisted at a weird angle and his entire flesh drained of any sort of color.

"You must vow for your silence, otherwise, I shall kill you just as I killed him," He casually said as if he didn't just threaten her life. It came out as if he was asking someone 'how's the weather?'. It was as simple as giving a compliment, and for some reason, it slightly saddened her. It made her wonder how many times had he asked that question, and what was the answer to it?

The only option was to be quiet or die. Although it seemed simple, it meant a lot. She couldn't go to the police, or she'd get killed by whatever he is. She even couldn't speak of the kidnapping that she had been encountered into anyone.

Then again, if she died she would be giving up on Amara. It was something she didn't want to even come close to doing.

"I vow the code of omertà," she whispered. For now, she was silent, but as soon as she gets Amara everything else will be figured out later. Her top priority amongst everything was her best friend and no one—not even the devil has the ability to change that.

He smirked as he rubbed his hands together. "Smart girl," he complimented. He walked back over to his chair before leaning back and giving her another intense stare. His eyes were extremely captivating just like the first time she saw him, she just couldn't pull away.

"What's your name?" She asked in the most calmest way she could muster. On the inside, she was terrified.

"Stephano Christiano. That is all you will be told. As for anything else, I guess you'll have to figure it out yourself," Stephano blankly stated while still staring into the depth of her soul. She nodded her head and looked away from his piercing blue eyes.

She nodded her head. His jaw clenched and through gritted teeth, he spoke, "Words were invented for a reason."

She threw her hands down toward her lap, lacing her fingers that still played with each other. "yes sir," she quietly said. Her voice was scratchy due to the lack of water and her foot lightly tapped against the flooring, repeatedly without her realization.

Her mind was masked with the images of life being taken away from a being and giving it the fate of death. It hurt to memorize it, she didn't know how he could live with himself after sentencing death probably so many times.

"Would you look at that?" he asked much to my confused being. He twisted the computer monitor and turned the volume up to hear the words of a news anchor. "Recently the death of over 1,000 men and women were found killed here in the Valley. We've been informed that the sheriff's mother - Sarah - was the cause. The sheriff had a lot to say about this, and we are sad to hear the news of such an unexpec. . ."

"That is so sad. Why would the sheriff's mother do such a thing?"