Chapter 4
999 Words
________________________________
.
.
.
~ STEFANO'S POV ~
"We will have to get this properly investigated, brother."
I took a sip of my coffee as I watched my best friend, who was very much like a younger brother to me, Tomasso, go through the clips that I had shown him. Things were very messed up right now and he was one of the very few people I trusted with my whereabouts and future plans.
"Do whatever it takes. I need to find out who the rat is." As much as I hated my two brothers who killed our own father just because he wanted me to take over the Mafia after him, my poor mother was still stuck with them and in denial of what they had done. And for that reason, I was willing to risk my privacy and safety to make sure that whoever was playing games with the Italian Mafia family was going to go down.
The jiggling of the bell had me looking up – I had been a bit paranoid in the past few days, ever since I had landed here in the US and I needed to know the face of every single person in my vicinity.
My eyes landed on her – my neighbor. Alanna Gill. She looked as beautiful as the first time I set my eyes on her. Her wheatish skin and big brown eyes and long lush blackish-brown hair screamed perfection. She was no less than a goddess, but from the brief encounters that I had had with her, I had also figured out that she was also a bit crazy.
"Is there someone there?" Tomasso asked as he turned to look over at who I had my eyes frozen on.
Before I could say anything, he said, "Alanna Gill. The neighbor."
I smiled as soon as I heard him. I expected no less from my younger brother. He always made sure that he knew whatever s**t was going on around me so that he could do everything in his power to ensure my safety.
I wonder sometimes if any danger will be able to touch me if I had someone like this little i***t in the way. I just hoped that nothing ever happened to him. He was the closest thing I had to a sibling and I would do anything to protect him.
"The photographs show no justice to her." He continued, making me narrow my eyes at him. "She is a real Indian goddess."
I was ready to make a comment when her voice rang out through the café.
"Is there a certain Vikrant Koshi here?"
What is she up to?
I could see a waiter quickly dash to the staff section while the rest of the occupants of the place looked at her weirdly.
"If you are not that asshole, please continue with your business." She waved her hand dismissively. A younger girl approached her; her expression timid. I could not find any similarities between the two females but it was clear that she too was Indian.
"Who is this crazy b***h?" All eyes turned to the new voice, another Indian.
"Kaal." (Death) She said.
"I thought her name was Alanna." Tomasso said.
And I was just as confused as he was. Maybe she just lied about her name to this dude to not get into trouble with this guy? After all, she was a teacher and it wouldn't look good if she went and made a scene like this.
"Wow Prakriti, you actually went and got someone to talk on your behalf?" The boy chuckled; his voice extremely irritating. "As expected from a p***y like you."
"Honey, I think she has done enough talking." Alanna smiled sweetly, too sweetly, taking slow steps toward the boy. "That's where I come in. I talk with my hands when you don't find reason with words."
This Vikrant scoffed before he unhesitatingly swung his fist in her direction. I was on my feet before I knew it but before I could react any further, the boy fell four feet across the room, while Alanna stood there with her one-foot mid-air and her hands curled into fists.
I raised a brow. She had my full attention – not that she didn't as soon as she walked in.
The boy looked up at her with venom in his eyes. I was ready to defend her if something were to happen to her – I was a man of honor and I could not just stand back and watch while a woman was harmed. But I really didn't think that she would need my help. She was smirking down at the agitated young man.
"Ik gal sun le (Listen to this one thing), you don't go around threatening girls from Indian joint families. We have enough people to take out a whole town." She bent down to his level. It seemed like he was having trouble getting up and the other waiter looked too scared to come any closer.
"What are you waiting for? Call the cops!" Vikrant yelled at his colleague.
The boy just put up his head and walked backward. I smirked and looked back at Tomasso after watching Alanna walk out the door with the timid girl in tow.
"You seem pretty impressed." Tomasso had some kind of mischief to his voice.
I raised a brow at him. "Don't tell me you were not impressed with that." I pointed at the door that she had walked out of.
"Well, I have a lot of female fighters and assassins in my family." He shrugged referring to the Sicilian Mafia family.
I just gave a flat look before going back to the data I was presented with. It was true that this was not the first time I had seen a feisty woman. But she was a middle school English teacher – she was supposed to be sweet and harmless, but here she was breathing fire.
.
.
.
________________________________
- Writer
