Entwined With the Villainous Guardian
Chapter 107: The Fire

Chapter 107: The Fire

When he opened the bedroom door, he thought he heard her cry. His hand on the knob trembled. He felt ashamed to even look at her. He thought of himself—he prided himself on someone who would never hit his wife. He keeps telling her that she is his wife and yet he didn’t wait to hurt her not a month into their marriage.

He is everything she accuses him of!

"What?" he turned at Steve who was standing behind him.

Had he not hesitated to enter his own room; he wouldn’t have minded Steve. But he couldn’t find the courage to enter his own room. He could hear her painful cry along with the music that was playing.

"Capo, there is a guy here to meet you about something important. He says he’ll only talk to you," Steve came to the point. He could see that Leander would snap at any moment.

"Make sure he talks to you," Leander waved his hand without even looking at Steve. But then he turned to face him. His eyes were somber and Steve immediately turned his entire attention to him. "Next time, don’t open the door when I’m with my wife unless I call you by name. No matter what happens, even if she tries to kill me, no one can open the door from the outside."

He did not want to let others know that he does not get along with his wife. Especially his grandfather.

Steve nodded. That was an odd request. One would have expected to hear about giving privacy to a newly married couple, but in Leander’s case, it’s... He could understand that Leander wants to keep his marital problems secret.

Steve stared at the closed door. He hoped the fight didn’t continue. That woman might have managed to do that to Evander but he didn’t think that she could win against Leander. As far as he believed, Leander is someone who won’t pride himself on killing his wife, unlike his family members.

But what does he know? He too is a Kastello. Their blood flows in him. And, more importantly, he shouldn’t care about it because it does not concern him.

He went down the stairs to handle the stubborn guy who only wanted to talk to Leander.

Leander went into the room and gently closed the door. The bathroom door was slightly ajar, and he could hear the music. It was one of Ed Sheeran’s songs that he hadn’t listened to yet. She was crying along to that sad song.

That song was about a fire, and he understood why it made her sad.

"Oh, should my people fall; Then surely I’ll do the same; Confined in mountain halls; We got too close to the flame..." the song went as he listened.

"Calling out father oh...Hold fast and we will; Watch the flames burn auburn..."

She was crying along as the song went on.

"And I see fire...Burning the trees... Blood in the breeze..." she sang along in an abysmal cry. And the next line shook his heart. Maybe that line affected her more, she couldn’t sing along.

"And I hope that you remember me..."

She asked him the same that night. She asked if he remembered her. He thought that she was asking whether he still has an idea who she was—his family’s enemy. But her question might have meant something more. She turned different after seeing...

His hands ended up unconsciously on his chest. The tattoo...

She started to hiccup, and he peeked into the bathroom. The song was still going on about that fire that destroyed a town and people screaming.

Fire... He too was in a fire.

There seemed to be some connection between them through fire. He couldn’t stand there listening to her crying anymore and so he left the room.

Steve was getting on the stairs just then. "I’m sorry, Capo. He does not..."

Before Steve finished, Leander walked past him down the stairs. Outside his door, there was a heavily built man with a stubby nose and a mustache. He bowed with a sycophantic smile seeing Leander.

"This lowly foot soldier Mark from Nappe always wanted to meet you...I knew you would become the next don," the man hunched to the point where Leander could have stepped on his back if he wished. He tried to get Leander’s hand to kiss him but retreated seeing Leander’s glare.

"The point," Leander stood by the door annoyed to the point of drawing out his gun.

Does he not know that I killed Paul?

"Yes," Mark didn’t dare to stand yet. With his back hunched, he looked up smiling widely showing his yellowed teeth. "Paul, I was working for Paul, and he gave me a job. See, I was so proli-profi..." he scratched the back of his head as he couldn’t remember the fancy word he learned.

Leander turned to leave.

"I was so good no one from the main house knows me as Paul’s man. No one’s letting me in to report the don about the last mission he gave me. It’s about Georgiono Russo’s daughter," he added the last sentence in a hurry as Leander kept on walking.

Leander froze on the spot. Steve pressed his lips.

With a smirk, Leander turned at Mark. "Paul asked you to?"

He wanted to know whose order Paul was following. It can’t be his grandfather. His grandfather loves him and would never question him.

"Under the orders of the don, of course," Mark showed his teeth again.

It was grandpa?

His heart sank. But then, he realized that it hit him. His grandfather must have wanted to know more about the woman he was interested in. There’s no harm in that.

"What did you learn about her?" he asked and with the same sycophancy wanting to become the "trusted one" of the next don, Mark told him everything.

He’s not that smart, Leander could say. He didn’t even know he was talking about his wife. But he did have enough connections. He knew everything about the real daughter of Russo—Marcia Russo.

Marcia Russo died a couple of years back because of cancer. And Mark knew someone had tampered with the government documents and even changed everything about her right to her photograph on the ID card. The real Marcia Russo was a blonde, but the one who replaced her—Minerva Russo was a brunette.

Mark also predicted that someone who might want to hurt the Kastello family had sent that girl as a spy.

Leander listened to the sycophant and after he ensured that he had nothing more to say, signaled a couple of his men. He just had two options left. One was to offer him money and ask him not to talk about it to anyone else because he will handle it. But then, it is not fail-proof.

That leaves only option number two.

His garden would need manure. Especially, his roses thrive over dead bodies. Corpses must have some nutrients that roses need.

Steve bowed his head as Leander’s enquiring eyes ended up on him.

"Come to my office," Leander said and walked up the stairs.

No, it isn’t right that his grandfather asked to investigate the woman he cleared to be safe. His grandfather knows something. And Steve being Russo’s cousin, must know something too.

The moment Steve entered the room, he placed his gun on the floor and kneeled. He was distraught by this turn of events. And just on the say, Lionel Waldorf said those words to him...

"I thought the don would have forgotten but I guess he didn’t. That’s all I can say. If I speak more, I will be dead."

"If you don’t speak right now, I will kill you," Leander said pouring a glass of whiskey. It’s been such a tiring day for him.

Steve closed his eyes and took deep breaths not wanting to speak. Without saying anything, he said that he’d rather be killed by Leander than by his grandfather.

"What are you hiding? I asked you before giving her that name. You were the one who forged the documents with the help of the originals! Is it your ploy? Answer me!" He shouted.

Steve refused to say anything more.

Leander leaned forward. "I’m going to wait for you, Steve. Don’t make me stand up," he spoke in a calm voice.

Steve’s hands started to tremble. He is scared of Leander, but the don is scary. He’d rather be killed in the hands of Leander.

"Are you scared of my grandfather?" Leander asked.

Steve nodded.

Leander rubbed his chin. He could not believe what was happening. How could he and his grandfather stand on opposite sides regarding this? What secret is he hiding?

"Is this about the fire in Abenney?" Leander asked.

He could not think of anything else. He knew Russo died not so long after the fire. He remembered talking to that guy, but he didn’t remember what he talked about. He was trying to tell him something but then he died of a sickness.

Steve clenched his jaws. His eyes were filled with tears and yet he stood stoic like the brave man he is.

"Say yes or no, Steve," Leander observed him like a hawk, taking note of his every micro expression. He’s never seen Steve this scared before.

What is he scared about?

"...yes, Capo," Steve said after deliberating for some time.

He went calm as he picked up his gun. Turning off the safety, he put the gun in his mouth.

He’s a dead man.