Page 15 of The Hitman's Rose

Chapter Eight

Ademaro

Rosaline had left me standing in the garden with the cheesiest smile on my face. Sure, it wasn’t the first time a woman had complimented me; however, it was different this time. Rosaline Romano, the most beautiful woman, had given me a compliment.

“What has you smiling so fucking big?” Giovanni asks, standing in the doorway.

“Nothing, Boss,” I reply.

“So, it wouldn’t have anything to do with my beautiful goddaughter?” he grins.

It isn’t my style to lie to Giovanni. I’ve always been honest with him, even when I was younger. No matter how wrong I was. I always told the truth. Talking to him about Rosaline seems like I’d be signing my own death wish.

“Hmm. Fascinating.” He steps into the garden and shuts the door behind him. “I’ve never seen you look so terrified to answer me.”

“Sorry, Boss,” I lower my head slightly then look at him. He gestures for me to sit on the bench. I sit down and he sits beside me on the bench.

“I consider you like a son, Ademaro.” He turns and faces me. “I don’t want any secrets between us. Anyone else can lie to me, but not my family. Understand?”

“Yes, Boss.”

“Now, tell me the truth,” he speaks in a fatherly warning tone. “You like Rosaline?”

“Uh. Well–” I clear my throat. “She is very smart and… beautiful.”

“That she is.” Giovanni looks at the rose bush in front of us and smiles. “Rosaline is very precious to me.”

“I know, Boss. That’s why I won’t–” He holds up his hand, silencing me.

“Even hardcore men like us,” he waves his hand between us, “need a woman like Rosaline to make us into honest men and help us settle down.”

It’s hard to keep my facial expression unreadable. His words have come as a complete shock. It isn’t like Giovanni to talk about settling down. The man has been a known bachelor his entire life. He’s thrown some of the most risque parties I've ever attended.

“Settle down? Everything okay, Boss?” I ask with my eyebrow raised. Giovanni bursts into laughter. Hysterical laughter. The kind so loud that it could wake the dead and have him committed to a mental asylum.

“This kid here,” he chuckles, shaking his head. “Just because I’m in a good mood, you think I’m high or somethin’?”

“Never, Boss!” I proclaim faster than the speed of light.

“Ademaro, I’m starting to think you need a sedative or something. You’re too uptight,” he smirks.

“Sorry, Boss.” My words come out defeated. He’s right. I haven’t been myself since I laid eyes on Rosaline.

On one hand, she is this beautiful light in my dark world. And on the other hand, she causes chaos in the depths of my soul. She makes me uneasy. Makes me doubt and question everything. It isn’t that she intentionally causes it. She’s just somehow managed to bewitch me.

“You’ve got it bad,” Giovanni slaps me on the back and laughs. “Ah, Ademaro. I never thought I’d see this day.”

“This day, Boss?”

“The day one of my greatest soldiers would fall in love.”

In love?I repeated to myself, in utter shock. Love was such a strong word. A forbidden word for someone with my job title. Emotions in general were a no-go, but especially, the L-word.

“Stop making that face. Sheesh,” Giovanni groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Is my goddaughter not good enough for you? Is that what it is?”

“What? I never said that, Boss. I’d never insult you like–” He silences me again by raising his hand.

I sit patiently as he stares in silence at the red rose bush, in front of us. His expression is unreadable, which makes me even more uneasy. If he thinks I insulted Rosaline, he won’t hesitate to put a bullet in me; not that I fear death but it would be nice to spend some more time with Rosaline before he does that.

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