“Are you okay, ma'am?”“Who's there?”, Sofia said fearfully, still in the blindfold.“It's the police ma'am. Are you hurt ma'am?”“I'm fine”.“Where are the men?”“I think they went that way. But they must have escaped by now”The investigator directed his men towards where Sofie had pointed. Some of the policemen helped Sofia out of the ropes and led her to their police truck outside.At the police station, Riccardo waited in a black Sevan with four other escorts including bodyguards.“Signorina!” Riccardo exclaimed as soon as he saw her. They hugged."Oh mio Dio! I thought they'd hurt you. I knew something was wrong the next day when you didn't arrive from the hospital as you promised. I called the police station and that's when the investigator told me you had been kidnapped. What happened?”“It was a false alarm, Signore Riccardo. I was kidnapped”“Come on, tell me everything that happened in the car.”Sofia entered the black Sevan and the two cars of the convoy led the way. They
“Is she safe?”“Yes Signore”“And unhurt?”“Yes Signore”, Riccardo said, over the phone. Sofia was in her bedroom taking an evening nap. Asher nodded his head. He was sure she was fine because he had followed up with the investigator yesterday.“Any problems with business?”“Not at all sir. Nothing new exactly sir, just going as smoothly as you left it.”“I see.”“Yes, Signore. I sent you a report for this week. You ought to have received in your mail”“Yes. I am yet…”Just then, a household maid came close to whisper something in his ear.“Your father wishes to see you sir”Asher nodded in approval and dismissed the young maid.“Signore?”“Yes, Riccardo… give a minute or two. I shall get back to you”“Yes, young master”Asher ended the call, wondering what it was again that his father wanted him for.“Emilio, come. Come and sit”, Vincenzo said as his son entered the study room.“Good evening, Father”“Evening, mio figlio. How are you doing?”“As always, Father, I'm very well”“I tho
“I was so frustrated and nothing seemed to be right anymore. I sued the doctor and even sued the hospital. But Rosa didn't come back. It didn't change the fact that she died, Emilio. Nothing could bring her back. You were the only living memory I had of her. The last memory she'd left”Vincenzo took a deep heavy breath in. The atmosphere in the room had become sober and emotions hung loosely in the air.“I'm sorry for bringing those memories Father. I should have never asked”“No Emilio. You deserve to know. Your mother was so special to me, I refused to remarry. But my mother didn't think it was proper for me to raise you alone. So when you turned two, I married Maria, a choice made by my family of course. And the next year, you went missing. Never to be found until more than twenty years after. And boy am I glad to have found you”, Vincenzo said, putting his arm around his son.“Me too, Father”“Imagine if I died without finding you”, Vincenzo said laughing. “Rosa would have killed
“What's up?”“Shit! The post just closed. Bro go on, weddedgossipblog.com”“Okay…” Matteo typed in the website in his browser.“Woah!”“You see it, yeah? On their homepage?”“Yeah. Woah. I guess she's really out of our league now”Cornando laughed. “She was always out of our league”Matteo shook his head, his mouth still agape. “No shit man. It's happening tomorrow at his late mother's remembrance. He's going to propose tomorrow.”“What's that? Who's proposing?”, Marco said, deciding to take a break from the canvas he was painting.“The lost son of the Rodriguez bro. He's getting married to Mr. Salvador's daughter”Marco laughed.“What?! Lost son of Rodriguez, really?”“Yeah. No jokes. Look at it here.”, Matteo passed the phone to Marco. Haven't you heard the story? The Rodriguez found their lost son not too long ago after more than twenty years of his missing. Now the two wealthiest families are coming together to be one. Can you believe that?”“What the hell?” Marco was lost for wo
Garfy let the escort cars speed past them.“How many kilometres are we away from De Lucasa Gardens?”“Less than twenty sir. There's a park, ten kilometres away from there. Should we park there?”“No. Park here”Garfy obeyed, pulling up by the roadside.“Call a cab, Garfy”Garfy got out of the car and stopped a taxi.“De Lucasa Gardens”“"QuantI di voi? (How many of you)" , the average-aged cabman inquired.“Due”, Asher said, coming from behind Garfy. “You take transfers?”The cabman stared at them both for a while before nodding in the affirmative.“I didn't know you spoke Italian sir”, Garfy said, opening the back door of the cab.“I've been taking lessons, Garfy”.They soon got to the garden. “And as we gather here to remember Mrs. Rosa Rodriguez, we cannot do so without praising God for the life that she lived and the goodness that many testify of because of her”The priest bowed as he ended his speech and a round of applause followed his exit from the small stage. The moderator
The loud noise startled the audience. Mutters of light exclamations filled the air.“Oh dear”“What was that?”“What in the world?”“Emilio, please help me check if everything is ok there”“Yes Father”, Asher stood up immediately, grateful for the opportunity to inquire from Garfy. “Hey Garfy. Where are you?”“Sir… I'm a little further from the parking space.”“Is that where the loud sound came from?”“Yes sir”, Garfy said breathing heavily.Meters away, a small crowd had already gathered.“Are you ok Garfy?”, Asher said as soon as he saw his bodyguard.“I'm fine sir.”They both looked at the burning tower. “What happened?” Garfy led his boss away from the crowd until he was sure they were safe from any hearing.“I detected a bomb sir. You were right. It was specifically lying in wait for you. At the parking lot, with your name reserved on a parking space.”“So what about the tower?”“I sighted someone on top of the tower. Locked him in when I detected a bomb in the building too. U
The event soon came to a close. People filed out and the whole place was almost empty with most of the people left, not guests, but waiters clearing up the used dishes and event staff taking off decorations.“What was that about?”, Lana asked Vincenzo as he came walking in from the parking lot.“I was just seeing Paolo Salvador off”“You wanted Emilio to get married to Paolo's daughter?” Adora asked.“Yes, err, Paolo and I have been really good friends over time now. We do good business together”“Paolo?”, Lana asked.Vincenzo looked at Lana, puzzled.“You speak as if he is someone of despicable character. Is there anything you find wrong with the man?”“Haven't you heard? He has a series of bad history.”“Lana!”, Vincenzo said with a little chuckle.“She's serious. Heard them myself too, Vincenzo”“I have known Paolo for quite some time now, Adora. He's a good person so far”“I dare say, I heard he has a history of abuse of women”“Abuse you say, Lana”“Yes Vincenzo”, Adora said, no
Luna stood at the door of Marco's workplace. From where she stood, she could see him through the glass doors of the gallery, putting away boxes one by one, his expression clear with unhappiness streamlined with bitterness. The gallery was completely empty by this time; it was past 10 and the gallery had closed since 8.00 p.m which was the reason she'd chosen to come by this time. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the glass door and walked in.“Marco?”Marco stopped abruptly, his back to the familiar voice, recognizing it immediately. As if shaking off from a trance, he continued piling the boxes and unboxing the new artefacts they'd gotten.“Marco please…”He ignored her.“Marco please. Please hear me out. Please look at me”“Please leave, Luna. It's disrespectful enough for you to jam my call logs incessantly and now you bring your face to my workplace? That's some shitty guts if you ask me”“Marco please. Just hear me out. It's not what you think”“It's not what I think?!” Marco shot