Beauty and the beast |Mafia! Romano x reader| 5

Day after day, you trained in that very room in the evening, where Romano would consistently join you when he had time to kill and train to get you in the shape of the necessary standards in order to survive as an associate in the family. Soon, you replaced the weak image you possessed in the beginning and built a much more resilient one. On the very first day you thought that you wouldn't survive held hostage by a mob and was very certain that you wouldn't even be allowed out of your room - pleasantly surprised at the tables that were turned, acceptance of this life came quite naturally. 

Currently seated in the boss's headquarters on the sofa, you were drowning yourself in a novel that you had just picked up from the shelves that were engraved on the walls. The omnipotent figure however was busy reading through several documents stacked on his table. His eyes were concentrated on the papers set out in front of him, travelling throughout the page in a rapid pace. 

You suddenly felt an urge to use the bathroom; so you placed down the book in your hand softly on the cushion to leave. You sauntered over to the door and twisted it open, clicking it softly shut to make a dash to the nearest bathroom. Upon doing so, your shoulders brushed past someone else's, except it was their arm that you had made contact with. Glancing up slowly to meet the menacing gaze belonging to a burly man, you flinched and muttered out a soft apology from fear. 

Instead of insulting you, his lips inched up and smiled your way. 

His unapproachable appearance drained form then on, so you gathered the confidence to give him a look over. 

His body was that of a god's, his bulging muscles under his loose tank top suggesting to you that he was one to visit the gym. A khaki jacket hung from his shoulders, giving an impression of a carefree yet cool personality. What more was so intriguing about this man were his eyes that seemed to glow in a pink and purplish hue, two beautiful gems focused on yours. 

"Guten tag, mädchen. Where are you running off to?" he asked, his towering figure looming over yours. 

Heart skipping a beat, you were hit brutally in the face with his strong accent. 

"O-oh, hello. I was just going to the bathroom." you stuttered, hoping that he wouldn't be completely thrown off after his efforts to spark up a conversation may have just died. 

With a top of the military cap fit snugly on his head, he chuckled at your timidness. 

"Ah, okay. Mind if I join you?" he smirked suggestively, painting your face red into a blushing mess. Raising your hands up in defense, you decided to just laugh it off as a joke. 

"Haha, not today." you chuckled, feeling as though you were acquainted with him already, internally.

All you needed was a name. 

"Oh, what's your name, by the way? I'm (F/N)." you introduced yourself. 

"Beilschmidt. Lutz Beilschmidt." he answered. 

Before you could add anything else, a ring tone sounded, silencing you. He looked down on his pants and slipped his hand into his front pocket, pulling out his phone. 

"Sorry, I've got to take this. It was nice meeting you, (F/N)," he stated, turning around and walking off with a wave of a hand.

You reached out to him, fingers curling together as his tall figure disappeared around the corner. Watching him go despite being total strangers somehow squeezed your heart, for reasons unknown to you. From such a short conversation already told you plenty about himself, how he was fun, outgoing and just casual. Features of a person that you missed interacting with; perhaps you were still caught up with the past. 

Overall, his mere presence radiated off a strong, brotherly aura. 

Besides that, speaking of phone calls; that suddenly triggered the memory of that suspicious several days ago. 

"Yes, yes, I got it. I'll tell you now... This took me years to get hands on it," 

You had dismissed that conversation before, but now it sounded worse off than ever. Thanks to spending time with the individuals in the household, you learnt to read in between the lines to realize that it definitely held some kind of ill intention. 

Bolting off to the bathroom, you quickly finished your business and made a beeline to Romano's headquarters. You stormed in alarmingly, forcing Romano to glance up from his papers and stare at you quizzically. 

"Couldn't you have entered the room more silently?" he grumbled, the endless stacks of papers obviously fueling his sour attitude. 

You brushed that off and shook your head. "No! I just remembered something - possibly very important!" you breathed, his frown now fading. He rose his brow and stared at you with a lower angle. 

"What is it?" he asked. 

You walked over to the couch and plummeted down on it, grabbing a pillow and squeezing it tightly with your arms. "I think someone's compromised this household, or will soon be." 

He had just lighted a cigar, eyes shut with a small wrinkle in between them. They grew larger as he opened his eyes.

"What the hell do you mean? Our security is tight as fuck and everybody here has been working for me for years. There's no way." he said, his mind still dwelling on your previous statement. Not only was it hard to believe that it was coming from someone like you, those particular words strung together was definitely laughable. Only the most trusted men and women here could only create such a small impact in any case of betrayal, and that most definitely wasn't happening on his watch. 

"I know, it's pretty crazy; but I overheard a conversation when I was in my room. I didn't hear much, but here goes. I don't know who the guy on the phone was, or whoever was on the other line, Luci- Luciano? But yeah. The guy talking with Luciano probably walks among us, pretending to be on your side. According to what he said, he got his hands a safe or something?" 

A moment of silence fell in the room, the intensity of the soundless environment allowing the dropping of a pin to be heard.

The brown cigar pinned between his two fingers had now dropped to the ground. 

The odor of the carpet burning filled the air, making you cover your nose from the stench. 

You looked up at him, your mouth separating and dropping agape the moment you caught sight of Romano's reaction. As if your feelings were connected, your heart started to pound against your chest and your throat constricted. Never witnessed such distress plastered on such a stoic man like himself, you were hit with a grim epiphany that trouble was now starting to sprout from its small seedling. 

Trouble as in betrayal. 

There was no need for words, the rampant thoughts running through his mind and all possible emotions of negativity swarming inside his body had overflowed and showed up on his face with no conceal. 

A shudder seized your body, the utter panic etched on his face had now spread to you. Romano's eyes were widened insanely large, his pupils possessing not a wavelength of light. It was as if he was blinded by rage, where the darkness had dominated his sanity. 

"... (F/N). Antonio will be here in a minute. I want him to escort you to your room. Await my instructions from then on. For now, just wait outside." he muttered quietly. You nodded and quickly slipped out the door obediently, not bothering to pick up the book on the couch. The tone of his voice was dangerously low, but the way your name rolled off his tongue was slightly different to everything else. 

The moment the door clicked shut, violent thrashing of the objects inside was heard, followed by the shattering of glass against a hard, wooden surface. The ripping of paper shredded into your ears, making you gulp down the saliva you held in your throat.

The violent wreck he was now stemmed from the news you had announced to him washed your body over with guilt. At least you could have saved something, right?

A loud crack of porcelain exploded through your ear drums, frightening you to cover your head with your arms. You sunk your head further down in your chest, pressing it so tightly that your jaw started to feel sore. 

A string of curses spat out of his mouth, the anger lodged in his throat now unable to be contained within himself. He eventually calmed down, the rapid cooling off seemingly too fast to be normal. You waited out there for a little longer before peering in, curious at a potential improvement in his hot temperament. 

What you saw next made your blood run cold. 

"Oh my god!" you sputtered, running over to his side where his body was collapsed on the ground. Bile rose in your throat as you were frozen on the spot, shocked into paralysis from the sheer amount of blood pouring out of the gash on his arm. Tears dotted the side of his eyes, the unbearable pain of the wound getting to him. He clutched it with his other arm, in attempt to slow any more blood leaking out of his system. 

"Shit... (F/N)... Go to your room now... Antonio will come..." he exhaled, teeth clenched as he wheezed out the words. 

"Shut up! I'm not leaving you here, you idiot! Why the fuck can you not hold your temper in even to the point you can hurt yourself?" you hissed.

You dug your arm under his shoulders and propped him up. Pulling him up, you held onto him and dragged his weight out of the room to get help immediately. His breathing grew heavy and slow, the color fading away from his face and growing extremely pale. Whipping your head over to expect his face, you were met with his head of dark brown hair; his head was now hanging low just like his consciousness. 

"Crap! Hang in there Romano!" you cried, dragging his full weight due to his critical state that rendered his body lifeless. Sweat dampened all around your body, your muscles screaming for help as you held him up with one arm, the other assaulting the elevator button. 

"Fuck me! Can't this elevator go any faster?" you exasperated. The elevator travelling up three floors in a matter of seconds, but every second dragged on to a minute.

Only when the doors slid open to a small crack did you start advancing forward. You pushed your legs to the limit, trudging through the hallway to the nurse's office. Adrenaline was the reason why you weren't collapsed on the ground already.  

The crisp white beds came into sight, so you pushed forward to the side of the nearest one and carefully placed him down on it. Your hands trembled as it was coated with a concoction of sweat and blood and your head was twisting from right to left to desperately locate the first aid kit. A large white box with a red cross on it was spotted, so you quickly scrambled over to that, only to be obstructed by your lack of height. 

You stretched your arm out as far as you could but to no avail. Overcome with panic, you started to hyperventilate in your fatal session of a mind blank. 

"Need my help, chica?" a soothing voice called from the door way, much to your relief. 

Blinking your tears away and swallowing down your fright, you nodded and allowed him to reach for the kit with ease. 

"Thank you so much, Toni!" you smiled, the large box being placed down on the counter in front of you. 

"Do you know how to treat him?" he asked you, where you nodded in response. 

"Yes. I just need to wash the dirty stuff away and wrap it..." you replied, clicking open the box to reveal all sorts of medical equipment and bandages. He nodded with approval and sauntered over to the seat by the corner, his presence serving as supervision as you assumed. 

You fumbled with the white bandage roll and the cotton swabs, then picked up a large rag. Rushing over to his limp body, you applied pressure onto the laceration on his arm to stop the bleeding. After around ten minutes, your hands had grown sore but fortunately the blood had stopped. You then proceeded to wash away the remaining blood that coated around his wound, now drying into a thin layer of dark crimson.

Wrapping his arm carefully with the bandage, you grew very concentrated on fixing him that you didn't notice his eyes that had fluttered open. He grunted, directing your attention to his dazed expression. 

"Romano... you're awake." you smiled softly, flickering your eyes back to the bandages. 

"Yeah... Did I faint?" he coughed, his voice whispering out airily. 

"Yep, because you decided to fuck up your arm with a vase." you said, your eyes still fixed on the last bits of red being concealed with white. "Tell me, what got you so angry that you'd smash things?"

He softened his gaze and plopped his head back onto the pillow after watching you treat his arm. Staring at the cracked ceiling, he let out an extended sigh.

"Oh actually, you don't need to tell me." you cut in. One of the times you felt this silly was when you had thrown pencils in the bin after tidying up; you were now asking for personal and even confidential information from a crime lord. 

"No. I'll tell you." he whispered, much to your surprise. You widened your eyes and stared at him in disbelief. 

"Really? You seriously don't have to, to a person like me." you chuckled sheepishly. 

"You deserve to hear it." he said. "Especially since you're the one who helped us rat a piece of shit out. You see, Luciano..."