Beauty and the beast |Mafia! Romano x reader| 6

You kept a hand on his leg that was covered by a blanket, leaning forward to show him that you were listening. A melancholic look had made its way to his face as he tried to gather the right words. The same emotion was shared with Antonio, whose body had tensed upon realizing that Romano was about to expose highly confidential information, partially because it was rather personal. Making no effort to intervene, he listened intently and hoped for the best. 

"Luciano... That bastard. Looks just like my brother but just isn't. He's the devil, while Feliciano doesn't even fit in as a mobster." he started, wrinkles forming in between his frowning eyebrows. He stared hard into his hand, flawed with scars and blemishes. 

"Our families have been at war with each other for decades. It wasn't as bad as before, but we still hate their asses. Now that I know that one of my most trusted men have betrayed us to work for him, it breaches our security immensely. Not only that, the most important possession is under threat and we can't let them have their way." 

His eyes were growing with flames, glowing ominously as he continued on. Watching him closely as he spoke while having your ears peeled, you were reminded once more of how unknown you were; knowing nothing about Mafia and its interests, your heart felt like it was squeezed; but you were also fascinated nevertheless. 

"The prize he's after is an invaluable rose, made from the finest red diamond and gold that has been passed down in this family through generations, and more generations to come. He's probably going to sell it, greedy bastard." he hissed. "He doesn't understand how valuable that is to us, we wouldn't sell it for a billion." 

"My grandpa valued it more than anybody I knew. That's one of the reasons why I protect it with my life." 

*** 

Thank goodness for Romano's status, he was the top decision maker, where he was not involved with field work of any sort, unless he ever wanted to. Limiting him to the indoors, it would have been much easier for any injuries to heal. Antonio and Elizabeta were responsible for looking after him, where Antonio was in charge of assisting him with paperwork and Elizabeta was given the tasks of a domestic house wife. 

Training for you was cut, despite the many able-bodied people that were able to replace Romano, but he wasn't having any of that. That made space for 24/7 leisure and freedom, lasting until he was completely recovered. 

It had grown extremely silent where you were in, save for the faint whooshes of cars passing by outside and the constant flow of the water gliding in the fountain in the patio. A porcelain chess set sat cold flat on your lap, just a little classic game you sometimes whipped out from the coffee table to kill time. The cold touch of the chess pieces nipped at the tip of your fingers, which you have been moving and sliding through the board for the past half hour. 

You were so engrossed with the elegance of the pieces that you completely ignored the mob of people walking in. They were shuffling in due to the sheer amount of people, murmuring to themselves as they have arrived back after a long, wearisome day. A few of them headed upstairs for whatever reason, it was none of your business, and a few decided to lounge on the couches in the living room. 

Head hanging low as you fiddled with the chess pieces, you were surprised with another body's presence up close to you, the tingling sensation of someone's breath against your exposed neck made you jump.

Whipping your head around your shoulder with your heart rate escalating, you met eyes with a middle-aged blonde, an awfully handsome one too. His gorgeously-hued violet eyes stared into your own, his flirtatious smile plastered on his face gave out reverberating lady-killing vibes. 

"U-Um, hi?" you stuttered, paralyzed at the closeness of his face. 

He blushed and blinked furiously, slamming a hand over his heart dramatically. "Ah, what a cute little dame!" 

You backed away from his sudden outburst, his flamboyant presence causing a few chest pieces to drop onto the ground and roll around. Letting out a curse under your breath, you placed the board on the coffee table and reached down to retrieve the dropped objects. 

"My, I am very sorry for that, I must have created a horrible first impression!" he said, his ridiculously exaggerated accent already loosening up the tense atmosphere before. 

Smiling softly, you bit back a small laugh at his voice. "No, it's okay." 

Letting out a flattering laugh that was way too French, he said, "You are too nice! Tell me belle, what it your name? I am the fabulous Francis Bonnefoy!" 

Even his name. This guy was already sparking interest in you. 

"I'm (F/N). It's nice to meet you sir," you introduced yourself as he loosened his tie around his neck.

He frowned and shut his eyes, tears forming in the side of his eyes. 

"Why did you call me sir? You are too formal!" he cried, making you shit bricks. You waved at him apologetically and patted him on the shoulder as an attempt to console him.

"I'm so sorry for making you cry! I just, I'm not used to acting casual around here, yet." you said, his hand dabbing away the tears with a handkerchief conveniently stuffed in his suit pocket. "Hey, don't cry, please! I feel very bad. It will ruin your nice suit, you know?" 

As if he was bipolar, he immediately lit up with his eyes round. 

"You think so? I'm so happy! Big brother Francis loves you already!" he exclaimed, planting a loud kiss on your cheek with a 'mwah'. You gasped, flabbergasted at what he just did. Oh well, he was European after all. You both then sparked up a conversation about life, but that was shortly interrupted by a fast breather sitting next to you, his soft, rapid breaths exiting in through his air way like there was no tomorrow. That directed your attention from the Frenchmen, where you were greeted by another mystery man you had never crossed paths before. 

He was the cutest thing you have every laid your eyes on. 

"Ciao, bella!" he chimed, his voice awfully high for a male. His soft features were very similar to that of another man you have been spending time with, just a little less defined and mature. Overall, he felt more like a girl than a guy, not that it was bad or anything. 

"Hello! I'm (F/N). What's your name?" you asked, his bright, honey eyes narrowing cutely. 

"Ve! I'm Feliciano. You can call me Feli~" he answered. "You're the cutest girl I've ever seen!" 

A faint pink dusted your cheeks as he continued to flatter you with compliments and shower you with affection. 

"Aw, I should be saying that to you! You're very cute too, Feli." you chuckled, unable to resist his soft hair you patted him like a dog where he responded with a purr of delight. If he really was a canine companion, he would be wagging his tail like mad. 

Francis pouted, his fabulous presence being ignored completely with an adorable Italian taking up all the spotlight. Once he had the opportunity, he yelled Romano's name, his hands cupping around his mouth. A startled grunt was heard coming from the hallway, where the man that was called walked in with a frown on his face, as always. 

"What is it, asshole?" he said, collar loose and slightly messy. Seems like he wasn't having a good day.

"Boh, you always use profanity. Look at your brother, he's all over (F/N)," he smirked, directing to Feliciano who was currently having his hands all over you. 

He already didn't look his best, and that clearly provoked him further. Face fuming with red, he stormed over to the couch you were sitting on and pulled Feliciano off of you, where he started sulking from being dragged so roughly. 

"Ve~ No need to be so rough!" Feliciano whined, getting all teary eyed.

The smile that was shining on your face faded and you frowned at his brother. "Yeah, Romano. You should be nicer to him." 

"What do you know? He's so annoying, it pisses me off!" he spat, tightening his fist and glowering down at Feliciano with an intimidating flare. Feliciano quivered in the corner, his lips pursing into a frown. You just wanted to take a step back and look at the big picture; you could tell that Feliciano was naturally very affectionate and touchy; he was just like a baby. Maybe Romano wasn't in his brighter days.

"Romano, why are you so angry right now? Did something happen?" you asked him, your gaze softening as you watched his expression change from fury to sadness. 

"I'm just... Fuck, today was such a fucking shit day. And yes, something happened, like shit." he grumbled, burying his face in his hands and massaging it. His voice was now muffled in his hand, lowering the volume of his groaning. "Fucking hell, I just had to fire one of my most trusted men... I should have just kept him here with everything he knew, but I couldn't bear to see his face." 

"Oh..." you breathed, the sound of your heart dropping evident in your low tone. "Who... Who was it?" 

Maybe you shouldn't have asked, but your curiosity got the better of you. 

He sighed. "His name is Lutz, Lutz Beilschmidt. Such a shame he betrayed us." 

So it was him. The mystery man on the phone. 

But also the handsome man that you had met not so long ago. 

You felt a twang of disappointment nip at you as you thought that he was going to be a nice person to hang out with - too bad he decided to turn himself into an enemy. 

"Oh... W-what will happen to us then now that he's gone?" you asked. 

"Now that he's gone to work for Luciano, we'll be under a lot of threat as he practically knows how to get in this place. At least you informed us, or else we would have been sitting ducks with an enemy walking among us."