He picked the pen back up and put it back down again with a heavy sigh.
He then stood up and went to the window, looking out at the courtyard and thought about the text she had sent him from the car. "Were you worried?" Three casual words, that seemed almost teasing, he had sat there looking at them for a long minute before he typed back something that wasn't an answer because he didn't have an answer that he was willing to give her yet.
Suddenly the office door opened without a knock.
He didn't turn around, "Luca, what is it?"
"You knew it was me?" Luca smirked.
"You're the only person in this house who doesn't have manners." Alessandro said, turning from the window.
Luca came in and dropped into the chair across from the desk with the boneless ease he had perfected over twenty seven years of making himself comfortable in rooms that weren't his "she seems to be good" he said, "Elena Came back in a better mood than she left."
Alessandro said nothing although he was listening attentively.
"Sofia must have helped with her mood." Luca said, studying his nails, very casually, then he chuckled mischievously meaning he was about to say something Alessandro wasn't going to like "it's good that she has someone. Being stuck in a house with just you would destroy most people."
"She's not stuck." Alessandro said sternly.
"She can't leave alone Ales." Luca stated bluntly, looking up, "what would you call it? Brother."
"A necessary arrangement."
Luca looked at him for a moment and then smiled, slow and knowing, and Alessandro felt the particular irritation that only his brother was capable of producing "what is it?" he askedflatly.
"Nothing bro" Luca said with his hands up in surrender.
"Say it!"
"I'm not saying anything—"
"Luca!" Alessandro's voice thundered through the space.
Luca sat forward putting his elbows on his knees as he looked at his brother and shook his head. "Alessandro DeLuca, she's not just a witness you're managing" he said, "you know that right?"
The room was quiet for a moment.
"She's exactly that!" Alessandro said bluntly.
"Aless—" Luca wanted to argue but Alessandro cut in.
"She saw something she shouldn't have seen Luca!" he said, keeping his voice even, "she's here because it's the safest place for her until the situation is resolved. That's what it is. I do not want to kill her for seeing! I just want to be sure no one else knows she saw so until then, I'm keeping her for her safety! Got it?"
Luca looked at him with a smirk, "so brother, you moved her to a bigger room because of safety."
"The other room was smaller—"
"Hold on, Honda on Alessandro, so you had someone pack the photograph from her bedside table" Luca said, "the one of her and her best friend. You told me yourself you went through the bags before they went up."
Alessandro said nothing.
"You came back early yesterday" Luca continued relentlessly because he knew his brother needed to hear this! "Marco said the meeting wasn't finished but You left anyway."
"I had other things to deal with—"
"You wanted to be here Alessandro!" Luca said simply, "because she was here. Right Brother? You like her in such a short period of time!"
Alessandro looked at his brother and said nothing because there was nothing to say that wasn't either a lie or an admission and he wasn't prepared to make either one right now.
Luca sat back "I'm not judging you" he said, and his voice was different now, he sounded much gentler, "I'm just saying I see it. And if I see it—"
"No one else is going to see it!" Alessandro stayed, his back still turned away from Luca.
"Marco already sees it! It's obvious!"
Alessandro's head snapped to him sharply.
"He hasn't said anything!" Luca said, "you know Marco, he's not going to say anything, he's just a loyal right hand man. But he sees it." He paused "she's Giovanni Rossi's daughter Alessandro. Whatever this is, it's not simple."
"Nothing I do is simple."
"Alessandro... listen here! this is different and you know it."
Alessandro turned back to the window.
"It won't be a problem" he said simply.
Luca was quiet for a moment "I hope not" he said, and stood up, and for once he didn't have a parting grin, just looked at his brother with worry "because if uhhh... Dante finds out she's here—"
Alessandro turned around "Dante?" he asked with furrowed brows.
Luca's shrugged,"Marco mentioned him earlier.Something about movement in the south." He looked at Alessandro carefully "is it connected to the other night?"
The air in the room suddenly felt charged.
Alessandro crossed to his desk and picked up his phone typing a message to Marco, and sent it before he put it back down "go have dinner" he said to Luca simply, "I'll be there shortly."
Luca looked at him for a moment longer "Alessandro—"
"Go have dinner Luca, please." he said with a groan pinching the bridge of his nose.
Luca left quietly.
Alessandro stood behind his desk in the quiet of the office and looked at nothing in particular and thought about the name he had hoped not to hear for a while longer and what it meant that he was hearing it now.
Dante Ricci.
Of all the people who could have become a problem, it had to be him. It had to be the one man in this city whose methods were as calculated as Alessandro's own and whose interest in the Rossi family was something Alessandro had been monitoring quietly for the better part of a year.
He had kept Elena here to keep her safe from kinds like him.
He was only just beginning to understand how much that was going to cost him. Truth be told, he hadn't expected much complications but now, it was about to get serious.
He straightened his jacket and Picked up his phone before going to dinner.