I enter the room, making everyone look at me and nod, before they continue their conversations.

'Neveah had the right files.' At least she did something good... 'What did you find?' I ask, looking at the papers in Vincent's hands.

It's a bunch of things on Brooke Steel.

'She's on a holiday with some friends.' He continues, handing me a new paper. It's a map of Spain and he circled Valencia. 'She's here?' 'Yes, she was spotted last night in one of the clubs there. My guess is, she's still there.'

I take a seat in the chair at the end of the table and stare at the map again.

Why would she be in Valencia?

Brooke Steel has no association with her brother or father, but she's still a Steel.

And maybe if we can get to her, we can get to Hunter. Which means we can get to Valentina.

Now, I normally don't pull innocent family members into stuff like this, but they stepped over the line when they took Valentina. So I will too.

'Where is Killian?' I ask. Everyone is here, even fucking Kai, but not Killian.

'He's still searching the house, seeing if there's anything else we could use.' Marco says, taking a seat in one of the chairs surrounding the table.

'Kai.' He flinches before looking at me, and I almost laugh because of it. God, the fear in his eyes is hilarious, 'Does Brooke know you?'

'Something like that.' He mutters, quickly looking at the others, before ending at me.

'What the fuck does that mean?' Nico asks, getting a little impatient.

I know I have a short temper, but Nico is on an entirely different level when it comes to patience. But that's exactly why I feel like we need him.

We need someone who won't hesitate or wait too long to move or get rid of someone.

'She met me twice.' Kai continues, keeping something from us to be somewhat mysterious. 'Kai, if you won't spit it out already, I will shove my-' 'Both were... Drunk nights.' Oh...

'You're telling me you slept with Brooke Steel?' Marco asks, laughing a little when Kai nods. 'Wait, so you're telling us you fucked your boss's sister?!'

'I don't think he knows, but at least he knew she was safe.' Reminder, never send Kai to check up on anyone. Not that he'll stay with us after all of this is over.

'Kai, you'll go with Killian and take her back here.' I get up and walk towards the window, looking out to see if I see Killian's car anywhere. But there's nothing.

The rain splashes on the ground, leaving it all gleamy because of the moonlight.

'Why me?' 'Because you seem to know her pretty well already.' I say as I turn back to them.

'Don't you think that's a little unfair?' Marco asks.

I really don't get his deal.

He was never like this before, never spoke back and just did what he was told to do, but not anymore.

'She is not like the other Steels, she wants nothing to do with this lifestyle.' He continues, making Nico sigh deeply.

'She's a Steel, she can't be innocent.' He says, looking at Marco as if he's dumb.

'Marco does have a point though,' Vincent says, looking up from his laptop, straight into my eyes, 'taking Brooke could mean war.'

'They already started a war, I'm just here to finish it.'

'We all are. Remember, you pulled us into this mess.' Vincent says, chuckling a bit.

Even though this might lead to all our deaths, he's laughing about it.

'I don't have anything else to do, so I could go with him? It would speed everything up.' Nico suggests and I shake my head. 'No, I need you here.' He's the only one who won't be afraid to throw North over his shoulder and drag her away from places, just like he did today as well, so he might come in handy.

'Vincent, did you find anything about the Castro family?' I ask, turning back to Vincent, who's already typing away on his laptop again.

It's as if he never stops.

And I'm glad that he works so hard. Because without him, we would've been stuck at the same place forever.

'The family existed of seven, Xavier Castro, Crystal Wood, Marie-Anne Castro, Felice Castro, Tyler Castro, which they adopted in 2012, Marcus Castro, and Victoria Castro. They were here for a family vacation.' He looks at me, a little spark of regret flashing through his eyes before he scrolls through his file a bit more.

'Where were they originally from?' Marco asks curiously.

'England.' What?

How could someone from England get into my territory that easily?

'How did he get to Moreau?' I wait for Vincent to answer and hear a car drive up the driveway. If it wasn't someone we know, my guys wouldn't have opened the gates. 'Apparently, Moreau was looking for well-paid jobs, he really needed that money to fix his house.'

Desperate times call for desperate measures...

Even defying me. Resulting in his death...

'So he was going to betray you anyways.' Nico says, rolling his eyes before looking at me, 'It's a good thing you killed him then, right?'

I nod and hear the front door open as I take a deep breath. Marco looks troubled, but I'll talk to him about this later.

'So what do we do now?' Nico opens a new map on the table and we all step closer, looking at all the marked spots. 'We could-'

'Boss, we have a little problem.' Killian steps forward and lowers his gaze. 'What is it?'

He gulps and turns around, making all the others in the room turn as well. 'We found her after you left.'

A little girl, no older than six, with clothes dripping from the rain, is standing in the frame of the door.

'What's her name?' I ask, watching her closely.

She's small, so fucking small, and innocent. Her hair is dark brown, almost black, like North's. Her eyes are big and golden brown, even in the dark.

'She wouldn't say.' Right... 'She saw us and ran out of the house.'

She ran out at night? 'What should we do with her?'

I take a deep breath and close my eyes for a second.

I hate doing this, but I have to. We can't take care of a child, that's even if she's going to cooperate. But by the looks of it, she isn't going to do that.

She seems stubborn for a little girl. Reminding me of Valentina, making me wonder if she was like that when she was a child.

Valentina... She's the reason behind all of this. She's the reason for my fury, she's the reason I killed this little girl's family.

I grab my gun and point it at her head. She wants to run away, but Nico keeps her in place.

Everyone knows that this is the only way.

'Is there no other way?' Marco asks. He knows that this is the last thing I want to do, but we don't have the time to take care of her.

Plus, she hates us anyway.

'You know there isn't.' I point my gun towards her and watch as she fills with fear.

Normally I like it, the fear filling my victim's eyes. But not this time.

Not like this.

I've killed children before, it's not something that I'm proud of, but it's something that has to be done.

But this one is different.

This one will scar me forever because she looks like a tiny version of... No. All of this will disappear once I get Valentina back.

'No!' Her voice is so innocent and soft, making me wish she would've just died with her goddamn family. 'Hold her still.'

Nico wraps his hand around her mouth, making her stop squirming for just a second.

I cog my gun and take a deep breath. Everyone in the room is tense, I can feel all their eyes on me.

None of us want to do this, but we all know it's our only way. None of us are going to be able to keep going and take care of a kid. We won't succeed.

She will only drag us down and I won't let that happen until I get Valentina back. Until I know she's safe.

The little girl is smart and, even for a five-year-old, she has strength. She bites onto Nico's hand, forcing him to let her go, and runs to the other side of the room. Towards the open windows.

'You little shit!' Nico hisses, pulling his gun as well.

She knew that running into the halls wasn't going to help her out of this one.

It's a wonder how she slipped past everyone in the room. She's quick and stealthy, moves without slipping once. And all of that, for a child.

She looks outside and realizes how high up we are.

I watch as she slowly turns around with tears streaming down her face.

I've never felt anything when I killed people before. It was just nothing, an emptiness that went on for ages. But every person I've killed since Valentina felt different.

It stung a little. The way she looked at me when I shot Estelle in Paris, or when I stabbed Matheo Navaro, or when I basically forced her to shoot Luca Santos.

But every kill I made for her, filled my body with joy. I would kill every single person involved in this shit if it meant I would get her in the end, because she's everywhere.

She's on my mind twenty-four-seven and I can still smell her when I walk through the houses she's been, I can still smell her on my clothes.

I killed over thirty people by now, simply because they work for the enemy. The enemy that stole her from me.

But none of those murders felt like this one.

This one is entirely different because she's so innocent. At least that is what she seems like.

But I know better. She's smart, trained for this life the moment she came into this world. She's able to run past at least five grown-up men. Men who have been training their entire life to hunt people down. And she's not even six years old.

'There's no point in running, princess.' She starts crying again, fearing for her life, scaring me a little.

I point my gun towards her and wrap my finger around the trigger. I'm sorry-

'Stop!' We all turn to North who pushes everyone aside.

She stares at the little girl and the gun that's pointed at her. My gun.

'Rafael Adriano Curzio, I'm going to fucking kill you!' She shouts as if she's my mother.

I sigh deeply and turn back to the girl, almost pulling the trigger. 'I fucking dare you!'

A cold piece of metal is pressed against my neck and I hear everyone in the room gasp for air.

'Try pulling that trigger, I dare you Curse.'

I look to my side and see that it's North who's pressing a knife into my neck, before slowly lowering my gun.

'Idiot.' She presses the blade into my skin, cutting me just to get her point across, before turning towards the little girl.

'Who is she?' Her voice is a bit calmer as she steps closer to the little girl in the room. She steps back until her back is pressed against the wall. 'We don't know.' Nico grunts, finally lowering his gun as well.

'What's your name sweety?' The little girl looks at all of us, still afraid that we might kill her, which we probably will if North get's the fuck out of here, and ends at North.

North get's on her knees and tries to ease the girl a little.

'I promise I won't hurt you.' North's good with kids, that's for sure. 'They will.'

The little girl points at us and I watch as her finger trembles out of fear.

'No, they won't. They won't touch you, I promise.' She chimes, as happy as possible.

She's everything but happy. She's outraged.

North get's back up and turns to the others. 'Touch her and it'll be the last thing you touch, understood?'

We all stay silent, ignoring her threat because there's no way-

'Understood!?' I hear Vincent gasp for air and sigh deeply. 'Yes!' All of them answer out of fear.

Something in her changed since we left Paris, since we set that house on fire, since we killed the traitor's family and made him watch.

It's as if she remembered who she was and the game changed. As if it was an eye-opening moment for her.

'Good.' She smiles and turns back to the little girl, who finally stopped crying.

'We should probably get you some dry clothes, you're going to get sick if you keep walking around in those.'

North walks over to the little girl without thinking twice, holding out her hand for the child to grab.

She stares at North's hand and debates it for a second. She's smart. If she wasn't raised by people who work for the enemy, she would've been a great asset.

'Don't worry about these scary-looking monsters, they're nothing but softies on the inside. Trust me.' I almost killed her? How does she-

To my surprise, the child grabs onto North's hand and slowly walks closer to her. North stands back up and turns around, back to me.

'I'll talk to you at dinner.' She sneers, before picking the little girl up and carrying her out of the room.

'You're screwed.' Brandon laughs. I didn't even know he was here. But I guess he came with North.

'She's so dramatic.' I sigh, walking back to the map that's placed on the table. 'We could've killed her easily.' Nico rants.

'Don't you have any morals?' Marco asks his friend, who simply shrugs. 'Am I wrong though?'

'We don't have time to be taking care of a child, let alone a little spoiled shit who is going to bite us in the ass in the end.' Nico grunts as he walks over to the other side of the table.

'I'll take care of it.' I state, looking at the map again.

The girl is not the biggest problem we have right now. Our biggest problem is Skull's location. We need to find out where he is, so we can get information about Hunter.

All the marks on the map point out places we've already looked. There are at least ten marks on the map. All the places are empty.

'You mean, Neveah will take care of it.' Brandon laughs as he heads back to the door. 'Fuck off.'

'I'll tell her you said goodbye!'

Fucking hell. I already know dinner is going to be a pain in my ass.

'So what, we're just keeping a child with us now?' Nico asks, slumping down in one of the chairs before he looks at me with an annoyed look on his face. 'I told you, I'll handle it.'

He scoffs and looks at Marco, who's looking at me as well. 'Brandon was right though, you know she won't let you harm that kid.'

'I don't understand why she's being so protective over that kid though, it's not even hers.' Nico continues. He certainly doesn't like that kid. 'You won't be able to convince her to let that kid go, and you know it.'

I really wish Marco would shut up. For once. Especially after everything he did today. And the past few days, if I'm being honest.

'I said I'll handle it, didn't I?' He nods and tilts his head, annoying me a bit more. 'Maybe you should listen to her though, it's-' 'Barsetti, be careful.'

Everyone looks at us and I can feel the tension in the room rise to a whole nother level.

'I don't know what has gotten into you, but it has to stop.' I say, moving to the window again. It finally stopped raining.

'What do you mean?' He asked, a little confused about what the fuck I'm talking about.

Even though it should be obvious to him. He should understand exactly what I'm talking about.

'You've been too soft on her ever since we started this shit, she's getting into your head.' He rolls his eyes and grins for a second. 'And you're being too hard on her, especially after-' 'Do not talk about that right now. She doesn't want to be babied and the fact that you haven't noticed it yet says enough.'

His eyes widen and he lets my words sink in for a second.

He knows he shouldn't be talking about her private problems with the others.

'Just let her go, she doesn't need this shit.' He mumbles quietly, making the others look at him weirdly. Only Vincent chuckles at the sound of that. 'She's the whole reason we're doing this, why would we do that?' Right...

'Unless there's something you're not telling us, of course.' Killian chimes, looking at me with a questioning look on his face. 'We're not keeping anything from you, trust me.'

'That's the thing, Curzio.' I look at Vincent again, waiting for him to continue his sentence, but he takes his time and types something onto his laptop again.

I really want to throw his shit out of the window, but most of the things on there are to help us.

'We don't.' He says, looking at Nico and Killian, before ending at me. Great...

'How do you expect us to trust you if your story doesn't make any sense?' Killian asks, waiting for me to answer.

I could tell them the truth. I could tell them that we're not doing this for North, but for me.

And maybe I should.

But I can't.

I can't tell them. Not yet. Because if they know, more people will. And I want to tell her myself first. I want her to be the first I'll say it to.

It just feels wrong to say it to others first.

'He's doing it for me.' Marco says, sighing deeply as he looks at the others. 'What?'

'I-' He gulps and nods, 'I fell in love with her.'

For some reason, I don't think he's lying about any of it.

There's no doubt in his voice. It's the total honest truth.

He fell in love with Valentina...

'So you're telling me that we're doing this so that you can get with Cataleya?' Vincent asks, squinting his eyes a little. Marco nods and looks at me.

'Right, boss?'

It takes me every cell in my body not to pull my gun on him and just shoot, straight through his head, but I manage to just nod.

He fell in love with her...

'Why didn't you say so from the start?' Nico asks, smiling at Marco. 'It's not something I'm very proud of.' Another truth...

Fucking hell.

He fell in love with her... That motherfucker. He fucking fell in love with her.

'Good to know that it's not some bullshit lie then.' I want to respond to Killian, but I can't take my eyes of Marco.

I've known him my whole life. Twenty-six-fucking-years.

And he fell for the same girl as me.

The only girl that has ever made me feel shit like this. Like love.

I barely picked up why everyone is slowly leaving the room and keep my eyes on Marco, who also seems eager to leave the room.

'So we'll order some food and eat in our rooms so that you can talk to Neveah.' Nico says, before leaving me alone in this gigantic room.

I hear their footsteps go down the hall and stay seated, still thinking about what Marco just said.

He fell in love with her...

I get up and head to Marco's room, needing to talk to him about his so-called confession.

He's sitting on his bed, looking at the door, as if he was expecting me.

'You love her?' He slowly nods and finally looks at me.

'I do.' He softly admits, looking at the floor. He's avoiding eye contact on purpose and it's annoying the fuck out of me.

'Something happened that night I caught you together, didn't there?' He frowns a little, before looking at me with confusion in his eyes. 'You're talking about it as if it was the biggest crime to hang out with her.'

I stay by the door, keeping myself from harming him because he's my friend.

'Something must've happened otherwise you wouldn't be in love with her.'

He looks away again and I take a step forward, making him look at me again.

'Tell me.' I'm not playing around right now. And I feel like I need to know.

'We kissed.'

What. The. Fuck.

'So why did you lie?' I ask, clenching my jaw instead of ramming my fist into his face, 'I asked you that night, and you said nothing happened. Why did you lie to me?'

'I didn't think it mattered,' I let a laugh escape and keep my eyes on him, 'and you were with Molly anyway. It's not like you two were going to-' 'Do not anger me more, Barsetti.'

Whatever it was he was going to say, will make me explode. I just know it.

'Look, I'm sorry for not telling you, but I'm not sorry it happened.' He slowly stands up and looks at me, finally looking at me as a friend.

And there's no regret in his eyes.

'I should kill you.' He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, before opening them again and looking at me. 'If that will make you feel any better, do it.'

Fucking piece of shit.

Without saying another word, I leave his room and walk back to the dining room. There are two plates, one on either side of the huge table, but no food yet.

Fucking hell.

I should do it. I should kill him for lying to me, for betraying me like this. But I can't.

He's my friend.

And it's not like I showed her any signs of affection.

Marco did.

Marco made her feel something. Even it was just one time. Was it though?

As much as I want to go back and ask him, I won't. I can't even look at him right now. Not after his stupid love confession.

After what feels like hours, Neveah walks into the room, glaring at me as she throws a plastic bag on the table.

I can smell the delicious food all the way from here and suddenly feel hungry.

She slides the bag across the table and takes a seat as she unpacks her own, filling her plate with fries and a burger.

Nothing special, but still...

I do the same and dig in, keeping my eyes on her as she throws daggers at me with her eyes.

I know that she's going to explode on me as soon as she gets the chance. She's just waiting for me to give it to her. To give her that chance.

'You're coming with me tomorrow.' She slowly takes a bite out of her fry and looks at me as if I'm insane.

I know taking her with me will be the biggest mistake I'll ever make, but I would much rather have her with me, than Marco.

'You think I'm going anywhere with you, after what you did?' I roll my eyes and nod as I pour myself some water.

'Yes, because you will do whatever it takes to get Valentina back, right?'

'I won't kill innocent people to get her back, Rio.' She says, looking at me with that familiar hatred in her eyes. 'They weren't innocent, North.'

'She has handmarks on places a kid should not be touched.' Suddenly I feel nauseous. I almost drop my glass as I look at her. 'What?' 'The only person she's mourning, is her brother. The others all bullied her, even her parents.'

She was... No.

'And you believe the words of a four-year-old?' I ask, trying to push the bile down my throat and just finish this meal.

'She's six, and with all the evidence on her body, yes. I do.'

She saw. North saw the scars I didn't, probably because she was wearing clothes over them, but still.

'We can't keep her, North.' We should just kill her and get it over with. A child will only slow us down and we can't waste more time.

'Killing innocent people wasn't part of our plan Curse.'

I don't know why, but I've grown to like North calling me Curse. It's different than any other nickname I've ever had and I think it fits me.

But I simply scoff at her statement.

'You killed an innocent family!' She shouts, shoving her seat back as she jumps to her feet. 'They weren't innocent, trust me.'

'They had nothing to do with Hunter Steel!' She's wrong, they did. But I don't feel like explaining all of it to her.

'You were going to kill an innocent child!'

'I don't care North.' I groan, taking my last bite, finishing my meal so that I can continue my research about all of this. About Hunter's connection to England.

Because I heard that that's where he's headed next. England.

'You should! There were more children in that house!' She sneers, panicking like never before. 'It's not my fault their parents decided to work for the Steels.'

'You can't go and kill innocent people! Especially children who have nothing to do with any of this!'

That's where she's wrong. I can. And I will. Because we need the information to get what I want. Something we both want.

'Look North, I don't care that they might've been innocent. It's none of my fucking concern. The only thing I'm after is getting Valentina back, as should you.'

'Trust me,' She starts, keeping her eyes on me the entire time, 'I want her back just as much as you do, but this is not the way to do that.'

'What do you suggest we do then?' I ask, trying to not explode on her.

For some reason, I feel like she's the only one I have left. She's the only one who understands how bad I need Valentina back.

'Stop killing innocent people! The police will find us if you keep leaving a trail of dead people everywhere.'

'I don't care about-' 'You should! Because you and I both know that people will talk for money! If word gets out about your little murdering spree, Hunter might hurt her!'

She's right about that one.

But if we keep doing nothing, we'll end up nowhere, basically walking in circles.

'Where are you going?' I ask, a little worried that she'll leave. If she leaves, all of this is over. And I feel like she knows that.

She knows how much power she has in this whole plan.

Because my stupid ass fucking told her.

'I'm going to bed, tomorrow we'll talk, just not now.' She groans, obviously exhausted from all of this.

And again, she found a way to make this shit harder than necessary by being a pain in my fucking ass.

I leave the plates for someone else to clean and head to my room, quickly dozing off to sleep because tomorrow's a big day.

I'll have to talk to La Cruz if I want to get into England. And maybe he could get me some of his men as well.

I wake up early and decide to go for a jog, seeing Killian do some exercises with North as I get in through the back. Since when is that a thing?

'North!' They both look my way as I stay by the door, looking at them, 'Be ready in five, we have a lot to take care of!'

I can feel her roll her eyes at me and head back inside to take a quick shower and change into something suitable for the meetings we'll have today.

All black, so you won't really notice the bloodstains. Just in case...

'Rio.' I stop at the sound of that voice and slowly turn around, facing my friend, 'I thought you told Nico to tell me the meeting wasn't going through?'

Why did he lie?

I told Nico to tell him I'm taking North.

'It is, I'm going with North.' He frowns and shakes his head. 'I still think you should send her away, it would be a lot easier and she wouldn't have to-' 'I honestly don't care.'

As I turn around, I see North, wearing an emerald green custom-made dress that's very flowy and simple. 'What's going on with you two?'

'Get in the car.' I sneer before turning back to Marco. He rolls his eyes and places his hand on my shoulder, before watching North head to the car. 'Don't tell me you fell in love with her as well?'

It's a joke, but it could be the truth.

'I'm sorry Rio. I truly am.' I nod and step away from him, slowly walking through the door. 'We'll talk when we get back.'

I still have to talk to Celine about what she knows about Skull again. See if she found out something new while everything else is still going on.

'Rio!' I turn back around and look at Marco, waiting for him to say whatever it is he wants to, because I actually really have to get going. 'Brooke is in the basement.'

Finally. Something good. 'Keep her there, make sure to send Adrian something.'

He rolls his eyes and heads back inside, closing the door behind him as he heads back inside and I head to the car.

North is patiently waiting in the car and doesn't say a word as I drive to the location. It's in the middle of nowhere, just one car, and I already know how this is going to go down.

'Stay in the car while I handle this real quick.' I jump out before she can even react and head to Alejandro, who's leaning on his car and smiles at me.

'Long time no see, Curzio.' I nod and head over to him, shaking his hand, before glancing around.

No one.

He truly came alone.

But he should know better.

'I heard you wanted something from La Cruz.' More his council... And it doesn't surprise me that he already knows about it too.

News travels fast. Really fast.

'I do.'

'Well, I could give you what you want. I can even give you more, faster, if you want? But there's a price on everything, you know?' I knew it...

'And what if I say no?' I ask, watching as he looks at the car, at North who's watching our every move, before he looks back at me. 'Then I might just tell Steel what you're looking for.'

I inhale sharply, making him chuckle a little, as I place my hand on his shoulder as if we're friends. 'See,' He turns back to Neveah and licks his lips, 'I can't let you do that.' I swiftly pull my gun and press it against his waist, watching as fear fills his eyes.

'Wait-' I shake my head and pull the trigger, listening to his painful screams, enjoying the look on his face as he drops to the ground and slowly bleeds to death.

A price.

They put a price on her head.

And like I said, news travels fast.

I don't need it to travel faster.

'What the fuck!' Neveah shouts as she jumps out of the car and heads over to me. I grab his legs and pull him towards his car. 'Get back in the car, North.'

'No, what the fuck is wrong with you!?' She shouts, making me roll my eyes as I dump his body in the trunk and wipe his blood off my hands. 'Get back in the car.'

I grab a cigar, the first one I've had in years, and light it before taking a long puff.

The fire seems fitting. It seems... right.

'What are you doing?' She asks, stepping away from me a little as I keep playing with the fire a bit. 'Get back. To the car.'

She stays put and shakes her head. 'You murdered another innocent person.' Innocent...

According to her, everyone is innocent.

'I thought you would've learned by now...' I mumble as I walk to the front of the car and open the hood. 'What do you- Rio what are you doing?'

'Shut up and get back to the car, North.' I knew I was going to regret taking her with me. I just knew it.

I throw my lighter in there, close the hood and pull her away before it all blows up and her death is on my hands. 'Why can't you just listen, for once?'

She pulls away and almost falls on her ass because of it, making me turn back to her.

We're far enough to not die if the car explodes, so I guess we should be good, right?

'We can't do this, Curse!' She shouts at me. I ignore her and continue walking back to the car.

The smoke slipping through my lips as I take another puff of the cigar. 'We can't just play god!' She continues to shout at the top of her lungs.

I turn around and smirk at her, my eyes cold as ice, yet burning hot.

I speak clearly, with unbreakable confidence: 'Who said I was just playing?'

She looks at me with the most disgusted look ever and shakes her head. 'You are so full of yourself.'

'Suck it up and behave, we have some people to convince.'

I jump in the car, giving her exactly five seconds before driving off, and she simply follows. Because if she stayed here, no one was going to get her back to the house.

When we get to the second location, she follows me inside the building, putting a fake smile on her face every now and then.

But every time she looks at me, her smile fades away.

Does she not know this is how this shit goes?

La Cruz is sitting on the other side of the table, listening to my bullshit story about getting Valentina back for North.

And I don't like that the other elders are here as well.

They don't like me much, because I work with Marcello and they have some messed-up history, but La Cruz likes me. He always has.

And that's all that matters.

Because he's the boss that keeps everyone in check when I'm not around.

He's the guy that makes the best deals with me.

So I hope he has something great to offer right now.

Just as everything is going fine, just when we finish the dinner his wife made and everyone is laughing, even though every single man in here wants to kill me, North harshly drops her fork and looks at La Cruz.

'If you'll excuse me, I'm going to safe my best friend from this mess.' Neveah gets up from her seat and strides out of the room, leaving all of us speechless.

'Excuse me gentlemen.' I get up and quickly rush after her. I need her to complete this mission.

'North, what the fuck is your problem, we need them to-' 'We don't need them! They don't know shit!' She sneers at me as she abruptly turns towards me.

Her dress waves through the air, making her look like some kind of goddess for a second. She's fuming again.

'We will get her back North. It just takes time.' I mumble, unable to convince her more than I already have.

I don't get her problem. She says she's willing to do anything to get Valentina back, but when I kill people, she gets all angry with me.

And I know she wants her back just as much as I do, but we have to think about our steps.

'We're going into unknown territory, we need people we can trust.'

'Unknown territory? She asks, a little confused. I didn't tell her. Just like I haven't been telling her a lot of things. Because she's too annoying to talk to.

'We're going to England because I heard that that's where he wants to take her.'

'And you didn't tell me!?' She shouts, making this about herself again. 'Lower your voice, North.'

'I just-' She takes a deep breath and looks at the ground for a second, 'I can't lose her. She means too much to me, Rio.'

'She means a lot to me too.' I whisper, making her chuckle softly.

'Well, you obviously don't care about her that much, if you're willing to talk to these idiots while we could already be near her again!' What?

'I do care about her!' I respond, feeling the emotions overthrow the calm I was trying to keep.

'You should've told her that when you had the chance!'

I know... And maybe I'll never get the chance to, especially with that bounty on her head, but I have to try.

If not for her, for myself. Because I know I won't be able to live like this.

Knowing that I never told her how I felt.

'Look,' She takes a deep breath and looks me in my eyes again, 'Vincent gave me Zuzu's number. I'm going to work with her on this, so you won't have to deal with me anymore. Okay?' What?

'What do you mean?' I ask, following her back to the car.

'We don't work. You kill people, children, because you think it will get her back, but it won't. And I know that if we stay together we'll end up killing each other, so I asked Vincent if he knew someone and he gave me some things on Glitch.' That bastard...

They went behind my back.

'So that's it?' I ask, walking to her side of the car, 'You're just going to leave?'

'You can search for yourself, right?' She sneers, pushing me to the side so she can get closer to the door, but I stay put, 'Or do you need me to hold your fucking hand while you murder more kids?!'

'We'll find her faster if we search together.' I say a little too desperate for my liking.

I don't like North, but I know that I certainly won't find Valentina without her around. There's just no way.

'Bullshit, you're too busy gathering a bunch of idiots, without even knowing where the fuck she is!' I can't help but roll my eyes, she's always so dramatic.

'Those idiots are a necessity if we want to get her back, North.' She stubbornly shakes her head and I honestly wish she breaks her fucking neck as she goes on. 'The more people you tell about all of this, the faster it will get to Hunter that we're searching for them.'

I scoff and step away from the car, closer to her, since she's walking the other way.

'Don't you think they know that already? We have his sister.' I know that he doesn't know. That is if my sources are correct.

Hunter hasn't checked on Brooke in months, thinking that she was just enjoying Spain on her own.

I mean, she was. Until the Steels decided to take Valentina from me.

North shakes her head, smiling as if I said something stupid.

'And who's fault is that?'

I roll my eyes and jump in the car, trying to find the right words to fix this mess.

But it's impossible.

I can't be nice to her, just like she can't be nice to me.

It's impossible.

But I have to somewhat try.

Even though I want to rip her head off for talking to me like that.

So on our way back to the house, I grab the wheel a little tighter and swallow the hatred down.

'What do you suggest we do?' I hate every second of silence as she looks at me. I can see it in the corner of my eyes and try not to pull my gun on her for looking at me like that.

Like I'm some helpless idiot who won't get any further without her.

'You're asking- you're asking me?'

'If you don't answer the question right now, North. I swear to god, I will-' 'Fine!' She exclaims, looking straight ahead for a while, before turning back to me.

'England is not your territory, right?' No shit... 'Have you ever heard me talk about it before?'

'Many times actually, so that's why I'm asking.' She says sarcastically, making me roll my eyes. 'No. England doesn't belong to me.'

'Who does it belong to then?' She asks, making me want to crash this car.

Just like taking her with me today, this is another thing I regret. Talking to her like this.

I have to explain everything to her. 'If I would've known, do you think I would be here right now?'

'We have to find it out first, because what if it belongs to the Steels?'

I shake my head and wait for the gates to open so we can get to the house. 'It doesn't belong to the Steels.'

'Maybe it does.' She says, before jumping out of the car.

Brandon opens the door, letting the little girl from earlier run out of the house, straight into North's arms.

I notice the bruises and burns on her arms, as I slam the car door shut.

'Victoria, shouldn't you be sleeping?' North asks, grabbing her hand, as they head back to the door.

Victoria. The youngest Castro member. The only one left.

I follow them and listen to a small report Brandon gives me about how shit is going with shipments in Italy.

'Rio.' I stop in the hall, turning to North who is standing in the middle of the stairs, smiling at me, 'Please, just tell me everything tomorrow, okay?'

No. There's no way I'll be able to go through all the shit we found out with her.

'Marco will tell you.' And with those words hanging in the air, I head to the basement, hearing Nico chuckle darkly.

'Please, just let me go!' The closer I get, the more resentment I feel burning inside my body.

'Brooke Steel,' I say, stepping further into the room, making everyone look at me, while Brooke has tears streaming down her face, 'what a pleasure to see you again.'

----

A/N: A lot of murder... I mean, he did say he was going to kill everyone to get Cataleya back, so...

And he FINALLY SAID the words. Not "I love her", but that he CARES!!!!!!!!!

I hope you guys still like the story! Let me know what you think in the comments and please don't forget to vote!

I hope you have a nice day and I'll see all of you in the next chapter!!!