ADRIANO'S POV: 'We have some new rules,' I say as I walk into the meeting room.

I sit at the head of the table. Xuan, Alora, Jasmine and Matteo are on my left while the others are to my right.

'We heard from Mannuel that The Ravens are trying to locate us.' I explain.

'He also said they were onto him.' Jasmine adds.

'Meaning we might not see him for a while,' Xuan finishes, crossing his arms.

'Exactly,' I say. 'So, Mimi you will not leave the house without a gun or Alessandro.'

She looks up at me.

'And Rory won't be leaving the house at all.' I add.

'Dilara wouldn't go after her.' Mimi mutters. 'She wouldn't let them.'

'Yeah well I thought Dilara wouldn't do a lot of things but look at us now.' I reply. 'Does she even know how your child looks?'

'No,' Mimi replies.

'I'll not have my niece murdered.' I say.

'Where is she anyway?' Alora asks.

'She sleeping in our room.' Alessandro replies, putting a hand on Mimi reassuringly.

'The rest of you have training and can protect yourselves.' I say. 'Xuan, Jasmine and Fouzia be extra careful, especially with your history.'

Fouzia looks me in the eyes for the first time since I stepped into this room and gives me a small nod.

'I barely leave the house anyways.' Jasmine replies.

'None of you should make any unnecessary trips,' I explain.

'Do you even know what Dilara has planned?' Terzo asks.

'No,' I reply. 'But we do know that there's a higher power over her for now.'

'Christianto?' Amira asks.

'Higher than even him.' I say. 'All of you need to watch out.'

I move my leg and wince at the pain of the bullet hole wound.

'Have you seen Dilara recently?' Zoya asks.

Terzo and Lorenzo turn to us wearily.

'Not since that rogue mission last week.' I reply calmly.

I can't let anyone know about last night, but hiding the pain in my leg is hard.

Zoya narrows her eyes.

'Alright,' she says hesitantly.

I clear my throat and look around at everyone.

'Any updates with any of you?' I ask.

'The leader of The Demons is very upset that one of his members was murdered.' Amira says.

'What did you say?' I ask.

'I put the spot light on The Ravens, so now they're directed at them.' She replies.

'That's amazing.' I say. 'You're all dismissed.'

Everyone gets up and leaves.

Everyone except Zoya.

She clears her throat and I look up at her.

'What?' I ask.

'I'm not an idiot, I can see you're injured.' She says.

'Maybe I hurt myself, so what.' I reply.

'Since you've come back from that rouge mission you haven't been able to look Fouzia in the eyes and she hates it.' She crosses her arms.

'I don't know what you're implying.' I say.

'Adriano you know damn well what I'm implying.' She snaps. 'So if you're going to sneak out in the middle of the night and do God knows what with Dilara then try to hide it a bit more.'

'How do you-' I start.

'It was my turn to check the CCTV footage of the area today.' She explains. 'But don't worry I deleted what I saw.'

'Now explain.' She says.

'Dilara somehow got Mimi's number and contacted her yesterday.' I say, lowering my voice. 'She told her that I need to meet her at Gail's.'

'How did she get her number?' Zoya asks.

'Mimi won't say.' I reply. 'I went to see her and she told me that Vittoria was at The Raven base.'

'What was she doing there?' She asks.

'I don't know, but I think she went to see the real leader of The Ravens.' I reply. 'The one who gave us Fouzia.'

'Why would she want to see him?' Zoya asks.

'I don't know, but Dilara showed me a recording of both of them talking.' I say. 'Vittoria owes him something, she did something twenty years ago, involving me.'

'I always thought there was something off with that woman.' Zoya says.

'I brushed it off.' I reply. 'Dilara wasn't happy about that and shot me.'

'Yeah, that's the Dilara we know.' She chuckles sadly.

I look down at the table.

'Listen Adriano,' she says. 'As much as you deny it, I know that you wish she didn't walk off at the restaurant two years ago.'

I do. I really do.

'I don't.' I reply. 'I warned her and she chose this for herself.'

Zoya scoffs

'You really are a stubborn asshole.' She says.

She gets up and goes to leave the room.

'Just have some decency and treat Fouzia like an actual human being.' She says before leaving me alone in the meeting room.

I run my hands through my hair and leave the room.

************ I walk into my bedroom and see Fouzia sitting on my bed.

Our bed I mean.

'Oh sorry, if you need the room I'll just leave.' She says.

'No it's fine,' I reply. 'I got us some food.'

I signal to the Taco Bell bags in my hand.

'We could watch a movie too if you want?' I shrug.

'Yeah sure.' She replies, moving over to the other side of the bed, making room for me.

She turns on the TV and I sit down next to her.

'How about a Disney movie?' She asks.

No.

Never.

'I hate Disney.' I reply.

'Oh alright maybe we can watch The Black Phone?' She asks.

'Yeah that's alright with me.' I say.

She puts on the movie and hands me my food.

I might not love Fouzia, but she's a good enough friend and I think that's all I need at the moment.

A friend.

*AUTHORS NOTE* I was thinking that we need a whole chapter just for Adriano. We'll also be hearing more from Zoya since she knows his secret. Have a nice day!