To Love in Full

Chapter 38: Gotong-royong Part: 1

Gotong-royong (n.) The joint sharing of burdens; the bearing of the weight of the world together with trusted friends.

Arabella's P.O.V.

"You know, I didn't expect you to be here without your men," Romano said as he used a corkscrew to open the bottle in his hand.

"But, here we are," he continued on as he took a swig of wine.

"And you, Miss Lady in Red..." he said as he took a step towards us.

"Don't get any fucking closer," Nicolo seethed as he raised his gun, but Romano held up his hand as he continued to stare at me.

"...I should've known you were trouble," Romano said lowly as he narrowed his eyes at me and threw the bottle of wine at the metal railing beside me.

I flinched as small shards of glass fell around me, some hitting my skin along with the wine inside of the bottle. Romano took another step closer as Nicolo pulled down the safety lever of his gun; the men surrounding us suddenly pulled out their weapons, aiming at Nicolo and I.

"Nicolo..." I whispered to him as I placed my hand on his arm.

"...put down your gun," I said to him softly, hoping that he would listen before getting both of us killed.

"You should listen to your lady, Nico. She's a smart woman," Romano said as he smiled at me and sat down in a chair.

"And don't think about making any foolish moves, we have a sniper right over there," he said as he pointed to a direction behind us.

I slowly turned around to find the sniper that he spoke of, but I could not see anyone for miles in the fields below.

"Do you see him, principessa? Right up there by the road, on the hill," Romano explained (Princess).

My eyes trailed up towards the road where cars were driving by, completely mindless of the dreadful situation happening below. I gaze towards the specified location and faintly saw a dark figure lying down, hidden in the tall grass.

"Don't stare for too long, he might put a bullet between those pretty eyes of yours," Romano said and I turned back to face him as he winked.

"What the hell do you want, Romano," Nicolo said as he tossed his gun to the ground.

"I wanna know what you fucks were doing in my resort," Romano said as he laced his fingers together and placed his elbows on top of the table.

"We were-" Nicolo began to say.

"No, no, no," Romano repeated as he waved his finger around.

"I don't want to hear it from you. I want to hear it from her," he said as he pointed his finger at me.

"What was your name?" he asked me.

"I could barely hear it in the security footage when Dante called out to you over the cries of women and children, due to you people pulling the fire alarm," he said as he rolled his eyes.

"Was it Anastasia?" he asked while he stared at me intently.

"Hmm, no. Annabella maybe?" he guessed again.

"Or perhaps, Arabella."

I pressed my lips into a line and held my breath once my name left his mouth. I broke eye contact with Romano as I couldn't withstand his intense stare that seemed to read me like an open book.

"Ah, Arabella is it?" he asked with a scornful laugh.

"Beautiful name for a beautiful woman," he said as he turned towards Nicolo and smirked.