19. Battling with love

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As Francesco left the room, Antonio took a deep breath and walked to a bedside table and poured himself a glass of vodka while looking at Amaranta strangely. He drank the vodka in one go.

Amaranta sat down on her bed " Why do you look at me like that? Why are you still here? You heard him. You are free to go to chat up Georgina or whatever you were doing."

Antonio sighed " I don't know. Maybe I have stayed behind to take a good look at a woman who is lucky enough not to taste Francesco's wrath even though she deserves it. You have got to agree with me on this. Come on. Of all the information you could withhold earlier when he was interrogating you when you had arrived at the party, you failed to disclose his mother's location that you knew all along. You are alive. You are lucky."

Amaranta spoke " Well. I am lucky I am a Voltolini. As he mentioned earlier, I am only useful if I am alive. So are my bodyguards who are mostly related to the longest serving men in my fathers organisation. Francesco can use me and my body guards as blackmail to keep my brother away from his girl."

Antonio shook his head " Nah, that's not all. Maybe it helps that you are a Voltolini but Francesco wouldn't have acted so gently with you if you said anything about his mother on any other night."

Amaranta raised an eyebrow " Meaning?"

Antonio spoke " Tonight was Francesco's engagement night. His woman said yes to his marriage proposal. I have never seen him act so gentle and calm when his mother's name is mentioned. Please don't ever being her up. I think you are useful if you are alive and healthy too. Don't ever risk it. Tonight was just not any night. It was a special night. He showed you consideration because he was in a good mood. If it was another night he would have hurt you for withholding such personal news when you had the chance earlier on to disclose it. Ironically you were saved the pain because of Adele, who your brother is after and wants to remove from Francesco's life. So you are lucky you didn't get into trouble. Next time when you are asked to disclose all you know by a Rosario, you should comply."

Amaranta sighed and looked away " Why do you think I didn't say anything earlier? I know he has been looking for his mother for a long time. I didn't want to go there because I didn't know how he was going to treat the messenger. But out of desperation I took a risk. I wish he had found out by someone else like your father. I thought Piero was the expert in hiding things but hiding this piece of information gives a whole new meaning to the word expert. He is master of deceit. "

Antonio narrowed his eyes and walked to Amaranta slowly " Don't talk about my father like that. He wouldn't have hidden Francesco's mother's faith from him if it wasn't necessary. You don't know anything about my father."

Amaranta stood up facing Antonio who was towering over her. " Relax. I meant it as a compliment. What I meant was that your father is really smooth in operating whatever he does. Many people in my fathers organisation were shocked to hear he had taken early retirement. He was too young to leave the business but it could only mean one thing ..... It means that he feels he has left his business in the right hands. I think you can handle it. But I think it should be me warning you not the other way round. Now that Francesco has found out about your fathers betrayal, there will be hell to pay by Piero. Don't you agree. Now it seems to me, he has left you on charge of his organisation since he knows you can handle it and more importantly you can protect him. So time is up for you. It's time to face Francesco if he goes after your father. You know I am right . You have to act fast. You have to use your resources to protect your father or at least send him somewhere safe temporarily until things calm down. You can't let Francesco hurt him."

Antonio spoke " Why do you care about my father? It seems to me that you want to somehow mess with my mind so I confront Francesco or I don't know some outcome to weaken the Rosarios."

Amaranta rolled her eyes " Don't over estimate the importance of illegal organisations for me. I have no interest in anything but pursuing my career here as an actress, musician or singer or anything else. But I want to be independent from my father. I want to get away from it. I know I am lucky. Male heirs like Costanzo don't have the luxury. I am a girl so I am free to do as I want."

Antonio persisted " You didn't answer my question. Why do you care about my father? Why are acting like you are on our side?"

Amaranta remained silent looking into Antonio's eyes. She then reached her hand up to Antonio's face gently. As she was about to touch him, he took afew steps away " Don't... I have a woman. You can't."

Amaranta looked hurt and crossed her arms over her chest " Relax. I am not a home wrecker. I guess I forgot for a second that you have a woman or ... do you? I have been hearing that you are dating different women on daily basis and none of them happen to be Georgina Canavaro. So I am confused here. Since when are you with Georgina? When did you start dating?"

Antonio looked taken back  " That's a personal question."

Amaranta smiled " Oh. I see. You haven't asked her out yet. Either that or she has been rejecting your advances just like old times."

Antonio spoke quickly " Don't change the subject. Why do you care about my father?"

Amaranta spoke " I don't care for him. I care about what it would do to you if Francesco hurts him for his betrayal. Francesco said it himself. He said your father promised not to reveal the location of Francesco's mother to Paulo. That's betrayal in his eyes. But to us it doesn't look like betrayal. We know your father changes his own rules even when it comes to marriage and love. He believes a piece of divorce paper doesn't end a marriage. He believes a man and woman can't break their vows unless they die. His own ex wife believes the same thing. when Piero found his ex wife, she requested to love with her sister but she assured him, she loves no other....,"

Antonio spoke " What are you saying? My mother was found after she ran away and she chose to live in hiding? Not that I care. She abandoned me. I don't think I am interested in knowing what she is upto. But that's still hard to believe."

Amaranta spoke " Your father didn't let her contact you as pressure to make her accept him again. Not that it worked in winning her over. It hurt her inside out. It really did but she couldn't leave her sister in isolation. Her sister needed her more than you needed her."

Antonio frowned " What do you know about what has gone on in her life. You speak as though you have spoken to her personally."

Amaranta bit her lip " It's because I have. I went to hospital to see Franecsco's father after his assassination alongside my family except for Ambrogio of course. Alot of families where there naturally. Rosarios are well known. It was then, that I had the chance to speak to her about her life when us, women went out for dinner. She told me she took you away from your father to protect you from becoming a criminal. She regrets causing you hurt when she moved to a neighbourhood that taunted you for being born to a single mother when she took you England. She said to me that keeps her awake at night knowing she made a decision that affected you so badly."

Antonio laughed bitterly " Well. She should sleep at night. It made me stronger what she did. The hell I went through during my childhood made me love my father more and appreciate his affection for me. I felt safe and protected at my fathers home unlike her home. Now I think we have talked enough. I should go."

As Antonio was about to walk away Amaranta blocked his path " Wait. I am sorry about everything. I hope you forgive your mother and protect your father. Please be careful."

Antonio spoke harshly " Stop pretending to care about my family.

Amaranta spoke " Damn it. I don't care for your family. I care for you. I don't want you to get hurt. I will do anything to help you live happily. I know I can't do much but of there was anything I could do, you can tell me. We are not together anymore. I am not your type but we still can be friends."

Antonio spoke harshly " I don't want to hear any more. I think your brother has done enough. He opened old wounds in the Rosario family. He is hunting down Rosarios one by one from what your bodyguards confessed today and my father is most likely next on his hit list. He won't stop until he destroys this family. He is getting close to his goal. By assassinating Paulo, Francesco would be revisiting his conflicts with his father and my father while your brother executes his other cunning plans. I don't think I would trust you with anything.." He then side stepped her and walked to the door.

Amaranta glanced at the retreating figure of Antonio and whispered " I am sorry for what my brother is doing. I can't help who I am related to. I would have stopped him if I could."

Antonio turned to Amaranta and whispered back "I know that but it doesn't change anything. It doesn't matter." He then turned the door knob and locked the door behind him. He then walked down the corridors. He then saw a bodyguard down the corridor next to Georgina's hotel room door.

Antonio shouted "I thought I told you to watch Gerogina Canavaro at the ballroom floor. What are you doing here?"

The guard looked down and spoke "Miss Canavaro are back to their room and ..... they asked me to guard the door so no one disturb.... They have company."

Antonio spoke "What company? Who is in there?"

The guard spoke "Johnny is in there.."

Antonio's eyes widened "Johnny? That kid who fixed up the light show on empire state building? What is he doing with Georgina? His instructions was to get back to MIT campus. I will teach him a lesson." As he tried to enter, he noticed the door was locked. He shouted as he knocked "Open up this door right now. You have five seconds to open this door or I will break it down. 5, 4,,,"

The door opened the door and Johnny opened the door stuttering "Sir ...."

Antonio saw blood as he saw Johnny. He threw a punch to his stomach making Johnny lose his breath. Johnny bent over and closed his eyes clutching his stomach.

Antonio didnt let Johnny recover. He grabbed his collar and pulled him outside the room and pinned him to the wall. He spoke in a low voice "What have you been upto georgina? She is mine. You hear that. You had nerve entering her room."

Georgina walked to the door and looked at between Johnny and Antonio. She shook her head in disbelief "Put him down Antonio."

Antonio let go of Johnny's collar and took a step back. Just when Johnny reached to his throat to rub where he was gripped, Antonio kneed him in the stomach making Johnny groan in pain and kneeling on the floor gasping for air.

Antonio pulled away his foot and wanted to kick him on the floor. But Georgina appeared in front of Antonio and spoke in panic " Stop it Antonio. Why are you beating Johnny up? Enough. I invited him to my room. That's why he was here."

Antonio raised an eyebrow " Did you now?" He then turned to the guards in the corridor " Take Johnny to my room and hand cuff him to the radiator. I will deal with him later."

As the guards grabbed Johnny and pulled him up, Georgina spoke " No. Don't. Leave him be." As she was about to follow them, Antonio grabbed her arm, " You and I need to talk. Come in."

As Antonio dragged Georgina inside, he closed the door behind him. Just as he turned around, Georgina's hand almost connected to his face. She had tried to slap him, but to her dismay, Antonio had intercepted her and now had her wrist tightly in his grip. He was looking at Georgina with surprise " You are just making this worse for yourself. You just brought a man to your room and now you tried to strike me. Do you know what kind of punishment awaits you?"

Georgina smiled sweetly at him and then raised her knees up and hit his stomach making Antonio lose his grip on her. She then took a few steps backwards and shouted " That was for Johnny." She then saw Antonio's rageful eyes as he recovered and looked up. She gulped.

Antonio spoke " What were you upto with him. Don't even bother lying?"

As Antonio took steps towards her, Georgina walked behind a large table and threw it in Antonio's way and spoke quickly "Hold it there. What do you mean what I was upto with him? He was just fixing my gramophone so I could play some songs. He was also upto other things." She then reached to the light switch behind her and turned off the lights.

Antonio spoke firmly "Turn on the lights and face me." He then saw a bright light shining around the room. He shouted "What's that? A projector?"

Georgina came into light standing next to a projector at the other side of the room and spoke "Look behind you."

As Antonio turned around he saw his childhood pictures and heard click noises from behind him as Gerogina was pressing buttons and changing the slides. All those pictures from years ago that he didnt know existed were shown making him deeply emotional.

Georgina spoke "These are pictures, Anna found in her mother's storage room that your mother had handed to your aunt Patricia before she ran away the second time from your father. But they were in form of slides. I didnt know what to do with the slides. Johnny got a projector off some hollywood guy and set this up here. He was only teaching me how this works and was about to leave when you showed up. I was so shocked I couldn't even explain when you started bashing up the poor guy...."

Antonio whispered "This is very nice of you. Turn it off now. i have seen enough."

Gerogina spoke "Wait. there are some pictures of your parents together too at their wedding too."

Antonio spoke "Turn it off. I have seen pictures in my father's album."

Georgina chuckled "I bet you haven't seen these ones though."

Antonio gasped as he saw his parents picture sitting on a motor bike.

Georgina laughed "They are touring south America by the way. Anna shared that information. Your father must have been around eighteen, so is your mother, that was during their years at college. They got married long after that."

Antonio spoke bitterly "They seem like they are having fun."

Georgina shook her head "Do you remember our first date. The one that didnt happen. You asked me to ride with you around New York."

Antonio turned around and looked at Georgina "And you said no."

Georgina spoke with amusement in her voice " I did. Didnt I. I regret it." She then walked to Antonio and looked up into his eyes.

Antonio raised an eyebrow "Are you going to come on that ride with me tonight?"

Georgina smiled "Do I? I don't know. Let Johnny leave and then we can go on that ride and grab some gelato at your aunt Patricia's shop. Anna told me, they are open twenty four hours a day during thanksgiving week."

Antonio nodded "I hope its not a trick."

Georgina spoke "Why would it be?"

Antonio narrowed his eyes and then walked to the door and shouted to the guards "Let Johnny go back to his college. He is cleared of his crime." He then turned around and closed the door behind him "Why don't you wear a coat?"

georgina looked thoughtful "Actually how about this? I am saying no again. I am in a sour mood with you. Firstly you left the party with no explanation, secondly you smell of perfume as though you have been with a woman and then you beat up Johnny for no reason."

Antonio chuckled " Are you jealous Georgina? Is that it? I was supposed to interrogate a prisoner of Francesco's who happens to be a woman. You may see her at thanksgiving dinner at Francesco's home if Francesco puts her on house arrest. And I kind of like you sounding jealous...."

Georgina spoke "Well, I don't like the sound of you jealousy actually."

Antonio sighed "Lets go. Come with me. They have a nice bike in the car park gifted to me by Hollywood producers. That's waiting for us." He then walked closer to Georgina and grabbed her arm "Stop being stubborn."

Georgina made a move and twisted her arm out of Antonio's grip only making it more painful for herself.

Antonio spoke " Tsk Tsk. You really need some self defense lessons."

Georgina gritted her teeth " Let me go now."

Antonio laughed " Or what? You are going to ask your guards do anything? Hm. I don't think so. They are standing outside not daring to come inside to against me. Now be a good girl and follow me when I let you go." He then let go of Georgina.

Georgina turned around sharply " Or what? What if I don't follow you?"

Antonio raised an eyebrow " Then that would mean you are taking me on. Is that what you want to do? Remember the lesson I taught you back at Francesco's mansion."

Georgina's eyes narrowed " You will never stop reminding me of that incident. Are you?"

Antonio spoke " No." He then turned his back on Georgina as he spoke " Follow me. We are riding tonight."

Georgina pushed Antonio to the floor and with a victorious smile reached the door knob as she shouted "If you want me, you have to fight for me or tough luck, you are alone tonight."

As Georgina quickly unlocked the door, she felt strong arms wrapping around her waist from behind "So you want to be difficult. Just like old times. I remember. You used to tease me and then used to ignore me. Its not going to happen now darling."

Georgina trembled at his voice. She was partly scared of Antonio. She found him attractive but also found Antonio intimidating. She could hold her own against most guys except a few including Antonio. She spoke "Let me go."

Antonio spoke "You are afraid that I am stronger than you. Is that it? You are afraid to be alone with me. That's why you changed your mind. Thats why you said no to me back in college. You are afraid of confident and strong men. You want to be the dominant one. Thats why you have been dating weaker men. Well Rio was even weaker than you. Right. You beat him at boxing any day."

Georgina went limp and spoke "Fine. You win. i admit it. I am afraid to let you in."

Antonio let go of her "But you want me."

Georgina spoke "But thats for you to find out." She then pushed Antonio away and sprinted out of the door and down the corridor to a door that wasn't guarded. As she entered, she regretted it instantly. She found herself face to face with a bare chest Francesco who only had a pair of shorts on. He had a boxing punch bag hung in front of him from the ceiling and was throwing punches left and right at the punch bag without boxing gloves. Georgina was hoping she could just run back outside without Francesco noticing her but she was wrong.

Francesco turned to her with murderous eyes as he carried on boxing "You.... once again. Give me one good reason why you are here. A convincing reason. You get one chance. If I am not convinced, then I am going to stuff you in a punch bag and teach you a lesson. I bet you will be a good boxing partner in a red bag."

Georgina swallowed hard. She had no idea what to do or say. Francesco was just looking at her with angry eyes and she couldn't believe how she was going to get out of this situation. Where was Antonio when she needed him.

Francesco spoke "I don't ask twice. Speak now." He then stopped punching the bag "I am speaking to you. Respond."

Then she heard the door open. She was hoping it was Antonio.

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