Adele was looking out of the car window and admiring the tall buildings of the city as she was driven through the streets of New York in one of Rosario Cars with tinted windows. Francesco of course had a tight grip on her waist making her lean to him.

Francesco whispered " Why do you keep staring out of the windows. What impresses you so much about this city at day time?"

Adele turned to Francesco " The tall buildings are so impressive. I love how big this city is and how beautiful all shops and houses are too. I love New York."

Francesco smiled " I am glad you like this city sweetheart. But you would love it even more when I take you out at night time. It looks magical as they say mainly because of the lights of the city. You will see soon."

Adele asked " Can we go out tonight to see the city at night time?"

Francesco sighed " I wish we could sweetheart but I am very busy today. I have many business meetings today. I need to see Georgio Canavaro after we return from our date at the mansion. Then I have meetings with my guards and then my business partners and my lawyers. It's Sunday but I normally hold my weekly meetings today."

Adele spoke " So .... Can I come with you to your meetings. Please tell me I am not expected to stay in my room all day today while you are in your meetings."

Francesco spoke " You can do any thing you want at the mansion sweetheart but I don't want you to be present in my meetings. I don't think you would like to witness what happens in my meetings."

Adele looked baffled " What do you mean? What happens at your meetings? I thought you said the people you work with come to see you. What happens that you don't think I am ready for? They probably give you some files or calculations or reports or whatever you ask them to give you as your boss. Right?"

Francesco spoke " Darling. There are other things they have to hand over to me too. There maybe some people that I may need to put on trial and give them verdicts on the spot such as elimination. For instance one of my business partners caught an employee stealing from my company. They bring them over to my mansion and I would ask them to report to me. So I am not going to give anyone who steals from me a promotion. Am I? In fact I will give them a demotion to a grave."

Adele covered her mouth with her hand from the shock. She didn't know what to say. She shook her head and then looked away.

Francesco frowned " I am sorry but you asked me if you can come to my meetings. I gave you the answer. But I am not saying this is all that would happen in my meetings. I could also promote some of my men. Some may even take positions of the ones I demote so things can look bright for some too. But I don't just promote and demote people either. It could be initiation day for a new member working for me too. One of my men may have a son, nephew, cousin or a friend who has just turned eighteen. They may want to introduce them to join my business. I may give the new recruit an assignment on the spot to test to see if they are up to working for me. So, I don't just kill people for the whole duration of the meeting. So don't look so horrified and stop looking away from me sweetheart. Its not going to be that bad."

Adele put her hand down and slowly looked back at Francesco. She spoke carefully " Francesco .... Why do you speak so casually about .... Killing people? I can't believe you. The thought of you shooting someone dead makes me cringe. Please Francesco ... don't kill people. You are successful in business. Why do you have to take lives?" As Adele said this, tears escaped her eyes that made her look away. She couldn't help herself. She started sobbing.

Francesco embraced Adele and spoke " Sweetheart. Stop crying. Let me tell you. I don't always shoot people when I kill them. There are other ways to kill as well. There are ways much more painful to kill a man than just shooting them. Trust me. Now stop. I don't like to see you cry my angel. This is supposed to be our time together. We are on our way to our date. Don't spoil this date for us. I may get angry if you don't stop crying. And believe me sweetheart, you wouldn't want to see me angry with you."

Adele's sobs died down and she spoke while taking deep breaths " Why do you have to kill? Why can't you be like normal people on the street making a living without taking lives?"

Francesco sighed " We have been over this. This is my life. This is who I am. You just have to accept it. You just have to look the other way sweetheart when you see me commit murder. This is normal life for me."

Adele looked at Francesco pleadingly "Don't .... kill people. Please."

Francesco spoke firmly "That is enough sweetheart. I told you never to plead to me. You must have forgotten my rules. Pleading never works with me. It makes me want to do much worse. So anyone who crosses me today may have a more painful death than what they deserve since you are putting me in a very bad mood by forgetting one of my key rules. Don't ever forget sweetheart that only my enemies are allowed to plead to me and that wont be for sparing their lives of course. It would be to convince me to give them a painless death. Now. I want you to stop crying and try to enjoy our day together."

Adele tried to think back to her happy memories before Francesco took her away from her life in Oklahoma. She thought of her time with Michael and thought back to how gentle and kind he was towards her when he took her on dates. Her good memories calmed her down slowly. She sighed. What was she going to do with Francesco? She cared about him. She wanted to help him change but she was giving up hope already. She thought back to Costanzo's words "Don't give up on him Adele...... Promise me." She doubted she could keep her promise now. Francesco could be beyond saving for all she knew.

To Adele's surprise the car stopped somewhere she didn't expect. The place Francesco had brought them, didn't look like any place they could be having a date together. The car had stopped at the gate of a compound surrounded by walls with wires on top of them. When Adele looked at the surroundings she noticed they were at top of a hill in quite a remote area of town but she could see the buildings from far in sight. The gate opened for them and the car entered.

Adele turned to Francesco "Where is this place?"

Francesco spoke "This is one of my headquarters where I hold some of my warehouses and storage of goods. I use it for different reasons. I have a house here too but don't use it much. Antonio sometimes holds parties here."

As Francesco got off the car and held the door open for Adele, she asked "But where is the house, all I see are warehouses and large buildings that don't resemble any house or residence."

Francesco sighed "The house is a bit further down beyond the gardens. It has its own gate and security. Its like a separate compound." He then held Adele's hand as she got off the car "This way sweetheart. Follow me."

Francesco lead Adele to one of the warehouse buildings and opened the door. Adele didn't like the place at all. About hundreds of men in black suites were scattered around them and all were looking down. They seemed to be people working at the warehouse but they had stopped to show respect to their boss.

As they entered, Adele gasped "Is this an ice skating rink? Seriously? Wow. Its huge. It is about two third of this massive warehouse. Woah. I have never seen an ice rink so big in my life."

Francesco closed the door behind them and walked to Adele and spoke with slight irritation in his voice "I was going to take you to the city centre's ice rink but I heard today from one of my men that it was closed today for some reason. I don't know, he said some movie producers had closed the place down to film their movie. So I had to change my plans. I hope you don't mind skating indoors sweetheart. We can go to that open air ice rink later." He then walked to a cupboard and took out a few pairs of skates and laid them out in front of Adele. He then sat down and started wearing a pair of skates. he then looked up "Go on then sweetheart. Wear a pair of skates and lets go."

Adele sat down and started wearing her skates. "But did you make this ice rink today here just for this date?"

Francesco laughed "Of course not sweetheart. One of my clients in importing Caviar and some other products from Russia has a son who attends a boarding school here down this hill. He built this ice rink for him so he can practice from time to time here. My client wants his son to be an ice skating champion one day but I doubt he wants to do this. When he comes here to practice, he just keeps bugging my men to teach him shooting targets and self defense. They keep telling him no. But he is a real bugger and chases my men until they say yes. He enjoys my line of work more than this ice skating nonsense that his father wants him to learn. I hope when we have sons, they love my work as much as this kid does."

Adele bit her lip and asked "But how can you want this life for any one? Living surrounded by guards and witnessing violence cant be the ideal life. What's wrong with legal work?"

Francesco narrowed his eyes "Sweetheart. Don't start. There is nothing wrong with my life. Power and money are all that can protect a family. My sons would follow my business and retain my power to ensure nothing ever happens to those they love. This is my world Adele. Either look away or embrace it." He then stood up and offered his hand to Adele to take "Time to skate sweetheart."

Adele sighed in frustration. Francesco just stopped any conversation at any point that suited him. It was draining her energy to even talk to him now. So she silently took his hand and followed him to the ice rink.

Adele was surprised at how much she enjoyed skating with Francesco. He knew what he was doing. He would lift her up at times without warning and threw her into the air and made her laugh as he caught her safely in his arms. At one point Adele fell off when Francesco startled her and she ended up falling face down but Francesco laid down beneath her making her land on top of him.

Adele gasped "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

Francesco shook his head "No sweetheart. I am fine. But I wouldn't mind if you give me a mouth to mouth and CPR."

Adele hit his chest and was about to get up but Francesco swapped their places around and was now covering her body with his but resting his weight on his hands. he leaned over closer "You fell on me sweetheart. At least make it up to me with a kiss."

Adele sighed "I don't think so. You startled me and made me fall off. No kisses for you."

Francesco smirked and started planting kisses down Adele's neck and then moving up to her cheeks. He whispered "One kiss Adele. Just one."

Adele smiled weakly "Fine." She then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer and kissed him on the lips. Francesco deepened the kiss and moved his lips on hers gently. This kiss was the most gentle kiss they had since Adele had arrived. There was some part of the old Francesco behind this kiss. One that was abit more compassionate towards her. The one with eyes that had some emotion in them. The change in Francesco's eyes bothered Adele the most. She trembled as she thought of how cold he had become and stopped kissing Francesco.

Francesco pulled away and spoke "Why did you stop?"

Adele spoke "I .... think its a bit too cold here. Don't you."

Francesco's eyes widened "I am sorry sweetheart. I will make sure to warm you up now." He stood up and held Adele's hand and pulled her up "I am sorry you are feeling cold. I will take you somewhere warm now. We did enough skating for a day. We can always skate outdoors later when the one in town reopens. Now change your shoes quick. I don't want you to catch a cold."

Francesco changed his shoes quickly and paced the floor waiting for Adele "I cant believe how small and fragile you are sweetheart. I was afraid, you wouldn't come back down when I threw you in the air."

Adele wore her shoes and stood up "I am not a balloon. I wont fly away."

Francesco smiled "I know sweetheart. You are my beautiful angel. lets go." He then held Adele's hand and Adele followed him. He took her to a cabin close by and turned on the fire place for her "Warm yourself up sweetheart. Our lunch awaits us back at the mansion."

Adele stood in front of the fire while Francesco was pouring himself a glass of vodka. Adele turned to Francesco "I have been wondering since you have so many people who work for you, then how come I don't see any maids and servants around your house. I am sure you must have a chef but you surely must have maids too since keeping everything in order your house has to involve more people."

Francesco drank his vodka in one go, put down the glass and turned to Adele and shrugged "I do have maids and servants but I don't ask them to come to my room or do anything for me very often. You will bump into them around the house soon surely if you go around more often."

Adele spoke "But how come?"

Francesco sighed "Because .... I want everything to be perfect and the maids and servants sometimes don't get it right. They may bring me tea and coffee or tidy up my room some times but that's pretty much it. I like things to go my way or I get angry. Especially since I have brought you to me, I want everything to be how I want it. If they bring a plate that's not to my liking or they bring flowers that are not of the right colour for you, then I would be pretty annoyed. You deserve only the best sweetheart. I want everything to be perfect for you." He then walked to Adele and stood behind her. He spoke " Is there anything that you think is not to your liking in our room sweetheart? If there is just tell me. I will fix it for you."

Adele shook her head "I cant name anything ....... that you can fix. Not yet. Maybe not ever."

Francesco spoke "What do you mean sweetheart. Are you not comfortable at the mansion. Anything you need me to get you to make you more comfortable there, just name it."

Adele spoke "I cant name it since it makes you angry."

Francesco sighed "Sweetheart. You can name anything as long as it doesn't interfere with my business and what I do for a living. Our personal life is separate. Just tell me if there is anything that's bothering you or anything you need ....."

There was a nock on the door and Antonio's voice from behind the door interrupted them "Its me Antonio. I am sorry to disturb you boss but this is urgent."

Francesco walked to the door and unlocked it "Come in and speak."

Antonio entered and looked at Adele "Hi Adele. How are you doing?"

Francesco closed the door and turned to Antonio "She was doing fine until you showed up interrupting our time together. I told you I am busy today. What do you want?"

Antonio spoke "I apologise but it cant wait. My men have found the assassin who killed the head of the Canavaro mob. He was found drinking in a bar down the road where I was ..... hanging out with some lady friends. So I thought I bring him here so we can question him and get some other names out of him and hunt them down one by one so they cant strike again."

Francesco spoke roughly "Where is he now?"

Antonio spoke "He is outside watched by my men. We also have caught the friend of his he was drinking with. He confessed that the other guy helped him too but he didn't fire the shots. The other guy is the silent type. he is sure we will kill him so he hasn't said much."

Francesco laughed "And the guy who talks? What about him? What does he know about Rosarios? How come he talks?"

Antonio spoke nervously "I think he knows your ..... reputation. He knows anyone who crosses you could end up having a painful death or a painless one. He begged me to just shoot him in the head once he told me everything I could beat out of him. He also begged me not to get you but tough luck for him, you are my boss. He had recognised Costanzo who was also with me at the bar. He was crying like mad when he saw your brother giving him hard looks. I wonder what he does when he sees you."

Francesco spoke "Wait..... Did you also say Costanzo was with you. So he was at the bar with you with your lady friends. That means he is starting to get over that woman, Elize. That's great news to hear. At least his brain is starting to work after falling for that woman so hard. I was so close to ordering her death yesterday. Keep him occupied Antonio and help him forget that witch." He then turned to Adele "Sweetheart. i wont be long. Just wait for me here. There is some food in the fridge if you need anything."

Francesco walked to the door and Antonio followed him silently and gave Adele a smile as he closed the door. Adele had a bad feeling in her stomach. She wanted to follow Francesco but she had heard the key in the lock. Francesco had locked her there this time. She kept looking around for the window. The room was windowless. She went next door and found a window and looked at the horrific sight in front of the cabin. She covered her mouth as she saw the bloodied figures of two men kneeling in front of Francesco and his men standing in a circle around them. One of the kneeling figures moved forward and kissed Francesco's shoe but Francesco kicked him in the jaw and cursed him.

Adele opened the window to hear more clearly what was happening. Francesco spoke "You think you can enter Rosario territory and get away with it. Were you or were you not after assassinating a Rosario too while you are in town."

The man was kneeling and crying "Please. No. We are not here to kill any Rosario. We were going to be paid double if we struck down Georgio too. We were going to ambush his car on the way to your mansion today."

Francesco spoke "How about Georgina? You killed her father. You have orders to kill her brother too. Are you after her too. Also tell me how did you know he was coming to my mansion today?"

The man kept sobbing "No. We have no orders to kill her. We have been asked to kill their father and then Georgio."

Francesco took out his gun and hit the man on the head making him fall to the floor. He walked to him and kicked him in the stomach. He spoke with venom "You didn't answer me. I also asked how did you know Georgio was coming to see me today?"

The man sobbed harder and harder "Please. I cant tell you any more. Have mercy. If I tell you why then they will kill my family."

Antonio spoke "If you don't tell us this information, we will kill your family. Your brother worked at that bar. I asked his name and address from the locals. So don't think you are saving them by keeping quiet."

The man lost all colour "No. I beg you not my brother. I will do anything. Please. Spare my family. His name is Rio. The guy who ordered us to do the hit. He works for the Canavaros. he called all the shots. Please. That's how I know where Georgio is going today. Rio knows everything."

Francesco laughed "I see. That's how he doesn't want Georgina hurt. Rio is her ex-fiance and of course Georgio's second in charge." He then without warning held his gun up and shot the man in the head making Adele scream. Adele realised she had given herself away when Francesco glanced at her so she hid herself beneath the window since she didn't want to hold Francesco's stare.

She heard Francesco speaking outside the window ordering his men firmly "I think its better to deal with this assassin's accomplice who doesn't talk