His Fire & Her Ice

23-Year-Old Isabella: A few weeks before her 24th birthday4 years have gone by so fast.College wasn't as fun and relaxing as I thought it was going to be. I still have flashbacks about waking up and being taken to the hospital by a very regretful and tearful Jodi, but she is still my best friend, and I never blamed her for any of the trauma I went through.Everything on top of the trauma just added to the stress. Constant preps for exams, the idea of becoming something other than a simple student or a nobody in a world where you are expected to have travelled earth just for a part-time sales assistant, the pressure it puts on newly grads, and these ideas I wanted to have to create a life for me and my mom always get thrown to the forefront of my mind because I don't want her working for so long. I want her to retire and enjoy her life.I owe her everything; she raised me and stood by me when things became that difficult at college; she watched me burn myself out, held my hand when I

"Isabella, sweetheart, she's gone"Hearing Miranda say this was Ice water as my wake-up call every morning, I replay those words Miranda whispered to me that afternoon. They seem to be the only words I have stuck in my head as I watched my mother's chest finally slow down. Tears broke free and the guttural cry that left me broke me even more because it wasn't me.Evie was there and Miranda was there but I was so alone that I wouldn't have minded a simple out at that moment.But I couldn't leave my only living relatives behind because I simply couldn't cope. So instead of the fear I had about being alone or feeling exhausted by that feeling, I did the one thing I knew would work... I shut it out. I shut down and I left the living room once they took my mom."Izzy, please eat. You need to eat" Every single waking moment Evie would have a bottle of water for me and something snack-ish. I wasn't hungry but somehow I couldn't voice those words."Cody's here," she said so softly while putti

"Well, you're in my room and I wasn't expecting you I was expecting Evie" she says as if I'm supposed to care who she was supposed to be waiting for.Granted... if she had told me that she was waiting for a man to come to her room and she was wearing that then I'd probably have had an issue.No one knows I'm here except my trusted men, and Cody is protective over his sister, who is currently dating my cousin, Luca, and his cousin, who is currently standing with her hands on her hips, watching me like a hawk.I don't say anything; I simply shut the door and lean against the wall. My suit is still in pristine condition, and my basic need to let some relief out is washed away by all that I have learned about this woman today.She's mysterious and I don't mind a bit of mystery let alone something that comes with beauty and fire. She's just what I need in life."Are you just going to stand there or are you here for a reason?"I keep silent once again because I don't know what else to do. I

True to my word, I met up with Elena when I got home, and don't get me wrong, I love the girl. She's like my family. She and Evie are the sisters I never had and when I got home, she was already in my home, on my sofa, drinking my wine."Okay, so you're already here, and you're already halfway through my wine. What the hell has happened?" I ask her as I sit next to her and take the glass from her hands so I can have a drink."I don't even know. Dad asked me to meet him in his office and told me that Novikov had issued a truce with the Italians and as his second in command, he basically... He f*ck*ng sold me Izz... he told me""Novikov... that's... ""He's a giant arsehole. When my uncle does or wants something, he f*ck*ng gets it." she quips, as well as taking her wine glass from me once again."You've met him?""Of course I have. Alexei is the bratva. No one messes with him," she says, but I keep going back to my conversation with my mom just before she passed."My sweet girl. I have

After a brief pause and then walking away from me, she finally asked the question I waited to hear when I walked in—5 minutes ago."Why are you here?" She finally managed to grit out. I want to put him and everything in his life behind me and just move on to bigger things."You didn't pick up your phone.""It's broken," so I pick up my phone and dial her number, and how ironic... it doesn't even light up, but she put the phone down as soon as I got here."Hmm. Did you block my number?" I ask with a smile on my face. I know she must hate me right now, but she doesn't want to shout. I can see the purple bags under her eyes and the fact that she's lost weight in the 10 weeks that I haven't seen her."Yes. I blocked your number, you moron. And yes, I'd like for you to leave now," she says, but sways on her feet. I know she didn't drink much at the party, but has she been drinking on her own?I head into her kitchen to look for a glass, which I find on her draining board along with a sh*t