AryanaUgh! I didn’t know what was going on with me. I was conflicted about my emotions concerning Alexander. I knew the situation wasn’t technically his fault. It wasn’t as if he liked being here too, but it didn’t stop me from resenting the situation. How could he expect me to quickly get over how my life had to be put on hold because I was carrying his child?And not only that, but his enemies also targeted me!I was just a twenty-five-year-old woman who was supposed to be in the middle of getting her life sorted. I had planned to get my master’s degree in Psychology, find a job, find a man, get married, and have children. Text-perfect life. Instead, I had been careless and, in that moment of carelessness, had ended up getting pregnant for a member of the mafia, the heir at that, and being dragged into a war where I was being targeted because I was carrying his child.Surely, it wasn’t just me.“Ugh!” I groaned out loud.I was currently in my room. It had been two days since I turn
The howling of the wind brought my eyes open. Where was I? Focusing in the dark of night, confusion washed over me as I realized I was in the middle of a deserted street. Well, vacant was an understatement. I wasn’t alone, but I was the only one alive. There were bodies littered all over the concrete ground.I stared in horror. The surroundings were stained with blood. The smell became obvious, and I felt the need to vomit. The motion was put away and forgotten instantly when the shuffling of feet rustled behind me. Panic. I turned around in a blur, my eyes huge and watery. My stomach stirred in the slightest.The need to move overtook me, and I felt a sharp ache, my body trying to fight against change. Was I lost? My heart began pounding fast in my chest, the blood pumping through my veins. I took shaky steps in a random direction, not knowing where I was going. I tried my best not to look at the corpses on the ground or think about the squelching sounds my sneakers made when steppin
AlexanderEver since what took place in the kitchen two days ago, I rarely saw Aryana. It seemed as if she was avoiding me, but the truth was that I was also avoiding her. The atmosphere was tense and awkward, and I wasn't interested in trying to bridge the distance between us. I had already tried that and had been rejected. I wasn't interested in being left once again. I had already extended an olive branch. It was up to her whether she wanted to accept it or not. What I knew was that I wouldn't make the first move again. Call it pride. I did not care.For the past two days, I had either been in the library or my room, only going to the kitchen to fix something for myself and Aryana because, despite the tension between us, I wouldn't allow the mother of my child to starve. Judging by how I never saw her portion when I checked the fridge, I could see that she ate it each time. I could not say I was happy she was eating my food and not throwing it away, but I felt satisfied.Despite he
I watched Aryana try her best to follow my chest movements, trying to get into the same rhythm she felt underneath her palm. However, the air still seemed to be made of water, invading her throat and lungs because she ended up coughing violently as she attempted to slow her panicked breaths, choking on every strangled gasp.I shifted to a more comfortable position to better guide Aryana through her panic attack. Still, I moved my hand from where it had rested on her cheek. It seemed that had been the wrong thing to do because it made her panic even more. Her hand almost clawed where it was latched onto the fabric of my clothes over my chest. Her other hand wildly lunged forward, searching for a contact, and her fingers grabbed my arm that had been supporting her."No, no, no," I murmured, returning my hand almost immediately to her face with my thumb tracing circles into her tear-stained skin. "It's okay, and I’m here. You're doing so well, mio tesoro." I reassured her, never stopping
AryanaI stared in the direction Alexander left in with a complex gaze, his retreating figure already gone from my view. What just happened? Why did he suddenly become cold? I sighed and slumped in my seat, rubbing my face. What the fuck was wrong with me? Why did I feel a surge of sadness when he said that? My mind wandered back to when he helped me through my panic attack. He had been so caring and loving, even going as far as calling me his treasure.Treasure.Tesoro.I groaned out loud, not even caring if I was heard. Alexander called me his treasure! What the actual fuck? He treated me lovingly and with so much care back then, which warmed and fuzzy my insides. It felt like he cared about me, but a part of me couldn't help but wonder if it was me he cared about or our child. My guts had soured at that, which further baffled me. Why did I care? What did it matter if he didn't care about me? Of course, he would naturally care for his son. But why did I feel bitter then?I was confu
I responded and watched as Alexander walked to the small vintage table against the wall to the side of the foyer. He opened the drawers, and I had to prevent my mouth from dropping to the ground at the sheer amount of money lying there. I couldn't believe that I had passed by this table so many times and never knew that such an amount of money had been lying under my nose all this time.Why was there so much cash? Didn't the mafia rely on online transactions? Seeing this much money was a dream as someone who had to work shifts between classes to pay my school fees. If only I'd had this money back then, I wouldn't have had to run myself so ragged.Alexander picked out a wad of cash and handed it over to Tony. I didn't understand what was happening or why he was giving Tony money, but I kept quiet until Tony left the house."Alessandro?" I called out, making Alexander stop in his tracks."It is the Italian version of my name." He responded.Oh. That made sense, considering they sounded
AlexanderDid Aryana think this was a joke? Yes, staying here was exhausting and boring, with nothing else to do but eat, sleep, read a book, or watch television. Still, she needed to understand the gravity of the situation. It wasn't as if we would stay indoors throughout her pregnancy, but we couldn't be out and about so soon after the Saconnes had been targeting us. We needed to wait a few months before moving back could be considered safe.Despite how frustrated I was with Aryana, a small kindle of fire had bet in my stomach when I saw how fired up Aryana had been. Her narrowed eyes glaring at me with a passionate intensity, coupled with how her brown hair framed her face, made my body boil. I couldn't even control it. It was why I had to leave the foyer lest I did something I would regret.I wanted to pull her towards me, claiming her lips for myself and giving her another exercise to do with her mouth asides from complaining. I needed to stay focused and remind myself not to get
AryanaSomething flickered between both of us.Without thinking twice, Alexander attacked my lips, meeting in a smoldering union. Fast and hard. He took charge of the kiss as he cradled my head between his big hands and sucked on my upper lip. He lightly chewed on my bottom lip while my hands worked efficiently to tug his shirt out of his jeans.We both touched each other insanely. My skin flamed up when his hands snuck up my torso and underneath my bra, grazing my nipples.My knees went weak.We kissed non-stop, yanking each other closer, trying to become one with our physical bodies. My hands brushed against his skin, thirsty for more skin contact and touches. My hands roamed greedily over his shoulders. His pecs. His abs. I unbuttoned his shirt, ripping it off his body, not caring how it landed.Alexander was busy exploring and diving his tongue into my mouth. My eyes rolled back at the invasion. Our tongues clashed, teeth clacking, and I tilted my head to barge my tongue into his
AlexanderA year have passed since the end of the war between my family and the Saconne family. Everyone was at peace. The Romano family was prospering with the added territory of the Saconnes we had divided amongst the other three great families.We were in good times now. Aryana had given birth to our son and he was adorable. He had my gray eyes, which I had also gotten from my father and Aryana’s golden-brown hair. I can still remember the day she went into labor. I had been so afraid and uncertain of what to do. Give me a gun or a knife, and I could kill anyone you wanted to, but give me a pregnant Aryana who was in labor? I was lost.I could still remember the emotions that threatened to overflow when an exhausted but overjoyed Aryana placed our son in my arms for the first time. Despite how wrinkly skin, he was beautiful.After recuperating, Aryana completed her master’s degree in Psychology. It had been a little bit difficult to see her stress over completing projects before de
“I was unconscious for two weeks?” Alexander was astonished, but I ignored his question because I just needed to tell him about my feelings in case this was all temporary.“And seeing how you would never wake up, I was lonely and scared, and I thought about all the times we had spent together, and I realized that I had fallen in love with you, but I didn’t know why I couldn’t say it, and then I regretted it and-,”Dry lips blocked the rest of my words from coming out. I didn’t hesitate to kiss back. It was amazing! I didn’t care that his lips were parched or that he hadn’t brushed his teeth in two weeks. I only watched him kissing me back, something he could do because he was awake!We slowly drifted apart.“Hi,” I whispered, afraid I would start rambling again.“Hi.” He said back to me. We stared deeply at each other, cataloging our features as if afraid we would forget with time.“I missed you.”“I missed you too.”I smiled widely, the first smile I had given in two weeks, and leane
AryanaTwo weeks.Two weeks had passed since Tony and Marcelo returned with an unconscious Alexander, covered in his blood. It’s been two weeks since Alexander promised me everything would be all right, since he promised he would come back. Technically, he didn’t lie. He did come back. Just not the way I had expected. It’s been two weeks since I last heard his voice, Since Alexander was last conscious.I missed him. I missed his voice. I missed his smiles and his grins. I missed seeing his gray eyes. I forgot how warm his embrace was. I missed the feeling of his lips on my body. I missed everything.To think that his last words to me had been to reassure and comfort me, and I couldn’t even tell him that I loved him. That was right. In watching over his prone body for the past two weeks, I came to the realization that I did, in fact, love Alexander. I couldn’t believe it had taken him falling into a coma for me to realize my feelings.How had I been so blind? Why had I continued to dou
Having found out the truth, there was no point in delaying matters. The only reason why Tom had been so successful in beating us down was because of Alfonso. Without Alfonso, what power did Tom have? Tom was already in a tight corner, and seeing how desperate he was to have sent Alfonso to kidnap Aryana, I could sense the end of this pointless war coming to a head.“I should kill you for your betrayal and send you on your way to meet my father, where you will spend your afterlife begging him for forgiveness, but I won’t. Not yet. What you’re going to do now is, you are going to tell Tom that you have Aryana, and he should meet you where we tell you to say. Do you understand?”The resignation was written all over Alfonso’s face. He knew he was done for. He had sealed his fate the day he decided to betray my family.“Are you sure it’ll be fine?” Aryana pulled me aside and asked. “What if he-”“Nothing will happen, I promise you.” I comforted her. “This will be the end, and we’ll finally
AlexanderWhy? I couldn’t believe it. I almost hadn’t wanted to believe it when Felice had taunted the knowledge in my face while kneeling on my feet moments before his death. Seeing my enemy at my feet greatly irritated me, laughing like a mad person instead of cowering and begging like I had wanted him to.Nonetheless, the information struck me like a bolt of lightning. A traitor in our midst had supplied the Saconnes with information about our trade routes so they would know where to hit. The traitor was also responsible for reporting my father’s location. Because of him, my father died. I was filled with rage. We had welcomed that traitor into our midst and had treated him like our family, and he repaid us like this?What pained me the most was who the most likely suspect could be. Marcelo and Tony had discussed this when I told them. We went over different possibilities and clues we could have missed.For the traitor to be reporting my father’s whereabouts meant he was high up in
My eyes widened in surprise.Elio Saconne was one of the brothers of Tom Saconne, the Don of the Saconne family. Marcelo had explained a little about the dynamics of the mafia families. Tom Saconne was the oldest of three brothers. After him were his two younger brothers, Elio and Felice Saconne. Despite how impulsive Tom appeared, it was a known fact that he doted on his brothers though I had doubts on whether he actually doted on them or if it was simply that he let them do whatever they wanted, precisely because he didn’t care about them.Alexander killing Elio meant a ray of sunshine for the Romano family as the war finally turned in their favor. It also told that Alexander was proving himself to his family members. Killing Elio was equivalent to cutting off a limb of the Saconnes. It was good news. I allowed myself to drag my eyes over Alexander and observe his features, spotting no happiness or pride in his feat. It had been quite a long time since I last saw him.I barely see A
AryanaWatching how the men under the Romano family cheered for Alexander settled the unease that had appeared ever since Marcelo told me what was happening. I was aware that this didn’t mean that they had forgiven Alexander. It meant that they would give him a chance to prove himself. I wondered if we hadn’t slept together or if I had allowed him to go back to grab a condom from his car back then, would this have happened? There would have been no need for Alexander to go into hiding. He would have stayed here with his family. His father probably wouldn’t have died, and these men wouldn’t have doubted Alexander’s loyalty to his family.I wished they wouldn’t be harsh on Alexander as it hadn’t been his fault. It wasn’t as if he had wanted to leave. He had argued with his father, but in the end, he’d had no choice but to obey his father’s orders. But I knew that wasn’t how the mafia operated.I watched in curiosity as they went on to perform the ceremony that would mark Alexander as th
“How are your injuries? I heard they’re better.” I changed the topic. I didn’t want to immerse myself in my longing for my father.“It’s getting better. You need not worry.” He patted my shoulder.“I know you need time to think about handling what will happen in a few minutes. I’m sure Tony told you about the displeasure of our men.”My eyebrows slightly furrowed at the words ‘our men,’ but he continued speaking before I could contemplate it. I decided that it must have been a blunder. After all, he was an old family member who served on my father’s side. It must have been a blunder.“I only came to tell you that I am here. I watched you grow from a baby to the man you are. You have my support.”I smiled, thankful for his support. He again gripped my shoulder, momentarily tightening his hold on me before letting go with another smile, exiting the study, and leaving me back to my thoughts.I let my mind wander as the time the men under the Romano banner would arrive slowly grew closer.
AlexanderReturning to Manhattan filled me with so many emotions. Memories of my father slammed strain me with so much force that I stopped in my tracks, earning glances from Tony, Marcello, and Aryana. I waved their concern away and stepped into the building that once housed my father, and meters in arms had arrived this morning to drive Aryana and me back to Manhattan. The ride back had been tense and quiet. The atmosphere between Aryana and me was strained. Since I told her I loved her last night and she didn’t reply, we didn’t know how to act in each other's presence. Even though I said she didn’t need to say it back, it didn’t mean I hadn’t been hurt. I couldn’t understand why she couldn’t say it back.Didn’t she love me? Had I read her emotions wrong? It was clear that she had feelings for me. Was it that her feelings for me were not as deep as mine, or was it too early for her? I scoffed bitterly to myself. It didn’t matter what. I couldn’t force her to return her feelings for