"Where did you go?" Nico repeats his question and I stare at him startled.How long has he been there? Did he hear me talking to Andrei? He couldn't have right?"Uh... I stepped out for a bit" I managed to say, but my palms feel sweaty.Why am I sweating suddenly? I look like I'm guilty of something when in reality I'm not.Nico stares at me in silence for a while, and I rub my neck, chuckling nervously.He must really think I'm lying now."Go get ready. We are going out, remember?" He tells me, picking up his phone and scrolling through it.Does he suspect me though? If he suspects something, I'm not sure.Slowly, I walk to the wardrobe, keeping my eyes on him."Why are you doing that?" He asks not taking his eyes off his phone."Doing what?" I pause midway to the wardrobe, turning my body to face him, I must be acting really weird now.'Why are you walking that way? Like you're afraid I'd jump you or something." He finally takes his eyes off his phone to meet mine and my heart skip
My face reddens with the sudden twist of words and the proximity between our bodies.After doing what he did now, he's coming to tease me."Nico…" I try to push him off me but he holds my wrists, raising it and pinning it above my head.I stare up at him, breathing heavily. Why was I suddenly breathing this way??What's he even doing? I'm pissed at him he shouldn't even try to…He captures my lips with his destroying my train of thoughts and it's train station.I try to free my hands from his grip so I can touch him, but he holds them tighter, deepening the kiss.After a few moments of kissing, he pulls away then licks my lips with his tongue."Why did you do that?" I ask panting, trying to catch my breath after he stole it from me."I wanted to know what you taste like" He answers, licking his lips."So what do I taste like?" I ask staring at his lips."come il mio (like mine)" He answered in Italian, taking his head down to bite my neck giving me more pleasure than pain."See. I've
*Domenico Perez's POV*I was aware that my men were now watching us. And I had to be a good leader in this kind situation. But if I don't clap back I would look like a kitten in front of them all and I had to show them I am still the boss and you can't try to mess with what belongs to the boss."I'm sorry. I didn't quite hear you. Can you.. Can you repeat what you just said now" I say cleaning my ears with my finger to remove any invincible dirt that prevents me from hearing him say I don't deserve to be with Bella."You don't deserve Bella and you know it. You are selfish, sadistic and crazy. You torture people and you love it. You enjoy killing people and you think Bella deserves someone like that?" He asks. When he sees me battling with myself, he thinks he had me and continues."Bella deserves someone who understands her. Someone who would love her properly always putting her first. Not someone like you" He spits out the last sentence like I was a vile disgusting piece of dirt.B
"No, don't wear that one. Wear the bunny ears" I stomp my feet on the ground in annoyance when Nico holds up the dragon horn instead of bunny ears I wanted him to wear.How did we get here, you ask?Let me take you back to a few hours earlier.*Rewind to this morning*"Walk slowly. You might fall" Nico calls after me as I skip off to the car in his clothes.I've always wanted to wear my man's clothes out and now I can finally do it.Out of excitement, I increase my skipping pace, lucky that I didn't trip over something as I get to the car.I turn around to see Nico hurrying after me.Huh?"Why you walking so fast?" I ask cocking my head in confusion as I stare up at him."Why were you moving so fast? And in those clothes, you should be careful else you would fall and get yourself wounded" He scolds me flicking my forehead with his index and thumb.I wince in pain when his finger comes in contact with my head and he pulls me to him kissing my forehead where he hit."Was that too hard?
Nico stared at me quiet for a few moments."Did you hear what I just said?" I asked when he still doesn't say anything.Wasn't he worried I would stain his car or something?"Well… Yeah… I did" He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. I notice he did this whenever he is feeling awkward."Okay.. And why we not moving???" I ask and turn to look at the driver through the rear view mirror and he averts his eyes awkwardly "I don't.. Know where to get them" Nico coughs up still feeling awkwardly.Oh, for the love of everything that is meant to be loved.I look at the driver once again and he once again averts his gaze.What is wrong with this men? You don't know where to get tampons????"Let's go to a convenience store or a mini mart or something" I say with a sigh.Without hesitation, the driver revves the engine driving off.We get to a convenience store and I rush out of the car the moment the car stops."Wait" Nick calls after me and I stop. He walks to me with a hoodie in his hands.
Where are we going now?" I ask Nico when our driver keeps driving for a while."It's a surprise" He tells me, then turns to me."You know I should just tell you, just in case Andrei has taken you there before and you wouldn't have to act all surprised when you are not" He deadpans with an unamused face look on his face making me look away with guilt.It was just one time."There's a carnival somewhere in town. We are going there" He says and I look at him excited I have never been to a carnival before.I'm really excited this time. "You're not faking the excitement on your face?" Nick asks staring at me suspiciously and I shake my head. "I have never been to a carnival before" I tell him truthfully. Never went to one here in Italy and we never went to crowded places in America."You'd love it" The driver says and I smile at him through the rearview.Yeah I'm sure I would.Very soon we got to the carnival, and I couldn't stop bouncing my feet the whole time we were driving."Let's
sneak a peek at the girls and they were all glaring at me. I giggled to myself in glee.Hehe. That would show you. Why don't I just…."Babe, don't you think your clothes are too big for me to wear?" I say loud enough for the girls to hear me."That's his clothes she is wearing?" One of them asked and Nico knowing what i was trying to do, smirked at me."You shouldn't play the game you are playing" He tells me with a dangerous look in his face and I gulp.Maybe I should have thought of Nico first before I decided to do what I was about doing."Let's walk around. I want to walk around" I stand up hurriedly from where I was sitting running away, his deep laughter following me as I run.Coward, I know.After walking for a while, I stopped and turned around not seeing Nico.Huh?I turn around searching for him in different directions but I don't see him, all I see are unfamiliar faces around. Where did he go?My shoulder is grabbed from begin and I gasp, spinning around fast."What in th
Nico's POV."I love you" I stare at her as she confesses to me in the sunset. My heart beat quickening with each passing second as she stares at me.She loves…. Me?"You're not saying anything" She says when she notices that I remain quiet. Tears threatening to spill any moment.But what can I say? When last did someone tell me that? I have forgotten how it feels like to love or be loved. And yet, she loves me. Do I love her though?"I…" I look back at her to see that she had fallen asleep already. The light sun rays illuminating her face. Whether I love her or not isn't the question. Question is do I deserve to love her? Or to be loved by her. What rights do I, who have ruined so many lives, have to be loved by someone so perfect. Thankfully she is drunk and hopefully she won't remember saying this by the morning.But who gets drunk on little amount of alcohol?I look at her once more when she starts snoring, chuckling lightly to myself.My little light weight.That's right. She is
*Warning. This chapter contains a little bit of smut.**Isabella Russo's POV*I was walking down to class when someone yelled my name from behind."Hey Bella! Wait." Pretending like I didn't hear the person, I increased my pace, hoping to avoid whoever didn't want to leave me alone."Bella. Stop" He placed his hands on my shoulder and unfortunately I couldn't fake being deaf or unable to feel his hands on me so I stopped and turned."Hey Charlie. What's up" I say with fake euthusiasm. Charlie is one of my classmates, who apparently likes me since first year. But I've been avoiding him my whole time since then because why not?Everyone expected us to date because apparently the 'queen' and 'king' has to be together. But no thanks. Don't even know why they tagged me as that."What do you want Charlie?" I ask again when I notice he has been staring at me without saying anything. My cheek hurting because of the fake smile I had on for too long. He shakes his head snapping out of whatever
I stared at the car which stopped a few distance away from my house, it stayed there for a while, before it drove off once again.It's been a few weeks since I started seeing that car around me, at first I thought it was a coincidence, maybe a student with a car staying around. But it has been showing up everywhere and anywhere I go. Maybe it was Andrei asking someone to keep an eye on me, but for some reason I wasn't bothered and wasn't about to panic.I opened the door, walking into my house and shutting it behind me, making sure it was locked.It's been two years since I left Italy, two years without Nico and two years since I started all over in a place no one knew me.Andrea decided to go to fashion school at the last minute so we were separated, not that I minded.It was nice to be in a place without anyone staring at you with pity at every minute, waiting for you to break down so they could wrap their arms around you and tell you everything was going to be alright.It was sicke
*Isabella Russo's POV*Prom day went by fast, which I obviously missed and finally it was graduation day, the day everyone has been waiting for to come. Everyone except me of course, I just wanted to be over and done with all these. I sat on my own waiting for Andrea to arrive. She was the only one I could lean on today.I was wearing my graduation gown over a plain shirt and baggy jeans.Andrea talked about it all she could, but I didn't care that it was "D graduation", I want it done.l s I could start a new beginning.I didn't bother telling Andrei it was today because he would be busy and things like this didn't interest him, I don't want to bother him. But it didn't matter along as I was finally leaving this place. "Why are you looking so lost? You should be happy that finally we are leaving this school" Andrea said, sitting beside me and snapping me out of my daze. She held m e tightly, gluing her sweaty body to mine and I wondered what she did to be that sweaty."You do know tha
Isabella Russo's POVThings were becoming a bit better and Andrea always stayed with me and made me forget the pains I suffered earlier. School was going well and my finals were coming up soon. The days of my high school was coming to an end. And I could remember vividly when Nico promised to attend my graduation. What a jerk, I had come to accept his death and live a free life but doubted loving again."Bella, can I see you for sec," the principal requested as I was crossing the hallway with Andrea. "Thank you for your audience, I was wondering if you would like to be the valedictorian of the year. It's like I'm imposing it on you. But you have the highest grades so far and I don't know if..." She starts, staring at me and hoping I would accept. S"I will take it, the speech, I will say it. After all I earned it for myself. It would also be a great start for me in college," I smiled easing her tension. Everyone in school knew about my tragic story. They were avoiding me mostly and
Isabella Russo's POVThe funeral took place at the Perez's burial ground. As usual, everyone wore black and stood in line waiting for me to place the last flower on his coffin and say my final wordsNot that I was ready to say my final words to him, I wasn't ready to let him go.I was not allowed to cry because it would be a sign of a bad omen. In the mafia, Don's were to be respected till the very end. Crying would only mean that he was weak and didn't live a good life. I held my tears back and stood in front of Nico's coffin. Inside, his face was covered I couldn't even see his face for the last time. This was the part where I hated the mafia tradition. I couldn't see his face as I said my goodbye. And Andrei safi wasn't even allowed to say my farewell here to me. The mafia rules are against such. I really felt pathetic doing this, my tears were pending and the mourning crowd was waiting for my words."You have to speak Bella, the time is ticking," Andrei stepped to my side prompti
Isabella Russo's POVI froze in shock when Andrei dropped the bomb on me. "He lost a lot of blood and before we could save him...""You are lying to me. That's an on obvious lie Andrei. Please tell me you are joking. It's impossible, Nico can't leave me here alone," I held his shirt tight hoping that he would tell me that it was all a joke. But he didn't, instead he held me in his arms and let me cry on his chest.I got angry when I wasn't let to see his body. I wanted to confirm his death and and actually believe that Nico left me but Andrei didn't let me. He carried me away from the hospital and drove me back home.For two weeks, I refused to eat or talk to anyone. I couldn't believe that Nico was no longer with me. And the longer I waited, the more I felt his absence.He was gone for good and I couldn't get myself to accept it. I was fully healed and able to move on my own thanks to my consistency intake of the medicine. Andrei handled most of the activities in the mafia while I tr
*Isabella Russo's POV*My entire body went rigid with fear when I saw the bomb tied around my waist. It was ticking fast and had two minutes left before it went off."I don't want to die Nico." I cried holding him tightly. The bomb started to count after nico had shot his father dead. That is to say that he was the trigger."Don't worry, I will not let anything happen to you," Nico comforted as he looked at the bomb thinking of how to diffuse it."I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. If I had grown stronger or listened back then, none of this would have happened. I'm so pathetic for causing you all this trouble. Maybe if I hadn't left your office then I wouldn't have been taken." I muttered forgetting the pain I felt on my cheeks. "Don't say that, I'm the one who should have protected you. I let my guard down after I had promised to never let anything hurt you. You don't know how worried I was when I couldn't find you. And seeing you brusied and bloodied, makes me want to beat myself.
*Domenico Perez's POV*I marched down to the inn, completely blinded by rage. Martins was standing at the entrance of the inn, the same way he was the night before when we got here."I heard the explosion and I see you here. It seems she took you there earlier than she was supposed to" He tsked and I look at Angelina who was standing behind him, she lowered her head, unable to meet my eyes."You knew about it all these while" I say and he didn't bother denying it."Yes I did. I had a job to do. Kill the men coming to my village. And I had to perform this job." He says and I once again look at Angelina." Oh no, don't look at her that way. It wasn't her fault really. The girl just has a kind heart and wanted to help you even if it meant going against her father. I was just expecting her to hesitate a bit before she decided to disobey her father" He says and I see the tight grip he has on her wrist."So you were working for Andrew. You lied and said you were not working for him" Andrei
*Domenico Perez's POV*We had searched the whole village, searched every corner, every building and yet we couldn't find her. Angelina and Martins had watched us leave the inn, and the stare they gave us while we were leaving made it seem as if they knew were she was."They would know" Andrie said and I looked at him.We were currently parked at the back of the inn. "What?" I ask him. "The father and daughter would know where she is" Andrei says and I know that. "Would they be able to speak though? Tell us where they kept her? Do we have to torture them to get them to tell us? Andrei, each passing second that Bella stays with Andrew has my mind racing on what he is doing to her and all he can do to her. He would break her to the point of no repair. And I don't want that to happen." I say breaking down and he just listens, he doesn't have to say anything or do anything. He just listened.We has searched everywhere we could think of and I was getting frustrated and really angry. Wher