Giovanni
“I thought you had everything under control?” Emilio held his hard stare and authoritative tone, while I held my firm stance.
“I do.”
“Then what the hell is going on?” I could see the impatience and anger flicker in his eyes and I couldn’t blame him.
“Russo is up to something.”
“I know that,” Emilio stepped forward, his fists clenched by his sides. “You’re meant to find out what!”
“I will.” I answer after a minute, my mind temporarily drifting to Emiliana. It took a moment for Emilio to calm his fury, taking a seat behind his desk, he gestured to the seat in front of him.
“What do you kn
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Emiliana My happiness came second. Second to everything and everyone, even myself. I should have known it though. My father never really asked me as much as told me I was taking his place in the company. He was still holding the chess board that was my life, placing each piece into a well-thought out position. “Where is your place, Gio?” I asked accusingly, tilting my head and leaning forward with my arms hugging my knees. To say I felt vulnerable was an understatement. I felt out of control, helpless and painfully betrayed. My chest had locked tight, Giovanni’s deep gaze glistened with guilt. I remembered his words to me, that I would get hurt but somehow I didn’t blame him for this. That didn’t make it any easier.
Emiliana I stared down at the photographs in my hand. A warehouse, lined with shelves of fabric rolls was printed in front of me. Close up images of “Magnone’s” tags hung from the ends of them and bile began to rise as I tried to work out what was going on. “I don’t understand.” Daring to glance up at Giovanni, I found his gaze and attention distant. It was evident that something was troubling him and all I wanted to do was ease the burden. “Keep looking,” he muttered through a clenched jaw. My hands picked through the images, focusing one by one on the rolls of material. I searched each photograph intricately, I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I knew there was something amiss. My heart dropp
EmilianaOur lips crashed. Smashing hard. I had no time to react or question his motives. We were hungry after distancing ourselves for far too long. It was as if our lives depended on this one moment. The deepest parts of me internally screamed as our lips opened and closed against each other. His soft lips roughly assaulted mine, unrhythmically yet passionately. I couldn’t seem to catch my breath, I didn’t care. I would happily suffocate, allow him to steal every atom of oxygen from my lungs if it meant we could stay like this a little longer.Giovanni’s hands pulled me by my hair, closing every inch of distance between us, even when there wasn’t any left. It was as if we had been apart for years, and finally we had found each other and nothing else mattered.His tongue traced
Emiliana “You’ve just made my job ten times harder.” I chuckled at his words while a shiver ran down my back. Giovani tucked the hair behind my ear before moving me to his side and pulling me close. “But I would do that a thousand times over.” “Me too.” I mumbled, closing my eyes and resting my head against his chest. “Maybe not a thousand times though.” My face scrunched up at the thought of how sore that could be. “I’m sorry.” He muttered against my head, causing me to look up at him. “What for?” My eyebrows furrowed together. Never had I heard Giovanni apologise and it had me scared about his next words. “For how I’ve acted, with you.” E
Emiliana Giovanni froze. I froze. Time froze. His face contorted in shock as he realised his mistake. His entire body peeled away from me to expose his taut muscles and my eyes followed the soft curves. It was only a few seconds but those seconds were enough for me to see what he was attempting to hide from me. That tattoo. The black ink caught my eye before Giovanni could cover it with his shirt. I felt a wave of nausea reach the pit of my stomach before making its return journey to my mouth, instantly recognising what I saw. Shock threw me into a spin. I scrambled haphazardly for my towel, clinging it around my exposed body, sud
Giovanni She peered up at me with such defiance and deflation. She was crumbling and fighting, but she didn’t want it to show. I was in a turmoil of conflict myself. I had accomplished the exact thing I was trying so hard not to. I couldn’t blame her for pushing me away, for blocking me out. I had helped cause that heartache. There was so much betrayal and sadness in her eyes when she told me to leave her room. I knew it wasn’t what she wanted but she couldn’t even look at me or stand to be in the same room as me. “I’m done with your secrets and lies.” She looked away as she said those words. They were like daggers piercing every inch of my skin and bleeding me out. She was still hurting, and I would only be hurting her more if I told
Emiliana Everything I knew was a lie. Giovanni, Luciano, possibly my father. I felt sick as Giovanni finally shared what he was so intent on keeping from me. I should have felt relief, but instead, I only felt the bitterness of betrayal. I saw the hurt that contorted his features, but I didn’t care. He needed to know how it felt. It was a continuous cycle with us. Fight, make up, fight, make up. I was exhausted with the constant pattern, never ending and doomed to repeat forever. “Principessa, please don’t cry.” I hated him seeing me upset. My face tightened with anger as I fought my own emotions alone. I resisted all my urges not to fall into his arms, it took everything within me to remain standing strong, despite the tears that began to
Emiliana “The Castellano’s?” I gulped audibly. “But you said you left the Verdi’s.” “The Castellano’s were my family, the Verdi’s were a job.” His eyes met mine with a dark sparkle. “The Verdi’s were my ticket to finding my father, to eventually leave that life.” “Wait,” I shook my head, clearing my thoughts for a moment. Everything was jumbling up into a contorted puzzle. “So you left the Castellano’s to join the Verdi’s, to then leave?” “In short, yes.” “So your father worked for the Verdi’s?” I was beginning to piece the puzzle together, albeit slowly. “And Luciano?” “I don’t know,” he sighed. I could hear the hesitation in his voice
In one effortless swoop, Giovanni scooped me up in his arms, carrying me bridal style to the super king sized bed at the other side of the room. He lowered me to the floor, spinning me round to undo the laced back. His adept fingers made light work and in moments my wedding dress was nothing more than a pool of material at my feet. Giovanni stepped back, drinking in my figure, the way my corset squeezed at my waist and pushed my breasts up. Gazing over every inch of my creamy skin and my lacey underwear left little to his imagination. He licked his lips hungrily, green eyes landing on the white garter gripping at my thigh. Giovanni dropped to his knees, tugging the garter down with his teeth until it fell from my foot. “It’s going to be a long night
Emiliana I could have stayed like that for hours. Even if my eyes closed as I relaxed in Giovanni’s arms, there was nowhere else I wanted to be. I felt my body being lifted from the ground, but my eyes were too heavy to open. The gentle sway of my body lulled me further into my slumber and it wasn’t until I felt my body pressed into soft sheets that I eventually stirred. Giovanni slid in beside me, wrapping me in his arms and never letting go. His breath skated over my neck, soft puffs that caught in my hair. My cheek pressed against his warm bare chest and moved with each inhale and exhale. “I’m getting you home, Emiliana.” Giovanni’s gentle whispers lapped at my ears like a soothing melody, his hands combing through my hair like it was a
Giovanni The doors were weightless compared to the guilt that tore shreds from my chest. I could almost hear my heart breaking under the strain of what I was about to do. My palms were clammy as I turned to my grandfather, every part of me was in conflict. “Abuelo.” (Grandfather.) I cleared my throat. I had no speech prepared or memorised, this was all about to roll off my tongue, freefalling. “¿Qué necesitas?” (What do you need?) He sighed, resting his elbows on his desk. If he wasn’t family, I would have been intimidated by the way he glared at me, peering over his glasses like I was in trouble. “No es para mí,” (It’s not for me,) My voice mumbled, I shuffled my feet hesitantly. “Es para Emil
Emiliana “Are you hurt, Chiquita?” Vinnie crouched down in front of me, his eyes studying me carefully. I didn’t bother to conceal my emotions as the tears fell from my eyes. It was both shock and relief that washed over me like a waterfall, releasing into my tears. I shook my head and in one swift motion Vinnie had me in his arms, carrying me to the car on the other side of the road and placing me in it. Smoke billowed from the hood of the SUV now abandoned in the ditch, the smell of burning rubber permeated my senses and drowned out any other sensation. I fixated on that one smell, the deep charred stench that prevented me from drifting off into my thoughts. Vinnie’s large form paced over to where Giovanni was slumped against a tree, his
Emiliana Giovanni gripped the strangers head, pressing their foreheads together while smiling widely. I had never seen so much relief plaster his face before. “¿Cuánto tiempo ha pasado?” (How long has it been?) The stranger clutched Giovanni in a brotherly embrace. “Demasiado tiempo.” (Too long.) Giovanni answered, his voice muffled by the leather that pressed against his cheek. “You’ve caused quite a stir.” The man glanced at me before releasing Giovanni. They both took a step back, but they were now shaking hands and patting each other on the back. “This one causing trouble?” He nodded in my direction. Giovanni turned to me, now I had two sets of eyes staring me down.
“We need food.” I called as I searched through the empty cupboards on my tiptoes. There was nothing in them, bar from a few crusty packets of noodles and a take out menu. I knew Giovanni was still attempting to conceal his pain from me and maybe that’s why we hadn’t left the apartment in two days but it was almost ridiculous that Giovanni had described this as a safe place when there were no provisions supplied for our stay. I padded through to the bedroom, catching a glimpse of Giovanni zipping up a black duffel bag. My interest piqued, mostly because Giovanni was looking more shifty and less inconspicuous. “What’s that for?” My eyes investigated the outside of the suspicious looking bag before my hand reached for the zipper. Giovanni rested his hand on top, shaking his head. “Principessa,” he warned me with a raised brow.
Emiliana “Who are you?” I took a step back and Giovanni could probably sense my trepidation. The room fell silent as his jaw rolled side to side. “It’s a long story.” He huffed aloud, not attempting to hide the irritation in his voice. He rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit I had noticed about him. “Then shorten it.” Giovanni heaved another sigh and I could feel the tether of patience stretching to the point of snapping. I could see the muscles working overtime in his jaw as he thought over his words. “How many more secrets are you hiding from me?” I seethed through gritted teeth, that tether tore away from me like an elastic band. Snapping back into my face.
EmilianaThe gentle whirring of the ceiling fan that I had been so hypnotized to earlier, brought me back from the land of nod. Blinking back the sleep, I rolled over. The bed was empty and cold, and judging by the crisp sheets beside me I sensed Giovanni probably hadn’t even joined me.I peeled back the fluffy blanket that was draped over me and stepped onto the cool floor. I was surrounded by safe calmness as I wandered around the room, taking in the simple decor.The room was sparse, apart from the clean white wardrobes that sat against the far wall and the lamp atop of a small table to the side of the bed. Just like Giovanni, this room told me nothing about the man.A loud smash caught me off guard and I flung the bedroom door open. Gi
Emiliana Three hours had passed since I had replaced his bandage. As soon as we were nearing the border of Spain, I could physically feel the heat difference. My nerves that were once a wreck had calmed somewhat. I glanced at the dashboard to see the time was almost six in the morning. We had been driving for over five hours and we still had two more to go. I had opened the window, blasting my face with cool air to keep myself awake for the last two hours while Giovanni remained sleeping. I couldn’t risk falling asleep and crashing after getting this far. I spotted an area further up the road to pull over just as the sun began to rise.