*SILIA*I had been talking to Lisa for a while trying to catch up with everything that had happened with her while I was gone.“You know I love my job but I don’t at the same time. I wish I could leave all this behind and just go live on a secluded island somewhere far away,” she said making me almost relate to what she meant but instead of living alone I would really wish to be around this new group of friends, almost like family, that I had made.“I hope your boss won’t scold you for abruptly leaving your office,” I said not wanting to cause inconvenience to her.“No, I am sure it would be fine,” she sighed and then suddenly perking up she said, “Oh I forgot! Here some sun flowers to brighten up this room. I could have guessed that it would look bland and boring so I thought it would make you feel better.”Handing me the flowers in my good hand I brought it closer to my face to let the brightness of the flower fill my vision entirely.“Here I also got something else,” she said showi
*SILIA*“How long are you going to stay cooped in? Lisa’s voice came past my closed door.When I didn’t reply she opened the door slightly and asked, “Will you at least please talk to me so that I can feel a little reassured?”Again I couldn’t say anything except to look at her with dull eyes and a sad frown.A similar frown replaced the smile that she was mustering up from me. She came up to me and I instantly understood what she was going to do and opening my arms I let her hug me. She shuffled closer climbing into my bed and being mindful of my shoulder wound she pressed her arms around my midriff.“You know that it’s already been a month, how long are you going to be like this?” she asked making me look over at the calendar where I made sure to cut off the days. I kept count of the days since I left the hospital. A total of thirty three days.I don’t know why but in the beginning while cutting the days it had been given me hope that maybe tomorrow Draven would show up wanting me b
“She doesn’t care about that bastard!” Lisa shouted looking concerned and restless as she looked from me to them.Although she was trying to get them to leave they ignored her completely and moving forward Diana was about to say something when outraged by the disrespect Lisa was met with, my Mafia hating friend grabbed Diana’s arm making Diana stop and glare at her, “Let me go.”“I will not, you have to leave. You cannot just barge in as you wish. This is my house and I will not hesitate to call the cops on you,” Lisa fired back making Diana chuckle. There was venom in her voice when she next turned her gaze to her and said, “Do you think I am scared? Do your worst.”Realizing that the two hot headed females that I had come to care for would get into a brawl if they weren’t stopped, I interjected and said, “Lisa please let me just hear them out once. It will serve as a closure at the very least.”When she heard my words she didn’t seem like she wanted to agree with me but glancing ove
*SILIA*It was weird.It was so uncharacteristic for Lisa to be humming first thing in the morning that I almost thought I was still dreaming. Peeking out of my room I saw her throw her apple in the air and then catching it behind her with practiced skill, she plopped it down next on the cutting board and then sliced them into beautiful thin pieces.My stare must have been more tangible than I thought because looking up directly in my direction she let a smile blossom to her face and asked, “Did you freshen up by yourself? You didn’t have any problem, right?”No, I took a painkiller this morning so it wasn’t paining as much,” I said stepping out from my hideout to let her take a look at my dressed self. I usually just wore a long shirt at home so it didn’t put any strain on my arm and I didn’t have to move them a lot to have her help me anymore except in moments when the wound pained a lot.“You should still be on bed rest. You should have just gone back in your bed and I would have b
*SILIA*“Its always busy around this time on this road, I am sorry about it,” Nick said trying to maneuver his way through another route but was stopped by the signal.“I don’t mind I had nothing better to do anyway. The longer I can stay out the better,” I said grinning at him.Noticing that the light had turned green Nick pressed on the gas to move forward when another bike zoomed past us cutting our way. In an effort to stop the collision Nick stepped on the brake successfully stopping us but the loud horn and screech of tires rang in my head momentarily holding me numb.My body jerked forward from the sudden stoppage in the momentum but thankfully the seat belt kept me from colliding forward into the dashboard. My arms stretched out in an act of defense but thankfully except for the strain of the belt pulling me back in my place I wasn’t met with anything else.A pain seared through the gunshot wound because of the preceding action. And I think I let out a hiss of suppressed pain
*SILIA* The world seemed like an alien place to me.It had been so long since I had been here that I felt completely out of place and slightly paranoid about the eyes on me.Was there someone watching me? Was there someone still after me? Did they know that I had a gun wound on my shoulder?I tried to tell myself that I was safe and that the accident from before was just a freak coincidence but a fear had settled in the back of my mind. As long as I had been with Nick I hadn’t been able to feel it because of the comfort that he provided me but now that I was all alone I was weirdly conscious of everything about me.Deciding to at least walk inside I look around to see people hanging out with their friends, families spending time together but it wasn’t as crowded as it could have been given that it was still early morning and a week day.I had been to this particular mall many times before so it wasn’t as if I had been completely clueless and deciding to go to one of the famous pastry
*SILIA* I am about to go up to her when I think against it. I am sure if she finds out I am here then she would haul my ass back home without a second thought. Deciding to follow her for a little while I suppress a laughter, watching her from the shadows. I am sure to anyone passing by I must look almost manic but it was so fun to see how she behaved so differently than when we were together. Or wait, could she actually be on a date? Maybe she was lying to me. But why would she have to lie to me? Was it to save me from feeling hurt as she probably thought I would seeing her go into a relation when I had been craving to be in one. Not to forget that I had been cruelly forsaken by the person I loved. Given how much she cared about me that was totally possible. I am sure she would not tell me even if it took her months if she thought that I wasn’t in the mental state where I could accept it. But I was curious, I wanted to know who was the man that had wooed her. If she had decided
*SILIA*Making my way towards the exit in a hurry I am briefly aware of the eyes on me but unlike before I couldn’t be bothered by them. All I knew was I needed to get out of there. My heart was crushing in my chest. Its fragments a dust inside the shell of my body.How many more times did I need to fix it for you to break it again Draven?By now the mall has become busier from before and being careful to not bump into anyone with my injured shoulder I walk on the extreme side of the mall against the walls. Thee exit is visible to me in a distance and wiping the tears I am about to head towards it when I hear someone call out to me.“Excuse me, ma’am!”I don’t want to stop so I refuse to look back but I recognize that voice and the guard from before quickly catches up to me.“What happened?” she asks blocking my path while looking down at my shivering body that I clutched tighter to myself to somehow stop it from vibrating so much.“I-” I try to speak but words get caught in my throat
*SILIA*I think I needed to run away.“Silia? What are you doing here? Are you alright? Everyone was looking for you. It's time!” Diana said hastily coming to me when she found me in the washroom of my suite.Her words only made me panic more and shaking my head I said, “No, Diana I don’t think I can do this. I don’t think I can go out there like this.”My words must have not sat well with her because she donned a softer expression and with a hand patting my back gently for me she pulled me into a hug.“Come on, tell me what is it? What is troubling you and I swear that I will make it alright,” she said and although her hug made me feel good it also reminded me of why I wanted to run away from my own wedding.“This! See this is the problem! I can’t even hug you properly without this belly getting in my way,” I said pointing at the small bump that kept us apart from hugging properly.She seemed to realize what I had been going through and smiling at me she asked, “What are you afraid o
*SILIA*“I don’t think that Romani would actually set this grand of an event,” Diana muttered from beside me. It has been a week since we came back home and the cold mafia woman who we thought was injured was stronger than anyone we knew and had been completely fine even after that blast. Apparently she became unconscious because of exhaustion and nothing else.“According to him he is creating history and he wants the whole world to remember him and this day properly for centuries to come,” I murmured, spotting him introducing Draven to everyone around while laughing heartily. No one would say that he was sick seeing how well and about he was moving around.“He certainly chose a very strange reason to be remembered in history, ‘The man who gave away his business empire to a Mafia Don’,” Alfeo laughed, chiming in on our conversation.“Do you even know how terrified the public and media is over this? I heard the president is on his toes with this change,” Nick said, sipping a glass of c
*SILIA*“Yes! Fuck we did it!” Alfeo shouted enveloping Draven in a hug which I joined along with the others.We were probably making a lot of ruckus pulling, pushing and rejoicing, unable to believe what had happened.We won!We actually won!A clearing of a throat grabbed our attention as Samantha said, “Mr. Romani is waiting for you.”Calming down at her words Draven pulled away from us, smiling at the hoots and laughter. Looking at me he kissed me once and said, “Thank you, this wouldn’t have been possible without you.”I simply smiled at him and then turned back to the rest as he said, “Make sure that all the injured get treated and rested well. We are flying back today itself and celebrating this victory!”“Alright we’ll arrange everything you just go and meet him,” Gavin said and nodding along as I turned to leave with the others when suddenly I was stopped.“Miss Morgan, Mr. Romani wants to meet you too,” Samantha said, making everyone stop in their movements as they all looke
*SILIA*I couldn’t grasp the sense of reality. I had killed the one person that had previously meant the world to me. I had thought that I hated her a lot but even now when she had said that she hated me I couldn’t help but feel hurt. I didn’t want her to hate me. I had wanted things to have never gone the way that they had.I never wanted to lose her.“Shh, it’s alright you did what you had to,” Draven said and slowly walked towards me. I could see the pity in his eyes and I am sure I looked like a mess but his eyes didn’t stray to anywhere else but my eyes. His gray ones pierced straight into mine, reminding me of the peaceful shine of a breezy moonlit night.Reaching me he first gripped my hand over the fork and prying away my hand carefully from the weapon of murder he took hold of my violently shaking hands that couldn’t control the tension now that they weren’t holding onto the wood for dear life. Throwing away the fork to a safe distance away he immediately pulled me into a hu
*SILIA*“You might have reached till here but I cannot let you go any further than this,” Lisa said, it felt as if it had been days since I had seen her and I wouldn’t have minded it being a little longer or until I died for me to face her again.I still can’t believe she had left me alone there with Luca to suffer, it was worse than simply killing me. She wanted me to ‘suffer’, to prolong my misery.“You really think you can stop us?” I asked, challenging her, feeling my insides burn with hatred.She ignored me and looking at Draven she said, “If you still care about your people’s life then you would back away while I am giving you the chance to. You will lose the game but will return back alive.”Wasn’t she being a little too cocky?If Nick had been enough to take her down alone then the twelve people we had brought with us were definitely a lot stronger.“And lose the opportunity to kill the person who has been the sole reason for all our sufferings? No, thank you,” Draven said wit
*SILIA*“Hey! Hey who are you people! Get off my farm!”A man came shouting at us like a lunatic when we stopped our cars in front of his house.Getting out of the car Alfeo approached the man and introducing himself he said, “We just need a little assistance from you. We need to check something in your barn. Can we please do that?”“No absolutely not!” The old and hot headed man shouted at us, “You think I'll just let you jackasses get into my property just like that. Absolutely not mister.”“We will be happy to pay you a good amount of money for that. If you would just let us in then this briefcase full of money will be yours,” He said, showing him a briefcase that had been brimming full with money. By the way this farm and house looked, he really needed that for repair works and maybe to even live life in general.He stopped and hesitated for a minute when suddenly the door to his house opened and through it came an old lady, probably his wife.“Al? Who are these people?” she aske
*SILIA*“Yes! She was right about it,” Gavin shouted barging in through the door with Nick trailing behind him. The two of them looked really spent and when I was about to ask Nick what happened but he put up a hand before me to stop me from speaking.“My eyes have been fried from staring at a screen for around thirty six hours now and I fear that if I even blink it shut it isn’t going to open anymore,” he said and then mumbled under his breath, “That's why I hate Mafias.”“So what did you find?” Draven asked and the rest of us huddled closer to his laptop that he had brought with him.“So far we have learnt about a small vineyard that is very exclusive and is situated on the island called Martha’s Vineyard. It is registered under another woman’s name so it was hard for us to track it down but we finally did. The label vine that it makes there is called, ‘Dives Uvae’ which also means rich grapes in Latin.”“A silly name if you ask me,” Alfeo muttered in between to which Diana laughed
*SILIA*“Only ten days are left,” Gavin said, making all of us sigh in frustration.“That's too little time and we still don’t have any clue about where Romani might be,” Nick mumbled, having joined the Mafia unable to stay away from this life after getting so deep into it once again.“No we don’t give up hope here, we can still turn the situation around, we just need to think from another perspective,” Diana said, making me nod along but if truth be said even I was losing confidence with how little time we had left.“If it makes anyone feel good then at least the Ravens aren’t in any position to even care about this game when they are already so deep in their own troubles,” Alfeo said, making me nod along.“Not to forget that the Phantoms don’t seem to have any clue about Romani too, although they have become more frantic in their searches,” I said, frowning near the end.No matter what anybody said or did it was clear that we were all on the edge with how close we were to winning an
*SILIA*“What was that just now?” Draven asked, looking slightly dazed as we took the elevator up to his office.“Just a little mental torture,” I said smiling at him. “He hadn’t hurt me physically as much as he did mentally every time that he touched me or tried to brainwash me into loving him.”I didn’t realize but a frown had taken over on its own and seeing that Draven said, “Let me overwrite that memory.”Pushing me against the cold walls of the elevator he kissed me. I fought for control, my body turning hot at his touch. After staying away from him for so long it was as if every time that he touched me he was quenching a thirst in my body.Our tongues slid against each other, gently caressing, massaging and sucking. I wanted to take control again like how I did before but as soon as he realized what I was doing he brought his hand down to my thigh and gripped it, making me gasp at how close he was to my crotch. He then pushed a knee gently against my excited entrance, leaving i