Chapter 43: The Promise of the Butterfly
Regina’s P.O.V
It was almost five in the afternoon and I was about ready to give up on my parents.
Seriously? I was sixteen! Who on earth needed to be picked up from high school by their parents at this age? Not to mention that my boyfriend was the hottest guy in the soccer team! He’d dump me the instant he found out I was being picked up by my mom!
And to top it all off, my mom was about one and a half hour late! The entire area was totally deserted and the school gates were about to be closed any time now. The only comfort I had in standing all alone on this deserted street was the fact that the teachers and the guard was still inside. But if my mom was another ten minutes late, then everyone will be gone and I’d be taking the bus home, no matter how much I had to listen to their lecture later on.
No way was I waiting for her if this place gets an-
Chapter 44: Orchard of MinesDraco’s P.O.VA car was waiting for me at the airport as soon as I landed in Detroit.The moment I sat down inside the car, I turned towards Gabriele, pinning him with a stare. “How long have you known about this?”“Since the day you went back in a hurry.” He swallowed, looking down at his lap.He hadn't said much the entire flight, especially since I got the news and had to leave everything immediately so I could attend to this matter. But now I have to find out that he had known all along?“Is this why you kept insisting on the marriage proposal?” I ask him seriously, because I didn’t know to what extent he had hidden the truth from me. “Why chose deceit when you could’ve just told me the truth?”“It wasn’t just something I could share easily.” Gabriele said now. “It wasn’t my secret to tell.”I took a deep breath to calm myself. My mind had stopped working the moment I had received Donatello’s call this afternoon.I had been waiting to hear back from Ri
So this note is for those who might find it a little weird that a girl might become obsessed with a man on a whim and want it so badly to the point of going to such great lengths as to harming herself to get what she wants. If you think this is purely fictional and doesn't happen...it totally does. And it was something that had happened with me...just not to that extreme. Why am I sharing this? Well, because it was something that kinda inspired the previous chapter. When I was in high school, 11th grade, we had a lot of new students from different schools. It's normal here in India as kids often change schools after 10th grade. That was when this one guy, lets call him Ben, transferred schools and came to be in the same class as me. I literally had no idea he existed because I wasn't friends with him or with any of his group members. However, I had no idea that he had noticed me and...maybe started to obsess over me? Later that month, he joined the same physics tuition classes that
Chapter 45: FarfallaRegina’s P.O.V“You look like you saw a ghost.”Was the first thing that Joel told me when he saw me walk into the kitchen the next morning.“And got hit by a bus.” I headed straight for the coffee machine, making myself a large mug full of espresso to keep me awake because I barely had a wink of sleep last night.“And got trampled on by an elephant.”“Ohhh…daddy’s using mean words!”I was about to give Joel a piece of my mind with that last comment, even though he was being way more polite than normal, but as soon as I heard that cute…adorable little baby voice, all the anger I had towards Joel, disappeared in an instant.For the first time since walking into the room, I narrowed my eyes at Joel and really looked at his face and saw that he was smiling from ear to ear like a big ol’ fool. Not smirking…but actually smiling.And that’s what prompted me to look behind him and I thanked every god I knew for not cursing Joel outright because that cute, innocent girl
Chapter 46: The PromiseDraco’s P.O.VI stood outside the cabin door, my hands fisted by my sides as I tried to steady my heartbeat.Never in my life had I thought that I’d ever be in a situation where I would be forced to do something that I had never had any intention of doing.For over ten years…I had searched for the woman, who had been the light in my life; who had literally saved my life by giving me her lucky pendant. And today, not only did I need that pendant; I needed that woman beside me as well.But as my luck would have it…I didn’t have either by my side. Neither my farfalla…nor her pendant.Taking a deep breath, I raised my hand and knocked on the door three times to let the person inside know that I was going in, before I opened the door a crack. The woman sleeping on the hospital bed didn’t see me at first. Her face was turned in the opposite direction and there were several tubes stuck to her body. Her left wrist was bandaged up tightly and it looked like she had just
Chapter 47: UnawareRegina’s P.O.V “You know about that?” My eyes widened in shock as Joel mentioned the word ‘farfalla’.“Only a few of us do.” Joel reached out to lightly touch the edges of the butterfly pendant around my neck. “Still…”His eyes narrowed on my face as he looked me in the eyes. “How did you find it?”“I was roaming around the house last night since I couldn’t sleep.” I sighed, trying to hide the fact that my heart was hammering inside my chest at just the mention of how I came in possession of this pendant. “I thought about going to the upper floors as well, but got tired before I could. So I went exploring these two floors instead.”“You went into the Capo’s office?” Joel’s voice wasn’t scolding, just curious.But before I could answer, I heard another voice join in from behind us.“Yes. She did. Her feet were loud enough to keep me up all night.”I turned around to frown at Rico. What makes him think he can just casually join in our conversation?“Uncle Riccooo!!!
Chapter 48: EngagedDraco’s P.O.V“Sire…it’s an engagement…not a funeral.”Gabriele wore a light brown jacket and formal pants with a sky blue shirt underneath. He had even gelled back his hair and appeared to be even better groomed than I did. His mood was certainly better than mine.“Then why don’t you replace me as the groom?” I told him straight away, adjusting the collar of my black tuxedo that I had worn over a black shirt and formal black pants.“Sire…I wish I could.” He bowed his head. “If there was any way I could help you out of this situation then I would have…but Donatello and I couldn’t come up with a solution in time.”I nodded, looking at my reflection in the mirror with distaste. I wasn’t happy at all and I think it showed on my face.Donatello had understood well when I told him that I wanted this event to be as private as possible. Any guests at all and there would be consequences.I didn’t want Gina finding out about this…I didn’t want anyone in the world finding ou
Chapter 49: Home Invasion Regina’s P.O.V “Joel?” I call out his name when I can’t get their attention immediately. There were about five of them, Rico included, that were surrounding Joanna as she stood in the middle of the group of men wearing all black suits and she was running from one person to another, engrossed in some game that had the rest of them smiling ear to ear. “Look at them!” I muttered under my breath. “Who would think they were badass mafia men?” All of them looked perfectly happy entertaining a three year old. I somehow got this feeling that Joel was probably the first amongst them to become a dad and thus, now all of them were proud uncles who loved their little niece like she was their own daughter. I would love to see them when Joanna grew up. That would be a disaster. Shaking my head, I went over to where Joel was sitting and tapped him on the shoulders with his phone. He looked up confused at first, before nodding and taking the phone from me and placing i
Chapter 50: Not BulletproofRegina’s P.O.VThe front gate was all but run over by the large black van that had crashed into the gate before the shots started getting fired.If I had to guess, I’d say that the first shot was fired by the guards at the gate to stop the approaching van itself.“I had called the Capo the second they broke through the gates.” The elder man, who wore a name tag on his jacket called Dominic, said through gritted teeth as he moved the mouse to control the angles of the camera. “But he’s in Detroit. He won’t make it in time if he gets on a flight even now.”“What about his men?” I asked. “There were a lot more security personnel here when I first arrived.”“Most of them have been assigned at the warehouses in Manhattan and Queens,” Dominic told me. “The Capo made sure that no one would try to steal from him once again.”“Are you asking for backup?” I asked him, not caring if he got irritated by my questions. Knowledge was key here and I very much needed this k