All Chapters of Underground Hearts Club: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

ElevenAfter I talked with Nero, I didn’t go to the apartment. Instead, I took a bus home and texted Laura that I would be staying with my mom. When I got there, I told mom everything. She hugged me, pulled me inside, and then made me some Ribollita. I sat with her on my old bed and cried into her arms.“You know, your father wouldn’t have wanted this,” said Mama, “you going after that boy…”“I know,” I said, “I shouldn’t have done it…I shouldn’t have been with him. But I was so angry after he died…nothing made sense anymore. That accident took away the last part of my senior year. It should have gone so differently. When I saw Cesare at that welcome back party, all I could think about was revenge.”“So, you let him take your virginity as what? A consolation prize?” Mama said.I glared at her. “I didn’t plan on getting pregnant. I’ve been on the pill since I was a teenager because of my acne. Tori just…happened.”Mama sighed. “I know. I love my granddaughter too, don’t for one second

ThirteenI was in a moving car. That was the first thing I noticed when I woke up. I looked out the window, trying to figure out where I was. I heard music playing on the radio, a song I didn’t recognize. I glanced over to the side and my heart pounded against my chest when I realized that I was with Cesare.“Hello, Emmilia.”I shivered. “Cesare…” I blinked. “What happened?”Cesare smiled. The kind of smile that made him look like the devil come to collect. “You’re running away from me, Emmilia. I can’t let that happened.”I groaned. “I already told you…I don’t want you.”He laughed. “You’re lying.”“I’m not,” I insisted.He reached out and traced my arm. I shivered again. Fuck. He smiled even wider. “I barely did anything that time. Imagine all of the noises that I could have you making if you let me.”“Where are you taking me?” I asked.“I’ve already taken you there.”“What are you talking about?”“I wanted alone time with you to talk. So, I took you to my family’s house in The Hamp

Fifteen“I want you to come with me,” said Donatello.I couldn’t wrap my mind around the news that he had told me. How had he been my father this whole time? I suppose it explained why I could never seem to escape the underground. I was exactly like Laura. A mafia princess. I didn’t like thinking about that idea.At least, when I had thought The Fixer was my father, he had been someone from the outside.“But…the man that I thought was my father…”“He’s your uncle,” Donatello said, “he stopped working for the mob a long time ago. He went freelance because he didn’t want to be associated with our family. I cleaned up the business a lot. It took time and he was part of that.”“What about the woman I thought was my mother?” I asked.Donatello walked over to the kitchen table and sat down without being asked. He gestured for me to sit down next to him. I did as told, the same way I always did for as long as he had been in my life. He was the kind of figure that you simply didn’t say no to.

Seventeen Laura glared at her brother who was standing outside of the apartment. She then turned to look at me. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t like this.” I sighed. “This is my punishment for not marrying your brother.” She raised an eyebrow. “My other brother is your punishment for not marrying your brother?” I nodded. “My father, who oh yeah is alive, and is the man I thought was my uncle, has decided that he wants me to come forward as his daughter. He said that I either had to marry your brother, who he’s been working for years with in Italy, or have a security guard. Galileo somehow got offered the job.” Laura made a face. “Gali!” Her brother came into the apartment. “You know I work for her and not for you, right?” “I know,” said Laura, “I still have questions. Why have you suddenly decided to become my best friend’s bodyguard?” Galileo looked me up and down, and licked hi

Nineteen The brothers weren’t only haunting my waking hours. They were haunting my sleeping hours. Mostly, when I dreamed, I dreamed of Cesare. I wish I could explain why he was the one haunting my thoughts when I knew how dangerous he was. Not that either brother was exactly a kitten, but there was something about Cesare that I had never been able to shake. Even after I had slept with him, and failed at killing him, I would have been lying if I said that I hadn’t thought of him since then. It was hard not to. I had had his daughter. I had imagined telling him thousands of times over the years. Sometimes, he took me in his arms, kissed me, and told me that we were going to be a family together. Other times, he pointed a gun to my head. In my darkest moments, he was doing all of the things that I wanted him to do. He would pin me up against the wall of my apartment, pull off my pants, my underwear, and then he would rip his own off and thrust his coc