𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑃ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑥 ✔︎ || 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑑

17

~ phoenix ~

For an hour the next morning, I was slouched in the en-suite. Every now and then, I would lean forwards and empty the contents of my stomach into the toilet.

Which was funny, because there was nothing actually in my stomach.

Despite that, my body was determined to empty its guts. Wave after wave of nausea rolled in, leaving me weaker than the last. I shivered and groaned, before leaning in again.

I looked into my room, where my sheets were on the floor. I'd tumbled out of bed, tangled in my duvet, when the bile had first risen in my throat. If I had been a second late, Giovanni's expensive rugs would have suffered.

The sun had barely risen then and now, it was high in the sky, glaring its wrath down on me. I glared back, through the unbearable discomfort.

That's how Giovanni found me.

The bastard strolled in, with a wide grin. His brows furrowed when he noticed the discarded sheets and then, eventually his eyes landed on me.

"Leave me the fuck alone," I scowled. My voice was so humiliatingly hoarse.

"My, my, bella," he said, "what on earth happened to you?"

I couldn't reply because I was throwing up again. Surprisingly, Giovanni made no further comment. I expected to hear the clacking of his expensive, leather shoes fade away but instead, he approached me. His calloused fingers grazed my neck as he held my hair out of my face. All the while, my head was buried in the toilet bowl.

Eventually, I found my voice. "Please, just go away," I muttered, weakly.

He was silent.

When the queasiness in my stomach disappeared, the bipolar man helped me to my feet and then launched me up onto the counter. I caught my reflection in the mirror and grimaced.

There were dark shadows marring my skin and my hair... oh lord, I was a disgusting mess.

"I'll call the doctor," he said, quietly. "But I'm not here to stay. I have business in Milan."

Milan...? Could Gianna be there...?

"Take me with you," I croaked.

He paced across the bathroom, hands buried in his pockets.

"I was going to," he said finally, "I came here this morning to reveal the good news. You did well, that day at the pool. Rumour has it that you even fucked my guests."

I narrowed my eyes, remembering that hellish encounter, and hissed, "That fucking fat man..."

Giovanni cackled. "I think so too. Moretti's pride must have started the rumours."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, my other guest, Luciano saw him go in after you. Moretti must've lied to save his face in front of him," he elaborated. "Last night, I told them I disposed of you."

My hands formed fists around the edge of the marble counter. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I have no clue," he shrugged, "just know you're going home soon."

At that, my face fell. "B-but you said—"

"I know what I said. I was going to take you to see Gianna today in Milan. Coincidentally, your husband showed up and I owed him a favour. Now, we're even."

My jaw fell open.

"Ilya's here?"

"He's going to be, this evening, and I'm to receive him. And after you're done catching up with Gianna, I will return you to him. Then, my debt is cleared."

"What debt?" I interrogated.

Giovanni answered briefly, "He returned what's mine. I returned what's his."

Frustrated with the ambiguous answers, I quickly changed the subject. My mind raced to find a way out of this. "Will you tell me why you bought me before I go?"

"Will you tell me your business with Gianna?" he countered.

With a sharp breath, I blurted the first thing that came to mind. "I wanted to talk her out of joining the mafia."

After the words left my mouth, his expression darkened.

"Why?" Giovanni demanded, storming over to me.

Sighing, I elaborated on my lie, "It's my fault that she joined. She was trying to save me, right?"

He continued to glower at me. "What's done is done. She bears Omertà now and you're wrong."

That last bit grabbed my attention. "I'm wrong?"

"Yes. She always knew about her father's business and she was going to be apart of it sooner or later. She only gave up going to college, joining two years earlier, to save you."

He didn't know it but Giovanni's words were cracking every last bit of resolve I had in me. Everything I was so sure about — it was breaking apart. Gianna knew... and she was going to be a part of it... willingly.

I bit my lip to hold the tears at bay. This wasn't all for nothing. This wasn't all for nothing. This wasn't all for nothing... but I guess now, it was.

With a shaky breath, I said, "Your turn."

Giovanni didn't hesitate to comply: "After the havoc you wreaked at my Polish compound, I set a bounty for you. Ivanov threatened to unleash war if I didn't remove it and besides, he had something important of mine. So I had to. As a result, here in Italy, the men thought I was a coward—"

"So you bought me to prove you weren't..." I finished, glancing up to meet his eyes.

I wasn't wrong about the bastard. He was actually going to kill me.

"Yes," he said, flashing me a grin.

I didn't reply, hanging my head again. This morning had been far more than I could handle. The onslaught of nausea, the unexpected revelations...

At the thought of my bad stomach, I leapt to the ground again, kneeling in front of the toilet. I braced myself.

"I will have Sofia tend to you while I call a doctor. And then, I'll be off," Giovanni grimaced, looking down at me, and added, "don't worry, I will bring Gianna back with me."

What I wanted to say was "don't bother," but what my bitter response actually was, "I bet it was Sofia who did this to me anyway."

He tutted, waving a hand at me. "She would not poison you unless I asked."

As he left, I continued to vomit.

NOTE:
What a shocker. I bet you didn't see that one coming!
xo, Rosavi