Beneath Their Scars

Chapter 16

Sage's POV
We entered Roman's house as a group. As happy as I was to be with all of them again, I was still a little shaken up from the whole situation.

I flinched anytime one of Roman's men opened a door for me or even approached me. I was hoping no one noticed but Roman did. Every time.

We went into the living room and all sat down except Roman. He stood in front of us and looked as if he was contemplating something.

"Rome, I think we have to tell her." I heard Grace say from beside me and he shook his head.

"I don't want her being involved in any of this." He said sternly and Elliot audibly sighed.

"Don't you think it's a little late for that?" Elliot questioned with an annoyed expression. "She's already involved man. We need to tell her for her own safety." He stated seriously as Roman roughly ran his fingers through his hair.

I've noticed he does this whenever he's irritated or stressed about anything. He looked back and forth between the three of them and shook his head as he let out a deep breath.

"You guys know I can hear you right?" I said. They're talking about me as if I'm not right here.

"They're all in the Italian Mafia!" Izzy blurted out and they all whipped their heads in her direction. Both Roman and Grace were shooting her death glares and Elliot held an "oh shit" expression.

"You guys are in the what?" I asked confusedly.

"Thanks a lot Iz." Grace responded annoyedly.

"I'm sorry guys, it just slipped out but someone needed to say it." She responded nonchalantly.

"You couldn't just shut your damn mouth?" He said angrily and Izzy rolled her eyes.

"Rome relax. She's right, someone needed to say it." Elliot agreed and Roman scoffed.

"Sage, it's true. Both Roman and I were born into it. Elliot joined in high school." Grace said quietly.

"Was Mason too? That's why he had all those men?" I questioned and Grace shook her head.

"No... well yes but not our Mafia. He's apart of the American Mafia. The heir actually... Roman is the heir to the Italian mafia." She explained and Roman had a guilty expression playing on his face.

So that explains it. The mansions, the men, the money, and all. I figured their family had some sort of connections and power but it never occurred to me that they could possibly be a mob family.

"Is that the reason you never liked Mason?" I asked him and he sighed.

"Well partially but there was more to it. I just knew he never had any good intentions with you." He replied and I just nodded.

"Look, Sage, I don't want any of this to make you think we're bad people. We're telling you this because we care about you and trust you." Grace assured me and I gave them a half smile.

"You guys saved my life, I could never think you're bad people. You're my friends." I said smiling at them andt I noticed a slight change in Roman's demeanor. "But I do look at you differently..." I began looking over to Grace and her smile dropped.

"I never thought I'd see you holding a gun, let alone shooting. You're a total badass." I continued and she let out a light chuckle.

"Well she is one of the world's top assassins." Izzy said, nudging Grace's shoulder and Grace's smiled shyly.

They then went on to tell me some things about what their jobs and that they only do it to protect their family. The more we talked, the more I could tell that Roman wasn't really proud of any of it. I could see that it wasn't something that he wanted to do, so why do it?