Mia Fiore has been running from dangerous men for half her life. Now that she's focused on a fashion career and finally reuniting with her brother, is meeting her brother's best friend going to put Mia right back in the hands of yet another dangerou...
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When you spend four years of your life on the West Coast to complete fashion school, it becomes a pretty big move when you decide to go live with your older brother in New York. Especially as a new graduate with no definitive next steps. What had accumulated over those four years was clothes, lots of clothes and shoes and of course accessories too. Design is my passion and I both lost and gained a lot when deciding to pursue it.
My brother Elio was kind enough to pay for a moving company to haul my stuff across the country. I still had a luggage bag with me, rolling the half broken thing out to the pick up station. I thought I would find Elio there, but instead some guy I've never seen before was standing with a sign: Mia Fiore.
When I approached him I could immediately tell he was Italian like my own family. He looks like a man who likes his pasta and it shows. His stance reminded me of a bulldog. "Um, hello?" I was unsure how to approach this seemingly random stranger. His eyes snapped over and he gave me a curt nod.
"Miss Fiore?" When I nodded back he introduced himself as Riccardo. "Your brother is unavailable today. He sent me to fetch you" he let me know. "Lovely, did he happen to mention where you might be taking me? Because last I spoke to him we weren't going to be able to move into the new apartment until next week" I looked at the man expectantly.
Riccardo was in a full suit. He had the sign tucked under his arm while he removed my hand from the luggage, and started to wheel the clunky thing over to a four door blacked out car.
Here's the thing with my brother... we were very close growing up, but our recent life choices had us mostly separated for a long time. We come from a troubled home with our narcissistic/ abusive father and our weak, compliant mother who put him before anything...even us. Elio couldn't stand living in our household, so at 18 years old, fresh out of high school he enlisted into the Army.
I was 14 at the time and those years were my hell. Elio spent 2 years in training or whatever it is, then he spent the following 3 years in the Army Special Forces. Which meant for 5 whole years I barely saw my brother.
I also left home at 18, but not in the best way. I was desperate and my past shows it... moving on...so from 18 to 19 years old I worked for a seamstress who taught me all about sewing and making clothes. I had always been pressured to look my best while growing up because my narcissistic father demanded it. He had an image to uphold in public.
Through that I did find a love for fashion and used it as my outlet. My parents were against me going to fashion school though, so my father refused to pay for it. He wanted me to be a lawyer or doctor or something he could brag about. At 19 years old I finally got the scholarships I needed to go to school in Los Angeles for the next four years.
It was my escape from my parents who I've long since cut off, but also to get away from the man I ended up living with when I was desperate to leave home. Freedom wasn't easy though. I struggled with money and a lot of other things.
