Dark Paradise | ✔︎

Chapter 41

MY EYES FLUTTER OPEN. Groaning from tiredness I push myself up but I'm stuck.

My eyes grow wide when I noticed I'm cuffed to the bedpost and gagged.

The room is dark and the faint moonlight peaks through the curtains.

Where is Giovanni?

I try to move and my wrist rubs against the metal, causing my skin to burn. I immediately stop when I hear a gun cocking. 

The lights flicked on and my heart drops when I saw Giovanni standing by the door with a gun pointed at me. 

"What the hell is this?" I call out, confusion beginning to wash over me. "Giovanni?" I state. "You killed my sister." he declares bitterly, emptiness filled in the depth of his eyes. I frown and everything in me drops.

shit.

"Where did you-"

"Did you or did you not kill my sister!" he yells painfully and my lips purse into a thin line as I watch a tear slip out of his eye. "I did," I answer truthfully.

Giovanni's breath hitches as he runs his hand over his face and nods in understanding. My heart jumps out of my chest when he pulls the trigger instead of directly aiming toward me the bullets fly past me and pierces through my head bored. Both my ears rang from the loud gunshots. 

"You know, when my brother told me at first I wanted to shoot him in the face for accusing you of such but then as I was driving here everything started to add up." he half laughs, taking slow steps towards me. "Giovanni that was in the past. The feelings I had for you back then are different from what I'm feeling now." I say, lifting myself as I meet his cold glossy stare. 

"That doesn't change the fact that my sister is now a fucking corpse Gabriella. Do you think she wanted this? Me falling in love with the woman who is responsible for her death?" he questions, his voice breaking. 

It truly broke me to see him like this. Do I regret everything I've done? Yes, I do. If I could go back in time and change everything I've done to hurt this man then I would. This is what I wanted. For him to be shattered in pieces, take something away from him like he's family took something away from me as well. But now...

I don't want to. 

The judgment I had for this man in the past is different from what I'm feeling now. 

I wanted to end him. Destroy him. Take away everything in his life until he's left with nothing. He was nothing to me but now this man is my whole world. I am complete when I'm with him I don't know what I would do if I lost him.

Although now, I'm starting to sense the feeling that my secrets will make me lose him. Tears began to swell in my eyes and I fight them back. 

"If the roles were reversed and you had the opportunity to take away something from me back then. Would you?" I questioned painfully. He pauses, as he stands inches away from me. Tears now piling up in his eyes. "Would you Giovanni?" I ask. 

"I would." 

"Now what differences does it make?" 

His eyes darken. "I don't give any fucks to what differences it makes." he spat bitterly. "You know, it's funny how Antonio is telling you this only now that you're happy and finally accomplishing a lot more in your life. Did he even mention that he was a part of it?" I trailed off. "He is also responsible for your sister's death. At first, I wanted it to be you alone but he fed me the idea to injure your sister instead of you but he pushed it by actually killing her. Using his own hands to pull the trigger on your sister." I tell him. "Yes, I admit we worked together in the past but only because we shared one dream. To destroy you. I wanted more power and he wanted to take over the title. We shared envy and hatred but things took a left turn when I started to feel something far more dangerous. Love and believe it or not I fucking loved every moment of it. The hatred, the feud, the tension, the spark, the way you would make me feel. I would do it all over again just for you to make me feel those things all over again for the first time." 

Giovanni looked at him, he had a lot to say but decided to keep his thoughts to himself. The anger was now replaced with confusion and pain. 

"I am sorry for what I did. It hurts me more than it hurts you and it pains me that you had to find out this way. It was eating me up every day and I regret it as each day passes by. I would have told you earlier was I was scared of you losing you and maybe now it's too late knowing that I've lost you already." I whisper as tears began to stream down my cheeks. 

Giovanni sighs, his jaw clenching as he also fought back his tears. 

"I miss her so much," he utters, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I know." I whisper, "The pain is excruciating when you've lost someone that meant the world to you."

Giovanni drops the gun and falls to his knees. "I can't look you in the eye." He says. I nod, biting down on my lip as I could taste my own salty tears. "I know." I whisper. Understanding the rage and confusion he has toward me. 

"You're not going to loose me. No matter what you do Gabriella my heart and soul already belongs to you." he asserts, lifting his gaze to meet mine. My heart thumps, hoping flashing in my eyes.

"But I'll need some time and space from you. Grief." he proclaims. "How long?" 

"I don't know. I need to clear my head and process everything. I have to feel everything and let it all out before we continue on what we are." He points out. 

I sniff back and nod. 

I know his not going to leave me but knowing that I've caused him this much pain for him to take a break pains me. Who knew that I'd reached the stage to feel all these kinds of emotions.

"I'll wait for you. No matter how long it takes."