Mafia's Mate

Reassurance

>>Clio

Recalling the whole thing got my heart heavy.

"The thing is, my father wanted to do business with some shady people. He didn't know they were shady and that was his biggest mistake." I answered softly, "But Dad lost a lot of money when the business didn't go right and they came to get me."

I felt lightheaded.

"It was all a mess, in order to scare my parents they shot my brother but ended up killing him and to save me, my father could only think of me taking his place." The tears were welling up in my eyes and I could feel the tension in the center of my forehead and nose.

"And since then my mother's health just kept declining." I let out a shaky breath while the tears streamed down my cheeks,

There was a look of wrath on his face, "He wanted a little child?"

I shrugged, I had no words to answer that question, "I really don't know why..." I shook my head. To this day I haven't understood why he made that demand.

"He obviously wanted to groom you-" He clenched his jaw, "Worse, there could be worse intentions."

He moved his stool closer to me, "What was his name?" I could feel the anger seething out of him.

My vision blurred and I gulped, trying to lubricate my throat, "I don't know," I choked up, "I don't remember..." I let out a shaky breath, "I don't..."

His expression softened as he kept his eyes on me.

"I would ask you more about the bullies but," He kept his eyes on me, my tears just kept falling, so he moved his hand to place it softly on my cheek, "What you've given me is enough," He moved his thumb to wipe one side of my cheek and then placed his other hand on my other cheek to wipe it clean too.

But my tears wouldn't stop.

I hadn't cried about this stuff since we left City A.

"I only told you this, so that you know why I'm doing this." I placed my hands on top of his, "Please, if possible, can you make sure Zhou-Lin doesn't cause trouble?" My voice was shaking, "I'm really scared, something might go wrong,"

He frowned, "Didn't I say I could protect you?"

"I don't want to cause anyone trouble." I shook my head as more tears fell.

"What if I feel like it's no trouble for me." He asked softly.

"Still," I shook my head, "No," I sniffled, "I just want my peace..." I hiccuped but couldn't stop the tears even though I tried.

"Hey..." He leaned in closer to me, "I told you I'd protect you, didn't I?" I looked at him, his view a bit foggy, "I will see through it,"

I sniffled.

"Come on," He kissed my cheek out of the blue, "Stop crying,"

????

I couldn't process it amongst all those negative emotions but I was startled.

My tears didn't stop though. They were the accumulated stress I've felt over the years. I've never told my story in detail to anyone and now that I have opened up, I feel a little bit relieved but also scared.

My shoulders felt less heavy but my heart hurt. And so the tears continued. What will happen now that my secret is out?

Matthew watched me, then moved and kissed my cheek, right at the place where the tear was rolling down.

!!!

My eyes went wide but I didn't move.

He then moved up and kissed the corner of my eyes.