A Mob Boss's Heirs (Book 3 of New York Mafia Trilogy)

118. A memory of the past

Clarissa woke up suddenly from her dream... She sat up on her bed, breathing heavily.

Clarisa rubbed her eyes and thought of her dream. It was not a nightmare but it was quite an intense dream that she had woken up from it abruptly.

She ran her hand in her hair as she looked at the clock. it was too early in the morning to get up. She wanted to go back to sleep but at that moment she felt dehydrated as her heart was beating so fast. She got up and walked to the desk in her room and picked up her water bottle. As she started drinking, she felt much better. As she took a few more sips, her eyes then caught the necklace of the Rome Colleseum on her desk and she choked on her water. He was everywhere. There was no escape from him in her dreams and out of her dreams.

What did he want from her? She sighed and drank more water and then walked back to the bed deciding to try to forget the turmoil in her mind.

Clarisa laid down on her bed and looked at the ceilings and the walls trying to fall back to sleep but even the walls reminded her of Vincenzo and her dream. She sighed giving in, deciding to think about what she had seen in her dream. Sometimes if you didnt think back to your dreams, you forgot them but she wasnt able to do that this time the dream was not completely a dream. Clarisa recalled the dream perfectly no matter how hard she was trying to ignore it. She was familiar with its surroundings and even time frame. The dream was partly a dream but also was partly a real memory of the past.

Her dream was a special one. The dream reminded her of the memory of his Vincenzo had saved her life. The dream was about when she was drowning in water and he had pulled her out. It was a summer day like any other and she had gone swimming in a pool in one of the Agostini hotels in Rome. She had slipped away from the watchful guards had gone swimming without telling others. She was a good swimmer but suddenly as she had been swimming, she had a cramp in her leg and she was not in a shallow section where it had happened. She was drowning because the pain didn't allow her to swim. She recalled how she had thought that the walls of the indoors pool with roman patterns were the last sights of this world she could see before dying but Vincenzo had become her guardian angel. He had dived in to save her. He had been watching her from far that day when no one else was.

So most of her dream was identical to the real life memory. But in her dream she  had also seen a different version of the telling off Vincenzo had given her for putting herself in danger. ,.... . They had kissed. He had given her a rough and punishing kiss in her dream that made her tremble from its intensity as he had told her off for disappearing from the games room without any guards or anyone else. He had luckily followed her. But he hadnt told her why he had been following her and why he had been wathcing her from the shadows. She had never asked him but the question had popped into her mind. Why had he followed her? And how come he hadnt told her he was around. Vincenzo made no sense. But Vincenzo was always protective of her. He must have been watching over her. That was udnerstandable. So she didn't overthink that. She felt gratitude towards him and this detail wasn't important what had prompted him to care to follow her.

Clarisa was having a battle with herself. This dream bothered her because she had reminded of why he had kissed Vincenzo and not Andreas. Her father was quite wise. He was quite observant. He had asked a question she had hoped he hadnt asked. She had said he was handsome but that was an excuse to avoid the conversation and luckily her father hadnt pressed on. The truth was she felt safe with Vincenzo. As crazy as it sounded to herself, she couldnt shake off that feeling. Whenever she was around him, she felt like nothing could hurt her. He was like a rock you could lean on. He was someone you could rely on in your hour of need. He was arrogant, he was cruel, he was vioelnt, he was extreme... but he was good to people he saw as family and allies.