Dead By Sundown

Chapter Twelve: Lilianna

Chapter Twelve

  Slowly but surely, Nadia was beginning to find her way around the building that now housed her. She knew the quickest way from her bedroom to both the gym and the kitchen, one for keeping fit the other for eating an unearthly amount of ice-cream, and the best time to sneak into both.

Those and Lorenzo's office were all she truly needed to be able to find. Still, she wanted to know more, for emergencies, obviously. When she next got the chance, she would make it her mission to try and explore further, find what skeletons these men kept in their closets. Perhaps she would even ask Jade for a tour, but that poor girl never seemed to stop working.

From what she had been able to gather, only Lorenzo, Giovani, Nico and Jade lived there full time, but the place was always filled with people. It seemed that this place served as a kind of central hub for all of the men to meet and discuss business.

It was like a nicer and less incestuous version of the Devils Institute, Nadia thought. Less murder between the ranks, more... family, for lack of a better word.

The hallways were unusually empty as she made her way back to her room from another training session with Nico. It was peaceful, compared to the usual rowdy place it was. A part of Nadia was beginning to grow on the constant thrall of people and things happening, she almost missed the chaos.

Almost.

That was until a glass shattered somewhere nearby.

Without a second thought, Nadia was already racing towards the noise. Of course, she had spoken too soon. There never would be truly a dull moment in that household.

The yelling started shortly after the glass had shattered, it was that which Nadia chased down, Italian curses flying as more things seemed to crash around a room. She supposed that was a good sign if they were swearing it meant they were still alive, and she could work with still alive.

The door to the room in question hung slightly ajar, eerily silent as she finally stopped. Her heart hammered in her chest fearing her timing to be horrible and no one to be alive when entered. She cursed lightly under her breath; of course, the moment something interesting happened would be the moment she was left without any weapons to defend herself. Sure she didn't really need them, but the fear of weapons was still far greater than the fear of women, she had found.

Tentatively, Nadia entered the room, careful to slip in as noiselessly as she could.

Shards of glass were everywhere, the curtains had been torn from the windows, cupboards, clothing, books, and pretty much anything that wasn't screwed to the floor had been thrown about the room. It looked as though a hurricane had savaged the place. And at the centre of it all, sat with his legs sprawled out in front of him by the side of his bed, Lorenzo Bonanno.

His hands stung, his head hurt, his chest ached.

It seemed to have struck him how completely uncompromisingly shitty life was, how he had been dealt some terrible blows in his lifetime, but none sucked so fantastically as the blow he had just received. Or had been given again. He wasn't sure if it was more painful the first time or the second.

Nadia stood carefully by the door, watching him carefully. Uncertainty gripped at her, of how to deal with this situation, how to deal with him considering their track record. Some kind of peace offering had been made, but that didn't mean she didn't know her place.

Now she knew no one was attacking, just Lorenzo throwing a botch fit, she could leave the room, leave him and continue on with her day. But she couldn't move. Her feet were rooted to the spot and all she could focus on was the mountain of a man sprawled over his carpet like the broken glass that surrounded him. She couldn't tell if it was the shock of seeing him so defeated that kept her still, but she knew the look of a broken man when she saw it. So she stayed.