Code name: Athena [18+]

Code name: Solo

"Abra doesn't deserve someone who isn't fully in, there are a lot of things I need to deal with before committing to someone; I don't want to hold her back from enjoying all those things."

"Did something happen with Allegra—"

"No," he sniffled, gazing down at the blanket "she's been doing her best to be with the girls; everything's fine with her."

"All right, darling," I sat beside him and held him close; Mariano broke down in tears immediately.

Angela came running into the house out of breath "She left—"

"It's okay, Angela," I assured rubbing Mariano's back "let her go." It took me about 30 minutes to convince Mariano to go back upstairs to his bedroom so he could be at peace with no one walking in and asking what's wrong.

He lay down on the bed and held the blanket close to himself "Have you eaten today?" I asked.

Mariano shook his head sniffling "I'm not hungry."

"All right, babe," I pecked his forehead. "Rest, I'll be back in a couple of minutes to keep you company."

"No, you have to be with Apollo—"

"He would want me to be with you and he'll most likely want to come up here," I softly stated.

Mariano gently nodded "Okay."

I went back downstairs where Angela was waiting for me with Ilya "Angela do you know anything about Mariano from his past relationships?"

"Well, he was married to a girl name Lula but she just kind of disappeared," she seemed doubtful as she spoke, "maybe that's why he's so scared, it's been two times he has been left alone."

"Yeah, maybe," a deep sigh left my mouth "your brother must know," I went back downstairs to Apollo's bedroom. Napoleon was still asleep.

"Princess, what happened?" Apollo asked concerned.

A deep sigh left my mouth "Abra left and Mariano is in really bad shape. Angela told me something about a girl named Lula, I didn't know he had a marriage prior to the one with Allegra."

My husband let out a deep sigh "Lula was a great girl but she was working for the government; Mariano had to kill her."

"What?" My heart broke for Mariano; he is a sensitive man in touch with his emotions more than anyone else I know. If he suffers he suffers colossally. "That's horrible, how did it go down?"

"He—" Apollo's face seemed puzzled "now that I think about it, he never actually told me. He only told me he had to kill her."

"And you never had the concern to ask?" I snapped.

"He told me on our wedding day," Apollo defended "I didn't want to talk about bloody murder."

Okay, that makes sense "All right, I'll go check on him again," I left Angela and Ilya with Apollo as I rushed back upstairs to Mariano's room; he wasn't on the bed. "Mariano," I called out opening the bathroom door but it was empty. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" I slammed close the door and felt my blood boiling.

WILL I EVER GET A MOMENT OF PEACE?! Maybe I sound selfish but for the love of God, I just want to go to sleep without a worry in the fucking world.

"Angela! Eva!" I shouted rushing down the stairs. They quickly gathered in the living room "Mariano is gone, tell your brothers to grab a car, we are gonna go look for him."

•Mariano Salvatore•

Lula Salvatore
1992-2018
Beloved wife and mother