Son of the Boss

Crossfire

Alessio Romano.

He slows down a bit in his sleek silver Porsche and comes to a steady crawl near the curb.

I watch in awe as he leans out a bit and smiles. His dark eyes hidden behind his sunglasses.

"Good morning, ladies."

"Hey, handsome!" Kimberly beams at him.

Alessio nods towards her but his eyes never leave mine.

"Olivia Moore, right?"

I stammer, "Y-yeah."

"I just wanted to properly introduce myself...I'm Alessio Romano," He says and I notice he has a heavy Italian accent. "I hope you are enjoying San Diego so far."

"It's been great so far." I smile sheepishly.

He chuckles. The sound rough and deep. "Well have a good day, girls. See you around, Olivia."

Kimberly and I watch in silence as he pulls away and continues to drive off down the road.

"Oh...my...god! I can't believe he stopped and talked to us. He is SO hot it just blows my mind." She gushes in her girly voice.

"Yeah, real crazy," I mutter out. "So...do you know a lot about him?"

"Not really," she shrugs as we start walking. "I guess his family is really rich and really crazy. Lot's of illegal things they are apparently involved in.

"What kind of things?"

"Well...I guess you could say...drugs? guns? Just a rumor though."

I frown and look back towards the sidewalk in front of us.

Everyone seemed so sure that Alessio Romano was just bad news.

I had to find out for myself.

⟡ ⟡ ⟡

"Olivia! Hey!"

I smile and turn towards Austin as he wraps me up in a tight hug. My feet leave the ground as he spins us around.

"How are you today?" He asks and releases me from the unexpected embrace.

I look into his pretty hazel eyes and get a flutter of butterflies in the pit of my stomach.

Austin had been really great so far. He would always go out of his way to talk to me during school and even spent hours with me just texting after school.

He had shared a bit about his family and how he was majoring in Computer Science. All around he was just such a nice guy.

"I got you something," He says randomly and his cheeks redden. "That's not weird right?"

"Of course not!"

He grins and puts a little box in my hand with a red ribbon on the top.

I pull it open and reveal a charm bracelet with two charms on it. One for New York with the city skyline and the other a palm tree and sun showing CA at the top for California.

"Oh, Austin. You didn't have to get me anything! This is so pretty." I tell him and he takes my wrist in his hands.

He laughs nervously and turns it over to clasp the jewelry on me.

"Where did you get this?" I ask.

"My family owns a tiny shop not far from here." He shrugs and holds onto my wrist. "I figured you deserved a welcoming gift."