Neveah Aurora North:
My arms feel as heavy as stone when we finally walk out of the shooting range. 'You're still good Neveah.' Marco smiles at me, still a little salty.
'Of course, I'll beat you again.' I chime back, before walking towards the only parked car in the parking lot. 'You never beat me!' 'You sure about that?'
He sighs, before unlocking the car and jumping in the driver's seat. When I look at the time, at the little clock on the dashboard, I notice that we've been here for over two hours.
'I'm exhausted!' I whine against Cataleya's shoulder, making her smile. 'You were tired the moment we left the house.' She snorts, before making sure my seatbelt is on the correct way.
She's the absolute fucking cutest bitch ever. No one, not even Marco, is wearing a fucking seatbelt. Yet she wants me to be safe.
'You can rest now.' I look at Marco, who's looking at us through the rearview mirror, and roll my eyes. I didn't need his permission to do anything.
The fact that Cataleya seems to be so calm about all of this, freaks me out. There is no way she hasn't thought about escaping in the past twenty-four hours and it's annoying me that she hasn't talked to me about it.
I almost drift off to dreamland again, but Marco hits the breaks extremely hard, making me choke because of the stupid seatbelt wrapped around my body.
'Do you want me to die?!' He chuckles before jumping out of the car. 'Leonardo wouldn't let me live if I did.'
Apparently, we're already at the mansion in the middle of freaking nowhere. Great...
The moment the door opens, we're greeted by a warm smile. Brandon's warm smile. 'Hello bitches!'
My lips curl into a smile before I decide to run into his arms, hugging him oh so tightly. Besides Cataleya, he's the only person I trust out of all these idiots because he's insanely honest.
'I didn't think you would miss me that much, jeez!' He jokes, before hugging Cataleya as well. I pull both of them towards our room and close the door behind me.
'How are you bitches doing?' Cataleya looks my way, jumping on the bed before sighing deeply. 'Besides from the part where we are forced to stay in this house with these murderers, perfectly fine! What about you?'
He chuckles and makes his way to our closet, looking at all the clothes, we literally bought with him, as if they were totally new.
'I need some good dick.' I snort, looking at Cataleya who looks at Brandon in total disgust. 'What bitch, daily dick is good for you!' There is no lie there...
'She's a virgin, so she won't know.' Brandon's mouth drops to the ground before he dramatically throws his head back. 'You have to be kidding me! With that body!?'
All Cataleya does is look at me. She's mad that I told Brandon, but it's nothing to be ashamed of.
'She's saving herself for that special one.' I continue, spilling more of her simple secrets until she'll explode.
'Ooohhhh. That story! Trust me, girl, it's not worth it.' He says continuing to look at all the clothes. I walk over to the bed, dropping next to Cataleya and smiling at her.
'No. I'm proud of her.' She looks up, raising an eyebrow at me. 'At least that way one of us is still a saint.' I joke, before pulling her in my arms. She tries to push me away but gives in eventually.
'Awh, how cute!' Brandon smirks, before running to our bed. 'Okay, so listen. I went on this date with this total hotty and-'
Cataleya sits up straight and listens carefully. I just hope she's not actually mad at me for telling Brandon a little about her.
She's always so closed off to everyone, it's not good. Well, sometimes it is. It's just- not everyone is bad. I know a bad person when I see one, and Brandon's gay- Gay people can't be bad, and I trust him. Even though we barely know each other, he saved us the other day in the mall. So I trust him.
'And then we had amazing sex!' Is the only thing I pick up from their conversation. Cataleya's cheeks flush red, so whatever Brandon said must be pretty steamy.
'But now, tell me about the boy that made you fall for Italian men?' Brandon asks, slightly moving my way. 'Well-'
Someone knocks on the door, grasping all our attention, saving me from the miserable story I've been dreading to tell anyone ever again.
'Hold that thought!' Brandon jumps off the bed and runs towards the door, before swinging it wide open.
'Bonjour, Brandon!' Celine chimes, before nodding our way. I smile at her, which totally shocks Cataleya. Just this morning, I was telling her not to trust her, and here I am. Smiling at the woman who I thought was my ex's new girlfriend.
'Celine girl! I missed you so much!' The two hug, making Cataleya and me a little awkward. They seem to know each other pretty well, so I wonder when they joined.
'Can I ask you something?' Cataleya asks before I can even open my mouth. They nod and walk towards the couch in the middle of the room. 'As long as it doesn't involve my nonexistent sex life, sure.'
I roll my eyes and crawl to the edge of the bed. 'How do you know each other?' Cataleya asks curiously.
Brandon and Celine look at each other, before laughing like two old friends. 'Well, I guess you could say Celine and I met almost the same way as we did.' Brandon smiles. What?
'I was out clubbing and Rio saved my ass from getting-' She takes a deep breath and forces a smile on her face, 'I almost got raped, and Rio and Leon saved me. They took me in since I was a mess, and Brandon made sure I got all the clothes I needed.' Oh shit...
'I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Celine...' I feel sorry for wanting to know. It must've been hard on her.
'It's okay, it all happened five years ago. I'm kinda over it.' Yet it doesn't seem like she is. Whatever happened that night, still seems to haunt her.
'Why did you decide to work for them?' Cataleya continues. I think I get what she's doing. She's trying to find their weak points, something she can use against them, but they don't have it.
Or at least, she won't get it out of these two.
'Well, since he saved my life and needed doctors at the time, I figured why not. Plus, he pays three times what I would earn if I worked at a hospital.' Celine giggles before leaning against Brandon's back. 'And you?' I ask, curious as to how Brandon got into all this mess.
He's way too young and I don't remember him from six years ago, meaning he either just joined or started at an even younger age.
'For me it was simple. I wanted to join because of the hot men I would be working with.' He wobbled his brows playfully and smiled widely. 'And I wanted to be close to my brother, of course.'
We all burst out in laughter since it's probably the craziest thing we've heard in a long time.
'Wait, won't Rio kill you if he knew you told us all of this?' I ask and they both nod, shrugging in total sync. 'We owe you now.'
I look over at Cataleya, who can't help but chuckle at Celine's remark. Cataleya really felt betrayed by Celine when she found out that she rat us out to Rio, but I hope she can get over it since she didn't tell him everything.
My stomach rumbles since we've barely eaten anything since breakfast. 'We should get food.' I state, before walking to the door.
Everyone gets up, not even objecting to my suggestion. 'Yes, I'm also starving!' Cataleya exclaims, dramatically throwing her arm around my shoulder.
We enter the empty kitchen and look around, searching for something to eat. All I find is apples and some crackers, not a great mix if you ask me.
'You're not alone this time?' Tiago whispers in my ear, making me turn around quickly, pushing him away to create distance between us. The last thing I need is a recap from yesterday.
'Leon! Can you show us where we can find food?' Brandon smiles at the beautiful man standing in front of me.
He's wearing a black suit, something entirely different than what he was wearing this morning, making me look at him a little longer.
'Over there.' He points at the fridge, smiling at Brandon, before looking back at me. 'Can we talk?'
I want to tell him, no, but my voice won't come out. So here I stand. With my mouth open. Like an idiot.
'As promised.' Celine smacks Tiago across the face and winks at me. I can't help but laugh since he totally didn't see her coming. God! I love her!
'What was that for!?' He shouts at her, rubbing his slowly turning red cheek. 'For doing that to Neveah.'
Tiago looks at me, a little unsure about what the hell is going on, but I can't stop smiling.
'Remind me to let her do that more.' I whisper to Cataleya, who has been laughing this whole time as well.
'Neveah?' I freeze at the sound of his voice again. Why does he say it like that!?
His hazel eyes pierce through me again, keeping me nailed to the ground. 'Can we please talk?' I nod, not actually wanting to, but the way he looks at me just drives me insane.
'Wait but-' 'Neveah!' Tiago smirks, pulling me with him through the front door, leaving the others in the kitchen.
'Where are we going?' I ask, finally being able to speak again. He sighs and starts walking around the house, towards a maze-looking thing beside the house. 'For a walk.'
I rush up to him since he has long legs and is already six feet away from me.
'I heard you're still good at shooting?' I shrug, smiling internally. He used to be so proud of me for being good at shooting.
'Can you please make it quick, I want-' He pulls me against his chest, by tugging at my wrist and takes a deep breath. 'Thorns.' He immediately lets go of my arm and sighs deeply.
'I don't know what the fuck is going on with you, but this is not happening again Tiago.' I snap at him. 'If this was all you wanted to do, I'll be going back inside.'
Just as I turn around, ready to walk back inside, he grabs my arm. Stopping me in my tracks. The touch of his soft fingertips against my skin feels heavenly. Making me burn with desire.
'Why did you leave?' I stay in place, not turning to see his face. Not because I don't want to, but because I cant.
I can't look him in the eyes and explain why I left. It's too much at once. All of this already is too much for me, but if I have to explain why I left right now I'll break right in front of him.
'You are being such a bitch about everything,' He lets go of my arm, slowly walking to my front, so he can face me. 'But you're the one who left. Not me.'
'I'm being a bitch?' He nods, folding his arms in front of his chest. 'If I'm such a bitch, why keep me here!?' I fume at him.
If he's thinking he can disrespect me like that, he's wrong. Fucking wrong...
'Just let us go and you can keep moving on with your life.' I almost beg, hoping that it'll do something to make him change his mind.
'I can't let you go, Neveah.' I shake my head, trying to block his words that way, but it doesn't do shit. I melt at the sound of my name coming out of his mouth and step away. 'Why not?'
He opens his mouth, ready to say it. To say the words he repeated time and time again years ago. But nothing comes out.
Tiago simply stood there with his mouth open, not saying the words I didn't know I missed until now.
'You can't even say it.' He sighs and rubs the back of his neck, making me look at his covered arm as if the material is ready to tear.
'Of course not.' He mumbles, stepping back a little. 'Why not?'
'Because the last time I said it, Neveah-' He turns towards me again, throwing his arms dramatically through the air, 'You fucking left.' My hunger immediately disappears into thin air.
This. This right here is exactly why I didn't want to do this right now. I'm tired from working and shooting all day and starving since I haven't eaten anything since breakfast. All of this is just becoming a little too much. It's too many emotions all at once.
Within seconds, he's right in front of me again, grasping my face gently. 'You fucking left, Neveah..' I feel a single tear escape my eye as his words float in the air.
I want to tell him how sorry I am, but I can't. I'm not sorry that I left, because if I wouldn't have left at that time, maybe I wouldn't have been here right now.
'So why, after all those years, do you still want me?' He takes a deep breath, letting go of my face and stepping away again. Immediately, I'm filled with coldness.
'Because I made a promise to you and my mom.' His mom? I remember the promise he made me, that he would protect me and love me, until the day he died.
'I promised her I would look for you and bring you back to us.' He smiled a little, thinking about the good memories we made when we met.
'Where is she?' He turns away and takes a shaky breath. 'Come with me.'
Without waiting for me to respond, he strides towards the front of the house again, getting in a dark grey range rover. 'Where are we-' 'Just get in Neveah!' He demands.
I run to the car and jump in the passenger seat, looking at my toes since he seems a little annoyed.
'I am taking you to her.' I look into his glossy eyes and raise an eyebrow at him. 'My mother.' He starts the car and races away from the house.
The whole ride, I try to avoid any eye-contact. I notice his hand on the clutch, more firm than ever, and his from time to time deep sighs as we make our way into a little secluded area in the forest.
'Tiago.' He turns his head my way before stopping the car and opening the door. 'Get out.'
I do as he says and wait for him to get out, which seems longer than expected. For a moment I'm scared that he's going to drive away, leaving me in the middle of nowhere, but he jumps out after ten minutes and walks past me as if I wasn't waiting for him at all.
'Follow me.' He's starting to sound like Rio a lot more with all these demands, but I simply do as I'm told to do since he's my only ride back to the house.
He walks through the forest, towards a little building that looks like an abandoned church. Where the fuck- He stops, making me crash into his back and step back a little.
'Here she is.' Tiago mumbles, pointing at a few stones not too far away from us. What? My heart drops and I gasp for air, as I try to process what he's trying to say.
'She's dead?' He nods taking another shaky breath. I walk over to the stones slowly, scared of what I might read if I get too close.
Two stones, one with the name: Esmeralda Curzio. The date was covered with vines growing out of the ground. And the other one: Maria Curzio. The stone seems to be smeared with a dark dried-up liquid. Is that blood?
'What happened?' I struggle to bring out since I can barely breathe. I turn towards Tiago, who seems to be afraid to take another step towards the stones.
'I promised her that I would find you.' He sighs, letting out another shaky breath, 'She loved you.' I smile, seeing her beautiful green eyes staring at me. Maria truly was one of the nicest women on earth.
'What happened Tiago?' I slowly walk over to him, grabbing his hand and squeezing it gently.
'After you left, I was broken.' I look into his eyes, noticing the pain he has to go through just to tell me what happened, 'I started smoking and taking all kinds of shit.' Oh, Tiago...
'I-' He shakes his head, making me stop talking and sign him to continue. 'She made me promise to get you back since you were the one who made me want to be good.' My heart melts just like any other girl's heart would've melted.
'About a month after you left... I went out searching again. When I heard you already left the country, I just wanted to go back home-' He gulps before squeezing my hand tightly. 'Someone followed me,'
I shake my head, not wanting him to continue as tears stream down my face, 'No-' 'and killed her.' He says, his voice ice-cold with no emotion, even though I notice a single tear escaping the corner of his eyes.
'Tiago-' His arms wrap around me, turning the other way so that he doesn't have to look at the gravestones behind me, as his breathing falters again.
'At least I didn't break that promise.' He whispers into my hair. I wrap my arms around his chest, trying to not break down in tears from the story he just told me.
Slowly he let's go of me, but I can't. I can't let go of him, afraid that if I do, he'll feel the pain again. Not that me holding him helps, but it might.
'Just promise me you won't leave again.' He asks, lifting my chin so I have to look at him. His face is a little blurry since I have tears in my eyes, but his eyes are all I need to see. 'Tiago-' 'Please?'
As much as I want to say, yes, I can't. I can't promise him something if I might need to run with Cataleya at some point. If enemies come too close, we might run. Or if Rio stays psycho like that we might have to run too.
'I'm sorry Tiago.' A wave of pain flashes through his eyes and he slowly takes a step back. 'Tiago I-' 'We should go back.' He chimes, as if nothing just happened.
Again, without waiting for me to respond, he turns around and walks back to the car. I run after him and look outside the window for most of the drive back home.
'I am sorry Tiago, I really am.' He sighs, before forcing a smile on his lips. 'Whatever you say, Neveah.' There he goes again, with my name. Goddamnit...
'Did you sleep with a lot of girls?' I ask bluntly, looking back out the window. He snorts and clears his throat as if that makes it less awkward. 'What?' 'You heard me.'
I really don't know why I'm asking this, it was the first thing that came to mind.
I turn towards him, looking straight at him this time, and fold my arms in front of my chest. 'Yes.' He answers honestly. 'How many?'
He rolls his eyes and takes a deep breath. 'Around four-hundred.' Wow... My eyes widen and I look back out the window again. He slept with four-hundred different girls?
The fact that he kept count doesn't shock me, but the fact that there were so many girls since I've left does. Four-hundred freaking girls!?
'What about you? How many boys did you ride?' He asks, shifting his position in his seat. 'Fourteen...' I mumble, not really wanting to talk anymore.
I thought, that after the story about his mother, things would be different. Different but better. But they aren't. They're just worse.
The rest of the drive goes by in total silence and as soon as we get to the house, I jump out of the car and run inside.
'Neveah there you are!' I ignore Cataleya and run up the stairs, wanting to cry for the next five hours. 'Neveah!?'
I slam the door behind me and can barely make it to the bed in time, before breaking down in tears.
All of this is just too much for me. After six years. Six fucking years of living my life the best I could, this shit happens. I get put back into an endless cycle of feelings for the idiot that puts, not only me but the people I care about, in danger.