Without another thought I rush to his side, all the pain I felt previously vanishing as concern and dread permeates my entire being.
"Alessandro! You, okay?" I rush my words out as he turns to lay on his back giving me a clear view of his bruised face and pain imbued green eyes.
"Yeah," he groans, using his elbows as a support to lift himself off the ground with as much help I can give in my wobbly state.
"Just a few scratches, no biggie," he dismisses, pulling himself up to sit upright beside me on the ground without my support. "You alright?" He shifts his gaze towards me.
And as our eyes meet, Jack's words come flooding back into my head forcing me to tear my gaze away from him and refocus it back at the shut door. Warm palm cress my face before it redirects my attention back to Alessandro's concern green orbits.
"What's wrong?" He asks as his eyes search mine for answers, but the impassive wall I put up doesn't give him much.
"Nothing. How did you get here and who did this to you?" I ask changing the subject unsure if I'll be able to even talk about it without lashing out—and right now, I don't have the will nor strength to do so.
"I was coming back to the hospital to see you when I got the news that you were awake. I took the back exit, that's when I saw that woman hit you and so I followed the van that you were shoved into but when I got close enough to the compound their holding us in, they caught sight of me and I was outnumbered."
"And as for your next question," he says lowly groaning in pain. "These guys aren't really open to uninvited guests," he tries to joke, but my mind is too preoccupied with his beat-up state.
A stagnant silence settles between us for a few moments with none of us knowing what to say next. Making sure he's able to hold himself upright with my support, I move back towards the end wall where my mum's jewelry box sat. "Why did you take the back exit?" I ask as I stare down at the box.
"Because I didn't want your brothers to make a fuss when I came to see you," he explains. "I saw Noah and Seb at the front desk arguing with some LEO, I just wanted to avoid the drama and make sure you were okay for myself," he adds frowning at the distance I put between us.
'Heard that? He wanted to make sure you were okay'
'Maybe Jack is wrong about him. How can a guy who thinks so much about us be able to even think of hurting us?' My conscience points out.
"LEO?" I ask, ignoring the voice in my head and his questioning gaze.
"Law enforcement officers," he explains making me nod. "What was Noah and Seb arguing about?" I enquire further while still not meeting his gaze because even though my conscience doesn't want to believe that Alessandro could be playing us this entire time, I can't seem to shake Jack and Lorenzo's words off my mind as well.
I feel his touch before I hear him as his fingers slowly trace the dry blood trail running down my temple making me snap out of my thoughts instantaneously.
"How bad did they hit you?" He mumbles to himself—ignoring my question—crouching beside me he examines the dry blood trail down my temple he's tracing with his finger.
"Am I a game to you?" I blurt out without thinking as we sit there staring at each other, searching one another's eyes for answers.
"Why would you be?" He counters with frowned brows.
"You have a reputation," I mumble recalling Lorenzo's words. "And I don't want to be another accomplishment on your hit-list," I tell him with sincerity lacing my every word.
"You could never be," he replies with the same amount of honesty reflecting in his eyes. "Because for that I would have to not care about you in the least bit," he adds.
"But I do care. I care a lot, Astoria," he confesses.
"Just care?" I whisper barely above a whisper, a bit disappointed by the discovery, but also a bit relieved and a whole lot woozily.
'Just tell him how you feel, you dummy!' My inner voice makes a reappearance.
'What if he doesn't like me back?'
'Well, you'll never know if you don't take the first step. Besides, I really like him' My heart voices its opinion.
'Great now even my organs have started having their own opinion, I must be really losing it'
'You tell him how you feel right now or I will stop beating' My heart threatens.
Giving up on my internal debate with myself, I finally muster up all the courage and confidence my drowsy brain can and exhale lightly. "I like you," I mumble softly, still impossible close to him.
'Ah finally!' Both my heart and inner voice sigh in unison.
"I like you too," he breaths out without any hesitation or second thoughts, flashing me his infamous charming smiles, causing the butterflies in my stomach to intensify.
'See I told you so!' My inner voice taunts making me roll my eyes inwardly.
"You're not lying," I state finally finding my voice and reading the sincerity in his gaze.
"No, I'm not," he affirms pulling me into his arms while he sits beside me with his back pressed against the wall.
"But Jack said..." I trail off not wanting to repeat those words that hurt so much the first time I heard them.
"That I'm a player?" He asks and I nod with my head still buried into his chest while his hand wrapped protectively around me.
"He wasn't lying," he confesses softly. "But neither was I a few moments ago," he adds quickly before I have the chance to pull away from him.
"I'll explain everything as soon as we figure out a way to get out of here, yeah?" I nod in agreement once again while still wrapped in his warm embrace as the rest of my body freezes in the low temperature of this metal cellar.
"I need to open that box," I says finally willing myself to pull away after enjoying a few more minutes of our comfortable position.
"What's in it?" He asks as I take the amulet lying next to it and fiddle around trying to figure out the locking system.
"I'm not sure. But whatever it is, it's valuable enough to kill for," I say while pushing the amulet face-down on the crest etch to the box until I finally hear a soft click.
"And I think we're about to find out," I add as I lift the cover of the box open and take a peek inside.
A frown settles on my face as anger flares up within me when I get a look at the contents of the box. "A cube? She did all this for a fucking cube?!" I growl as my headache makes a reappearance.
"She?" Alessandro asks, pulling out the wooden cube that's sitting in the center of the box out and inspecting it.
"Apparently my kidnapper also happens to be my aunt. Oh, and let's not forget my mum and sister's murderer too," I explain as my words leave a bitter taste in my mouth.
"There's something written on it," he points out grabbing my attention that's glaring daggers at the CCTV camera fixed on to of the metal door that's focused directly at me.
Scanning the engravings on the side of the wooden cube I sigh. "This is a trick cube, this must be the code she was talking about," I mumble to myself in realization as my eyes slowly start to get heavy as exhaustion starts to kick in again.
"How long do you have to give her what she wants?" Alessandro enquires, observing my drained state and pulling me closer to him.
"End of tomorrow," I mumble sleepily lying my head on his shoulder feeling safe enough to close my eyes without hesitation.
"We'll figure something out by then. I promise," he mumbles into my hair as he presses a firm kiss on my forehead. "Just rest for a while now, I'm here don't worry," he coos making it impossible for me to keep my eyes open.
"Please let this not be a dream," I mutter under my breath before I drift into the darkness.
------------------------
The smell of a familiar cologne is the first I sense as I regain conciseness as I cuddle further into the warm body holding me.
Blinking my eyes open, I realize that I'm lying with my head against Alessandro's chest while we remain sited in the same position, I recalled falling asleep in.
"How's your head?" He asks causing me to frown.
"How did you know I was awake?" I enquire lifting my head off his chest and turning to face him while his eyes are still focused on the wooden cube in his hands.
"Your breathing changed," he replies tearing his gaze away from the cube and towards me.
"Oh," I mumble in self-realization rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "Anyway, do you have any idea how to open this thing?" I ask shifting to sit crossed legs facing him completely.
"You can read these engravings?" He asks me pointing out to the side of the cube where he had previously noted the writing.
"I've seen it before, but I never actually opened one," I explain taking the cube from him and examining it a bit more closely.
"Where have you seen it?" He enquires further.
"When I was about ten or so. Mum used to give me these puzzles to solve every weekend, this was one of the only ones I couldn't crack," I explain, fiddling with it to find any loose joints or clues.
"You like it?"
"Huh?" I ask snapping my gaze towards him for a brief moment.
"You liked solving puzzles?" He clarifies.
"Somethings I guess, I did," I shrug. "But also liked spending my weekends playing outside, instead of being locked in my room trying to figure out some twisted mystery," I add as an afterthought.
He doesn't comment or push the topic further but instead offers suggestions on how we can decode this cube. "We should try decoding these engravings first, maybe they are instructions to open the cube," he suggests making me refocus my focus on the writing.
"It looks like a Totas code," I remark taking a closer look at it.
"Totas?" He wonders.
"Yeah, it was a stupid code language mum taught me a long time back. She called it the Santos called, I thought Totas sounded cooler," I explain scoffing at the last bit.
Offering me a small smile he shifts his attention back to the task at hand. "So, you can decipher it?" He asks.
"I can try, but this looks complicated," I reply.
"I'm here to help any way I can," he assures me.
"I know," I mumble, flashing him a small smile. Shifting my attention back to the engraving on the cube, my eyes narrow in concentration, reading and rereading the phrase etched to the wood.
"All this says is turn and open," I sigh inconclusively, grabbing the top of the cube I try turning it with all my strength, but to no avail.
"Here let me try," he says gently taking the cube from my hand.
"Maybe there is a hidden meaning to this," he suggests making me groan in frustration.
"This is a puzzle inside a puzzle. It's a never-ending loop," I conclude glancing towards the small window in the wall only to realize that it is way past sundown.
"We'll get through this," he reassures me pulling me into his side causing heat to rise to my cheeks and the butterflies to resume their fluttering in my stomach.
"How? I'm pretty sure once she gets what she wants we are dead meat," I point out.
"I have a plan in mind, but far that to get into play I need them to open that door," he whispers into my ears cuddling and pulling me impossibly closer to him.
"That camera can catch sound?" I whisper back snuggling into him.
"Not sure, but I say let's not take a chance," he replies, but deep down both of us know that we are enjoying this a bit too much.
"We have roughly another twenty-four hours to crack this and bust ourselves out of here," I point out, resting my head on his shoulder.
"We will get out of here one way or the other, don't worry," he mumbles kissing my forehead.
"Change of plans!" She comes busting through the heavy metal door causing the both of us to jump apart in shock with Alessandro taking a protective stance in front of me in a heartbeat.
"Awe young love, how cute," she taunts rolling her eyes taking in the both of us. "I wasn't in such a hurry, I would have puked," he adds in disgust making both Alessandro and me clench our fist in anger.
"Anyway, moving on. Now you have just until sunrise, to crack that stupid code," she declares.
"That's too little time!" I protest.
"Well, too bad," she scoffs. "You have Romeo over here to thank for this. Smartass left his car GPS on while chasing our van. So, either hurry up and crack it or I'll kill each and every person you ever loved starting with Romeo," she sneers pointing her Glock at him.
"No! I'll do it. Just don't hurt anyone," I negotiate, causing her to lower her weapon.
"Good girl," she praises before turning on her heels and leaving the cellar with her bodyguard in tow.
"We are dead," I breathe out once the door slams shut.
"We have another problem," he adds sliding down the wall beside me.
Author's Note:
Hey, guys hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Thank's for reading.
Comment &Vote
Stay Safe & Happy
~Kia