I quietly followed Sergio upstairs, torn between telling him that he wasn't my boss and the genuine care in his voice. Just as I was about to close the door of the guest bedroom, Sergio jammed his food in the doorway before pushing it all the way open.
"I'll find whoever sent that note. I promise they won't even harm a hair on your head." He said lowly as a shiver wracked up my spine.
"I know." I said softly before asking him the question that had been nagging my mind for a while. "Why are they after you anyways? Why send cryptic notes?"
Sergio ran a frustrated hand through his hair before carefully contemplating his next few words.
"It seems like someone's just out to get me. What with framing me for Bruno's murder and now targeting my weaknesses."
"Your weaknesses?"
"Yeah. Like you. You're my weakness. And whoever it is that's playing with me, knows it." He replied carefully, gauging my reaction to his response.
"I see." I said evenly, not wanting to feel my heart clench at his heartfelt reply and deciding to change the topic. "But why would they frame you for the murder? Why not someone else?"
"Because this person knew my plan beforehand, supposedly it seems. So he or she must have thought that it would be clever to take me down in my own game and eventually make a mess." He said darkly as my eyes widened in realisation.
"You mean...you planned to kill your own father?"
He jerked his head in a nod as my hands gripped the doorframe. But...why would Sergio want to kill his own father in cold blood? That was crazy, right?
"Why?" The question came out softer than intended as Sergio's eyes drilled holes into my own.
Without breaking eye contact, he said the two words that I would have never expected to come out of his mouth. "For you."
Without giving me a second to process his answer, he turned his back to me.
"Buona notte, mia gioia. Sleep tight. I'll see you tomorrow morning."
I was left with my mouth gaping open as I heard the soft click of a door, before proceeding to do the same myself. I think some sleep was in order based on the crazy day that I'd had so far. I'd deal with the emotions that I currently didn't want to dissect in the way I usually did - by bottling it up and never dealing with it.
***
I awoke and trudged downstairs, obviously in a much happier mood from last night - obviously because I was going back to my own apartment.
"Hey, are you..." I trailed off as the sight of a half naked Sergio rendered me speechless.
It seemed like I had forgotten just how sculpted he was under all those suits. In fact, he had gotten bigger since the last time that I had seen him. My cheeks flushed as my gaze unabashedly roamed over his torso, the scars and ridges evident from the several times that he had gotten shot or stabbed at. I carefully traced his toned abs with my eyes before I dropped them down to his sweatpants. Immediately, I snapped my gaze back to his face, not wanting to linger on how his nether region was slowly tenting up. No. Nope. Definitely not thinking about Sergio and his dick. His very, very big dick.
"Like what you see, mia gioia?" He taunted, a smirk blooming on his face.
It only grew wider as I sputtered and failed to answer his very stupid question, trying to come up with a smart comeback. But for once, I had nothing to say to him.
"It's okay to admit when you like something, you know." He kept egging me as I fought to keep my eyes trained on his face.
"I wasn't...it's not like what you're thinking." I finished lamely as Sergio flashed me another gleaming smile.
"Sure." He retorted back, as if saying that both he and I knew where my dirty mind had strayed to.
"So um are you ready?"
"Ready for what?" He questioned as he focused his attention on the omelettes that were currently sizzling on the stove.
Out of habit, I mentally catalogued the ingredients on the counter and whether or not I could eat. Three years of fucking PCOS would do that to a woman. Finding that none of the ingredients would affect my hormones negatively, I breathed a sigh before leaning my hip against the marble counter.
"To drop me home. It's only fair since you brought me here."
Sergio's hand faltered a bit before he turned down the heat, moving around so he was half facing me. It looked like he was at war with himself before he managed to give me a jerky half nod.
Satisfied that he wasn't going to argue any further with me on that, I took a seat on one of the high stools as he placed a plate in front of me. I ignored the chocolate chip pancakes to the side, as much as it pained me before I dug into my breakfast.
"You don't want the pancakes? I thought you liked them." Sergio asked with a quirked eyebrow as he tilted his head in confusion.
"I did." I replied, not elaborating any further.
"So why aren't you eating it?" He prodded, way too hell bent on getting an answer from me.
Up until now, the only people that knew about my PCOS diagnosis - obviously apart from my gynecologist, that is - were my mum and a few other people that I had told during the beginning stages of my diagnosis. For some reason that I couldn't figure out for the life of me, it embarrassed me to admit that I had PCOS, hence why I was torn between whether or not I should tell Sergio the truth.
"I have PCOS so I'm not really supposed to be indulging in those types of foods."
"Is that why you don't eat muffins and drink Earl Grey anymore?"
Sometimes, Sergio was too sharp for his own good. While he wasn't wrong about the muffins and tea part, the reason behind not consuming those foods was entirely different. One that I wasn't entirely ready to admit to him. A reason that would show him just how much leaving him had affected me. I settled on going with a simple and less complicated answer.
"Yeah."
"Alright. Next time, let me know what you can eat so I can arrange for it accordingly."
Next time? I was momentarily stunned by his confident response to even dwell over the fact that he hadn't poked and prodded about my diagnosis. Based on my experience so far, people had very nosy tendencies and loved to ask about unnecessary details such as why and how. It started to get annoying real quick.
Sergio's attention was now focused on his phone as his fingers flew across the screen, his breakfast nearly untouched. I silently finished my food before getting up to put the plate in the sink. Jesus Christ. Now that there was daylight streaming through the windows, I could clearly see how much of a mess his kitchen was in. There was a pile of dishes - the same pile from yesterday - that nobody had bothered to clean up, while several fruit peels lay off to the side of the sink. Fighting the urge to get a rag and wipe the whole counter down with disinfectant, I moved to the side as I felt an all too familiar heat encompass my body.
Sergio's chest was plastered to my back as he leaned over me to place his plate next to mine. My breath caught in my throat as my fingers gripped the granite counter, too intoxicated by his close presence. I shouldn't be feeling this way. Especially not about the man that had ripped my heart right out of my chest and torn it to shreds. But I couldn't deny it. Deny the pull between us, even though three whole years of not seeing each other had passed by.
Pretending to focus on the empty dishes cluttered together, my body tensed as his arms caged mine, effectively rendering me immobile. His nose nuzzled my hair as his hips pressed into my lower back.
"God, I missed this. I miss you, mia gioia."
"What are you talking about?" I whispered hoarsely, too far gone in the heat of the moment.
"There hasn't been a single day in the past three years where I didn't think about you. Every single fucking moment that you were on my mind made me want to come and drag your sweet ass back to Italy."
"Then why didn't you?" My voice cracked on the last word as relief flooded through me.
Relief at the knowledge that he had wanted me back, as pathetic as it sounded. But then why did he let me go in the first place? And what about Carla? The engagement?
Just as I was about to voice those questions, the door flew open as I took that chance to move out from under Sergio.
Luca's sly gaze darted between both of us, no doubt catching the way that we were both breathing heavily. I was at the opposite end of the counter, not daring to look at Sergio as I directed my question at Luca.
"Luca, get the car ready. Your boss is going to drop me home now."
"On it, maam." He saluted me and gave me a wink as I suppressed a smile at his antics. "Also Gio, we've got a shipment coming in soon that I'll have to handle. Thought I'd let you know that."
Sergio grunted as his jaw clenched tightly. Without sparing the both of us a glance, he trodded upstairs to his room as Luca raised his eyebrows.
"Well, what's gotten his knickers in a twist?"
"The usual, you know." I said as I rolled my eyes, Luca's snicker following me all the way to the living room.
I slipped on my shoes just as Sergio came in wearing a black t-shirt over his sweatpants. He grabbed his car keys before he gestured for me to walk ahead of him, my duffle bag looking miniscule in one of his hands. He muttered a few sentences in Italian that I couldn't hear to Luca before he slammed the door shut. A menacing glare that was sent in Alessandro's way - no doubt for last night's mishap - had him scurrying to the side before the elevator doors closed.
An awkward silence hung in the air as I avoided Sergio's scrutinising gaze. It felt like he saw right through me. Saw through the facade that I put up everyday. But I was most terrified of the fact that he saw through the lies that I liked to feed myself about him. About how he didn't affect me anymore, when he clearly did. No more words were exchanged between us, nor did we acknowledge our little moment in the kitchen as Sergio got into the driver's seat with me taking a seat in the passenger seat beside him.
As if he knew the way to my apartment by heart, he started driving in that direction without using the GPS as I turned my head to look out of the window. Within a few minutes, we were parked in front of my apartment building as I got out, shutting the door behind me.
"I can go alone you know." I blurted out as I watched Sergio get out of the car as well, not ready to endure another awkward elevator ride.
"I know that and I don't care. I'm coming with you to your doorstep and making sure you lock up behind you. We can't have a repeat of last night." He said calmly.
Whooshing out a breath, I didn't say anything else, knowing that I'd be fighting a losing battle. Another silent elevator ride later and we were standing in front of my doorstep. With a hand on my hip, Sergio moved me to the side as his hand lay firmly on the gun strapped to his waist. He kicked the door open, giving me a direct view of my apartment. The sight in front of me nearly had me collapsing to knees as I held onto the doorframe. Fucking hell.
☆☆☆
To all my PCOS girlies...I see you, I feel you. As someone who's struggled with PCOS for so long, I know all too well how exhausting it can get. Sending all of you so much love and strength. You got this. Also...on another note, don't we all adore soft Sergio?🥺💚
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