Xuan, Adriano and I drove to the safe house in a separate car to everyone else.
We see that everyone's already inside and the bodyguards let us in.
We rush to the living room and everyone's sitting there, discussing.
Everyone turns to us and the jaws drop.
'Surprise, I'm back from the dead,' Adriano smirks.
'You're supposed to be dead,' Terzo says, standing up.
'Yeah, well it didn't stick.' Adriano replies.
Terzo comes and hugs Adriano tightly, patting his back.
'It's good to have you back,' Alessandro says, walking up to him.
'I can speak for everyone when I say that we've missed you.' Alora says.
'How the fuck are you alive?' Lorenzo asks, laughing in disbelief.
'I'm still processing it,' I say.
'Adriano you are an asshole,' Amira says. 'We were so stressed out.'
'How about we all get some rest and then Adriano can explain it to us later,' Vittoria said.
Adriano and Vittoria give each other a look.
We all nod and make our way upstairs.
Xuan leads me to my room.
'Just shout me if you need anything,' he says.
'Thank you,' I reply.
I take off my now ruined dress, all of Maurice's hard work gone to waste.
I fill up the bathtub with warm water and as I wait, I start taking off my jewellery and makeup.
I decide to relax in the bath for a while.
He's back. Adriano's back.
I smile to myself.
But one things keeps on creeping back into my mind.
'Never trust a survivor until you know what they did to stay alive.'
- D.D
***********
I look through the wardrobe and find a nice pair of silk pyjamas.
I put them on and notice that Adriano still hasn't come up yet.
I get let my hair hand loose and I get into bed.
I'm exhausted and I feel myself dosing off when the bed sinks behind me and two warm hands wrap around my waist.
'Hey pazza,' he mumbles, putting his face in my neck.
'Hey pendejo,' I reply, turning around to face him.
He chuckles lightly.
I wrap my arms around him and lean my head on his chest, I can hear his heart beating.
'I still can't believe that you're here,' I mumble.
'I told you, brick by brick.' He replies.
He softly rubs my back.
'What did you do to your hair?' He asks.
'It got a little messed up when I was fighting for my life.' I reply. 'I actually like it short like this.'
'So do I,' he replies.
Adriano puts his chin on my head, and kisses my forehead.
'Adriano...' I mumble.
'Yeah pazza?' He says.
'Did you ever think about me?' I ask.
'Yes,' he immediately replies. 'Every second of every day, there wasn't a moment that passed where you weren't on my mind. I would be fighting for my life and all the while just thinking about coming home to you, or what you're doing or how you're feeling. I thought of you so much that it drove me insane, but not only that it also motivated me to stay alive just so I could smell your scent and see your beautiful face.'
He holds my face, and makes me look at him.
'God I've missed you so much.' He says, before pressing his lips onto mine.
He kisses me passionately and I return it. His hands go up my shirt and grabs onto my waist.
He flips me so I'm underneath him and place kisses on my neck, making me gasp.
We both look at each other lustfully, breathing heavily and he grabs both my hands and pins them above me with one of his.
He starts placing little kisses on my jaw, going down my neck and to my collarbone.
He stops when there's a knock on the door.
'Sorry,' he sighs.
'It's fine,' I reply.
He gets out of bed and opens the door.
'Sorry to interrupt but Vittoria needs you sir,' a bodyguard says.
'I'll be down in a minute,' he replies.
He closes the door and turns to look at me.
'I'll be back soon,' he says.
'Don't worry, I'm not going to go anywhere,' I laugh.
He smiles and me and leaves the room.
************
ADRIANO'S POV:
'So how are you alive?' Vittoria asks.
I take a deep breath.
'When Dilara and I split up, I got knocked out.' I explain. 'I then woke up in a truck, with my arms tied, there was a single guard with me and I heard that we stopped at a gas station.'
'I managed to knock out the guard and leave the truck,' Vittoria just watches me, staying silent. 'I knew I couldn't come home since they were going to look for me.'
'Whose body was that?' She asks.
'A man who owns the gas station.' I reply, looking down.
'An innocent?' She asks.
I nod.
'Cazzo,' she mutters.
Translation: Fuck
'He had the same eyes as me and the same build.' I explain. 'I only had to dye his hair black.'
'What about his family?' Vittoria asks.
'I had no choice,' I say.
'That doesn't justify murdering an innocent man,' she replies.
I stay silent.
'What else did you do,' she asks.
'I killed innocent people and tortured them for supplies.' I explain. 'People pissed me off so I burnt down their houses.'
She stares at me in disbelief.
'When you called me, you said that you needed my help.' Vittoria says. 'What happened.'
'The only reason they let me go was because I made a promise.' I reply. 'A promise that I would stay away from Dilara.'
Vitoria narrows her eyes.
'When we go back to California tomorrow, we will discuss it with The Ravens.' She says. 'A normal civilised conversation if you want.'
I nod.
'Mum I nearly died because of her,' I mumble. 'I love her so much but I'm going to be putting her and the rest of the mafia at risk.'
'That's not a risk the heir of a mafia should take.' She says. 'Your doing the right thing my son.'
Everything's going to change the moment we step foot in California again.
I trust that Vittoria knows what she's doing. She's my mum and I trust her.
*AUTHORS NOTE*
Things are gonna get intense real soon.....
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