"We haven't been introduced, yet," he walks up to us. Enzo tenses beside me when he gets close and offers him a handshake, "My name is Matteo Capone. You can put the gun down now."
I dismiss Matteo's hand with my arm. "Enzo doesn't take orders from you," I interrupt, "And don't smoke in my house; you know I hate the smell of it." I say this in disgust.
"Come on, babe. Is this how you treat your guest?" He asks me with a smirk, despite the fact that he listened to me and discarded the cigarette on the coffee table. I roll my eyes in annoyance at that action.
"I don't remember inviting you in." Sarcasm is my best weapon against him. "And stop calling me 'babe.' We're no longer together." I sigh.
At that statement, Enzo took his eyes off Matteo and looked my way. I turned to face him and gently placed my hand on his, saying, "You can put the gun down..." And only then did Enzo lower his gun.
Let me make a quick introduction, Matteo Capone is my ex boyfriend. We were together for 3 years. He was my first love. He is also the leader of the Capone Clan, one of the most powerful families in this business. He has been their leader for a few years now. Matteo is a few years older than me.
"You've changed a lot since the last time we saw each other," Matteo commented.
"Enough with the chit chat, what are you really doing here?" I asked him, and surprisingly, I sounded calm.
He turns around, walks up to my couch, and takes a seat. "I requested a meeting with you, and you rejected me. Honest advice, babe, you really need better security; it was so easy to sneak in here." The way he is sitting makes him look as if he owns the place.
"You rejected my business offer first." I retort, ignoring his last comment.
"You know me better than that, Lea. It was just a petty excuse to see you." He gestures for me to sit down on the couch that is in front of him. I stare blankly at him, but I still turn to Enzo and ask him to leave the room.
"I'll be outside if you need anything," Enzo says before exiting the room.
I take a seat on the couch opposite Matteo. "So, you and your bodyguard? I didn't take you for a girl who would settle for someone like him." He smirks.
The only reaction he receives from me is my glare. Matteo nods his head and continues, "I mean, I kind of get it. You want to live that fantasy of rich girl with-"
"Matteo, please leave if you don't have anything significant to say." My irritation was present in my tone of voice. He chuckles at my sudden outburst.
I suppose he did, after all, elicit a response from me.
He puts his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. I take it that you don't want to joke around. You used to enjoy my jokes, though..."
This time, all I do is just stare blankly at him. To be honest, I can't get my head around the fact that he can act so nonchalantly around me, as if he didn't break my heart and leave my life as if I were worthless.
"On a serious note, the offer that you made is quite shocking," he says, sitting upright. "I didn't think that you would want to do business with me."
"I didn't." I say right away. I am clearly in defensive mode; it is like the walls that I have built in my heart keep rising higher whenever he speaks.
"However, because your clan is one of the most powerful, I don't want to make any unnecessary enemies." I say this after some thought.
Matteo stares at me, the expression that he has on his face right now is one that I have forgotten for a very long time. He has this look on his face, a soft one, one that makes me want to punch him since he is not suppose to look at me like this anymore.
"I am never going to be your enemy, Lea, I never was to begin with." He says those words so softly, so gently, so caringly.
The mood changes completely with his tone of voice.
"I want to apologize for the way things ended between us, it was never my intention to hurt you," he starts. "But you still did it..." I say in a low voice. "And I am going to regret that for the rest of my life, Lea." He answers. "Months after our break up, I began to understand that no one would continue to do all the excellent things you had done for me. I realized that I was lonely without you," he says the last part while looking at the floor.
*Flashback*
I was currently in Matteo's house, cutting some broccoli for the lunch that we were preparing.
"Is this how I am supposed to cut this broccoli?" I ask to no one in particular. Matteo, who was in charge of the sauce for the pasta we were making, approaches me and chuckles, "Let me do it, go look at the bacon and stir the sauce."
I listen to him and with that we fell into a rhythm in the kitchen, he was cutting the vegetables while I was in charge of the other things. It was only the two of us in the kitchen.
After the pasta was cooked, I grabbed a fork, rolled the pasta on it and I approached Matteo. "Does it taste good?" I ask while feeding him. His eyes shine while he looks at me and he says, "Who knew that you were a good cook." I laugh at that, he was always teasing me, but I knew that he was only trying to make me smile. He grabbed my waist and pulled me close to him, I gasp at the sudden move, but I smiled when I saw him getting close to my face and then our lips connected. "Delicious," he whispers looking into my eyes, "The pasta, I mean." I playfully hit him and he laughs.
At that moment, I realized that spending the rest of my life doing mundane things with him didn't sound so bad. I realized that as long as he was with me, I would be happy.
*End of Flashback*
"I am sorry that I was not able to be with you at your lowest when you were always there for me at mine. When your father died, I was out of the country, and by the time I came back, it was too late," he continues. A long time ago, I would have loved to hear this. I would have felt like I was important to him. But now I don't feel anything hearing those words coming from him.
*Flashback*
When I looked at the clock, it was 5AM. My phone rings, and in my sleepy state, I answer without looking at the caller ID, "Hello?"
"She is gone...." His voice sounded raspy; I cannot tell if it is from the lack of sleep or from crying. After all, his grandma is gone, so I guess it's both options.
"I'll be there in 20 minutes," I whisper to him. My heart was hurting for him.
"Don't you have a flight to take at 9AM?" Matteo is concerned. Even when he is the one hurting, he still makes sure that I am okay.
"I will cancel it," I say while getting ready as quickly as possible.
"Lea, I don't want to cause any trouble with your dad, that trip is important."
"Nothing is more important than you, Matteo. And you need me, so I will be there for you." I grab my purse and check that I have everything I need in it before leaving my room.
"I'm on my way now, see you in a bit." I say.
That day I cancelled my flight, and I cleared my schedule for a few days to be with him and his family, despite my father's protest.
*End of Flashback*
*Flashback*
Matteo texted me to let me know that he wasn't feeling well and that we wouldn't be able to hang out this weekend like we typically do.
So, I decided that I would be taking care of him. But before leaving for his house, I went downstairs to the kitchen to make him some chicken soup. I have never made chicken soup before, but I guess there is always a first time for everything.
After the soup was finished, I let it boil for a few minutes while I went to my room to get ready. When I was finished, I walked to the kitchen to grab the container with the chicken soup I had made for Matteo.
One of my bodyguards drove me to Matteo's house. His security let me in without a question since I come here every weekend. I waited for him at his home's front door with patience. After a short while, he opened the door.
"Lea? I told you that I was sick." He looked exhausted, but I do remember that he mentioned that he was not able to sleep well throughout the night due to his fever.
He was exposed to the chilly winter, which is why he developed the flu yesterday. Since he always has a coat or a sweater on him, I was a little shocked.
"And I texted you that I was going to take care of you," He'd let me into his house by this point. He was walking behind me like a lost puppy. "I also made you chicken soup." We enter the kitchen and I began preparing a bowl for him.
"You cooked?" He asks surprised.
Fun fact: I am a great cook; I just don't like to do it.
"I did." I chuckle at his expression.
"Now, go to your room. I will bring you the soup and get you the medicine your doctor gave you." I ordered him.
"Thank you, baby."
That is how I spent that weekend: making sure he took his medicine, preparing meals for him, and staying up until late at night to calm his fever down. But I didn't mind doing all those things for him at all because I loved him and all I wanted was for him to be healthy again.
*End of Flashback*
"I know I cannot fix what I have broken. I regret not appreciating all the things you did for me. I regret not appreciating the love you showed me. But what I won't regret is accepting your offer. So, yeah, I accept being your ally." He finishes his speech.
I have to give him credit, though; that was a nice speech. But it no longer has any effect on me.
*Flashback*
We were at a party with his friends, and everyone was having fun. Everyone except for me...
You see, I am currently talking with this random girl who approached me, while Matteo is currently drinking and smoking with his friends a few feet away from me. This is not the first time that this scenario keeps happening. To be honest, I can tolerate that he drinks and smokes, but what I don't tolerate is that he is currently hugging a girl while talking to his friends. A girl who is not me, his girlfriend.
I take a deep breath and turn to the girl who approached me, whose name I don't remember, giving her the nicest smile I could muster at the moment: "It was nice meeting you, and I hope you enjoy the party." I say this before leaving her side.
As I was walking towards the exit of the VIP section, Matteo shouted among the music, but clearly enough for everyone to hear, "Babe! Why are you leaving so early?!"
The audacity he has to ask me that question when he knows damn well that I don't like when he ignores me, and this time it was for another girl, which infuriates me even more. He clearly doesn't respect our relationship while I am present. I cannot imagine what he does while I am not here, and to be honest, I would rather not know at all.
So I did what he has been doing the whole night since we got here: I ignored him and continued walking towards the exit. And what hurt me the most is that he didn't even try to run after me.
Later that night I received a call from him, and I took a deep breath before answering.
"Lea! You are so disrespectful! How could you ignore me? You didn't even kiss me goodbye!" Matteo exclaims; he was not yelling, but he clearly sounded upset.
"You were ignoring me first. Then you went and hug that gir-" I started to express my feelings to him, but it was of no use since he interrupted me, "So, that is what this is about? You are jealous?"
"That is not wha-" I started again, but as always I was interrupted, "We have been through this over and over again. It is always the same thing with you, Lea. Gosh! Can you stop being insecure for a second? I am seriously getting tired of you and your attitude." Matteo says those words with venom and I hate to admit it, but they actually poison me.
I couldn't help but start crying at his words.
"Seriously? Why are you crying?" he scoffs.
He didn't even let me explain or express my feelings before he says, "You know what? I am done with this. I am done with you. You are never going to change. Goodbye, Lea." Was the last thing he said before hanging up the call.
I remember that day as if it were yesterday. It was a few days before Christmas. It was a cold Saturday night. That night was the most lonely I'd ever felt.
After that, he disappeared from my life. There were times when all I wanted was to call him and apologize. I spent countless sleepless nights blaming myself for everything that happened. Until one day, I decided that I had enough. That was the day I promised myself that I would never see him again or reach out to him again. Not in a romantic way, at least...
*End of Flashback*
"Max will be contacting you regarding the contract with us." I say emotionless.
Matteo will never see my soft side ever again.
"Enzo!" I shout. Seconds later Enzo comes to the living room. "Matteo is leaving, accompany him outside." I ordered him.
Matteo stares at me for a few seconds, trying to read my emotions. But he is just met with my blank and distant stare.
He gets up from the couch, he walks up to me, he bends down to kiss my hairline, and he whispers, "It is a pleasure doing business with you, gorgeous."
I look at him in the eyes for the first time since our conversation started a while ago. "Goodbye, Matteo." I give him a small but sincere smile.
Matteo's POV
When she said those words and looked at me for the first time, I could see the emptiness in her stare. At that moment, I knew that I had lost her forever. I lost the woman that I have ever loved, and all due to my immature self.
Enzo walked me to my car, but before entering, I turned to him and said, "Take care of her; she is an amazing woman." And with that, I enter my car.
Part of me came here to see with my own eyes if Lea indeed had a new love interest. And from the brief interaction I witnessed between her and Enzo, I could tell that she has feelings for him. And I know this because she looks at him the same way she used to look at me. But what matters to me is that she is happy.
Perhaps the conversation we had was the closure we both needed to move past our differences. Or maybe that was the closure I needed.
And with that thought in mind, I drove off.