Matteo parks the car in front of Gemma's apartment. He leans back in his seat, trying to search for the right words to say.
"Gemma, I-", he starts,"I don't have the words to say that would make this all go away".
She looks down at her lap, her hands tightly wound together. She rewinds the events from the last hour. "Am I crazy? Why did I bring him here? What am I trying to get out of all this"? Her thoughts became rampant and she started feeling a hint of regret bringing him here. She tightened the grip of her hands, her knuckles turning white. Matteo noticed this and placed his hand gently over hers. Gemma finally looked up for the first time since they'd gotten into the car. In all the chaos, she forgot the sadness that lived in Matteo's eyes. He looked genuinely sorry. She searched deeper, getting lost in the darkness of it. In that moment, she knew he was heartbroken. The thought of someone beginning the journey of vulnerability with her was enough to accept this chaos. She had to admit to herself that she cared for him, the chaos was nothing compared to what she was starting to feel.
"I can do this", she finally replies. Matteo is silent, eager for her to elaborate. "I can do this, I want to do this. I want you to know I'm not scared. This, all of this, is okay".
Surprised by her answer, Matteo couldn't let her do this. He thought she was crazy for even trying to make this all okay.
"Gemma, you're fucking crazy! I can't let you ruin your life! This kind of life isn't for everybody and no one can just "accept it"! Haven't you seen enough already!? I fucked up, I screamed into your face, interrogated you over some paranoia! What about all this could possibly make you stay!?", he screamed, trying to understand her.
"YOU, GOD DAMN IT, MATTEO", she screamed back,"YOU'RE THE REASON I CAN ACCEPT THIS". She stops for a second to calm herself down, her hand rubbing her temple. "I'm tired of shutting people out, Matteo and I know you are too. For the first time in my life, I'm willing to give someone a part of me and it's easy with you. This is my decision and I've always made my own choices. After all that you've put me through just now, don't you dare make a decision for me".
Matteo stands there, speechless. He can't muster up the words to counter her argument because she was right. His entire life he's had to make decisions for everybody: his employees, his one-night-stands, himself. He was exhausted too, of trying to rebuild a wall that Gemma was clearly tearing down.
Gemma could still see the uncertainty in his eyes and in a split second impulse decision, she grabs his hand and runs off into the lobby of her apartment building.
"What's going on, what are you-"
"Shhhh", Gemma whispers, placing a finger on her lips. They were no longer running now, but creeping into a hallway. Gemma stands in front of Matteo, smiling.
"What's are you doing?", Matteo asks, confused.
"I know your life is chaotic and dangerous and scary. But my entire life has been boring, lonely, and uneventful. I have no family, no friends. I don't even care about law, I only went majored in it because I thought it would make me feel like I accomplished something, that it would fill a hole in my heart. But no matter what I did, what successes I gave myself, it wasn't enough. I've gone my entire life with no problems of shutting people out and now you come along and everything just becomes so easy and messed up and amazing all at once", Gemma stops to breathe. "But I realized that I'm finally living, really living and I don't want this feeling to go away".
With her monologue finished and not giving Matteo a second to digest her words, Gemma grabs the handle of the fire alarm in between them and pulls. The lights are bright and the alarm rings into their ears. Matteo takes turns looking at Gemma and then the rest of the building as people run out of the building. He looks at her in confusion, wondering what the hell she's trying to do. Now the sprinklers have went off and both of them were getting soaked. Their hair is slicked back and their clothes were heavy with water. Gemma gives Matteo a mischievous look.
"I'm accept your chaos if you accept mine", she says. And with that, she grabs Matteo by the neck and pulls him into a long, deep kiss. The water was cold, but their lips burned with passion and in that moment, Matteo accepted her chaos as well.
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The next morning, Gemma woke up exhilarated. Matteo was still asleep in her bed as she closed the bedroom door behind her. She grabs her coffee mug and steps out into the balcony. She chuckles at the sight of their clothes hung over the railing trying to dry. After finishing her coffee, Gemma opens the bedroom door to see Matteo stirring awake.
"I'm sorry if I woke you, I have to get ready for work", she whispers, kissing him softly on the cheek.
"It's alright, I have to get to work myself". Matteo gets out of bed and calls his guard.
"Bring me my black suit, the Tom Ford", he orders through his phone and quickly hangs up.
"Must be nice to have everyone at your beck and call", Gemma smirks playfully.
"I could have a couple guys come out here for you if you want, they can take care of you".
"Oh, no," she states,"That's not necessary, I can do everything myself". Matteo still can't over how this woman constantly denies his gifts and help.
"Is there anything you'll accept?", he quips.
"You, remember?", Gemma corrects him as she sticks her head out of the closet. She quickly gets dressed and grabs her bag. "I'll call you when I get out, just lock up before you leave". She gives Matteo a quick kiss and heads out the door.
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Gemma strides into the firm, second coffee in hand. She says her her good mornings and heads into Sage's office.
"Ah, perfect, you're here", Sage says,"Sit down, we have a lot do business to cover". He shuffles his papers around as he waits for Gemma to get situated.
"I'm heading out to lunch today with our client, Mr. Russo, so I need you to run some errands for me down at the courthouse today".
Now knowing that Russo was a big part of Matteo's life, she suddenly grew interest in what Sage doing with Russo.
"You've had three meetings with him already this week, seems like a tough client", she mentions.
"Well, you know how it is, not all clients are sunshine and rainbows. Some are just harder to work with", Sage says nonchalantly, looking at his computer screen.
"What's this particular client need from us? Maybe I can help, I'm your only intern and could really use the experience. I haven't been on any fun cases in a while", she pushes. Sage looks up at Gemma over his glasses, his chin propped on his elbow.
"Not all cases are going to be fun, Miss Hunter", he snaps,"You're job as an intern is to do what I ask of you in hopes that you'll be good enough to be hired into this firm. But if you're looking for just fun cases then I suggest you start looking for a position elsewhere. Now if you excuse me, I'm heading to lunch, I expect all the courthouse errands to be done by the end of the day". Sage briskly gets up from his desk, leaving Gemma sitting alone in the office.
"Something's off", she thought. Sure, Sage was stern but just now he was obviously agitated by something... or someone. Curious, Gemma carefully and quietly locks the door. She tiptoes to Sage's desk, trying to open his file cabinets.
"Damn it, they're locked", she whispers to herself. She looks around his desk, hoping to find a key. She turns to the bookshelf behind her, touching anything and everything that could possibly hold a key. Finally, she feels a small wooden box behind an old law book. She pulls it out and opens it.
"Bingo".
She pushes the key into the first cabinet with no luck. "What the- is this not the right key? She tries a couple other ones with no luck. She's down to the last cabinet and she prays that it opens.
"Yes!"
The cabinet is full of papers and files, not organized like Sage normally keeps his things. They looked like they'd been stuffed there in a hurry. Gemma pulls out as much as her hands can hold. Flipping through the files, she first finds an informational file detailing Emanuele Russo and his organization:
Full Name: Emanuele Gianni Russo
DOB: 11/14/1961
Place of Birth: Caronia, Sicily, Italy
Occupation: Russo & Sons Contracting
Criminal Record: Yes
Gemma reads on and notices a list of all the charges Russo's been cleared of with Sage's help: racketeering, extortion, etc. the list goes on. She continues through the rest the folders, skimming each one and hoping to find answers. Nothing special seems to come up, until finds a black folder at the bottom of the cabinet. It's weirdly tied in twine, so Gemma knew it had to be important. This had to contain all her answers", she thought.
She carefully removes the string and opens the folder. She pours through the papers, shocked at what she finds. In it contained Sage's offshore accounts where Russo was paying him and candid photos of Matteo, they were spying on him. Behind the photos, there it was: A case file for Matteo Ciccone. Gemma stared at it for while, going back and forth as to whether or not she should open it. She was scared of what she would find, but her curiosity got the best of her.
Full Name: Matteo Enzo Ciccone
DOB: 02/25/1988
Place is Birth: Bronx, New York
Occupation: Landlord
Criminal Record: Yes
Reading that last line gave Gemma a lump in her throat. She knew what he was, but seeing it printed on paper made it feel like that's all he was, a glorified criminal. Against her better judgement, she continued on. There she found it, the holy grail of all things wrong Matteo has ever been accused, things he was notorious for, and things he had made go away:
Extortion, money laundering, racketeering, illegal possession of firearms, illegal gambling rings, murder...
The list looked long and it made Gemma sick. She closes the file and throws it back in the cabinet wondering if she could even go on. "Do I even want to help Matteo?", she thought. He was just as bad as Russo, and even after knowing all that, the feelings she had for him didn't seem to go away. "I know I told him that I accepted the chaos, but this seems all too much".
She cleaned up her mess and replaced the key back in it's box. She opens the door to let herself out and spent the rest of the day in a daze. Gemma sat at her desk, going back and forth in her mind. She was trying to justify his actions, to keep her promise to him that she accepted the good and bad. She cursed herself because she knew she had opened Pandora's Box and she couldn't turn back now. 5 o' clock hit and Gemma grabbed her things in a haste. She sprinted to her into her car, her heels clicking hard on the pavement. She needed to confront Matteo about what she knew.