Lucas flew back home in the morning after the raid.
I didn't.
It was a struggle, some rough words said, a lot of threats, and of course, Becks calling me the next day, begging me again to give Eve the time she needed, the time she fucking thought she needed.
Well, fuck it all! Fuck time! And fuck her tantrums!
'I'm going to her tomorrow and that's fucking final,' I think to myself while walking towards my bedroom, with a bottle of whiskey topped with a glass in one hand and cigarettes in the other, walking barefoot through the living room, wearing nothing but the black pajama pants, hanging carelessly on my hips.
I'm all alone. Alone in this huge mansion, using only one living room, one-bedroom, and the kitchen.
There are six weeks since the raid on Valentinis and I've ordered that during these six weeks nobody moves anywhere.
We're all on duty 24/7 to make sure that if there are to be any descendants of Valentinis left, they'll come out or we'll find them, so it feels just right to wait before we call it a done deal.
I enter my bedroom, dark all over, just the moonlight pocking inside through the open huge doors of the glass wall. I push the door closed with one leg and walk out on the balcony, placing the bottle and the glass on it, filling it up, and lightening a cigarette, sucking the smoke, long and deeply as if it's a joint.
I miss a joint like fuck, but I have to keep myself clear-minded till we wrap up the raid thing. So, I take my mind away from it and sip small gulps of the whiskey I have had prepared for myself.
Two puffs later my phone laying on the small glass coffee table next to me buzzes and I see Feli's name on the screen.
I skip a heartbeat, sometimes these calls make my blood cold like ice thinking that maybe something has happened to my girl.
"Enzo," I reply coldly.
You see, we've been having this code between us that whenever we are being called, we must speak first when picking up, and say our names. Safety matters.
"Hey, caro. How are you?" she says in a soft voice, most probably the entire house sleeping by now. (Sweetheart.)
"I'm good, Feli. How is everything there?" I ask leisurely, trying to sound interested in everybody, but I only want to know about my girl.
"Good, quiet. You don't need to worry," she replies with kindness, being now the sweet, caring Feli I know.
"Aunt Feli, the tea is ready," I hear Eve talking to her aunt in the background.
"I'm coming, sweetheart," Feli replies.
"Sorry, it's teatime," she excuses herself, mocking Eve with an English accent, making me smirk bitterly.
I feel like sucked into a void whirlpool making me breathe heavily and squeeze my fingers around the whiskey glass.
"At this hour?" I ask dumbfounded.
"I swear this girl has the strangest habits ever. She sleeps all day and when the evening comes, she becomes a night bird as if she's still adjusting to the time zone," Feli says, laughing while I'm still shattered hearing Eve's voice after such a long time.
It feels like an eternity, an eternity of darkness, and only by hearing her voice, I can finally see a thin line of light that I want to fetch.
"Enzo, sei ancora qui?" Feli asks when my silence becomes worrisome. (Are you still here?).
"How is she?" I hardly manage to mumble.
"She's good. She seems happy here and I tell you, nothing could make me feel better. Are you talking to Becks or Lucas regularly?" she asks.
"No, not lately."
"Oh," she says. "Well, I'll call Becks a bit later, then. Now I'm being expected for a tea on the patio," she mocks again in a British accent and I understand I need to let her be.
"Okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow," I reply and after we bid our byes, I send a message to my guys watching Feli's house, requesting pictures.
Feli and she are supposed to be on the patio right now, so the pictures are easy to take. My only incentive for a good sleep.
She looks beautiful in all of them, her face is bright and shining, her wide smile beaming like she misses nothing in her life, like she has all the world at her feet and nothing and nobody is missing from it. Like I've never existed for her.
And with every picture I see, I'm more convinced to delay my visit.
Every day I say, "tomorrow will be a better day" and then postpone my visit to yet another time.
And day after day they became eight weeks since Eve is in my sister's house.
Eight weeks since I'm being nothing but a shitty coward and delaying meeting her because... in truth, she has never tried to reach me. No text, no call, she has just run away one day and believed she was far and safe in Feli's house.
Safe she is, I'm making sure of that every day, but far... she's really cute to believe she can be far from me.
I'll go anywhere she is. I'll travel the world, burn the earth and freeze the hell until I find her.
We find fewer and fewer members of the Valentinis almost every day I'm being visited by other families' heads offering deals and businesses that I'm not really interested in.
I told Alex I wanted him to take over as my right hand and handle businesses. He was not happy at first but he finally agreed a few days later.
I need someone trustworthy to take my place and he wants to settle here, maybe for good. And in reality, I don't fully trust Mario can handle it. He's soft sometimes, asking too many questions and too often for approval, while Alex is exactly my type, with no remorse when it comes to fair deals done with a strong hand or with a gun in a strong hand.
He's my twin soul in business and has never disappointed me.
I've slept two hours last night, that if you collect together the ten-twenty minutes of dozing off in my damn empty bed.
Today the meeting I've just finished makes me in need of some drinks and a bit of fun, so I take my car after work and drive to one of my clubs even though it's still early. It's a hell of a lot of time since I have been here last.
I enter the club and see the waitresses and bartenders still preparing the place for opening, some of them recognizing me.
"Don Vincenzo, Bonasera," they would greet, and I nod them back. (Don Vincenzo, good evening)
My phone it's been buzzing since I've gotten down from the car and I pull it out of my pocket only when I get into my upstairs private room.
"Enzo," I reply, as one of my men at Feli's house is calling.
"Don Vincenzo, mi scusi, ma e successo qualcosa a signorina Eve. In spiaggia. E meglio che chiami tua sorella, Feli," he says and I'm already back on my feet, walking out of the club. (Don Vincenzo, excuse me, but something happened to Miss Eve. At the beach. You better call your sister, Feli).
"What the fuck happened?" I spit on the phone.
"Miss Eve fainted when she walked out of the beach," the sorry-ass motherfucker says.
"Fuck!" I hiss and dial Feli's number before I'm even back in my car, hanging up the bad news call without any word.
"Enzo... of course, you know already," she says totally unsurprised.
"What happened, Feli?" I ask coldly, burning the engine and making my way to the airport.
"Ha, Enzo, mio Dio, nothing happened," she says, laughing at me. "The sun was too much for her today and she stayed too long on the beach," she clarifies. (My God)
"Are you sure? Have you got a doctor coming in to check on her?"
"The doctor is with her right now, nothing to worry about. I don't think it's even worth mentioning to Becks. It would worry her for nothing," Feli suggests that I shouldn't call Becks or God forbids, Lucas.
"Hm," I hum, pressing my lips into a thin line and keeping my drive straight to the airport. I'm going to fly to Palermo tonight.
"Enzo, go back home. I know you are on the way here. Nothing happened. Trust me," and still something in my sister's voice is tensed.
"I'm not on the way," I lie in my defense.
"You never knew to lie, Enzo," she replies, and I stop the car on the side of the road.
"Good night, caro. If you wish I'll tell her to call you tomorrow and check by yourself how she is." (Darling)
"Yeah... that would be great," I tell her even though I know I'll hear Eve's voice only by mistake.
I hang up the phone and lean my head against the backrest of the chair, fighting the urge to fly to Palermo, to meet Eve, or even see her from far, and I'm trying to ease my heavy breath, totally out of control.
I turn around and I drive to my mansion instead, unwilling to go back to the club and in so much need of a joint, all alone, hidden in my home office.
I've had three gorgeous women in my life and yet the only one I feel scared for is Eve.
I've lost the count of killings I've done or raids I've led or any other fucking thing in my life as a Don and still, Eve is the only one that can shatter my world and make me shiver in fear for her.
It's exhausting. It's life-sucking exhausting, it's darkening my brain and squeezing my heart in iron clenches, feeling it almost stopping.
Arriving home I go straight to my office, fix a glass of whiskey, and lit a joint, laying on the leather sofa on my back and puffing the smoke up in the air, letting it invade my senses... melting them... numbing them.
My phone buzzes and I pull it out of my pocket answering without looking at the screen.
"Enzo," I say.
"Don Vincenzo, Miss Eve left your sister's house. She's moving to her new house. Do you want us to move?" he speaks, and I stand up, the smoke of the joint having zero effect on me right now.
"Why did she move today?" I ask.
"I don't know. The opening of the restaurant has been advanced as well. It's in two days," he explains.
"Fuck!" I hiss.
I know something has happened. Something is up between her and Feli or else she won't run again.
I cut the call with my guy and dial Feli.
"Feli," she says.
"Why did she leave?" I ask, standing up, pacing around the room, and running my fingers through my hair. "Che cazzo sta succendendo?" I roar losing my temper. (What the fuck is going on?).
Feli sighs on the phone and she escapes some sounds as if she wants to say something, but then she stops, and then she tries again.
"What Feli? What happened?" I shout again.
"Well, why don't you come to her restaurant's opening? It's in one week," she finally says, and I frown confused at her words because this is not what I've been fucking asking her.
"Did she tell you that? Did she ask that?"
"Not really, but... it would be good for the two of you," she says, and I stop breathing at the thought to see Eve, unable to reply.
"She... told me about you two, Enzo. She... look, I am and will always be on your side. Always. But you need to come clean with her. You need to tell her everything about you and Becks. She needs to understand..."
"We tried, Feli. I tried, Becks tried," I tell her sitting back on the sofa, running my hands through my hair almost pulling it from the roots and rubbing the back of my neck.
"Well, try harder, Enzo!" she raises her voice. "She needs you," she completes, and I freeze, hearing her voice cracking at the end.
My girl needs me and yet she has never given me a sign, she has never said a word, she hasn't bothered to at least let me know if she's fine or not.
"Okay, I... I'll try to be there," I finally agree and hang up, unable to speak another word.
*****
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