by Ivy Blake
“That is great news, brother, congratulations to you and the missus. Emily is a beautiful name,” I said while pacing around my apartment.
We fell into silence for a few moments while I tried to think of what I could say to break the ice on the subject. I didn’t have to do it, because he raised the topic himself.
“I know why you’re calling, and the answer is that you need to watch your back,” Claudio said, this time more firmly. The casual air had left his voice.
“What are you talking about?” I asked him and he sighed deeply before he spoke again.
“This is some friendly advice. You need to get out of Naples before that mad fucker gets you killed, along with himself.”
“Are you talking about Marco?”
“Yeah, your bloodthirsty boss. Who else?” Claudio said and then sighed. I remained silent. I didn’t know what to say to that, because I was slowly starting to believe that Marco was mad, that he had always been mad. I’d just refused to see it before because of my unwavering loyalty to him for saving me from an orphan’s life.
“Something big is coming, brother, and you need to get out of there. Pack up your things and disappear. Marco Aducci is going down and he’s going to take you down with him,” Claudio continued.
“I have my loyalties to him,” I growled, clutching the phone tightly to my ear.
“Fuck loyalty, brother. That man is trigger happy, and the rest of the families aren’t happy. He’s going to get himself killed,” Claudio said.
***
I drove back to the mansion, rolling around Claudio’s words in my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about everything he had said to me. That call had ended awkwardly. I couldn’t openly tell him what my plan was. I needed to get Isabella out.
After the call, I’d got in my car and driven back to Marco’s house with the intention to give him a report of what the status was on our allies.
But instead of going through the front door, I took the back entrance through the garden which I knew wasn’t being watched. The house was empty as usual. All of Marco’s guards were surrounding him in the study. The housekeepers were nowhere in sight, either.
I took the stairs, two at a time, trying to be as careful and silent as possible and within minutes, I was knocking lightly on Isabella’s door. She opened the door a few moments later, peering out into the dark hallway.
“Leo?” she said, surprised.
I pushed past her into the room and shut the door behind me.
“Your father doesn’t know I’m here,” I told her and walked over to the window and pulled the curtain shut.
“Why? What’s going on? Why are you hiding from Papa?” she asked.
She was in a silvery pink silk robe, which she clutched tightly around her, like suddenly, she was ashamed of her nakedness underneath. I could see the concern on her face and I wanted to hold her again. I wanted to get on my knees in front of her and tell her exactly how I felt about her.
“I wanted to talk to you privately. There is something going on that you should know about,” I said.
Isabella rushed towards me, stopping in her tracks just moments before she touched me.
“What is happening, Leo? Papa doesn’t tell me anything,” she said in a low whisper. I clenched my jaw, staring into her large green eyes. I wanted to take her away from this place, keep her safe from the dangers that Naples had in store for her. Now that she was here, now that I had tasted her, everything had changed. I had made up my mind about what I was going to do.
“The families are planning an attack on us,” I stated. Isabella’s eyes grew wide.
“Which families? What kind of an attack?”
“On a much bigger scale than what happened last night. It’s only a matter of time before all hell breaks loose,” I said.
Isabella swung away from me. I could see the panic on her face. She started pacing around the room, running her fingers nervously through her hair.
“Does Papa know?” she asked.
“I warned him of it already, but he’s not going to change his mind. He believes he is invincible,” I said. Isabella stared at me, gulped, and then shook her head.
“What are we going to do?” she asked.
“If you stay here, Isabella, your father is going to get you killed, along with himself. This place is dangerous for him and all of us,” I continued.
“Why are you talking like this, Leo? What are you saying? What are you going to do?” Isabella was looking at me for answers, and right now, I didn’t have them. All I knew was that I wanted to keep her safe and I would do anything to make sure of it.
“All I’m saying, Isabella, is that I want you to trust me. We should leave, you should stay away from this place…from your father,” I told her and reached for her face. I touched her cheek with the back of my fingers and I could see the tears welling up in her eyes.
“But I just got here, all these years, while I was in America…all I wanted was to come back home, and now you’re asking me to leave. You want me to leave Papa?” she spoke softly, trying to control the cry that was rising up in her throat.
“It’s dangerous sticking to him, and right now, keeping you safe is my first priority,” I said.
“Because Papa ordered you to do that?” she asked.
“No, because that is what I want,” I said.
Isabella gulped and she broke our gaze. She looked away from me and walked over to the edge of her bed.
“Leo, I need to think about what you’re asking me to do,” she said.
“Isabella…it’s not safe here; it won’t be safe here for long. I’m going to come up with a plan and I want to get you out of here. We need to leave Naples as fast as possible,” I told her, following her every movement with my eyes.
She looked down at her hands, refusing to meet my eyes, then she nodded her head.
“Okay, I’ve heard what you had to say, but I need to think about it before I make my decision,” she said and then looked at me abruptly. “I can’t just pack up and go with you,” she added.
I nodded my head.
“You’re right, you don’t even know me,” I said, and I started to walk to the door. What was I thinking? What made me believe that Isabella would leave all this behind, betray her own father…to run away with a man she just met yesterday? I was a fool.
“Leo!” She stopped me in my tracks just before I opened the door. “Thank you for coming here and telling me everything, I really do appreciate it. I just need time,” she said.
I nodded, then opened the door and went back down the stairs. I still had to give my report to Marco, for which I would have to enter the house through the front door again.
I had said everything I could say to Isabella for now; the rest was up to her. However, the one thing I knew was that I wasn’t going to leave Naples without her.
Chapter 8
Isabella
I was restless after Leo left and I was tired of staying in my room, waiting for Papa to call for me. I needed to see him, I needed to talk to him and find out what was going on. I wanted to trust Leo and I wanted to believe what he was saying because he was the only one who had made me safe…but I still wanted to give Papa a chance. He was my father and I believed he deserved the chance to explain himself to me.
I changed into some comfortable clothes and headed back downstairs. It was late in the evening by now and I wandered around the house, looking for Papa. He wasn’t in his study as I’d expected him to be. Instead I found him in the library where I’d found all our old things. That was the last place I was expecting to find him.
I walked in the room and he turned to look at me. He had been staring out of the window with his two bodyguards in the background.
“Papa?” I said softly and I was relieved to find that he looked a little more relaxed than earlier. I knew he had a wild temper, and he wasn’t the kind of man who showed his feelings…so I decided to forgive him his rudeness from before.
“Hello, B
ella…have you eaten?” he asked.
“Papa, can we talk alone? I feel like it’s been thirteen years and we haven’t really talked,” I said, walking towards him.
He looked at his bodyguards and gave them a nod. The two men finally walked out of the room and Papa and I were alone.
“What do you want to talk about, Bella?” Papa asked and I gave him a weak smile.
“I don’t even know where to begin. I feel like everything’s changed now…ever since Mama died, ever since you sent me away,” I said and he looked away from me without replying.
“What are you doing in this room? I didn’t think you ever came here. This room looks so unkempt and dusty,” I said and Papa sighed deeply.
“I come here sometimes to remind myself of simpler times. All the things we owned could be fit in these few boxes,” Papa said, looking around him.
“I miss it, I miss the life we had…I miss Mama, do you miss her too?” I asked, staring at him, hopeful that finally maybe he would open up to me. Now that I wasn’t a child anymore, I felt like I deserved that.
He sighed again and then looked at me with a blank expression on his face.
“She’s gone and that’s all there is to it. I don’t think about it anymore,” he replied.
“You don’t think about your dead wife?” I snapped, the emotion rising in my voice again. What would I have to do to get him to open up?
“I don’t think about her because she’s not in our lives anymore, do you get that? You should move on too!” Papa snapped at me, making me flinch as I stared at him. This was not the reaction I was hoping from him while in a conversation about Mama. I was hoping that he might be more sentimental.
“Papa…I can’t forget her. I can’t just move on!” I said, raising my voice now and he glared at me angrily.
“So, what do you want me to do about it?” he shouted.
“Tell me what happened! How did she die? You’ve refused to give me any information. That day, you kept me locked in my room, saying that Mama was missing and the next thing I knew, I was wearing black and attending her funeral!” I shouted back.
Papa whipped away from me, walking to the window again like he didn’t want to look into my eyes. I chased after him. I wanted answers. I had returned home for answers and he was the only one who could give them to me.
“Papa, please, just put me out of my misery, please!” I begged him and finally, he turned to me again.
“They kidnapped her when we went Christmas shopping for her presents,” he said. My eyes grew wide; I could feel tears brimming.
“When you and I went shopping to buy her that bracelet?” I asked and Papa nodded. There was a blank look on his face, like he was feeling nothing.
“It was that pussy Andrei Cavallini. He thought I was encroaching on his turf with my distribution and he wanted to teach me a lesson,” Papa continued while I stared at him in horror.
“So he kidnapped her?” I asked, my hands rising up to my mouth, trying not to scream.
“And he killed her,” Papa said in a deep quiet growl. I could see the anger in his eyes.
“And you killed him,” I added and slowly, he nodded his head.
“Nobody touches my wife, nobody lays a hand on my family. I punish everyone who even tries,” he growled and clenching his fist into a ball, he rammed it into the wall. I stepped away from him, gasping with shock.
“Papa, we need to go. We need to leave Naples,” I cried and he looked at me again, his eyes red and bloodshot.
“What did you say?” he asked threateningly, but I wasn’t afraid of him anymore. He was just a man who had become ruthless because of all the things that happened to him in his life. I was determined to believe that even though he claimed that he never thought about Mama, he really did miss her.
“Gino is coming after you, after us…for murdering his father and he’s going to do it. This time, Papa, he’s going to kill you, kill me and this whole family you’ve built over the years. We have to make our escape. We have to get out of here when we still have the chance,” I continued.
Papa was taking threateningly slow steps towards me and I started backing away from him.
“Who is putting these ideas in your head? Is it that bastard Leo? After everything I’ve done for him!” Papa raged and I shook my head.
“No, Papa, Leo has nothing to do with this. I just want us to be safe. We could go back to New York. I have a life there, trust me, you will like it there,” I said, trying to sound hopeful. Papa kept inching closer to me.
“And what do you want me to do? Retire? Live by some fucking lake and go fishing on the weekends? You’re just like your mama, weak and stupid!” he raged. The tears rolled down my cheeks now. I couldn’t believe he would talk to me this way, talk about Mama this way.
“I just want what’s best for you, Papa. I just want us to be a family again. We can start over, in New York, you and me as a family. Mama would be so happy if she could see that,” I said.
I had my back up against a wall now and Papa stood threateningly over me. He narrowed his eyes at me and I could sense the rage seeping out of his every pore.
“Weak and stupid. That is what you are. And you get it from your mother. I should have had a boy. I deserved a boy, who could be like me, and instead, I fucking got you!” he hissed.
“Papa, you’re not thinking straight. You don’t see the danger,” I said weakly.
His slap came from nowhere, landing with a smack on my cheek and forcing my face sideways. A shrill cry escaped my lips and Papa stepped away from me, realizing what he had done.
“Bella…” he said, and I moved away from him. I could still feel the sting of that slap on my skin. I couldn’t look at him anymore.
“You’re asking me to give up. You’re asking me to surrender, Bella. I can’t do that…” I heard him say. His voice had become more apologetic now. He was already regretting slapping me, but it was too late.
I had seen his true self. Now I knew that Leo was right…Papa would never change. His business and his pride would always come first, just like Mama had meant nothing to him.
Anger bubbled inside my chest as tears streamed down my face. Without another word, I turned quickly and rushed out of the room.
“Bella!” he called after me as I ran to the door. I ran past the two bodyguards who were stationed outside the room and up the stairs to my bedroom. I kept wiping the tears from my cheeks but they kept falling. My tears were uncontrollable now.
That slap was exactly what I needed to bring me back to reality. I was a foolish naive girl in thinking that there was still hope for my family. There wasn’t. I needed to get out of here and Leo was the only person I trusted.
Chapter 9
Leo
It was late, but I couldn’t go to sleep. My conversation with Marco had been succinct. I’d told him what happened…that none of our previous allies were really our allies anymore and Marco scoffed it off. He told me that he would think of something and in the end, we would come out of it victorious. As much as I wanted to believe him, and as much as I wanted to win, I was realistic. I knew that we didn’t stand a chance if all the families in Naples planned on attacking us. We would all perish in that fire.
There was a knock on my door and, picking up my gun, I went to the door as quietly as possible. It was the dead of night; I wasn’t expecting anyone. Through the peephole, I saw Isabella standing outside. I swung the door open and pulled her in by the arm.
“What are you doing here? Did you get here alone?” I asked, running to look through the windows.
“Yeah, I took a taxi,” she said and I whipped around to her.
“Do you know how fucking dangerous that is? Why would you do that?” I rushed to her and grabbed her shoulders. She looked up at me and I realized that she’d been crying.
“What happened?” I asked and she leaned forward, quietly resting her head on my shoulder. I weaved my fingers through her hair and rocked her gently.
&n
bsp; “I’ve made my decision. I’m doing whatever you’re doing. Papa has gone crazy,” she said and her voice was muffled by my clothes. I stroked her hair, feeling relieved. That was all I needed to hear.
I drew myself away from her and looked into her eyes.
“Isabella, are you sure? I don’t want to force you into doing something against your wishes,” I said and she nodded her head.
“I’m sure. I don’t trust Papa anymore. You’re the only one who can keep me safe, I trust you,” she said and she lifted herself up on her toes and gently pressed her lips to mine.
Having her mouth on mine made me lose every shred of self-control I thought I had. I grabbed her by her waist and kissed her back, parting her lips with my tongue. Isabella moaned in my arms, sinking into me and I lifted her up.
I was carrying her to the kitchen table while we kissed. I put her down on the table and she wrapped her arms around my neck.
“I remember you now, Leo. You were so skinny when we were kids,” she said, drawing her lips away from me. She smiled at me and I smiled too.
“I’ve always remembered you, Isabella. You were the most beautiful creature I had seen, but out of my reach,” I said and slowly started rolling her blouse up her torso. I threw it to the ground, grabbing her breasts with both hands. Her bra covered her, for now, but I could already see her erect nipples through them.
“Well, I’m not out of your reach now, Leo. I’m yours,” she said and I kissed her again. She gasped as I leaned her head back with the force of my kiss. Her hands were on my clothes, pulling my t-shirt up over my head. I could feel her warm fingers on my torso feeling the shape of my abs.
“Not so skinny anymore,” she remarked when I drew away from her. I took my pants off, dropping them to my ankles. She spread her legs invitingly and I lunged at her again.
I unhooked her bra, releasing her beautiful bouncing breasts into the open. I looked into her eyes as I lowered myself, opening my mouth wide before I clamped my lips around one swollen pebbled pink nipple.