3. Daughter of A Mafia Boss✔️

Four

Karina

Weeks passed since I told my best friend the truth about my family, left Bruno and came clean to Griffin.

I've been keeping myself occupied by going to class and then going straight to my apartment, and spending my nights with Giovanni, Lux, and Kai.

Kai has slowly begun to open up to us. She's been making progress with maintaining eye contact when she's talking to us.

A door opening brought me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see Kai coming into the apartment.

"Hey, what are you doing?", She asked.

"Trying to decide if I'm hungry or not. What have you been up to? I haven't seen you all day.", I said, poking my bottom lip out playfully.

She giggled and sat beside me.

"I sat in the quad...all day. My class was canceled and at first, I was happy because then I wouldn't have to talk to anyone, but then I remembered y'all was telling me that I needed to get out of my comfort zone and be with people. Rina, it felt so good. I used to be all in my head about how if I was around people for too long, they'll stare at me and see all of my insecurities, and judge me, but no one stared. They barely noticed me. It was amazing.", she finished, slightly out of breath.

I smiled and grabbed her hand.

"I'm so proud of you. Wanna know what else I'm proud of you for?"

"What?", she asked as she raised her eyebrows.

"You looked me in the eyes the whole time you were talking to me. It's only been a few weeks and you've made a lot of progress."

Kai let out a small squeal and hugged me. Her long black hair fell on my shoulders.

"Thanks, Rina. I've felt so much better ever since I told you about my anxiety."

We looked up when the door opened. Lux and Giovanni walked in, laughing together.

"Hey, where have you two been?", I asked as they took their coats off.

"At the arcade downtown. Lux kicked my ass in every game we played.", my brother said as they sat down with us.

"What have you been doing all day?" Lux asked me.

"I didn't feel up to going to class, so I stayed here all day."

Giovanni turned to me and placed his hand on my forehead.

"Are you okay? Are you sick? Do you need some soup? Do you want me to call Abuela?", he asked, concerned.

I smiled at him and moved his hand away.

"I'm not sick. I-It's j-...Griffin is in the class next to mine and I didn't want to risk running into him."

Lux nodded and grabbed my hand. I blinked back tears as I thought about the last time I saw him.

"I know what'll make you feel better. We can play your favorite game.", Lux suggested.

"Never have I ever?"

"Never have I ever.", she repeated.

I smiled as she got off the couch.

"I'll get the glasses.", Gio said.

"I'll get the liquor.", Lux said.

"We'll go get some snacks.", I said and grabbed my coat.

Kai and I walked out of the apartment and headed to a convenience store a block away.

"So, you haven't talked to Griffin at all?"

"No. He blocked me on all his social media and he hasn't responded to my texts. I think I just need to accept the fact that Griffin and I are done."

"Hey, you don't know that. He might just be taking some time to process all of this. He'll come around."

"You think so?"

"Of course. Karina, you're amazing."

Lux

We clinked our glasses together before taking another shot.

"And that's four!", Giovanni said as he picked up the bottle.

"I wonder what's taking Kai and Rina so long."

"You know Karina. She has to walk down every aisle to make sure she doesn't forget anything."

I laughed, thinking back on all of our grocery runs.

Giovanni started lining up shots again. I eyed him as he carefully poured them.

"Can I ask you something?"

He nodded, before downing the shot.

"Why didn't you take over after your uncles got out of the mafia?"

He began furiously coughing before looking at me, wide-eyed.

"Wh- H-How do you...Karina told you. Why would she tell you?"

"She's my best friend. I promised not to tell anyone, but I just wondering. Karina told me how it all works. I was just curious."

He nodded slowly.

"You don't have to answer. That was stupid.", I said before taking my shot.

"No, it's okay. I..I never wanted to do what my father and my uncles did. I'm not ruthless. I'm not powerful. I'm just me.", he grabbed the bottle again.

I placed my hand on his arm, stopping him.

"Giovanni, stop selling yourself short. No, you are not ruthless, but you are strong and intelligent. There's so much more to you than you let on."

"How do you know that? You barely know me."

"I just know.", I said as I moved my hand away.

I watched as he tried and failed to hide his smile. 

"Thank you, Lux."

I nodded and grabbed the bottle from him.

"You're gonna be drunk by the time they get back.", he joked.

"Unlike you, I can handle my liquor."

He threw his head back and laughed.

The door opened and Karina and Kai walked in with bags of snacks.

"Took you long enough.", Giovanni said.

"Uh..yeah. Sorry, I-I'm tired and I have an early class. I'm just going to go to bed but don't let me ruin your night. Have fun.", Karina said in a rush.

I raised my eyebrows and before I could say anything, Karina rushed to her room.

"That was weird, right?", I asked.

Giovanni nodded.

We turned towards Kai.

"I-I'm going to bed.", she said as she left the room.

"What the hell happened on that walk?"