Break All Ties

Chapter Twenty-Three

A moment of silence ticked by. Then another. Even drunk, I could feel how painful it was. Decked out in his tuxedo, he stood at the end of the corridor watching me. Even now he was unfairly attractive. He always was with his sizeable muscles and his sharp, tanned jaw. Don't even get me started on those eyes. Eyes that could bless my dreams and haunt me in my nightmares.

Eyes that sought me out in every crowd. Eyes that watched me do unholy things. Eyes that knew me and coveted me.

I didn't have the faintest idea what was going through his head. I couldn't so much as manage a guess. His eyes were the powerhouse of his emotions, only they were too far away for me to get a read on them.

"So that's what you think I'll do," He said after another moment of silence. That silence dragged on, even as he spoke through it. "You think I'll get bored of you and kill you."

"Is it just me, or is the ceiling spinning right now?"

"You're drunk."

I levelled him with some finger guns, though he probably couldn't see them. I couldn't see them. I could see the ceiling and my hair and the ceiling. The ceiling. God. The ceiling seemed to span on forever. Was there anything in this place to look at other than the ceiling?

"You don't drink."

"Rough night. Rough day. Rough week. Rough year. Rough three years. Pick whichever one you fancy."

My life was falling to the shits.

I heard his footsteps, then I saw him crouch down to my level at the end of the luggage cart.

"What are you doing down here Bellezza?"

"Ida was pushing me," I answered through a tired sniffle. "We were having fun."

Though it didn't feel that fun in the end. Not when our misery caught up to us.

I suppose there really was no escaping it.

The misery was inevitable.

"Sounds like more fun than I've had." He gave me a soft smile. He was making an effort. An effort to be civil after a rough day. It was this anger. We couldn't do anything until we addressed the problems between us.

I suppose neither of us were all that great at talking about our feelings.

"I missed you," He told me. He sunk fully to the ground, pressing his back up against a nearby wall.

So much for being a mafia boss.

He looked defeated.

"Did your meeting go well?"

"Luca's not easy to keep on track. We didn't get much business done in the end. We played poker, but his mind strays too easily."

I nodded.

"And the prostitutes?"

"You really think I'd pay some random woman to sleep with me?"

"Isn't that how your world works?"

He grabbed my foot and tugged me off of the luggage cart. It was a good job we were close, otherwise I'd be finishing the night with carpet burn to go with everything else. He was careful as he pulled me into his chest, my back pressing into him as his arms looped around me.

"Men in your world cheat on their wives, Bellezza. Unfaithfulness isn't something that belongs to the mafia. I will admit, many men like to dibble dabble with prostitutes- but not me."

"Why not?"

"Because I have you."

"Are you saying I'm your version of a prostitute?"