You're dead to me

Chapter thirty-one: Picture Frame

I stare at him blankly without any expression.

Eden?

Eden is alive?

I slam the door shut and whirl around, facing him.

"How have you- Haven't I?". I stutter like a stupid child.

He smirks and I'm seconds away to shove that sexy smirk off of his face. "Tell me now!". I hate to be left in the dark. He drops down in my office chair, but for once this disrespectful aspect, leaves completely my mind.

"Do you remember it, I mean when you killed me".

"Thats a weird conversation with someone, who actually should be already turned to dust and rotten bones". He has the audacity to laugh.
Somehow my heart warms at the sound. Eden has been always this way, never really acting right in situations. Thats one of the things I loved about him, or I guess still love.

"Do you?". He asks again, his green orbs, never leaving mine.

Why does his stare feel like home, but at the same time like a fucking myth. I scoff and round the table.

"Of course I do, its not like you haven't been my first kill". He shakes his head, his brown fluffy hair waves with him rhythmical. He still looks so young, I remember myself that he is my age, just a couple months older.

"No Caroline, I haven't been your first kill, we both know that". I frown confused.

"You killed yourself first". I swallow and stare at the table, that's kinda like a barrier for us. He jerks his head towards the door. "Who's that man?".

"Man". I laugh. Yeah, Giovanni is a man, while I feel like a little girl next to him. Sometimes control can face two roads, you believe you have it all, but instead, you'll get drowned by it.

I smack my lips together and look everywhere but him, I don't know why I'm scared of his reaction. "His name is Giovanni, he is my husband". But then I find myself staring at his features. I have to know what he would say.

He stills, maybe also stiffens. He adjusts himself in the chair, first rule broken. "You married?". You never change your position if something throws your off, that's how enemies know how much it affects you.

I nod. "It's not like I had a choice". His lips smooth into a knowing smile. "Arranged, huh?". I don't answer that. It was arranged, yes. But does it still feel so forced? I don't know anymore, it's like I'm drifting between both.

Some days Giovanni is living in my head, sometimes I feel like stabbing him in his sleep, but what if he's the only one who can understand me? Because it feels like he reads me like an open book.

Suddenly the door gets thrown open and a shocked Briar stands in the doorframe. Edens eyes shoot up to her. "Hello friend".

"What. The. Fuck?". I'm happy that my only trick and solution has turned out to be just in time. I wink at her and smile sheeply.

"I guess I haven't stabbed him for good". She shakes her head and closes her eyes, just to open them again and going over to him, to touch his arm. "You're real, you're sure not dead!". "I'm sure not dead". He snickers and gets up. Just now I notice his broad shoulders and the lines of his muscles. The black long sleeve training shirt, reveals somehow every little detail of his body, I like it.

Briar hooks her arms to her hips and turns to me. "So have you already found out why he is the mole". Oh shit, I already forgot that. "Show me". I demand and Eden locks his eyes with me, while he smirks and pulls up his shirt and pans. I bite my lip, Fuck. Why did I do this? You can see the sculpted V on his veiny body and I'm flashed from his sexiness.

I look at the black ink. Yes, it is the snake.

I till my head at him and narrow my eyes together. "Why?". Briar even makes sure it's not removable. "It's real". She says and fixes him with her gaze.

"Speak!". Only she knows about my childhood with Eden, she knows everything about my kills, so do I about hers. It was a commitment.

"What did you expected. After everything you're family has done to me, that I would magically disappear?".

I see rage, but also softness in his eyes at the same time.

"You killed me almost that night and I don't know if I should be happy about the fact that I suffered, or that I should curse my body for fighten the pain. Physically and mentally". I press my lips together. I loved him, I truly loved him, but I don't know if he knows that. Maybe he lost the picture of me, because I'm not the same anymore.

"But why Sal, you do know what he's doing, aren't you?". He scoffs.

"We all are bad people, just some hide it better than others". Now it is Briar who snorts.

"So you are saying you're here because of her". She points at me and I never felt more exposed ever before.

Eden searches my eye sight.

He nods and I feel my flesh cut open.

"I'm here to get revenge".

"Revenge on you". I shake my head and the Eden I have always known, dies. My hands are shaking uncontrollably.

"Too bad that it won't happen". Giovanni's hand circles my hip and slides my gun back into the holder. The similar weight gets replaced back where it belongs. I look up to him, but his face has nothing to do with Giovanni anymore. He takes his hand away and I know that he covers my back.

Eden observes me and him. Jealousy and hate spits up his eyes. He knows it.

"We'll see". He says.