Francesca ✔︎

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Francesca POV

  I wake up to a blinding light. With a groan, I lift myself up with my elbows. My whole body hurts.

"God, it's feels like I got hit by a truck." I mumble, rubbing my overheated body.

"That's understandable, amore." The familiar deep voice that brings pleasured shivers to my spine talks.

I turn my head around to see Vincenzo sitting in a chair by the bed I'm in. His lips are pulled into a small smile. He holds his a thick book in his hands.

He looks effortlessly sexy. While I probably look worse than a hairless rat.

"Go away." I groan, hiding my face in the fluffy pillow. "I look like shit, I know it." My brain gets the best of me. Not a scratch is on his perfect face. I however, know I carry a generous amount.

"No." I feel his hands wrap around my waist. He twists me around and picks me up like I weigh nothing. I'm now sitting in his lap.

"You look breathtakingly gorgeous as always."

"The lies you tell." I mutter, poking his sold chest with my finger.

We stay in this intimate position for a couple of silent minutes. The comfortable silence wraps around the room. That's until my curiosity gets the best of me.

"What happened after I passed out?" My voice comes out muffled, considering my face is smashed against his chest. I have no plans to move from this position.

His breath hitches for a moment before chuckling. "A lot." I snuggle more into his warm embrace. His lovely mouthwatering smell was keeping me at peace.

I wait patiently for him to explain all that's happened. By the time he is done, I'm fucking astonished.

"Maple!?" My mouth pops open, bound to catch a few flies. "We are talking about the same innocent Maple, right? The one who cried a few weeks again because she accidentally stepped on a lady bug?"

Vincenzo chuckles, a deep melodic boom. His voice makes my toes curl. I missed him so much.

"Yes, amore." He sighs, rubbing comforting circles on my lower back. "Ria let her go before she told us anything. Apparently, Dominick held her grandma hostage. He blackmailed her into be an informant."

What an asshole. That's just another reason why I hope Dominick rots in the fiery pits of hell.

"I'm sort of glad Maple got away." I admit, tilting my head up to see Vincenzo's clenched jaw."

"Why's that?"

My tongue swipes over my parched lips as I go deep into thought. As much as I'm upset with Maple, I have to admit, I fucked up too. I kept secrets too.

I kept that stupid letter Dominick wrote me about my parents. I kept it from Vincenzo even though all he wanted to do was help me.

"Dominick is a manipulative bastard. If your loved-one's life was threatened, wouldn't you do anything to say them?" The words leave my parted lips, as soft as a whisper.

I feel Vincenzo's arms tense, his eyes flickering down to me. Those stormy grey eyes, holding mysteries that have been yet to been solved.

"Yeah." He mumbles, locking eyes with me. "I guess I would."

The cumbersome silence after he answers my rhetorical question makes my cheeks warm.

Vincenzo told me I've been out like a light for two days straight. Most of my wounds that Dominick and his gang caused me were not fatal.