Kiss de La Notte - Book III (Mafia Romance)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Give Me Your Heart

CIAO!!!! *insert hello in your prefer language*

GIVE ME YA HEART MAKE IT REAL OR ELSE FORGET ABOUT IT! *BELLY DANCES TO THIS SONG ATTACHED TO THIS CHAPTER*

INTERACT WITH THIS STORY LIKE A MADWOMAN IF YOU LOVE ME!!!

            Two years ago, before things were heated between the Romano's and the Cafaro's, I'd met Marcos at a party on campus. He happened to go to the same private college as me. We hooked up a few times just for fun, something I never really did unless I was drunk enough, but it's what I wanted at the time. Things faded because that's what we both wanted. But then I saw him again, at a gathering with other mafiosi families. We realized who each other were, that we weren't just random students on campus. We bonded over it. One thing led to another, and we started seeing each other frequently...

I knew what I was doing was dangerous but I... was in love with him, and I didn't know anything about the Cafaro's, or the tension they had with other families. We never really talked about the details; I never knew how involved he was with his family's business. Marcos knew that more anything, I wanted my family out. I wanted my father to just stop. Stop being in the mafia, stop choosing his work over Mia and me. I wanted us to have a chance at a normal family. Maybe then my mom would come back. Marcos told me he would do that for me. He convinced me everything would be okay...

Lucius stood on the opposite side of the kitchen table, chords of muscle outlined as he braced back on the counter. I felt small sitting in the only kitchen chair in the unfinished room, vulnerable. And as close as he stood, it felt like we were miles apart. His eyes distant, his expression closed off of any emotion.

"That's pretty much everything," I said, cutting it off there. 

I couldn't just let it all pour out. He knew what I wanted him to know, what I needed him to know to get by tonight. The the awkward tension in the room was too unbearable for my nerves and I didn't want to make any more mistakes than I already had.

Lucius turned around to stalk to the fridge and hauled open the freezer drawer. There wasn't a lot of frozen foods inside, but he did have a few ice packs. I remembered when he had the bruise on his eye and wondered if my face was discolored from Marcos' hand. He searched through a cabinet and grabbed a bottle of pills and walked over to the kitchen table to set them down in front of me.

The way his eyes evaded mine. How he wasn't necessarily angry at me, but his affect was so off. It all confused me. I thought he might be angry with me or want to talk more. His silent reaction was the last response I'd expected it would get and the most concerning. I started to sweat, my thighs clinging to the chair beneath me in anticipation of what he would say next.

"Which hand did he hit you with?" he asked, his voice so quiet and calm that it was almost a whisper.

"I'm sorry?"

"Which hand did he hit you with?" Lucius repeated with less gentleness. "His right, or his left?"

I tensed up, grasping the meaning of his words. But by then, Lucius had already lost his patience. He headed out the kitchen and I could hear a set of car keys jangling as he took them out of his pocket.

"Lucius, wait." I stood up fast from the table, nearly knocking the chair back, and ran after him into the foyer to block his way to the front door. "Wait."

"Korinna." I could tell he was trying to keep his temper together by the way he shut his eyes. "Get out of my way, principessa."

"I'm not­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­––I'm not­­­­­­­­ letting you do something stupid!"