Morelli

Chapter 32: I Want To Be Free

Dante's pov

9 years ago

I hold Arianna close to me while looking up at the ceiling. I feel horrible about what happened and how Athena found out. I tried to stop her and not because of Marco. Seeing her run down the stairs crying while he was upstairs fucking someone she used to call her friend.

"Baby why are you so tense?" Arianna asks, looking up at me. I brush the hair out of her face placing a kiss on her forehead. "Don't worry about it Angel i'll get over it" She sighs sitting up making me look at her in the eyes. Those beautiful forest green eyes  I fell in love with two years ago.

Her hand rubs against my cheek, shaking her head. "Dante, I've known you for 2 years and we've been together for a year and a half. I know you. If you don't talk about it, it's going to bother you for weeks"

"I feel bad, you know like I could have done more to stop Athena from seeing Marco cheating on her. The way she left crying she looked so hurt and it hurt me. For more that I try to get that image of her leaving with a broken heart out my head I can't. It's like a reminder going off in my head I didn't stop her from seeing that"

"Dante of course you're going to be hurt. Athena was your first love. I think you will always have feelings for your first love just not as strong. You did everything you could to not let her go upstairs but she still did. She was going to find out either way. Don't stress about a relationship that wasn't meant to be"

I don't say anything else to her, I just stay quiet. Arianna doesn't understand. Seeing her leave like that not only hurt me, it hurt 10 year old me. The little boy who promised to protect Athena through everything. The little boy who never wanted to see her hurt. "Don't think about it Dante she'll be fine. Come let's sleep" I lay back down holding Arianna close.

"Good night Dante"

"Good night Angel"

Two months later

Graduation was always the best time of the year. "You did it Angel" I placed a kiss on Arianna's lip, she graduated. Of course I came to her ceremony just like she came to mine last year. "I couldn't have done it without you" She smiles at me. I hold her hand and she rests her head on my shoulder. We go over to where Athena, Leo,Mia, Adriano, Enzo and Bianca are.

"We are finally done with high school. I don't want to go back." Mia says while Adriano holds her. "It was full of good and bad memories but we made it out" Athena says with the biggest smile on her face. She looks a lot happier. She got clean off of drugs, started taking therapy again and she did better for herself.

She had fallen but now she's flying

"We'll see you guys tomorrow for the party" Arianna tells them they all nod in the direction of their parents. For some reason I have a bad feeling. I can feel it in my gut that something is wrong. "Baby tomorrow after the party we need to talk" Arianna says I look at her with worry but she tells me it's not important

For the hours in between that talk so many thoughts were running through my head. The whole party I kept a fake face trying not to show that it affected me. I had no idea what she wanted to say to me but I was not ready. I don't think I'll ever be ready.

I sit in my backyard looking at the stars waiting for Arianna to come downstairs. I see a shadow behind me. I look at Arianna. She sits next to me holding a bunch of papers. "Dante I don't know how to tell you but I'm going to start off by saying how much I love you. I never meant to fall in love with you but I did. I had a plan before I moved to this part of Sicily before I met you. Right after I graduated highschool I was leaving and I wasn't coming back.