Tied to You - ON HOLD

Chapter Fourteen

It had gotten late and everyone had packed up and gone home.

My family had gone back to our house and were now sat in the living room with Alessandro's family too. The Russo's were with us, the adults enjoying alcohol openly with their children sitting there hating one another.

Alessandro and Tony were sitting on the single sofa chairs whilst my brothers and I sat on the main sofa, with Oscar sitting on the armrest next to me. Tony had gone to the car to look for something so the four of us sat there in silence.

"Chiara, can I speak to you?" Alessandro said, clearing his throat.

"No." Said my brothers in unison.

"I wasn't asking you three, I was asking Chiara."

"I need some air." I muttered, getting up.

"Move." I heard Alessandro say, knowing my brothers were blocking his path to me.

I heard outside and sat on the step, not caring about the dress, and sighed.

The smell of smoke filled my nose and I looked around in confusion till I saw the glow of a cigarette floating to my left.

"Want some?" Said the voice, when I realised it was Tony. I shook my head no.

"Then stop staring."

"Actually, I want some."

Wordlessly he handed me the cigarette and I brought it to my lips, taking a long drag before exhaling the smoke. I handed it back and he sat beside me.

"Do you always share cigarettes with your fiance's brother?" He asked, taking a puff himself.

"Well, he's the first fiance I've ever had so no." I sighed, closing my eyes. "This is all too much."

"How about... I pretend you're not marrying into my family in however many months and you let it all out?"

"Realistically, you and I shouldn't even be this close to one another because we'd risk getting shot."

"That's quite true." He laughed, dropping the cigarette and crushing the butt underneath his heel. At this point in time I realised how lucky I was to be marrying into the Russo family rather than anyone else.

We were a tight knit group of importance and I could've been shipped off with any older man so I was grateful that I wasn't.

Tony himself was the older version of Alessandro and despite the obvious changes, the two were much alike. I noticed a scar on his cheek and another one on his hand but it was much fainter.

"I remember when that happened." I said to him, eyeing the scar.

"What?" He asked, confused.

I tapped the scar on his hand. "I did that, remember?"

I thought back to the day Tony and I had a run-in and he threatened to kill me in an alleyway because I bumped his coffee.
We fought one another and I made a cut on his hand with my knife well before we knew each other.

"That was you in the alleyway?"

I let out a laugh, "Yeah. You threatened to kill me over spilled coffee."

"That was quite the day I had." He muttered, shaking his head. "My brother is an idiot most of the time but I assure you, he is quite responsible once you get to know him."

"I know he is, but right now I don't trust him." I explained.

"Well, you better get that trust quick because-"

The door opening startled us both and we turned to see Alessandro at the door.
"Papa and your dad are calling us to the kitchen. Come on."

He gave me a look, but said nothing, then left. Tony got up first and lent me his hand, helping me up. We went inside and into the kitchen where the parents were all seated at the main table. It seemed that they were sobering up now and the conversation had become serious.