After witnessing the murder of her mother and constantly being abused by her own father, Lily's life is a cycle of never ending torture.
With her father being a part of the police force and his 'friends' keeping an eye on her 24/7, Lily has no choi...
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'The best feeling in the whole world is watching things finally fall into place after watching them fall apart after so long.'
At an instant, Luca was by my side and his hand was placed securely in mine.
Enzo was the one who went to open the door and as soon as he did, everything felt as if it was in slow motion.
Two men stepped inside, one who I recognised from a couple of days ago and another completely new man.
Any doubts I had of him not being my actual father vanished from my mind as soon as his dark brown eyes locked with mine.
I took a moment to observe him and I could already see so many similarities between us. He too had dark brown hair which were paired with dark eyes. He was wearing a white dress shirt with black trousers and you could see a few tattoos peeking out through his shirt sleeve. He wasn't as tall as Luca but still stood at an impressive height, making me slightly sad that I didnt get my height from him.
No one moved and the tension in the air was thick.
"Lily?", he whispered in disbelief, his voice cracking a little with emotion.
I gave him a small hesitant nod and waited for him to say something else. Anything else.
"Ti assomigli così tanto a tua madre (You look so much like your mother)", he whispered, his eyes tearing up slightly.
He made no move to come closer to me and I did the same.
Sensing the heavy tension in the room, Isabella announced that the food was getting cold and lead us to the dining room.
Enzo sat at the head of the table, with Isabella on one side of him and Sofia on the other. Giovanni sat next to his mother and Matteo sat opposite him. Stefano took a seat next to his son, whilst Luca and I took our place next to Giovanni.
The atmosphere felt awkward but still somewhat comforting.
After taking our food on our plates, we all began to eat. Polite conversation was made between Enzo Isabella and Stefano but apart from that, it was silent.
I wanted to make conversation but I don't know where I would start.
'Hi father who I've only just met. It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry I can't live up to what you thought your daughter would be like, sorry you are stuck with this mess', didn't sound like a great conversation starter.
I felt too nervous to even swallow down some food so I was constantly drinking water from the glass I had in front of me, waiting for my nerves to magically disappear.
By the looks of it, it wasn't just me who was feeling awkward, Gio looked as if he wanted the ground to swallow him whole as he was directly in front of Matteos hard stare.
A few weeks ago, I would have instantly ran away having looked at by his scary exterior, but I knew now that not everyone was out to hurt me.
"Are you alright, Lily?", Matteo asked, his attention diverting from Giovanni and turning in my direction, startling me.
"Y-Yes", I said, not meaning for it to sound as quiet as it did. Thankfully, by the look on his face, I knew that he was able to hear me and I relaxed a little in my chair.
It seemed as if my father didn't even want to talk to me as he avoided all eye contact with me throughout the whole of dinner and by the time we had finished eating and cleared up the table, I felt the need to cry.
We decided to go into the living room to sit down and talk some more but as I made my way there, someone called out my name.
"Lily?", my father said hesitantly. "Can we talk?", he asked nervously, as if he was scared I was going to say no.
Luca looked at me to see if I was ok and with a nod from me, he kissed my forehead and left, not forgetting to give my father a glance before leaving.
We both walked side by side into another room and took a seat on the sofa.
My hands were anxiously tugging at my necklace and it seemed as if he was nervous too as his hand was constantly running through his hair.
He hadn't looked at me since he arrived and his eyes were looking everywhere but at mine.
"Y-You dont have t-to waste your t-time on me", I whispered, expressing the huge amount of guilt that was weighing on my shoulders ever since he had arrived.
"Please don't ever think of yourself as a waste of time", he said, his eyes finally meeting mine.
His brown eyes were glazed with tears as he took a deep breath.
"Mi dispiace, mi dispiace tanto (I'm sorry, I'm so sorry), he whispered, whilst he let the tears roll down his cheeks. I should have been able to find you! Ti prego perdeonami (Please forgive me)", he pleaded.
"You don't have to a-apologise, you found m-me now", I replied, wanting to forget the past and try and build a relationship with my actual father.
I was done being scared. He had already proved to me that he cares about me and I have Luca to protect me now if anything happens. Having a conversation with my father was a massive step and I was so proud of myself for doing it.
"I'm forever grateful to the Rossis for helping me find you, especially Luca. I hope he's treating you right", he said, making me smile.
I never imagined it to feel so normal talking to him. I loved how comfortable he made me feel already and it felt nice that he was acting like an overprotective father. I've always dreamed about having a loving family and finally having it made me feel so happy.
