𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧 ✓

𝟏𝟓

HeartBurn

Chapter Fifteen

Zen Maven

↽———⋆♥︎⋆———⇁

"Kieron." I stated his name like it was a type of pest, truthfully to me it was. His head snatched to my direction, eyes growing wide with a smile. He then crawled to the cage, probably from the leg wound I had given him.

"Zen, My Zen.." I almost gagged from his words, shoulders tensing. "I'm so happy to see you again." I observed him, his hands black with what i assumed to be chalk or pencil. Looking around his cell showed countless papers filled with the black, blue, and red chalk. "Do you like them?" He grabbed one for me to see, the details were incredible. "You're all I think about-"

"Who's that?" I asked, cutting off his confession. He looked down at the man with a frown, before turning his eyes back at me. There were several of the man. "Why does he have the ability to draw?" I turned to Dante, who's arms were crossed.

"You said in your book that it helped him in the asylum. Aurelio read it, decided it might give us clues on things we don't know. So far he's only drawn a few things, most concerning." Aurelio read my book? Part of me felt honored, the other horrified. What did he think about the tendencies he shared with Kieron?

"I can't say." He brought the attention back to himself, as if he were the center of the world. "He misses you, told me himself!" I moved closer to the bars, and though Dante warned me and tried to hold me back I assured him I'd be fine.

"Can I see that, Kieron?" I asked, my voice changing. It's what I like to call, 'customer service voice'. where your voice goes higher, more gentle. "It's very detailed." The man looked so familiar, the eyes calling me. Except, the red hair threw me off.

"Zen!" I was grabbed by the shirt, head banged against the bars. "Why don't you come see me? Why do you only ever spread your legs for other men?!" He was deranged, nails digging into my skin.

"Let me go Kieron!" Dante grabbed me from behind, falling to the floor as he pulled me away. My foot was then grabbed, and I screamed before kicking at the bars. It was then that a gunshot rang out, and the room fell silent. Kieron scrambled away from me, hiding in the corner.

It didn't take looking at the source to know who did it. "What the hell are you doing down here? What the fuck is she doing down here?!" He directed his words at me, then Dante. Rage seeping through his teeth. "She isn't to see him, I made that clear."

Dante helped me to my feet, rubbing my arms where I had been grabbed. Surely it'd leave a bruise. "You can't control everything in my Life Aurelio!" His cheeks reddened. A deep breath taken before his next words.

"I don't know why you're so damn stupid, Zen. Why you can't tell that i'm trying to protect you. This isn't me controlling your life it's saving it! All he does is hurt you, every fucking time! If he had a gun he'd hold it to your head, don't you understand that?!"

"Listen I brought her here."

"Leave the room." He demanded, and though it looked like Dante was going to protest, he eventually left me behind with a look of apology.

"What do you have to say that you can't say in front of him?" He grabbed my wrists, dragging me from Kierons view and slamming my body against the wall. He took a moment to observe me, holding my hands above my head with one hand and cupping my face with the other.

"Doesn't look like it'll bruise." He muttered, before releasing a breath of hot air. It hit my cheeks, and so did the heat causing my face to turn red. The position he had me in was tense, and I couldn't help but feel almost submissive in his grasp. A feeling I wasn't used to, but one I may have enjoyed.

"Aurelio?"

"Lio." He corrected, leaning his head against my neck. "Why do you refuse to call me Lio? Do I disgust you so much that you can't even bare to call me anything but my full name?" He mumbled something under his breath, but I heard it.

'Am I nothing but a patient to you?'

am i nothing but a patient to you insinuated many things, one too many things. "What are you mumbling about?" I pretended not to hear, Because there was a high chance he meant I was like family to him. It was in his profile afterall, once you were in that house you were family.

Yes, just family.

"You're not to come back down here without me, are we clear? Dante can't protect you like I can, he doesn't get it." Jealously? More like brotherly rival from someone who almost took his position as head of the Russo Family.

"Understood." I replied quickly, pulling at my hands to which he released reluctantly. "May I go now?"

"So you can go back to him?" He asked.

"So I can go to my office." I corrected,

"You always were a terrible liar." he pushed me up the stairs, locking the door and then walking away from me without another word. Dante's entered the room, frowning at me.

"He didn't bitch you out, did he?"

"No. Just a lecture." I didn't dare tell him of Aurelio's actions, how tense it was between us. How if I had a different beginning with Aurelio I would have taken that opportunity. I would have said something bold.

"Dinner is ready, why don't we eat in your office?"

"So you can watch me eat?" I asked, frowning.

"Yes." he said with a smile.

↽———⋆♥︎⋆———⇁
do you prefer shorter chapters more often or longer chapters farther apart?