The State of Grace

ELEVEN

Grace

My feet carried me into the house and up the stairs as fast as they could. I had never been so scared in my life, Xavier was right outside of my house. He was outside of my home, the place that had been my safety for so long. I knew my name was on a hit list of some kind, I knew most of Xavier's men wanted me dead.

I understand why after what I did to Xavier. I turned him in, I ruined his life. Right now I was on the border of having a panic attack. I burst into Gia's room, she shoots up in bed as I enter the room. Her face curves into a frown, she was confused about my reaction at the moment.

"Grace?" She asks as I slam the door behind me for a feeling of safety.

I sit down on the edge of the bed, I feel Gia's arms land on my shoulders as she rubs them slightly. As the woman that was very ill right now I wasn't looking after her very well. She was watching over me right now.

"He's here" I spit out, I watch her face drop. She knew what I was saying and knew who I was talking about.

It was as if the illness left her body as she jumped off the bed, she crouches down in front of me as she holds my hand. I feel instant comfort from her right away, Gia was someone I would always feel safe around.

I needed her too make my life easier, she protected me.

"I will go and see him" She tells me, I knew her life was also at risk. If the men that worked with Xavier found out she was protecting me. She would be seen as a betrayer, she should protect her son.

Not the woman that ruined his life

"You can't it's not safe I-"

"I can handle my son" She assures me.

Xavier

Her house wasn't what I had expected. I didn't think she would be living such a high life here in Italy. This house was beautiful, it was completely gated from the entire world. She ran away from me, I watched her leave.

After two years of dreaming of her face once again, she ran away from me. Like I was some kind of plague, I knew Grace better than anyone else. I knew her so well that I waited, I knew sooner or later she would come back to me. She would come out and want to talk about us.

About what we should do about us, I wanted her of course I did. There wasn't a day that went passed that I didn't think about being back in her arms once again.

I just needed to hold her, I had too be the one that protected her. I wouldn't lie, I had thoughts that she ran because there was a man she was living with. She could have a whole other life now without me, I didn't know if she had moved on. I took one look at this house, I knew it was an expensive house.

I also knew Grace had ran from the FBI, so this wasn't funded by her silence. Whoever paid for this house must have Grace under their thumb for her to run from me like that. She looked genuinely terrified for her life, like she had seen a ghost.

I guess I was a ghost to her now.

I sat leant against the bonnet of my car with a cigarette between my lips. All of a sudden the large black gates began to open, I sat up right waiting to see the person on the other side of the door.

My heart was hoping for Grace.

I could hardly breath when my eyes connected with the last person I had ever expected to see.

Mommà

I drop the cigarette from my mouth as it falls to the floor. I step forward walking over to the woman that had been missing for the past two years. The woman I thought was dead, I had mourned my mother as I never thought I would see her again.

It was worse than death. I had no idea where she was, yet here she was with Grace.

"Mommà" I speak, I was now close enough to touch her. I reached out and moved hair from her face, she moved away with a look of anger on her face.

She didn't look well, in fact she looked worse than I had ever seen her before.

"Xavier" She breaths back to me, she knew I was confused.

As I was.

This woman was dead in my mind. I had no idea she was here, she was with Grace.

"What are you doing?" I ask her, I needed an answer.

I needed to know what the hell was going on right now.

Did my own mother betray me?

"I should ask you the same thing" She shot right back at me in true style. She knew that I wouldn't argue with her, I might have served time with some of the scariest men in the world.

But no one is scarier than your mother.

"You know why I'm here" I speak referring to Grace.

One of the first things my mother said to me when I started seeing Grace was how in love I seemed. I had fallen so hard for the woman that was currently hiding away from me. The woman that looked at me like a man that had caused her nothing but hurt.

"You can't just come back and expect her to see you"

"She left me mother"

"Not through choice"

Never did I think the day would come where my mother took the side of someone that wasn't a Cavalini. She was a loyal women, the woman that taught me all the morals I knew.

"Is there something going on here?" I ask confused to the entire situation. "I just want to see Grace"

I watch my mother fight with her internal thoughts unsure what to do. Unsure what to tell me, there was a secret being kept here.

But I didn't know what it was.

"She will see you when she's ready"

"I won't leave until she does" I speak, I had waited long enough. I couldn't wait longer.

"You can wait outside then"

This woman was colder than she had ever been with me. It was almost like Grace had taken over her heart, she had protected Grace in the past five minutes more than she had ever protected Rosa or myself.

"Okay" I speak before turning back towards the car.

I climb inside before shutting the door and looking right back at her.

I would wait outside for another year before I let this woman out of my grip once again. I had the chance to have her back, I would never let her out of my sight again.

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Small announcement! I have just published another book. This one is a fanfic, it is a Charles Leclerc fanfic! If you don't know who he is, I would recommend a search if you enjoy hot men! 

I would greatly appreciate any views and comments on the new story. I will still be updating this as much as possible.

All the love
Z x