Tied to You - ON HOLD

Chapter Twenty Nine

Chiara POV

On any other day, Tony's disappearance would've been the least of my concerns. It wouldn't have mattered to me if he disappeared that day I met Salvatore, or the day Alessandro and I had first met. But unfortunately for me, he had disappeared today. The day before my wedding.

What was supposed to be the "happiest day of my life" was now hanging by a thread, ready to be cancelled. This would ruin the plan completely. Whether it was my plan or my father's, it didn't matter; the timing of this was awful, especially considering that Alessandro was still recovering.

Here we all sat, gathered around my father's meeting table, trying to work out where he would've gone.

I'm so tired, I could just sleep here.

I had my laptop out in front of me, like Oscar had, as we intently listened to Mr. Russo's orders and questions. Alessandro sat on my right, and my father sat opposite me. I debated leaning against the right side of my chair, but decided against it so that my father wouldn't have any reason to belittle me in front of everyone.

One thing I didn't like about these meetings was the silence. Mr. Russo was a pacer- he walked back and forth behind my father as he spoke, and I felt my head spinning. His footsteps echoed and the silence of the room only made it worse. It was awkward and suffocating, and I needed it to end.

I had gotten bored of him droning on, so I fired up my laptop and opened a game of Solitaire. As I began playing it, I felt a hand on my thigh, squeezing it lightly.

I turned to look at the culprit, but Alessandro had already turned his attention back to his father. I attempted to pry his hand off, but he kept it firmly gripping my leg.

Once I finally got his attention, he mouthed a single word to me.

Comportarsi.
[behave]

Sighing, I clicked off the game and sat back in my seat. I felt Alessandro shift beside me, his lips brushing my ear.

"Let me borrow your laptop quickly." He whispered.

I nodded and slid it over to him.

I watched as his face scrunched with concentration, tapping away at the keys to search whatever he needed. Someone cleared their throat suddenly, and I looked up to see Alessandro's father looking at us both.

"If you two are going to sit there and fawn over each other like children, I suggest you leave."

I sat up properly, pushing myself further into the seat as I muttered an apology.

"We aren't doing anything wrong Papa. We are only trying to help like everyone else here. We're tired, and it's late." Alessandro spoke.

I shot him a look, pleading him to keep quiet. I wasn't in the mood to argue with his father, especially in front of all these people.

His father was generally a well composed man, but at this comment, his composure was cracking little by little.

He narrowed his eyes at his son, but said nothing more. The tension was thick between the two, but no one else dared to say anything.  Mr. Russo was about to start speaking, when a phone rang.

Alessandro's hand moved to his pocket, fishing out his phone. Looking at the name on the screen, he tensed briefly.

He answered it, pressed his fingers to his lips, then pressed the speaker button as he placed the phone down on the table.

"Tony?"

A crackling noise, followed by a low hum played through the speaker. Then, someone spoke.

"Alessandro." They said.