The Beauty And The Heist

Chapter-23

Carelia DeLuca exuded the charm of a 70s movie actress. Her features we classically beautiful like her son's, but softer. She didn't look that old, probably in her late forties. Hmm...well, his family was all kinds of fucked up.

She caught sight of him and ran to greet him.

"Adriano!!" She laughed as she hugged him. Adrian smiled back and hugged her, lifting her in the air.

Despite myself, a smile creeped onto my face.

Suddenly, a pang of jealousy hit me from out of the blue. I knew that if I went home, my reunion with my father would be much colder. After cancer snatched mom away, I was left entirely alone, I had no friends and no family. And even in that moment, when I was standing in the golden sunlight, I'd never felt lonelier. I looked away.

Ugh, what was wrong with me? I had always preferred facts over feelings, I got uncomfortable when there was too much emotion. I despised self-pity. I believed that it was a pathetic waste of time and brains, time and brains that you could use to act and actually solve your problem. Action always worked. Crying never changed anything. In my opinion, it was better to lash out and see where things go.

Carelia hugged Antonio and Damien. She then moved on to Isaac and awkwardly embraced him as well.

It came as no surprise to me that she saw me last. My small demeanor was at fault, not her.

She took one look at me and turned white as a sheet of paper. She turned towards Adrian and said something in Italian nervously. I frowned. Why was she scared of her own son?

Adrian's eyes widened and he shook his head and said no a few times before turning to me.

"Tell her that you're here by your own free will." He asked rather rudely.

"The last thing I remembered was being stuffed in a trunk and now I'm here." I said innocently.

Carelia looked at me in shock.

Adrian shot me a look that said being stuffed in a trunk was somewhere in my near future.

Damien and Antonio looked horrified while Isaac started laughing. I fought back my own smile but failed.

Carelia laughed along with Isaac and soon all of us were laughing except Adrian, but the corners of his mouth did tilt upwards.

"Met your match, Mia figlia?" She asked.

"Her name is Chevron, I found her in LA. She is a complete Idiota." He said in a bored voice.

"Never would've guessed what Idiota meant." I said, placing a hand on my hips.

"With your unusual mental state it is quite believable." He snapped.

"Unlike the fact that you're a genius?" I snapped back.

"Every time you breathe, I feel the need to apologize to everyone for not ending your life sooner." He snarled.

"You're a motherfucking piece of shit who acts like a complete dick. You're the one asshole that needs to fucking die!" I yelled.

"How cute, I bet you exhausted your entire vocabulary with that eloquent sentence." He said smirking at me.

"Such a prickly personality, you really should consider removing the cactus that's up your ass." I noted.

"Do you have a death wish, Idiota?" He asked with a sweet smile.

"Yes, I wish you dead, bastardo!" I said in a saccharine voice.

"I know your vocabulary has a lot left wanting, but 'bastardo' is not a word in the dictionary." He corrected.

"It was added the day you were born." I snapped. Oooh, nice.

"And I'm sure all the words from your previous sentence were added in your honor." He retorted with a self satisfied smirk.

"I hate you, Adrian."

"I hate you more, sweetheart."

Isaac wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "Heart touching. How unromantic!"

"You two need to fuck." Damien said.

Adrian and I glared at him. He scampered behind Carelia.

Antonio smiled. "He does have a point."

"And I do have fifteen bullets in my Beretta." Adrian said conversationally.

I looked at Carelia. She shifted uncomfortably at the mention of guns.

"Mom, is Roy here?" He asked.

Her face fell.

"No, Adrian, he left a day back." She said.

"But he was here for a few days, right?" I piped up.

"Yes, he was." Carelia sighed.

I looked at Adrian.

"Adrian? I need to talk to you."I said. There were few more hours of sunlight left.

Adrian glanced at Carelia. "Can you take them in? Chevron wants me all to herself."

Oh, the things I'd do if I had you all to myself.

Carelia looked at him and a silent warning passed between them. One which I was not privy to.

"Adrian." I said, directing his attention to me.

He glared at me, but eventually sighed. He grabbed my hand and led me down a cobbled pathway that winded behind the manor.