The Don's Trust

Chapter 19

After going to their lectures, Valentina and Lilly stopped by a cafe. It was the cafe where Lilly worked during the weekend. They conversed about their upcoming tests and how they planned on studying for it. Luckily for Valentina, she already made summaries of the study material she had to learn.

"I only made notes for the first and second chapter,'' Lilly sighed and slumped against the wooden chair.

"I can give you my notes for the other chapters,''

"You would do that?'' Lilly's looked at Valentina with puppy eyes.

"Why not?'' She winked.

Valentina took a sip of her milky coffee while her eyes wandered around her friend's working place. It was relatively quiet and had a vintage feel to it. It reminded her of the cafe she worked for in her hometown. Valentina put the cup down, looked up and noticed Lilly gaping at her watch.

"What's wrong?''

"It's already five o'clock!'' Lilly packed her stuff up, "I don't have time to study today. I still have a list of chores I had to do.''

Valentina grabbed her coat she hung on the chair, "How many chores?''

Lilly squinted her eyes and counted everything she had to do, "About four but doing the laundry is going to be a drag. Our washing machine broke down a while ago, so now I have to go to the laundromats and it takes forever to get it done, you know."

After Valentina parted ways with Lilly, she headed back home. Her ride home was the same as usual. Kevin would make a comment on Luke's driving skills and Luke would roll his eyes at him. Even though the two would banter a lot, they still worked well together.

When Valentina entered the house, the voices in the living room caught her attention. She took her coat off, hung it up and entered the filled up living room. There were two familiar faces and two unfamiliar ones.

Damian gave a simple nod in acknowledgement of her presence to which Valentina responded with a small smile. Her gaze went from Vito to the couple on the couch. Valentina cracked her brains to figure out who the brunet man was. He looked somewhat familiar. As for the woman sitting next to him, she knew for sure she had never seen her before. Valentina wondered what connected her to these men.

"Valentina, come. You should hear this as well,'' Vito moved to make place for her.

Despite the confused feeling, she went over to Vito. Valentina guessed whatever he was going to announce must have been important considering she wasn't one of them. In her eyes, she wouldn't necessarily associate herself with Vito's brothers, friends and acquaintances. Outsiders, on the other hand, would associate her with them. After all, she was with Vito.

The brown-haired man introduced himself as Enzo and Vito's brother. His looks were similar to Christopher. Compared to Christopher, Enzo appeared as someone who was more approachable.

Valentina held her breath when he told her his name. Mainly because she knew what he had done.

The woman sitting beside him introduced herself as Camila and Enzo's fiancé. Valentina found herself in awe of the woman with wavy black hair. Enzo's fiance had the look of a classic beauty. Camila was, more often than not, perceived as a confident and elegant lady.

"Enzo,'' Vito said.

Enzo nodded and pushed himself to start speaking. As he talked about Christopher's confession, he had his head down and a deep frown was etched on his face.

With a heavy heart, Enzo said, "He got the life sentence.''

Damian spoke up after a minute of silence, "It was his own choice. He knew what waited for him if he wanted to keep you from going to prison.''

Vito saw right through Damian. He knew his brother was just as broken as Enzo about Christopher's fate. Damian was trying to stay strong for Enzo's sake.

Camila held her fiancé's hand in an attempt to comfort him and put him at ease. She was silently telling him she was there for him and stood by his side.

"We should go,'' Enzo stood up and beckoned for Camila to get up as well.

Damian copied his action, "I'll take my leave as well.''

Before they left, Camila let go of Enzo and went over to Valentina. The young woman told her to come with her for a second and brought Valentina to the kitchen to get some privacy.

"We didn't really get a chance to talk but you can contact me whenever you want," Camila grabbed a tissue and pen from her handbag, wrote her number on it and handed it over to Valentina.

"Oh, thank you," Valentina paused for second before asking if Camila wanted her number as well.

"That'd be great,''

Valentina returned Camila's smile and tore the tissue right down the middle. She wrote her number on the other half, folded it and gave the piece of paper to Camila.

"Camila!'' Enzo called making Camila roll her eyes.

"He can be so impatient at times,'' She whispered to Valentina, "Anyway, I'll see you again!''

Valentina smiled and said her goodbyes to Camila and Enzo. She had taken a liking to Camila due to her warm presence. In addition to that, she also looked like someone she could rely on.

"What did she tell you?'' Vito leaned against the couch.

"Not much. She gave me her number,''

"Only that?'' He asked and got a nod in response.

Was she supposed to say something? Am I over-thinking things like always? Questions popped up in her head.

Vito pulled Valentina closer to him. It resulted in her standing in between his legs and his hands on her waist. His sudden move startled Valentina. She looked into his eyes, trying to decipher them. She could swear she saw a glimpse of loneliness them. Gently, she moved her right hand to cup his face. The rough stubble tickled her hand and gave off a raw feeling to him.

"Is there something on your mind?'' Valentina felt the movement of his jaw clenching under her hand.

A faint smile appeared on Vito as he lightly shook his head. He placed his hand on top of hers, moved it from his cheek and kissed her palm. Just as Valentina's lips parted, Vito's grip on her waist tightened and leaned in to capture her lips. Not long after Valentina closed her eyes, she felt his lips on hers. Her cheeks were decorated with a light pink colour and her breathing became uneven. It was a slow, short kiss that heated Valentina up. When Vito pulled back, he left another kiss on her cheek and buried the side of his face in her silky brown hair.

''Is there really nothing on your mind?''

He squeezed her waist, silently telling her to not ask that question again. It made Valentina feel slightly discouraged, he still didn't want to fully open up to her.

"Is there something I can do?'' Her voice trailed off.

"No,'' His lips grazed against her ear.

Whatever was on Vito's mind, Valentina wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

A few seconds later he added, ''Stay with me.''

Instead of using words, Valentina answered with a simple hum.

Valentina and Vito had an unspoken connection. Both of them cared for each other. There was one difference between them though. Whereas Valentina trusted him, Vito didn't allow himself to do the same; it would take some time before he did.