The Mafia Bride

14.

I followed Alex through the passage, trying to keep up with him. Jeez, he walked so fast.

"Leo would kill me if I told you this but I think you ought to know." Alex said. Stopping in his steps, waiting so I could catch up with him.

He continued, "We had an older brother too. I guess you didn't know but Leo and I are cousins. So yeah, coming back to the point... Leo's older brother was Frank who was the best don we'd ever seen. But, during a gang war he died protecting Leo and Leo blames his death upon himself."

"It must be so painful for him."

"It was." Alex said. "Especially when Frank had just wed Sofia and they were expecting a child."

"I'm so sorry to hear that."

There was a crushing silence between us. Alex suddenly spoke.

"I guess that's why Leo played along when his parents mistook you to be his girlfriend. They see Sofia and Frank in you and Leo." Alex said.

I felt a pang in my stomach. Of course this made sense why Leo was pretending to be my fake boyfriend. He was simply acting and he certainly didn't mean anything he said before.

"I wish I knew this before." I mumbled trying to make my heart understand that Leo had no real feelings towards me.

We stopped by a door.

Alex said, before opening the door. "You aren't supposed to know this." Alex said. "Just don't tell Leo you know. He's touchy about this subject."

I nodded and followed him. It was a balcony of sorts overlooking a vast and beautiful garden filled with flowers.

Leo's pristine while rolled up shirt hugged his tensed elbow muscles while he rested his arms on the marble barricade. His eyes had a distant look. Even when he was standing near, I felt like he was out of my reach.

Alex knocked on the door and it snapped Leo out of his thoughts. He turned to look at us.

When his eyes fell on me, he exclaimed, "Oh Meg, you're here?"

"She was worried why you left. So I led her to you." Alex explained.

I didn't know what I was supposed to say. He had lost his brother and there was nothing I could say that could ease his pain. A lump formed in my throat when I saw the flicker of sadness and guilt in Leo's eyes.

"Here you are Meg." Alex nudged me forward. "I'll be back with everyone else."

Wait. Didn't he want to see Leo as well? Before I could ask him, Alex rushed outside and disappeared in the passage.  What was I supposed to say? I felt a blush creep up on my cheeks when I realized that this was the first time we were alone ever since we started the fake boyfriend girlfriend drama.