The Lonely King

Twenty-Five

"Amelia,"

Nick said after a long silent drive. Well, it really wasn't that long since we just drove into downtown, but it felt like hours with my thoughts clouding my focus.

I looked up to his gorgeous silver eyes to see a faint hint of worry. "What is it?"

He tucked a few stands of my hair behind my ear before softly asking, "are you sure you want to do this?"

His face held something deeper. I knew it wasn't just for what I might feel after meeting with him. It seemed almost if he was afraid of losing me. I don't know why I felt he was feeling that since I was just going to meet my brother and wouldn't think of leaving him, but I've seen that look before. That look he has when he thinks it's a possibility I won't come back.

I gently brought my hand to rest on his cheek. "Why do you look like you're afraid I won't come back?" I whispered.

He sighed and after a moment the corners of his lips turned upward. "You know me too well," he shook his head. "It's just he's been looking for you for ten years. If I had a chance to meet whatever family I have left, I would spend as much time as I could with them. I'm just afraid to wake up to you gone on a flight to Paris because of him."

I shook my head and leaned in to kiss him. Once we broke the kiss, I said, "how could you even think I would do that?"

"It's hard to believe an amazing girl like you could put up with my lifestyle, even put yourself in danger just to be with me."

"Well, I'm here to stay as long as you'll have me,"

He smiled, "then in that case, you're going to have to stay until I'm not on this earth anymore,"

"Gladly," I placed a quick kiss to his lips before looking out the window and seeing the big bold letters Paradiso Ristorante, which just reminded me that my brother is in there.

"How are you feeling?" He squeezed my hand.

I turned back to him and exhaled, "a little nervous I guess. I'm not really sure what to expect."

"I'm sure he just wants to get to know you since he's been looking for so long,"

"I can't believe he's never found me, I mean, with all the connections,"

"I have a suspicion that it might have something to do with your father,"

I nodded and looked out the window again. "I guess I should go in,"

"Okay, call me if you need anything,"

"Of course," I replied ad kissed him one last time before walking in.

~*~

"So...why did it take you this long to find me?" I asked after the long awkward silence after we ordered out food.

"It mainly was your father. He wanted to keep me away from his current family and because he and our uncle are so close, he refused to tell me either, so I was going off of nothing while they stopped me at every chance I got to search for you," he explained.

"It's hard to find someone who someone else is trying to hide in this world,"

"Speaking of which, when did you find out about the mafia anyway?"

"I had my suspicions with my father, but I never confirmed it. But when Nick and my father talked alone at the hospital, I could see it written all over his face that he knew exactly who Nick was and there's only one way that could happen,"

"I see. You know he knew about me before we met?"

"He told me after that he only found out a week before,"

He nodded. "You know, I was really surprised to find out you were with him,"

I smiled slightly, "why do you say that?"

"It's just that I heard he's never with any women. I thought he was just too busy or he didn't want to give any information to them. I didn't think it was because he was with you,"

I shook my head, "we've only known each other for four months,"

"Oh. I just thought with the way he looks at you,..." he trailed off.

"How does he look at me?" I raised my eyebrow.

He shook his head, smiling.

"Alex,"

"Fine. He looks at you like your his whole world. Like you've been together for a long time and you're all that matters to him. You can tell he loves you," he explained.

"He's never said it," I mumbled.

His eyes got big at that comment. "He probably will soon. It's written all over his face that he loves you more than anything in this world."

My smile only grew at those words.

Noticing this he asked, "you're happy?"

"Of course, I love him."

It was the first time I said it out loud, but my heart has known i have for a long time now. My heart started beating faster and butterflies erupted in my belly just thinking about how the man I love loves me back. I'm probably going to faint when he's the one who actually tells me.

"That's good. I honestly thought at first he was forcing you to be with him, but when I saw you two at the ball, I could see I was wrong."

"At first, he didn't want me with him because he thought it was too dangerous, but in the end he was too selfish to let me go. Well, that was after I told him countless times I didn't care if my safety was at risk as long as I was with him."

"I could see where he's coming from," he thought about something else for a moment. "Do you want to go back to France with me?"

That caught me by surprise, so I started choking on my water. I coughed a few times before asking, "what?"

"Just to get to know each other better,"

"I can't," I replied.

"He won't let you?"

"No, it's nothing like that. I just don't want to leave him. I know you might not like it, but I just can't be away from him even for a few weeks."

He smiled to himself. "I knew it was a long shot. I could barely leave my fiancée for a week to come here."

"You have a fiancée?"

"Yeah, I met her two years ago at a club,"

"A club?" I chuckled.

"I was there because I'm the owner and had to meet with people, and when I saw her alone at a table. I could tell that she didn't want to be there and her friends most likely dragged her here. I just started talking to her about what she didn't like about the club and changed what she didn't. Later, I showed it to her and she loved it. Then I asked her to come with me to the opening after all the renovations and she agreed."

"You made all those changes for her?"

He smiled, "Yeah, at the time, I just wanted her to talk to me, but I realized quickly that she was extremely smart. The club was even more popular after, so I asked her to design my clubs, restaurants, and hotels for me. You should visit sometime. She does an amazing job."

"Yeah, Nick and I could take a vacation."

"I'm glad I finally found you. Family is everything to me."

"I'm glad, too"