❝I would burn for all eternity to feel your touch once more.❞
Former mafia member now turned barista, Lorenzo Castello, is running away from his family to grieve a sudden loss when he meets a paramedic with no impulse control that turns his world up...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
IT HAS BEEN a week since his date with Gia at the beach. It has also been a week since his brother's text almost caused him a panic attack; the idea of going back there scared him and he knew he would do anything to stay in San Francisco with Ryan, Amalia and Gia. It had been four days since he finally gave his brother the answer, he was oh-so waiting for.
Even though the words 'When I'm ready to face him again,' – in Italian, of course, he didn't want him to suspect anything – didn't really sit well with Pietro, he didn't say anything back to which Lorenzo had no idea as to how to feel. Should he feel grateful that his brother wasn't pressuring him into returning to Italy or should he feel afraid because maybe his brother turned against him and was planning on eliminating the threat, him being the latter? However, it wasn't until four days after he sent his reply that he got one back from his brother.
It had been a video, one of him and their padre singing the Italian birthday song as they gave each other a side hug. They were both smiling but you could clearly see the sadness in their eyes. Pietro's eyes had lost their usual shine but he looked better than he did the day he left which made Lorenzo feel a little bit better, only for his mood to turn sour when he had turned his eyes to his widowed father.
His eyes were bloodshot, wrinkles covered his whole face that used to be so smooth which used to make his father look so young. But then, when Lorenzo couldn't take his eyes off him, he looked so old and he knew that his grief had caused that. Lorenzo understood; he had lost his only daughter – his favourite child – but he had also lost his wife, the person who he loved so much and his mother, the woman that raised him and was always by his side.
For a second, he wanted to go home.
He wanted to go to his padre, embrace him in the tightest hug possible and apologise for leaving for almost six months when he needed him. For a moment, he wanted to be reunited with his family again, he wanted to see what they have been up to, to see if Vitale had made any other moves on them, to see if anything changed around Italy. For just a split second, he wanted to be there with them, laughing and running the family business even though that wasn't what he truly wanted to do. Because if that made them happy, then so be it.
But that second passed and the video ended in the most horrid way possible. The song ended, his brother still smiling but his father's face turned into a scowl. He faced away from the camera to his son and said "Are we done now?" in Italian.
Pietro's once happy face turned into a sad one as he side-glanced the camera. The video ended there. His brother probably tried to cut out that part but he hadn't been careful and left the most important seconds there.
Lorenzo felt his heart break once again. His eyes filled with unshed tears and he choked on air, the need to breathe being there but he couldn't. His throat was clogged with thick emotion as he tried to gather his thoughts. He was stupid, he was so stupid to think his father would actually want him back. Suddenly, a huff escaped him and then, he was full-on laughing like a maniac. Laughing at himself for being so weak and stupid. His father didn't love him, he would never love him and he had to accept that. He had to live with it but why the hell was it hurting him so much?
