Lonely Together

43

VALENTINO

"You excited?" I asked Mariah as we approached the private jet waiting just feet away from us.

In just eleven hours, we would be back in the place I grew up—the place that usually brought me so much joy—yet I couldn't seem to feel the excitement that she was seemingly brimming with. I knew this time would be different; I would have to be hyper aware the entire time and even more so with Mariah by my side. Anytime there was a new capo, people would do anything to take that spot—including killing him. While I knew that I wanted to enjoy my time here to the fullest, I couldn't push away the nerves about whether I would even make it home or not.

"I can't wait for you to show me where you grew up, that café you claim you love so much...just everything!" She exclaimed from beside me as we boarded the private jet together, settling into our seats for takeoff.

She had way too much energy for four in the morning while I felt drained. Then again, I hadn't been able to get more than two hours of sleep in the past two weeks. It was like my mind knew something was wrong and was set on reminding me each and every night when I closed my eyes. Being the capo was proving to take a toll on me, but there was no way for me to leave the title behind without ending up six feet under. I was stuck.

Suddenly, I felt as Mariah intertwined our fingers. Turning to face her, I took in the tender expression on her face as she seemed to inspect me. She knew something was wrong—she was probably the only person who knew about all the emotions I had been going through in the past two weeks. Yet, I wasn't able to speak about them to her. She knew I wasn't okay and would give me the chance to speak to her about it, but I just couldn't.

"Please try to get some sleep, babe," she spoke, bringing her other hand up to my cheek. "If you don't do it for yourself do it for me...I don't feel like dealing with a grumpy Valentino."

I rolled my eyes as she chuckled at her own words, sending me a warning look nonetheless. She was dead serious.

***
"Valentino," Mariah's sweet voice sung in my ear, waking me from the peaceful sleep I hadn't even noticed I fell into. "We're here."

My eyes snapped open at her words. Instantly, I shot up in my seat and looked out the window beside me, shocked to see that we had indeed landed.

"You slept the whole time," she laughed, pressing a kiss to my cheek as I still sat there confused and completely discombobulated. "No moody Valentino today!"

After a few moments of getting myself together, I stood from my seat and grabbed our carry-on bags. Reminded that we were in fact now in Italy, the nerves returned immediately as the thought of something horrible happening when we step off this jet popped into my mind.

"Mariah," I spoke seriously as she happily turned to face me. "When we're here and we're together, I don't want you to leave my side for anything. It's too much of a risk."

I didn't want to burden her with the safety precautions we would have to follow strictly while we were here, but it was a million times better than risking her life—or mine. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to her while she was here and I had a feeling her dad would definitely kill me without hesitation.

"Okay. I understand...but—"

"There are no buts. You stay by my side unless I say otherwise," I told her seriously, needing her to understand how important this was. She had a habit of downplaying the things that mattered the most, but I needed her to know that now was not the time. "Understand?"

"Yes, dad," she retorted, sticking out a tongue at me as I followed her over to the door.

We interlocked our arms and began walking down the stairs of the jet, met with the bright lights of the airport and the dozens of guards waiting for us at the bottom. I felt her tense up at the sight of them, clearly realizing the true weight of this situation.

While all of the guards remained stoic in their positions, one stepped out of the line and began moving towards Mariah and I swiftly, a bright grin on his face.

"Luciano!" I shouted excitedly when he was right in front of me, pulling him into a hug.

Although he had originally been the only person I trusted to guard Mariah when we were out in public or when she went out with Ashti and Amber, he got sent back to Italy shortly after when my grandmother demanded that he replace her normal guard. Of course, he would be crazy to decline my grandmother, so he flew back the next day. It was hard not having my closest friend there with me, but I was glad that I could finally introduce him to Mariah after talking about him the past few days.

"Ah, and this is Mariah," he spoke, moving to give her a quick hug. "I can finally see you up close instead of guarding from far away," he added, making us all chuckle with one another.

"It's nice to meet you Luciano. I've heard a lot about you," she smiled as he took her hand in his and pressed a kiss to the back of it. Had it been anyone else, I probably would have been furious, but Luciano wasn't a threat at all.

Turning to me, his expression now taking one of worry as he said, "I need to talk to you about something." His eyes flashed over to Mariah who was listening close because she was so nosy. "In privato."

I tensed up at his words and expression, but nodded nonetheless. I waved over one of the guards who immediately rushed over to us, ready for whatever order I needed to give.

"Take her to one of the cars please. I'll be there in a second."

She looked up at me with a look of confusion plaguing her face, but I simply gave her a smile of reassurance even though a smile was the last thing I wanted to conjure up.

"What's wrong, Luciano?" I asked once she was out of earshot and in a close enough distance to the other guards.

"I think I've figured out who killed your father. And he'll be seated right in your meeting tomorrow."