Don't Leave Me (ON HOLD)

6

"Dara is that you?" A woman stood on the second of the house, her hand placed on the glass mezzanine. She gave me a quick smile, gracefully going down the staircase. She wore a black pencil skirt that reached her knees and a sarcoline cowl top with a BVLGARI Save The Children necklace displayed around her neck.

"In the flesh." I smiled back as she approached me and took me into a big hug. She pulled back then looked at me up and down. "You look absolutely dashing sweetheart."

"You look even more dashing Mrs Solari." I smiled.

"Oh please, address me as mom, we're basically family now, follow me." She took my hand before I even got a chance to reply and she lead me through the foyer to the backyard were a whole lot of Luca's family was. She stopped mid way before she reached the gigantic sliding door they had in the lounge. She looked at the clock on the wall in confusion.

My mind got distracted by something metallic scratching my wrist. I glanced down at her left hand on the wrist of my right arm, a 10 carat ring circling around her ring finger stared back at me covered in diamonds.

"Do you like it?" She asked and I immediately looked up. Her eyes were on me as we were standing in the middle of the lounge. "Ohh no, I was just admiring it. It's really...big." It was.

She waved her free hand in the air, playfully shoo'ing me. "Yours will probably be bigger," She said, her eyes darting me in distraction. "Stand here, I'll be back."

My eyes landed on a table of food. Perfect.

The mini burgers were the first thing I saw and I was starving. I stared at my hand, trying to remember if I had made contact with something unsanitary and if I needed to wash my hands. I shrugged and picked up three mini burgers. I ate one and held the other two in my left hand.

The sound of someone clearing their throat caught me off guard and I spinned around. A woman who looked like she was in her mid 30s stood in front of me. She batted her fake eyelashes at me before speaking. "You're the one marrying Luca?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes before holding out her hand to shake mine. She took back her hand when she realized that I wasn't going to shake her hand.

"There's a lot of people outside, I thought I was meeting his family..." I said to her hesitating.

"This is his family, just the intermediate family, the extended family will be at the wedding." This is the intermediate family?! I thought this was his entire family and friends!

"My name is Rory, don't worry you'll get through it," She tried to reassure me as if she heard my thoughts or something.

I kept chewing my burger while staring at Rory. A tall figure entered the lounge with a woman holding his hand. My eyes no longer fixated on Rory in front of me but on this couple that had just got into the room. The man turned to look down at the woman and she hit his arm in a flirty manner. My eyebrows furrowed when I recognized the man.

Luca?

"Are you even listening to me?" Rory questioned but my attention was on those two on the other side of the room.

The woman got on her tippy toes and Luca leaned down to kiss her. I felt my burger go down the wrong pipe in my throat, making me choke. Rory's eyes widened and she got by my side, slapping the burgers out of my hand and gently rubbing my back as if it would even help.

The sound of heels clicking on the floor got louder. I looked up and saw the woman that Luca kissed rushing to me. She got to me and placed her hands on both sides of my face. "Are you okay? Do you need water?" I nodded my head and she let go of my face and ran out of the lounge.

"I'm going to look for my mom." Rory disappeared by my side and I stood there, rubbing my chest in pain as I sank to the floor.

"You okay?" My head snapped up and Luca was standing a few feet away from where I was on the floor. I felt tears prick my eyes when he gently smiled at me and held his hand out to help me up. "Luca," I whispered, almost choking for the second time.

Why was he smiling at me? Did I do something wrong? He's suddenly so nice. I-

My thoughts got cut off when a little girl ran to Luca and wrapped herself around his limb. "Papà, Paolo won't stop chasing me." Luca's hand retracted away from me. The little girl giggled when Luca picked her up and she buried her face into his neck.

Luca has a daughter?

I didn't like Luca or know him that well but I was a person that got attached to people easily. And I'd be lying if I said that I didn't feel my heart shattering a little when he kissed that woman or when the little girl called him dad.

"Cosa diavolo!" A husky voice elevated through the entire house. Luca turned around from where he stood. Xavier rushed to me as soon as he saw me on the floor. He held both my arms and lifted me onto my feet. He stood behind me. "Wrong brother," he whispered from behind me.

Xavier extended his hand past my shoulder to point at where another Luca was standing, next to an older man that looked like him. If that was Luca standing there, then who was this holding the little girl? I stared at the man in front of me with the child and he turned his head to look at me. My eyes moved back to Luca.

He stormed into the lounge when he saw me not moving. He strided to where we were standing and looked at the man that looked exactly like him. "Fratello," Luca said cautioning the man in front of him. The man holding the child turned back to me and smiled. "I'm Giancarlo, I'm his twin brother."

"Yeah yeah that's enough introductions for today, get out," Luca commanded rudely and I gawked at him.

BEEP.

BEEP.

I covered my head with the duvet as the sound kept getting louder. BEEP.

I shifted around and rolled on my back. BEEP.

Another sound rang and I stretched my arms and legs, making little noises of satisfaction when I felt my joints crack. I threw the cover off myself and sat up. My right hand reached for my phone on the bedside table, whilst my left hand rubbed my eyes.

I turned off my alarm and both my hands fell to the bed. That was a dream?