My Sinner

-Swing.

An: sorry this is unbelievably late I dropped off the face of the earth for a hot sec-

Enjoy <3

|~|~|~|~|~|

The wind lifted my hair gently as it passed through the dense forestry in the garden. Bella had informed me of a swing near the back of the trees along the wall.

It was a long trek down the grass with my crutches but I'd rather be out here than being in close proximity to my fiancé.

My temper was still high from my argument with him so I thought some fresh air would cure my incessant need to stab the man.

I rounded the last tree and came to a stop in front of a small swing that was hanging from an oak tree. It seemed to be neglected now that Leonardo and Isabella had grown up. The slight discolouration of the rope being an obvious giveaway.

I gave it a short tug to see if it was going to snap- or worse the branch would snap but it seemed sturdy enough to support my weight.

I placed my crutches on the grass below me and sat down, still cautious of the branch above me.

I sat in silence for a few moments, the occasional chirping of a nearby bird being the only interruption of the tranquility the garden provided me.

The snapping of a twig brought me out of a trance, no doubt it was one of Leonardo's guards who were following me around like lost puppy's as of recently.

"You can stop attempting to be subtle." I announced.

A slim figure rounded the tree trunk. He was just a boy, no older than 19 if I had to guess. He had thick sandy hair and soft blue eyes, his eyes flickering around us. The poor boy was scared shitless.

"What's your name?" I questioned."

Uh- Mario, Miss." He scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"And why are you stalking me, Mario?"

"I swear I didn't mean to-, boss ordered us to make sure you didn't run again. I suppose you can't run very far at the moment." He chuckled nervously as he cast his gaze to my cast momentarily before his eyes snapped up again.

"No, I suppose not." I snorted.

"Why don't you sit?" I pointed towards the trunk of a tree opposite me.

"I don't want to intrude Miss. I don't think boss would like me talking to you unnecessarily either." He rushed.

"He can have a meltdown if he wants to, that's his problem. I won't tell if you don't." I smiled softly hoping to lessen the nerves of the poor boy.

"Thank you miss." He sat down facing me, his back leaning against the tree.

"Call me Mara."

He fiddled with his hands awkwardly.

"Well you are just a bundle of nerves kid, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Boss wanted me to look after you and I just don't want to mess it up."

"You won't, I'm fine, everything's fine. You are all good." I gave him a half reassuring thumbs up.

For the next little while Mario told me about his life. He grew up in Milan in northern Italy with his mother. He described a happy childhood before his mother became an alcoholic. She kicked him out of the house at 16 and he was left to wander the streets. He was apparently living in an alley when he saw Leonardo kill somebody like the fucking dumbass he is without checking if anybody was near. Leonardo gave him the choice to either die or work for him and here he is.

He began to slowly relax as we talked more and became decreasingly nervous around me. It was nice to talk to somebody different, especially because all of Leonardo's guards were about as fun as a rock. We talked aimlessly about his life and mine for what seemed to be a long time.

"Why is Leonardo such a dick?" I questioned him suddenly, hopping he had an answer to his constant bitchy behaviour.

Mario cleared his throat awkwardly, unsure of how to answer me.

"Well, his father was quite strict with his upbringing along with Miss Isabella and he was raised to not have weaknesses, I suppose. He has no choice other than to be...unpleasant to others. That's what Giovanni told me."

I hummed in response. I think Mario was right, still doesn't excuse his behaviour.

I could feel a small breeze beginning to pick up so I decided to return to the warmth of the house. I checked my phone to see I had spent an hour talking to Mario.

"I think I'm going to head back inside though Mario, thanks for keeping me company." I smiled softly at him, hoping to release his last few jitters.

He cleared his throat. "No problem Miss." I raised an eyebrow. "Uh- I mean Mara." He smiled sheepishly.

I went to reach for my crutches but he beat me to it and passed them to me. I took them and began my walk back to the house. Mario said he would walk me back just incase I tripped.

Awww.

|~|~|~|~|~|
An: yes I know this isn't a very interesting chapter but I wanted to slowly introduces characters instead of rushing them at you all at once and then people forget.

Plus my heart belongs to Mario and he deserved his own chapter <3

Total word count: 1234

I swear I spend more time finding photos with no context that actually writing the book