A Year Away From Her

Chapter 8

Grandfather Rico looked between his two granddaughters, still feeling the strong emotions from his future heir. In all honesty, he did not know how to approach this situation. He truly believed this entire arrangement with Daniella being away for a year would fall apart, and that Daniella would've been back home a month after being gone, but he was wrong.

"Viviana," He started, and his granddaughter glanced up at him and his heart broke for Viviana. The tear-filled eyes he saw once he came into the room returned. He knew Viviana wasn't a crier. She never cried, but love brought out a side no one knew they had. "I know this has been hard on you. Trust me, I know. But you cannot blame Azula for this. She was trying to help, there is only so much she can do to help you."

Azula glanced between her grandfather and her cousin, fearful she was going to attack her again, but she was surprised to see Viviana turn towards her with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Azula. I didn't mean to lash out on you, but you were the easiest person to blame besides myself." Viviana cried out, as she began to hold herself.

Azula suddenly felt guilty. Granted her cousin did try to kill her twice now, but it was because she was broken, and she felt alone now that Dani was gone. Daniella had broken her cousin by leaving her. Azula glanced at her grandfather, asking him if it was okay if she went to comfort her cousin, he gave a slight nod and Azula rose from her seat and went to hug her cousin. While they never had a close relationship growing up, Azula was glad they slowly became closer as they got older.

Once Azula pulled Viviana into a hug, Viviana no longer held back her tears and just let them flow. Azula swallowed hard as her cousin just continued to cry into Azula's shirt. As she cried, Azula turned towards her grandfather and saw he didn't know what to do either.

"I just miss her so much," Viviana sobbed into her cousin's chest. "She makes me whole, and without her, who am I?"

Rico didn't like he what he was hearing from his granddaughter, as it reminded him so much of the painful past with his own love of his life. Being away from Daniella was making her weak and vulnerable, and it scared him. If any of their enemies caught wind of this situation, that the future heir of the De Rossi was broken, the future of their family was threatened. And Rico couldn't have that. He needed to protect his family more than anything else.

Rico took a step towards his granddaughters and placed his hand on Viviana's back and gave it a slight rub, trying to comfort her and she continued to cry. He glanced up at Azula, "Veglia su di lei. Tornerò presto." He commented as he slowly pulled away and begin to leave the room.

"Don't hurt her please." Viviana cried out right before Rico left the room. He paused in his footsteps, not before giving a small nod and walking out of the room.

~

These past couple of days with Everly have been nothing but pure enjoy. After the club, as bad as it sounds, I quickly texted her, telling her I had a great time getting to know her. I know that it might have sounded desperate, but I has been such a long time since I've dated/flirted with anyone, I had completely forgotten all the do's and don'ts of dating especially after just meeting at a gay club. Plus, I didn't know when I would ever get the chance to meet someone as amazing as her.

But lucky for me, after I sent Everly a text that night, she quickly responded, and ever since then, we have been talking non-stop. Each time we talked, whether it was texting, FaceTime, or even actually a phone call, Everly made me feel like a normal person with a normal dating life again. Not the Mafia Princess who was going to be taking over in just a year. I was finally enjoying the fun parts of life, not the planned-out life my family already had for me.

The only downside about Everly was the fact that she owned a club, so we had very few hours to talk to each other. Mostly because Everly was so busy with the club and running it, and the fact our hours were completely flipped. While I could make my own hours, they typically fell between 7am to about 6pm while Everly's hours fell between 6pm to 2am. When I was working, she was sleeping, getting ready for the following night, and while when she was working, I was sleeping. But we always found time in-between to talk or little comments.