Poisoned Love

Chapter Thirty-One: Memories

N I C O H L A S

These past few weeks have gone by quicker than I would have personally liked, but here we are. A day away from the ball, and a day away from having to stay civil while being in the same room as Alessio. As happy as I would be to rip his throat out, I've been advised against it, multiple fucking times.

Every couple of hours for the past week Matteo comes in here reminding me that I can't cause a scene. Not because he actually cares, he wants him just as much as I do, but because he doesn't want to deal with the mess. Then a couple minutes after he leaves Luca comes in to lecture me on the same subject, only taking a slightly different angle. He just reminds me that if I do go through with it we have to host this stupid ass ball again next year, that's enough to make me consider changing my mind.

A knock comes from the door, pulling me out of my thoughts. The only people who knock are the maids.

"Come in." I groan, I was not in the mood to listen to them go on about this event.
"Sir, everything seems to be in order for tomorrow night's activities." She said, not daring to look me in the eyes. This wasn't new, it's always been this way.
"Very well, make sure to keep all the food and drink away from my men and brothers. The last thing we need is them messing with the supplies." I said.

And with that she was out the door.

I figured I might as well do something with my time. Sitting at my desk wasn't getting anything done, all the shipments and warehouses were in order since my talk with Alessio. Making my job significantly less stressful.

I really shouldn't just barge into Luca's room, the last thing I need is for all his alarms to go off. I personally blame myself for getting him into all the tech, far too late now though.

"Hey." I said, as soon as I saw Luca and Matteo gaming.
"Wow, you actually can spend time with us. I'm impressed." Matteo said, his face forming a frown as Luca killed him.

"You little bitch! You are so dead now." He laughed, as he started going awol after his character.
"Try and catch me motherfucker." Luca laughed back, he clearly had the advantage in this game.

5 minutes later the game was over, and we had a very pouty Luca.

"I still can't believe you beat me." Luca frowned, punching Matteo in the ribs.
"Don't even start." I warned. I wasn't in the mood to stop a fight.
"He started it." Matteo whined.
"What are you? Fucking three?" I asked, slightly amused with his reaction.
"Shut up." He smiled.

"Is everything ready?" Luca asked, changing the subject.
"Yeah, I'm still not looking forward to this." I said.
"None of us are. But we started this mess ourselves." Matteo said, throwing a pillow in my direction.

"What did I do?" I asked, faking being offended.
"You pissed off Gianna, that's what you did." He smiled.
"She tried killing both of you, remember?" I said, I still remember how pissed I was when I found out.
"No I don't. I was wasted as fuck." Luca grinned, one that I haven't seen in a while.
"She was good. I was so mad that we couldn't find anything on her. Her brothers were good at covering her tracks." I said.

I was happy that we could talk about her. I don't remember the time I actually did, hell I tried to push the thought of her from my mind completely.

"Fuck, I forgot she did have brothers at one point." Matteo said, as he fell back onto the couch.
"I know." I said, I honestly only remember them because they were the ones who got us into this mess.

"God, I remember how terrified I was when you left to go find after she called." Luca said to me.
"Imagine how scared I was when I was driving there." I said. I drove like a maniac.
"Fuck you almost murdered us when we asked to see her." Matteo said, a grin on his face.
"I know, I couldn't fucking think. And at that point we were still indifferent to each other." I shrugged.

"Don't even. You weren't even close to being indifferent with each other, you were fucking whipped. The moment she torture that guy in the cellar, you fell for her and hard." Matteo said, and he wasn't wrong. She impressed me more than anyone ever did.
"Fine, maybe I was." I frowned.
"And to think if you just admitted your feelings to her then she wouldn't have gone to Russia for two months." Luca said, throwing another pillow at me.
"Ok, this is done. No more attacking me." I said.

I was tired and really needed sleep tonight, the last thing I needed was my mind swimming with memories of Gianna.

"Ok assholes, we all need rest for tomorrow. You both better be on your best fucking behaviour I swear." I said, getting up and heading out of Luca's room.
"Goodnight to you too dipshit." Matteo yelled from behind me.

—---

I groaned, stretching around in bed trying to get myself to wake up. Today was going to be long, today was a year ago when Gianna first stepped into my estate.

Her side of the bed was still untouched. It's been that way ever since I had my break down all those months ago. I honestly can't believe I've lasted this long, I mean I guess I had to for the mafia. But that's beside the point. I miss the banter we used to have, or waking up some mornings and having her already looking at me, a content look on her face as she played with my hair. I miss the feeling of her in my arms.

But I can't focus on any of that, today is far too important to be distracted.

I looked over to the clock, it was already 11:00am. Clearly I was in no rush for tonight, considering that it started in 6 hours.

I rolled out of bed, as much as my body protested and threw on a t-shirt and sweats. I wasn't going to wear a suit until later, I wanted to be comfortable until then.

After the long walk to the kitchen, passing all the guards on the way I finally got a cup of coffee.

"Morning." Matteo said, walking in.
"Sure." I said, not sure if he heard me or not.
"I don't want to do this." He sighed, getting a cup of coffee.
"Same." I agreed.

"Where's Luca?" I asked, these days they seem to be paired, always with each other.
"In his room. He was going on about fixing the security tech, wanting it to be perfect." He shrugged. We both understood, there was never a point in trying to understand Luca's tech.

"I just want this day to be over already." Matteo said, taking a seat at the island while I made some eggs.
"I know. And I don't even know why I'm so stressed, there's nothing going on beside having to talk to people." I said, grabbing two plates and passing one to him.
"That's exactly why I'm stressed. I haven't had to talk to anyone outside of this house in months. And everyone I do is a part of our mafia." He said.
"I guess, as long as that's the most of our worries." I said.

I really didn't need anything going wrong, I no longer had the patience for this anymore. If someone got on my nerves tonight, they were dead, no questions asked. Unless it was Luca or Matteo, but I can tolerate them for the most part.