ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜ || 𝘝𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘦 OC

one

chapter one:

It was the boy that would ruin him
———

Italy 2021 — before the events of Paradise

Italy was beautiful in the summer. The smell of grapes from the vineyards nearby carried into the villa belonging to the Genovese family along with the light scent that the dozens of rose bushes gave off. Sunbeams cascaded into courtyard of the estate.

In the middle of the lively courtyard Vincent sat with his arms crossed on one of the hand carved, wooden benches. His breathing created a repetitive rhythm as he slept. He looked angelic. His mouth, slightly agape, seemed to create a tiny smile upon his lips even during his immense slumber. His hair danced with the wind allowing his face to be in perfect view.

"Vin!"

The boy's long eyelashes fluttered open to see the face of his older brother hovering above him, "what do you want, Nico?" mumbled a half-awake Vincent. Instead of responding like any sane person would do, Nico opted to yell directly into his younger brother's ear. Startled, Vinny took a tumble off of the bench and managed to dragged his brother down with him. "What the fuck Vin!," Nico whined as he winced in pain. Vinny's voice was muffled as he responded, "get off of me you're crushing my ribs asshole,".

After the two eventually regained their breaths but continued to lay on the terracotta tiled ground. "Mom wants us to go eat together. She keeps saying we should 'be more like a normal family' or whatever the hell that means," Nico told him, "I think she's finally lost her mind after all these years". The older of the two got up and brushed the dirt off of his black pants and refastened the button on the sleeve of his white dress shirt. He extended a hand and helped the younger one -- who was wearing less formal attire considering he was in denim jeans and a plain white t-shirt-- get up. Vinny nodded and followed Nico to the outdoor dining table. His mother, father, and eldest brother were already sitting in their chairs and conversing.

"Glad you can finally join us Vincent and Nico," their mother said, gesturing for them to take a seat which they did. On cue the maids of the estate brought out a handful of different foods and placed them in the center of the table. Vincent's father cleared his throat as he sat up to serve himself a plate of food, "thank you for bringing out the food Luciana and Joselyn," he stated as he began to cut up a piece of stake. The rest of the Genovese's waited until he took the first bite before moving to serve their own plates.

"Alexander, how are things going?" their father asked, holding eye contact with his son. Alexander began to explain the issues that he was facing in the new position that he was recently awarded. Vinny didn't really care though and opted to tune out their conversation. Instead, Vinny decided to focus on eating his meal as quickly as possible so he could be excused from the table and return to his nap.

"Recently the head of the Cassano family reached out to me and—," his father's speech was cut off by the sound of Vincent choking. His mother poured him a glass of water whilst Nico smacked his back with more force than required. "As I was saying, Mr. Cassano has invited us to visit his territory."

"Honey please stop saying territory. It's an island, not a random lot of land," Mrs. Genovese said in a halfhearted statement. Her husband began to grumble over the fact that it was the "same thing" but he wouldn't dare to argue with his wife. Even if he was one of the most feared men in the country, the only thing that truly frightened him was the 5'4 brunette woman that he married

Their small bickering was cut short by Vincent standing up abruptly, "Please excuse me from the table. The food was delicious, thank you," he said before scurrying off. 

"What's his problem?," Nico asked with a mouthful of food stored into his cheeks.

Sicily was a gorgeous city. Although he lived there is entire life, Vinny couldn't help but constantly explore his hometown as if he has never visited it before. He loved pretending like he was a tourist. He loved speaking to the locals in English and watching as they became more irritated at his "lack" of Italian. Today was one of those days where he wandered around the city looking for entertainment. Typically, entertainment for him came in the form of a girl or two. Occasionally, entertainment was a guy. Either way Vincent's taste in romantic partners was quite difficult to find. He liked people who were free, which was the exact opposite of him. His type consisted of pretty faces and adventurous personalities. Most importantly, had to be someone who was clueless to any of his family's endeavors.

But today, Vincent didn't find entertainment in the forms of fooling around, he instead decided to buy a last minute train ticket after he ended up at the station. He wasn't sure where he was going but he didn't really care/

"Hi! What could I do for you?," the woman over the counter said. She seemed to be hurriedly fixing her hair and excessively pushing out her chest the moment she spotted Vinny approaching her booth. "Hi...," He said before staring at her name tag, "...Samantha, lovely name by the way, could I get a ticket?". The girl — who's name was apparently Samantha — began blushing profusely, "Sure! where to?" Vincent leaned over the counter and smiled at her, "I'm not picky, anywhere is fine,". Samantha nodded and scrambled to get him a train ticket. "Here you go! Your trip to Rome is in about twenty minutes!"

He gave her a small thanks and paid for the ticket. Just as he was about to leave Samantha reached out and grabbed the sleeve of his t-shirt, "wait! Could I possibly get your number?," she asked bashfully. Vincent scratched his head, "Ahh... sorry! I have a girlfriend!". This was a complete and utter lie. The man couldn't keep his damn fish alive, there was no way he could pay enough attention to a girl.

Somehow Samantha had a feeling he didn't and seemed to not believe him so she skeptically asked him for a photo of her. Reluctantly, Vincent got out his phone and turned it on to show here. And there she was on his lock screen. It had to be one of the prettiest girls Samantha had ever seen in her life. The photo on his lock screen was of Vinny and his so-called-girlfriend at a beach. His arm was clearly wrapped around her waist and they were both wearing matching couple outfits. There was no doubt in Samantha's mind that the gorgeous girl in the image was his girlfriend. She apologised and let go of his sleeve in embarrassment.

The girl in the photo was a hundred and ten percent not Vinny's girlfriend. She was actually his best friend, Lia, and he couldn't be more thankful that she forced him to use the photo as his lock screen. Then again, he didn't mind it being the first thing he saw when he turned on his phone. Everyone around them knew that they had a special bond. It was Vincent and Liliana against the world. Nothing could ruin their friendship. Absolutely nothing.

Vincent checked the time as he walked to the platform where his train would arrive at. Fifteen minutes had already passed. He silently cursed the woman at the counter — who's name he already forgot — for stalling him so long. He did feel a bit guilty about rejecting her advances but he really didn't want to get her hopes up. She seemed like a nice girl but she was obviously looking for something more than just a casual one night stand.

A breeze came as the train flew past him. Once it stopped, Vinny gave his ticket to a staff member and boarded a random railway car. Luckily, there were few people in the area he boarded. Vinny made his way to the seats in the back, hoping to get a whole row just to himself. And then he spotted him sitting in a seat in the back of the train. His appearance was partially hidden via his hoodie that seemed two sizes too big for him. His hood wasn't large enough to his his white dyed hair.

He definitely wasn't a native to Italy. Otherwise the 'Basic phrases in Italian' book in his hands was there for no reason. Vincent was intrigued by the boy. He seemed to be looking around in a paranoid fashion almost as if he was being chased. The poor kid looked like he was on the verge of tears with his bottom lip slightly quivering.

Vincent didn't know it at the time but it was the boy that would ruin him.