Severed Souls

09

Everest's POV:

"Thank you for getting me out of there," Matteo says, smiling sweetly at me. "I really appreciate it."

He has a thicker accent than Matias, which makes sense since he's lived here for his entire life. It suits him, though, and it's pretty cute.

"Yeah, fuck that guy," I say, still holding Matias' hand and ignoring how his eyes are locked on mine and his joined hands.

Anthony scoffs from the driver's seat. "You do realize that Mr. Mancini has quite a bit of influence?"

"Shut up, driver." I stretch in my seat, yawning. "You're not paid to talk."

"You don't pay me," Anthony replies.

I lean up between the seats and pat his shoulder. "You work for my apparent mate's family, so... doesn't that give me the right to boss you around? Besides, you're a dick, so I'm not going to stop."

Anthony finally falls silent and parks the car in front of the mansion that has become a glorified prison for me. Well, from the sound of it, it's also been a prison for Matteo and has become one once again for Matias.

The three of us hostages enter the building first, with Anthony ordering his guards to keep an eye on us.

"I will be here tomorrow," Anthony says, looking between the three of us. "Don't do anything foolish. We will not have a problem tracking you down, and I am not past killing him."

He nods at me when he says that and I'm not too surprised that I'm the person receiving the threat. After all, I don't think Matias' parents would be too happy with Anthony killing either of their sons.

"Yeah, yeah, got it," I say, waving him off. "Trust me, I don't plan on running."

Anthony walks toward the front door.

"Yet."

He turns back around and scowls. "Matias, you should control him before he gets himself into trouble."

"You brought him," Matias responds, gently grabbing the back of my bicep. "Come on, don't give him a heart attack."

I sigh. "I'll restrain myself."

Matteo is giggling behind us and waves to Anthony before dashing up the stairs. He doesn't bother to compose himself and continues to cackle as he runs down the hallway, probably to his room.

Matias takes my hand in his and leads me up the stairs to his room, which I haven't even gotten to really check out yet because I was half asleep when we got here.

It's really clean and kind of boring, honestly. It looks more like a home office with a bed as opposed to a bedroom that someone enjoys living in. There's a desk in the corner and several stacks of papers that have been organized across it, and the bed has a grey comforter.

There's not even any plants on the windowsill! The room at the hostel didn't have much and I couldn't go crazy with decorating, but I did have a cute little cactus on my windowsill.

They better not let it die while I'm gone.

"Your room needs a plant," I comment, sitting down on the bed and looking out the window. "It's a bit minimalist in here."

Matias hums, opening his wardrobe and grabs a pair of pajamas for himself and then gestures toward it.

"I don't know what you like to wear to bed. And, my room is minimalist because my parents don't allow me to change it all that much. No posters or paint changes... just pictures of myself and Cody, items that have to do with work and training to lead the company... other than that, I wasn't allowed to spend too much time in here. I was always paraded to parties and meetings for the company's benefit."