STOLEN || 18+ (Monsters #3)

.79. World

"...god, how I ricochet between certainties and doubts."

- Sylvia Plath

. . .

Leyla

Gabriella looked at me and then at the two men sitting on either side of me. Olivia had set up a table in the backyard, beside something called The Maze. This was supposed to be a pleasant breakfast but I knew for a fact that Gabriella was going to make sure it was anything but pleasant.

Olivia ate, too lost in food to notice anything. Zavier was too busy feeding her. Ashton was lost in his book. Xerxes was occupied with whatever file he was reading.

Luca looked between Gabriella, Giovanni and Fabiano as if ready for the fight. He sipped his tea.

Gabriella sipped her tea. "How many girls have you kidnapped?"

"None." Giovanni sipped his coffee.

"Ah, so Leyla is a unicorn?"

"I like unicorns," Olivia piped in "I painted one once with oil." She had finally noticed the tension. "Would you like to see it?"

"It is quite remarkable," Ashton said and kissed Olivia's face when she grinned at him.

"I'm sure it is, " Gabriella said sincerely and then turned back to Fabiano and Giovanni. "Is Ryder gone?"

"No. But he is not a problem anymore," Fabiano muttered, cutting a piece of pancake. "Eat, Leyla."

"How is he not a problem anymore?"

"I fail to understand how that is something you need to know," Giovanni poured me some juice. "I heard you failed in school but I am not asking about it, am I?"

"You failed!"

Gabriella flinched. "Well, the teacher hates me-"

"Nah that's an old one."

She huffed. "I tried."

I watched her. "You can't fail, Gabby. You have to at least complete high-school."

"You know, many awesome people dropped out of high school to pursue their career."

"If you drop out, what career will you pursue?"

"I don't know," she muttered. "I will get my grades back up. Don't worry."

I hummed. "What subject though?"

She flinched. "I don't wanna die."

I raised my eyebrows. "What subject, Gabby?"

"Uh...History?"

I put my juice down. "You disgrace-"

. . .

"She's been struggling with quite a lot," Olivia said, flipping through some files as she sat on the large chair of her office. Her office was beautiful, filled with colour. "But she is determined to pull through so that is what we should focus on. On her urge to get back up. Not the fact that she fell."

"I am not mad at her. But I worry for her. Gabriella gets captured by emotions. If school had not come up in the conversation today, she would have said too much to Giovanni and Fabiano."

"She has the right to do that," Olivia said, taking a sip of her tea. She was dressed in a suit, looking like she was ready to take over the world. "They took you away from her. From Astrid. Even my mother. She has the reason to rage so she will. She is an angry teenager because she has a lot of things to be angry about."

"I suppose you are right. I just..." I sat down on a chair across from her. "I don't want her to be dependent on anyone. I want her to study. Get a job."

She watched me. "You want her to do what you think you are not going to be able to do?"

"Stop reading me. That's creepy."

She smiled. "You do realise that you can still study and get a job? You're so young, Leyla."

"I want to go to Harvard," I said. "And the last time I checked, it's not in Italy."

She hummed. "Ask them about it after Carla is returned. "

"You think they will agree?"

"The Giovanni and Fabiano I know should agree."

I looked down at my hands. "Should I not be grateful for whatever I have right now?"

"Don't settle," she said. "If there is something you want to do and you can do it, not doing it feels stupid, does it not?" She put her hand on top of mine. "Learn, Leyla. Learn and grow. A brilliant woman like you is not meant to be held down, even by love. The men we are with, they can give us the world, but taking it yourself is a feeling like none other." She grinned. "Now, I have to go. I'm getting a new assistant today."

. . .

I stood there, putting my elbows on the railing as the wind ruffled through my hair. The city was spread out in front of me, this reminded me of when Fabiano had said he owned Rome.

I felt him.

"It is beautiful, isn't it?"

Fabiano put his hands on either side of me, standing behind me.

"It is."

Giovanni appeared. "What are you thinking about, Leyla?"

"The future."

He hummed, cupping the side of my face, dropping a kiss on my lips. "What about it?"

"Nothing. Everything. It's weird." Fabiano wrapped his arms around me. "I want to do so many things."

"Do them all," Fabiano said.

"That would mean you two letting me go."

. . .