ANNALISE

Chapter 19

Chapter 19
~All too well~

His nose was immediately hit by the smell of burnt pasta as he entered his friend's grand house, along with the girl who seemed to be Elias' latest object of affection. The one thought that clouded Eli's every notion of reason. Annalise.

Well, Matteo wouldn't say that.

Anna wasn't Eli's recent object of affection. Eli had loved her for years, and all the other girls he had been with within the span of those years were merely.... distractions.

He glanced up at Anna, watching her flash him a friendly smile. One he refused to return as he kept his expression stoic. Jules, who was standing rather solemnly beside him, noticed this small encounter and she frowned; not being able to figure out for the life of her why Matteo disliked Anna.

The couple walked into the house and Jules embraced the friend she had become so close to in such a short amount of time. Matteo's brooding self stood there watching the whole encounter with folded arms.

He didn't know why his body felt the need to build up walls around Anna. Whenever she made the effort of wanting to be friendly he immediately shut down.

Maybe his feelings could be traced back to Eli's behaviour. Maybe it was because of the fact that Eli spent every day blatantly lying to her face about who he was, about who they were and he knew that some time or the other when the truth came tumbling out, they would all suffer the consequences.

Staying away from Anna was only logical. Lord knew how much drama would unleash once she discovered their secret identities, not to mention Eli's endless web of lies.

Better safe than sorry right?

Matteo mostly thought about how Jules would feel. He remembered when he told her about his affiliation with the Mafia, they had been friends for three months and he knew he was in love with her almost immediately. It was also getting harder for him to keep it a secret as the days went by.

She got closer to both the boys and soon it became inevitable that she was to know about a part of their lives that could potentially have hers at risk.

He still remembered the day she found out. Matteo could say with utter confidence that it was the worst day of his life.

Naturally, she was scared. What logical human being wouldn't be scared after finding out two completely normal people turned out to be involved in one of the country's most notorious businesses?

Jules was hurt that she wasn't told earlier, and that of course caused a drift in their relationship. She'd distanced herself from both boys and although Eli tried to act like her absence alone was good riddance and told Matteo he didn't need such distractions in his life, both boys felt the dent in their hearts when she temporarily walked out of their lives.

Matteo thought about the hurt he felt when that chapter of his life occurred and that's exactly why when Anna walked into their lives the feeling washed over him like deja vu. He thought about how it would be this time around. How Anna would react once she realized that Elias had been lying to her from the very beginning. He knew it would somewhat be similar to what Jules felt, but in this case, things were different. For Anna and Eli things were very, very different.

When Anna found out about them she would be devastated, to say the least. She and Eli were dating, not just friends like he and Jules were when she found out. And even if they weren't dating their entire relationship was built on a lie. From their first interaction to the men that were currently after her and coaxing her to be under witness protection at his place.