Adelina

Chapter 22

I sat on the couch staring at the wall.

"He can't just do that," Natalie said in frustration.

"Right?" She looked over at Mia. Mia was sitting next to me as I hugged her. I felt her nod her head.

"Natalie. He has a huge house, he's financially stable, happily married and he lives in a really nice neighborhood. If they go to court, she would never stand a chance. We can't even afford a lawyer." She sighed and rested her head on mine. Natalie started pacing around the room.

"We have to do something." She said as she bit her nails.

"Natalie," I called out to her.

"We have Mia's house." She pointed out.

"Natalie." I tried again.

"We can make it work." She pestered again.

"NATALIE," I screamed out after her. She stopped pacing and stared back at me.

"We can't do anything. The only thing I can do is spend time with my son before I never see him again." I got up from the couch and walked up the stairs. I heard their footsteps coming up behind me. I grabbed my suitcase from under the bed and started packing random clothes in there.

"Adelina?" Mia said softly. I shook my head.

"HE'S THIRTEEN. I'M GOING TO MISS HIS GRADUATION FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL, HIGH SCHOOL, AND COLLEGE. I WON'T BE ABLE TO SEE HIM GET MARRIED BECAUSE NOAH WILL DO HIS BEST TO KEEP HIM AWAY FROM ME AND I WILL NOT LET THAT BITCH OLIVIA BE HIS NEW MOM. I JUST CAN'T." I shouted at them. Mia wrapped her arms around me as I broke down the stairs.

"I cant." I cried out. Natalie turned away from us when tears started streaming down her face. 

"It's all her fault. Everything is her fault." I said through my cries. Mia leaned away to look me in the eyes.

"You can't have kids because she shot you Mia and if I had a proper mother figure I would have never done it. I would have finished college and got a job. Now we're paying the price for her failures." I wiped my face and stood up grabbing more clothes and stuffing them in the suitcase. When I was done I walked into Mason's room with another suitcase.

"What are you planning on doing with Adelina? If you run it will only make the situation worse." Mia walked over to me. I ignored them and went to pack his bags. Mia sighed and walked out of the room grabbing Natalie with her. I threw the clothes in my hand on the bed. I sat down on the bed.

Mason was at a friend's house today. I knew he wasn't going to be able to act normal for the day and he just wanted to be out of the house away from the situation.

I was laying against the wall-hugging my knees, I heard talking coming from downstairs. Loud footsteps ran up the stairs before the door slowly opened. I didn't have the energy to look up. The person walked up in front of me. I stared down at their shoes, I eventually looked up at the person.

"What are you doing here?" I stood up quickly. I stared back at Alessandro.

"Your sister called me." He answered back. I scoffed.

"They called you off all people. They're acting like your my boyfriend or something and-" He cut me off by pulling me into his chest. His arms wrapped around me. I relaxed under his touch.

"He wants to take him away from me." I sobbed in his chest.

"I won't let that happen." He said softly. I pushed away.

"What can we do? There's nothing that we can do." I threw my hands in the air in frustration.

"Move in with me." He quickly said. My eyes widened.

"W-what?" I stuttered out.

"Move in with me Adelina. I'm financially stable, you have seen my house, you even got lost in it." He chuckled at the memory.

"I've known you for only a month. I-I barely even know you." I said to him,

"Then get to know me." He reached out for my hands pulling them up to his chest.

"And if he takes this to court. Then we're sure going to win." He pulled me into a hug again. We stayed there for a couple of minutes in silence before I decided to break it.

"What's your trauma?" I asked suddenly. He pulled away and looked into my eyes.

"My trauma?" He asked.

"Yeah. Natalie's friend owns a library so I would always go there and read books. Those books guys like you always have some type of traumatic past. So what's yours? Daddy issues, mommy issues did your father force you to kill anybody, did you kill your father, oh -"

"My parents are alive and I have no trauma." He smiled at me. I eyed him suspiciously. I hummed and walked over to the bed and sat down, he walked over sitting down next to me.

"So you're saying you weren't forced into a world like yours," I asked. He looked down at the floor.

"My dad fell in love with my mom at a young age. They got married and took over my grandad's business. He was also supportive. My mom wasn't rich, she wasn't in need of money, she was just a normal girl that fell innocently in love with a man. When she found out what he was in, she loved him too much to let him go. Years after their marriage they had me. I had a normal childhood. At least they tried their best to make it normal. I was always fascinated by the things my dad did, like guns and fighting. He didn't want to pull me into the world so early but I was determined and so he taught me how to shoot a gun at the age of 10. I learned how to fight and became the best fighter in the mafia but it also came with bruises. I didn't know how to hide them so my dad enrolled me in wrestling. It was my backstory for my bruises and it helped my fighting skills. I graduated high school, at the top of my class, became valedictorian, and got accepted into the University of Bologna." He stopped to make sure I was listening. When he looked over at me, I was staring into his eyes with interest so he continued.

"I graduated from college and got my bachelor's degree in business. I then took over my dad's business. We own multiple buildings like hotels, nightclubs, and more as a backstory for having so much money. I wasn't forced to be the leader of something I didn't want. I wanted it from a young age and worked hard to get it. I'm not cold and I don't have a dark past." He looked over at me again.

"So you're doing this because you actually like it?" I said in shock. He nodded at me. 

"My older brother was originally supposed to take it over, but he fell in love, had children, and wanted nothing to do with the business. He only helps out sometimes." He told me.

"Do you think we could actually do it?" I asked as I stared at the wall in front of me.

"Yes. I do think we can." I turned my head to him. He gave me a reassuring smile.