Stella (Book One of Dark Souls Series)

Schiacciata

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inganno-the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth
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"We're going to be okay, right, Stella?"

My fiancé's body snuggled closer to mine, and she wrapped one arm around my waist.

"Of course we are," she softly responded. "We have each other."

I wondered if her heart skipped a few beats when she said that. The fight between her mind and spirit typically showed in her eyes whenever she said something sweet. It was almost as if she could not believe she was capable of saying what she said.

"As soon as this is over, I am taking you and Eva so far from here that father's head will spend seven times," I promised.

"Just seven?"

My lips twitched. "Maybe eight depending on how fast we're gone."

She laughed softly and looked up at me. Her long lashes shadowed her under-eyes. "We are going to be okay, baby," she reassured me in a gentle tone.

Baby.

She had never nicknamed me before. I could feel my heart thumping against my chest, fighting for some sort of action wave.

"I love you," I confessed in a swift breath to appease the frantic beating.

Shock flickered across her features before a smile presented itself. "I love you."

I smiled in return, thanking Christ for this woman.

"Can we do something normal for once?" She suddenly asked, piquing my curiosity.

"Normal like what?" I asked, rubbing her arm.

"Let's take Eva and Catalina out to see Sicily. Let's go to a football game or something."

"Paparazzi will be there," I warned.

She sat up and snorted because she knew it was true. Another reason why we rarely did anything in public was because cameras were everywhere all the time. I was a man that would forever be far from normal.

It isn't fair of me to keep them locked away because I'm running from fame, but since neither of them openly complained, I kept it that way. We did things with Eva, but she was happier in front of a cartoon or a book.

"I don't care, I just-" she released a sigh of exasperation before she slumped against my body.

"I understand. You want to feel normal after everything we've been through as it's been nothing short of tiring."

"And everything just keeps piling up. I feel-" a sob choked her words and she sniffed.

I hushed her and pulled her body on top of mine. I could never bare seeing her cry. I would always be defenseless against her tears.

As the baby she was growing to be, she snuggled against me, resting her head in the crook of my neck.

"I just feel so suffocated with everything and I need some sort of release from all of this," she whimpered, her lips brushing against my neck by how close she was to me.

"Of course," I responded softly as I continued to caress her soft skin. "We can do something tomorrow since I'm certain our parents will be planning our wedding in our absence."

I felt her nod against my body and I closed my eyes while we welcomed the silence.

The thing about us was that we were incredibly compatible. I noticed that the first night I took her out. We learned that we shared commons and certain viewpoints, and we often agreed to disagree without the spite. To me, Stella and I were a matched slowly made in heaven. She made all of my past pain seem reasonable.