Protecting The Principessa (Complete)

~ Chapter 43 ~

She walked, that's all she thought to do, was walk. Walk away from the man that was her father, walk away from the man she was starting to have feelings for, walk away from the nightmare that was currently her life. In her haze of anger, she wanted gone from it all! No stupid ass rules with stupid ass reasons.

So, she left. She walked past the gates and started down the sidewalk, not bothering to glance around, or to her left or right. Just walked on out. Men were hollering at her, but none grabbed her to stop her. She wasn't sure why they didn't, if they worked for her dad, they knew who she was. But she was grateful they didn't stop her, though. Given the mood she was in and the red in front of her eyes, she was likely to knock them on their asses.

She walked past the rest of the gate that was her father's property line, glanced at the house one more time, and kept on. Deep down she knew she couldn't escape. She knew what her life now was, and thanks to the fucking beige folder she saw on his desk, what her life would become. She couldn't understand the why. When she asked Adriano why he wanted to marry Sarah, he never explained it to her. And given that it was sitting on her father's desk just on the heels of things ending with Sarah, she was going to say that Adriano didn't say yes to her because he had any type of feelings.

And given those rocky thoughts, she walked faster. Maybe for her, it was her act of treason, her act of saying 'fuck you', her act of defiance given all the crap going on. She would never claim it was smart, but in the heat of the moment, it felt really fucking good. Seeing that folder, and talking to that man, it brought back the feelings she had as a pre-teen and seeing what she did when she came to New York.

To this day, she still didn't know if her father knew she was there. Lord, she wasn't ready for the pain she felt that night. Maybe that was the twist in her relationship with her dad. No, no maybe, it was the God damn twist. At 11, what is a young girl to think when her dad is playing house with some new family? Her mom had tried to get Izzy to talk about it, but nothing ever came. That pain she buried deep, along with the hero worship she had for her father. She didn't pull it out, she didn't examine it. It was dead and gone.

Yet, here she was, thinking of it all over again, why? No good came out of it for her, ever. With a sigh, she stopped walking and glanced down at the ground. How long had she been walking anyways? It felt like minutes, but judging by the darkness creeping in, it had been way longer. Fuck, that wasn't good. She patted her legs and groaned. Where the fuck was her phone? Oh yeah, sitting in the car because she didn't think she was going to need it. God damn it!

She looked around, the area of town being something she didn't know. She couldn't say she was uncomfortable with it, though. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the sign that she was under. She had seen it before, but the memory was hazy at best for her. Where the hell had seen it? Izzy shook her head and then looked around again, some things starting to register while others didn't. Of course, over the course of 20-plus years, buildings change, and businesses come and go.

Once more, she looked up at the sign. "Donnie's," she muttered. It wasn't the name that was something she placed, but the sign itself. The name was written as if it had been signed and they created the huge banner based on that. It was for sure unique and even then, she thought it was cool. "Son of a bitch," she cursed, shaking her head. She had easily gone a good 6 or 7 miles from the house. How the hell did she do that?

"Can I help you?" She whipped her head around and blinked, confused at the man that stood before her. "Ignazia?" She had only seen him a few times before, but she couldn't place his name. "It's Cesar."

"Right, you know..." He stopped her with a wave and a smile.

"Yeah. What are you doing here?" He glanced around and then narrowed his eyes at her. "Where is Adriano?"