Protecting The Principessa (Complete)

~ Chapter 44 ~

"Please get in, Ignazia," he told her as he held the door open for her. She looked at it before crossing her arms and getting in. He closed the door on her and ran around to the driver's side. "You walked quite a ways."

"I'm not in the mood for small talk. I want to know what the fuck I saw on my father's desk and what it means to you? I want to know why you would lie to me? And I want to know if everything has been all bullshit and falsehoods between us." He stared at her before he started the car.

"I will answer all of that when we can go somewhere to talk. But no, nothing about what I have expressed about wanting to be with you, has been a lie." He shook his head before he threw the car in drive again and took off down the street. "Do you know that place?"

"Yes, and no. I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking, I just was. It wasn't till all my anger sort of left and I was stopped that I saw where I was."

"But you've never been there that you know of." She looked out the window and slowly shook her head.

"Not this trip anyway. But we're not talking about me right now. If you want to know more once we've discussed you, I will get into it." She crossed her arms and turned to look at him. "Where are we going to discuss this?"

"Back to my place, where it's safe and quiet." With that, he made a sharp turn and soon they were heading down the main road to his house. She hadn't known her streets well enough to say where she was, let alone how close she was to his house, but deep down, she found it rather funny, and maybe a little endearing, that her body would travel that far. Within minutes, he was pulling into his driveway and cutting the car off.

In a single fluid motion, he climbed out of the car, and she watched him, admiring so much about him, enjoying the thought that this good-looking man was to be hers. Then, following that thought was her anger that she was to be put into that position anyway. He opened her door and held his hand out for her, ever the gentleman. She glanced at it before placing hers there with a sigh, causing him to chuckle.

"Not funny," she told him, making her way into the house, and flipping the light on in the living room. They hadn't left that long ago, but now it seemed like ages, especially given what had happened in that course of time. Izzy kicked her shoes off and sat down on the couch, curling her feet under her. Adriano sighed and then undid his jacket, laying in on the chair before he sat down, unbuttoning a couple of buttons, causing Izzy's mouth to water at the sight. Once more, she had to find her anger again to cool herself down.

"Nothing is funny, I know that, Ignazia."

"Good. So, we're here, let's discuss." Adriano leaned his head back on the couch and pinched the bridge of his nose as if he couldn't find the right words to say. And maybe she couldn't fault him for that. Oh, she didn't believe he was blindsided like she was, but maybe he had a good explanation.

"I grew up with nothing and in this town, when you have nothing, you grow up envying those who have something. It's not right, of course, but it's how it works. I was born and raised in this city, I know what the name De Santis means, and I envied him. I envied the power, the wealth, even the heartache because it means he cared, and someone cared for him. I told you he found me, and offered me a job and how could I turn it down? I would have been a dumb young man to do that.

"What I didn't tell you was how fast I merged through the ranks and how impressed Carlo was with me. He saw something in me that no one ever did, and it was a good fucking feeling. I was able to help what little family I had left, and they didn't question me. One day, Carlo asked me about it, if my mom asked where the money came from, and I told him no. He clapped me on the shoulder and said, 'good son, that shows you have a sense of loyalty, it's a trait not found these days.' I was 17 when he told me that. Do you know how good that felt?" She didn't want to interrupt him, but she could imagine. She didn't grow up as he did, but she still wanted praise from her dad and when she got it, back when it meant something, she felt like she could take on the world for him.

"I can, actually." He rolled his head on the couch and looked at her before giving it a small nod.

"I'm sure you could. From that age, things only got better, or worse, depending on how you view life. When I was 19, I took a life for the first time. Carlo's second in command at that time was staging a coup, trying to take Carlo out. I didn't tell him, I just took matters into my own hands, which is not how things are done in this world. I had gathered a few men I could trust, and together we went after the guy and shot him as he was coming out of his mistress's house. Carlo wasn't happy with what I did, but he did praise me for good work, and I had instilled trust in my men. I got bumped up the ranks again and again. Over time, I just keep proving myself to that man.

"Eventually, I started ranking higher than others and had more men under me. They trust me with their lives, to let them know what was on the up and up. These are men I have done unspeakable things with; men that knew some of my darkest secrets; men that I called friends." He paused and she watched him as he tried to work through whatever he was thinking off. "Finally, when Carlo lost another of his men, his next one, after figuring his son was never going to play the role, he turned to me. But he couldn't just hand me the title, I needed to work for it, well beyond what I have done. In his eyes, I had to sacrifice for it."

"It kind of sounds to me like you had, Adriano. Not that the life you had was a good one, but it was yours."

"You're right. And I probably would have ended up dead, or so fucked up on drugs that I couldn't have seen straight. It's not the best life I have, given all the crap I do, but it's a hell of a lot better than the one I was going to end up in. I wanted to please him. Call it stupid or whatever, but I looked up to the man, I wanted to make him happy. And above all else, I wanted the title. I wanted to be able to guide the men that I was already molding." He stopped and turned to face her. She lifted a brow back at him. She couldn't say she understood everything she was explaining but maybe she felt him a little better than anyone else. She knew what it was like to crave his attention, she had been there. And unlike her stepsiblings there, she didn't get all of him. And when she learned that it was a bitter pill to swallow.

"I can get the idea of that, sure. But that still doesn't explain the folder on his desk."

"Sure, it does, a lot better than you would think, Izzy," he said, looking at her closely.

"Yeah, how so, exactly? I get the jist of your story, feel it on some level, though I don't understand it. Why give up your freedom?"

"You asked me why I would marry Sara, what was in it for me, and I told you it didn't matter. It didn't. Sara and I were never going to have a traditional marriage, we were going to have other lovers because I could never give her up. But it wasn't her I wanted; it wasn't even the contract that kept me. It was the fact that I wanted my men, I wanted to lead them as I had been. Carlo has been training me for you two years to be the next man in charge. That title comes with his daughter's hand. Instead of Sara, it's you. I don't want to lose my men, and if I didn't sign it, I would have. But Ignazia," he told her, scooting over to take her hand that was resting on her leg, "I don't want to lose you either, and that's not a line. I signed because of those men, but deep down, that's not the real reason. I wanted you, and your father saw something between us that he knew would only work well if the guards were pushed down. We didn't, so he did."