Broken by the Mafia

Chapter 6

Isabella got back to work and was a little more cheerful. After having lunch with Mark, she felt better and was kinda glad that she saw him again. The way she left him this morning made her feel as if he may not want to talk to her again if they crossed paths again.

A few more customers came up to her asking about the best shoes to wear to different kinds of events and she helped them. Before she knew it, it was time for her to clock out. She clocked out and went to her car. Her phone buzzed and when she checked it, she had a text from Ashley and Jay. Ashley wanted to know if she was ok, and Jay wanted to talk to her. She texted back Ashley and stared at her phone. After last night, she wasn't sure if she wanted to speak to Jay again.

She drove to the beach with the windows down and the wind was blowing in her hair. Hopefully, being at the beach will make things more tranquil. As she pulls up, she notices that Jay was already there. Her heart stopped beating for a second and she took a deep breath. The last time they were here, her heart was broken, and he left empty. She got out of the car and walked over to him. He turned around at the same time she reached out to touch his arm. She retracted her hand and wrapped her arms around herself and looked down. He took a step towards her, and she backed up and sighed then took a step toward him and looked him in the eye.

"What did you want to talk about?" she asked while setting her shoulders back.

He looked at her and marveled at how much she's changed in those six years, yet she was the same girl he fell in love with and was still in love with.

"I wanted to explain why I came to your door last night,"

She nodded, "Explain."

He sighed and looked around to make sure they were alone. "So, I saw you at the club and I was on my way to come talk to you, but someone started shooting. Once that happened, I had to get you out of there and make sure you were ok. I wasn't sure what happened to you after I yelled at you to go, so I someone look to see where you lived."

She cut him off "What do you mean you had someone look to see where I live? You mean like look me up in a database or something?"

He scratched his head and nodded, "Yea, I had someone that works for me to look you up. I just had to make sure you got home safe."

She stepped back from him, "If you had someone look me up, couldn't you have done that at any point in time?"

"Yes."

She nodded and looked away from him. Feeling confused she didn't know what to think. He had the power to know where she was at any given moment.

"Jay, why did you leave me? Did you ever look for me or wanted to check in on me?"

Knowing that he should tell Isabella the truth, he took a deep breath.

"Well like I said, I had to leave. The reason is because I had to take over my father's business. I had to go to Italy to settle some things before I came back. I wanted to look for you and check-in, but I thought it would be best to leave you alone to keep you safe. I didn't want anyone to hurt you, it was best to be linked to me at all."

"But I thought your dad was a club owner, how is that dangerous to you or me?"

He chuckled, "My father ran a club, yes, but that was just a cover. He was a leader of the De Luca mafia family."

Isabella snapped her head and looked at Jay. She could tell he wasn't lying to her.

"Wait. I mean I know your last name is De Luca and there were rumors that your family was a part of the mafia, but I thought it was just lies. This whole time it was true."

He stepped closer to her, "Why do you think we had all the security around at the house?"

"Because you guys are super rich and might have enemies'," she trailed off. Realizing a lot of small things that she brushed off.

Taking a step back only to feel Jay's car behind her, she began to panic.

"Bella, I'm not going to hurt you, and no one is going to hurt you," he put his hands up, hoping it would help her calm down.

She nodded, "So, you broke up with me to be the leader of your father's mafia. Instead of just telling me then, you hid it from me. You know what that did to me?" her voice cracked "It broke me."

"I didn't want you to get hurt because of me. I knew how much you wanted to go to school, and I didn't want to take that from you. It was safer to not bring you into the family like that. It wasn't how I planned it," he looked down.

"Then how did you plan it?"

He looked at her, "I was going to wait until after you graduated to introduce you to the family, my parents were ok with me waiting to take my place because they saw how much you meant to me. I was going to tell you about my family's business and let you decide if you wanted to stay with me or not. If you chose to stay with me then I was going to ask you to marry me."

Tears started forming in Isabella's eyes as she heard Jay's explanation.

"Why wait until I graduated?"

"Because I wanted to have a normal life with you for just a little longer. I didn't want to scare you, nor did I want you to feel like you couldn't do the things you wanted to do."

"Oh," she softly said.

He looked at her and realized that he was still in love with her. Even though he broke her heart years ago, he wanted to be in her life at least. He truly wanted to be with her again, make her his queen.

"I could have told you sooner, but at the time it wasn't safe, and I was scared to tell you."

"I understand that, but you didn't give me a chance to try and understand."

"You're right. I could've told you in simpler terms or when it was safe. I didn't want you to fear me and I couldn't lose you," his voice cracked "I thought leaving would be better because I knew you would still be out in the world somewhere, alive." he finally said.

She looked at him and saw how it affected him. Just because she was hurt and upset didn't mean he wasn't. By looking at him she realized that he also had sadness running through him, he was angry at himself for not coming clean as soon as he could and for breaking her heart.

"Well, thank you for telling me this now. I still have to process everything." She looked up at him.

He nodded. He knew it would be a lot for her, but he wanted to give her the time she needed to process.

"I'll let you go home to think about everything. When you're ready if you want to, text me and we can talk about this more."

She nodded. Jay stepped back from her and walked towards her car, opening the door for her. She was following behind him, so she got in her car and let him shut the door. She started her car and drove home.