Chasing Stars - A Midnight Mafia Novel

Preview Chasing Stars

I decided I was through with Alessio's games. I was through with all of this. "I was with Matteo." I said bravely.

Alessio's ice cold composure flickered away for a brief moment. His brows knit together. Finally he separated his hands, slapped his palms loudly to the counter and stood up. "What?"

This time it was my composure that flickered. "I-I was w-with-"

"I fucking heard that." He snapped in a low voice.

I wanted to yell at him, taunt him, why would he ask a question he already knew the answer to? I forced my immature tendencies aside and took a deep breath. "Yes Alessio. I went to see Matteo."

He narrowed his eyes and I glanced down to his waist that always cradled his pistol. When I looked back to him his expression was completely different.

He didn't look furious or threatening. He looked almost, offended? Hurt, stricken even. "Honestly Katherine?" He said in a voice full of disbelieve. He pulled his gun from the hoister and slammed it down on the counter. "Honestly? You're still afraid of me? After everything? You fucking disappear all night, go to his house, you've no idea what you've put me through tonight. And after all of that, after you betray me, betray this whole family, you look at me like I'm the villain?"

"Exactly. After everything I've done tonight I would expect nothing less than..." I glanced to his gun again.

His grip on the gun tightened. "After everything we've been through, and you're still scared of me?"

I looked up to him quickly. It wasn't a taunt, or a question. It was a painful realization. "Well it's damn hard not to be." I finally said harshly and then looked down. I collected myself. I had had a gun pointed at me one too many times since I came into this world, the last thing I needed was to piss Alessio off even more so that he decided to point his at me too. "It is hard." I said again in a softer, shaking voice. "It is hard not to be scared of you Alessio. You control everything in my life. Every single thing I have, I do, you call all the shots."

He slid the gun across the table so quickly I almost didn't have time to grab it. "There. You are calling the shots now." He said in an even tone.

I wrapped my hands around the gun, my pointer going instinctively to the trigger. "This isn't funny Alessio."

"Do I look like I'm laughing? Go ahead, check the cylinder, it's loaded." I watched him cautiously for a few moments before pushing the cylinder open. Of course it was loaded, not a single bullet was missing. I pushed it back to place and looked up to him. I was more than just a little confused. "You're calling the shots now Katherine. You have the gun, you have the power. You don't have to be worried about me getting angry and, what's the expression, 'popping a load in your ass' or something like that. You have all the power, you are making all the decisions, you have always been making the decisions though for some odd reason you seemed to have not realized that. But now there you have it. You've a gun in your hand and tons of decisions. You can shoot me now, I've no way to stop you, you could simply walk away the Lexus is yours to take, or you could sit down and talk to me. Tell me everything, how you feel, where you went, why you did it?"

I didn't know what to say. I couldn't shoot Alessio. Even if I wanted to, I was no murderer. I stared at him blankly.

"Katherine. You see I have no qualms in handing my gun over to you. For multiple reasons. First being it did nothing for me. I have never, never had any intentions of shooting you. Even years ago when you came into my club uninvited and without an honest bone in your body, did I ever raise my gun to you?"