Cross Affection

22 - Venice

MYRA
Venice, Italy

This place is unreal.

As I approach the estate, the lush, green vineyards stretch endlessly, painting the landscape with vibrant hues that create a striking contrast against the deep blue of the Mediterranean sea in the distance.

The mansion itself is a marvel of architectural grandeur, with its imposing form exuding an air of regal sophistication. It resembles a palace, with the green leaves on the sides of the walls.

After dropping our bags in the rooms of the huge gorgeous ancient mansion, Ruth and I took this time to walk in the wide yard that connected the mansion the view of the mountains ahead of us as everyone else settled down inside.

"This place is surreal. We're in a literal palace." Ruth says with her arms happily in the air and I agree all the way.

"It is." I say as we walk past the fountain and make our way to the wide green neat yard that connected the ocean up front.

"Are you alright?" Ruth questions and I look at her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" I swallow hard and look ahead.

She throws me a bored look, "Somethings off. You were entirely in your head on the plane. Is it Santiago again because I swear if it's him, he's getting his dick chopped-"

"No, it's not him." I cut her off as we halted in our steps, facing each other to stand a few yards away from the ocean.

"Oh, my bad. What is it? Tell me." She says with the deep desire to know in her eyes and I sigh.

I've forced myself to hold this information throughout the entire plane ride because it got me thinking for hours.

"It's Chris, I know I shouldn't let him in but I think he's gotten into my head." I nervously nibble on my lip and she places a hand on my shoulder, worried.

"Why? What happened?" She asks with concern in her eyes.

"Yesterday he told me that... Santiago gushed out Enzos eye and broke his jaw with a hammer." I place glass down on the tall table beside us, "Enzo tried to kill me I know that, but I can't even imagine how horrible that feels. How evil can you be?"

"Have you been avoiding Santiago?" She asks.

I shrug and nod slowly, "I mean, yeah because I can't even look at him in the eyes without thinking of that."

"When last did you see Enzo?" She asks and I shrug, sighing as I try to remember.

"Ever since he got thrown into the trunk." I respond simply and she claps her hands as if I said the right thing.

"Chris is lying." She deadpanned.

"Why would he lie about that?" I ask, trying to wrap everything she's saying around my head.

"He has has some unhealthy obsession with you." She explained and pulled her lips into a straight line, her eyes filled with doubt. "Listen, I didn't want to tell you this but Chris kept asking me where you were at least 10 times a day at work and I kept telling him that I had no clue, fucking hell I was devastated myself, my best friend was missing. I avoided him the entire day because his attitude was getting on my nerves, up until someone followed me on my way home."

"What?" My heart dropped as she continued.

"When noticing the black Mustang a few blocks away, I checked my security footages and saw Chris sneaking through my backyard with a fucking flashlight at night, looking through my window." She uttered with disgust in her tone. My eyes slowly widened at the information, not being able to take everything in.