Broken Pieces

CHAPTER {20}

DOMENICO

I need sleep. I know I need sleep but I can't. A reoccurring nightmare of my father coming back to life and hurting my siblings right in front me. Killing Akari as it was established a few days ago that she was my weakness.

As the leader of the most powerful Mafia in the world and the CEO of a multi billion dollar company, I wasn't allowed to have weaknesses. I wasn't supposed to have anything my enemies could use against me but I failed. My siblings are my weakness.

I gulped down the last bit of scotch and refilled my glass. I sent the last email for my company but sighed as I realized I still have Mafia business to handle. Recently everything was falling apart and only me to bring it back up. I was exhausted.

My door opened and revealed Zachary, behind him was Alexandros. Zachary walked into my office with a serious face, "Get up." He demanded and I was shocked because no one's ever talked to me like that especially him. I looked at Alex and he had the same expression planted on his face. I felt cornered.

"Why?" I asked curious as to why he's demanding me to get up. "You're getting a few days off from work so get up." He said, "Or else I'll have to take you out by force." He was kinda scaring me as he not once broke eye contact.

"No."

"No?"

"No, I have work to do." I came up with an excuse. Though it was true, I didn't want to admit that I was afraid of sleeping. "That's been handled." He responds immediately and I looked at Alex and he nods, I look back at Zachary.

I sighed defeatedly and stood from my chair and made my way to the door. As I walked out I heard the faint voices of Alex and Zachary, "That actually worked?" Zachary said, "I'm shocked too." Alexandros responds.

"Okay, get the work done, I'll go make sure he sleeps."

"You're going to cuddle him, aren't you?"

"Of course."

My lips twitched at that and I continued to make my way to the elevator and waited for Zachary so that we could go up together. I saw him and began to close the doors and watched his eyes widen as he ran and made it just in time before the door closed.

I wanted to laugh but I was too exhausted to express any emotion. "I know you did that on purpose." He said with an accusing finger pointed at my face, "I knew you'd make it." I reply not looking at him, I heard him scoff and the elevator dinged and opened.

We walked to my room and I opened my door and immediately looked at the time on my LED clock above my headboard, 23:09pm. Almost midnight, I walked to my closet and took out a hoodie and sweatpants and went towards the bathroom.

As the shower warmed up, I brushed my teeth and flossed. After I finished, I undressed and went into the shower. I washed myself and finished quickly. I dried up and dressed and went to leave the bathroom not forgetting to rinse my mouth in mouthwash.

I got into my room and saw Zachary already cuddled up in my blankets. I switched off the light and slumped in bed next to him and he immediately latched onto me. I sighed and stared at the ceiling. I was slowly going to sleep but I was fighting it but I guess it wasn't enough as I drifted to sleep minutes after.

~~~~~~~~

I was startled awake by a bang. I looked around frantically and noticed Zachary still sleeping, I sighed in relief because if it really was a gunshot, he would've woken up. I slowly got off the bed as to not wake him up and walked to the bathroom and splashed some water onto my face.

I wiped my face and walked back into the room. I noticed Zachary stirring in his sleep and I knew he was about to wake up. I looked at the time, 2:41am, I didn't even sleep for that long, I sighed as I slumped on the bed, surely waking up Zachary.

I reached for the bottle on the bedside table but my actions halted as I heard Zachary say, "You can't always resort to alcohol, Dom. Talk to me." He grabbed the bottle before I could and put it on his side. "Go on." He encouraged.

"There's nothing to talk about." I said lying down pretending to sleep. "Domenico." Zachary said sternly. I sighed, "I'm afraid." I began but I didn't want to continue, I can't be afraid that's considered weak.

I can't be weak, especially not in front of Zachary, he looks up to me. He lays down and faces me. He nods, urging me to continue, "I'm afraid that something bad will happen to you guys. That I won't be able to protect you when the time comes." I finished and looked at Zachary who was looking at me with sympathy in his eyes.

He hugs me, "Domenico, we are aware that you can't protect us all the time, and you knew that too when you trained us. We know not to put all our protection on to you as you can only handle so much. All that is important is that you know that if anything ever happens to us, it's not your fault." He says into my chest.

It's not your fault.

Reminded me of Akari. What they don't know is that, everything that happens to them, is my fault. I exposed them mafia to them, making them a target. I didn't want to lie to them so I had to tell them. Exposing them to the mafia may have been the worst decision I've ever made.

"Thank you, Zach."

"No problem, Dom"

We sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, until Zachary broke it, "You need an assistant." He mumbled signaling that he was about to fall asleep. I only hummed as I didn't take him seriously and slowly started to fall asleep with all hopes, I wouldn't have a nightmare.