The Mafia's Angel | 18+

𝙏𝙬𝙤

𝘼𝙧𝙞

✦⋆𓆩✧𓆪⋆✦

"I didn't expect to see you down here tonight."

I hummed at my cousin's statement, walking over to my bar cart and pouring a dreg of bourbon, when in truth I was going to need a whole bottle to numb the roar inside my head. "What she means to say is," Elio murmured from the chair beside my cousin, watching every move I made as I walked to the velvet chair in the corner of the room, close enough to the stairs that I could hear Ariella, but far enough to give us both the space to grieve. "How are you feeling?"

"People die every day in the mob," I flicked at a piece of dust on my leg, spreading it before me after, "It's part of life."

"It's not every day that a family you're heavily involved in," Eliana murmured, standing up to come sit on the arm of my chair, "A family that you love dearly, is wiped off the face of the earth Ari, it's okay to grieve."

My chest twisted uncomfortably, "My concern is Ariella, she's lost her entire family practically, she was a daddy's girl."

"Ari."

I closed my eyes, tipping my head back to stop the onslaught of tears. "Fine," I breathed out, running my hand down my face, "I feel hollow, I lost my best friend tonight, not just my best friend, my mentor," A shaky breath left my mouth, "They killed a sixteen-year-old, Portia was wrapped around Lily, she died protecting her baby," The words got caught in my throat, "And seeing Ariella in them, her standing in a pool of their blood, absolutely stone still and terrified was the worst thing I've ever seen. Lily was Ariella's everything, she raised that little girl, watching her break is almost as bad as how I'm feeling."

"I've contacted Erik," Elio explained and I nodded, thankful for the shift in conversation. I was never good at discussing how I felt, and I couldn't let my cousin know how I felt about the woman in my bed. Ariella was a forbidden fruit, she was always someone I dreamt about, even though I knew it was wrong. "He's getting locations on the other families now, he also requested that Ariella stay here with us, while the shift of power is happening and until he can see the damage to the house. He doesn't want to throw her back into the traumatic scene, not yet."

"We have a serious chance of her suffering from PTSD," Eliana spoke quietly, "We need to keep the triggers to a minimum. At least until I can get a read on her."

"Don't corner her," I told Eliana, watching her nod, "Ariella is strong, she'll pick up on what you're doing if you're all business, try to remember that she grew up in this world, you did not," Eliana gave a small smile, almost sad, "She is to be treated as one of our inner circle, that means a friend," I took another drink of my bourbon, "And not a test subject for your skills."

"I got it," Eliana ruffled my hair and I nudged her with my shoulder, "I've always been interested in the eldest Abelli daughter, I feel like we'll be good friends."

"From what I've seen of Ariella," Elio murmured, "We're in trouble if that's true."

I tilted my drink towards Elio in acknowledgment, thankful that my closest friends weren't hounding me for my emotions. I would show them on my own terms when I was ready to deal with them myself. Until Erik touched down in New York, I needed to keep myself composed long enough to make sure that Ariella was okay. Only when I knew she was on an uphill would I be able to process what I was feeling, because right now the only emotion I recognized was fury.

I was sipping on my bourbon, watching my cousin and Elio bicker about how they were going to redo the bedroom they were staying in at the manor when I heard the thud. All of us fell silent immediately to hear where it came from. Three seconds, that's all it took for Ariella's ear-piercing scream to fill the room. Glass shattered as I dropped my drink, my boots crushing it further as I ran to the stairs, Eliana and Elio trailing close behind. The hallway never felt larger until the moment I needed to reach my bedroom, and when I flung the doors open, Ariella was sitting in the center of the bed, her hands covering her ears as she screamed. It was pure agony in the sound. The realization that she lost her family.