Ties of Blood (Book One)

Chapter 23 ~ Gianna

Gianna Rostova

I woke up on Matteo's chest, and he was already awake, his eyes were as chocolate brown as ever but they looked a little too bright for a good nights sleep, I wondered if he even slept all night.

"Good morning," I say, a tired smile growing on my lips.

"Good morning, amore." he says back.

"Did you sleep?" I ask, noticing he still looked the same as last night, I get off him, pushing my palms in his chest to get a good look at him.

"On and off." he shrugged, as I got off him and gave me a way smirk I tried to ignore as I attempt to find out how he slept.

"Do you usually sleep like that?" I ask, slightly concerned in my voice.

I knew Matteo worked a lot, but he was still human, everyone has a breaking point and I would hate for Matteo to reach his because he didn't know when to stop and take a break.

"Why?" He asks, looking up at me, the corner of his lip tipped up at my worried expression. "You can't be worried at 9 in the morning, amore." he says standing up and pressing a soft kiss to my lips.

"But to answer your question, I sleep when I can, I'm fine though." he says to me, cupping my face in his hands.

"Okay, if you say so." I say, skeptical.

Matteo goes to his room to get ready for work, while I have a shower, brush my teeth and change into a pair of shorts and a hoodie with a shirt under in case it got hot.

Camilla and I haven't hung out in a while, we used to be attached by the hip in university along with our other friends but even though things change, we still manage to keep in touch.

So when invited me over to her house, I gladly obliged. I stepped out of my room and Romano was already awake in a swimming shorts, a pool floatie and a snorkel in his mouth.

"Hey Gianna!" He waved at me from across the hallway.

I wave back and he walks over to me, "How are you?"

"I'm great, what are you up to?" I ask him, I couldn't help but laugh at him but he didn't seem to mind.

"I'm going for a swim, obviously." he says to me and turns around showing off his outfit.

"You know Matteo had like eight pools here?! If I can't play hockey, I may as well try something else, no?" he says, looking behind himself and back at me, as if he was looking for the pools.

Wow, eight pools was a lot. Even I hadn't seen that many here, I haven't particularly searched for one.

"That's nice, I hope you find them." i says back.

And he waves at me and walked away looking slightly lost, but he seemed to kind of know what he was doing.

I walk outside and Alonso was waiting for me outside.

"Good morning, Mrs Moretti, where are we going today?" Alonso asks me. Alonso usually seems very reserved but he's really talkative in reality and I always entertained conversation with him.

"Camilla's house, please." I reply.

He opens the door for me and I sit down on the car seat while he closes the door behind me.

The drive was actually really fun, Alonso was really kind and understanding. He was, 53 years old, with 2 kids and a grandchild on the way.

When we get to Camilla's house, I thank Alonso and get out closing the door behind myself.