Last Kiss [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter Nineteen: Spilling Secrets (Part One)

“More than most, I know the pain of surviving.” 

― Ann Aguirre, Aftermath 

Chapter Nineteen: Spilling Secrets (Part One) 

"You're freaking them out. Stop smiling like that, Ann-" Blake cleared his throat, feeling a weight being lifted off his shoulders now that he could call Vivanna by her actual name, Serafina, "-Fina. Seriously, tune down the creepiness. They're still new to all of this." 

Vivanna's smile dropped off her face, and she rolled her eyes. So very weak, she thought bitterly. Her facade had completely cracked, flaunting her bold, brave and very strong character.

Strong yet broken.

How very contradictory.

Leon watched Vivanna with a blank expression, as if she was a code that he was currently attempting to decipher with his eyes; Rhonda and Thalia both were gaping at Vivanna as if she had announced that she was actually an alien from Mars.

"What do we call you?" Leon asked, "Serafina or Vivanna?" 

"When we aren't in public, call me whatever the hell you want to. When we're in public though, call me Vivanna." 

Leon nodded and continued to gaze at her with an unreadable expression on his face. He seemed to be the only one capable of speech -and the ability of accepting bewildering stuff rather quickly- for he asked Vivanna another question. "Who was your brother? I mean, what happened to him?"

Vivanna's eyes flickered towards Blake who nodded at her and sent an encouraging smile in her direction. "My brother's name was Salvatore," Vivanna said and felt the Italian accent she had worked so hard to disguise, slip through. What a relief, she thought. As much as she loved maintaining her safety, she loved talking liberally.

"And he didn't escape with you? Why?" 

Vivanna bit the inside of her cheek as she felt raw pain rip her insides. She wasn't ready to tell them. Telling them about her dad was one thing, but telling them about Salvatore...

She'd rather not relive the memory. Not when she wasn't sure about their reactions towards her.

"Not right now," Blake's reply kept Vivanna from mustering up an answer to Leon's question. Vivanna shot Blake a look of gratitude and spoke to him rapidly in Italian, thanking him and prodding him to reveal his side of the story. Vivanna had spotted the pained expression Thalia had been sending in Blake's direction. 

"Ma, che sei grullo?" - [Are you crazy?]- Blake asked her, his eyebrows raising so high they could reach his hair line. "Non vogliono sapere di me." [They don't want to know about me.]  

"Magari, Matteo!" -[I wish, Matteo!]- Vivanna laughed in reply, "They do!" 

Blake sighed and looked turned towards the ceiling as he gritted his teeth. "This sucks," he mumbled beneath his breath and a grin cracked onto Vivanna's lips. "La vita fa schifo," -[Life sucks]- she whispered. 

 Blake then turned towards Leon, Thalia and Rhonda and rubbed his hands together. His eyebrows knit together and he licked his lips, something he did whenever he was nervous. 

"So," he started off, "My real name is Matteo LaRosa, my dad was killed when I was three and when he almost got Serafina's da- I mean, Luciano's right hand man, Willie Piccito, arrested. My mom and I were kidnapped and my mom was kept alive until I was five when she was killed in a shooting at a brothel. Luciano likes to keep the kids of his victims close and mold them into an army of his own thugs. He's vicious."