LONELY HEARTS (COMPLETE)

Chapter 10: The Alley

Gemma sits at curbside table at her usual coffee shop. It was an uneventful day at work with the exception of Mr. Russo's appearance creating quite a stir in the office. She was in awe of how much power he Emanuele Russo had just in her office alone, a place he didn't even have any authority in. His presence made the entire room fall silent. The office was so thick with fear you could cut it when a knife.

She checks her watch and realizes Matteo is a little late. Gemma starts reminiscing of last night and couldn't help but smile. She's never had any trouble keeping to herself and building walls, but something about Matteo made him so easy to talk to. Everyone kept their distance from this man, while she couldn't help but want to get closer to him. Gemma's thoughts get interrupted by the quick honk of Matteo's car. He parks his Mercedes right up front and steps out. As he hits curbside, he raises his hands with two fingers up to the waiter. In seconds, the barista personally comes out and slides two piping hot cappuccinos in front of them.

"And what if I don't want a cappuccino?", Gemma jokes.

"You promised I could make the decisions tonight", he chuckles.

Matteo leans forward, straining his eyes towards Sage and Associates. Gemma notices that Matteo's not all there, his mind seems somewhere else.

"Is everything okay with you?", Gemma pushes,"I feel like you're not totally with me".

He shakes his head as if he's physically trying throw his thoughts out of his brain. "I'm sorry, Gemma. It's just been a really long day". She gives a sympathetic nod towards him and sips her coffee. They sit in silence for a few minutes.

Matteo closes his eyes, thinking too much about the meeting from earlier. He starts replaying all the times he met with Sage and their conversations, searching for holes or clues. He opens his eyes as he comes to a realization. He knew Gemma worked at the firm, but didn't know exactly what she did there. What if she knew something he didn't? Is she working with Sage? Or worse, is she working for Russo? But he didn't want to involve Gemma in what was going on, how could he? He'd just met this girl and he liked her as hard as it was to admit to himself. He couldn't possibly just throw all these accusations and information at her.

The conspiracies zipped around his brain over and over. His obsession with revenge was taking over and he could no longer keep his cool. Matteo jumps up and grabs her arm, his blood boiling. He brings her into the alley by the cafe and lets her go.

"What's wrong!? Wha-"

"Are you working with Sage?", Matteo questions.

"What are you talking about!?", she stammers, confused. Gemma has now backed herself up against the cold brick wall behind her. Matteo's hands are on either side of Gemma's face, pressed up against the wall.

"ARE YOU WORKING FOR SAGE"!?

"Matteo, what's gotten into you"!?

"ARE YOU OR ARE YOU NOT WORKING WITH SAGE. ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION", he screams, his voice thundering.

"NO, GOD DAMN IT, NO. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT". It was true, she had no idea what was going on. She finally new how other people felt around men like Matteo, she was afraid. Gemma is now sobbing, tears streaming down her face and her mascara bleeding. Matteo let's go of his grip off the brick wall and Gemma slides down to the ground, holding her head in her hands.

Matteo paces back and forth, pushing his hair out of his face with both hands. Seeing Gemma cry like this and the reaction she gave was horrifying to him. He looks over and watches Gemma as she tries to regain her composure. Matteo closes his eyes, he knew he let his obsession get the best of him and he was horrified that he had taken it out on the one girl he had ever shown him any kind of real affection. He walks over to her and reaches his hand out, placing it on her shoulder.

"Gemma, I am SO so-"

She jumps up and backs away, creating now a physical space between them. Unbeknownst to Matteo, Gemma always carried a gun in the back of her waistband. She was a single woman living alone in the city. You can always take a girl out of the midwest, but you can't take the midwest out of her.

Gemma quickly pulls out her gun and points it straight at Mateo. "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME", she screams.

"Whoa, holy sh-"

"SHUT UP", she demands,"JUST SHUT UP".

Matteo has had guns pointed at him more than he could count, so why did this one in particular frighten him the most? "Just let me explain, please", he pleaded.

Gemma looked into Matteo's eyes, searching for clues. "What happened? This man went from 0 to 100 in a matter of seconds. How can I trust him now? How stupid was I to let him in, now what did I get myself into?" There was something tugging at her heart making her consider listening to Matteo. But she was angry, she could hear her heart beating in her ears. But she also wanted answers, as always. She studied Matteo's face some more. Going against her better judgment, she lowers the gun.

"This better be good", she says.

Matteo just stood there, mouth agape. He was in awe of her. He had never encountered a woman that could hold her own. He admired her fire, even if it was towards him. Normally, he wouldn't even deal with someone like her, but he compared her to all the women he'd been with before. None of them came close to Gemma. The women Matteo were used to were drug addicted groupies, chasing after money and status. Their decisions had no meaning, no drive. Gemma was different, every move she made was with a purpose and he could respect that. Matteo knew after all that, he had to finally be up front with her... about everything. He owed her at least that much. And so, he went into every detail: Russo killing his parents, how he kept up a ruse to get close to him, and how he knew Sage had betrayed him.

Gemma was exhausted. She was trying to digest every detail being thrown at her. Her head was spinning and she was still angry.

"And you thought interrogating me was going to help you?", she quips coldly.

"You have no idea how sorry I am. This is the only way I know how to get answers out of somebody besides...", he trailed off.

"...killing them", Gemma finished. She looked into Matteo's eyes, trying to understand him. The sight of him made her anger slowly disappear only for it to be replaced by sadness. She understood where he was coming from. Of course, she couldn't even being to understand to his extent. But, she knew what it felt like to not trust anyone, to be wary of people for fear of being taken advantage of. She was tired of blocking people out. For the first time in her life, she felt some type of comfort and happiness. With anyone else, she would have left a long time ago. But there was just something about him that drew her in. Did she secretly like the danger? Was she just so delusional because she had shut out too many men before or she did she find herself falling hopelessly in love with a man and his crazy baggage. They were the same and then not which made it even more confusing. In that moment, she couldn't help but drop her gun and move towards him. He stood still as he saw her approach him. She wrapped her arms around him as he just stood there, petrified.

"Can you take me home?"