The Mafia's Queen

|Ch 13| The Mafia's Queen

The mafia's Caged Bird

Two people of opposite worlds and opposite personalities who have clicked like magnets sit in the round quiet room. Both intently looking at one other trying to figure out what is being thought.

It was quiet too quiet for Stephanie that it had her head lowering in embarrassment for the manner in which Estephano was looking at her. His forest green eyes gaze into her own intently, as if piercing her soul and finding every tiny little secret she had cages within them.

Reaching out he places a piece of hair that had fallen from its braid behind her ear, instantly making her bite her lip nervously which serves to make his gaze on her more intense than before. The tension was thick with longing and confusion.

"Thank you," she smiles earning a nod from Estephano who gazes at her suddenly realizing that she had tied her hair into a braid. She looked beautiful but he remembers however that from the moment he first saw her, her hair ran freely behind her for the wind to graciously push back.

"You tied your hair," he states more than asks her.

Nodding her head she plays with the end of her french braid tail nervously, her doe eyes wavering from everywhere but him.

"Yes, does it bother you?" She timidly asks him and he gives a soft smile shaking his head.

"No it's just since I first met you, your hair has always been down- you look pretty both ways don't get me wrong but I like it when your hair is down," he mumbles giving her a flirty smile causing her cheeks to tint a cherry red shade. She was blooming for him only.

'It makes me want to run my fingers through it,' he wants to add but doesn't as that would sound creepy.

Nodding as if she understood she unties her hair from its braid that she always has it in when night falls, once the tie is released she untangles it allowing the locks to finally run free from the oppression the nightmares that always keep her trapped in a world of darkness have over her during the hour of sleep, "I always sleep with my hair tied its more comfortable that way," she confesses with a shrug to her shoulders.

"Why is that?" He asks finding that her words meant more than she was letting out.

Taking in a sharp intake she debates whether to tell him or not, 'Just do it! It's the least you can do for all the times he has saved your life,' her conscious tells her but on the other hand she knows that if she does tell him then her father would be upset as this was something private and shouldn't be told to anyone but Estephano wasn't just anyone to her and she realizes that the butterflies in her bosom flutter for him and only him which now worries her.

Without realizing it she blurts out her private affairs to him, "I get nightmares during my sleep ever since I could remember and sometimes I would pull my hair without knowing so I began to tie it back and it seems to be stopping me from hurting myself subconsciously." She mumbles embarrassed and a bit relieved to have told someone other than her father.

Frowning in response after hearing about her night struggles Estephano sits close to her and lifts her chin with his pointer finger, their eyes meeting in an intense gaze.

"What kind of nightmares?" He softly asks her wanting to help rid her of the night horrors she experience on a daily.

Biting her lip tears brim her eyes as the nightmares were not just nightmares of her darkest fears as her nightmares were in fact not fake. No because these dreams were real. They are memories of the past that constantly haunt her day in and day out successfully keeping her from moving forward, and keeping her fearful of the real world even when she desperately wants to flap her wings and escape the gilded cage she was placed in at the age of six.