Amore Mio ✔️

Chapter 24 - So How Was Your Trip?

Sorry the updates are so slow :( My exams finally finish next Friday and then they'll be coming regularly ❤️

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy 😊

~ Luciana's POV ~

"W-what?" My eyes must have been as wide as saucers, my words coming out barely above a whisper.

Mona avoided making eye contact with me while doing her best to keep her face void of emotion although she didn't do very well. "It was by a boy at school."

"Mona..." I had no idea what I was supposed to say, I wasn't expecting something like that to have happened to her, never-mind her telling me.

"Alessio is the only one that knows what happened. He figured it out a few weeks later. That's why I'm closer to him than anyone else. He helped me through it." Finally she let her eyes meet mine, and I could instantly see the pain and sadness that were in them. I felt my own start to brim with tears when hers did. She was just so young.

"I know you're probably wondering why I'm telling you this, but it's because I know you're important to Alessio and his job doesn't really do him any favours. I know you're both going through something, but he is a good person, he just doesn't always show it."

I wiped away a few tears that had fallen from my eyes as she did the same, before pasting a forced smile on her face again. That just didn't sit well with me, at all.

It reminded me of all the times when I was younger and I had to pretend nothing was going on at home, that I wasn't bruised black and blue under my clothes and that I wasn't completely broken inside. I didn't want her to feel like that around me, even if she hardly knew me.

"Anyway, I think it's going to take a bit longer for me to make friends at this school-"

"Come here." Confusion was evident on her face when I cut her off but before she could ask what I meant I moved closer to her and wrapped my arms around her small frame, pulling her into me. "You don't have to pretend around me Mona."

It seemed like she was still trying to hold it together like she had been for the last 6 years, but eventually she gave in. I held her in my arms as she silently cried, the only sound was her occasional sniffs. I wasn't really sure what else to say to her in that moment, I didn't know her well enough to start making promises about always being there for her if she needed me and things like that. Of course I would be there if she needed me, but I was still a complete stranger to her. It just didn't feel like the right thing to say.

"I'm sorry about what happened, you were so young..." Once again I felt my heart break for her when she pulled away from me, and the hurt was evident on her face. "I know it's a hard past Mona, and it will always be part of you. But it's your past for a reason, you need to focus on the future." I gave her a small tearful smile while rubbing her arm soothingly.

"You had a hard past too, didn't you?"

I wasn't surprised that she knew, I'm sure my past was common knowledge around here as once upon a time my father, Giuseppe, was Alessio's dad's right hand man and bestfriend. It even seemed from the conversation I had the other day with Alessio that he knew more about what my father used to do to my family than I knew.

"Alessio mentioned something but I didn't really want to hear it unless it came from you, it doesn't feel right to listen to things like that from someone else. Especially with what happened to me."

She was like the sweetest person I've ever met. I almost cried, again. I gave her an appreciative smile at this, she really was mature for her age. But sometimes when things happen that's the only option, especially if you have to do deal with the stuff on your own.