CLAIMED

Here are my confessions

"My graduation is in two days" Bella spoke from the doorway. Lorenzo suppressed a chuckle, hearing both Sara and Charles laugh silently. Bella had been so uneasy since she knew that Lorenzo was traveling somewhere. He hadn't told her that he was traveling to buy weapons to use against Khalid. He was going prepared.

"I will be back before your graduation, amore" Lorenzo answered, zipping up his suitcase that was stacked with the new drugs he was trying to sell. He had to know if they would benefit him before he brought loads more.

Bella huffed loudly, hugging him from behind. Lorenzo smiled at her as he looked at the makeup on his desk. The grey walls were now in a beige color with nude curtains. Lorenzo had asked Bella to stay with him and she had agreed happily. What he didn't expect was the room to transform into this. He had been forced to put his weapons, drugs and workout stuff in another room. He secretly liked the mansion having a touch of her. it felt full and not empty like it had before. They actually had people come over and have dinner with them. Lorenzo wasn't much of a host, but Bella loved catering others.

"If I didn't know better, I would think that you would miss me" Lorenzo teased Bella, knowing well that she would miss him. She had been attached to his hip and felt safe with him. She also felt another feeling that she had ignored completely.

"But you know better" she answered sassily, spanking his ass and running out before he could react. He took the suitcase and walked out to the kitchen, watching Sara and Charles talk to Bella about her Rome visit that went down the drain when Ali broke up with James. Bella still hadn't heard from Ali and had thought to pay him a visit when Lorenzo was on his business trip.

"I will get going" Lorenzo spoke, interrupting the conversation. Sara and Charles waved him goodbye as he stalked over to Bella and pecked her lips quickly. Bella was exhausted from all the activities that happened at night and was secretly happy to have her usual sleepovers with James again. "Lock the door, check the windows, have someone here at all times, do not open the door for anyone you don't recognize, you have my card to shop and all, call me everyday-"Lorenzo started listing things until Bella kissed him again, in an attempt to shut him up. It worked by the way Lorenzo leaned into her touch.

"I got this! Look at me" Bella said, flexing her non-existing muscles. Sara chuckled at her while Charles shook his head in amusement. "Wow, I am not worried anymore" Lorenzo muttered, as he kissed her the last time and exited the mansion.

"Here we go" Bella whispered to herself sadly as she saw Lorenzo wave at her before sitting in his car and driving away.

§

Lorenzo sat amongst the unfamiliar men as he sighed from boredom. This auction had been going on for hours and he was growing impatient. Just when he was going to stand up to leave, he saw his man enter and sit down beside him. Lorenzo didn't speak, waiting for him to explain himself. He had learned that talking less in this business was better than being a bigmouth.

"Sorry capo. I had to take a different route. Cops everywhere downtown" he spoke in a hushed voice. This city definitely had more control over criminal activity, making Lorenzos stay there as short as possible. I had a graduation to attend to, he thought to himself as he mentally laughed at himself. He had stalked Bella outside the same university, where he was going to attend her graduation as her man.

Lorenzo nodded at the man as he handed over the money. The man used his sweet time counting it before he pushed forward the big bag of weapons.

"I have another deal" Lorenzo spoke for the first time, the man nodding for him to continue. "A million for the drugs" he continued, pushing the drugs his way. The man looked at it, thinking for a minute. Lorenzo waited, watching the spicy auction. A woman and a man was going at each other for what seemed like a rustic mirror? He wanted to snort at the sight.

"Why are you selling it?" The man asked Lorenzo.

"its new in the market. I want to know how much I can sell of it" Lorenzo answered shortly, not wanting to elaborate on his drug business. The man nodded and gave Lorenzo his suitcase back. Lorenzo smirked as he watched the man walk out. He waited for a while until he walked out too and drove down the road. The man was right when he said that the cops were on strict control. He could barely make out a sign down the road that was stopping cars. He knew he couldn't take the same road and decided to stay at a hotel for a while. He backed away with his car, taking a short cut to the nearest hotel.

§

Bella stared at the number she had been watching for a while.

"Call him" Diego urged her "Come on, he is whipped for you" he pushed her. Bella nodded, while tapping the number, hearing it ring.

"Amore" Lorenzo spoke on the other line. His voice strained, as if he had longed after her voice. He had, but she didn't know.

"Renzo" she breathed out, smiling slightly. She saw as Diego and James walked over to the room, Diego pushed James in a joking manner.

"I miss you already" he muttered to her. Closing his eyes and embracing her next words.

"I miss you more" she responded. It was silent for a while until Lorenzo spoke again;

"I never knew that I could crave you to the point where I would feel pain" he told her, holding on to a photo of her on work. He had taken it in the early stages of his infatuation. The nights when he would sit in his car and see her work through the window.

"Pain happens when you care about someone" Bellas voice was small as she muttered the words carefully. Lorenzo nodded on the other side. "hmm you are right. I more than care about you" he whispered to her though the phone. Bella closed her eyes as a smile lingered on her face. "And I you" she spoke with care and passion. Both of them dodging the words that was the main topic of this conversation.

"I knew it from the day I saw you in the café years ago. I knew it when I first heard you laugh. I knew it from the first time you told me about your parents. I knew it from the time I made love to you like no one else. I knew it from the moment I saw your face on the blond bimbo I was fucking. I know now that I am sitting here alone in this hotel with money covering the bed, but I would rather have you on it instead. Not just my bed, but in my mind and heart. It is all you" Lorenzo poured out his heart to the stunned girl who had tears in her eyes. Her heart yearning more for the man on the other line.

Lorenzo heard a soft sob before her melodic voice sang out to him; "And I knew when you didn't say anything. It was when you slept, and I used my sweet time drinking you in. The scar over your eye whispered tales so hard to hear that I shut my ears. Your eyes showing the betrayal and hurt you have faced. Your pearl like tongue in a scowl because of the hurtful words you have uttered to yourself. Your lips cry Renzo, I have tasted the tears on them. You may not let them tell me themselves, but I hear things from the guys babe. I have understood your heart as if it is mine" Bella told him between sniffles.

The silence was enough for both of them to hang up and engulf themselves in their own thoughts. While Bella sat in Lorenzo's room and looked around at his room that they had spent their time on, she realized something big. She loved him. a cough broke her trace as she sniffled and wiped away her tears quickly. She knew that the boys had heard her, but she didn't want to hide it anymore. She wanted everyone to know what she felt for the man she had learned to love. He wasn't sadistic, sarcastic and rude. He was just trying to cover up the pain that had been inflicted on him for years. She saw him for the man that he was. She would always do that. 

"I love him" Bella spoke loud and clearly, losing the grip on the phone. She turned around to see the men smile and rush over to her. "I love Lorenzo Juan Moretti" she spoke again this time, tasting each word. And god, did it feel good. 

On the other side of the town, Lorenzo picked up his phone and recorded an important message. 

"My Bella" his voice cracked slightly, tears welling up in his eyes