Little Queen

24

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I know that Draven is worried about me and part of me wants to fix it so he isn't so stressed anymore but the other, bigger part of me doesn't have the energy to care. My heart feels like someone has it wrapped in their fist and they're dragging it down into my stomach. It makes it hard for me to breath and I want the relief of crying but my tear ducts are empty.

As weird as it is, no thoughts are going through my mind. It's like I'm completely empty because when I do think of something the only thing I can think of is how much I miss my family. How they could be back in Italy and in danger and I would have no idea. They could all be dead and there's no way for me to know.

I don't have guards here and no one speaks to me, not even the maids. Draven is a busy man and even though he spends much more time with me than Papa, I know he has work to do and I feel guilty for taking up his time.

I curl into a tighter ball, gripping my duvet under my chin. Draven is away for work which means I can relax a little more knowing that no one will come in to bother me. I'm on the verge of finally falling back to sleep when I hear my bedroom door slide open again. I tense, Draven is gone and he doesn't allow the maids in here when I'm here which means that one of the men is in my room and I'm all alone.

I close my eyes and try to even out my breathing so that it looks like I'm asleep. I don't hear any footsteps but my door hasn't closed again either.

"I know you're awake."

My body instantly collapses in on itself with a rush of air, "You scared me."

Gio comes around to my side of the bed, holding a tray of food. I stare up at him without saying anything else.

He gives me a single nod and then sits down right beside me, resting his back against the nightstand. I breathe in a deep sigh, "Gio what are you doing?"

He shrugs popping a big grape in his mouth. I stare at him as he eats the fruit from the tray, never making eye contact with me. After what feels like an eternity he simply turns to me and offers me one of the grapes. An involuntary smile tugs at my lips and I take it from his big fingers. I bite half of it off and enjoy the sweetness. I glance at the clock on the wall and see that it's around dinner time. Gio continues to hand me grapes, taking one for himself and then one for me. Our faces are nearly the same height even though he's sitting on the floor but his silent companionship soothes some of my pain. As odd as it is, Gio feels familiar, he's the only thing that's familiar in this entire place.

He's easing my pain by being here but that almost hurts more because all of a sudden tears are flooding my eyes, slipping over the bridge of my nose and down my temple. A wet spot has collected on my pillow by the time he notices. His face softens and he opens his arms for me. I throw myself from my bed collapsing in his lap. Sobs tear through my chest and every emotion I've suppressed from the day I left home makes itself known. I clutch his shirt between my fingers crying into his shoulder. His thick arms create a protective circle around me and he rocks me from side to side, never making a sound.

"I miss them... so much!" I sob struggling to breathe in again.

Gio silently rocks me, simply holding me tighter when I sob harder. It takes a long time but I eventually calm down to occasional sniffles and slow tears.

"They miss you too."

I lift my head but can only see the bottom side of his chin, "You don't even know who I'm talking about."

He shakes his head, "Doesn't matter, if you love them this much... they miss you too."

I sniffle and tuck my chin back into my chest, "thank you."

I shift in his lap so I'm sitting between his legs and pull my knees to my chest. He moves his legs further apart so they're on either side of my hips.

"Can I tell you something? You can't tell anyone else, they can't know," I whisper resting my chin on my knees.

His eyes search my face but he nods.

"My name is Idalia Calabrese, I'm the daughter of Alessandro Calabrese," I search Gios face for a reaction but he doesn't have one. "He asked Draven to take me in because someone wants to hurt me and my entire family moved back to Italy to deal with it. I don't think anyone is supposed to know I'm here, or alive even. But he took the only people I love away from me. I was never allowed to leave the estate, not since I was nine years old. My guards, the three of them were my best friends and they've gotten me through so much and now they might die because of me and I'm.... I'm really alone. And I can't stop worrying about them, it feels like if I breathe something horrible is going to happen." My eyes are watering by the end of my confession but I'm not sobbing anymore.

Gio's eyes roam my face, "You're not alone."

I sit in between Gio's legs for a little longer before crawling back into bed. He gives me a look that I know means he's not happy with my choice.

"I'm okay, really. I'm just tired from crying so much."

I can tell he's skeptical so I give him a small smile and curl the blanket tighter around me.

He reluctantly cleans up the tray of food and heads for the door. I call his name before he closes it behind him.

He pauses to face me but doesn't say anything, as usual.

"Thank you. Maybe this makes me a horrible person, but you remind me so much of Ranger, it makes me feel not so alone. You're a really good guy."

He stares at me intensely. I know it's because I called him a good guy, Ranger still has a hard time believing me when I call him that even after eleven years.

He grunts and shuts the door behind him with a slight bang. I roll back over to stare out the window again but this time the fist around my heart, wasn't holding on so tight.

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