Letters To The Mafia Don

XVI

As soon as I had put the plates down on the table I heard a heavy amount of footsteps. I sat down in a chair on the end of the table and started to eat my food, a harsh breath made me stop eating. I turned to the sound and saw three familiar faces and a few more men along with them, I couldn't help but notice that Julian wasn't amongst the others. "She's sat in his chair." I heard Lance whisper to Leo. 

"Yes Lance I am in Julians chair, that will be his problem when he gets here but he can sit at the other end of the table. The rest of you fine young men can sit down and eat your food." I told him as I continued to eat, they mumbled their final words but sat down and dug into their food. The chatter was loud until Julian stepped into the room, his eyes were set on me and he smirked as I stared at him and slurped on the bit of spaghetti. He downcast his eyes and shook his head lightly, scratching at his bottom lip before licking it and making his way to the chair opposite me. He settled into the chair and picked up his fork. His eyes met mine and I grinned. 

"Please, continue eating." He commanded openly but never tore his eyes away from me, even when he took his first forkful of spaghetti he didn't look away. When his face went bright red I couldn't help but snigger at his expression. 

"Is everything okay with the food, Julian?" He swallowed the food and silently asked for Lance to grab him a glass of water. 

"Wonderful, mio amore." [my love] I wanted to scowl at him but decided to smile and lift my glass of wine at him. 

"Please, continue eating." I told him the same way he told all of us when he stepped into the room. I must have forgotten to tell him about the chilli that just so happened to fall onto his plate. 

"With pleasure." He began to shovel down his food and after each spoonful he would gulp down some water. I couldn't help but laugh at how red his face would go each time the chilli hit his tongue. 

"Thank you for the food, Charlotte. It was just like being back home in Italy." Lance smiled. I stacked everyones plates and took it over to the sink. 

"It was no problem, Lance, it gave me something to do seeing as I am being held hostage by your boss here." I nod my head to where Julian was sat.

"Just give him some time. Get to know him, he means well." He defends.

"I'm sure he does, but that doesn't give him the right to take me away from my life." I argue. 

"Please, give him a bit of time." I smile at him and he turns before leaving. Should I give him a chance to prove himself to me?

****

I decided, no, I shouldn't give him a chance. He has to work for that chance and since going back to my room after cleaning the kitchen and seeing that it is a museum of my old bedroom, I thought no. As I walked to his office, the temptation of telling him no to his face grew stronger, just to see the look on his face would make my whole week and this week is very easy to beat. 

I knock loudly on his office door and wait until I hear him say 'come in', because my mother never brought me up in a barn, I was taught with manners unlike some. "Julian, we need to talk." 

"Let me call you back, Salvatore. Okay. Bye. Am I in trouble?" He asks putting down the phone. 

"Are you in trouble? You're always in trouble at the moment but right now, no you're not in trouble. I have a statement to make about our current situation." He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands like he was ready for what I was about to say. 

"Shoot." Ha. The irony of that word. I cleared my throat and smile at him.

"I will willingly surrender to your psychotic reasoning of kidnapping me and holding me hostage," He leaned forward in his chair and grinned, "if you allow me to continue my life as normal and go to work, to University to pick up my notes or talk to my professor and I need to see my mum and my sister." I finished. 

"Of-" 

"And don't forget I said I would surrender to you psychotic reasoning for kidnapping me. I will also do anything for you."

"Anything?" He perked up.

"Anything."

"Okay."

****

"By telling you I would do anything, this wasn't what I had in mind." I was absolutely breathless, my mind was telling me this was a mistake, my lungs were telling me this was a mistake, my feet were telling me this was a mistake, but my heart was telling me something different.

"You said anything." He laughed. 

"By anything I meant that I would clean your bathroom or your kitchen or kneel to your feet and clean your shoes, not go on a hike up an 80ft hill and lose two thirds of my respiratory system. I am starting to lack air and it is getting harder to breathe."

"Everything you just said made no sense."

"Well I am tired, I make no sense when I'm tired." I complain with a wince as a stone dug into my shoe and nudged the sore soles of my feet.

"Stop whining we're almost there." Wow, so rude.

"You're not even going to offer to carry me?" I asked. 

"Nope, that wasn't in the terms of this agreement." 

"I thought you might have been chivalrous, I guess you only thought that was when you held me hostage to protect me." I roll my eyes and he stops in his place. I thought he was actually going to pick me up but instead he just stopped. "Julian?" 

"We're here." I stepped closer towards him and finally realised why he was so quiet. 

"Wow."