Wanderlust Heart (18+)

38

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Willow and I had just made it back to the Muraka when we saw Stefan loading all of our luggage into the boat to take us back to shore. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion and Willow helped me up on the deck where Benny stormed out of the villa with a scowl on his face, throwing luggage into the boat.

"What's going on, Stef?" Willow asked and his head shot up to look at us, "We're going back to California. Matteo has a warrant for his arrest and he needs to be in the states before it's rumored that he's running."

I rushed inside to see Matteo with a hand on his hip, a stern look on his face whilst he spoke calmly into his phone. He spotted me and he instantly became tenser.

"Get it fixed," he said coldly before hanging up and walking over to me, "Where were you? Are you okay?"

I nodded slowly, confused, "I'm fine... Willow and I were just out. We saw the news, what's going on?"

"They're linking me to the disappearance of your father, they're holding me accountable for your gunshot wound, and the abuse of Diamond and Anna. It's all just allegations and hearsay, baby, don't get frightened. It's getting sorted right now, but we need to get back to Los Angeles before this gets worse before it gets better, okay?" He said calmly and I bit the inside of my cheek so I couldn't cry, "I'll confess, okay? I'll tell them that dad shot me or something and then I killed him! Yeah, I'll do that! Just tell me what you did with his body-"

"Absolutely not, Samantha, do you hear me? You will do no such thing. You will keep your mouth shut," he said so coldly that I felt myself shrink away from him slightly from the tone of his voice. I nodded in agreement, panicking internally as Stefan came in and led me out to the boat where Willow, Gino, and Benny were already seated.

"Let's go," Matteo nodded at the man driving the boat and we began to speed away from the villa.

✈️

I haven't talked to anybody since Matteo ordered me to keep my mouth shut. I've been silently panicking the whole flight back to Matteo's house and everyone else was pretty much quiet as well except for a few phone calls.

We finally landed and boarded off of the plane, only to immediately ride back to the house in Matteo's personal driver's cars. Once we reached home, we stepped out and a man was leaning against a tall pillar, smoking a cigar. He looks scarily identical to Matteo and I can only imagine it's his father. I nervously approached the man with Matteo in front of me. He reached the man and nodded his head at him, "Father."

"Son," the man nodded his head as he puffed out a cloud of smoke from the cigar before shaking Matteo's hand firmly. Stefan stood awkwardly beside me and I looked up at him with a silent, freaking-out look, and Stefan smiled softly at him, squeezing my hand in reassurance.

"This is Samantha and Stefan Castillo. Sammie, Stef, this is my father, Flavio Salvatore," Matteo introduced us as if we were business partners and I shook hands with him with a soft smile, Stefan doing the same, "Nice to meet you, sir."

Flavio's hair was as dark as Matteo's, his skin was dark like his son's, his eyes were identically green, but he wasn't covered in tattoos, unlike his son. He shares the same permanent scowl etched onto his face as Matteo, which is almost comical.

"Father, Sammie is my girlfriend. Stefan is her brother and I would appreciate if you'd treat them like human beings unlike the other friends I've brought around," Matteo said sternly and I felt my gut clench once Flavio met eyes with me. He studied me with a hard face before grinning, "She's beautiful. Take her in to meet your mother before she castrates both of us for introducing your girlfriend to me before her."

The corners of Matteo's lips tugged upwards softly before he replaced it with his usual hard facade again. He looked back at me and nodded his head towards the door. I began walking, my stomach doing nervous flips as Matteo placed his hand on the small of my back, walking us through the tall double doors. I heard clanking in the kitchen to my left and Matteo sighed, "She's baking again. She always bakes and it's horrible. Just nod and smile when she asks if you like it."

I smiled before we walked into the room where a woman was hunched over, looking into the oven. She heard the door open so she turned around and smiled brightly at Matteo. Gino looks identical to her, which is scary. Her chestnut-brown hair was very curly just like Gino's, her lips were in a natural pout like his too and her eyes were slightly more on the blue side just like Gino.

She was only slightly taller than me and she ran over to her son, dusting flour off of her red and white checkered apron, "Matteo! Oh, my boy, it's so nice to see you again!"

I smiled as she stood on her tip-toes to hug her son whilst he bent down and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his face in her shoulder, "Hi, mamma."

She pulled away and rested both of her hands on his cheeks, looking at his face, "You're getting frown lines, boy, what are you worrying about?"

He sighed as he pulled away from her grasp, holding her hands in his, "You haven't been watching the news?" She rose an eyebrow, "Of course I have. Flavio will get you out of this mess. Don't you worry. Smile more or you'll have to invest in botox before you age thirty!"

I smiled and he chuckled before looking at me and placing a hand on my back again, "Mamma, this is my girlfriend, Sammie. Sammie, this is my mamma, Maria."

She smiled warmly at me before engulfing me into a hug, "It's so nice to meet the woman my son has been going on and on about every time I speak with him."

"Mamma," Matteo groaned and I giggled, "It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Salvatore. You raised two fine young men!"

"Please, call me Maria. I assume you like red velvet cake, no?" She asked as she turned around to put her oven mittens back on and I looked up at Matteo who nodded with a smirk on his face.

"Red velvet is my favorite," I said with a smile and her face brightened up immensely, "Oh, fantastico! It will be ready soon along with dinner so why don't you all go get freshened up?"