Chapter 24: Chapter 24

I was unable to move and in that moment of complete silence I was still thinking about the fact that Nicolo would surely get busted by his friends, because they surely knew exactly who was standing behind me and pierced my back with his eyes.

"That's one of the Mancinis," I heard Angelo whisper to Guiseppe, who immediately averted his shocked gaze from Dario to look at me instead, as if he already knew that the man behind me was looking for me.

"Ludovica?" Dario's voice penetrated my mind and after Luca also stared at me with wide eyes, he pressed his handkerchief tightly to his nose while I got up very slowly and my heart pounded excitedly.

It was all just embarrassing and yet I had no other choice. I had to submit and not only because he was a mafia boss, but also because my body wanted him to be like that.

"Dario," I whispered his name almost silently, only to turn to him at the same time, cheeks red. I wished he would keep Nicolo out of it because there must have been reasons he didn't want to be seen as Mancini.

Very carefully, I took a step towards Dario and looked up at him beggingly, biting my lip embarrassed and thoughtful while his expressionless, yet somehow angry gaze was only on me.

"Please let's just go," I whispered and after glancing at Nicolo, which Dario did the same to me, he seemed to understand why I didn't want a scene here. I didn't do this for myself, but for the only one who was really nice to me without any ulterior motives and whose secret I wanted to keep.

"Then go ahead," he agreed, pointing his hand slightly in the direction he had come from, before taking off his dark jacket so that he was only standing in his tight white shirt, which made me absent for a moment muscle of his torso.

"Um," I turned again uncertainly to the four sitting on the floor, who, apart from Nicolo, were still staring at me in shock. "See you."

"Certainly not," Dario followed, embarrassed and overwhelmed, I ran past him across the meadow, while not looking back once more.

"Do you enjoy breaking rules?" I heard Dario behind me, who seemed to be catching up fast, but I kept walking, ignoring him as my chaos lashed me all over again. Even such unimportant situations made me lose my entire control and I felt more and more that I couldn't just suppress and process everything that had happened.

"Ludovica!"

I stopped, not because he was calling me or because I felt I had to obey him, but because I suddenly felt the urgent need to explain my feelings to him, since there was no one else I could talk to about it.

With tears in my eyes, I stood under the sun in this beautiful park and only slowly turned to him to watch him notice my tears and seem to change. His facial expressions showed the semblance of sympathy, which was certainly intended by him to manipulate me again. With Dario Mancini, nothing happened unless he wanted it to.

"I can't do that anymore," I said at the end of my strength and glanced past him across the meadow to the others, whose eyes met my curiosity, although they seemed so far away. How I wish I were just a dimwitted teenager drinking beer in the park at lunchtime.

"What do you mean?" Dario wanted to know calmly and didn't seem to understand at all what he, Gino and Enzo were actually doing to me with all their burdens and demands. They didn't seem to understand that being forced into marriage, and feeling torn between two brothers who couldn't have been more different, wasn't normal for everyone.

As if all this wasn't confusing enough for me to lose everything in just a few days.

"Forget it," I breathed through sobs, just wanting to go home, although that thought was pretty bitter considering where my home was now.

"No!" he said louder and unexpectedly grabbed my shoulder to turn me back to him. "You're not going to keep eating all this!"

"What do you know about what I'm eating?!", I replied louder, but immediately fell silent again, because I had the feeling that I was going too far towards him, but my emotions kept boiling up and were hard to tame.

Was that normal? I didn't know anymore, because somehow nothing was normal anymore. Everything felt unreal.

"Enough! Do you think this is all easy for me?! I thought I could forget you just like all the others after that night and then you stand behind Gino in my kitchen and look at me with your so beautiful, scared eyes in panic !Then you don't even listen to me and get engaged to Gino too!You're around me all the time and yeah you sure think I have it all under control and by God I'd like to but you can only help me See me again and again to destroy this inner peace that I have built so hard!"

He ran a hand through his dark hair angrily and then took a deep breath as if trying to get himself under control while I just stood there and stared at him in perplexity.

I managed to mess him up? .. I?

It seemed absurd to me, but he was still the only one I trusted, which brought tears to my eyes again because I realized that no matter what he said, it still wouldn't change anything. ..

"We should-"

I gasped for air and heard a bang so loud that my eyes widened in panic and I suddenly felt like I was floating.

I looked at Dario in fear, whose eyes were fixed on my neck, where after a short while I felt such excruciating pain that I wanted to scream, but not a single sound came out of my throat.

"Dario," I breathed, suddenly only tasting blood, which made me tremble uncontrollably. Dario drew his gun, ran past me and I just didn't land on the meadow below me because I was caught by Nicolo, who kept shouting something in my face, but unfortunately I didn't understand him, not a word and instead looked up sun until I took a deep breath, inhaling the air to the max and closing my glassy eyes.

When I tentatively opened my heavy lids, all I saw at first was the white blanket above me and I just felt shitty. The tiredness seemed to want to take hold of me again, but I fought back and licked my lips, which looked as dry as my throat.

What happened anyway?

My mind seemed to want to remember somehow, but everything was foggy. The last thing I remembered clearly was Dario admitting to me that I triggered something in him, after which all I could remember was the sun so bright that it shone tirelessly on my face.

I tried hard to try to think, but I suddenly felt someone squeeze my hand, causing me to turn my face to the side of the bed, curious.

Gino was lying next to me with my hand firmly in his while he had his head on his other arm and seemed to be asleep.

Fuck!

I wanted to get up, but I felt drugged and groaned with effort as I sat almost upright and put my hand to my neck, where I felt a bandage, somewhat irritated.

My eyes fell next to me on Gino, who seemed to be sleeping so deeply that he didn't even wake up. I looked at him very closely for a long time and then just wandered my eyes elsewhere because at that moment there was a soft knock on the door.

"Yes?" I wanted to say out loud, but I sounded more like a chain smoker, which startled myself.

When I then cleared my throat and wanted to get up, I suddenly looked into Dario's eyes, who was just coming in the door. Where he usually wore a shirt and suit trousers, this time he wore only faded jeans and a white shirt.

"Stay where you are," he said as soon as he realized what I was about to do and I obeyed, like always with him.

"Could you please get me a glass of water then. I don't want to wake him up," I whispered croakingly and after he nodded in agreement, he disappeared briefly into the bathroom while I took a deep breath and glanced at the window until I caught the glass in the corner of my eye noticed that Dario was handing me.

"Thank you," I breathed and wanted to take it, but all of a sudden our fingers touched and I stared at her in amazement for a short time, because it was a feeling that seemed so inconspicuous and yet triggered so much in me. I looked up at him uncertainly and he too seemed to be studying our fingers until he finally pulled his hand away from the glass again, but I immediately grabbed his hand with my other hand, gently rubbing my thumb over him, curious about the feel of his skin to rub the back of his hand.

He allowed it, didn't resist, and when our eyes met, that moment seemed to stop time around us. So many things were going through my mind at that moment, and yet there was nothing at all. only emptiness. My mind went completely blank, but my heart seemed to have started to live. The last breath of a drowning man, it felt so perfect.

And he didn't seem to feel any different. I could see his fingers tracing my skin, wanting to deepen that feeling, but as Gino moved behind me, Dario pulled away from me and I immediately snapped back into reality with full force.

As Dario took a few steps back, I lifted the glass and took a few sips of the cool, soothing water until I felt Gino kiss my shoulder and sit up next to me.

"You're awake," he breathed into my ear, relieved, but I only looked at Dario, who avoided my gaze and turned to Gino.

"I just wanted to make sure everything was alright," he explained calmly, and after Gino nodded to him, he disappeared from the room again, without turning around again.

"You don't even know what I'm going to do with that guy," I suddenly heard Gino staring at the door and wondering what or who he meant by that.

"What guy?" I wanted to know and caught his eye, but instead of answering me, he eagerly pressed his lips to mine and pulled me into a kiss so demanding that I felt like I had to fall over backwards.

"The one who shot you, Amore Mio," he whispered, and it took me a moment to really understand what he was saying. Immediately I pushed him slightly away from me and looked at him completely confused.

"Excuse me?" I breathed in a little panic and held my hand to the bandage again. I remembered the loud bang. Suddenly also reminded me that Dario drew his gun and in my mind I clearly saw Nicolo hunched over me. My breathing quickened, just from this oppressive feeling that was spreading in my chest, but Gino immediately pulled me gently to his chest and gave me a gentle kiss on my forehead.

"A graze. You don't have to worry. But you bit your tongue in shock and just passed out," he continued and I tried to take it all in while I then stared down at my lap where my hands were lay very calmly entwined.

"How long did I sleep?" I wanted to know and he explained to me that I had slept through the rest of the day and night because Dario had given me strong painkillers and sleeping pills so that I wouldn't have to feel any panic or pain. He also told me that he'd been lying next to me all night and couldn't sleep, which I found sweet but understandable. After all, I was his fiancée. I didn't really feel that way, and again only because Dario kept popping into my head. I wanted to do everything I could to give Gino a try and I was completely at peace with my decision. Did Dario have to bang his words in my head and hold my hand?!

It was at the same time the best and yet also the worst thing he could do to me in my situation.

"Do you need anything? I have some things to do today that I didn't manage tonight."

Gino got out of bed and I watched him absently as he ran to the closet and pulled out some fresh clothes.

"Where have you been?" I suddenly asked thoughtfully, returning his confused expression when he turned to me. "You weren't around yesterday after talking to your father in the hallway."

He immediately avoided my gaze again, put on a black shirt and disappeared briefly into the bathroom, where I could only hear the sink running. Just when I thought I wouldn't get an answer anyway, something suddenly beeped next to me and when I looked at the bedside table, I discovered Gino's cell phone, which was practically smiling at me.

I looked again at the bathroom and then leaned slightly towards the bedside table to see the bright screen, but all I saw was that he had some messages from a number he had memorized under the letter X.

It wasn't really any of my business anyway, but somehow I got more and more curious and then without thinking I grabbed the phone, but at that moment Gino entered the room and rubbed his face dry, then eyed me with a smile until he saw my big eyes and also discovered the mobile phone in my hand.