Chapter 33: Chapter 33

I staggered slightly out the front door, took a deep breath of the cool night air and glanced at the two broad guards who were standing next to the front door and eyed me with irritation.

"Nothing to do?" I asked smiling and they avoided my gaze to suddenly whisper before one of them then disappeared into the house behind me.

Did they want to snitch? How unfair was that?

I quickly turned to the many cars parked neatly next to each other under the carport and pressed the keys like a madwoman, but nothing happened!

"Shit," I whispered, really not wanting anyone to stop me from doing what I was doing. Even less that that someone would be Dario.

As my eyes drifted back, I caught a glimpse of the one guard who was left and turned back to the cars, where I suddenly recognized the jackpot in the lottery.

As if in a daze, I dropped the keys on the gravel floor and padded with determination to a slightly rusty bike that was hidden by a hedge at the very edge. I took a deep breath, tried somehow to counteract the dizziness and swung myself so inelegantly onto the bike that I was very glad that no one was watching me as I almost fell over on my side.

Except, of course, for the idiot snitch who just walked up to me and didn't look happy. If it didn't look like a closet, I would have tried to drive it over, but I'd lose the fight. Even my drunk self knew that.

So I hurriedly pedaled with my sneakers and drove down the driveway between the lawn and the hedges in order to gain distance from him and the villa as quickly as possible.

"Arrivederci", I shouted over my shoulder, still amused, and almost drove into a hedge, but got the swerve balanced again and only stopped when I reached the locked gate. The porter in the small building was raising an eyebrow at me like he was totally bored and looking for some excitement in his dreary life, so I gave the guy a seductive wink while pointing at the gate like a madman.

"Open up, please," I trilled, hoisting up, causing him to smile and glance around. He probably wanted to make sure he didn't get in trouble for his stupidity in letting me out of here, but when the gate suddenly opened and I gave him another grateful look, he winked too.

"Watch out, please," he retorted, and I nodded vigorously, hearing someone behind me calling loudly. It was Dario and, rolling my eyes, I pedaled away hastily, not wanting to waste another second.

The cool air blew through my loose hair, played around it and let individual strands fall into my face again and again while I felt freer than ever.

The bike rode calmly over the paved streets of Palermo and even the few people I met at this hour were immediately friendly and all smiled at me.

No wonder! I was probably grinning like an idiot that I actually managed to get away from a mafia boss on a bike. After all, not everyone could claim that, with enough alcohol in their blood.

I rode in style, albeit with a slight swerve, along the familiar path, slowly feeling my calves tightening slightly and running out of breath, but I wasn't planning on taking any breaks. Especially not after I recognized the factory premises from afar and followed the lights.

Out of breath, I pulled into the parking lot and between the many parked cars to stop in front of the doorman, who knew me from the last few times.

"Mrs. Mancini?" he asked, totally irritated, and I stopped right in front of him to carefully get off the bike, take a deep breath and then put it down right in front of him.

"Is there valet parking here?"

He raised an eyebrow and only now seemed to realize that I had been drinking so he simply pulled out his cell phone, but before he could make a call I suddenly heard someone calling me and turned around questioningly, which the bouncer did the same. ..

"What are you doing here?"

Somehow happy to see the idiots, I grinned at the chubby Luca and hugged him laughing.

Yes, I definitely drank too much.

"The question is, what are you doing here?!", Guiseppe demanded my attention and I broke away from Luca to tap Playboy on the nose while he watched me with a grin.

"I want to see my fiancé," I giggled and all three of them seemed kind of confused by my statement, which was probably because I was supposedly dating Nicolo.

"You were shot," Angelo suddenly said, slightly startled by the memory and pointing to my neck. "How can you be up and standing here already. Besides, where's Nicolo?"

"Nicolo is probably asleep, or plays Playstation and yes, but it was just a graze. Not that bad," I grinned at the three of them and I had the feeling that the more I talked, the more irritated they seemed to be.

"So guys. You want in there?" I finally spoke into the silence and pointed behind me to the club, which made Angelo nod at me.

"We'd tried it the last few weekends, but the bouncer always said 'next time,'" Luca explained quietly, nervously looking past me.

"Oh, the shed belongs to my fiancé, just follow me," I said self-confidently and then heard a cheeky "You're getting around quite a bit" from Guiseppe, which I completely ignored in my madness.

"These belong to me," I instructed the bouncer, and he started to type something on his phone again without stepping out of my way, so I held my hand over his display and glared at him sternly. "Don't you tell Gino, then you would ruin his surprise. Do you really want that?"

His eyes darted over mine and after I squinted mine slightly to get him to just let me pass, he actually put his phone away and backed away from the door, allowing us a clear path.

"I have nothing to do with it," he explained calmly, and after nodding at him, I turned to the three boys with a wink and waved them inside with me.

"Really correct of you," said Guiseppe when he arrived in the anteroom and I just gave him an amused look.

"Don't you fuck several girls every week? Then why do you have to go to a club like that?"

The provocation in my voice was hard to miss, but he just smiled stupidly and the four of us walked down the dark hallway, only to pause for a moment when we got to the huge club.

"We should have dressed better!"

My eyes fell on Luca, who was just wearing a white shirt and short swim shorts. Guiseppe and Angelo also looked like they were about to go surfing, in contrast to all the men here, who were all wearing suits and expensive shirts.

"At least that way you'll stand out from the crowd," I shrugged and glanced down at my sneakers, which didn't even match my dress at all. I could feel the alcohol starting to wear off, taking my confidence with it, so I walked past the three of them through the dark room, where the lights kept flickering brightly, to just step behind the counter and listen to the music.

"Ohhh, the girl who's scared of bombs," the waitress addressed me in amusement, and I just grinned stupidly to grab a bottle of bubbly, while immediately running back to the boys, all three of whom were shy against the black wall leaning and staring at all the half-naked girls lounging between the men.

"Probably not so brave after all," I said to Giuseppe and handed the champagne to Luca, who opened it directly.

"Well, there's a difference between getting it for a girl and for a woman. They have higher demands," said Guiseppe, snatching the champagne from Luca's hand to take a strong sip.

"You know that you pay the women here and that they just pretend everything to you anyway?"

Angelo looked thoughtfully at the dance floor and then turned his sights on me again as if he wanted to ask something, but he quickly turned back to Giuseppe, who then whispered something in his ear.

"A problem?" I wanted to know and took the champagne bottle in order to put it on and drink more of it than necessary.

"Who is your fiancé?"

Ah, so she was interested.

"Um," I said and stood between the two of them against the wall to let my alcohol-blurred gaze wander around the room.

I saw lots of half-naked women, as well as old, well-dressed, probably rich, men, but no sign of Gino, which wasn't worrying. The club was at least so dark that I was glad to see anything at all. Plus the pounding music.

"I have no idea," I then said and stood in front of the three with my back to the dance floor to hand Angelo the bottle.

"You don't know who your fiancé is?"

Guiseppe looked at me expectantly, but before I could explain to him that of course I knew that, just not where he was, his expression suddenly changed and he looked past me in awe, which made me want to turn around, but I did suddenly felt two arms that nestled tightly around my waist and wrapped me in comforting warmth.

"Buona sera bella mia."

Gino's dark voice sounded right in my ear and caused goosebumps on the back of my neck that was hard to tame. I could feel my heart fluttering and finally, albeit under the influence of alcohol, I could feel something that wasn't just physical. I had missed him, happy to be in his arms now and placed my hands on his which rested calmly on my waist.

"Mi sei mancata (I've missed you)," I replied, turning around to smile at him and look up into his sparkling, dark eyes, which were studying me with fascination.

He looked incredibly good, as always, and I was beaming from ear to ear to finally be here. away from Dario and all the suppressed feelings.

"And I you first," he gave me back with a dirty grin and grabbed my waist a little tighter to pull me closer to him, whereby his smell immediately gave me a familiar feeling and I smiled, feeling completely safe, my face to snuggle up to his strong chest and enjoy the moment.

"But tell me, little duck. Who are these three idiots?"

I reluctantly pulled out of his tight, soothing embrace and looked up at him questioningly while he looked directly behind me with a hateful glare. I didn't like that expression at all.

I also turned around now and had completely forgotten about the three boys who just stood there frozen and avoiding Gino's menacing gaze.

"These are Angelo, Guiseppe and Luca. friends of mine," I explained with a forgiving smile and was suddenly torn away a little by Gino's arm, causing me to hold my breath in shock and the rapid movement made me slightly dizzy .

"Amore Mio," he began to whisper menacingly and unexpectedly pushed me by my shoulders onto one of the empty black armchairs to stand in front of me, trembling with anger. I frowned up at him, irritated by all of this, not really knowing what was going on with him. Everything was funny and relaxed just a moment ago, but why did it now feel like I had to regret something or had done something wrong? My heart started pounding uncontrollably against my ribs at this sudden shift in emotion, which once again took my breath away and, driven by the feeling of slow suffocation, I just wanted to get up quickly.

Gasping for air, I was about to get up with my hands on the chair when Gino held me down with one hand on my shoulder while he held his phone to his ear with the other and was having a quiet conversation with someone, um then turn back to me.

"You don't need friends when you have me, baby," he breathed softly, but loud enough that I could hear it clearly over the music around us and looked at him expectantly. His dark eyes wandered over my dress with pleasure and when he suddenly looked deep into my eyes, I still recognized something like anger and anger, but I wasn't at all clear about where these stirred up emotions came from on his part.

After all, I cycled here especially for him. Shouldn't he be happy about it?

Gino ran a hand through his thick black hair. Then she bit her lower lip and squatted in front of me to be eye level with me. With way too much pressure, he took my hands in his to clasp them on my lap, but my attention was distracted by seeing the boys' bouncer grabbing them by their shirts with completely inappropriate force, which made my eyes widen in shock.

"Gino, let her-"

"Pssst, anatra. Don't piss me off. Not now after you show up drunk with three guys in the middle of the night."

He was about to get up from his crouch and let go of my hands, but without thinking I held them tight and looked up at him with a confused expression.

"Well, first of all, I drank with Giovanna and not with them."

"Oh, that's how it is!" he blurted out angrily and this time he snatched his hands from me and wiped his face so overwhelmed that I thought he had to hold back all his anger. "I almost get a bullet in the head from my brother because of that whore to protect you and you get drunk with her the next day? So that's your loyalty. Good to know."

He turned to face the dance floor after a disdainful look at me, but I wouldn't put him in a position to blame me that easily.

"It was about her wedding! She asked me to try that stupid wine," I explained defensively, grabbing his arm so that he turned back to face me and eyed me blankly. "And then I was suddenly totally drunk and just wanted to go to you! But the damn Maserati couldn't be found, so I pedaled here on my bike as fast as I could! For you! And I only know the three boys from Nicolo! They wouldn't come in and I wanted to do them a favor because they were nice to me too."

I took a deep breath and slowly removed my hand from his arm again, because now I was starting to panic. His eyes seemed so different at that moment. I hardly recognized him.

This wasn't the man who cared for me in the hospital. That wasn't the man who was carrying me on his hands either. He was a different person and judging by his expression I shouldn't mess with this Gino.

"You rode a bike here?" he asked confused and I had trouble hearing him over the loud music, but I nodded anyway and turned away from him at the same time. Because now I just wanted to be alone and after the alcohol slowly wore off its full effect, I came to my senses again and for better or for worse I had to admit that it was all a stupid mistake.

Even if I had imagined it differently.

Before I could then pass him in disappointment, he blocked my way and gripped my chin between his fingers so tightly that I swallowed from the overwhelming pressure and held my breath again.

"Stand by me, Ludovica. Don't drink with people who want to harm us and don't surround yourself with other men. It doesn't matter if they're victims like that or others.", he ordered with a menacing undertone, but I replied nothing on it. Angry as I was about all this, without taking my eyes off him, I put my hand on his hand and removed it from my chin with a jerk.

"And you?" I replied bitingly and looked around the club demonstratively. "You surround yourself with half-naked whores every night and that's okay?"

"Yes!"

"Why?!"

"Anatra! Tease. me. don't!"

"I won't do it anymore! Don't worry! Never again!"

I gave him one last, withering look and quickly slipped past him to find my way through all the guys to the exit. After that I ran down the dark hallway, totally absorbed in my bitter disappointment, hoping to catch my breath in the fresh air, but before I could get anywhere near the entrance, I suddenly felt my arm held fast and spun around in a hurry.

Gino.

Despite him pinning my hips against the wall behind me and giving me goosebumps from his sudden closeness, I still tried to push him away, angry and disappointed, but he just looked deep into my eyes and didn't bother at all undeterred, which made me even angrier for a moment.

"You're a lousy asshole," I pressed out between my lips and immediately such a dirty grin played around his lips that I stopped resisting his proximity and lost myself in the darkness of his eyes instead.

His hatred was suddenly completely gone, as if it had never existed and only pure pride and excitement could be found in his dark irises, which also made me forget all my anger towards him.

"I know," he breathed against the skin of my cheeks, pressing his body closer to mine, causing me to wrap my arms around his neck and close my eyes. Once again he managed to make me feel protected and comfortable with him just through his warmth and security, no matter what happened before.

"But you are mine, and you have to accept that without hesitation. I'd rather walk through hell a thousand times than even want to see a bastard near you, anatra. Please believe me and don't provoke me."

I didn't know why, but his dark voice and those words turned me on so incredibly that I wanted to clench my legs from the pent-up heat, but I couldn't. He pushed his knee between my legs, pulled my hair back slightly and suddenly put his lips on mine so violently that I forgot everything around me and my body immediately wanted to surrender to him without will.

Yes damn it! I wanted to be his, even if I didn't even begin to realize what those words really meant.

"Fuck, man. What are you doing to me," he breathed excitedly into my mouth and wrapped his arm around me tighter, conquering my mouth with his tongue while I clung to him for support and finally got it , which is why I went to see him in the first place. This fire. This irrepressible lust. It was all within reach and I wanted nothing more that evening than to snogging with him for hours like teenagers in love, even if he, like me, had done so many things wrong before had.

"Wow, now you can fuck the sluts in the hallway! Awesome!", a voice suddenly sounded behind Gino and the fatal mistake of this guy was that he insulted me as a whore and, to his misfortune, didn't recognize me in the dark hallway , who was there messing around with me in the first place. I couldn't react that quickly, I already felt Gino's chest trembling and with the next sentence of the guy, he had probably finally signed his will.

"May I have a go after you?!"