Seven Days

Twenty-Three

She looked at me with disgust.

When Carla had called me from my meeting to aide Khristina, I had no problem with that but once we were in the car and I started doing things I had never seen myself wanting to do, I panicked.

I was growing too close to Khristina and it didn't take me long to figure out that she was growing on me, which I could not allow.

I couldn't allow myself to hurt her. Not with what my father wanted me to do.

She stared at me, tears streaming down her face but her eyes didn't stop flicking to the body beside me.

I wanted her to stare at me, I wanted her to realise that I'm not a monster and I'm sorry for all my mistakes. I wanted to run my hand across her face and I wanted to kiss her passionately, to erase everything she had seen just now.

But instead, she flinched back, scooting away from a little as her face slowly morphed into anger and sadness.

"You shot him, you fucking murderer." She spat out, every word full of repulsion, her eyes beginning to gloss from the unshed tears.

Her words had cut me like a fucking knife.

She was not meant to cry and I was not meant to be this perturbed by her words.

I gulped, not knowing what to say but Khristina stood up and I did also.

"You," She breathed out, her shaking fingers pointing towards the lifeless body, "you killed a human."

I shook my head, raising a hand towards her but she stepped back again. "You killed a fucking human being, Dante! You looked at me and you saw me leaving but you shot him anyway."

Her voice quivered, her breathing becoming heavier.

"He needed to be gone, bellissima. He was a threat to you, a threat to my family, a threat to me. His death was long overdue." I tried to make sure I didn't raise my voice but she only angered more, a scoff leaving her lips.

"You didn't have to kill him in front of me, Dante! You could've let me leave, you could've saved my eyes from seeing this, you could've -"

I stopped her, quickly striding over to her as I pushed her against the wall, one of my hands wrapped at the back of her neck. "But I didn't, bellissima. I didn't stop you from seeing this because you would've seen this happen anyways. You are a part of this now. You are a part of my mafia and you will always see someone dying around here. There is no time for escaping or deciding what you can and can't see. That man over there," I gestured towards the dead body lying on the floor, "If I didn't kill him, he would've gotten to us first and do you know what they're going to do to us once they find us, bellissima?"

She nodded, playing with her fingers but I didn't want that as an answer. I brought my fingers to the tip of her chin, lifting it to meet my eyes.

"What will they do to us, Khristina?"

She gulped, licking her lips. "They'll land us in jail for life."

I shook my head, taking my two hands and resting them on her cheeks, blood discolouring them.

"They'll put you in jail for life, but they'll kill me. They'll charge me with death by hanging. And I don't want to die right now, Khristina. Which is why we run or kill. Last time in Moscow we ran, but now I have to kill because this is my land, and the police will have to learn that the hard way. And so will you."

She nodded and I sighed, my hands falling to my sides as we both stared at each other, but it didn't take us long before I wrapped my arms around her, and so did she, her sobs filling the room.

I stroked the top of her head while her hands were wrapped around my waist.

"Mi dispiace, piccola." I whispered, shutting my eyes, "Non ho mai voluto che ti trascinerò in questo."

~

It was now around six in the evening and I had been locked up in the library while Khristina was in her room next door.

After the little event in the office room, I had told her to go shower and clean herself up since I had gotten a bit of blood all over her - unintended by the way.

But I couldn't help but feel like shit after things that happened in the office. And it didn't help when I kept hearing Khristina's muffled cries from next door.

I know I had done the wrong thing, but if she thinks running away from the police is the most 'mafia' thing she's going to do while she's here, she's wrong. She needs to learn how it's like to see blood on a daily basis.

But was it worth traumatizing her?

I sighed, pulling out my phone and texting one of my maids to do something for me.

Soon enough, Khristina came through the door, closing the door soundlessly behind her. I knew she tried to hide the recent tears that she had shed but if you looked a bit closer, you could see the small swollenness of her eyes and her lips were slightly quivering.

I cleared my throat, adjusting my tie and placing my pen down on the sheets of paper I had been signing.

"I arranged for you to see a therapist tomorrow." Her eyes flickered to mine, her brow slightly raised as she took a small step towards one of the bookcases.

"Why?" Her voice was quiet, and her face repressed almost as if she was trying to pretend as if nothing happened just a couple of hours ago.

I watched as she traced her fingers across the 'Fictional' section of the books, her head slightly turned to me but her attention fully on the books.

"It's traumatizing to see that, and not talk to anyone about it."

She scoffed, sparing me a glance and then walking over to another side of the bookshelves, my eyes focusing on her intently.

"I can talk to Carla about it."

I rolled my eyes at her answer, picking up my pen and going back to sign a couple of ownership deals for our new warehouses in Italy.

"Carla isn't a professional. My therapist is. Besides, she's helped me with things like this too." Khristina came out from behind the shelves, holding a massive heavy book in her hands and almost anyone in the mafia would be able to recognize it.

"What is this?"

I smiled, flicking the tip of the pen in my mouth.

"I'll tell you if you go to the therapist tomorrow." She sighed, nodding her head and then walked over to my table, setting the book on it and grabbed a chair, sitting directly opposite of me.

"So?"

I placed my pen on the table again, eyeing her as she opened the book, a ton of dust flying out of it.

"It's Il libro della mafia." Khristina raised a questioned brow at me and I chuckled, reaching over to flip to the next page where it showed 'THE BOOK OF MAFIA'S' in bold caps.