Losing Love

36

Hope's POV:

"Elisa, you're Kyle's girlfriend?" I turn to Elisa once the door shuts and Cheryl walks in. Multiple heavy car engines roar from outside, suggesting the guys are leaving the driveway and heading out the gate.

"Yes, and what the fuck just happened?" She replies in an indescribable tone, "I'm his sister, do you know anything about your family's business?l I inquire. She shakes her head, "I thought they were a warehouse distributor but judging by your boyfriend's reaction, I'm guessing that's not it."

I shake my head at her as a reply, there's a mental debate going on in my head over if I should tell her what her family really is or if I shouldn't.

After a while, I decide it's best if she knows. I remember how much I hated it when I was left in the dark, and how I wish someone told me sooner.

"Your brother is the boss of the Spanish Mafia, the role has been handed down to him from who I'm guessing is your father" I blurt out. Her eyes widen as she holds her hand behind her back, she grabs hold of the kitchen stool that stands behind her and carefully sits down on it. Cheryl walks over to the cupboard and grabs three wine glasses, she places one down in front of me, one in front of Elisa, and one in front of an empty seat where I assume she's planning on sitting. She walks over to the fridge, both Elisa and I watching her closely, as she pulls out a bottle of red wine. She closely analyses it, reading the label, before shrugging slightly and pulling the cork off. She fills my glass halfway, her own glass halfway, and then Elisa's glass to the brim.

Elisa gives her a sheepish smile as Cheryl takes a seat behind her glass, "continue" she orders with a sweet smile as she leans against the table and crosses the bottom of her legs.

"The guy who held the gun at you, he's the boss of the American-Italian Mafia. It's called Cosa Nostra. His name is Dominico Moretti, Kyle is his right-hand man and underboss. Cole, Cheryl's fiancé, and Carter are Capos, or something" I turn my gaze from my glass to Elisa. Her breathing is deep and consistent, as if she's doing it on purpose to stay calm. Her glass of wine is now only halfway full. After a moment of silence, "w-what about my family?" She questions, finally speaking in a croaky, shy, voice.

I think hard about what I should tell her, I don't know much about the situation with the Spanish Mafia and I don't know how much Dominic would want her to know, I definitely don't want to say anything that I shouldn't but I don't know how much she knows either. Or if she can even be trusted.

"Well... why don't you tell us what you know?" I use the same line on Elisa as my dad used on me when I came out of coma.

My gaze is still set on Elisa, I could practically see the wheels turning in her head, debating over whether she could trust us with her past. I don't blame her, considering what I had just told her about this family, I would feel the same. I remember when I had just found out the truth about my family and Ryder, I was lost. I didn't know who I could or couldn't trust. I didn't even have the chance to be angry at them since I almost died right after, I didn't have enough time to react or let it sink in.

"My biological parents died when I was five years old from a car crash, Marcus and Maria took me in and raised me as their own alongside Matteo. Maria was always really sweet and she was there for me as often as she could be. Marcus, however, is a monster. He would beat Maria and I for the smallest of things and constantly remind me how I wasn't even his own, how he regretted ever having anything to do with me. He would tell me that I should be with my parents. Matteo was there for me, until he turned 20 and started to become distant... I can see him become more and more alike with his father everyday." She speaks the last words quietly, sadness lingers in her eyes and her gaze falls to the table. I see her get lost in her thoughts as silence bombards the air.

"We're going to get you away from them" Cheryl reassures after a few minutes, placing her hand gently over Elisa's shoulder. Elisa gives her a thankful, yet unhopeful nod, she doesn't believe it.

My heart aches for Elisa, I haven't known her for long but I know that she definitely doesn't deserve this. The car crash story sounds familiar, in some ways she does kind of resemble Dominic. From the way her blue eyes shine as she sees something she likes, or the way her eyebrows ruffle when she doesn't understand something. Something seems familiar about her.

"Well, I don't know much about your family apart from the fact that Marcus apparently kidnapped Dominic's parents 13 years ago" her jaw drops a bit as she stares at me, "we should do something to brighten the mood" Cheryl begins to speak, cutting Elisa off from whatever she was about to say.

I nod my head in agreement and Cheryl lifts herself off the stool, she walks over to the fridge and pulls out three bottles of wine, she passes me and Elisa a white each, as she takes a red for herself. Elisa grabs three big blankets off the couch and we make our way to the garden.

Cheryl plops herself lazily into the middle of the large circular patio couch that lay in the grass area, next to the exquisite pool while Elisa sits on the edge of the couch. I stand near the speakers, taking my time to connect to the Bluetooth. Finally, music begins to blast through the speakers as I head to join Cheryl and Elisa on the couch. I plop myself next to Cheryl and pop open my bottle, taking a large swig from it.

The night passes by quickly, we spend the whole time talking about ourselves and our pasts. We converse about Cheryl's wedding for a bit. Elisa and I are now on bottle number three, Cheryl is towards the end of bottle number two. We switched to vodka shots for a bit but eventually ended up getting bored of them, so went back to wine. I check the time on my watch, it's hard to read the clock but I eventually make it out to be 4:37am.

I lean my head against the back of the couch and shut my eyes, the conversation between Cheryl and Elisa over which cheese is best eventually dies down and silence fills the air. I feel my body become heavy as sleep slowly takes over.

***

Heat presses against my face and there is a light present on the other side of my eyelids, however I still refuse to open my eyes. I hear muffling voices but choose to ignore it and snuggle closer into the blanket.

Suddenly, an arm wraps underneath my knees while another arm wraps itself around my back and I'm lifted up against a hard chest. I open my eyes slightly in a panic to take note of who it is, the sunlight burns into my eyes but when I realise it's Dominic, my heart skips a beat and I feel butterflies flutter in my stomach.

He's so perfect, from the way he looks at me with those menacing jewelled eyes as if I'm the only girl in the world to the way his lips curl into a perfectly toothed smile and his laughter like a melody in my ears, the kind of song you play on repeat yet never get bored of.

His gaze lowers down to me, I stare at him, unable to leave his face. This is when I notice what kind of state he is in. Heavy dark bags droop from under his perfect eyes, his dark hair is ruffled up and left messy while there's a massive blue-ish purple bruise plastered on his left cheekbone. My eyes finally leave him to analyse the rest of his body. His body holds multiple scratches and bruises, his left bicep is wrapped in white bandaging, probably from a bullet, yet he still lifts me with no ease.

"What happe-" I begin, "shh it's okay, I'm okay" he cuts me off and reassures me, I twist my face as I debate over whether I should continue or not. I choose not to. Dominic kicks open the bedroom door and walks over to the bed, carefully placing me down. He turns around and closes the door, then he walks across the room and shuts the blinds, leaving the room dark. He pulls his shirt and trousers off, leaving him in his boxers, and lays on his side of the bed.

I turn to face him and we stare into each other's eyes for what feels like hours, my mind is still slightly fuzzy, "you're so drunk, go to sleep" Dominic chuckles. I let out a smile before whispering "I love you" to Dominic as I close my eyes. I feel myself gently being dragged against his hard body as he wraps his right arm around me, "I love you" is the last thing I hear his velvety voice whisper before I doze back off to sleep.