Another long chapter!!!

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Arya's POV -

I probably should have asked once we got back to the house since there were a bunch of people surrounding us but I couldn't wait any longer.

Gripping the table slightly he gruffs out, "How about we talk about this when we get back?"

He read my mind. Stupid Arya, you should have waited.

We walk to the car in tense silence.

The ride back was mostly in silence as well besides the small noise of the radio playing in the background.

Once we arrive at the house Rome laces his fingers with mine as he walks up the stairs, me trailing behind him.

Making it to his room, he tugs me in behind him and shuts the door before heading for his bed.

Sitting down, he taps the spot next to him and my feet shuffle obediently.

A few beats of quietness pass by.

"Are you sure you want to see them? Specifically your mother?" He asks.

Furrowing my brows, my gaze moves to him to see his green eyes sternly looking down at me.

"What do you mean?" I place my hands in my lap.

"I mean, your mother Arya...she hit you and threw you into a table." His eyes turn hard.

Wincing slightly at his words, my eyes drift down to my legs dangling off the bed.

"I don't know why she thought it was okay, Rome." Licking my suddenly dry lips I continue, "I want to know her reasons, her thinking. But I also know they were in danger a week ago, and I need to see for myself that they're okay."

His jaw flexes but he doesn't say a word.

"I really really want to see them." Gripping onto his tense hand, I place my fingers between his.

"You can come with me. I want you to come with me."

I know for a fact mama will freak when she sees there is a guy with me, but I don't care.

I don't even know how she'll react to seeing me.

How either of them will.

His eyes are cold as he stares ahead of him, no doubt contemplating.

"Please Rome," Gripping his hand tighter I scoot a bit closer to him. "I need to see them, it hurts to not see them, no matter what bad actions mama made before, I need to see her. I need to see my papa."

"They're," My eyes slightly sting, "They're my parents..." Whispering sadly, my eyes look back to him to see they've softened.

His jaw clenches once more before he sighs deeply and lifts my hand to his lips, kissing my knuckles fondly.

I would swoon over the action but his words stop me before I can.

"Do you want to go see them now?"

Eyes widening, I look at him in disbelief before a huge smile of relief forms on my face.

Jumping at him, I catch the startled little look on his face before I crash into his body, sending us back into the soft bed.

He lands on his back as I straddle him and begin to place small kisses on his face.

"Yes, yes! I do want to see them now!"

He hums underneath me and places his hands on my thighs, squeezing gently.

I pull away with a bright red face at our position, his fingers still trailing over my thighs.

"Okay darling, we'll go. But I'm not leaving your side for a second, you hear me? Non mi fido di tua madre per un secondo, nonostante tutto quello che è successo."

(I don't trust your mother for a second despite anything that's happened.)

Nodding, I get off of him and he sits up. "Come on, come on!" I grab his hand and attempt to drag him off the bed, but he doesn't move an inch.

He chuckles while I pout and then finally stands up, complying as I pull him towards the stairs.

We reach the bottom and I continue to tug on his hand.

"And where are you two going?" I hear James' voice right before we reach the door.

"Andare a trovare i suoi genitori." Rome says.

(Going to see her parents.)

"Che cosa? Pensavo che non la volessi vicino a sua madre?"

(What? I thought you didn't want her anywhere near her mother?)

"Sì," Rome responds lowly and that's the only word I truly understand as they continue to talk in Italian.

"Ma alla fine è sempre sua madre. Non posso tenerla lontana da loro. La sta mangiando viva da quando non riesce a vederli."

(But at the end of the day It's still her mother. I can't keep her away from them. It's been eating her alive since she can't see them.)

My head spins at how many words in Italian that came out of his mouth. Every time they do this it just makes me want to learn it even more.

James sighs and puts his hands into his pockets, "Bene, ha senso alla fine. Bene, allora divertiti."

(Fine, makes sense in the end. Well, have fun then.)

"Non lo farò." Rome practically growls.

(I won't.)

James rolls his eyes and then smiles as he looks at me, "Keep him in check princess, okay?"

I giggle and nod while Rome glares darkly at the blonde man before opening the door and dragging me out.

The last thing I hear is James cackling inside before he slams the door shut. One look at his face has me laughing.

His eyes snap to me and his glare turns playful before he's pressing his lips to mine, shutting me up.

A gasp escapes my mouth when he pulls away, now smirking at my flushed cheeks.

"T-That's, you can't do that!"

"Can't I?" He taunts before pressing another kiss to my lips and pulling away just as fast.

My head spins as his hand tightens in mine, pulling me to the car.

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James POV -

Laughing as the two lovebirds finally leave, I turn and shake my head.

Entering the kitchen I'm slightly surprised to see Elijah there downing a shot of whiskey.

"Rough day?" I snicker and he glares at me before pouring another shot.

"Where are those two going?" He gestures to the door before downing the glass.

"To Arya's house," He pauses and places his glass down.

"Rome's letting her see her parents? Surprising." He mutters and shakes his head.

"He said at the end of the day It's her family and she wanted to see them. He can't stop her without force and we both know he'd never do that."

Elijah scoffs and begins to pour another shot, "It's funny how a girl as small as her can have a whole don on his knees in a second."

"I guess that's what love does to you." Shrugging I walk to the fridge and scan over the drinks inside.

"You think they're in love?"

"I know they are." Opening a beer bottle I take a swig of it. "It's obvious."

He scowls, "Love is a weakness."

"No," I correct and point a finger at him, "Love is a strength. You just have to feel it."

He gives me an unamused look.

"Trust me man, having her around has only made Rome stronger. I mean come on he was able to find a number attached to the Russians in less than a day."

I hear him curse in Italian and I smirk knowing I'm right.

"You should get to know her." I say after some silence and his eyes snap to mine angrily.

"I don't have to do anything."

"Come on, you guys haven't even had a truly civil conversation besides a few words. Asking if she was okay was a good step towards that direction."

His knuckles crack as he clenches them and my eyes go wide. "Damn, did that hurt?"

He gives me a fed up look and I raise my hands in surrender. "Alright alright, I'll stop. But just try, for Rome."

He rolls his eyes but says nothing.

"So, why are you downing shots anyways? You don't normally do that unless you're stressed."

"I'm not fucking stressed."

"I think you are." I tease and I can tell I'm getting under his skin.

Once he sees I'm not leaving he sighs in defeat. "I've been trying to track down those fucking Russians for days now, and not a single fucking clue. I want the Russians destroyed."

"We've been trying to do that for years," I raise a brow. "And you've never been stressed like this before. Why now?"

He doesn't answer and turns away from me. The answer comes to me by his refusal and I smile.

It's all for Arya. He does care even though he denies it.

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Arya's POV -

We're parked in front of my house.

Oh my gosh, we're parked in front of my house.

My hands are sweating. Oh jeez, my hands are sweating.

My family is in there. Well I think they're in there.

I try to take deep breaths in Rome's car. I think I'm hyperventilating.

"Arya." I hear Rome's deep attractive voice, followed by the feeling of his hands cupping my cheeks.

Those gorgeous eyes bore into mine, and my breathing automatically slows down to normal.

"It'll be okay, I'm right here with you." He gives me a gentle smile that shows his pearly whites.

"Okay," I whisper. "Okay, yeah you're right. It'll be okay, I wanted to do this."

Patting my face a few times, I pull the door handle and get out of the car, staring ahead at the house.

I take the slowest steps possible to my house, I feel like I'm moving slower than a turtle.

Rome slips his hand in mine when we reach the front door. I can feel sweat forming on my forehead as I knock a few times.

I'm definitely shaking because Rome squeezes my hand and whispers a few words of encouragement.

I know this is hard for him too. He most likely didn't want to bring me back here since he's the one who found me when mama had pushed me.

The only noises that can be heard are a few birds chirping and the gusts of wind. I nervously bite my lip and reach forward to knock again.

But then, the door unlocks from the other side making my whole body freeze.

It opens, revealing papa!

"A-Arya? Is that really you?" He asks, opening the door wider and staring at me with wide eyes.

"Yes," I whisper, "It's me."

"Oh thank god!" Pulling me into him, he hugs me tightly.

I hold onto him tighter, soaking in the feeling of one of my parents.

Papa's body shakes slightly and I know he's crying which makes my own tears appear.

Rome remains silent which I'm grateful for at the moment. I don't think papa even noticed him.

After a few minutes of hugging he kisses my head and pulls away.

"Thank god you're alright, I thought something terrible happened to you after-" He pauses.

His eyes then slowly move over to the large figure a bit behind me before widening.

"You." He whispers, "You're the one who took her away."

Apparently Rome had a huge argument with mama and papa after he found me. However he ended up scooping me into his arms and taking me away from them despite my parents yelling and protests.

Smiling softly, I turn to Rome and hold out my hand which he quickly takes and moves closer.

"Um papa, this is...um."

"Rome Black sir, her boyfriend."

My eyes bulge out of my head. Boyfriend?

"Boyfriend?" Papa tests the word on his lips before looking back at me. "You have a boyfriend? The man who took you away from us is your boyfriend?"

"I've been living with him ever since..." Trailing off and looking away, I see pain flash through papa's eyes.

I wait until papa scolds me, stating having a boy around won't do any good, but imagine my shock when he holds out a hand towards Rome to shake.

Rome looks just as surprised as I do for a split second before quickly shaking his hand.

"Thank you," He says, "For taking care of her when we couldn't."

Rome nods stiffly, and I can tell he wants to say something but thinks better of it.

Papa pulls me into him again, squishing my body into his making me laugh.

He breathes out a sigh of relief and places multiple kisses to my head. "You don't know how worried I was Arya, why haven't you texted or called?"

"I wanted to." I manage to say even though I'm still pulled into papa's chest.

"But I thought it would be better to come see you both in person." Pulling back a bit I see papa nod.

"Where's...where's mama?"

Papa sighs and gestures for us to come in which we quickly do.

We walk into the living room but mama is nowhere to be found. Flitting my eyes quickly to the kitchen I don't see her there either.

Taking a seat on the couch, papa across and Rome next to me, I wait for him to answer.

"Something odd happened a little while ago."

My body stiffens up, already knowing where this is headed. This is about the Russians, when they took them. I was desperate to know what happened while they were there but I tried not to show it.

"W-What was it?" I questioned, keeping my eyes on him but squeezing Rome's hand tightly when he interlaced our fingers.

"It was...odd." He looked a bit confused when he said that.

"How? How was it odd?"

"I'm not even sure who they were," He runs a hand over his jaw, "They didn't do anything to hurt us, the worse they did was tie me up, but they never touched your mother."

I saw Rome shift his body next to me, becoming stiff.

"They tied me up for not even an hour and then kept us in a room for a bit of time. I'm not even sure how long before they blindfolded the both of us and brought us back to the house."

"How did they take you?" Rome asked and papa's eyes snapped to his. Rome already knew the answer but most likely wanted to hear it from him.

"Broke into the house," He muttered before continuing, "Completely trashed it but what was even more weird was when we returned the house looked brand new." He gestured around and I nodded softly.

"I'm so sorry that happened papa," I whispered, "I wish I was there to help."

"No. No I'm glad you weren't here at the time, it would have just put you in danger as well."

Rome and I's eyes met. It's probably not a good time to tell him what really happened.

"Have they come back since?" I ask and he shakes his head. "No, haven't seen them. It had to be one of the strangest kidnappings ever."

I tried not to laugh at the super confused face papa had. A huge wave of relief washed over me knowing the Russians didn't hurt them in any way.

"Are you okay after that papa?" I asked, standing up to go and give him another hug.

"I am kiddo, I promise. But as for your mama," He trailed off.

Swallowing thickly, my arms slowly dropped from around him as I waited impatiently.

"I think what happened was a real eye opener for her. She's...currently at therapy."

"What?" Rome and I say in sync and I can tell he's just as shocked as I am.

Papa nods, "She knows that what she did isn't right Arya. She wants to be better, for you."

My jaw was currently on the floor. She's gone to therapy?

As in t-h-e-r-a-p-y???

"She's realized what she's done is wrong and she wants to fix the relationship you two currently have. But she wanted to get better first before seeing you. Apparently being kidnapped triggers that feeling." He tries to joke at the end.

I can feel Rome's eyes on me but I'm still staring at papa in incredulity.

She's gone to therapy...for me?

My heart begins to fill with warmth and I know I need to see her now.

"When will she back?"

"Hm," Papa checks his watch, "About 30 minutes or so I'd say."

"I want to see her." I tell him and he smiles at me.

"I'm glad. Well then take a seat and let's catch up a bit. I want to know more about your boyfriend over there."

Heat rushes to my cheeks as I glance back at a silent Rome to see a few emotions running through his eyes before he meets my gaze.