Arya's POV -

My eyes stare at the screen. I don't think I've blinked for a minute now as I scan over the words repeatedly.

'Call me ASAP! I know what happened to Trevor when he disappeared and you might not be safe around Rome!'

How could she possibly know about what happened to Trevor?

Does she know Rome is in the mafia and that's why she's saying I'm not safe with him?

Who told her all of this?

My fingers shake as I try to type out a response to the text but I have no clue what to say.

I feel my breathing pick up but I can't inhale any air. I can't breathe.

Oh gosh, I can't breathe.

My hands grip tighter around my phone and that's the moment Rome decides to make himself known, walking into the room with a relaxed expression on his face.

But then it turns to shock as he freezes in place and stares at me.

His green eyes calculate my expression before he's quickly striding over to me, tugging me into his arms.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" He asks tenderly but I can see the worry in his gaze.

One of my hands rise to my throat, I can't get any oxygen. His eyes widen a bit and he quickly adjusts my body to straddle him, his back sitting against the headboard.

"Hey, It's okay. Just look at me." Rome says, gently tapping my cheeks to get my attention.

I snap my eyes to him, keeping my stare locked on his beautiful orbs.

"Breathe. In and out, you're okay." He grabs onto my hand, lifting it to his chest so I can feel his heartbeat.

Shakily sighing, I feel my heart start to beat back to normal as the silence passes by.

"Good baby, keep breathing and keep your eyes on me." Pulling my small hand to his lips he presses a kiss against my knuckles before dropping it back to his chest.

After a few more minutes of his reassuring words I'm breathing properly again. I lean my head against his chest and close my eyes.

Rome's hand runs through my hair while the other wraps around my waist.

"Darling, what happened?" Brushing my hair from my face and tucking them behind my ear he waits patiently for a response.

Glancing towards my phone that's now laying on the bed, I reach for it and unlock it, pressing on Izzy's message.

Without saying a word, I lift the phone to in front of what I hope is his face since mine is still tucked into his chest.

His fingers graze mine as he takes it from me, and a few beats of silence go by as he reads the message.

My legs tighten around him when his body tenses. He places my phone back onto the table and slides both his arms around me, pulling me further into him.

He doesn't say a word but presses a soft kiss to my forehead which has me relaxing tenfold knowing he's not mad or anything.

"W-What do I say? What do we do? How could she know? What if-"

"Shh," He cuts me off, holding me tighter.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I try to calm down and relax my racing mind.

More minutes pass by without any words spoken.

"Better?" His voice rumbles and I nod against him before pulling back slightly.

His eyes are surprisingly content when he meets mine, and he brings his hands up to cup my cheeks.

"Listen to me, I want you to go to school tomorrow like normal and hear what she has to say. Try to remember it all because I want you to tell me when I pick you up, sì?"

I nod my head again like an obedient puppy. That's what I planned on doing after I figured out how to respond.

"What do I say for now? She wanted to call."

He grunts, "Tell her It's better to speak in person and that you'll talk tomorrow."

Licking my suddenly dry lips I grab my phone when he hands it to me and type out what he said.

Me: You found out? I think It'd be better to talk in person so let's talk tomorrow, okay?

Hardly 30 seconds pass before she answers,

Izzy: Fine...are you with Rome right now? You're not safe with him Arya. He's a bad man. If you are get away from him.

I know Rome is reading the texts as well from the sound of him scoffing meeting my ears.

"Well I'm guessing she knows about the mafia." I say, giving him a little grin.

He rolls his eyes but nods, then gestures for me to respond.

Me: I'm fine Izzy and I promise he's not a bad man, he takes good care of me. We'll talk tomorrow.

Izzy: If you're sure, see you tomorrow cause I've got a lot to say.

"I hope she doesn't tell anyone else about this." I mutter, flitting my eyes up to his.

He tilts his head, "I'm sure she won't if she's this freaked out about it. She'd tell you first before anyone."

I hum in agreement and plug my phone into the charger and getting comfy in the bed again.

"It'll be okay Arya, nothing bad is going to happen." He says and takes off his shirt.

I start to drool a little bit at the sight of his muscles.

He smirks and raises a brow which makes my eyes snap away from him.

Chucking, we both get under the covers and I'm pulled into his strong arms again.

I tuck my face into the side of his neck and take in his cologne.

A thought comes to mind and I state it without thinking much of it.

"What happened to Oliver? You guys caught him, right?"

Rome grips onto the back of my shirt and squeezes it a bit. Did I make him angry?

"Sì," He replies lowly. "We did."

Pulling my head out of his neck I look up towards him. "Did you hurt him?"

He makes a sound of disapproval. "Why do you want to know what we did, hm?"

"I-I just," I murmur, looking down at his tattoos and tracing them.

Rome releases the grip he had on my back and begins to rub soothingly up and down. My lids automatically begin to droop.

He's trying to make me fall asleep! Cheeky plan to get out of the conversation.

"Rome," I whine and he hums. "Did you hurt him?" I repeat and he sighs.

"You don't need to know what we did, sweetheart. Just that he'll never come near you ever again. You'll never see him again."

"So you did hurt him." I answer my own question since he dodged it.

"Non voglio che tu sappia cosa gli ho fatto. Penserai che sono un mostro." He talks in his pretty accent.

(I don't want you to know what I've done to him. You'll think I'm a monster.)

"Rome, please tell me if you did. I need to know." I plead, reaching a hand up to cup his face. My eyes don't waver from his as I try to get the truth out of him.

I have a feeling I know the answer but I need confirmation.

He stares into my eyes as my finger trails over his face and strong jaw, then trailing up to smooth over his silver piercing.

His eyes clench together tightly for a moment before opening again.

"Yes, I did hurt him." His jaw locks tightly as he awaits my reaction.

My chest constricts a little but I try to get rid of the feeling. I knew the answer was yes but hearing it from him was a lot different.

"Okay," I whisper, lowering my hand and grabbing onto the silver chain wrapped around his neck.

"You're scared of me, aren't you? Cazzo, sono un tale idiota."

(Fuck, I'm such an idiot.)

"No," I say sternly.

"I could never be scared of you Rome, I love you." Deeply looking into his orbs I continue to reassure him.

"Even though you're part of the mafia, I love you. Even though you're the don himself, I love you. Even if you've killed, I love you. Even if you're going to kill Oliver, I'll love you."

His eyes flash with a small amount of vulnerability before a smile takes over his face.

He exhales a bit shakily. "How can someone as pura as you love someone like me? I'm a monster, Arya. I kill without remorse and that doesn't bother you?"

(Pure.)

Shaking my head and replying with a gentle 'no', I quickly lift my head to kiss his lips, savoring the feeling of them against mine.

The gorgeous man doesn't take long to kiss me back, hauling me back into his chest.

His tongue enters my mouth and he groans softly. After a bit we pull away and his pupils are back to being warm.

Fatigue washes over me and I feel my eyes closing, a huge yawn escaping my lips.

Rome chuckles and kisses my cheek, tucking my head into his neck once more.

"I love you," He mutters into my ear and a smile plasters onto my face.

"And I love you." I reply, wiggling myself as close as possible to him, never wanting to let go.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So here's what I know." Izzy gets straight to the point when I sit down at our lunch table.

Nerves fill me as I await for what she has to say.

"First off, Trevor contacted me yesterday and told me all of this."

"Huh? What!" I yell, throwing my hands in the air.

"Yeah I know, weird right? Haven't seen or heard from him in over a month and all of a sudden he's calling with all this info."

My eyes narrow, "And what did he say? What info?"

Izzy bites her nail before leaning closer to me. "Arya, do you know what kind of person Rome is?"

While my knee bounces under the table nervously, my hands start to shake.

"Uh no, what do you mean?" I decide to act dumb to find out what she knows about Rome.

"He's a gang leader." She winces when she states those words and I'm left a bit startled.

I expected 'he's an Italian mafia don who kills people!' but that's not what I got.

Well gang leader isn't entirely false.

"How do you know?" I whisper and she frowns. "Trevor told me."

"And how does Trevor know?" I ask confusedly and she shrugs.

"He says someone told him the information, not sure who."

Who could have told Trevor then?

Shaking my head I grip onto my hair and tug.

"You don't seem...very freaked out about it." Her eyes widen slightly and my throat clogs.

That's when I decide I should tell Izzy everything.

"Hey how about we go out tonight? Me, you and Rome?"

Izzy looked taken aback at the way I changed the conversation, but what I'm going to tell her shouldn't be said at school.

"Uh yeah sure, when and where?"

"I'll text you the details." I reply, standing once the bell rings.

She gives me an odd look before shrugging, "Alright, see you later!" She heads off to her class and I sit back down and slump in the chair.

But then I realize the bell rung so I spring back up and make my way to class.

I'll tell you everything tonight Izzy.

I promise.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Well, what'd she say?" Rome asks once we get situated inside his car.

"Um," I trail off, rolling my head to look out the window without responding.

He doesn't put the car in drive which makes me notice that he's waiting for my answer.

Coughing to create some noise I cheekily glance back at him only to see the man already staring at me with a raised brow.

"I didn't tell her...yet." I say, turning my body to face him.

"Why not?" He tilts his head cutely and I almost laugh.

"I didn't think it was right to tell her everything at school. So I told her that the three of us could go out to eat tonight where I'll explain."

"You want me to be there when you tell your friend I'm the don of the Italian Mafia?" He looked genuinely confused and his face was priceless.

Clearing my throat I answer, "Yeah, I want you there so she can see you're harmless."

"Harmless, hm?" He taunts leaning in closer to me.

"Y-Yeah, completely harmless." Staring into his eyes they narrow a bit before a smirk takes over his lips.

"If you say so." He practically sings and now my eyes narrow.

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing at all baby. After all, I'm harmless." He puts the car into drive and begins the journey home.

I feel like there's a small threat in those words.

I shrug it off at first.

But once we reach the house and we make it to Rome's room, he pins me against the bed and smashes his lips to mine.

Barely 2 minutes of kissing pass before his teeth are nipping against my neck and chest, decorating my skin with hickey's.

All you hear are our sounds of pleasure for 5-10 minutes until he finally pulls away with a satisfied look in his eyes.

As I pant and my chest heaves on the bed, two thoughts come to mind.

The first is that I'm nervous for tonight at dinner.

And two, I still think Rome is harmless.