Arya's POV -

"So where are we going and what should I wear?" I ask Rome while digging through my closet.

He's sitting on the bed watching me in silence as I rummage through anything I can find.

"Whatever you want." He shrugs and I inwardly roll my eyes. That's not helping.

"Okay before I decide on clothes, let's pick a place." Clapping my hands together I sit next to him.

Apparently Rome doesn't like the position because he lifts me onto his lap making me yelp slightly.

Pulling me into his chest, he presses a kiss to my head before looking down at me.

"Where do you want to go?" He asks and I sigh, contemplating the options.

"Somewhere not too fancy, I don't like dressing up that much." I scrunch my nose up at the thought. I prefer to dress casually most of the time.

Rome chuckles at my answer and nods.

"Okay, do you want to sit somewhere?"

"Yes so we can tell Izzy the truth and explain everything." He raises a dark brow at my response.

"We?"

"Yes we, I'll start off but you're talking for some of it." Raising my brows back his eyes take on a challenging look which makes me lean away slightly but he only pulls me back since I'm on his lap.

He snuggles me closer to him, "Hm, sure baby." His hands rub up and down my arms and I shiver.

"Okay okay, let's look at what's around." Unlocking my phone I search up restaurants on the map app and a bunch of places pop up.

I scroll through the options while Rome watches me.

I search up a few that seem interesting and look at the menu. After about 5 minutes of exploring we decide on a casual restaurant not too far from the house.

"Great, now outfits!" Getting up from Rome's lap was quite difficult since he wouldn't let go of me.

Swiftly texting Izzy the address, I make my way back to the closet.

Gazing through my shirts I grab a few that seem cute and then go through my drawers to grab a few pants.

Normally I just throw on whatever but I want Rome's opinion this time.

Placing the outfits on the bed, matching the shirts with pants, I gesture to Rome to look at them.

He does with a curious look in his eye, analyzing each outfit like they're art.

I giggle slightly at how concentrated he looks.

"That one." He taps on the tan shirt with a few little flower patterns on it with the black jeans and I smile brightly, picking them both up.

"Perfect!" Giving him a quick kiss on the lips he tries to deepen it but I quickly pull away and dart for the bathroom outside of my room.

He calls my name but I ignore it, laughing and locking the door.

Quickly undressing and throwing on the outfit, I admire myself in the mirror before nodding in approval.

Rome has some good taste in outfits.

Walking back into the room I find Rome still on my bed with an unhappy look on his face.

"I'm sorry for leaving, but look!" I pose a little for dramatic effect and his eyes brighten.

He sits up a bit and twirls his finger in a circle, a silent command for me to spin for him.

I do so and he hums appreciatively.

"Perfect. Voglio divorarti in questo momento."

(I want to devour you right now.)

Blushing under his dark gaze I walk up to him and grip his hand, tugging a bit.

"Come on! Now we need to find you something!"

He grunts and stands, letting me drag him out of the room and to his.

Once we reach it he heads for his closet and I sit on the bed like he had.

He comes out less than a minute later with a black dress shirt and black pants.

"Y-You. I-It only took you," My eyes are wide as I stare at him and he stares back with a smirk on his face.

"A minute or so? Sì." He cups my face in his hands and runs his thumbs over my cheekbones.

I close my eyes at the feeling when he presses a kiss to my cheek and pulls away.

"Go get your shoes and meet me downstairs, okay?" He says gently and I nod.

Making it back to my room I grab my shoes and check my hair in the mirror.

It actually looks okay right now.

Approaching Rome once I get down the last step I also see James with him.

"So, who is your friend anyways Arya?" James asks and I roll my eyes knowing Rome told him where we're going and what we're doing.

"Her name's Izzy."

He gives me a smirk and I glare at him.

"Is she cute?"

"She doesn't even know about the mafia yet. Let's wait and see her reaction about that first before she meets you." I say and he shrugs.

"Fine."

"Is Izzy on her way yet?" Rome asks and I check my phone, seeing a text from Izzy 5 minutes ago.

Oops.

Izzy: Leaving now!

Oops.

"Uh, yeah. Let's go." Rome opens the door for me and we head to the car.

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

Izzy waves at the both of us once we see her at the table already.

"Sorry for being a bit late." Sitting down when Rome pulls out a chair for me, I give him a grateful smile.

"It's okay, I'm sure you were occupied with something." She wiggles her eyebrows and I blush even though that's not what happened.

Clearing my throat, I pick up the menu and look over the options all the while literally feeling Rome's eyes on me.

"So, why dinner for all this?" Izzy asks and I stiffen up a bit.

"Let's order first then I'll explain."

10 minutes later we have our drinks and ordered our food.

The waiter takes our menus and we're left in silence.

Stirring the straw in my lemonade, I let out a shaky breath before taking a quick sip of it.

"Izzy, you weren't totally wrong about who Rome is." I start off, glancing at her warily.

Her eyes flit up to Rome for a quick second and a small flash of fear flickers in her eyes.

"I knew for a while, but you're also partially wrong."

Her eyes then turn confused as she awaits for me to continue.

"Rome is a leader," I say slowly and look at my boyfriend who gives me a reassuring nod.

Turning back to her I blurt out the next words.

"He's the don of the Italian Mafia."

Izzy remains silent for a few seconds.

A few seconds turn into 10.

Then 20.

Then 30.

And then she laughs.

Loudly.

I tense up while Rome seems unfazed as she continues to laugh and wipes a fake tear off her cheek.

"That's funny guys, really funny. Now the truth please."

I frown and continue to look at her, hoping she sees the truth behind my lids.

Once she realizes neither of us are saying anything her now small laughing comes to a immediate halt, her mouth dropping open and eyes going wide.

"What?!"

"Shh, I know It sounds crazy." I say and she scoffs.

"Sounds crazy? It is crazy! He's a criminal!" She responds like Rome isn't here even though he is.

"Yes he is but he'd never hurt me. Or you. You have to believe me. He's a good guy."

"Sure," She says with an eyeroll before looking at Rome with narrowed eyes.

"What's your intentions with Arya anyways?"

"Izzy!" I whisper shout.

Rome tilts his head and straightens in his chair making Izzy recoil.

"I love her." He says firmly, sipping on the water he ordered.

Izzy opens her mouth but no words come out.

"And I love him." I nod and her eyes snap to mine.

"B-But-"

"Please Izzy, you need to believe me. I know his role sounds scary but he's harmless. Towards us at least." I mumble the last part and Rome smirks.

She raises a hand to her chest as her breathing escalates and she takes a quick sip of her water.

We both give her some time to calm down and once she does, she sets her water down.

"How long have you known?" She asks me and I guiltily look down.

"A while now." I mutter and she frowns.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you but since Trevor has contacted you I knew it was time to tell you the truth."

"Wait, Trevor?" Rome asks and I can feel the anger radiating off of him in waves.

"Oh yeah, did I forgot to mention that part?" I squeak out and Rome clenches his jaw.

"Yes darling, you did."

Izzy shakes her head, "Okay this is all absolutely crazy. My best friend is in a relationship with an Italian mafia man and you're both in love with each other?" She pretty much summed it all up.

We both nod and her mouth quirks up a bit before looking at me.

"You really scored one heck of a man, huh?"

My cheeks heat up and Rome chuckles from beside me.

"I guess I did." I whisper and Izzy sighs.

"Well as long as you're happy with him Arya, then I'm excited for you."

"You're not mad? Or freaked out anymore?" I ask with a shocked tone.

"Mad? No. Freaked out? Not really even though the word mafia seems frightening. I already knew based on what Trevor said that Rome was part of something."

Breathing a big sigh of relief, I'm about to thank her for understanding but Rome speaks before I can.

"Can you tell us about what Trevor said to you? Sembra che il mio avvertimento non sia passato attraverso la sua testa."

(It seems that my warning didn't process through his head.)

"Oh he speaks Italian too?" Izzy says and I laugh.

"Well he is an Italian don." I say back and she narrows her eyes but I can see the laughter in them.

"Sure," Izzy says as the waiter walks up to us with a tray of food in hand.

My mouth waters at the sight of the hamburger I ordered.

Soon we're all digging into our meals and Izzy places down her fork. Rome presses a quick kiss to my head and my ears turn pink at the public contact.

"Trevor texted me all this information and when I asked who he got it from he only said another man told him."

She turns on her phone and hands it to Rome so he can see the messages.

Rome eye's darken and he takes out his own phone, taking a screenshot of the texts and sending them to Elijah and James with some words in Italian.

The texts basically said Rome was a danger for me and Izzy should keep me far away from him.

"If you keep scrolling Trevor says the man he talked to apparently knows you guys, specifically Rome." Izzy states, taking another bite of her chicken but I'm left frozen in my chair.

Rome's grip on Izzy's phone tightens and I swallow thickly, having an idea of who it could possibly be.

Once he gets all the pictures he needs, he hands Izzy's phone back to her with a cold expression on his face.

"Thanks Izzy." I try and give her a smile even though there's a small amount of fear creeping in my bones.

After finishing our meal we part ways. I was extremely surprised that Izzy took the information so well.

However I couldn't stop the goosebumps that appeared on my skin. And it wasn't from affection from Rome.

Rome drives silently back to the house and I whisper out painfully,

"It's Ivan, isn't it?"

His knuckles turn white as he grips the steering wheel tightly.

Reaching across the dashboard, he interlaces our fingers and holds them delicately.

"I promise he won't get near you. Not again." My racing heart calms down at his words and this time It's me lifting up his hand, kissing his knuckles with care.

"I know."