Mia's eyes widen at my fathers words, and her face goes sullen and pale.

This wasn't how she was meant to find out. I was meant to sit her down, and I was going to explain everything to her, I was going to help her get through it. She was going to be alright.

I look to my father and glare at him.

He was full knowing that she was unaware of the situation, and yet he went against my wishes. When all of this is over, I will not hesitate in showing my father just how powerful I have become. He will regret the day he ever breathed near Mia, let alone broke the news of her fathers death while smiling.

I snap my attention back towards Mia, and hurry down the stairs.

I should have listened to her. I should've answered her questions as soon as she asked them.

I want to scream, and yell. I want to break something - someone.

But I can't, not when I know this is all my fault. I'm the only one that caused this problem, and now I'm going to have to live with the consequences.

"Mia." I say her name, as I stop in front of her.

Her face has been drained of all its lively colour. And her eyes are no longer that vibrant blue, but rather a hollow grey. It is as if within seconds, her whole life has gone, and left her a shell of what she once was.

I don't make any move to touch her - I don't know if that'll do any good anyway.

"Mia, I was going to tell you. I was waiting for the right time - I promise." My words are coated in remorse and regret, guilt and sadness. For her.

I've never been one to express much emotion - But as soon as Mia stepped into my life, I can't seem to not. She makes me feel happy and sad and all the emotions in between, and I want to be the one to make her feel too. I want to be the one to make her laugh, I want to be the one to dry her tears.

Her bottom lip quivers and her head shakes slightly. "You." She whispers.

I take in a deep breath, and desperately feel the need to pull her into my arms and whisper sweet nothing into her ears until she's all better - But somehow, I refrain. Though, it takes every ounce of strength within me.

"You broke your promise." Her voice breaks, and along with it, so does my heart.

The one thing she asked of me, I broke.

I did this to her. I broke her trust, and there is no one to blame but me.

What have I done?

Her eyes stare up at me, devoid of anything. She looks neither mad, or sad, and she doesn't shed even a single tear. Though, the whites of her eyes slowly turn a dull red, and glassy.

"Mia, I promise that I was going to tell you. It was never my intention for you to find out this way, I promise." I repeat, but I know it's falling upon deaf ears.

She's already checked out.

I take her small body in my arms and embrace her with a hug, hoping that I can somehow transfer my life into her. Hoping that I can breathe some emotion back into her placid body. She doesn't push me away, but nor does she hug back.

I feel no warmth being reciprocated, only cold.

I've done it. I've really broken her.

I finally let her go, only to look back down at her face, and seeing she still looks as lifeless as before.

"Who did it?" She breathes, not even looking in my direction. Her eyes seem to have wandered off into nothingness.

"Mia I-"

"Who?" She repeats, her voice as light as a feather.

"Harry." I say.

There's a sharp intake of breath, before a shudder runs through her body. "I'm going to kill him."

Those five words coming from Mia's mouth, is possibly the scariest thing I've ever witnessed.

Her words sound calm and collected, yet beneath them is pure, icy cold hatred. For the months that I've known Mia, I have learnt that she is not a killer - In the slightest. She wouldn't even shoot me, when I taunted her. She saved Dante's life, even when she knew she could've been found and discovered.

Yet, despite all that, at this moment - I know she is fully capable of committing murder.

But that's just it. Mia isn't built for this life. She is in no way a killer, even killing Harry would devastate her. She would kill him, and only then would she realise what she had done. Killing Harry is only another step towards self destruction.

I can't let her kill Harry.

I can't let the pieces of her soul shatter any more than they already have.

I look up to my father, to find that he has left. Just as he always does, leaving others to clean up what he has left behind.

I turn back to Mia. "We will find Harry, and he will pay for what he has done. No one else will die because of him. Not Dante or Alice, no one." I tell her.

She says nothing in response, and only takes in a shallow breath.

***

It's been hours and Mia has been totally unresponsive. I've tried talking to her, I told her I would answer all of her questions - But she hasn't spoken one word since she said she would kill Harry.

She hasn't cried, or screamed, or tried to hit me.

I doubt she would've even left the entry way unless I took her to her room.

I want to be there to help her, to support her - And yet, I feel as if my presence is only rubbing salt onto the wound. Maybe I just need to give her space to grieve in her own way. Over time she'll get better, I hope.

"I'm going to go get dinner, you stay here and I'll bring it up to you." I say, before slipping from her bedroom and making my way down towards the kitchen.

Once I'm in the kitchen, I dismiss the staff and get some pasta from the cupboard and begin to boil some water. Grabbing some cream and bacon from the fridge, I begin to prepare carbonara. Hopefully this will make her feel a bit better - I know she enjoys it.

"How is she?" My fathers voice asks from the door frame of the kitchen.

I stop cutting the bacon momentarily, before I swiftly move towards my father, carefully placing the blade against his neck. "You have no right to even say her name." I hiss, pressing the knife further up against him.

He laughs, and leans further towards the blade. "Go ahead, kill your father over some girl you've known for not even a year." He smiles, that same sadistic smirk he pulled the day he kicked Katerina out of the house and denied her all of her inheritance.

"I'm not afraid of killing you." I state.

"Then do it." He challenges.

So I press it up further, enough so that a trickle of blood rolls down his beck and stains his white dress shirt. His smile doesn't falter.

He wants me to kill him. This man is insane.

I pull away the blade and throw it into the sink, running my hands through my hair.

"You're still just as weak as you've always been. Maybe even more so."

"Disprezzi la debolezza, ma ti nascondi dal mondo per paura persino di lasciare la tua casa!" (You despise weakness, but you hide from the world in fear of even leaving your home!) I yell in frustration.

He only laughs. "Non mi sto nascondendo, sto aspettando. Non mi comporto impulsivamente come te e tua sorella." (I'm not hiding, I'm waiting. I don't act impulsively like you and your sister.)

I let out a long sigh. I forget how I even lived with this man for so many years of my life.

"You act like this is some sort of joke, yet one of your closest friends was killed by their own son. I've always known you've been cold, but you are at a whole new level. Non sei nemmeno umano." (You're not even human.)

"Human? Why would anyone want to be human in this line of business, Matteo? If I were human, I would be broken, just like that girl upstairs." He says coolly.

"Mia is stronger than you could ever be."

"Matteo, you are making a mistake doing all of this for her. Her father is dead, and Harry is in possession of all that he owned. He will kill Mia, it is inevitable, and then the world will move on. It's how the world works."

"No, it isn't!" I yell. "The world doesn't work like that - You work like that."

Father shakes his head, feigning disappointment. "I will no longer help you, Matteo. What you're doing is reckless and juvenile. You will get many people killed, for what? For a girl who means nothing without her precious mafia inheritance?"

I fight the urge to slap my father, and instead give him one of my own wicked smiles. "You will help me." I state.

"Really? And what makes you think I'm going to do that?" Father gives me a sly smirk, thinking that he's the one in control.

"Because, Mia and I are now married. Both the New York and Italian mafia are hers - Just as much as they are mine."

My fathers face falls, and I revel in his sudden change in demeanour.

When Mia signed the marriage forms, she did not only sign for the marriage itself, but also accepted possession of everything I own. She doesn't know it yet, but she is the leader of one of the largest mafias in the world.

I am her king and she is my queen.

"You didn't." My father says, still shocked at my declaration.

"Oh, but I did. Which means that you have no choice in helping me. Mia is your daughter in-law, whether you like it or not."

"I will never accept her." He spits.

"If I die because you refuse to help me, your precious mafia will go to her, and there's nothing you can do about it. So I suggest you pull your weight, the funeral is in three days." I shrug, moving back to the pot of boiling water and dumping the pasta inside.

"You are choosing this girl over me?" He asks.

"I am."

"I will help you." He says, and I raise my eyebrows but don't dare look in his direction. "But from here on out - You are no longer my son." And then he leaves.

I let out a breath I hadn't realised I was holding.

I had expected my father to be his usual self, but I had not expected him to disown me. I don't know how to feel - I've spent my whole life resenting this man and hating him with every fibre within me. Yet that's just it, he's my father, and I've known him my whole life.

I don't regret it though.

I finish up the carbonara as quickly as I can and serve it into two dishes before heading upstairs towards Mia's room.

I knock on her door, and as expected, there is no answer. So pushing it open, I enter to find Mia curled up on the bed in a tight ball.

Placing the bowls onto the dresser, I make my way over to her and notice the glossy dampness beneath her eyes. It breaks my heart seeing her like this, knowing just how much pain she's in.

I push back a strand of hair behind her ear, my finger grazing against her soft skin. Her mouth is slightly parted and she finally looks like she's at peace. Though I can't say she'll be the same when she wakes up.

Pulling the duvet over her small body, I tuck her in and kneel beside her. "It gets better. I can promise that for sure." I whisper before placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. "The pain doesn't last forever."

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