Adrian Alessandro DeLuca

My somewhat girlfriend is an asshole.

"So," she said after a minute of silence, "On a scale of one to ten how pissed are you?"

"Sideways eight," I said, calmly sipping the alcohol I had been served while trying to avoid a certain pretty air hostess's advances.

"Oh god," she sighed.

She was obviously distressed, she was fidgeting far too much and her body language said as much. I did nothing to put her at ease.

"So, want to tell me what exactly were you thinking?"

"It was your plan, I simply took the steps to execute it."

I should have kept my mouth shut. But I never saw it coming, I never thought she'd actually go ahead and endanger her life for me yet again. Either she was extremely brave or extremely insane. My money was on the latter.

"Do you even realize what could have happened?!" I asked, my voice took on a threatening undertone. Usually I had a good check on my emotion and maintained a cool composure but this bitch had crossed the line into insanity.

"I would've been fine," she murmured.

"You could have died," I told her, doing my best not to raise my voice. "How difficult do you think it is to sneak a weapon on the flight? It's much, much easier than you think. I would know. What do you think would have happened to you in L.A?"

"Adrian..."

"Shut up. Do you know what the situation is back home?" I demanded. As expected, she had no answer.

I didn't speak to her for the rest of the flight back. I wasn't entirely sure whatever little control I had over my temper would last if I spoke to her. When Isaac told me about Castellino's call, I made him keep a track of her phone. Unfortunately she was smart enough to ditch it the minute we got on the flight. Fortunately, by then it was way too late.

I had been sitting behind her with a .25 caliber Beretta in my hand, listening to every word.

At least twelve passengers in this compartment were my men. Armed and ready to kill if Castellino got violent.

"It would have been more believable, coming from my mouth instead of Roy's." She whispered.

I didn't reply. She had a point, but I was letting my emotions make my decisions for me. I was too stressed to think straight and acknowledge that she had a valid point. You would think that after three years of handling my little criminal empire I would be used to stress by now.

She reached out for my hand but I withdrew it before she could touch. I saw her flinch, I was too pissed with this bullshit.

Right now, we were in a mess. Castellino and Abandonato were after her, they had been trying to kill me since I came into power.

Right now, I had to be the Boss or I wouldn't be able to help her or Roy or any life that hung precariously on the balance.

The plane landed at LAX and we got off.

"See? I'm safe. Castellino wouldn't have done anything."

I snapped my fingers and the twelve men marched around us, weapons hidden but drawn.

"Okay, fair point," she said, inching closer to me and away from them.

"We're going back to Italy in four hours. You are going to join me on the flight back and yes, that's an order."

"I don't take orders from you," she protested.

"Hate to break it to you, but you're part of the Mafia now. Welcome to the family, and if you don't listen to me as your friend, you will obey me as your boss." I snarled.

Bringing her into the Mafia was a calculated move. With twelve of my men as witnesses, she was in. She was going to hate me for this, but until now she was fair game for Castellino and Abandonato. Now if they hurt her, it was war.

"You can't do that!"

"Actually, I can, I just did." I pointed out.

"Adrian, no!" She said, furiously. "I'll do whatever the fuck you want me to, but my future will be ruined, no university is going to accept a gangster!"

"With your discipline record, no school would accept you anyway."

"Adrian.." she warned.

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone to see how things were in my absence.

"Adrian!" she said.

I continued to ignore her. She tugged at the sleeve of my Armani like a kid. I finally looked down at her before she could rip the expensive suit. She was probably going to rip it anyways, but hopefully in my bedroom and not the airport.

"What?" I snapped.

"Adrian, please," She whispered.

Crap. Her voice was cracking. I silently begged her not to burst into tears, not that Chevron was the kind of girl who would, but crying made me extremely uncomfortable, regardless of where it came from.

I glanced at the men around us.

"Leave us," I said softly.

"But Sir -" Luciano protested.

I smiled and he shut up and left with his team.

If there was one thing I learned over the years it was that when you're already regarded a monster, a simple smile can terrify most grown men. Especially when it came from me.

Chevron was staring into the space in front of her.

"Don't worry about your university. Nobody will know," I said indifferently.

Please don't cry. I frantically looked around. No class or course had taught me what to do when a woman was near tears. Especially not Chevron. She didn't seem the type to cry openly.

Chevron spent her entire life trying to get away from her past and her father, who from the sound it was a heroin addict. Not that she knew, and I probably won't tell her just yet. His attitude as she'd described fits strongly and she would only blame herself for not paying enough attention. She couldn't have known. I was pissed as fuck but the least I could do was alleviate the stress of education.

Truth be told, they would probably welcome her. I was pretty good at academics myself and made a few friends along the way. I even got them some... supplies...for their research.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Hmm?"

"You look like someone broke your favorite toy. What's wrong?"

"I just inducted you into the Mafia against your will and you're asking me what's wrong?"

"Stop avoiding the question, Adrian."

Smart girl.

"I expected more of a fight."

"I trust you. And to be fair, I did run off to Castellino."

"Touché."

"What happened Adrian?"

"How could you tell?"

"The corner of your lip twitches when you think of something unpleasant. That and your consistent attempts at avoiding my question."

Should I tell her what I had inferred about her father? I was positive about my conclusion. Mood swings and sudden withdrawal from loved ones was a sure sign, my student had done a research project on the subject in John Hopkins under my guidance. Obviously, he knew about my extracurriculars as well.

"Nothing. Just tired."

We were sitting in the waiting area, waiting for my pilot to fly down. I'd left the first plane in Iceland in case Damien and the rest needed it.

She threaded her fingers through my hair and pulled me close to her until my head rested in the crook of her neck. I sighed softly, comforted in the warmth of her embrace. She stroked my hair soothingly.

I didn't know why she was showing me such affection, but I wasn't going to push her away.

"Adrian, gentle reminder, we're not your responsibility, we're your team. I know this will piss you off, but I will gladly go against Castellino again for you."

I smiled softly into her neck. I couldn't help it. "I know, Chevie, I know."

My mind was racing. I was waiting for Isaac's text to confirm what I already knew. That Castellino was preparing to make a move for the blueprints. The original plan was to give him the information myself, until Chevron interfered.

"You don't," Chevron's voice cracked. "You don't know what it's like to lose someone you love, you don't know what it's like to be shut out by someone you love. You don't know what it's like to be used. Because you use people Adrian, you manipulate them. So when I find someone who miraculously gives a shit about me, I'm not going to let them go."

It was only then that I realized that Chevron had been through a lot since that stupid adventure where she hacked into the mainframe. She wasn't used to it.

"You know something, about my father that you're not telling me."

"Chevron, it's not..."

"Tell me."

"He's an addict. He doesn't hate you, from what you told me, he's surely been abusing drugs, some form of opioids. It started after your mother's death didn't it? The vague behavior?"

Chevron's fingers stilled in my hair. Did I fuck up? She asked me to tell her...

I looked up. Silent tears were streaming down her cheeks and she was staring at nothing in particular. I had never seen her cry before and I didn't want to see it again. I looked around for help. Nobody noticed her and I guessed the tears weren't something for me to witness either.

"Chevron," I whispered.

She quickly brushed the tears away. "Right, sorry. Seems like you're not the only one who's stressed out."

"You couldn't have stopped him. You couldn't have known," I added.

Frankly, I was good at analyzing behavioral patterns and using them to my advantage. I knew how to manipulate and provoke people and be charming. I didn't know how to comfort people. And that never bothered me till now.

She nodded silently. "Thank you, for everything. I needed that."

I pulled her closer and kissed her cheek. She closed her eyes and rested against my chest. We stayed like that for what seemed like hours. It felt strangely nice, holding her in my arms despite the Castellino fuck up.

I wondered how long she would be crying.

Then I heard the snoring. Brilliant.

My phone chimed with a text from Isaac.

I smiled silently. Perfect.

I sent the text to Damien.

D

.

Castellino.

I was going to enjoy killing him.

"Chevron," I said pushing her off my lap. She glared at me and I smirked.

Thankfully the tears had dried up, but I was going to make sure she never had a reason to cry again.

She had a murderous look on her face that was directed at me.

"Let's go, we have people to kill."

I watched as a smirk twisted on her lips.

"Let's go kick ass."

That's when realization hit me in the face like a ton of bricks.

I probably loved her.

Oh fuck.