I was surprised that I was standing where I was right now: in the center of the living room in the mafia house. Luca was at my side and some new guy was standing in front of us.

He looked older, maybe forty or fifty? He sure seemed to fit in with everyone else though. Actually, no. He dressed a lot nicer than most people. This dude actually wore a suit, and his midnight black hair was gelled back.

"Luca," the guy nodded once, "It's been awhile. Where is everyone? This place has never been so empty before. Where's my son?"

"Which one? You have two."

"My favorite son of course. Angelo. Where is he? And who is she?" He gave me a once over before looking back at Luca.

"Well actually, everyone's gone to the Rossi hideout. This is Chloe. She's...I don't really know."

I didn't know what his name was so I was going to stay classy and call him Mr. D'Amico. Anyway, he raised an eyebrow curiously, "And why exactly are they there? Why are you here if they're all there? Is this your girlfriend? What happened to Alessandra? I liked her."

Wow, he was full of questions.

"No, she's not my girlfriend. I'm still with Alessandra."

"Call Angelo. Ask him where he is. We have matters to dis-"

He stopped talking at the sound of multiple cars driving down the gravel driveway, "That must be them," Luca grabbed my hand and pulled me to the front doors, Mr. D'Amico following closely behind. We all stepped outside as the millions (not really) of mafia men all got out of their shiny black cars, guns now out of sight.

Mr. D'Amico took long strides down the gravel path towards Angelo.

"This is going to go one of two ways," Luca leaned in and whispered to me, "Angelo's either going to flip the fuck out in front of his dad because he literally just lost everything, or, he's going to play it cool until his dad walks away and then flip the fuck out in front of us."

I laughed, easily seeing him do either one.

"I don't know if I'd be laughing, gattina. He's pretty scary when he flips out."

I snapped my mouth shut and watched the scene in front of me play out. Mr. D'Amico talked with Angelo, putting his all into it, but it looked like Angelo wanted nothing more than to just walk away from it all.

He said something to his dad before walking up the path and towards Luca and I, "Follow me, criceto," he was agitated, oh so very agitated as he disappeared into the house.

+

+

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I sat in front of a desk, situated directly in front of Mr. D'Amico while Angelo paced all around the room. What's got his panties in a wad?

No one had said anything yet and I was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"So," Mr. D'Amico finally spoke up, a smile on his face. Was it bad that I found him smiling odd? I mean, he was the boss of this borgata, that didn't really seem like a position one would be smiling in. I know Angelo didn't smile very often. "How's your mom...and sister?" Yeah that's right, forget all about Lorenzo. This is my kind of dude. I like him.

"Fine," Angelo muttered before slumping down into the leather chair next to me. "How did you get out of prison?"

Mr. D'Amico's smile remained as he turned his head slightly in my direction, "Who's this lovely young lady? A recruit?"

Didn't Luca already freaking answer that question?!

"That's Chloe and no she's not a recruit. She never will be."

Why was he so angry all of a sudden? And why the hell was it all directed at me?! I didn't even do anything to him.

I folded my arms over my chest, mostly because I was freezing but also because I was upset. "It's nice to meet you," I said to Mr. D'Amico, it came out way too sarcastic though, something I didn't mean.

"She's not a recruit? Then she's a prisoner...or," he trailed off, eyeing both me and Angelo, "Are you two in a...relationship."

"Nope," we both answered in unison, our tones much the same in that they both sounded agitated.

Mr. D'Amico didn't look too convinced though as his curious dark eyes once again landed on Angelo throwing a silent tantrum in his chair, "You're not very convincing. I know you too well, bambino so I know for a fact that you wouldn't bring a girl into the mafia house if she wasn't a recruit, not like she would be anyway. There's something else here, something else to this story, she's not a prisoner. Do you like her bambino?"

This conversation got really cute all of a sudden. Mr. D'Amico spoke to Angelo as if he were a little kid. I was a sucker for parents being cute around their kids.

Angelo's angry eyes pierced through my blank face, "No I don't like her. Not even a little bit. She ruins everything," he snapped and my heart all but hit the floor.

Why was he going to let me go to Italy with him if he didn't like me? Why did he save me time after time from all of my enemies if I was such a burden? And why did he kiss me on his own free will if he truly thought I ruined everything?

I had had my heart broken before, but the pain I felt then could never really compare to the shooting pain I was in now. I bit back a few tears, it was to no avail though. My cheeks were soaked within seconds and I was silently crying in front of two killer mafia men.

I really was as pathetic as a kitten.

I looked up to meet Mr. D'Amico's curious gaze, as I wiped frantically at the pools forming under my eyes. Without saying anything else, I stood up and stormed out of the room, neither of them even trying to stop me.

I walked down the really long hallway, zooming past many a mafia men in search of an exit. I kept my head way down as a familiar face approached. I knew I wouldn't go unnoticed though because I was the only female in this house that actually wore clothes that covered my body. I stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Chloe," Luca grabbed my wrist and spun me around to face him just as I was about to reach the stairs. With my free hand, I reached up and continued wiping at my eyes. "Chloe, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

I shook my head, knowing that if I tried to say anything, nothing but pathetic squeaks would come out of my mouth.

He gripped my chin firmly and titled my head up to face him, "Why are you crying?" He asked again, this time he was stern and it almost scared me.

"Because..." I said, trying to give myself a little time to think about what to say next, "Sometimes people play with my emotions and are really freaking rude about letting me down."

He looked at me as if I had just spoken in an ancient alien language, but nodded understandingly afterwards, "So Angelo's a prick is what you're saying?"

I nodded.

"I can't believe it took you this long to realize that. Huh, I'm surprisingly proud of you for some reason. Welcome to the club, little gattina," he ruffled my blonde hair. "We talk lots of shit here. It's quite soothing."

I cracked a smile.

Who knew you could find quality friends among the worst criminals?