Luca ordered a pizza awhile ago and now we were devouring it while watching some show on tv. I sat crisscrossed at the end of his king sized bed while he sat with his back pressed against the headboard.

Being with people who actually seemed to value my company was actually a nice feeling and it totally almost made me forget why I was sad in the first place.

I set my half eaten piece of pepperoni pizza back in the box and turned to face Luca. "What do you want now, pest?" He asked between bites of his pizza.

"Is Alessandra that nurse in Italy?"

He rolled his eyes, "Yes, but I hardly think that its anything that concerns you, gattina."

"Are you two serious?" I pried. "Why isn't she here in New York with you?" He was a genuine person, so I hoped this Alessandra girl was everything he was and more. He deserved it.

He swallowed a huge bite of pizza, "Chloe..." He trailed off after looking at my puppy dog eyes. I always win with those, "Yes, it's pretty serious. Actually...even if for some reason I wanted to leave the relationship, I couldn't," he said as if I should have understood what he was trying to say. "It's just that serious."

I am blonde though and I will admit that whatever he was hinting at, flew right over my head, "Why? She won't let you?"

"Bless your heart, Chloe," he shook his head disappointedly and looked down at the pizza box, "She's pregnant."

My mouth gaped open, "She's pregnant?" I asked slowly, "And it's yours?" I cheered, "Awww!" I got up and threw my arms around his neck, squeezing tightly, "Luca, that's so cool. I'm so excited for you."

"Yeah and if you'd be quiet about this, that'd be greaaat. Not exactly ready to tell anyone that we're going to have to keep tabs on another person yet. Also not ready to lose a limb over it."

I nodded quickly, agreeing to keep my mouth shut, "So are you going to marry Alessandra than? I think it's only right that you do. She deserves that much."

"But then I'd have to move her here. Like in here...the mafia house. I don't want that for her, this place is hell."

"Why can't you just get a house or something than?"

"Because," he rolled his eyes, obviously becoming bored with the subject, "Since I'm in the mafia, if I married her, she's just as much as associated with it as me. We like having all of our people here in the mafia house, so that they can be watched."

My mouth formed an 'O' as I took in this small piece of information. Did that mean I was going to have to stay here? I mean, I wasn't exactly romantically linked to anyone in the mafia, whether I liked it or not, so they didn't have a reason to keep me here, right? Could I catch a plane back to LA with no questions asked?

Ha...probably not.

There was a loud knock on Luca's bedroom door, like the person on the other side was extremely angry or something. I slid off the bed, facing away from the door as Luca got up to answer it.

I heard him twist the doorknob and almost instantly the sound of the door smashing up against the wall rang throughout the room, causing me to jump back a little bit.

"Where is she?" The new voice asked, sounding frantic.

The voice was familiar and I came to the untimely conclusion that it belonged to Angelo.

I got on my knees and made sure my body was facing towards the door. Slowly, I popped my head up, so that the only part of me totally visible would have been my eyes. My scared, wide eyes.

Unfortunately for me, before I could cower behind the bed again, I caught a glimpse of Angelo staring at me, his arms crossed over his chest angrily, "Luca, if she's not out here in three seconds, I'm going to kill you."

And I couldn't allow that, so I stood up and mirrored his body position, "And what exactly is it that you want?" I scowled. "Why would you want to talk to someone you don't even like a little bit? I don't know about you, but I only talk to the people I like, and right now you're not one of them. So please leave."

My own bravery shocked me as much as I'm sure it shocked Angelo and Luca. Luca almost seemed to be cheering for me on the inside, but Angelo's arms dropped to his sides and his hands clenched into tight fists. "You're being ridiculous. Luca, leave."

Luca made a face, as if to say something like 'what the hell this is my room though'. He gave me a sympathetic smile before leaving. As much as I felt like cowering under Angelo's intense stare, I knew now wouldn't be a good time to do that.

"Chloe-"

"Don't. Talk to me," I turned my back to him, so that I was now looking out the window at all of the mafia men unloading some sketchy black van. That alone had me so lost in thought that I didn't even realize Angelo had come up behind me.

"I need to talk to you."

"About what?" I snapped, still staying as far away from him as possible, "You already made it perfectly clear that you don't like me at all. Not even a little bit. So save your breath because I really don't wanna hear anymore."

He came and stood in front of me, now I was forced to look at him and all of his...terrifyingness. "Chloe, you don't understand-" I started to zone out after rolling my eyes at him. I don't understand? Understand what? "...Weak." That was the only word I got.

Weak?

Now I wished I had paid a little bit more attention to the conversation. Something something weak? Weak what? I wasn't going to ask either because that would have looked...well, bad.

"You weren't even listening?!" Angelo snapped and I swear I saw the smallest hint of a smile threaten to form on his perfectly kissable lips. "Of course you weren't."

"Maybe you should be more interesting."

He gave me a dumb look, a look that someone would give you if you had just asked them to drive you somewhere in the early AM, "More interesting? You sound like a child. Did you even hear anything I said?"

I'm sure my face said guilty as charged, and now it was too late for me to make up some small lie. Wow, I've been doing that a lot lately. Who am I? In that moment I decided that my questions had precedence over his, so I fired away, "Do you like me? At all?"

"You weren't listening to me," he verified. Hmm, well if he answered my question, I guess I really should have paid him more attention. He took a step closer, and grabbed my hands, holding them securely in his, "I do like you, criceto. I really do. But..." He trailed off and that made me nervous. Why the long pause? "Having other people know that is dangerous for both of us. Especially now."

"Why especially now? What's changed?"

"Certain people, and names won't be named, are back-"

"Your dad?" I asked.

He nodded, "He's not a good person, Chloe."

I shrugged, "Well, technically neither are you, but here I am."

"Trust me, I look like a saint compared to him and I'm not one who would ever compare myself to anything holy, ever," it seemed as though he were debating whether or not he should tell me this next piece of information, "He was on death row, Chloe. He's kidnapped and killed more people than you've even met in your life and there is absolutely nothing that would stop him from killing you too."

My eyes went wide, wider than normal, "And you thought that telling him you didn't like me was a good idea? Why? Why wouldn't you tell him exactly what everyone else thinks? Now he is going to kill me!" I ripped my hands out of his and took a step back, only to fall backwards onto Luca's bed. I shot up and awkwardly moved to be a safe distance away from Angelo.

"He would have killed you faster. Anything that could take away my attention from The Family is seen as a threat. You would have been killed on the spot, Chloe, if I said anything positive about you."

And for once in my life, I had no idea what to say.

But that was ok, because now was when someone decided to knock on the bedroom door. And it didn't sound like a normal knock. It sounded like the door was being tapped with something...metal.

A gun?

"Open up, Chloe," a voice that definitely belonged to Mr. D'Amico spoke softly, "We have business to discuss."