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“No. It means you are who you have to be. I’m not saying it’s right or even fair. But you were born to do this. This is your role. Your life. And you have worked fucking hard for your success. I’m not going to let you throw it all away because of a girl.”
I snorted loudly, shaking my head against the seat. “She’s not just a girl, Fabi. She’s everything. She always has been. And I fucked it all. And you’re fucking wrong. I wasn’t born into this. I was nobody. I am nobody.”
“You are drunk, that’s what you are!” Fabi groaned as the car came to a stop. A few seconds later, I was being forced out of the warmth of the car and dragged through a bright lobby of a hotel. Fabi checked us in as I leaned against the reception. The girl behind it stared at me in alarm and concern so I gave her a bloody smile, which definitely didn’t help.
“Where are we?” I groaned as he shoved me in an elevator and hit a button.
“A hotel. I can’t exactly take you back to Lorenzo’s like this, can I?” He folded his arms across his chest, staring straight ahead at the door with his jaw tense. I laughed, unable to help it when I saw how annoyed he was. He rolled his eyes.
“You are a good man, Fabi,” I leaned into him, wrapping my arms around his body tightly as he stumbled back into the wall. “Maybe you should be King of the South. I’ll leave it all to you,” I chuckled. “You can be my heir!”
“Fuck me. I can’t wait for you to sober up!” He grabbed my waist and pulled me into the hotel room, tossing me towards the double bed. I groaned as I rolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling. I could hear him in the bathroom and then he came into the bedroom, removing his shoes and lying back on the sofa that was by the window.
“Sleep it off, Alessio. Tomorrow’s a new day,” he mumbled as he closed his eyes and made himself comfortable.
I continued to stare up at the ceiling, thoughts of her plaguing my mind. With each image of her face, my heart ached heavily in my chest and I felt emotion swell inside me.
“She killed Isabelle,” I whispered to no one in particular. “How am I supposed to protect her now?”
“Let her brother protect her. You just have to deal with Lorenzo and sort your own shit out. You know everyone is going to expect you to want revenge for Isabelle and Stefano’s deaths,” Fabi yawned from the other side of the room.
“It doesn’t make any sense. Why would she kill Isabelle? Why was Isabelle even with her? What the fuck happened in that warehouse?” The questions that had been driving me insane for the last twenty-four hours replayed in my head. Fabi didn’t answer and I knew he was already asleep.
The image of her face, the pain, betrayal and complete disgust in her eyes when she looked at me for the last time was etched in my brain like a disease. And it was killing me slowly. She hated me to her core. The burn in my chest grew as I fought the unfamiliar feeling that prickled under my skin. I inhaled deeply and I pursed my lips together when they started to tremble. Then I felt it. Liquid slid out of the corner of my eye and down my temple. I breathed out shakily as I lifted my hand to catch it. I stared at my wet finger, hoping it would be blood but it wasn’t. It was a tear. The first one since I could remember. I dropped my hand back down to the bed and stared at the ceiling again as another silently escaped my eyes. For the first time in my life, I let the emotions in. I felt it all. The pain of my past. The brutality of my upbringing. The betrayal of those who were supposed to love me. All the deaths. But none of that was comparable to the insufferable misery of knowing that I had lost the best thing that had ever happened to me. That I had hurt her. And that she never wanted to see me again.
“Good morning, sunshine,” a deep voice that sounded like booming thunder jolted me awake. I groaned at the brightness of the room as I squeezed my eyes shut again and turned my head into a hard surface. What the fuck… where was I?
Forcing my eyes to open, I squinted up from the bathroom floor at Fabi, who was standing next to me, taking a piss in the toilet.
“So, I slept on that fucking sofa all night to give you the bed and you ended up on the bathroom floor?” he chuckled as I dropped my head back down. It felt like there was a mini sledgehammer inside my skull, pounding away to break free. My mouth was parched and I attempted to pull myself up by holding onto the bathroom sink to get some water. Turning the tap on, I forced my mouth underneath it, letting the water run over my chin too. I stood up with my shaking hands clasping the rim of the china sink and looked at my reflection in the mirror. Fuck.
“I have to say, I think it’s an improvement,” he teased as he did up his trousers and smirked at me.
“Fuck off,” I groaned as I reached up and touched the massive swollen cheek bone with a big gash across it on one side of my face. The split lip from Giovanni had reopened and there were bright red and purple bruises everywhere. And that was just my face. My ribs had taken a beating and my knuckles were red raw.
“So are we good now? You got it out of your system last night?” He asked from behind me, leaning against the door frame. My gaze flicked to his reflection in the mirror as I sighed.
“I guess I don’t have much choice.”
“That’s the spirit,” he smiled, which faded as he studied my face. “Look, man. I know you’re hurting. I know how much she means to you and how fucked up everything is right now. But what happened last night, can’t happen again.”
“Because I’m a fucking king, right?” I smirked, trying to lighten the atmosphere. I turned to face him as he held my gaze.
“Partly. But also, because we can’t fucking lose you, Alessio. It would be a fucking travesty for you to throw everything away. What would it have all been for? Nothing. You know there are people in the wings waiting for you to fuck up. To show weakness as a leader. You can’t let them win.”
I nodded slowly, knowing he was right. I had to get my shit together. I had to step up and be the man I had worked so hard to become. This couldn’t all be for nothing. I knew that much.
“And… the Alessio I know, wouldn’t give up.”
“I’m not giving up,” I shook my head.
“I mean Elenora.”
I froze, our eyes connecting in understanding as I swallowed the bubbling emotions again. My phone started ringing in the bedroom and I moved past him unsteadily to retrieve it. Cristo, this was a hangover of all hangovers. My eyes widened when I saw it was Finn.
“Finn?”
“Ciao,” he greeted rather coldly.
