I'm halfway through my second bottle. Still unable to think straight or get anything done for that matter. Aria's words fester in my brain, more than they should.

You made a mistake once and don't want to go down that road again.

What does she know anyway?

I'm a man who lost his title to someone I actually trusted in my sister's care. And what did he do? Blow her fucking brains out, literally.

"You look like shit," Vincenzo's voice rings. My gaze drifts to him as he stalks into the room and takes a seat across from me.

"Tell me you have good fucking news," I lean back in my chair and slide my hand over my face.

"He'll get you a meeting with De Luca."

My posture perks up at his words. My hand lands on the desk but his face tells me there's more to what he has to say.

"But Deluca's out of the country."

Fucking hell. Of course, he is. He's running around with loads of money and word around the families is he has yet to give everyone their share. Hence why those people are still loyal to the Accardi's. Loyal to me. "For how long?"

"Could be about another month."

A sigh leaves my mouth and I brace my elbows against the wooden desk. "And what about Salvatori and his sister? He's just going to let her stay here?"

"He didn't say anything about it."

"Figures." I roll my eyes. There's no way around it. I mean, I could give her back... but then her brother could just go back on his word and then I wouldn't get an easy shot at De Luca. "It'd be easy for him to ambush us here to bring his sister home in one piece."

"Already sick of her?"

Sick of her is an understatement. She's infiltrating my brain with her sweet voice and those goddamn moonlight eyes. "I want her gone."

"I don't know I think it's kind of nice to have a pretty face in this place." He smirks, knowing damn well how to piss me off.

My muscles tick as I stare Vinny dead in the eyes. He's another pain in my fucking ass, but him, I'm stuck with. Brothers for life. Bound by blood, duty, and honor.

I push myself up from my chair and head out of the office. I need to let out some steam. Distract my brain from the curse I've placed on myself.

Bang!

Ignoring the sudden burn shooting through my side and the little yelp from the other side, I stare across at the hole in the marble wall. What the actual fuck? My hand lowers, feeling a warm substance. My gaze soon follows. There's a rip and a straight cut where a bullet nipped my skin. Blood.

My nostrils flare as I look up at the ceiling. Heat rushes through my body and I swear I'm on the verge of killing her at this point.

I round the corner and step inside the library, noticing Aria on the floor and the shotgun beside her. "Are you trying to kill me?"

She stares at me. The color in her face drains. Her lips tremble but she manages to speak. "It... it fell."

I hate the way she retreats, how her arms wrap around herself for comfort as if I'm going to kill her. I should, but—

"If you want to kill me..." I walk over to her, gently grab her elbow and pull her up to her feet. "You're going to have to do better than that, princess."

"I-I... I was trying to grab a book." Her eyes drift down to my shirt. "I-I didn't mean to... doesn't that hurt?" She reaches out but my hand grabs hers. It looks so small in mine.

"I'm fine," I tell her. "Now what did you want?"

I look at the shelf, then at the gun. I bend down and grab it, pulling the cartilage out. "So I can get it for you before you kill us both."

"You're not fine," she ignores. "You're bleeding. What if it's lodged in? It has to be taken out."

I shake my head. She's too nice for my own sake. "I can assure you it's just a scratch." I look down at the wound. Still bleeding... "If you had aimed better, I would've been dead or badly wounded."

"I'm not taking no for an answer." She shifts her hand in mine and grasps it. She tugs me with her out of the library and into the hall. "Where do you keep your first aid kit?"

My gaze is still on our hands, clasped together. She doesn't fit... in this world. In my world. In my hand.

"Aria..." I say softly and slip from her grasp. "I don't need your help. It's just a small flesh wound."

She turns and glances down at my cut. Her gaze softens, and yet hardens at the same time. "Show me. It was my fault."

There it is... she feels guilty. I roll my eyes. "No, Aria."

"I wasn't trying to kill you. There was a Shakespeare collection I was trying to get down," she admits. "I'm sorry... for almost killing you."

Fuck those sad eyes and her soft voice.

I sigh and reach over, tilting her chin up for her to look at me.

"You don't have to apologize," I tell her softly. Tears form in her eyes and I hate it. "You should've killed me the day I took you."

"You've done nothing to me." Her fingers trail over my hand, sending a small shudder down my spine. "I came voluntarily."

That she did... such a selfless act for someone stuck in this cruel world.

"I also don't see the purpose of killing someone," she adds, "Death comes to us all. Why rush the inevitable?"

The corner of my lip twitches up into a smirk. She was a smart one... that's for sure. "You think like I used to" I let her go and take a step back. "People like us—like you, are seen differently."

"There's nothing wrong with being seen differently, Sergio."

There's something about the way she says my name that makes my heart skip a beat. I don't like it...

"Sometimes it helps to bring in the right people." She glances down, smiling. "You should attend to your wound. It's still leaking."

"It'll heal." My hand moves to her face, brushing a strand of hair away. "Get back to the library and get your book. Stay away from the gun though."

Her eyes search mine. She doesn't move. Her tongue pokes out from her mouth and slides over her bottom lip. "It's too high up. Is there a ladder around or maybe one of the people who work for you can bring it down?"

"Use a chair." I sigh and find myself walking into the fucking library. I grab the book she wanted from the shelf. For all I know, she'll fucking fall and kill herself by accident. I head back to the hallway and hand her the book. "I'll make sure there's a ladder next time."

Aria nods. She looks up at me. Her head leans in and I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing. I should step away, move to the side, and slam my palm into her face to push her off, but I don't. I just stand there like an idiot, hypnotized. Heat flushes to my face. I'm more than aware of the way her body inches closer to mine. Little freckles dust over her nose and her moonlight eyes are trained on my mouth. My chest tightens. I want to ask what she's doing. If she's about to do what I think she is... but luckily, she stops inches from my face.

"Next time," she whispers as she moves away. "Thank you."

My gaze follows as she walks past me and down the hall.

What the fuck was that?

❤︎❤︎❤︎

total ONC word count: 7,073

thank you so much for reading along! ❤︎