Continuation of chapter 1.1

"He's gone... Shît!" Veronica mumbled gloomily knowing the answer to her imaginable question and being afraid that her guesses would come true. 'This irrepressible demon has surely zoomed off to his mistress. Damn him and all his vices!'

However much Veronica wanted to hate Milano and be disgusted at him. But her heart couldn't hate him. The branches of her love entwined him very deeply, holding him tight. They hurt her more than ever, inflicting the deepest wounds in her soul.

Unable to hold the psychological tension, Veronica sat on the floor in the hallway of Milano's mansion and began crying. The inner world of the girl was about to crack, and all her attempts to influence on Milano's worldview led to nothing. She knew she couldn't just calmly watch her man go to other women.

Veronica had to choose. It is either she will go from him or she will accept Milano the way he is. Veronica's pride was speaking now with her. The pride of an intelligent and strongest woman. She could never have thrown herself at Milano's feet, even if she thought about it before. She would rather be hungry and roam around Rome, than leak feet of her well-beloved.

The mainstream of her thoughts immediately changed, and Veronica knew what she would do was the right thing. 'Will I accept him, if he returns and flings himself in my arms? she thought. No. I will feel the smell of another woman. I don't need it? Hell with him! I won't lower myself to Milano the way he wants it. I will live far from him until my child is born. He will be able to see the baby, but only when I allow him. I won't demean myself before the bloody Casanova anymore!'

Hearing the front door shut, Lucenzo immediately realized that something had happened. So he wasted no time and got up from the table, finishing chewing his dinner and wiping his lips with a napkin. A moment later the young man was in the hall, shaking his head in response to what he had seen: Veronica was sitting alone on the floor, her eyes rain tears.

It was again because of Milano. How can I rein him in? Lucenzo was silently angry, knowing that the elder brother was the cause of this nice girl's tears.

"Veronica," he said, sitting down on the floor beside her and moving closer to her. "Where has our unlucky fellow gone? Have you quarreled with him again?"

"I cannot do this anymore! Just can't! Milano takes my heart, and with the rods of cruelty and indifference makes a steak of it. I have had enough... I'm leaving." Veronica poured her heart out to Lucenzo, having the hiccups from tears every few sentences and wondering how quickly she gets out of this house.

"Where will you go, Veronica? To relatives or friends? Do you have any here?" Lucenzo was talking her down, taking her closer to his shoulder with a hope to make a girl change her mind.

"I'll go to Aunt Carmela, the second cousin of my aunt Henrietta." Veronica shared her plans with Lucenzo while he was listening attentively to her. "I know she will shelter me. I have already talked about it with her but I'm afraid of the only thing. Milano can find me and bring me back, as it was last time. Given that he had found out where Signora Vetrova lives, it will be no trouble for him to come to her place again. Therefore, I won't stay with her. I'll just borrow money from her and find a hotel. I will live there until I find a job to get money and go back to Russia."

"Do you think what you are saying?" Lucenzo's heart turned into ice. He was so struck by the girl's naivety that he realized at once: he must talk into Veronica at any price to keep her here. Therefore, he didn't finishing talking. "Honey, this is not your country. Here everything is different. In order to get a job you should become a citizen, and receive the recommendations from the previous place."

"I know all this, Lucenzo. But let me go. I will get on my knees if you want. But don't force me to live with him. Don't force me..." Veronica was beginning to cry, not understanding anything in this life. Her emotional feelings played a low-down trick on her. In a moment she became too weak to fight with anyone. Even with Lucenzo.

"Milano is the very demon. But he loves you. You have to believe him." Lucenzo understood that he had no right to use it for blackmailing Veronica, but he couldn't influence on her decision in the other way. He had to act exactly this way.

"He loves nobody! But only himself!" Veronica didn't want to listen to Lucenzo as it seemed to her that Lucenzo supported Milano as he is native brother. She thought, Lucenzo would be on his side and would show some indulgence to Milano. Therefore, Veronica said what was on her mind. "I bet, Lucenzo, that Milano has gone to a whore or prostitute. I refused him, and now he decided to have revenge upon me."

Having heard Veronica's words, Lucenzo understood that, apparently, she was right.

Hell right! As Milano was still a womanizer.

"If it is so, then it is necessary to wash Milano's brain. Definitely."

"No need for it, Lucenzo. I pack my things. I am fed up with it." Sobbing Veronica rose to her feet, wanting nothing more in this life. "Will you help me? I'm afraid to lift heavy things... My baby...." She sighed heavily, taking the obviousness of the things. Milano will never grow up, and she will always have to be dependent on people.

"Dear sister, you don't have to decide it in a hurry. Besides, you are expecting the baby and should have a lot of rest. I don't want anything happen to your child!" Lucenzo faulted her for her free-thinking, but couldn't instruct her forcibly. He could only support her.

"Just help me, Lu. There is nothing else I need from you. If you do not want to, I will carry it by myself. I get used to it..." Speaking with Milano's brother, Veronica was losing her heart, but she still behaved like a proud Amazon. And that really surprised Lucenzo. He had never seen that much vital force in a woman. In the woman his elder brother fell in love with.

Lucenzo had no doubts that Milano loves her, Milano just needed some time to realize it. Or perhaps he just didn't want it. And it was completely two different things.

Lucenzo thought that he should bring together Veronica and Milano again. It didn't matter for him how much time and nerves it would take. He would become their connecting link, just as their unborn child.

And Lucenzo began to play for time.

"Don't be ridiculous, Veronica. I don't want to lose my nephew or niece. OK?"

"Then I'll call a taxi..." she said shaking Lucenzo's hand and leaving him with a sad smile. After a little while Veronica stood in Milano's room where she had spent one of the most beautiful and at the same time unhappy days of her life.

She had to leave. Forever. She just got tired of shedding tears. And perhaps she was tired of fighting. Veronica didn't know it for sure. She was drained of her strength.

A few minutes later, Lucenzo already stood near the door, begging Veronica not to go away, even though she stood fast in her decision. But Veronica had already made up her mind. She didn't even think to diverge from the chosen path.

In farewell, she hugged Lucenzo tight and wished him all the best and happiness with Francesca. If it is a fate, they will see each other again some odd day.

Veronica was about to open the door, but she couldn't reach out the handle - it was Milano Veneziani who grabbed it unexpectedly. Having entered the mansion, he saw as his brother froze to Veronica's bag, and his eyes begging the girl not to leave.

Milano's thoughts started racing feverishly in his head. 'My Amazon is leaving me!?' He was guessing, outwardly not showing his inner agitation.

"What is it? Are you leaving me again?" Milano was surprised, getting closer to Veronica and keeping her where she was standing. In fact he expected her rushing away from him. Milano knew her tricks pretty well, so he was ready for whatever comes.

Veronica was looking at Milano as if he was a ghost. She thought by mistake that her man was in a bed with some kind of an Italian girl, and got Veronica out of his head.

It turned out to be exactly the opposite!

"It's me who should ask you why you came back. You should be enjoying yourself with your mistress right now!" Veronica almost shouted at him, while Milano kept smiling, looking at his bellicose Amazon. How much he loved when Veronica was jealous of him!

"I went outside to refresh myself. What silly things came into your head?" Milano said grinningly, starting to stroke Veronica's shoulders to make her finally feel relaxed.

"But you went away, slamming the door and saying nothing." Veronica was roaring like a fierce lioness that couldn't understand why the lion had left her alone in the wild savannah, where she could be attacked by the other jackals. And the jackals wouldn't take pity on her and her child.

Looking at the heated discussion between his brother and Veronica, Lucenzo sighed quietly, being glad inside that his brother and Veronica soon will achieve reconciliation. Why? As Milano has no equal in comforting women. Lucenzo knew it.

"I am leaving." Lucenzo reported keeping himself from laughing and heading off to the kitchen. "I've lost my appetite because of you both. I am going to finish drinking my coffee."

When Lucenzo already sat at the table reading a magazine article about house repairing, Milano again turned his attention to his Amazon, regaining a strange smile on his face.

"What a dreamer you are, Veronica! I didn't tell you that I will go fücking."

"But you had it on your mind."

"No, I hadn't." The Italian kept smiling, being surprised at how rich imagination his Amazon had. But in spite of his high spirits, Veronica did not want to be hooked by Milano's tricks. She thought what to say to her Demon to have him go into the kitchen and not to delay her anymore. She just wanted to cry alone.

"Go and have your meal. The food has already cooled down while you were walking around." Veronica taunted touchily, not wishing to remain in the company of her Demon, but intending to go to her room.

"I won't go without you. You don't eat a bloody thing! And it is important for our baby." Milano cursed her up hill and down dale. He didn't push her, but there was no way out. Veronica was very stubborn.

"You would only tell a man his business, bloody Casanova!" Again Veronica began rudely calling Milano bad names as she had no longer forces to be tender.

She was thinking of running away from him and at the same time staying with him. It was like madness, and there was no end to it, as if it was the diagnosis, made by the psychologists. Bipolar affective disorder the Italian was sick with. And it appears that Veronica didn't guess about it; otherwise she would fear the Italian even more.

"Vorrei fare il bagno con te, cara mia!" Milano blurted out all of a sudden when he shot out a peal of laughter, and Veronica was amazed to watch his cheerful mood.

"Speak English. I don't speak Italian very well." Veronica said to him in an annoyed voice as her nerves were frayed.

"I would like to take a bath with you, dear. Let's go." Milano explained, trying to take his proud Amazon by her elbow, but she just pushed him off harder. Veronica didn't wish to have a bath with him, telling him that she would take a bath alone.

"As if at a command, my Amazon cools down when it comes to water. I'll take it on board..." Milano uttered getting closer to angry Veronica and showing his affection to her. He curled with his forefinger the lock of her long hair into a ringlet, gently stroking Veronica's shoulder. He hoped that this time the girl would thaw, but Veronica was too upset to notice his tenderness.

"Eat something, cara. I am afraid that you are starving..." he said, noting that his Amazon entirely lost her appetite. She didn't put on weight during pregnancy, but only lost it. And this could adversely affect her state, if not make a devastating effect on their unborn child.

But Milano was afraid to believe that he was the only reason of all this. The Italian didn't admit his own mistakes.

"Get off my back!" Veronica just told him, while the Italian was waiting for her answer calmly and patiently.

More than ever Veronica strove for complete independence from Milano Veneziani. She got really tired of fighting with his Demons. She needed to recover her peace of mind and forget for a while about her spiritual torments. And Veronica silently turned toward the stairs, starting to go upstairs very carefully and so finishing the conversation with Milano.

"Nike, a bathroom is on the second floor, on the left. Although I think you'll find it by yourself." Milano said with a smile on the heels of her, returning to the kitchen to his brother, getting a little bit upset that Veronica didn't show her tenderness to him. Was she becoming cold? What made her change?

"So? Have you sorted out your complicated relationships?" Lucenzo asked Milano when he sat down at the table, finishing his cup of black coffee in a white porcelain dish. "I don't understand you. Are you deliberately goofing on Veronica?" With a note of disapproval in his voice Lucenzo asked his elder brother.

"She didn't want sex. So what was I supposed to do?" Pouring hot coffee in his mug, Milano answered his younger brother furiously.

"You're not an animal to want sex all the time." Lucenzo criticized his elder brother for his never-ending vices. "Nike is a girl. Respect her feelings. Don't be a pig!"

"We are back to square one again. How long are going to criticize me? Aren't you tired of it!?" Milano was beginning to get very tired of Lucenzo's lectures, but didn't have enough courage to tell him that. He couldn't alienate his brother because Lucenzo was the only person who knew the full truth about his past.

He couldn't tell the whole story to Veronica. She would have blamed him for that and he wouldn't have survived it.

Milano knew it. He knew it pretty well.

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Author's Note: 2510 words

Copyright © OlgaGOA

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Guys, this is was continuation of previous chapter.

Did you like? Comment and vote, if you do. ♔

Wonder about your opinion ♡

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FATEFUL ITALIAN PASSION 2 OST ♪: Birdy – Skinny Love

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Lyrics:

Come on skinny love just last the year,
Pour a little salt we were never here,
My my my, my my my, my-my-my my-my...
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer.

Tell my love to wreck it all,
Cut out all the ropes and let me fall,
My my my, my my my, my-my-my my-my...
Right in the moment this order's tall.

And I told you to be patient,
And I told you to be fine,
And I told you to be balanced,
And I told you to be kind,
And in the morning I'll be with you,
But it will be a different kind,
'Cause I'll be holding all the tickets,
And you'll be owning all the fines.

Come on skinny love, what happened here?
Suckle on the hope in light brassieres,
My my my, my my my, my-my-my my-my...
Sullen load is full, so slow on the split.

And I told you to be patient,
And I told you to be fine,
And I told you to be balanced,
And I told you to be kind,
And now all your love is wasted,
Then who the hell was I?
'Cause now I'm breaking at the britches,
And at the end of all your lines.

Who will love you?
Who will fight?
And who will fall far behind?

Come on skinny love,
My my my, my my my, my-my-my my-my...
My my my, my my my, my-my-my my-my.