▪️PRESENT DAY▪️

•SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA•

Julia's POV

It was finally happening. The elusive peace that perpetually stained my dreams was finally unfolding before my eyes.

The tender afternoon sun settled comfortably between Heaven and the horizon, spraying rusted rays across the quaint apple spice-scented cottage. Cedar framed the living room that bubbled with warm R&B vocals as I finished off my crystal glass of Asti wine.

The smooth Italian beverage coaxed my muscles to unwind under the admirable stare of the honey-eyed man nestled beside me.

"Relaxed?", Matías interlaced his fingers with mine while his flushed cheek coddled my forehead.

"Very."

"Would you like a refill?"

"You know me so well." My eager lips pecked his cheek.

Matías caressed my knuckles while giving them a departing kiss that set my heart ablaze.

Gently the weight of my eyelids tugged my eyes closed as my head slowly tipped backwards and landed in a tender hold.

"Ti manco?", An Italian accented voice questioned, lifting a nostalgic smile to my lips.

I set my gaze on a familiar high cheek-boned toothy grin hovering above my dazed features.

"...Andres..."

My knees rested in the seat cushion as I turned to face him.

"Surprised?"

"I didn't think I'd see you again..." The words trailed, matching the timid trace of my fingertips down his slicing jawline.

"You know I'd never leave you."

Andres's faint arm snaked around my shaking waistline as his other arm pulled a fresh glass of Asti from behind his back.

My attention diverted to the sparkling liquid, and I hesitantly picked it from his grip.

"Grazie."

An eerie silence coupled with a string of staccato gasps replied to my expression of gratitude. My eyes met with Andres' now blank irises, and chilled ruby blood dribbled from the cratered corners of his dull lips.

Forlorn confusion rattled my joints as my body harshly rolled backward to the floor, landing me at a pair of charcoal loafers.

"What's wrong Jules?" Andres' long eyelashes batted while the clean forehead bullet hole drained with shedding bits of skin.

"Non è ovvio? You can't protect her anymore, brother." Adrian's sarcastically domineering tone shrouded out the cozy aura and completely obliterated the pulse of peace.

Restlessly, my pupils scanned from the loafers resting behind me to their owner; and my mind scrounged for a logical explanation.

"That's no fair. The other two were greeted with smiles, and I get a scowl. Thought you'd be happy to see me, especially since I brought you someone." Adrian's sinister grin stretched from ear to ear.

The welcoming mien of the cottage peeled from the walls as Adrian sat comfortably in the concrete, throne-like chair. Like an aberration, Nicolai—appearing as a replica of Adrian—stepped from behind my ex-husband dressed in a suit with his curls cut and slicked back.

"Nicky...."

Nicolai rebuffed my sincere concern with apathetic disdain.

My outstretched arm desperately begged for just a touch of my son's skin, but the more I reached the further he retreated.

"Nicolai...no."

A slow blink clouded my vision as the homey cottage cleared, leaving me hunched over while my knees melded with harsh concrete. A brisk, jarring, and repetitive pressure throbbed against my temple and forehead. It was unrelenting as my body weaved between weightlessness and gravity.

My eyelids raised allowing fresh light to pour in as my view struggled to orient itself to reality and I recognized the pressure as the vibration from my phone.

I crawled my still sleeping fingers under my pillow and pulled out the buzzing device to see Sebastian's name with a crab emoji next to it.

"Sebastian." —I greeted flatly.— "Good morning."

"Come out here. I gotta show you something." Sebastian announced as he sat in the living room, his voice carrying into my room through the cracked door.

"How about a 'good morning Julia'?"

"I'm not getting paid to exchange niceties. C'mon I said I had to show you something."

"Matías isn't paying you at all to let me stay here."

"....Unfortunately."

A groggy, exasperated sigh passed my lips,
"What is it that you would like to show me, little one?"

"I'll just send it to you."

Within seconds a message notification flashed atop my screen. I tapped the link that forwarded me to an avant-garde fashion show.

"All the material in the show is made from handwoven Egyptian cotton and hand ticking was done around each crest," Sebastian informed as he pushed open my bedroom door.

I pursed my lips, "Don't you think your time would be better spent getting your tux?"

"No," —he flippantly waved me off and pushed my legs to the side as he sat on the edge of my bed—, "We have people to do that."

I sucked my teeth as my body was shoved to the opposite side of my mattress and I sat up snuggling a bear, gifted from Nicolai, to my chest.

"Have you even gone to your fitting?"

"I go today before I grab Mat from the airport."

"Oh my god! Is that today?" I kicked my feet from under my blanket, catching Sebastian in the hip.

"Mhm." He grimaced and moved over.

I scurried over to my vanity mirror while sloppily dragging the sleep from my eyes.

"Seb why didn't you remind me? I look a mess and I'm not even packed to back to the house."

"I didn't think I'd have to remind you when your fiancé was coming back home."

My flat glare met his smug grin through the mirror, "You know every time I think we've had a breakthrough in our friendship, you build another wall."

"That's 'cause you keep jumping em'. Are you coming with?" Sebastian shot a finger gun at me and clicked his tongue as he slipped his phone into the pocket of his coal-black hoodie and traipsed to my door.

"Yeah I'm coming." —I flopped to my fur-covered stool,—"Give me thirty minutes."

"Iight. Be ready or I'm leaving you."

"Yes, I know Sebastian." I plastered a too-polite smile across my face and shooed him off.

He closed the door and I returned my attention to the reflection in my mirror. The 28-year-old woman that stared back was someone I was continually adjusting to seeing. Her hair wasn't patchy, her skin wasn't saggy, and her eyes weren't burning with desperation and apprehension. With me was a woman draped in pearls of determination—a woman who somehow managed to stave off insanity when her tether to reality consistently frayed.

In two years the woman who once chose self-sabotage as her safe place had grown up and realized her safe place would come from within.

I finished off my skincare routine and added the final stroke to my eyeliner as I rushed to pick an outfit. Since our engagement, Matías and I had been living in one of the family houses near San Francisco Bay.

Matías didn't usually have an issue with Danny and me staying in the house alone while he was away on business, but over the last few months, it's as if he's been hyper-vigilant. Before he left, Matìas arranged for Danny to stay with his Nonno and Nonna, Amazing and Don Vincent, while I stayed at Sebastian's apartment.

Of course, Seb fought it tooth and nail, but here I am.

"Crap." I shoved my foot into my cinnamon-toned ankle boots and noticed the time.

Way past thirty minutes.

My distressed jean jacket snagged as I hurriedly snatched it from the door hook and rushed into an empty living room.

"Ugh," —I groaned and whipped out my phone, going to my recent calls—"I can't believe he left me.

The basic iPhone ringtone echoed along with the jingle of keys rattling the lock. Sebastian busted through the door, eyes wide with guilt and impatience.

"Thought you dipped."—A smirk curved the corners of my mouth as I sashayed past him and out of the door—"Looks like I'm scaling the wall again."

A/N: hope you enjoyed! This time around I'm trying not to make my chapters so long. There will be more updates ☺️