Hi guys! Sorry for the delay in the release of this chapter. I needed some time away 🥹

Enjoy! 💜

Six days passed after I left her home that morning and for those six days all I could think about was her - especially while I was working.

It wasn't part of my plan to go to her house that day. Actually, it went against my plan of staying away from women completely after I came out of prison.

But I couldn't help it.

I could tell she was upset by what happened at the school, but I guess that was just the excuse I needed.

It wasn't hard for me to find out her address and when Alex left me to go back to the woman he was previously with, I was left with the choice of going home to be alone with my thoughts or paying her a visit just for fun.

I guess I thought it would be a chance just to get her out of my system. I assumed we would sleep together or she would shut me down and kick me out, ending any kind of 'relationship' that we could have had - then I would have moved on.

So I didn't expect to stay with her, at all.

I also didn't expect to have the connection that I had with her. She was so easy to be around, so freaking easy to talk to. It felt like I'd known her for a long time even though I really hadn't.

So for the next six days I tried to focus on the work that I was doing with Alex and Lucero, now that he was back, but all I could think about was Isadora.

I also texted her for the first time. We texted a little, which was just me sending her texts that I hoped would annoy her because her reactions were amusing to say the least. The only other kind of contact I had with her was through Alex when he told me that she mentioned me at the gym.

I could tell he was suspicious of my relationship with her, especially considering I was so adamant I wanted to stay away from women for the foreseeable future.

If he knew I stayed at her house overnight, or that I slept in her bed, I'd never hear the end of it.

The sound of someone knocking on my bedroom door caused me to flinch as I came out of my bathroom with my towel wrapped around my waist after my shower.

"Roman?" I heard Alex's voice through the door and I glanced over at the makeshift bed I'd made on my bedroom floor.

To my knowledge no one knew how badly I was screwed up by my trip to prison. I tried to keep everything to myself - the nightmares, the way I was sleeping, my anxiety and panic attacks.

Well, I guess Isadora knew. She only asked me about the nightmares but I guess now that I knew she remembered that night at the club, I assumed she also remembered the panic attack.

Alex knocked on my bedroom door again causing me to release a sigh. I dimmed the lights before I opened the door, barely allowing him to see past me.

"What?" Instead of answering me like a normal person, his eyes roamed over my exposed tattooed chest and he smirked at me. "Okay, if you insist. But I have to warn you, I get performance anxiety in front of really good looking men."

With a roll of my eyes I did my best to give him a glare even if his comment was kind of funny.

"What do you want Alex?"

"You need to come with me to a meeting." Before I could even try to get out of it, he launched into a long-ass explanation about how my father told him to take me to this meeting about some drug deal he was making.

That's how I ended up sitting in an office in an abandoned warehouse an hour later with Alex and three other idiots. They were all busy arguing over the deal while I sat there fiddling with my black hand gun, lost in my own thoughts.

She hasn't texted me in two days, should I text her?

It's been a week since I went to her house last Friday. I did say I'd go and sleep with her, but I didn't want to impose. Maybe she didn't really mean what she said, she was just being nice.

She's a nice person.

Maybe I did something to upset her? I wasn't very nice when I left, but that's because of the phone call I got.

Would it be too much if I messaged her again?

Do I sound like a pussy?

"Roman?" With a frown I looked over at Alex who was pretty much glaring at me. "What do you think?"

"About what?"

My clueless response caused him to shake his head in disbelief, turning to look at the three idiots we were meeting with. Although I did try to listen after that, it seemed like they were pretty much finished with the meeting by that point. I only managed to catch onto a few details at the end.

Of course Alex wasn't happy with that.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rolling my eyes at the annoyance in his tone, I sat in the driver's seat next to him in the passenger's seat. "Nothing is wrong with me."

"Roman you've been off your game all week, this wasn't the first time."

"I haven't been off my game, I've had a lot on my mind." That and the fact I've barely slept since last Friday when I had my best sleep of the last two years in Isadora's bed.

Somehow Isadora's presence made it easier for me to sleep through the night without letting my nightmares take over completely. I don't know how or why, but after two years of awful nights in prison and then a month of the same thing at home, I wasn't complaining.

"Then tell me what's on your mind. If you don't, how the hell am I supposed to help you?"

"Did you ever think that I don't want your help?" I rose an eyebrow at him and his glare only intensified. "Roman, I'm saying this as your best friend and your future second-in-command. You need to snap the hell out of whatever this is. You have way too much riding on these next few months to be lost in your own little world."

He was referring to the fact that my father would be watching my every move now that it was confirmed I would become the next boss of our cartel. If I wanted an easy and fluid transition of power, I needed to make sure he was confident in my ability to lead.

Releasing a frustrated sigh I leaned back into the leather seat of my Porsche, averting my gaze away from Alex. I knew I could either tell him about my current fragile mental state, or I could go with the easy way out of this conversation.

Or the easier way.

"Isadora."

The car fell silent.

"You like her?" Thankfully he didn't seem amused or even annoyed, he just seemed curious. "No...not really. I don't think so. Maybe, I don't know. All I know is that I can't get her out of my head."

"Damn. She must have made an impression on you if you're this whipped after only seeing her a couple of times at the school and the gym."

Turning my head to look at him, I held his stare for a moment allowing the realisation to set in. "It was more than that, wasn't it?"

"Kinda, yeah." Before he could give me hell for not telling him, I quickly added a little more detail. "I kind of spent the night with her last week. Not in a sexual way, we just slept. But after that, all I can think about is her."

"And you didn't tell me? I thought I was supposed to be your bestie! Do you know what that means Roman? That means you tell me when you're about to do the hankie pankie with my friend/personal trainer."

Of course he would be melodramatic about this.

"You are my 'bestie'." I genuinely couldn't help but shiver in disgust when I used that word. "But I just didn't want you to blow it out of proportion. We're just friends, I think."

"You think?" When he rose an eyebrow at me I let out a frustrated sigh. "We haven't spoken in a few days and I just don't know what to do. Have you heard from her?"

"Not for a couple of days."

"You didn't have any sessions with her this week?" I gave him a frown remembering how he went to the gym yesterday but he shook his head. "She wasn't working, she usually does work on Thursdays but...it probably has something to do with-...nevermind."

"Something to do with what?" He let out a sigh, looking out the window to avoid my gaze. "It's not my place to tell you, Ro."

Choosing not to respond to him, I only nodded my head as I started the engine of my Porsche. It remained quiet while I started the drive back towards my house, my mind reeling with all the possibilities of what he could have been talking about.

"Look, I have some quick business I need to take care of with Jackson at the gym. We're only a few minutes away. We can stop by and maybe she might be there today."

I resisted the urge to tell him to go to hell, mostly out of jealousy over the fact he knew more about her than I did. Using the self control I'd been working on since yesterday, I forced myself to nod.

A few minutes later I pulled into the parking lot of her gym, frowning when I didn't see her glossy black Audi.

She had good taste in cars I'll give her that.

Once inside, Alex left me to go and deal with whatever business he had to do. I didn't know much about what he did here, all I knew was that he had some deals going on with Jackson. It was something he set up while I was in prison but it was never top priority so I never really cared to know about it - not with everything else I had to catch up on.

I was also too interested in Izzy instead.

After a few moments of looking around, with a sigh I dropped down onto an empty bench when I couldn't see her.

Was it bad that I was jealous of Alex? Or was it just stupid? I was letting a girl I barely know take over my mind even in meetings now.

Even Azura never had that power over me.

For those few minutes that I sat there, I was busy debating wether to call her or just give her space. Sometimes people need space, but sometimes they need the complete opposite of that.

I guess I just didn't know if it was Isadora or me who needed the opposite of space.

"She's not here?" Turning my head to look at Alex, I shook my head as I stood to my feet. "Let's just go."

"Maybe you should go and see her? I was going to go by later, but you could go instead." I could tell he was reluctant to even suggest it, but for some reason he did.

"I don't know bro." I sound like a pussy.

"Just take her some food. She may be a personal trainer but the girl loves to eat." His words came out with a chuckle as we exited the gym.

Was it bad that I wanted to slap that smile off his face when he said that?

Choosing to push the thought to the side, and the idea of going to see her, I went back to the house where we concluded some more business with our fathers. The meeting that was supposed to only last one hour ended up taking three, and by the time we were done, it was time for dinner.

Unfortunately my mother wasn't one to let me out of a family dinner so easily. So once again I found myself spending my Friday evening with my family, except this time Alex and his father, Jorge, were here too.

As you can imagine the dinner was another hour and a half of riveting conversation on how we could take advantage of the political uncertainty in Brazil amid their elections. We would endorse a candidate who would allow us to continue operating freely in the country.

Yes Brazil had a vast number of drug cartels, but only ours has political protection - not just in Brazil but across South America - which made Los Ángeles del Armagedón the strongest.

By the time we reached dessert, I was absolutely exhausted - something to expect when you're running on two hours of sleep and spent most of the day in boring business talks.

"Now that your father has finished breaking our 'no work at the dinner table' rule - I have something important to discuss with you children."

My mother's clipped tone caused my father to smile at her subtle dig, while the rest of us smiled at the way she referred to us as children. The only children here were Catalina at 16 and arguably Renata since she was only 19 years old.

I guess you could also include Alex too.

"What is it Mama?" Giving her a smile, I lifted my glass of whiskey to my lips.

"Your grandparents are coming to stay in two weeks."

The moment she said those words in the same distasteful tone, a silence fell around the table. For once, all of us agreed on something - even Lucero and I agreed on this.

My mother glared at my father who was busy looking at his plate as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"For how long?" That was the question everyone wanted to know - even Alex.

Especially Alex.

"One week, maybe. Your grandmother was rather vague on the phone." She continued to glare at her husband before she finally shifted her attention over to the rest of us. "I want you all on your best behaviour - I mean it. The last thing I need is Marta giving her opinion on how I run this house because of you children. That woman already irritates my soul."

Mama gave each one of us a stern look, her eyes scanning over Renata, Joanna and Catalina before she looked over at Lucero, Elías, Alex and I. Only Alex's father was left out of the looks, but he smartly left the room before the conversation could continue.

"That means no bad language, no weapons, no one coming home later than 10:30pm. There will be no bloody clothes or shoes and you are to be appropriately dressed every time you leave your rooms. There is to be no trouble at school, college or in meetings. Finally, the most important rule - there is to be absolutely no sex of any kind in this house. Do I make myself clear?"

Her last demand caused my brother Elías to chuckle which he quickly covered with a cough and a nod. The no sex rule was mostly aimed at him since he was the idiot who brought a new girl home every night.

"If any of you show me up you can sleep in the garden for the rest of their visit."

It was safe to say my mother despised her parents-in-law. We all did actually, although we did love them too. You had to meet them to understand why.

They were both very set in their ways, they were extremely conservative and blunt as hell. If they saw something they didn't like they'd call you out on it no matter who was in the room. We'd all had our fair share of encounters with them. My grandfather often picked on the boys to make sure we were up to his standards to take over his cartel one day. But my grandmother was different.

She had this belief that girls should get married and become housewives instead of going to college; the boys should also get married and have children as soon as possible. That's why she pretty much hated the lot of us, especially Joanna who got pregnant at 16 years old.

We were all disappointments to her in our own ways - Renata was too erratic and independent, Elías was a man whore, Lucero was unpredictable, I wasn't blood related and Joanna was the single mother.

She even hated Alex, for absolutely no reason whatsoever. She once stabbed him with her knitting needle just for sitting too close to her on the couch. It was funny as hell, but I could never say that to his face.

"Valeria relax. Soon they will come and before you know it they'll be going home again." When my father tried to diffuse the annoyance in his wife, all it did was make it ten times worse. "This is all your fault José. You could just go and visit them at their house more often, but no - you insist that they come and stay here every few months."

And that was our cue to leave.

I quietly left the dining room with the rest of my siblings soon following suit, along with Alex and Catalina. As soon as the sound of our parents arguing grew louder, I released a sigh grabbing my jacket out of the cloakroom by the front door. I put it on while the rest of them bickered about our grandparents' imminent arrival.

After spending the entire day working and now having this bomb about my grandparents dropped on me, all I needed was to get out of that house. I just needed that same peace that she gave me, I needed to forget - even just for one night.

"You're going out?" Renata gave me a frown and I flashed her a small smile pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I am, but I'll see you tomorrow. We can go for a walk?"

"Sure, but where are you going?"

"Just out." My short response caused Alex to narrow his eyes at me, giving me a knowing look. He was smart enough to know I wouldn't stay in this house to listen to them argue, but he also knew that since he was going to find a girl to get laid tonight - which he does every night - then I wasn't going out with him.

"Well have fun wherever you're going." Alex chuckled at Renata's words, throwing an arm around my younger sister's shoulders. "Oh I'm sure he will, Renny."

"Shut up."

"I'm just saying, if I was going to my girlfriend's house then-" His words instantly caused me to glare at him when the rest of the chatter in the hallway ceased and Joanna turned to face us.

"Girlfriend?"

"She's not-"

"He stayed over at her house." The amusement in Alex's tone had me clenching my jaw. "You did? When? Oh Roman, I'm so happy for you! Is she nice? What's her name?"

"Joanna stop, she's not my girlfriend so just leave it." Giving her a look, I stepped towards the door just as Renata grabbed my hand.

"Roman wait." With a frustrated sigh, I turned to look at her again, ignoring the rest of them standing with us in the hallway. "It's okay for you to be happy too."

That's all she said as she gave me a smile, allowing me to finally leave the house.

I really wasn't sure about going to her house again, especially without asking her first. But if I did ask her maybe she'd say no?

So instead of doing that, I decided to pick up some snacks before I made my way to her house, parking next to her Audi on the driveway.

Just like last week it was pretty late at night when I rang her doorbell, holding a bag of food in my hand. I only had to wait a minute before the sound of her footsteps could be heard on the other side of the door along with the door unlocking.

As soon as I saw her tear stained cheeks and red nose, a frown formed on my face and I stepped closer.

"What happened?" I tried to keep my voice soft knowing this could either go two ways - she would close the door or let me in. If I came on too strong, it would definitely be the first one.

She held my stare standing there in her cute Minnie Mouse pyjama short set. Fresh tears welled up in her eyes before she suddenly wrapped her arms around me in a hug.

I wrapped my free arm around her, holding her against me as a few tears silently rolled down her cheeks. She eventually pulled away from me, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand while stepping aside to let me in.

I slipped off my shoes and headed into the kitchen with her close behind me.

I wasn't really the best person to handle girls crying, even if I did have two sisters and a niece, and a girlfriend at one point. Usually whenever my sisters cried I would just do my best to make them laugh and if Catalina ever cried I also gave her money which usually made her smile instantly.

But this was different.

Izzy looked like she'd been crying all day, if not more than just one day. She looked exhausted both physically and emotionally and she was missing that same light in her eyes.

And it freaking hurt me to see her like that.

Once I put the bag down, I pulled her into my arms again since I didn't really know what else to do. She rested her head against my chest while I rested my chin on the top of her head.

She was the perfect freaking height. Everything about her was perfect.

I knew she needed the hug and it was mostly for her, but I did benefit from it too. A whole week had passed since I last saw her and honestly at times I thought maybe I'd imagined the peace she gave me the night I slept in her bed.

Even if it would soon become addicting, it felt good to feel that again and know it was real.

"I'm sorry." Her voice came out barely above a whisper as she lifted her head to look at me, revealing her glassy eyes and tear stained cheeks.

"You don't have to say sorry Izzy."

"No I do, I've probably made you really uncomfortable." She tried to give me a meek smile and I reached out to wipe a stray tear from her cheek. "You haven't."

My own smile formed when she sniffled, looking past me for the first time at the bag of food with curious eyes.

"What's in the bag?"

"Cleaning products. I thought you could use them. Last time your kitchen and bathroom were a little dirty. Maybe you should-" She laughed, shaking her head as she stepped out of my arms.

"Roman stop. Don't be mean." The slight whine to her voice caused me to chuckle as she stepped towards the bag, peering inside.

"Doughnuts?"

"And ice cream. I didn't know which you would prefer."

"Are you trying to make me fat Roman?" Flashing me another smile, she took the ice cream out to put in the freezer. "Yep, that was the plan all along. I'm jealous of your figure."

She rolled her eyes with a glance at my body. "Bitch please. You're sculpted to perfection and you know it."

I do.

But it never hurts to hear someone say it out loud.

She stared at the box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts with a thoughtful look. "I haven't had dinner yet, Roman. Is it bad to have doughnuts for dinner?"

She's so freaking cute.

"Shall I order you a pizza?" At the mention of pizza, I saw a flash of that familiar light in her eyes. But she shook her head to decline the offer. "You don't have to-"

"What kind?" This was definitely a make or break question for any kind of relationship - a friendship or more.

"Cheese and tomato - with extra cheese."

Perfect.

"You want anything extra?"

"Can we share a French fries?" She seemed to shy to ask that and it just made her even more endearing.

Once I got the order, I called up my favourite pizza place in LA to place the order for delivery. The last time I had their pizza was before I went to prison so even though I'd already ate dinner, it was an absolute certainty I would be eating again.

Since Izzy lived much closer to the pizza place, the delivery was only estimated to be around 15-20 minutes.

"So..." I awkwardly tried to start a conversation in the kitchen and she cracked a smile. "Let's go upstairs and I'll tell you what's wrong."

"Isadora, please. I'd feel much more comfortable downstairs away from your bedchamber - preferably near an exit." My words had the desired effect when she let out a laugh, taking my hand to drag me out of the kitchen - the contact causing sparks to shoot up my arm.

"One, I seriously doubt that and two, I've never heard someone my age use the word bedchamber before."

"What can I say? I'm posh as fu-" Before I could manage to get the curse word out in an overly posh accent, she turned to give me a look as we reached the stairs. "Posh people don't use that word."

"Sweetheart, that's what us posh people want you to think. In reality, we're as common as the rest of you." Speaking in my posh accent which probably sounded weird as hell mixed with my Spanish accent, I sent her a wink causing a cute blush to form on her cheeks.

"I'm not common! I'm posher than you, actually. I'm a Visente, remember?"

Visente Corporations was that company that somehow always managed to produce a larger profit than any other, no matter the current financial climate or the scandals they went through.

I could tell she didn't really associate herself with the company, it was obvious. She didn't get on with her parents, she moved out and instead of working for the family business or taking over, she ran a gym instead. Plus she hardly ever mentions it.

"I don't care, you're a commoner in my eyes Isadora." My response caused her to groan as she shoved me towards the stairs. Well, she tried to shove me but nothing really happened since I was much taller and heavier.

I knew why she was doing it and of course I resisted as much as I could. I would never pass up a chance to stare at her ass.

"Isadora, please I couldn't possibly live with myself if I went up the stairs first - my morals wouldn't allow it. Please, ladies first." I gestured towards the stairs with a grin continuing my posh-guy accent. Izzy narrowed her eyes at me then she nodded with a challenging look.

"Fine." I half expected her to flip her hair over her shoulder as she stomped past me with a look of determination. She headed up the stairs first while I shamelessly stared at her perfect ass in those shorts.

There was no doubt I was going to stare, I'm a man. Even if they were Minnie Mouse shorts.

"Are you done?" I didn't notice when she stopped half way up the stairs to look at me, giving me a look of annoyance mixed with amusement.

"Can I have a bit longer please?" Even though I asked politely like Mama always told me to, Izzy rejected my request.

She continued walking, heading upstairs and into her room which looked exactly the same as last week. Netflix was also paused on TV which told me she'd just been in bed before I got here.

Shrugging off my jacket, I left it on a chair before I got into her bed next to her like last week. This time she turned to face me instead of pressing play on her stupid wannabe gangster show.

"I've never told anyone this." I could tell she was nervous, so all I did was take her hand in mine playing with that same bracelet with all the dangly things on. "Iz you don't have to-"

"No I want to." A period of silence passed and her next words came out barely above a whisper. They held so much emotion, so much raw pain.

"It's the anniversary of my grandad's passing today and...also the day I tried to kill myself."

How sad 🥺

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