*[Make sure to read chapter 16 first, I posted it yesterday!]*

Izan 

It'd been a week since my men found out about her scars, and they were getting too attached, and I feared an unfortunate ending. 

"Explain again, please. I wasn't paying attention, sorry," Verena closed her laptop and faced me on the couch. I was sitting on the opposite side, but since the couch was not that big, our knees touched. 

I didn't hate it. Instead, I thrived whenever she touched me by mistake or intentionally. She soothed my raging thoughts, which was weird.

I grabbed my beer and took a sip, not bothered by her short attention span. "Dario Romano, the Italian Mafia Don, and his fiancé, Jolene Hansely, will arrive tomorrow. He's my best friend, and they will stay with us for a week. Since I have an extra empty bedroom, I offered they stay in our house."

"Our?" she asked after I realized what I had said. I hadn't said anything wrong. It was basically her house, too, since she was living here.

"Yeah. Anyway, do you have a problem with them coming over?" I didn't see the big deal of saying it was our house, but her flushed cheeks told me I caught her off guard, and I liked how bothered she looked. I wanted to touch her face.

Where did that come from?

"No, of course not! I look forward to making new friends. Is Jolene nice? Will she like me?" she asked, fidgeting with her fingers. I sighed, grabbed her hands, and made her look at me.

"Who doesn't?"

Her eyes widened as if I said something weird. "What?" she whispered, looking over her shoulder as if someone was listening.

"Who doesn't like you? Even Carlos said you weren't that bad last week," I admitted, and she smiled widely.

There it is.

"Including you?" she asked, and I finally understood her shock. I groaned and let go of her hands. 

"I mean, it's only fair I ask since you're always grumpy around me, and you sometimes have this disgusted expression on whenever I talk your ears off, understandably so, but still. I mean, do you really like me? Are we actually friends? Is it not for show? Please say yes, we're real friends and not just pretend because my fragile heart cannot handle a rejected friend's request. I know I overthink bu-"

"Vera." I grabbed her chin and made her look at me. "Shut up," I demanded calmly, and she instantly nodded. I almost grinned but held it back. 

"Good girl," I whispered when I made sure she was absolutely calm.

She fucking giggled again.

I sighed, tired from her mood switches, and said, "Listen to me. You're living with me, and that's proof I like you enough to let you be this close to me. I wouldn't let a stranger be this close to me even if I owed them. You're not a stranger, Vera. You're family now, but obviously not blood-related because then we could not..."

"Could not what?"

I realized what I was about to say. 

My thoughts had been wilder than her talkative self lately. "Never mind. What I mean is that everyone here likes you, so Jolene will definitely like you, if not love you. So, shut your pretty little mouth from spitting these destructive thoughts before I find a way to shut it for you."

"So, are we friends?" she asked, and I almost face-palmed myself.

"Yes, but we can be more than that," I hinted, and she smiled, clearly not understanding me.

"Best friends?"

Oh, for fuck's sake!

~~~

"Do I look okay?" she asked. We were waiting for Dario and Jolene at the entrance of our house. Vera wore a blue flowy sundress, and she looked absolutely radiant. Exquisite.

I nodded. "More than okay," I replied honestly, and she giggled. 

I figured she giggled whenever she felt shy, and I enjoyed hearing the sounds she made. There were other sounds I wanted to hear, but I pushed these thoughts to the back of my mind when I saw my driver pull over. 

My friends got off, and I saw Dario holding Jolene's waist for support. She hadn't fully recovered from what happened at the Ball last April. "Bienvenidos," I greeted them with light side hugs.

"Izan, it's so nice to see you again and under normal circumstances," Jolene said with a hint of humor, then her eyes landed on Vera. "Is this your girlfriend?" she asked, excited and ready for some drama.

Dario eyed her for a minute, then sighed. "Since when? I'm your best friend. We tell each other everything," Dario said, sounding like a person who liked gossip. Jolene changed him so much, but I didn't mind this version of him.

Vera laughed and slapped my shoulder playfully. I glared, but she shrugged it off as always. I couldn't intimidate her. Not that I wanted her to be intimidated by me. "He wishes. I am his roommate, coworker, and friend, and my name is Verena Amaryllis. It is so nice to meet you! Jolene, you're absolutely gobsmacking beautiful! Dario hit the jackpot with you. He's okay looking, but you're a work of art, woman. Don't let her slip out of your fingers, mister," she chattered, and I just let her be. 

They would get used to her soon.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Dario replied, glancing lovingly at Jolene, and we entered the house.

The women grinned at each other, already forming a bond. "You're stunning, woman! What're you talking about? You should be a model!" Jolene stated as she sat on the couch with Dario beside her. Vera and I sat on the chairs across the room.

"With my height? Better luck next life," Vera joked, and I could tell Dario was already overwhelmed by her. Jolene seemed happy as she laughed.

"Are you, by any chance, Dexter Amaryllis' daughter?" Jolene asked, drawing my attention to her. Dario sat silently while wrapping his arm around his girl.

Jolene was originally the CEO of Hansely's Watches from New York but moved to Italy with Dario and ran her business from there. "Yes, please tell me you don't like him..." Vera replied, playing with the hem of her dress. I wanted to hug her.

Jolene carefully thought about her words as she looked at me. I nodded, and she cleared his throat and said, "He's one greedy son of a bitch." 

Vera cheered. "Yes! Thank God. I'm indifferent toward him, so I get so happy when I meet people who don't like him. He is one greedy son of a female dog," she remarked happily, and I grinned.

Indifference is way worse than hate, as she said.

She doesn't want to waste emotions on him.

Atta girl.

"What did he do to you?" Dario asked, and I could see his wheels running. They had just been over their past, and he didn't want a repeat. I understood him.

Vera went silent for a while but decided to tell them her story, and I was so proud of her. She understood that I trusted them, so she trusted them as well. She even told them about the abuse and Heath and how she ended up here with me.

"So, you escaped from verbal and physical abusers?" Jolene asked with tears in her eyes. Vera got up and hugged her gently, bearing in mind that she wasn't physically well but did not ask anything.

"That's about it, but please don't cry for my sake. I'm over it, and I hope I never see them again. They are not dead... so I might see them again, but I pray not to," she exclaimed, feeling all tensed up and afraid at the thought of them returning to her life.

I won't let that happen.

Over my dead body.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Jolene offered as she wiped her tears with Dario's shirt, and I swear I saw snot somewhere. He didn't mind. 

I wouldn't mind it either if Vera wiped her tears on my shirt, but I didn't want to see her tears.

A smile suited her better.

"As a matter of fact, there is something you can do," I began, and Dario looked at me, trying to understand where I was going with this. Jolene nodded, and Vera sat back down in her chair, waiting for me to speak. 

"Since you're a brilliant hacker, I need you to freeze Heath Hemlock's assets and bank accounts." 

~~~ 

12.01.2024 

Things are getting exciting!

 I hope you liked this chapter. 

What is your favorite song?