Chapter 32

**Matteo**

I circle my arm to try to ease the pain I feel in my shoulder. My recovery was going faster than expected, but way slower than I wanted to. Our family doctor Chiara had cleared me to do some light exercise again. I was pretty sure that what I was doing was not her idea of light exercise but fuck it. Considering all the challenges, I needed to stay fit and prepared for everything.

So, I was throwing some punches in the air in a boxing ring to get that shoulder moving again. In the back of the room there seemed to be some commotion, but I paid no attention to it. Until I noticed that the commotion was getting closer.

When I looked up, I saw Vita storming into the gym. I could see her fists clenched, and the steam was practically coming from her ears. Save to say, she was pissed about something. Seeing that she was determined to get to me, she was most likely pissed at something I did. Though for the life of me, I couldn’t think of what it would be.

“You dickhead!”, she yelled, as she got into the boxing ring, and punched me in the stomach. I doubled over and puffed. She was not playing around.

“You stupid, dumb, brainless excuse for a man!”, she yelled as she punctuated everyone of those adjectives with another punch to my stomach. I tried to protect myself as good as I could, without hitting her back. “You asshole!”, she yelled and punched my shoulder hard. I screamed because of the pain, and I fell on the floor, clutching my shoulder.

“Luciano, let go of me!”, I heard Vita yell. “You okay?”, Ennio asked me calmly, as he helped me up again. I saw Vita kicking and screaming at Luciano for dragging her away from me. It was moments like this that I regretted that Vita got the exact same training as Ennio and I did. She was our equal when it came to fights, and Luciano was experiencing that right now. I could tell he didn’t want to hurt her, though Vita didn’t care as much. She was livid!

“Stop it!”, Ennio shouted loudly. His deep voice boomed around the gym, and it shocked her enough to stop her fighting.

“What the hell Vita?”, he asked her, while looking at her disapprovingly. Vita huffed, not impressed by Ennio.

“You ask him!”, she snapped, pointing at me. It seemed like she was calming down a bit, at least it seemed that Luciano had less trouble keeping her in control.

“Whatever he did, you attack the boss. You know what that means, Vita.”, Ennio threatened her. Vita’s eyes opened wide in shock at his comment. Clearly, she didn’t think about that when she was treating me as her personal punch bag.

Our hierarchy was unnegotiable, the rules were clear: attacking the boss was a death penalty. Vita knew this, she had grown up with it, so there was no excuse. Luciano looked at me. Silently pleading with me to save his wife.

“Vita, Ennio, my office, now!”, I ordered. Luciano grabbed my arm as we left the gym for the office, but I wiggled out of his grip. “Matteo, please.”, he pleaded. I ignored him.

“What the hell Vita?!”, I shouted when we entered. “Are you insane? You know what I should do to you now!”

Vita slumped down in her chair, clearly now aware of the mistake she made. Her eyes were cast down.

“Why did you punch him, Vita?”, Ennio asked calmly. Ennio always stayed calm, no matter what the circumstances. Vita and I, however, got our mothers temperament. It got us in trouble on more than one occasion.

“Matteo here messed up. He forgot a date he planned with Lily because he got shot. He didn’t tell her anything and now she believes he stood her up. We need her on board, Matteo! Tommaso’s got his claws in her already!”, Vita explained. Her anger rose with each sentence she said, and by the end she was yelling at me again.

I tried to dig in my mind to find any recollection of a planned date, but I couldn’t find anything. I knew my mind was foggy on the days around the shooting, though. I pulled out my phone and scrolled to find the texts that I exchanged with Lily. And there it was.

*‘A proper date, next Friday evening. Pick me up at 7PM. Show me a good time, and maybe I might help you to relive some of your fond memories.’*

Fuck.

“You remember now, don’t you! You’re a fucking dickhead! We’re this close to demolishing the Bruno famiglia. There is no way I’m letting you mess it up!”, Vita yelled, as she indicated with her finger just how close we were to our goal. Our revenge.

“Is she right?”, Ennio asked, looking directly at me. His eyes were able to see through everything. I nodded, she was indeed right.

“You better make this right with Lily. Vita is right, we need her on our side. Tommaso is way too close to her as it is already.”, Ennio stated. “So, I don’t care how you do it, but you need to get her back. So, beg, plead, grovel, just do it.”

Ennio turned around to face Vita. “As for you, you know what you did was wrong. Matteo can have you killed for it. Hell, if it were anyone other than you, I would even advise him to do so.”, he said while he pointed his finger at her, in her face. Vita nodded and cast her eyes down again.

“However, I will now advise him that you were acting like his sister instead of a member of the cartel. To spare your life, but for him to get his revenge in a different way.”, Ennio said. As my brother, it was his right to advise me in these matters.

“I take Ennio’s advice. I will not kill you, Vita. I know you are right in this matter. However, I need to show to the others that I am the boss. So, you will be dealing on the streets for the next month.”, I stated. Vita looked at me with wide open eyes out of shock.

“No, Matteo! You can’t do that to me! Do you know how humiliating that is? I lead our business, and you have me be a lowly runner?!”, she scoffed.

“Yes, which is exactly why I’m ordering you to do so. It is supposed to be humiliating.”, I ordered, and I dismissed her with a wave of my hand.

“You need to be careful, Matteo.”, Ennio said as he poured a drink for each of us. “We really do need Lily for us to succeed.”, he said, as he handed one to me.

“I know.”, I answered him, and I took a big sip.

“I know you do, but I need you to keep your eye on the goal. I need you to not get caught up in feelings for her.”, he replied.

“I don’t have feelings for her.”, I said. Ennio raised one of his eyebrows in a pointed look.

“I don’t.”, I insisted. All he did was take a big gulp and continue to look at me.

Truth is, I don’t even know if he was right. I put my capacity for feeling so far away in my mind after my parents died, that I didn’t know if it could even be recovered. Well, whether it could or not, it didn’t matter. I only needed Lily to be on our side. So, groveling it is!

*‘I’m sorry.’

‘I’m incredibly sorry.’

‘Lily, I am truly sorry for missing our date. I hope it is any consolation that I was unconscious?’*

No response to my texts, but I was expecting that. I was already on my way to her apartment to apologize to her in person. She deserved that at least. I had bought the biggest bouquet of flowers I was able to find, and some jewelry.

I was able to sneak into the main building, so now I was knocking on her apartment door. I heard some soft shuffling before the door was opened.

If I was capable of feeling, I’m sure my heart would have been broken when I saw her. She looked so small, stains of tears on her cheeks, red eyes from the crying, eyes looking so sad and empty, and hugging herself in an attempt to comfort herself. I saw some anger flare in her eyes when she saw me, but it was like she just didn’t care anymore.

I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around her, dropping the flowers and the box of jewelry to the floor. Silently, I closed the door behind me to give us some privacy. Lily clung to me, while I stroked her hair in hopes of comforting her. Slowly, I let us slip down to the floor, so we could sit down, while I continued to hug her.

“Lily, tell me. What is wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”, I asked her softly, trying to make eye contact with her. Lily continued to look down but shook her head slightly. I softly kissed her on her forehead, at which she did look up.

“I’m really sorry for standing you up, Lily. I never meant for that to happen.”, I whispered. She nodded.

“Vita mentioned you got shot. Are you okay now?”, she whispered weakly.

“Yes, but I’m worried about you now. What made you so sad?”, I asked her. As I hugged her to my chest, I felt my shirt getting wet with her tears.

“My mom died a little while ago, but today was the first day I felt truly alone. I have no family, no siblings. You stood me up, and my friends must be sick of me crying by now.”, she whispered through her tears.

“I’m sure your friends don’t think that for one second.”, I argued with her. I don’t really know her friends, but if they were truly her friends, they would never be sick of her.

“And you can always call me.”, I added softly.

We sat on the floor of her hallway for a while, with my arms wrapped around her.

“Where did you get shot?”, she asked me suddenly. I looked into her eyes, seeing curiosity.

“My shoulder.”, I said, nodding towards it with my head. Her soft hand went up to it and caressed it. I felt her fingers tentatively touching me.

“Does it hurt?”, she asked. I shrugged. I had been through worse, but I couldn’t tell her that. I’d rather not talk about shootings at all, to be honest. Lily stayed quiet for a while, caressing my shoulder, and resting her head on my chest.

“Can we just stay like this?”, she asked softly. I hugged her tighter and didn’t move an inch.