Chapter 44

**Matteo**

I just walked out of Lily’s apartment together with her. I had pushed to join, obviously because I knew what she was going to walk into. Did I like that I ordered to raid her apartment? No. Did I think it was necessary? Yes. But that didn’t mean that I was that much of a jerk that I wanted her to see it alone. I wanted to be there to provide some sort of support.

It hurt me to see the hurt I caused Lily by ordering her apartment to be searched. I was used to hurting people, though I have to admit, usually I hurt them physically. Feeling her pain through me felt agonizing. I know that I was developing feelings for her, I just didn’t want to admit it to anyone at this point. Feelings meant a weakness in my line of work.

Lily’s eyes watered just by the look of her apartment. Luciano and Nino had been in here earlier to search for hidden cameras or microphones. They had briefed me a while ago already on what they had found, which shocked me. They had found microphones in all rooms of her apartment, and cameras in the kitchen, living room, and bedroom. Depending on when they had been installed, they might have had quite the show!

They also found microphones in fucking earrings! It was to be expected, I guess, after finding the others, but for someone that did have any links with criminals or mafia, it was a lot of bugs. And I had no idea if she had worn these earrings in my house, or if she had, what had been said around her.

So yeah, happy that I had ordered it, because my gut feeling had been correct. I just wished that there was a way without causing her pain. I tried to be there for her and support her where possible. So, I called the police for her. Obviously, I made myself scarce after that, only coming back after they left. That’s when I made the first mistake.

I had assumed that she would be staying with me. She looked at me like I had grown three heads. Shit, why had I done that? I wanted her to stay with me because I could keep her safe in my house. If they rigged her house, God knows what else they would do! And yes, I liked her in my bed. Partly for obvious reasons, but even if there was no sex, I like her there. But she had other places to stay that might be more appealing to her. I didn’t know how successful I was in seducing her. Clearly, we had sex, but other than that I had no idea if she felt more for me.

Then she started smiling. I don’t think I ever felt as relieved as I was at that point. Disaster averted! She quickly packed a small bag with stuff she would need if she was going to stay with me for a longer time. I know that I promised her to help to fix her apartment, I just didn’t want to hurry too much.

Walking back to the car, we talked about all day stuff. Her tears had dried, and she smiled occasionally, so the first shock had passed. I parked the car a little further away because there were no spots left around the entrance of her building. The closest I found was in an alley a 5-minute walk away. It was dry outside, so I guessed it would be fine.

My interest was drawn to a car that was passing at a slower pace than the others, but I passed it off as someone searching for the right place to go. It wasn’t until I saw the same car for the second time that I thought something of it. And that was when I heard the first shot fired. I looked around for the source and heard the next salvo of shots coming towards us.

“Lily! Get down!”, I shouted. It was like Lily didn’t hear what I said. She was looking at the sky, like she was looking for stars or fireworks. She seemed dazed to me. I grabbed her by the neck and pushed her down with force, taking shelter behind a random car. I grabbed my gun from the back of my pants and started shooting at whoever it was that was aiming at us.

We were close to our car. The armored car. I only needed to get Lily in there and she would be safe, but the shots were coming too fast and too many for me to help her the last few steps to it. I needed to keep shooting for us to have a chance at making it out of here alive.

Nino and Luciano joined us in a matter of seconds. I knew they would be there soon because there was always someone guarding me. Normally, they would have been beside me, but because Lily didn’t know what I was and I didn’t want her to know, they were at a distance.

“Luciano, get her in the car!”, I shouted. Luciano nodded and grabbed Lily by the shoulders. He told her gently what they were going to do, but judging by the look on her face, I doubt she heard any of it. He dragged her to our car and pushed her inside. At least she was safe!

Luciano grabbed the best of the semi-automatic guns we supplied to the market and threw 2 at us. They were faster at firing, and they helped us to scare the bad guys away. Slowly, Nino and I made our way to our car, trying to take out as many of the other guys out as we could. I saw Luciano was already seated in the driver’s seat. That was our sign to get in and get out of there.

“Luciano, we need to get home.”, I ordered. Not that I needed to, because the guy wasn’t stupid. But still.

“Who was that?”, I asked either of them.

“Bruno.”, Nino answered shortly. I nodded, somehow, I had expected it to be them.

“They are getting more aggressive.”, I said, not really expecting an answer. They must really want my head for those weapons. Well, we were ready for them.

I looked to Lily who was sitting next to me, who seemed lost in her thoughts, which is when I finally realized my second mistake.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Merda. Lily had seen me pull a gun out of the back of my pants. She had seen me behave like I knew what to do in a shooting. And she had seen Luciano and Nino appearing from thin air and pulling semi-automatic weapons from my car. How on earth am I going to explain this to her? I have to tell her the truth, but how will she take that? Oh boy, how do you explain that you are a criminal, a part of a mafia family?

I guess we will know soon!

Luciano pulled up in front of the main house. I got out first, and I stuck out my hand to help Lily out of the car. She was still staring out of the other window, thinking about I don’t know what, not noticing what happened around her.

“Lily?”, I asked warily. She didn’t respond. I tried again, but a little louder this time. She looked up at me disoriented.

“Are you okay? Ready to get out of the car?”, I asked her caringly. She nodded and took my hand to get out of the car. I guided her into the house. She seemed okay physically, but mentally was a different story. She must still be processing everything that happened.

Ennio walked towards us, his eyes full of questions that he didn’t dare to ask around Lily. I nodded to him and cocked my head in the direction of my office. Of course, he understood, we had been around each other for long enough. He pulled out his phone to call someone.

I took Lily to the living room and sat her down on the couch. About a minute later, Guilia entered with a glass of water. She walked straight to Lily and knelt in front of her. Handing her the glass of water, she started to comfort her by talking softly.

Taking that as a cue, I went to my office. I just knew that Ennio called Guilia to come in as a familiar face for Lily, so that we could talk.

“What happened?”, Ennio asked, coming straight to the point. I sat down, sighing.

“We left Lily’s apartment, which we trashed for bugs as you know, and Bruno’s men start shooting from their car.”, I answered. Ennio just nodded.

“How did they know you were coming?”, he asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe Nino and Luciano said something before destroying the microphones?”, I guessed, but I even doubted myself to be honest. Ennio shook his head.

“They are smarter than that.”, he said. I nodded.

“I know, but I don’t have a different explanation.”, I replied.

“How are you going to explain to Lily?”, Ennio asked. I shrugged and combed my hands through my hair.

“No fucking idea.”, I answered. Ennio chuckled.

“Good luck with that.”, He smirked and walked out.

“Where is she?”, I asked Guilia when I came back to the living room.

“She went to your bedroom to change into something comfortable.”, she answered nonchalantly, continuing to look at something on her phone.

I waited with her for a few minutes. Impatiently, I kept bouncing my knee up and down, and watching the stairs expecting her to come down any second. I checked my watch many times, but no Lily.

“Matteo! God, you’re annoying!”, Guilia exclaimed, slapping my leg.

“It’s been too long.”, I said, got up and walked to my bedroom. I knocked on the door, letting her know that I was coming in. I tried the door, but it was locked. What the hell?

I turned to banging on the door.

“Lily! Open up!”, I yelled. Did something happen to her? I continued banging and yelling, until Lily opened the door a little. So little, that I couldn’t even see her whole face.

“What do you want, Matteo?”, she was almost spitting out the words.

“Lily! Open the door, please.”, I asked her, but she shook her head, and immediately shut the door again. I banged on the door again.

“What is wrong, Lily?”, I asked her through the door.

“What are you, Matteo?”, she asked. I pinched the bridge of my nose, that was not the thing I wanted to hear.

“What are you talking about?”, I tried, hoping I could feign ignorance.

“You know what I’m talking about. What are you, Matteo?”, she yelled at me through the door.

“I don’t know what you mean.”, I try again.

“Cut the crap, Matteo. You can sleep on the couch.”

Fuck.