Chapter 33 "That kiss"

**Damon narrating**

Waking up to her caresses. There was nothing better in this world. I never thought that the affection of a ragazza would be so important to me. It was as if nothing else mattered, but I couldn't forget about the other problems; I still had to take care of the body of that imbecile and other things besides.

I remember saying that I never wanted to get married. That I would never let these sick rules reach me. Because here, if you didn't marry a woman your parents wanted or the most suitable for the "throne," they judged you. You were only well-regarded if you followed everything they wanted. And I wasn't like that.

But I don't care. I wanted to marry Elena because I liked her, and I believe that was enough. Although it was a marriage by contract, it wasn't exactly for love. But anyway, I knew that one day she would like me, and I didn't know how long it would take, but I was trying to win over Elena. However, I couldn't be a good man. Being bad was part of me, my essence.

As I pondered the question she asked, I felt a bit embarrassed. I wasn't used to opening my heart to anyone. Elena was the first one to have this effect on me.

"I confess that you remind me a lot of my mother. It was one of the things that caught my attention about you. Your way of being grumpy, yet with a soft and gigantic heart, helping everyone around you. And also, you have your principles; you're not afraid of power. You're not afraid that I'm a mafioso involved in a gang and a killer."

"Do you know if I'm not afraid?" Elena smiled. "Thank you for the compliments." Her face blushed.

"However, you and my mother were too naive. The good heart makes you believe and trust too much in human beings. And human beings are not worthy of trust," I said. "Another similarity, both of you are naive."

Elena burst into laughter; I wasn't sure what she was laughing about, maybe my complaint? I don't know. All I know is that her smile caused various different emotions in me, I was stunned by her smile, and I couldn't help but kiss Elena. I felt that she wanted it too, she desired that kiss. So, I took the liberty to do what I wanted the most.

The funniest thing of all was that she didn't refuse my kiss, quite the contrary.

My hands moved towards her nape, she leaned in as well, and we kissed. I ran out of breath; her kiss was mesmerizing. For the first time, she had reciprocated, and our tongues entwined like in a dance. At that moment, the outside world, the mafia, my problems, nothing was more important than being with the woman I desired so much, giving in to our kiss.

The warmth of our bodies together, that brief pause to catch our breath and kiss again. It was a passionate kiss, one that I don't think I had ever shared with anyone like that before.

"Mrs. Elena, I came to help you change your bandages," the nurse entered the room, interrupting our kiss and our moment. How annoying.

"Oh, yes, thank you," Elena spoke calmly, but I was already embarrassed by the fact that the nurse had seen and interrupted our kiss.

I seized the moment of embarrassment to see if they would take care of that guy's body. It was long overdue, and I don't even know what they did with him. With all this agony, I needed to deal with it quickly. While Elena was occupied with the nurse, I would take care of it with a few of my trusted men by my side.

"I need to take care of a few things," I said.

"What, Damon? I thought you were going to stay here with me," Elena said with a sad expression.

"And I will stay. But I need to take care of that guy's body," I whispered in her ear so that the nurse, who was adjusting the bandages, wouldn't hear.

"Oh, okay. Go safely, I'll be waiting for you."

After that kiss, I felt a bit embarrassed and didn't know how to act with Elena, so I just gave her a kiss on her forehead. I bid the nurse good night and left the room. I had to put an end to that idiot's body. He had no one to blame but himself for attacking people like that. Everything could have been resolved differently. Easily and simply, but he asked to be killed, practically.

I walked down the corridor until I reached the exit of the clinic. It was already night; I didn't know how long Elena would need to stay here, but I would ask Gael to take care of things for me while I needed to take care of Elena.

There was commotion in front of the door, what now? As if this nonsense earlier wasn't enough, now another mess. This can't be happening. I was losing my patience. What did these people want with this clinic? Something smelled fishy.

I put the gun in the inner pocket of my suit. If anything happened, I could just draw it out. I was already annoyed with this situation; I wanted Elena to rest in peace, to recover calmly and peacefully. So, for now, I would try to handle things calmly.

I went up to the two people who were there to find out what they wanted.

"Who are you?" I asked the man and the woman who were causing trouble and creating a commotion in front of the clinic.

"We're the relatives of the deceased, one patient and the other who died here. I want answers, or else I'll make your lives hell," the woman said.

"Listen here, tua mucca," I cursed her in Italian; I was already pissed off. "I don't know who you are, and I don't know what you want, but you won't make anyone's life hell. Let's see if you don't leave us alone in the blink of an eye."

I took a checkbook from my suit and wrote a substantial amount of money. Damn these idiots.

I offered the money to them. I wanted to avoid problems for Elena. My men had already taken care of the body earlier, but I needed to figure out what we were going to do after all.

"I'm offering you this amount. You don't need to cause trouble for anyone after taking this money. If you dare to come close or cause trouble here at the clinic again, I won't hesitate to kill anyone, okay? You don't know me, and you don't know who I am, and it's better to stay that way."

They didn't say anything more, they just took the money and left. Unpleasant people. One less problem in my head, for now.

Gael called me, and I was worried, I didn't know what it could be, so I answered.

"Hey Gael."

"Damon, open your phone and check out the online article I sent you."

"All right, buddy, I'll see what it's about." I ended the call and checked the article that Gael had sent me.

It was a report by a journalist, talking about what happened here at the clinic. Elena would be devastated when she saw this; it could tarnish the clinic's reputation and who knows what else. I needed to fix this, who

is this damn journalist meddling in things he shouldn't?

Because of this stupid article, he will regret it for a long time. It won't end like this. The guy tried to kill a woman; wasn't that enough? Now he's posting about the clinic? Great, right?

I hate journalists, cops, damn it. I swear I hated them. As for the guy's body that I killed, I asked the guys to take care of it and dump it somewhere. As far as I'm concerned, he wasn't even buried, for what he did to my Elena. I couldn't bear to let anyone touch her.

After that kiss, I spent quite some time thinking about Elena, the way she smiled, the way she looked at me, the time we spent kissing. It was so good. I wanted to repeat that kiss, I wanted to have her in my bed, to be mine. And I would wait as long as it took for that woman to be completely mine.

I really liked her.

Perhaps Elena deserved a better man who could provide her with freedom. Because all I could offer her was a life with guards behind us, always afraid that someone might try something. I couldn't run freely in a park at night with just the two of us without having someone watching us. And that hurts me. But I am aware that this is the life of a mafioso. I found myself torn between love and the mafia.