Chapter 90 Story behind the ink.
Madison's POV
I was intentional about Alessandro.
That was what he didn't know.
I knew he'd say everything to push me away. So him telling me he didn't love me didn't do shit to me.
I wasn't expecting him to love me back.
All I wanted was to let him know of my feelings and know that I was going to be doing life with him, if he wanted.
I was all in.
Fear was no longer instilled in me. The old Madison wouldn't dare but this new Madison was all in.
I had found a new world.
I was stronger now.
I was heard. I could lead. I had the power.
I had a new family.
Nothing could beat this.
"I'm going to tell you everything. Hopefully, you'll understand and you'd stop loving me." Alessandro pushed my hand off his back gently, standing tall. His back spread out wide.
"What? The tattoo?" My eyes zeroed in on his back.
He had a large tattoo that covered his whole back and it looked like it had a story.
In a little red box was a child, and then surrounded by the box was red, heart shaped drawing.
"I used to breathe love. I used to believe in love. Fuck, my parents seemed to me like they were in fucking love. Especially Miranda... my mother."
I could hear the hardness and hatred in his voice when he called his mother's name.
This was the first time he even acknowledged having a mother.
"What happened to her? To them?" I asked, taking my eyes to the next picture.
It had a picture of a sad boy who watched from the corner of a pillar, the halfway burnt image of a woman.
Then the next was the image of the ashes sprinkled on that same boy, clothing him with an all black garment. He looked soulless and ruthless.
"My father and mother were so in love with themselves... It was almost sick to watch sometimes." He scoffed painfully.
His breath hitched when my finger traced the tattoo on his back. "Then her 14 year-old son walked in with her husband one day and there she is, fucking another man in her matrimonial bed." His voice cracked.
My heart broke for him.
He was so young.
"She said she had pretended to love my father for years. For 16 fucking years." His voice rose up but I didn't flinch. "She broke him. She broke me."
"I'm -"
"Don't apologize. She only made me stronger. She opened my eyes. She created a better version."
She created a monster.
My eyes landed on the picture of a large beast with its mouth opened wide in a roar, claws sharp and it's heart squashed hard on one hand with blood dripping down.
"Love, to me, is an illusion." He turned to face me, his eyes stoned. His glare was deathly. "I wasn't initially interested in being in the Mafia but it changed after that event and so at 15, I began training to be one, like my father. It made me feel alive. Taking people's life and watching them cry and beg, made me feel powerful and in control." He smiled at me, wickedly.
I swallowed hard, still standing at the same spot. My heart quaking.
I should be scared but I knew all these and still wanted him.
"I made my first kill at age 16 and that was where I lost that Alessandro that still had little human feeling. I was clothed with a new identity - the ruthless young boy."
He took a threatening step forward, making me step backward. "Everybody was scared of me. Nobody would dare cross my path. That was my life. I did everything I could to maintain that title."
I placed my hand on his chest, looking up at him. "I'm not scared of you, Alessandro."
He halted, creasing his eyebrow at me and then he moved back until he was at the edge of the pool.
He spread out his hand, letting himself fall backwards.My heart jumped but then relaxed when I remembered he could swim.
He was a pro.
One minute. Two. Three. Five and he was not out of the water. I couldn't even see him. Frightened, I jumped into the water, searching for him.
When my eyes caught onto him, he was sitting at the bottom of the water, his eyes closed.
I couldn't hold my breath for long but I didn't want him to die on me either.
So I fought.
My hand caught onto his arm, pulling him up. His eyes opened, a sad emotion in them. He allowed me pull him up, aiding me by helping himself swim up to the surface.
"Jesus Christ, Alessandro!" My chest heaved up and down as I held his shoulder, suppressing the urge to shove him for pulling such stunt.
For scaring me.
"Raven." He muttered, his voice low. "Why do you keep saving me?"
"Huh?"
"Forget it." He swam to the edge of the pool, helping himself to sit.
Sighing weakly, I swam to him, helping myself up.
"It's that bird. You definitely see me as that bird." I chuckled, trying to make a conversation that didn't feel deep.
Trying to divert the conversation.
Until he spoke again...
"I didn't want to be a leader but I guess I was born to be one." He ignored me, telling me another story. "I just wanted to feel alive, staying on the Mafia team as a member but then Ivano Salvatore came into the picture."
"How?" I looked at him, watching as his jaw clenched and unclenched.
"He walked into our territory some day, looking for my father. I guess I was around 17 years then. My father didn't even have the chance to say a word and just like that... He was shot 7 times on one leg. 7 times." He frowned. "Because of jealousy. Because he wanted to be more powerful."
A gasp left my lips, my hand covering my mouth.
"Oh!"
He scoffed, shaking his head. "I swore never to forgive him if anything happened to my father and then something happened. Igor lost his footing. He couldn't walk for 3 years. It was later on he started recovering." He looked into my eyes, seriously. "I had to take over at 18 because the clan needed a leader. I made sure I earned it every bit of it."
"What did you want to be?"
His mouth fell open, a soft emotion floating in his eyes. "I wanted..." He clenched his jaw, his eyes turning dark. "I'm where I should be."
Sighing, I placed my hand on his thigh.
"It's good to know you were human before this. I'm sorry about what your mother did... It wasn't nice of her. I'm sorry she scarred you at such a tender age. You didn't deserve that. Neither did your father." I told him, not looking at him.
I didn't want to cry. I was already getting emotional.
It must've been hard living life without a mother and also learning that she never loved your father.
"She never came back to look for any of us. She just hopped on different silver and gold cocks." He scoffed painfully. "She... She didn't care about anyone. We were non-existent to her."
"Not all women are like that though."
He scoffed, looking at me. "Right? Then tell me why your mother left you and never came back? Tell me why your own mother's sister tried to get rid of you!"
"They're all fucking the same!" He screamed, his chest heaving up and down.
I withdrew my hand to myself, my face turning pale.
He didn't say that to me.
Helping myself up, I stared at him for a while, shaking my head before turning away.
"Wait. Wait. Madison!"