Chapter 53 (II)

Chapter 53 (II)
Clad in another one of Jordan's shirts with only her panties on, Emerald stood before the foggy mirror of the bathroom, constantly running the already damp terry through her wet hair. She stared at her reflection, recalling how the night had gone since the unexpected arrival of Carol, Leonardo and Keelan.

Carol had been more than happy to babble about how Oriana and Keelan had discovered that they both had something in common, their friends, Emerald and Jordan. Apparently, Oriana had also managed to let it slip that she knew where the couple had disappeared into and similarly babble-mouth Keelan hadn't been able to withhold such information from Carol, who had begged him to convince Oriana to take them to the couple.

This came to that and Oriana was able to persuade Logan, resulting in both friends arriving with the whole calvary. As usual, Maggie had been overjoyed to receive more guests and her reaction had been very akin to that of a kid in a candy store.

Taking into consideration how tonight had gone, Emerald couldn't have been more grateful for her family's peculiar trait of always preparing every meal as though it were for a feast. Her parents had always preferred having leftover meals to having their family or guests left unsatisfied and that particular quirk of theirs had come in handy tonight.

Returning the towel to its rack, Emerald ran her fingers through her mildly damp hair, staring into her own eyes with the smidgen of a smirk playing on her lips. She thought back to how cozy Oriana and Keelan had been at dinner and although she had planned on cornering her best friend, the sneaky little thing had managed to escape her grasp.

‘But only for tonight,’ Emerald decided before walking out of the bathroom to meet with the sight of Jordan's dorsal view facing her from where he stood by the sliding glass doors leading to the little balcony Emerald had installed in her teenage days’ bedroom.

“Cal?” she called out, frowning slightly when he doesn't respond. His posture was tense and stiff as he stood with his muscular arms buried in the pockets of his sweatpants. His upper body was bare, Emerald noticed as she approached him.

Gently placing her hand on his forearm, she tried again. “Cal?” He jerked at the sound of her voice and quickly, his head whipped around to face her. Emerald frowned when she noticed the barely evident look of relief that shadowed his countenance for a millisecond before dispersing.

“Are you okay?” she asked cautiously as he wrapped his arms around her frame, pulling her into his chest. She felt his head drop to place a kiss on her forehead before he mumbled a response.

“I'm fine, love.”

Emerald looked up at him, trying to gauge his expression but was only met with a small smile dancing on his lips. “You sure?” she pressed on, to which he nodded before turning her around so her back could rest against his front. His arms wound tightly around her and she, in return, rested hers on his forearms.

They both continued to stare out the balcony, allowing the chilly night air wrap around them like a blanket as they dwelled in the comfortable silence the night provided. Few moments passed before Emerald spoke up, her voice only an octave higher than a whisper.

“If this is about your family's unexpected visit, then you have absolutely nothing to worry about. My parents were absolutely glad to have such august visitors,” she assured, remembering how he hadn't seem to have taken their sudden appearance quite well.

“No, that's not it, Gem. I promise,” he sighed. “I'm actually glad they came, albeit unexpectedly, I was already planning on introducing them to your family. I'm happy it happened soon.”

Emerald looked up at him to find him already staring at her. He leaned down, still holding her gaze, before taking her lips in his for a slow kiss. They pulled away and unconsciously, Emerald bit her bottom lip, absentmindedly tracing the apex and nadir of Jordan's abs while Jordan could only continue to stare at her lips.

Just as he managed to pry her soft, pink and slightly swollen lower lip from the confines of her teeth, Emerald breathed out. “Cal?”

“Hmm?” He hummed distractedly, his eyes still trained on her lips as he gently ran his thumb along the incredibly soft flesh, delineating and committing to memory, the lines which gave life to her perfect cupid's bow shaped lips.

“I've been meaning to ask you something,” she whispered, appearing to hesitate to ask.

“What's that?” He whispered in return, deliberately letting his breath fan her face. The baby of a smirk graced his lips when he heard her sharp inhalation; he was loving the effect he had on her.

Emerald hesitated for a bit before putting her thoughts to words. “Why do you seem to hate Leonardo?” She finally asked.

All of Jordan's movements came to a sudden halt, his thumb freezing its glide along Emerald's lips and his little smirk falling right off his face when her question registered in his senses. Emerald, once again, bit down harshly on her lower lip, fearing that she might have overstepped her boundaries by asking such a question, so she scrambled to fix her mistake.

“I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. I was just—”

“No, Gem.” Jordan shook his head, stopping her. “Don't apologise. You have every right to know.”

“But—”

“Shush, baby,” he cut her off again, silencing her with a peck on the lips. “You have every right to know, Gem,” he reiterated, “besides, you already told me all about you, including your past and everything else. It's only fair if I do the same.”

Shuffling gently, the pair, after a few seconds, found themselves seated on the rug covered floor — Jordan with his back against the metal finishing of the glass door, his legs spread apart as Emerald sat in between them, straddling him as her own feet laid crisscrossed behind him. His arms around her waist held her steady and her arms around his neck held him to her.

He began drawing circles on her lower back as he began his story.

“I won't say I particularly hate Fernandez,” he sighed. “Well, other than the fact that he had hurt Carol, I see that she's happy with him. He makes her happy and that's what truly matters.”

“Fernandez?” Emerald asked confusedly. She knew his last name to be Levine, right?

“Levine is his mother's maiden name. He stopped using his father's.” Jordan explained, to which Emerald nodded in understanding.

“Just like me,” she whispered and Jordan replied with an agreeing hum.

“But in his case, Leonardo did that because he didn't want to be a part of the mafia world. Leonardo's father, Emiliano Fernandez, is the Don of the Italian Mafia — a clan which, as at then, was the biggest Mafia empire ever known in all of Italy and countable parts of the world.

But somehow, Leonardo — the heir — didn't want to be a part of that world, a world whose darkness wouldn't hesitate to consume one's soul, drowning them in an eternal void. So instead, he chose the light. He gave up his father's name, went to med school and became a doctor.

He hasn't completely cut off ties with his family, don't get me wrong, he just doesn't want in on the whole Mafia thing, but no matter how much he chose to avoid it all, he couldn't escape one thing,” he paused, the intensity in his eyes sharpening as he stared into Emerald's eyes.

“An arranged marriage,” he revealed, watching her to gauge her reaction which wasn't much as her expression remained the same. She was either really a master in hiding her emotions or she had already had it figured out.

“You don't look surprised,” Jordan stated, receiving a one shoulder shrug from her.

“I had my hypothesis, plus I was her therapist.” Jordan nodded, continuing his story.

“Emiliano had already agreed to letting his first male child and the rightful heir to the position of Don of the Italian Mafia, have his last name changed. He had already agreed to letting him lead his own life outside of the mafia, but he gave no other alternative to Leonardo this time.

He had already allowed him to do all he wanted, but concerning the matters of the arranged marriage, Emiliano had refused to ease up on his son and this had worked perfectly in favour of Raymond Flyre, my father.” Jordan spat, the venom and hatred evident in his tone.

“A so called father who had been so power hungry and hadn't hesitated even for a second before promising his three year old daughter to the Italian Mafia. ‘She wouldn't be so useless after all’, ‘she would serve a great purpose for me and my clan after all’, he had said when he had broken the news to my mother and my fifteen year old self.”

His fists clenched around Emerald's hips, his nails digging into her flesh almost painfully. Knowing that it was unintentional, Emerald began caressing the nape of his neck, very aware of how much that action always seemed to please and ease him.

“Hearing that my little sister had been sold for the purpose of a godforsaken alliance even before she began to speak coherently, it killed me, Mera. I was furious and frustrated with myself because I couldn't even do anything to help her. I couldn't stop the alliance even after my father's death. Even after I had killed the bastard.”

Emerald's gaze snapped up to meet his, already watching her, trying to gauge her response to his confession of killing his own father. He had expected to see blame in her eyes, he had expected to see disgust, contempt, any negative emotion out there, but he had never anticipated this reaction of hers at all.

She gently pulled him down to connect their lips in a chaste kiss and after pulling away, she rested her forehead against his, holding him closely.

“I was helpless. I felt weak, useless,” he whispered.

Emerald could see the pain in his eyes, she could feel the guilt radiating off him in waves. He still blamed himself.

“But look at how it turned out,” Emerald whispered, hoping to lift some of the guilt off him. “They have grown to love each other very much.”

Jordan nodded, the skin of his forehead sliding against hers. “That feeling of helplessness, of being useless, I never wanted to experience it again so, I resolved to be powerful, to be even more powerful than my father and the Italian Mafia combined. That was when the Mafia dream was born.”

“It was never by choice,” Emerald whispered, staring into his eyes, to which Jordan replied with pursed lips.

“I never really hated Leonardo, rather than that, I blamed myself for being so useless. When I succeeded in forming the J.K empire and taking down the Flyre clan — my father's Mafia empire — I formed alliances with different other clans — the Russians, the Pakistanis, the Koreans and so much more.

In no time, I became more powerful than the Italians and I was even able to gain access to the Southern and Eastern regions — regions the Italians have been struggling to form alliances with for years. After attaining all heights, I still couldn't bring my sister out of her loveless marriage. Or should I say, unrequited love marriage.”

His jaw clenched and Emerald responded by placing little kisses along the skin altered by the presence of a light stubble, successfully able to ease his brimming emotion. “In the past,” she reminded, earning a sigh and nod from Jordan, who wrapped his arms tighter around her.

“Carol didn't want a divorce even after everything Leonardo put her through and it only fueled the self–blame and detest I had towards myself. Everytime my sister came to me, in tears, my heart shattered over and over again and one time, when I reacted impulsively and beat up Leonardo, let's just say I had never seen my sister cry and curse at me as much as she did that day.

Seeing Leonardo just reminds me of my shortcoming in protecting my little sister,” he concluded.

Emerald hummed, moving her hands to cup his face, making their eyes stare into each other's depths. “Well, it shouldn't. Seeing Leonardo should remind you of the beauty of fate.”

“Fate?” Jordan asked.

“Mhmm,” Emerald nodded, “what if Carol and Leonardo had met and gotten married, but under different circumstances? Would you have tried to separate them?” Jordan shook his head in response. “Exactly. Just think of it as this; your father did that with the intention of gaining allies, but all he did was give their already entangled fates a little push.

And as they say, something that would last for a very long time would take a long process. As gold would go through countless processes — a fiery furnace, the goldsmith's hammer — but the end result will always be something so beautiful and shiny.

I'd say Carol's and Leonardo's love story was exactly like that, Cal. It was inevitable, so I want you to change your view about that. I don't want you blaming yourself for something you could've done nothing to prevent.”

Emerald gave him a gentle smile as Jordan remained quiet, only staring at her. It continued for a few minutes and when Emerald saw that he had no intention to look away, she blushed, clearing her throat before shyly averting her eyes from his.

She peeked through her lashes to see that he was still staring at her, appearing to be transfixed or frozen in time. “Why are you staring at me?” she mumbled.

Jordan continued to stare at her for a few seconds before pulling her into a kiss that ended with her being breathless. “You're the best thing that has ever happened to me, you know that?” he whispered against her lips, placing little kisses on her soft flesh before raining her entire face with wet kisses.

Emerald squealed, laughing as she squirmed to escape his slobbery assault. “Eww, I'm covered in your slobber!” she laughed.

“Uhn uhn, what's that?” Jordan joked, his chocolate orbs glinting with mischief as a smirk dominated his face. “Did you hear me complain when you covered my entire lips with your ambrosial release the other night?” he taunted, his voice low and husky.

Emerald's laughter came to a sudden halt when she began choking on her own saliva at his implying words. Her face turned beetroot red and it was Jordan's turn to laugh, earning a light slap to his bare chest from her.

Emerald groaned, covering her face when he continued to laugh at her. “Why do you have to be so annoying?” she grumbled, pouting angrily at him.

“Aww,” Jordan cooed, placing both his palms against her cheeks before pressing lightly, so her lips would pucker out. “You're so cute, I could kiss you into oblivion,” he smirked before connecting his lips to hers again.