L *NOT EDITED*

Vincenzo

I open the door to my room and see Karma and Hades sitting on the bed, she quickly puts away whatever she had in her hands before I got the chance to see it. "Playing with yourself leonessa?' I tease, she laughs throwing her head back "You wish Capo", I sit down next to her and look her up and down, something ain't right. "What were you fiddling with?" I question raising an eyebrow at her, "I don't know what you're talking about" She attempts to brush off standing up and beginning to walk to the bathroom, she goes to close the door but I push it back open. She moves nervously towards the sink as I close the door and lock it behind me. I turn to look at her and her skins a bright red, what is she hiding?

"Karma..." I begin taking a step towards her, she attempts to take a step back but the vanity stops her in her tracks, "What's going on?" I ask looking for any body language to help me figure it out. She chews down on her lower lip and looks to the floor, "You can tell me come on" I say in a soft voice to try and get her to open up. She looks back up at me with tears in her eyes, what the fuck is happening. "Promise you won't get angry?" Her voice breaks asking me the question, how the fuck am I supposed to promise that when I don't know why she's even upset? "I promise Karma just tell me what's going on, you've got me worried, is it because I drugged you?".

She shakes her head no, "I'm still mad at you but it's not that..." She pauses, I wait for her to explain but she looks like she's going to crumble at my feet, what the hell's got her so upset? I grab onto her hand and pull her into my embrace holding her as tight as I can, her body shakes as sobs of pain leave her mouth, but not a psychical pain, more of an emotional pain. I continue to hold onto her and kiss the top of her head as she cries harder, I don't know how long we stood like that but by the time she stops my shirt is soaked with tears. I pull her back slightly and cup her face "What's going on? Just tell me".

"At St Marys... that bitch... Sister Jude, she gave me something... told me I'd never change... That in my heart I'm the same person, and I think she's right" She begins, I'm now more confused than I was before, "What did she give you?". Her hand moves to her pocket where she pulls out a small baggie with a white powder in it, I take it from her fingers and inspect it closer "Coke? Listen Karma coke isn't that bad, if you want to have a little party every now and again go ahead as long as it isn't every day, alright?" I almost chuckle shaking the bag slightly, Karma shakes her head no "It's not coke Vin, it's heroin, pure, uncut, heroin" She croaks out. I feel my blood go ice cold, god she didn't, tell me she didn't.

My face must have given it away because Karma starts over speaking and over-explaining herself "I swear to god Vin I haven't touched it, I promise I didn't do it I wanted to but I didn't, god I wanted to so badly, but look at my arms and veins, please, believe me, you can even drug test me" She sobs again. I pull her into my chest once more and take a deep breath, "I believe you leonessa, thank you for telling me, and thank you for not doing it, can I ask why you didn't throw it out though?".

"I was still deciding what to do with it, part of me wanted to do it just to shove it back in your face for drugging me, but I know if I started I wouldn't be able to stop... I guess I just needed the push from someone to get rid of it, to tell me I'm better off without it, to tell me they're proud of me for not doing it, to tell me they're proud of how far I've come" She admits. "Well, I'm so fucking proud of you, I wish you had of told me earlier but it doesn't matter, what matters is at the end of the day you want to get rid of it so that's what we will do alright?". I pull her face back and watch as she slowly nods her head, I open the toilet seat and hand the small baggie back to Karma.

She stares at it for a few minutes until she steps next to me opening the baggie, I watch her as she pours it's contents out into the toilet bowl, I can't imagine how hard this must be for her, but she's so fucking strong for doing it. After all the powders poured out she drops the bag too, we stand in silence for another minute or two before she flushes the toilet watching it spin around in the toilet bowl until it's gone. "Feel better?" I ask looking at her out of the corner of my eyes, "No" She replies looking up from the toilet to me, "But it's gone?" I ask confused, "It should have been gone earlier than that, I can't believe I was actually considering doing it" She grits though her teeth getting angry at herself "Karma you stupid fucking bitch" She curses herself under her breath.

"Alright that's it," I say while picking her up and throwing her over her shoulder, I unlock the door and carry her out of the bathroom and sit her back on the bed right next to Hades again, squatting down in front of her and taking her hands in mine "You are not the same woman you were back then, you're stronger and smarter than ever. If you were the same woman who was shooting herself up you would have done just that, you wouldn't have given it a second thought and yet you didn't touch it. Okay you may have held onto it and had thoughts of it but you have that self-control now, you know you don't depend on it, you know you're better off without it and for that, I'm proud of you. I couldn't be more proud of you" I let go of one of her hands and caress her face, her eyes move from her legs to my eyes "You promise?" Her voice asks softly, "I pinky promise leonessa".

A small smile graces her lips and it takes all of me not to climb on top of her and dominate her, that will have to wait till later tonight. "Now, let's get ready to go and watch that place blow sky high? And then you can show me this house you sneakily brought. Tomorrow we start our honeymoon, are you ready to explore the world my queen?" I ask standing up still holding onto one of her hands, "I'm ready" She replies standing herself up, I lean down and kiss her softly the taste of tears on her lips do not deter me one bit. "ARE YOU BITCHES READAAAAAY?" Iggy yells bursting through the doors, I turn around to look at him as he stops in his tracks, "Ohhhh... is this a bad time?" He asks lowering his voice to a whisper, "It's always a bad time when you come in unannounced".

"That's a lie, I'm the life of the party and this is a constant party" He argues, "Now as I said, are you ready? I wanna see stuff explode" He gleams like a child waiting to see fireworks for the first time, I turn back to Karma, she nods her head "I'm ready". "Iggy we'll meet you in the car" I reply still looking at Karma, "Alright love birds, don't take too longggg" He sings as he walks down the hallway. I let go of her hand and go to my suitcase grabbing a hoodie out of it and giving it to her "Wear this, it gets cold at night" I smile as I put it on her, it looks like a dress on her but she looks adorable, "Ready to let go of your past?" I ask holding my hand out for her again, "I'm ready" She nods.

We walk down the hallway and down the staircase to the front door, at least 5 cars are lined up waiting to depart, "You go jump in the last car, I'll be there in a second, just gotta grab something quickly" I say leaning down to her ear, she turns her head to look at me with a confused expression but nods her head and goes to the last car. I wait until the door closes before heading back inside and into the kitchen where Nonna and Nonno are sitting having a cup of tea. "Can I ask a favour of you two?" I ask looking at the both of them, Nonno says something under his breath I'm guessing it had to do with our encounter at the table earlier, Nonna, on the other hand, has all of her attention on me.

"As you know Karma brought a house" I begin, Nonna, nodding her head eagerly, "She is showing me it tonight so I was wondering if you make us a picnic basket or something so we can eat there and not starve overnight, I'll pay you for it but I need it done before we get back"

"Of course!! And no need to pay me back, just give me grandbabies!"