Chapter 63

Chapter 63
A few hours later, Matteo brought everything she asked for and placed them in the kitchen. Melina started putting everything away.

“Are you planning on telling Marco about Gio?” Matteo asked.

“What about Gio?” Melina asked back.

“Come on Melina. I am your guard. You can’t possibly think that I don’t know where you are going and what you are doing every day” Matteo asked.

“So you follow me around like a stalker?”

“I am not stalking you. It is my job to keep you safe, so I follow you to make sure that no troubles find you”

Melina stopped what she was doing and turned to face Matteo. “How long do you know?” 

“From day one. Come on! Do you really think I am that shit at my job?”

“I don’t think you are shit at your job; I am just surprised you haven’t ratted me out to Marco yet”

“I am your guard, not your warden. I don’t report your every move, unless you are in danger” Matteo said. “And I also know what you did for Gio. I appreciate it. I know what he did was stupid, but I don’t know what I would do if I was in his situation”

“You probably would have done the same thing, as would I. That’s why I never blamed Gio. Sure, it was a dick move, and he could had told you, but his family was in danger”

“I could have trained you, if you had asked me” Matteo said.

“Would you go against Marco’s wishes?”

“Well…not openly I suppose”

“That’s why I didn’t ask you. Gio is training me as a thank you for not being mad at him and helping him get a safe job”

“He has trained you well” Matteo said and Melina shot him a look. “I told you I was watching”

“Will you tell Marco?”

“I won’t, but you should. He will be mad at first, but it’s better to know” Matteo said.

“What will it be better for me to know but I will be mad about?” Marco asked as he walked in the kitchen.

“Fuck! Sorry” Matteo said and quick left the kitchen.

“Well?” Marco asked.

“Boo…erm…it’s nothing really. Nothing important at least” Melina said.

“Amore, just tell me because right now I am making insane scenarios in my head”

“Erm…you know how you and I discussed about me getting trained in hand-on-hand combat and you said no?” Melina asked.

“Yes” Marco replied and stared at Melina’s eyes.

“Well…uhm…I kind of decided that you were unreasonable about it, so I found someone to train me, and I have been training for almost 2 months now” Melina blurred.

“So you went behind my back and decided to do something that we had agreed you wouldn’t do?” Marco asked and Melina could tell he was getting angry.

“That’s not a fair assessment of the situation. We didn’t agree on that. You decided and I stopped asking”

“Are we focusing on the semantics now?” Marco asked.

“It’s not semantics Marco. It’s what happened” Melina replied standing her ground. “This affects my life more than it affects yours, so it should have been my decision from the beginning”

“So you think that if something happens to you it won’t affect me?” Marco asked incredulously.

“That’s not what I said, please don’t take my words the wrong way” Melina pleaded.

“How am I taking your words the wrong way? I am obviously not doing a good job of making you feel safe, so you decided to go behind my back and ask someone else to train you and hid it from me for 2 months” Marco said and his tone was laced with pain. 

“Marco…” Melina tried to speak, but Marco interrupted her.

“Who is training you?” He asked.

“Gio” she whispered.

Marco chuckled. “On our first date, you asked me to always be honest with you, and I have. I haven’t kept anything from you, because I took my promise to you seriously. You know how hurtful it is to find out that you haven’t paid me the same courtesy? And to top it up, you turned for help to the guy that put your life at risk. The guy that I cannot trust after the stand he pulled that got you kidnapped.” 

Melina felt his words like a slap on her face and couldn’t find anything to say. She never thought that her actions would hurt Marco, and she could see how much they did.

“I am going to go out. I need some air to clear my head” he said and he left.

Melina heard the front door closing and then nothing. She was all alone and nothing could be heard, but the silence was deafening. She fell on her knees and tears started shedding from her eyes.

They had argued before, but Marco had never left her. She knew that she had crossed a line she shouldn’t had. She had betrayed his trust. A trust that he gave her in abundance from when they first met. 

She stayed there for what it felt hours. The sun had set a while back, but she hadn’t bothered turning the lights up. She didn’t have the mental capacity to do so. She checked her phone for the time. 

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Marco drove to the Obsidian. He parked his car, got in and headed to the bar. He grabbed a new bottle of Jack Daniels and went to the office. He sat at the desk chair and started drinking. About an hour later Alessio walked through the door.

“What happened to you?” Alessio asked.

“She betrayed me” Marco said.

“Who did?” Alessio asked, trying to figure out what was bothering his best friend.

“Melina. She betrayed me. I never thought she would, but she did”