Arianna POV:
I had waited up to apologize a little for riling him up and hopefully get an apology from him as well. I was in the Den when he walked in at first it looked like it had been raining but then when I stepped closer I saw the blood splatter on his face. A flurry of emotions went through me I was so scared he had gotten hurt, but then my eyes roamed over him he was fine. The blood wasn't his, I had stepped back. I don't know where he had been or what he had seen but he didn't register me until I was frozen in shock.
He stared at me so hard not speaking, not moving. The men moved away from us as we waited for the other to talk, not wanting to break the silence not wanting it to continue. I felt ages pass as we sat there.
Finally, he shook his head in defeat and crinkled his nose. "Well this isn't how I wanted to do this but when do I ever get what I want,". He gestured to his bloodied self. "This is who I am now, I come home in the middle of the night with someone else's blood on me. I fight dirty and I don't apologize for it. All of those horrors you think about your father doing at night, know I have done them too,"
I wanted to argue with him but how could I win the truth was staring me in the face someone had been home tonight and he had done it. I asked myself if they were bad and then I asked myself if it mattered. I knew which side I was on, and I didn't think it was the wrong one.
Did you have to do bad things to stop bad people?
That was the question lying there between us, holding us hostage. I didn't have the nerve to say anything to him. I simply walked past him and up to my room and lay awake staring at the bed.
I went over all the things I wish I had said. Dozens of different scenarios played over and over. Most of them ended the same way, where we went back to our normal pattern. Keeping our pretend house because it was as close as we could get to what we wanted.
It was quite simple I didn't want to let go of the man I had painted him out to be and he would never become him either. I had to accept things had changed, but I didn't have to hate him for it.
So when the sun crept over my face the next morning I went downstairs and I made breakfast again. Waiting there hoping he would enter the kitchen, trying to remain as quiet as possible to hear his coming steps.
When he did enter the kitchen I saw his face fall at the sight of me and I hoped I didn't show the cold water it had dropped on me.
"Arianna I think it best if we don't do this to each other," he told me looking away as he put his jacket on.
I stepped after him as he attempted to leave the room grabbing him. "I'm not going to forget what I saw, but I want you to know at the very least I don't hate you," I told him, the man clenching as I spoke.
"Well you should," he spat before stalking off.
He was behaving like a child. For the next week or so I was left by myself in the house and what was supposed to be a free place became a padded cell. I had asked Luca on the third day to take me to the office again but I was refused. The next day I asked if I could go out again and once again I was refused. So I began testing my boundaries, I started asking Luca multiple times a day to take me places all the while he would refuse me.
It seemed that Giovanni wanted to keep me inside and there wasn't going to be a discussion. For some reason, I was being punished for trying to be kind.
It didn't matter, I decided to take things into my own hands. I stayed up in my bedroom that morning, a tree was right outside of my window so I waited until he left I watched as his car sped off from the garage and then I opened up the window.
Sooner or later Luca would come in to find me but I would be "gone" by then. I wasn't stupid enough to go out on my own but I was smart enough to make them think that.
I got up onto the ledge of the window after popping off the screen not as quietly as I would have liked but quiet enough. I reached out to the thick branch of the tree getting one foot on before shakily pressing off and then I moved down the tree.
If he thought I hadn't noticed the camera pointed down at the escape route he was wrong but what he didn't expect was for me to crawl down onto the driveway and then climb up back onto the opposite tree out of sight of the camera and back onto a balcony.
I didn't know where the balcony went but I knew I could hide out there while they frantically searched for me.
I opened the glass doors shockingly unlocked and found myself in another bedroom. It took me one second before I realized whose bedroom it was. My plan tasted so much more sweeter now. I'd sit and wait on his end while he scrambled around the city for me and when he came home defeated he found me safe and sound.
I didn't like that I had to behave like this. It felt petulant, but if I was holding me hostage I wasn't going to be nice.
I sat on the bed and went through my phone finding a book I liked. I lay in his bed while I waited to hear the commotion from my room. The sheets were soft enough although the black and gray color scheme was a little cliche. I made a mental note to give him some shit for it.
Like clockwork noon came around and some shouting at my door occurred before a very loud bang I got up and peered out as best I could from the blinds Luca screaming and pointing down the tree. A swarm of men came rushing out for the house and ten minutes later Luca sped off in his car.
I sighed to myself before I walked back over to the bed slinking back into his sheets and continuing to peacefully read my book.
They had to know I wouldn't go home but they would assume I'd go somewhere, not to mention this would disrupt whatever plans he had today, I felt guilty for causing so much trouble. I wouldn't be controlled like this, and if he didn't want to talk I was going to make him listen. Still, I would apologize to Luca for worrying him.
He didn't do anything wrong but I sadly suspected he would pay the price.
I knew there was one fatal flaw to my plan there wasn't any food here. It took only another hour for me to start scouring around for any form of snacks, luckily I did find some.
Italian chocolates with oranges in the middle. They were hidden in a container on the other side of his bed. I wondered if there was a woman these were meant for. I guess that jealous part of me took over because I ate all of them.
I watched the sun go down behind the curtains as I continued to silently read my book. On and on the day dragged the sun dipping down and the moon rising up. My book had been finished and I was bored, I moved around his room pacing trying not to pry into every nook and cranny.
I checked the clock and it wasn't until after midnight that Giovanni's car pulled up along with Luca. I spied as he made his way into the house slumped slightly, looking ragged. Luca patted his back as they made their way into the house.
I walked over to his bed, remaking the covers, then waiting patiently standing against the foot of it with arms crossed for him to come through the door.
I felt awkward as the time dragged on and the clock hit one and then two. I paced again my mind coming up with more ways this played out. I expected him to be angry, furious with me, and throw things. Tell me I was being immature and that I had wasted his time.
When at 2:07 I heard footsteps come my way, the door creaked open and he stumbled into the room with a drink in his hand, his shirt slightly unbuttoned. He didn't notice me as he turned on the lights walking further in until he finally picked up on the other body waiting for him.
All that rage I expected was nowhere to be found on his face instead I watched relief crash into him before he came closer still bumbling about.
"You're okay," he hiccuped as he grabbed me pulling me to his chest and holding on tightly.