15. Alessandro

Chapter fifteen

Alessandro

Adriana's eyes burn with both anger and surprise as she stares at me.

"Thank you, Felicity," I say to the nurse. She leaves Adriana and I in the bathroom.

"I don't want to fucking see you," she grunts. She stands to her feet and comes at me. She punches my arm hard and furiously. She winces in pain from the impact.

"Easy, Poppy."

"Five fucking days and I hear nothing from you. Oh, how I regret agreeing to this stupid deal with you."

I stare at her lips as she rages in anger. She's fucking hot when she's pissed. As much as I want to kiss her right now, I don't. Not after she confessed to regretting being with me.

"Why'd you do it then?"

She pauses. Her chest is heaving as she goes silent. Her silence cuts through me, with her last words echoing in my ears.

"Is it because you hate me that much, Adriana? That's why you regret ever agreeing to the fake marriage?"

She tries to move back but I grab her shoulders and plant her against the tiled walls. "Fucking answer me, Adriana," I yell.

She flinches at the sound of my voice as she stares at me.

"You know I didn't mean that. I only said it because I'm mad at you for not showing up!" She raised her voice to almost match mine.

I punch the wall, cursing under my breath. I lose control of myself as I hungrily claim her lips. I've missed kissing her. So damn much. I tilt her head to deepen the kiss. I don't slow down with my lips on hers and my tongue in her mouth.

She doesn't stop me. Stop us. I'm still fucking mad at her. I don't know exactly why her trying to kill herself is affecting me so much but the realization is annoying me.

She groans as I take a portion of her lips between my teeth. The sound makes me fucking hard in seconds. I break the kiss to catch my breath.

We are not done with our conversation yet. I rest my fist on the wall and drop my head beside hers. She's trying to catch her breath.

"I'll call it all off if that's what you really want."

She's taking deep breaths and I feel her heartbeat this close to her.

"I'm not letting this marriage happen ?fake or not? if you don't want it. Just look me in the eye and say the fucking word and the stupid deal is off."

"That's not what I want," she whispers. I raise my head to stare down at her. Her beautiful eyes bore into mine.

"Then what do you want, Poppy?" I trail the side of her neck with kisses, pressing into her.

"I want you right now," she moans.

"Why'd you hurt yourself? I'm pissed you tried to kill yourself."

I move my fingers on her thighs, slowly pulling the hospital gown up to her waist.

"Why didn't you come sooner? Daniel told me you got out of the hospital days ago." She leaves my question hanging.

I hold her waist and raise her to wrap her legs around me. I stop kissing her neck.

"That fucking asshole. You were asleep when I came around." Adriana wraps her hands around my neck and pulls me closer.

"Stop talking," she says as she joins her lips with mine. She unlocks her arms around me and helps unfasten my belt.

I press her back against the wall as I use one arm to hold her waist and the other to tug on my pants. I lift her gown completely and press my bulge in between her thighs. She moans and arches her back in pleasure. Her hands rake my back as I pull down her panties.

She slides her hand down my briefs and holds my dick, causing me to grunt in her mouth. She pushes down my briefs and positions me at her entrance and I thrust into her.

Her legs tighten around my waist as I swallow her screams. I break our kiss and grip her waist tight with both my hands. She moans as she matches my hip movements.

I move slowly, making every thrust deeper and harder. Watching her melt in my arms drives me fucking insane. I can't let her go. Not after I claimed her virginity, not after I've made her mine. Yes, that's how I feel about her since our first time… mine . I cannot continue lying to myself anymore.

I hold her firmly against me with one arm and grip her neck with the other. Her legs pull me closer until there's no bit of space between us.

"Alessandro," she whimpers, biting her bottom lip with a sensual look.

"Your pussy is so wet and fucking tight for me, Poppy."

She moves up and down on my dick, making me grunt from the feeling.

"Fuck. Fucking Christ!" I return my hand to her waist as she hugs me tightly. I increase my pace as I feel her legs tremble. Her grip on me loosens but I keep her up with a firm hold on her waist.

"Ale… fuck… ahhhh."

"Tell me what you want again, Poppy?"

"I... I... I want you," she breathes.

"You want me that badly, Poppy?"

"Yes. Don't stop… please."

I thrust harder. And faster. She covers her mouth to muffle her screams. I feel the tremor build up in my legs as I come closer to a release. Her fingers dig into my skin and her teeth pinch my shoulder. She takes a fistful of my hair and pulls hard.

I groan in her neck, pushing into her deeper. I don't let go of her as my legs start to shake and I cum inside her. We are both out of breath as she melts into my arms, both aware of what just happened. A light knock lands on the door and I help Adriana to the ground.

"Do you use any birth control pills?"

"No. You're the only person I've been with, and you always seem to use a condom so I never cared about it."

"I'll stop by the pharmacy and get you some just to be safe." She nods in response.

I can't read her face or tell what she's thinking. This is my first time cumming in her and I don't need it to lead to anything else.

"I don't want to see you ever hurt yourself again, Poppy," I say as I remove wet strands of her hair from her face. I kiss her for a moment.

"I won't."

"When are you getting out of here?" I wear my briefs and pull my pants back on.

"Tomorrow."

"Good. You're coming with me. I'll pick you up early."

Another knock lands on the door again.

"I'll be out in a minute," Adriana says.

She stretches to kiss me one more time before settling on the wheelchair. "I'm ready." The nurse enters and hurriedly wheels Adriana outside.

I adjust my shirt, crumpled from Adriana's squeeze. I slide on my dark shades as I exit the hospital, going unnoticed.

Daniel has no idea I came here. I dial his number as I enter my car. I parked it at the flower shop, a few feet away from the hospital.

The smell of flowers fills the air as I pull down the window. I stare at the bunch of red roses packed together. It reminds me of the first time Adriana hooked up with me at the bar. Her lips were the same color.

I put the car in drive, wanting to make a quick stop at the warehouse. Manny surprisingly kept his end of the deal and gave us the supply we needed to deliver to our clients.

Without Father's help, I've expanded the business to downtown New York City and had new clients come around. I've only yet to solve our supply problem.

I can't trust Manny forever. No one ever trusts anyone in this dirty business.

I park opposite the new warehouse on Third Avenue downtown and stare at the building. It looks like a barber's shop from the outside. It has one hell of a storage room in its basement.

‘Rye Haircut' is boldly written on the placard attached to the top front of the building. We haven't started full operations in it as I await a new supplier.

I had stationed one of my men at the salon to look after the building and make it appear like a regular shop. I can hear music playing from the inside with customers strolling into the shop. I plan to only have work done here at night when the shop is closed.

I dial Daniel's number again. He didn't pick up the first time I called. And he's not answering now either.

We haven't been around each other a lot in the past few days. After finding those pictures of his mother and L'Uomo, I had to burn them all so he never finds out. I'm only protecting all of us.

Mother still has no idea I found them. Father isn't the only one good at keeping secrets.

I still struggle to believe Madre would do such. She was always so close to Daniel's mom—our families were.

Kristev hasn't gotten back to me yet about Daniel's mother's name. She might just be Brielle Dankworth, whom we were searching for. Daniel mustn't learn of any of this. I have to make sure he doesn't.

I put the car in drive to revisit my father's house again. I want to be sure no evidence is left around the house.

Daniel already believes his mother was shot by a rival mafia, and that's what he has to keep believing. I hate to keep the truth from him. But I would rather have him still believe a lie than hate me and lose him forever.

I honk as I arrive at the house. An eye peeps through a hole to see who it is.

The gate opens with two guards holding each side. I drive through the gate and park my car under the car shade.

More guards are by the front door while others are walking around the building.

The grass is neatly trimmed and its smell is still in the air as I come out of the car.

I stare at the house, the morning sun almost blinding. It doesn't only hold memories I want so hard to forget, but secrets I have to take to the grave.

The two-story building has a traditional architecture to it.

I walk to the entrance, greeted by the guards stationed there.

The living room is empty as I walk into it. " Madre ," I call, but don't get a response.

In my old room, I tear open the drawers and wardrobe doors for anything else. My phone starts to ring and I grab it from my pocket to answer the call.

"Kristev," I murmur as I slide the icon to answer the call. "What did you find?"

"She had her father's name replaced with her husband's before she died."

"Just fucking say it."

"Barbara De Carlo Mateo."

I cut the call and take the stairs to my father's office. I search the documents again, gathering all the ones that show transactions with the initials B.D. I stare at them, all dating back to before Daniel's mother died.

"Barbara De Carlo Mateo," I whisper. "B.D."

Shit. Brielle Dankworth isn't her real name.

"Alessandro?" I hear Mother calling outside the door.

I hurriedly return the documents back into the compartment underneath the table.

" Madre ," I answer, walking to the door.

"Is everything alright, mio figlio (my child)?" She pulls me into a hug and kisses my left cheek.

"Yes, Madre , just came in here to check for something."

"I heard some noise; that's why I came around. Thought it might be you but I had to be sure."

"How's Father?"

"Awake. Daniel is with him."

"Daniel? He is here?"

"Yes. I just left them a few seconds ago. He got here a little while ago."

I shut the office door behind me. Mother is in a red fitted skirt with a white shirt tucked in. Her hair is flowing down her shoulders. She has black heels on.

"He didn't tell me he was coming around. Are you going somewhere?"

We begin to walk back to Father's room.

"Yes, I have to meet with Piero today. We might just be lucky enough to get him to start our supply."

"I should go meet him instead."

She places her hand on my shoulder as we stop at the door. It is slightly opened.

"Piero has always had a soft spot for me. I'll take care of this, Alessandro."

I open the door wide to see Daniel sitting beside Father's bed. They stop talking as I enter. I can tell something is wrong with the way Daniel stares at me with clenched jaws.