Veronica
A week later I'm finally home. I didn't need to stay that long but Vince thought it would be nice. It's 24th today and Vince told me that I could move to my apartment on 26th. I'm surprised he is letting me move in after what happened. He either says 'I'm sorry' or 'Why did you take the bullet you dumb fuck?' or 'you'll hurt yourself.' Every two minutes.
"Your clothes and everything will be shifted to your new home soon. Hey- don't move you'll hurt yourself" He says when I try to sit.
"I'm fine. And I'm surprised you are letting me move." I say but regret it immediately because what if he changes his mind?
"I'm not fine with it at all. But I can't stop you from living your life. I'll try my best to protect you from these attacks. So I'm going to stay with you for a few days."
"Why? I can-"
"I know you can stay by yourself, baby. But I'm still going to stay with you. I promise you won't even notice I'm there."
"Fine" He gets up and leaves the room later coming back with something behind his back.
"I got you something."
"What is it?" He brings his hands out in the front, revealing a big box and a bouquet of blue baby breaths.
"How. Did. You. Know? I love baby breaths"
"I know."
He hands me the flowers and the box. I open the box to find another box of brownies and pizza.
"Thank youuuuu!" He chuckles and takes the bouquet from my hands and places it on the bedside table.
Bianca enters the room with a bouquet of roses in her hands and a very fake sad face.
"Hi Veronica. I'm so sorry you got shot." Who even greets like that?
"Thanks." Vince looks ready to blow her brains out. He stands up from my desk chair and sits beside me.
"What do you want, Bitc- Bianca?"
"Don't be mean Vince. I just came to visit my friend." Friend?
"You're not my friend."
"You are so funny Vera." She lets out a high pitched giggle.
"I'm not-"
"Anyways I'm so sad that you got shot." Spare the sympathy dumbass.
"Me too."
"If you are done Bianca, get out." Vince grumbles angrily and glares at her.
"Fine. I was just leaving anyways." She smiles and leaves the room. Something feels off.
"Vince, hand me my laptop please."
"No. You'll hurt yourse-" I slap him. "Ow. What was that for?"
"Laptop. Now"
"Fine." He gets up and retrieves my laptop from my desk and hands it to me. "Your laptop, ma'am." He bows.
"You know, you should be less bossy and listen to me sometimes. First you take the bullet for me and then don't take care of yourself. How many times do you take a leave from work? Hmm? You work on weekends and Sundays. You never take care of yourself."
"You don't need to boss me around, Vince and I take care of myself just fine."
"No you don't. And I do have to boss you around. You are mine. My best friend. My life. And I take care of what's mine. Don't hurt yourself and ever take a bullet for me, Vera."
"I can take hundreds of bullets for you and if needed, I will. So shut your fat ass up." I lean my head on his shoulder and he sighs.
"Why are you like this?" He wraps an arm around me.
"I don't know. You tell me. You probably know me better than anyone else." He doesn't answer. I look up to find him staring at me.
"What?"
"Nothing," He shakes his head. "You're just beautiful." I smile.
"So..about the attack. I noticed a few things. Firstly it was not planned at all. It was mostly a last moment attack. Plus there were only two people and they only shot twice. A planned attack would have more people and better weapons. Secondly the person probably knew where we were since it was probably some revenge attack. I can hack the cameras to see where they came from"
I try to hack into the traffic cameras to see if they have something fruitful. They are a little too easy to hack into. The footage near the place where I got shot shows two men coming out of a car nearby. I zoom and capture the number plate. The car is under the name Nevol Maroni. That name sounds familiar...
"Who is Nevol Maroni?"
"Navarro's right hand man." Ah. That's where I know him from
"The attack was from them."
"Fucking fantastic" He leans his head on my shoulder and sighs harshly.
"So Bianca or her dad saw us leaving and ordered his man to attack us?"
"Looks like it. Now Vera," He takes the laptop from my hands. "You need to rest."
"It's been nine days since I was shot, Garry."
"See if I care. Are you feeling okay?"
"Yes"
"Did you take your meds?"
"Yes" I lie.
"Don't lie to me Vera."
"I'm not." Still, he stands up and leaves the room. He comes back with my medicines and a bottle of water. Ugh.
"Take them quickly, come on." He says when I just stare at my meds.
"Noooo" I whine.
"Don't be a baby. Here." He forcefully shoves them in my mouth and hands me the bottle. Bitch.
"I talked to Ezra. Your house will be ready tomorrow. You can move in tomorrow so you don't get tired the day before your birthday. My men are coming today to take your things. You can shift later if you want to since you'll hurt your-"
"I'll shift tomorrow. Done. No further discussion."
"Okay then. Are you feeling fine?"
"Yes"
"Do you need anything?"
"No"
"Are you hungry? Do you want to feed you? I can order whatever you want. Or if you don't want to eat outside food, I can cook. What do you want?"
"I'm not hungry, Vince. Calm down and shut up." He ignores me.
"Does it hurt anywhere?"
"No but my head is hurting from your bullshit." He literally asks me all this every two minutes.
"I'm serious, love."
"My legs hurt." I say to shut him up. They do hurt and I would love to have a massage.
"Lie down properly." I lie down and he takes my legs on his lap.
His hands knead the muscle there and I groan loudly. Feels so good. He continues to massage my whole leg, then my arms and gives me a spectacular head massage while I doze off in his lap. Luck is on my side.
• • •
A shrill sound has me jolting up. Vince's phone. I swear it's always ringing. Who even calls him that much? His girlfriend?
"Sleep" He gently guides my head back on his lap. I lay there but sleep is now long gone.
His hand strokes my hair as he talks rapidly on his phone in Italian, throwing words I don't know. It's kinda sexy.
"Beh, finisci il lavoro in fretta, stronzo" He says angrily and hangs up.
"Now is there a girlfriend I don't know about?" I wiggle my eyebrows.
"I don't have a girlfriend, Vera."
"Boyfriend, then?" He glares at me. I'll take that as a no.
"Alright, princess don't be mad."
"Can you just go back to sleep?" He says looking stressed. Must be a work call
"No"
"Are you hungry?"
"Yes"
"What do you want for dinner?"
"Lasagna" I beam. He smiles.
"Do you want to go out to eat, order it here or you want me to cook?"
"Can you cook properly?" I ask shamelessly, knowing that the first time I tried to cook noodles, I left the gas on for hours and burned the kitchen. The kitchen was burning and I was picking roses from my garden so they all now call me rose. Tragic I know.
"I guess"
"Cook then" We leave my room and enter the kitchen. Vince starts taking out the necessary ingredients while I sit on the kitchen counter and move my dangling legs.
"How did you even learn to cook?"
"I cooked on my own back in Italy."
"Why? I thought your house has servants."
"It does. But I lived separately from my parents"
"Why?"
"It's a long story"
"Will you tell me about it?"
"I will do whatever you need, Vera. You just have to ask"
"Okay then you can tell me about it. Just not now. I'll ask when I'm reasy to ruin the good mood since I feel like it's a sad story." He lets out a small laugh and shakes his head.
"Whatever you want" He takes some onions and starts chopping them.
I think it has been two hours but Vince has finally made the awaiting dish. He sets the bowl on the counter with two plates and two glasses of wine.
I sit on the high chair and Vince sits beside me. I stare at the tempting food.
"Eat, Vera. Or now do you want me to feed you?" He jokes.
"Actually, that would be a great idea."
"You want me to feed you?"
"Yeah. I'm an injured patient here. I should have people feeding me." I joke.
"Okay" What? I didn't think he would actually agree but that works too.
"You are actually feeding me?"
"Sì, tesoro. I am feeding you." Okay then. He takes a fork and feeds me.
It's so good I almoat moan out loud. His cooking is heaven.
"This is so awesome."
"Thanks" He turns a little red.
"Seriously this is some Gordon Ramsay shit."
"Thanks, Vee"
Halfway through our meal I eat by myself. As much as I like being treated like a baby I don't think I should have this man do the work for me 24/7.
I wish I could date him. I always liked him before. I still do. But he's too nice for me despite being a mafia boss. I'll definitely break his pure heart. Plus I don't do relationships. I'm not good at them. Even if I am, He's way too good for me.
We finish our meal and he puts our plates glasses in the sink.
"Do you want anything for desert?"
"Nope. I'm full, chef"
"You want to go to bed?"
"Yep. Let's go."
The doorbell rings as we head for the staircase. Vince goes to answer the door. His dad and Bianca are standing by the door. Ugh. What now?
"Vincent," His dad speaks in a stern tone. He looks behind him at me. "Vera," He nods as a greeting. I nod back.
"What do you want?" Vince glares at him, not even bothering to look at Bianca.
"I heard you are not spending time with your fiancee or staying the nights with her and you left your engagement party without her. What is this behavior? Is this how you treat women?"
"You are one to say. When your marriage was fixed with mom, you treatee her worse before you fell in love with her."
"This is not about me, Vincent. Don't act smart. You are coming home with me and we need to have a talk. Now!"
Vince glared at him. He was relucant to go but finally he walked over to me. "I'm going to end this matter with him today, okay? I'll be back tomorrow for your house." He says in a gentle tone- contrary to the one he used with his father. I nod
He kisses my forehead and leaves without sparing a single glance to his dad or Bianca. I retreat back to my room.