We’re all here, together.
Maybe, in time, we can find our own version of friendship.
Chapter 79
Octavia
After everyone leaves, it’s dark outside.
I can’t wait to leave this hospital, and Russia altogether.
I’ve had enough of this country to last me a lifetime.
Milo fell asleep.
I lie beside him on the bed, my head resting carefully on his chest, mindful of his injuries.
Wednesdayplays on the television, but I’m not watching. I’m staring at the screen, but my thoughts loop endlessly.
“Why aren’t you sleeping?” he mutters.
I lift my head and offer him a small smile. “I can’t.”
“You almost died,” I whisper, and the word catches in my throat. “You almost—”
“I didn’t,” he interrupts me softly. “And I never will. I’m never leaving you.”
I swallow.
“We… we have a life ahead of us,” I say quietly. “And I’m finally ready, I can’t lose you now. Even if it sounds absurd coming from me… we have to get married. I have to take over the Bellanti Mafia… with you by my side.” I add it almost shyly.
What the hell is wrong with me?
Maybe the hits to the head did more damage than the doctors realise.
Look at me, all soft.
He smiles. “A ton of kids too?”
I roll my eyes. “Maybe… In due course.”
He smirks. “I can work with that.”
He studies me for a moment before I ask, “You really want a future with me?”
“I want everything with you,” he says, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
He starts to speak again, but I shake my head.
“I need to tell you something first. It’s time we talk about it and leave it all behind us.”
He stills completely.
But I continue.
“When I was thirteen, I went with my father on a business visit,” I begin. “Even at that age, it was understood that I would take over. My parents never had sons, and my father has no siblings. He always said he wanted me to lead… that he saw something in me.”
I swallow. “So he began taking me on his business trips, pulling me further into the mafia world. I started firearms training, combat lessons, everything to make me stronger. Even torture training, to teach me endurance.”
