Alessio:

Leaving Eliana alone in the kitchen with Angelo probably wasn't my best moment, but I was distracted by everything that had happened. I trusted the man, probably even with my life, but he wasn't the best with social graces and I wasn't sure if he was the person to be with Eliana after everything she had been through.

My judgement was slightly inhibited with the full shock of everything. There was no reason to think that Eliana wouldn't have figured everything out that was going on, especially after spending a week in captivity of the Russians. I had no reason to underestimate her like that, maybe it was some type of hope deep down that she would have been none the wiser about who I was and what I did, and after she healed I could find a vague explanation to make her look past everything without suspicion. It was an insult to her intelligence for me to think she wouldn't have figured it out.

Leonardo was more in tune to my moods than anyone else, it would be difficult to hide anything from him. "Are you doing alright, sir?"

The 'sir' part was more for my benefit, he was one of the few people that could skip the title without any repercussions. "Of course."

"That wasn't convincing, you may want to make it more believable for the meeting we're on our way to. What's bothering you the most?"

"She's not telling us everything," I muttered as we mounted the stairs on our way to my office. "I know she left some of it out for our benefit, but it's bothering me."

"You can't be suspicious of her...."

"No, of course not, but she's much more calm about this than I would have expected. I was ready to have to spin some elaborate lie, but she's barely faltered. She got a look in the mirror and she didn't even flinch at the bruises."

"Maybe the medicine that's dulling her pain is making her a little sluggish and more docile than usual?" Leonardo suggested halfheartedly. He wasn't blind to it either, I knew it didn't feel right to him, but he was trying his best to be helpful.

"It's possible, I suppose." I was trying to work out what the unsettling feeling was deep in my gut, not one of distrust or suspicion, but one that seemed to be telling me Eliana was holding something back.

Leonardo held the door open for me as we stepped into my office. My higher up capos were sitting around my desk and stiffened when I entered the room, but their eyes were somewhat wary. Normally this would take place in a conference room, but I knew they would have many more questions during this meeting and my office was admittedly slightly more comfortable than the bright and empty room that we usually used down the hall.

All of them seemed a little more on edge than usual, not that I could blame them- I had been slightly more tense over the last few days, and when Eliana was missing I had lashed out a few times. I took my seat behind the desk, "She confirmed it beyond a shadow of a doubt. It was the Russians."

The men in the room bristled, not shocked by the news but also angry that their suspicions were being confirmed. Stefano was the first to speak, "Should we wait for Angelo?"

"He's taking care of some things for me, but he'll be here soon. We'll start without him," I commanded. "As far as the Russians are concerned, I know what I want my next move to be. Of course I'll make the first call as far as the matter is concerned, but I would like your input."

They remained silent, a couple casting glances at the table or each other, but Leonardo was the only one to break the silence, "As far as I'm concerned, they've crossed too many lines. They've broken mutual honor codes, destroyed profits and trades, injured your men and now kidnapped and tortured your- a civilian that they only had a loose suspicion of affiliation to connect to us. That warrants aggression, and whatever extent you see fit fit to execute, I will follow your lead."

There was a rumble of agreement from a couple of men, and Soren, one of my older and more experienced men, agreed. "They've crossed too many lines. I'm sure that if we called any of the other international groups, they'd agree that something has to be done. Niklov has been causing trouble for decades, I can't imagine that anyone would be sorry to see him go. It might be good to let them know the basis of what's happened, that way they don't think that we're the aggressors."

I gave him a crisp nod, he was right. Before I made any moves, I needed to know that even if I didn't have any outspoken allies, that I at least they wouldn't get in my way.

Stefano furrowed his brows, "Did the girl say what exactly they did to her? I didn't see her condition, but I heard she was in bad shape. If that's the truth, we may have an indisputable case for taking up arms against them. Intentionally involving civilians happens, but depending on what they did, they may lose favor."

I glanced at Leonardo, knowing that even though she seemed reluctant to talk about details, they had done some extreme things to Eliana. It made me feel guilty to confess, "I don't know the full extent either, the doctor didn't let me see her during the procedures, but she managed to walk a little bit today. He was hesitant to assess her without talking to her, but it doesn't seem as though there's anything that would cause permanent damage."

Another one of my men, Cesare, seemed hesitant to ask the question that I knew must be pressing on all of their minds, "Do you think she'll go to the police?"

Leonardo shook his head, "No. We offered to take her to the police, my plan was to have Luca take her statement and temper it so that it wouldn't raise any red flags, but she didn't want to make a report at all. She wanted nothing to do with the police."

A few of the men exchanged looks, and while their doubt of Eliana spiked a new kind of rage in me, I knew that it was coming. Admittedly, it was suspect that a civilian would be attacked, kidnapped, and tortured, but not want to say anything to the authorities that could get her justice.

"She's figured out what they are, and by extension, what we are, but I don't think she understands the extent." I gave it to them bluntly, knowing that they deserved to understand at least that much.

"Is she going to run or talk?" Another capo, Emilio, asked.

I glanced at Leonardo, but we both already knew the answer. "I don't think so. She's been extremely level headed, hyperrational. She's not scared or panicking, I don't think she's a flight risk."

Leonardo nodded in agreement, which I appreciated. None of my men would have questioned me, but Leonardo's reassurance would make them less on edge. Emilio was a courageous man, probably the most likely to speak his mind out of all of my capos, but I could tell from his careful tone that he knew he was treading a fine line. "How long can we expect her company here? And may I ask.... If there's a particular reason that she is here instead of a hospital?"

The room froze, the tension ready to shatter at any second. The question crossed the lines of what I would usually discuss with my men, but while I normally would have lashed out at the question, I was tired and exhausted enough that all I could supply was a glare. It was completely feasible that they had some sort of inkling by now, or found the situation odd. I had never before had connections to anyone outside of this organization, and it wasn't like she could be hidden. The minute that a young woman came stumbling through our front gates on the brink of collapse asking for me, word and suspicions spread like wildfire.

It would be easier to control the narrative if I addressed it head on, "She'll stay here until she is well enough to be self sufficient, but her injuries are still a little limiting. Her name is Ms. North, she's an aquaintance who was unfortunately caught in the crosshairs and the Russians seemed to target her because they thought her shop was laundering money for us."

They each nodded, seeming relieved that I hadn't lost all of my calm. Over the next few minutes, I used that calm to reign in my tension, assigning jobs to them instead. Stefano was in charge of reaching out to a woman who we often contracted for help, in hopes that she could help with reconnaissance involving Niklov, and I was in the middle of directing Emilio on a hacking initiative when I overheard Cesare asking Leonardo a question under his breath, "So this woman outsmarted and escaped the Russians? May I ask how?"

"She explained the basics, and I have to give her credit, I don't think I could've come up with a plan as intricate as hers," Leonardo admitted. "There were a lot of variables that could have gone wrong, so some of it falls to luck and context, but she's pretty incredible."

Angelo walked into the room at that moment and caught my eye. He gave me a nod that didn't seem too urgent, but I ended my conversation with Emilio almost immediately to stride up to him, "How is she?"

"Asleep now," Angelo kept his voice low and head down. "The doctor got called to the hospital for an emergency, but he gave me a way to monitor her vitals remotely and told me to check on her once in a while."

"Thank you, I know that isn't your favorite job," I conceded. Angelo had a certain amount of medical knowledge in his background. "What did he say about the extent of her injuries?"

"No more walking for a while, that's for sure. She's not in the best shape, I didn't realize even from when she stumbled in the front door how bad her chest would be. Doctor says she's got multiple fractured ribs, concussions, bone bruising.... Alessio, she has cigarette burns scattered all over her body. Massive scarring on her back."

I ran my hands over my face, "What does he say about healing time?"

"I asked him after she fell asleep again, he says that with the medication she'll be in and out for a few days, but if she wants to appear functional, she'll need a week at least, and continued pain killers after that for at least three more, if not longer."

"How upset was she?"

"She..... was surprisingly calm. It may have been the medication."

"What did the doctor give her this time?

"He doesn't want anything as strong as dilaudid, so he stuck to morphine. I believe he added some benzodiazepine to help her sleep and keep her a little sedated."

"All right, I'll talk to her next time she wakes up, but I want to know what she would prefer to make her official story. Her current ruse of being on a hike will only keep off suspicion for a few more days with her boss."

He looked at the room of my men and their quiet voices as they conversed between themselves, "Have they started asking questions?"

"They were curious how she escaped the Russians, and I think they're confused about how to treat her."

"To be fair to them, I don't think anyone knows how to treat the girlfriend of their Don."

I froze and slowly met his gaze, daring him to cross the line that he was toeing. "What?"

"They might not all have figured it out yet, but I'm not blind." Angelo wasn't the type of person to be intimidated, but he knew not to irritate me right now. "It's fine if that's not what you want to call it, but they know this isn't normal."

Unable to have this discussion surrounded by my men, I gripped his arm and dragged him out to the hallway. "You're not qualified to comment on this-"

"Alessio, you have my respect and allegiance, but this is something that you need to admit to yourself. Most men in your position, historically, have not dated or had girlfriends. In this business, marriages are often arranged or political, your men aren't expecting you to date. If you really want to pursue this girl, it'll be different, you'll have to divulge secrets to her, and she'll need the men's trust as well."

I glared at him, not liking that he was overstepping his bounds but unable to deny what he was saying. If our relationship didn't end well, there wasn't much of a precedence on how to handle it. "I appreciate your concern, but Eliana is not my girlfriend."

"You say that," Angelo chuckled, "But I know that look you give her. She's a lot more than an acquaintance."

"What do you mean?" I ground out. This was a man who had talked to me just a few weeks ago about the danger and inability of having a relationship in this line of work.

"With all due respect, sir, you were rather young when your father died. I know that he and your mother had an arranged marriage, but even through that, they grew to love each other." He sighed and looked at me sadly, "There's things you pick up on as you get older, and I'm not sure that you ever got the chance to see your own parents in this way, but there are things that just... prove how two people like each other."

I stayed silent as he continued, "My parents were... odd in some ways. I swear, even when they were older, in their 50s, sometimes it was like they were teenagers. They were as much in love then as when they first met." He swallowed and averted his gaze, an odd show of emotion from someone who never let anything come to the surface. "I saw it until the very moment they died. Yes, like any couple, they fought and disagreed, but for some people, that sort of... honeymoon period.... doesn't end. She literally died trying to save him, and I could see his whole world shatter when he saw her laying on that floor."

There was something sad about the way he spoke of his parents, which was to be expected. Angelo was a couple of years older than I was, 17 when he watched his parents get murdered. In the decade since then, he rarely mentioned them, much less did he go into detail. I stayed silent, giving him a moment to bring his mind back down to earth. "What I'm saying, boss, is that I see some of that when you look at Eliana. It's not as strong, nothing could start out that strong, but it's there."

"We've only known each other for a few weeks," I scoffed, trying to downplay the feeling in my chest. "It couldn't possibly-"

"Look, I'm just telling you what I see. It seems like you really like this girl, I don't think you should be holding that back because you don't want to explain it to your men. If you're nervous about using labels, it's fine. Just admit to yourself what's going on, your men are probably more likely to be open to her staying here if you do."

We stood in that hallway for a moment, him letting me take in what he said. I had to appreciate his going out of his way to offer advice, especially when I knew it made him uncomfortable. He had always been more comfortable torturing information out of our enemies or engaging in firefights than talking about his emotions.

Angelo chuckled, "Anyways, I don't know that you'd find another girl that seems so calm about all of this. But you also need to consider the danger it could put her in. She was already kidnapped just for having what the Russians perceived to be a business relationship with you. Imagine what they might attempt to do if they knew she was your woman."

"She's not my-"

"Look, you don't have to be in love with her or marry her for other people to know that you care about her. That right there is enough to make everyone think she's your women, to give them leverage over you."

I sighed, knowing what I had to do. I liked her much more than I would admit, but her association with me would put her in danger. "I'm going to give her a choice. Now that she knows what I do and the risks, she can decide if she wants that for herself. I'm split on the issue, too. I know what's best for her is to distance myself, but I'm selfish, and I don't want to."

He chuckled, "I think she'll appreciate having autonomy."

"But do you think that Eliana....."

"Yes." He gave me a grin. "I think she does like you, even in the chaos and pain she's in right now, I could see it. I really think she does."

I nodded, turning back to the door to enter the room again and finish my instructions. Behind me, I heard Angelo remind me quietly, "I mean, Eliana escaped the Russians. She's an impressive woman, I don't think the men could find fault with her if they tried."

Hello everyone! I've loved graduating because even though I have to work a lot right now, I have a little more time to write. Please, let me know what you think and how you feel, and please share with your friends. I would love some feedback as I start to escalate their story. Again, thank you all for your support- there may not be many of you, but I love knowing that someone enjoyed what I was working on!

- Elizabeth