~ Matteo's POV ~

I knew this was the best time to tell her. If she knew everything now then there was less chance of me losing her soon whenever she gets with that son of a bitch Dean.

I'd been planning it ever since I was in New York that I was going to tell her over dinner at my house yesterday but instead I found out that she's seeing someone and I changed my mind.

So I decided I would just get it over and done with today after the party. It's better she hears it from me rather than someone else.

She lives with my freaking personal trainer who knows everything about me. It's only a matter of time before she finds out.

But the second the words came out of my mouth I wished I could take them back.

I knew this could go only two ways - either she would get over it or she wouldn't and so far it looked like it was going to be the latter.

"What?" She just stared at me in complete shock, and I had no clue what I was supposed to say.

I felt like I'd just told her I cheated on her or something. I felt like a bastard, a jerk, a scumbag, everything. But I had no choice but to lie to her, I couldn't just tell her who I was at the start. At the age of 28 I know by now that you can't trust anyone, even those who you think you can.

I had to wait and make sure she wouldn't tell anyone even if she never forgave me or spoke to me again.

"Gabriella-"

"I don't know whether to laugh or cry. You're in the mafia?" I nodded my head, watching her for any kind of reaction but she still just looked shocked. When she didn't say anything I moved closer to her on the couch, reaching out to take her hand but before I could, she pulled it away and then moved away from me.

"You're a liar." Slowly her eyes began to fill with tears as she stared at me and there was nothing I could do about it.

"You lied to me, even when I told you everything. I told you everything Matteo! But all this time you've been lying."

Slowly she got up off the couch and I followed but all she did was take a step away from me again.

"Stay away from me. Don't come near me."

The tears began to fall down her cheeks and she made no move to wipe them away as she stared at me with hurt and anger.

"You're a murderer. That's what the mafia do, don't they? They kill and they hurt people and they lie." She slowly made her way around the coffee table, facing me the whole time like she refused to turn her back on me for even a second.

"You know what the worst part of all of this is? I don't even care."

My eyes widened at her words, but she continued to speak as if she was just speaking her thoughts. It was like whatever she was thinking just came out.

"I don't care about what you've done or who you are. I just cared about you. But you lied to me."

Cared.

"Gabby, please just let me explain-"

"No! I don't want to hear anymore lies. I can't trust you anymore. I don't know how much of any of the things you told me are true. Every single story about your past, the sad and the happy times you told me about, every single conversation we ever had. How can I know what were lies and what's the truth?"

She started pacing slightly as she processed it all while I just stood there.

"While I've been telling you the truth, you were probably laughing on the inside, right? Because I was the idiot who trusted you, while this whole thing was just a charade of yours. You were never really my best friend, or even my friend. Wow, I must have really meant very little to you if you could look me in the eye and lie through your teeth, even after we made that no lying pact."

Every one of her words hurt me, but she was absolutely right, I did lie to her and now she had no way of knowing what the truth was. Finally after a few minutes of pacing, she stopped and turned to face me, looking me dead in the eye.

"I will never forgive you Matteo. All this time you've talked about us being more than friends, but I can promise you that will never happen. I will never love you. I will never let myself fall for you."

The whole time I had to just stand there and take each hit as it came.

"You're just a liar, nothing but a fake. No wonder most of your family hates you."

As soon as she brought my family into it her eyes widened like she knew she'd just said the one thing she shouldn't have. We both stared at each other for a while before she eventually broke eye contact with me and made her way out of the room without saying another word.

Letting out a sigh I sat back down on the couch, trying my best to keep the anger in control. The last thing I wanted was to act on it and upset her even more. Even if I was furious.

A few minutes later she came back into the room and put my white T-shirt that she was just wearing down on the couch next to me. When I looked up at her she was wearing her dress again from earlier and holding her clutch.

Without another word she left the room and seconds later I heard the front door close too.

I had no clue when or if I would ever see her again.

All I wanted was to go after her and make her understand that I had no choice but at that moment I was just as hurt that she would ever bring up my family how she did.

I know she was just angry. That's something Gabriella would never usually say and she probably didn't mean it. But she said it.

She said she would never love me.

Maybe it was all just a ridiculous dream that she would ever fall in love with me. That I would ever have a chance with her.

Now it's time to wake up.

She's gone back to Dean and I need to move on too.

I doubt that's going to go well for me, it's a lot easier said than done.

<<<<<<< >>>>>>> <<<<<<<<

Two weeks later

~ Gabriella's POV ~

"You good babe?" I lifted my head to look up at Dean who just took a seat next to me on his couch.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." He let out a small laugh at this as he put a glass of water down in front of me. "Really? Because you're staring at that thing like your life depends on it."

When I didn't look up from my phone he tried to take it out of my hand by my grip only tightened. "And you're holding onto it like it too. Gabriella, what's going on?"

"Nothing Dean. I just keep thinking about Matteo, he's not replying to any of texts, I really think I should go over and check on him-"

"Gab we've had this conversation already. I don't know what it was that he lied to you about but when I picked you up from his house you were in tears. I don't want you to get hurt again." I shook my head at his words, for the millionth time since that day I regretted calling him to come and pick me up. It was a spur of the moment decision but now it's come back to bite me in the ass every time I think about Matteo.

"I know Dean. I just think I should make sure he's okay, he's not on good terms with his family and I was the only person who he could talk to." Dean let out a sigh and shook his head, leaning back against the couch as he picked up the remote.

"It's late, let's talk about this another day. Come on, let's finish the movie Gabby-"

"Don't! Don't call me that." His eyes widened at my sudden outburst and this time before he could say anything I sat up and gathered my things.

"Gabriella don't go over there." I shook my head ignoring him as I stood up and put my jacket on. When he saw that I wasn't going to listen he stood up too as I made my way around the couch and towards the door of his apartment.

"Gabriella, wait. Just listen to me, I don't like this-"

"I don't care. You're not my boyfriend, you have no right to tell me what to do. You stopped me from going once but I won't let you stop me again."

With that I left him standing there staring at me in shock as I left his apartment and made my way down the stairs to the parking lot where Benny was waiting for me.

Once I reached Benny, I unlocked him and got inside, letting out a deep sigh as I did.

Over the past two weeks all I could think about was Matteo. First was I hurt and then I was angry but now I just feel guilty. Whether he lied to me or not is one thing but I've never been the sort of person to hurt someone and be okay with it. I can't believe I said that about his family hating him, the look on his face has been replaying in my mind over and over again since I walked out the door.

Maybe nothing would ever happen again between us, but all I know is that for my peace of mind and my conscience I needed to go and make sure he was okay and to apologise.

Of course I wanted to, but I didn't have the confidence to do it so easily. It took about twenty minutes of pep talks to finally get the courage to drive to his house which sadly was closer than I would have liked.

When I got there the gates to his driveway were open, so I drove straight through into his drive. After parking Benny, I gathered whatever courage I had before getting out of my car making my way to his front door through the cold breeze. It was pretty late in the evening so it was even more colder than I expected it to be.

I had to wait quite a while when I rang the bell and just after I rang it the second time, the door swung open revealing a shirtless Matteo.

"You?"

A shirtless and absolutely drunk out of his mind Matteo.

My eyes travelled from his bare chest down to the open bottle of liquor in his hand up to his tired eyes and messy hair. He also hadn't shaved in a few days, which was definitely attractive in my opinion but that wasn't the right time to be thinking about that.

"Matteo...what's going on? Why are you drinking so much?"

When I said the word drinking he looked down at the bottle in his hand before putting it to his lips and taking another gulp of it. It seemed like it didn't even bother him to drink so much, he didn't cough or make a face or anything. Like he was just drinking water.

"You're...not nice." He may have been drunk but he definitely remembered what I said to him before I left which definitely made me feel much worse.

"Matteo, let me help you get some water." I tried to take a step closer to him but he quickly held out a hand to stop me. "No. Not you. You hurt me."

"I'm sorry..." He narrowed his eyes at me for a moment before he nodded and stepped aside. "I believe you."

He really was drunk if he was just going to let me in that easily. Even I hated me more than he did.

"Would you like some?" I turned around to face him after he shut the front door, to see that he was holding the bottle of alcohol out to me. "No, thank you."

"You sure? It's...refreshing." As he spoke all his words were slurred together. I'm surprised he could even stand straight.

"How much have you drank Matteo?"

"A lot." He chuckled at this and made his way past me and to the living room. I followed him inside and instantly my eyes widened at the sight. There were empty beer cans and spirit bottles all over the room, a few random mugs and a couple of empty plates too.

"Matteo-"

"I think we should have a drink Gab Gab, what do you say? I'm parched." He picked a random bottle up and checked to see how much drink was left inside it. When he saw there was still some left he handed it to me, and then picked up the one he was drinking from before.

"Cheers?" He held the bottle out expecting me to touch mine to his, which of course I didn't. Instead I put it down on a table next to me causing him to frown. "Not thirsty?"

"No Matteo, I'm not. I think you should give me the bottle." I took a couple of steps towards him as he watched me with a sad frown. "You want mine?"

"Yes, Matteo give me the bottle." All he did was watch me with sad eyes as I took the bottle out of his hand. "But now what do I drink?"

"Water. Come on." I took his hand and pretty much dragged him to the kitchen while he was busy looking back at the bottles we just left behind in the living room until he couldn't see them anymore.

Matteo took a seat on the stool that I moved next to me by the sink, his eyes watching my every move as I went to find a glass for him.

"Here." Once I'd filled the glass up with water I handed it to him. Thankfully he drank it without complaining and then handed me back the glass which I just filled up again. "Didn't I just give that back to you? Stop trying to hurt my head with your mind games."

He really was drunk.

"Drink it again." I nodded towards the glass and eventually after a stare down he finally put the glass to his lips and drank the water. When he was done he tried to put the glass down away from me but I just snatched it from his hand before he could.

"Please, no more." I rolled my eyes and filled it up again, giving it to him again. "Gabby..."

"Drink it." He let out a sigh before taking the glass from me and drinking the water, this time a lot slower than the first two glasses. When he was done I refilled the glass and left it next to him on the counter when he put his head in his hands, resting his elbows on the counter. He lifted his head slightly when I put my hand on his arm. "Drink this slowly."

He nodded slightly before putting his head back in his hands. While he was taking his time to drink the fourth glass of water I decided to clean up his living room which was a complete state. It took a lot longer than I had expected it to and by the time I was done he was standing in the kitchen by the door.

"Did you finish it?"

All he managed to do was nod his head groggily before he spoke, his words coming out in a slurred mumble. "I'm tired Gabby."

"Maybe you shouldn't have drank yourself into oblivion then." He didn't even seem fazed by the anger in my voice and instead held himself up on the door frame as his eyes started to close.

Letting out a sigh I quickly washed my hands, leaving the full black trash bag on the floor in the kitchen before I took his hand and helped him upstairs. Going through his bedroom we went into his bathroom and I handed him a towel from his towel rack.

"Take a shower, you reek of alcohol. Don't forget to brush your teeth too."

I ended up having to turn the shower on for him and put some toothpaste on his toothbrush for him too since he just stood in the middle of the bathroom looking lost. Finally he started to do things himself and brushed his teeth as I left the bathroom for him to shower.

Ten minutes later he came out his bathroom with the towel around his waist and went into his wardrobe to change. Standing up from my place on his bed I picked up my phone and my purse which I had gone to get from downstairs while he was in the shower.

"Get some sleep Matteo. I left some Advil on your nightstand for your headache in the morning." He walked past me going towards his bed, clad in just his boxers and a t shirt. Once he took a seat on his bed he turned to face me.

"Can you stay?" Just by his request I knew he was still drunk, although he did look a lot better than he did when I got there.

"I can't Matteo."

"Please Gabriella. Don't leave me on my own." When he said those words, coupled with the look on his face, there was no way I could say no to him. I knew it was the worst thing I could possibly do in that situation but I just couldn't leave him.

I made my way to the other side of his bed, taking off my jacket and putting my purse down on the floor before getting into his bed. Thankfully I was wearing leggings and a T-shirt since I was just having a lazy day before all of this happened.

Matteo got in the bed properly next to me and turned the light off, letting out a tired sigh. The second I got into his bed I was enveloped in his scent but when he lay down next to me it was even stronger.

"Goodnight Gabby."

He turned over and probably fell asleep within seconds, whereas I was awake for what felt like ages.

This is not going to end well in the morning. That's for sure.

What did you think? This was one of my favourite chapters to write so far

Also, about the time skips there may be a few coming up soon since this is just the beginning of the story. The main part is all in one time, but this is like the build up. Sorry if anyone gets annoyed by the time skips 😅