~ Gabriella's POV~

I couldn't stop thinking about Matteo, especially when I finally took the time to read the messages he'd been sending me while my phone was off.

He seemed so concerned about what was going on and why I wasn't speaking to him and part of me just wanted to call him and tell him we were okay and that I was sorry for leaving him like that when I got out of his car and didn't bother looking back.

But I didn't know if I could do that.

I thought I was okay with him being in the mafia - back then when I found out, it didn't bother me. I always thought he would just keep it separate from me and it would never become an issue. But the more I think about it, the more I realise that idea just doesn't work.

I hate secrecy. I've had to watch my parents marriage become a shell of a marriage while my father kept so many secrets from my mom over the years. I also think there should be total honesty and transparency for a relationship to work.

If Matteo was keeping one half of his life a complete secret from me, I would be constantly wondering what he was up to. I would never know if something was wrong, if he was ever stressed there would be no way I could comfort him since I didn't know what the problems were.

Even if we did sort out the secrecy issue, what about the violence? The thought of it before didn't bother me but now after seeing how Dean changed and the way he hurt me, I was so much more wary of Matteo.

There's always a side of someone that they don't want you to see. A dark side they would rather keep a secret.

Dean was just a normal guy who owned his own legal company. He wasn't a good person but he wasn't a criminal.

Matteo was a guy who worked for the mafia - an organisation known for being ruthless and violent.

Doing the math it's quite clear to see who would be more likely to be violent towards me.

Maybe I was being dramatic and unfair and maybe I was just traumatised by what happened with Dean. But it was better to be like this than to be sorry. Maybe this was a wake up call. Sure I had feelings for Matteo and he was an amazing friend to me, but there's always a reality you have to face.

The rest of that night after I spoke to Giovanni I ended up finishing my research on the Italian Mafia. I suppose I'd been putting it off for so long since I did actually want to be with Matteo - first just as friends and then of course as more than that. But now it's like there's this thing inside me telling me I should know the reality of the mafia, like knowing it will make it easier to stay away from Matteo.

I just had to remember what Dean did and it became a lot easier to keep Matteo at arms length without even knowing much about the mafia.

By the time it was time for me to sleep before work tomorrow I knew there was no chance I was going to fall asleep. All I could think about were the numerous articles I found on the mafia in Italy and the things they all said the mafia were responsible for.

Sale of drugs and weapons, money laundering, corruption of higher government officials, murders through planned assassinations and attacks, sex trafficking and prostitution rings and also human trafficking for slavery.

The more I read on each of these different crimes the more sick I felt.

Matteo did all of that.

It wasn't just some random casual crime organisation like how he portrayed it to be. It ruined people's lives - it ended people's lives. Sure when he lied it was an acknowledgement of how bad the mafia is and so he couldn't tell me, but when he did tell me, he didn't seem to care much about it.

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The next day at work I felt like an absolute zombie. An overheating zombie who had to wear long sleeves to cover the bruises on my wrist.

Thanks to Dean.

To make things worse, while I was at work Giovanni called me and asked me to bring him some papers he had left in his room this morning. I did try and argue with him but he insisted that they were urgent and that he was busy all day with appointments with his clients at the gym so he couldn't leave.

So, begrudgingly during my lunch break I had to drive all the way home, find this random stack of papers in his room and then drive to his gym.

As much as I hated doing it, I also decided to use the opportunity to 'have a look' at his gym like he asked me to last night.

I was killing two birds with one stone by getting that over and done with.

Even though I was listening to him I was still going to put up a fight over this whole training thing. Maybe I did need to learn self defence but I was lazy.

Any lazy people will understand what I mean when I say I just don't have energy to go through this whole process. And to make it worse I had to do it with the most annoying human on earth.

When I parked my car, I got out and turned to face the huge warehouse looking building in front of me. It looked like a warehouse because that's what it used to be before Gio bought it and turned it into a gym.

Making my way inside the two automatic glass doors, straight away I found myself in the main gym. From what I could see the changing rooms were down a hallway to the left of the front door and on the other side there was another hallway. I had no clue what was down there.

Around the edges of the huge open gym there were machines, cardio machines on one side and weight machines on the other. It was actually really well organised. In the middle of the gym there were two boxing rings which is where I saw my brother training one of his clients like he said he would be.

That client just happened to be the one person I didn't want to see. Maybe ever again.

Taking a deep breath I clutched the papers in my hand as I lifted my sunglasses, putting them on top of my head as I made my way towards them. I was aware of people's eyes on me as I walked through the gym, probably because I wasn't dressed for the gym. At least that's what I'm hoping the reason was.

As I neared the ring my eyes were focused on my brother who was standing inside the ring to one side while Matteo was in the middle. He was busy shouting different commands at Matteo, giving him tips and advice on his form.

Eventually my eyes shifted to Matteo who was shirtless, much to my dismay, and the sweat was glistening on his skin. His knees were bent slightly as he punched no one in particular with the boxing gloves he had on.

Something about the way he was training and the concentration on his face was mesmerising to me. He seemed so in his element, like nothing else was important to him in that moment except the words of my brother.

Once I'd managed to peel my eyes away from Matteo I'd come to the edge of the ring and I called my brother's name to get his attention. At the sound of my voice both of them stopped what they were doing.

Giovanni gave me a smile when he saw me and he said something to Matteo before he jumped out the ring and came over to me. "Thank you so much. I really appreciate it Gabriella."

I rolled my eyes at his 'thank you' causing him to laugh. We both knew it was fake as hell.

"Here." I handed him the papers, the whole time aware of Matteo's burning stare on me. But I refused to look at him.

"So what do you think of the gym? This is the first time you've seen it." I nodded my head as I looked around the gym, admiring the work my brother had put into it. As much as I loved teasing him, I couldn't doubt for one second that this was brilliant. For someone who started this from scratch, it was really amazing to see it in its finished form.

Well, almost finished since he did say he wanted to do some more work on it soon.

"It's amazing. I remember when you first bought it, you were so stressed about trying to get it right." I gave him a small smile as I focused on him again. "Thanks Gabby. Anyway, I just need to take this to my office then I need to get back to training your boyfriend."

"He's not my-" He sent me a quick smirk cutting me off before he walked off, leaving me standing there with my mouth open. I shook my head at his behaviour before turning back to the ring where Matteo was drinking some water, his eyes focused directly on me.

He didn't exactly look happy which is expected I suppose. I had been ignoring him for the last five days and now I didn't even speak to him when I came over.

When I made eye contact with him, he put his bottle down and made his way over to the edge of the ring, resting his elbows on the ropes. Neither of us said anything for a moment before I eventually broke the silence.

"How have you been?" He narrowed his eyes at me before letting out a scoff at my choice of words. "That's it? That's all you have to say?"

"I don't know, what do you want me to say Matteo?"

"How about an explanation. What the hell Gabriella? You just started ignoring me for no reason even after I told you how I felt." I let out a sigh as I looked away from him for a moment in frustration before I forced myself to look at him again.

The whole time we were talking I was looking up since he was in the ring which was pretty high up, and I was short anyway.

"I've just had a lot going on."

"Then just freaking tell me about it, don't shut me out for no reason. Aren't you the one who always goes on about no secrets?"

"Matteo, I'm not doing this with you and especially not here, okay?" When I made a move to walk away he called my name to stop me. Reluctantly, I turned back to face him, watching as he got out the ring and came over to me.

"Can I see you later? I'll get some food and you can come to my house and we'll talk." As soon as he suggested it I shook my head, taking a small step away from him.

"I don't want to be alone with you." The words came out of my mouth before I could even register what had just happened. I already knew what I had said was bad but when he gave me a look of hurt which soon morphed into anger because this is Matteo and he doesn't let people see him hurt, I felt even worse.

He nodded his head, taking a step away from me too. "Fine. You tell me where then."

The fact he was even still trying to speak to me later even after the way I'd been treating him and then after what I just said to him should have been enough of a reason for me to agree to meet him.

But I just couldn't bring myself to say yes.

I shook my head at him and turned around again, but before I could leave his hand shot out and he grabbed my wrist pulling me back. His touch was gentle, as always, but the bruise which was still there from Dean's hold on me caused me to let out a pained gasp.

The second he heard the sound come out from my mouth he let go of my wrist and instead took my hand in his, to stop me from walking away.

"What is it?" Instead of responding I tried to tug my hand out of his grip but all he did was tighten his hold. It didn't hurt but it was enough to stop me from leaving. When I didn't respond to him, he used his spare hand to lift my sleeve, revealing the bruise in the shape of a hand print on my wrist.

He stared at it for a moment with steely eyes before he lifted his head to look at me. "Who did this?"

His words came out hard and angry but I could tell he was trying to control his anger. At least he was trying, when I told Giovanni he just lost it.

That poor chair.

"Gabriella." When I didn't answer him he took another step closer to me with a hard glare on his face.

"It doesn't matter Matteo. Just leave it."

"It's not a debate Gabriella, tell me." I held his stare for a moment before I let out a defeated sigh. "Just ask Giovanni. I need to go, I have to get back to work."

With that I finally managed to get my hand out of his and I quickly walked away from him, making my way back towards the glass doors.

A few seconds after I'd left him I heard a huge bang behind me causing me to jump. When I turned back around, I saw Matteo walking away from a punching bag which was swinging from the power of his hit.

I barely made it back in time for work which earned me a few glares from my colleagues as I walked into the salon and my next client was already there waiting for me.

It's not my fault she was early.

The rest of the day went by as slow as ever and by the time I was able to leave work, I was just ready to collapse into a ball on my bed and cry from tiredness.

Of course life isn't always that easy. The second I got home I was bombarded by questions from my brother about why I left him to deal with a very furious Matteo.

"He wanted to know where I got the bruise from, I didn't feel like telling him." I put my purse on the counter in the kitchen before I leaned against the counter and faced my brother, my dad and Emilia.

I also had to fill her in on everything that happened and then calm her down when she was ready to go and castrate Dean in the middle of the night.

"He deserves to hear it from you, not me." I was about to argue with Giovanni, telling him that it was none of his business when I realised what he just said.

"Deserves? You didn't tell him?" Giovanni shook his head, leaning back against his chair. "He'll be here any minute."

"What? Gio why would you do that?" I let out a sigh, running my hand through my hair out of frustration. The whole time my sister and father just sat there, pretending like they weren't listening to the conversation. My father was busy turning the pages of the newspaper every few minutes and my sister was mindlessly scrolling through something on her phone.

I practically invented both of those techniques when eavesdropping.

"Just be straight with him. He was so angry when you left, it's clear he cares about you, there's no need to push him away."

I narrowed my eyes at Giovanni for a moment as a sudden thought occurred to me.

Did he know?

He seemed confused at why I was just staring at him but before he could ask, the front door bell rang. "Well, I should probably go."

I watched as Emilia stood up, putting her phone into her pocket, just as my father did the same, folding his newspaper in half.

"I should too, I have work to be getting on with."

Their not so subtle behaviour would have been amusing if I wasn't so annoyed about Matteo coming over.

I rolled my eyes and pushed past my sister, leaving the kitchen and making my way to the front door. When I opened the door, Matteo didn't say a word to me as I stepped aside, allowing him to come inside.

"Ah, Matteo, it's good to see you again. I didn't know you were coming over, it's a nice surprise."
Both of us turned towards the sound of footsteps when my father spoke as he came towards us with Emilia and Gio behind him.

Seriously?

"You too, Mr Moretti." Matteo stuck his hand out to shake my dad's hand while I just stood there, wishing this whole ordeal would be over soon.

I was still tired as hell.

My father spent a minute catching up with Matteo like they were best friends or something before he finally left. Thankfully during that time both Emilia and Gio had gone somewhere too.

"Shall we go upstairs? If we sit downstairs someone might hear us talking..." My words trailed off awkwardly when I realised Matteo wasn't going to respond to me. Instead I let out a sigh and just made my way upstairs and thankfully he followed silently behind me.

What a change from the last time we were here when he was making comments about my ass when we went up the stairs.

When we finally made it to my room, I sat down on my bed while Matteo just leaned against the wall, keeping his distance from me. Mostly likely this was because of what I said to him about not wanting to be alone with him.

Well done Gabriella.

"You can sit down if you want."

Silence.

"Fine, I'll make this quick then. I got the bruise from Dean when I went to see to him to end things with him so that I could be with you properly. He got angry, I ended up with bruises and then he left. The next day he came here and my father told him to leave me alone. That's it, you can go now."

Despite what I said he didn't move. He just stood there staring at me with the same glare he'd been giving me all day. When he still didn't speak, I dramatically lay back on my bed, staring at the ceiling as I waited for him to say something.

I ended up waiting a couple of minutes before he finally broke the silence.

"How does this involve me? I don't get what I did to upset you."

I turned my head to look at him as he just continued to stare at me with the same expression.

"I told you I have a lot going on Matteo. This thing with Dean is just part of it. I'm not sure about you...about us."

"Why? Because of what Jordan said to you? I'm nothing like my brother."

"It's not just about that! It's not that simple. Nothing about this is simple." Matteo just shook his head at me as he still leaned against the wall.

"I haven't done anything but try and be good to you Gabriella. I made one freaking mistake when I met you by kissing you and I've been paying for it ever since. I spent months being your damn friend and we finally got somewhere and now we're back to square one."

I could literally feel the anger and frustration radiating from him as I sat up properly to look at him. He was right, I knew the way I was treating him was wrong. But not many girls can say they've ever been in a situation like this before. It's pretty hard to deal with.

"I know that Matteo. Can you just come and sit down and I'll explain it to you properly." When he didn't move I let out a frustrated sigh and got up, going over to where he was standing. Stopping in front of him I held my hand out in front of him for him to take.

"Please?"

Thanks for reading! ❤️