I woke up to the sun shining in my eyes. My mind was oddly relaxed but my eyes puffy and my heart heavy.

I turned to my side and started to feel around that's how I noticed Vanni wasn't here. The place where he was lying was still warm but he was nowhere in sight.

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I looked at crumpled pillow and messy sheets beside me before sighing. He'd left me again. I shook my head before rising out the bed and making my way to the bathroom.

I yawned with closed eyes as I opened the bathroom door and as they reopened I was not prepared for what I saw.

Draped in nothing but a towel, water dripping down his torso and a toothbrush in his mouth was Shavanni Ferrez. His hair clung to his forehead as much as the towel clung to his waist brandishing a nice bugle at the front.

Wow, it's-

"Good morning DD," he said after he spat out the toothpaste and rinsed his mouth.

"Y-Yes, a good morning it is," I stuttered as I stared at his firm ass cheeks.

He chuckled making his way towards me and gulped as I came face to chest with him. Vanni pinched my chin, tilting my head so I looked up at him before rubbing my nose with his. I closed my eyes, loving the warmth that sprang inside of me before gripping his arms firmly.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, his minty breath infiltrating my nostrils. "Better?"

I nodded my mind too clouded by his entrancing scent. Musky, fresh and minty. My hands moved to his waist and I pulled him close burying my face in his chest. His heart beat a song against my ear and his hands found my hair caressing it.

This was definitely the best thing to wake up to.

"DD, about last n-"

"No," I immediately interrupted, sensing the disgust and heaviness in my heart become stronger. "I don't wanna talk about it. I just want to be here with you, in your arms. Where I am safe."

I heard him sigh then reluctantly dropped the topic. He wrapped me in his strong arms and the closer I came to his body the more prominent his appendage became against my stomach.

"Vanni, I think you're getting a little too cozy here," I said heat tinting my cheeks.

He chuckled hugging me a little tighter and kissing my forehead before pulling away.

My mind momentarily froze as I saw that mesmerizing, calming and brightening smile of his.

He was one of those people that could bright up your life with just a measly smirk... but I wasn't gonna tell him that, lord knows his ego was big enough.

"... to meet up in his office so get cleaned up," Vanni stated and I looked at him bewildered having zoned out half of what he just said.

"Huh?"

"You were staring at me, weren't you?" Vanni asked with a jovial smirk on his lips.

"Uh–no–"

"Don't be ashamed DD, if I was you I'd gawk at my godliness too," he said displaying his straight rows of 32s.

"Yeah... Godliness... More like abnormalities," I mumbled rolling my eyes.

I then push away from him only to have him pull me back and hike me over his shoulder. I yelped as I was joisted up and when I regained my reins, I found myself face to ass with him.

"Vanni! Put me down you know I get nauseous quickly!" I yelled pounding at his ass cheeks– that might I say are as firm as they look.

"Just admit you were admiring my godliness and I'll let you down," he said casually as he walk out of the bathroom, my body swinging like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder.

My stomach started to tighten uneasily and I felt the pressure rising up my esophagus. I was going to throw up if I didn't get down.

"Fine!" I quickly yelled. "I was mesmerized by your godliness! Now get me upright!"

With a satisfied chuckle, I find myself thrown on the bed, my body bouncing slightly before being trapped under 200 pound of muscles.

We stayed there gazing into each other's eyes getting lost in the emotions that we kept unspoken. His hand caressed my cheek gently as his lips fell closer to mine.

I felt the pressure rising in my stomach as he grew closer and my skin prickled under his touch.

"I'd never let them hurt you ever again DD," he whispered as his eyes desperately search mine for a flicker of emotion on the topic.

I close my eyes looking away as my esophagus tightened. Vanni pinched my cheek gently, redirecting my face to his. I slowly open my eyes as his lips graze my cheek, then my neck, then my shoulder... and with each kiss he whispered his promise... I won't let them hurt you again.

***

"That was disaster!" Giovanni bellowed as he stared at Vanni and I. "You were the best of your group and you're telling me you couldn't carry out a mission so fucking simple?!"

I clenched Vanni's hand in mine under the office table, hating the way Giovanni blatantly blamed us for this mission going wrong... the fact that I almost got raped.

"Now we've got headlines with your blurred ass picture on it," he scolded pointing at me, his anger shimmering down. "People saw you... But luckily for you, their descriptions were vague..."

You'd think the fact that he stopped shouting would've made me relax but it didn't. A calm Giovanni was more dangerous than an angry one. When angry at least he got out this anger then and there but if he was calm, he was planning a million and one ways to fuck you over.

I knew this because I had seen him in action. It was something I wish I could forget. All that blood and the cries.

"For most part you followed your training and kept your head down. Most of the pictures didn't show your face so they had nothing much to say than you're black with long red and black hair. And frankly that can be anybody..." he stated walking towards his chair and taking a seat.

Folding his hands against his chest, he spoke sternly anger still blazing in his cold eyes. "That mission was a disappointment and I expected better from both of you. Vanni..." he said staring at his son. "You were to man your post until Shaneil completed her job and exited the room. Not cause a massacre in the halls because you heard her screaming!"

Vanni gripped my hand tightly and I knew his father's words angered him.

"You were trained to not let you feeling get in the way of a mission!" Giovanni continued with a clenched jaw. "You cannot expect to takeover this business while being such a gato. Man the fuck up!"

"What I was I supposed to do let her get raped?!" Vanni asked glaring steely at his father. "You placed a teenage girl against a six foot giant. Didn't you think there is a possibility she'd be over powered?!"

"Shaneil trained with the best! She should have been able to take him down. That's what she's trained for!" Giovanni retaliated standing to his feet.

"She almost got raped!" Vanni bellowed, rising to his feet and I stood grabbing hold of his arm, silently asking him to back down.

"Maybe if she lost that little virginity of hers it wouldn't matter if she got f*cked one a mission!"

Fuck!

Vanni went into attack mode as those words passed his father's lips, I didn't even notice when he moved. All I heard was struggling, fighting and grunting until finally a Ferrezes' back hit the ground.

Giovanni stood over his son, foot on his chest with that icy glare burning a hole through his skull.

"Don't forget your place niño, both of your duties are to the family! You lie for the family, you kill for the family, you die for the family and you get fucked for the family if needs be!" he removed his foot, walking away from Vanni and I ran to his side helping him to his feet.

He had a busted lip, a bruised jaw and swollen knuckles similar to his father. Neither of them came out scratch-free.

"Get out, your new mission will be brought to you," Giovanni stated placing his attention on the papers before him, effectively ignoring us.

Carefully, I helped Vanni towards the door, trying not to get crushed under his weight. As my hand reaches for the door knob, Giovanni spoke.

"Lose the humanity and self-worth Gem, it won't help you in this business."