Debt To The Mafia King

Chapter 20

—AMELIA—

I tied up the laces on my white trainers and walked towards my bedroom door. I’ve had a lot of time to think about everything and although Michele has been hiding his true intentions from me, he’s shown me nothing but loyalty - well, almost. It’s time we swept everything under the carpet and moved forward together. If Rickie does want me this badly then arguing amongst each other isn’t going to help. 

It’s 7:17am and I was walking around the house looking for Michele. He wasn’t in his office, bedroom or in any of the upstairs rooms; in fact none of the men were. Where is everyone? I headed down the stairs and then heard Michele’s voice echo through the hallway. I walked over to the living room and peeked round the archway. Michele was standing in front of all of his men. He was giving a speech about unity and control. 

“If we are to regain control then Rickie must go. He’s going to pay for what he has done to my parents and for the interference in this clan!” He exclaimed. 

The men nodded their heads proudly and then started to pile out of the room past me. I flashed each of them a smile until the room was emptied and Michele was left alone. I walked in and cleared my throat to announce my presence. 

“Amelia, I was about to come and find you” he said calmly.

“I know I have been avoiding you but I needed to get my head round everything” I excused and he smiled. 

“I know, that’s why I’ve given you as much space as you needed” He replied, making his way over to the bar and pouring himself a drink.

“What you were planning to do with me was pretty... s**t” I began, joining him for a drink.

“Rickie has a huge reputation and you knew that yourself and yet you still were willing to hand me over to him when we first met”. Michele bit the inside of his lip to fight the urge to defend himself.

“But then you changed your mind and let me in, you treated me as one of your own before you even hinted at your sensitive feelings towards me. I was taken from my family for reasons I was led to believe and the one comfort I had was you and Nico. I had a close friend and someone I couldn’t keep away from...” I continued and Michele smirked to himself.

“This whole time you have been lying to me along with my parents and that I can get over but the one thing I can’t seem to get past is all of the secrets you are still keeping from me. I can’t be kept safe if I don’t know what I’m being threatened by” I explained. 

“I made you a promise, to work on things instead of letting situations destroy us. This is me keeping that promise but it works both ways. If we start a fresh and let the past go then I need you to meet me half way” I said. Michele flashed me concerned look and tilted his head slightly.

“What’s that?” He asked.

“You have to promise that you will never lie, cheat or hide things from me again”. Michele took my hand and softened his gaze. 

“You have my word” he replied. His masculine tone sent goosebumps all over my body and I smiled at him.

“I promise to do the same” I grinned. 

His eyes were filled with hope and appreciation. He stroked his fingers through the side of my hair and cupped it onto my neck. With a gentle pull, he embraced me into his lips and kissed me passionately. The way his mouth moved engulfed my bottom lip and I melted into his chest. When our lips disconnected he opened his eyes and gazed down at me. 

“Your turn” I smiled and he narrowed his eyes slightly. 

“What do you mean?” He asked. 

“You said you were about to come and find me?” I reminded him. His brows lowered and he glanced past me as he questioned himself on whether to ruin the moment or not.

“I wanted to talk to you about something” he began with his arms still wrapped around me, as if he was clinging onto the moment we were sharing.

“I received an email from Rickie last week, threatening me to hand you over to him or my men will suffer” he blurted out. I could sense the worry in his tone that history was going to repeat itself.

“Is that what this meeting was about?” I asked and he nodded.

“I need my men to ready for an attack at all times”

“Why?” I snapped slightly.

“Because the deadline was Sunday, he could come for us at any time now and I wanted to make sure everyone was prepared” he explained and I narrowed my eyes. 

“Why didn’t you tell them before about it?” I questioned and a guilty look wiped across his face.

“I should have, but I was worried about you. The last time someone threatened my men because I wouldn’t hand you over, you left in the middle of the night” he confessed. 

The thought of him being so worried about me running off again was actually really sweet, stupid but sweet. I could see in his eyes that his concern was still fresh in his mind and he still expected me to go running to Rickie. However, I think I have learnt from the last time and Rickie seems to be more psychotic than Ezio. I widened my gaze and looked up at Michele with a epiphany. 

“Ezio!” I exclaimed and he flashed me confused glance.

“If we get Ezio on our side along with Lorenzo then we might actually stand a chance against Rickie!” I exploded with confidence. Michele on the other hand didn’t look as impressed.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Amelia” he said letting go of me.

“What do you mean? Ezio has a lot of men and even more clients. I’ve seen the amount of people he’s involved with and they have their own clans. If Ezio is on our side then he can convince some of these clients to join us in this fight!” I explained. 

“It’s a good plan but you’re forgetting who we have to convince” he said smugly, hinting at Ezio. 

“If you’ll let me, I’d like to go and talk to him. Let me try to persuade him” I smiled ambitiously. Michele stood there, staring at me for a moment as he weighed up his options and then let out a sigh of frustration. 

“Fine, but Nico is to go with you” he tried to compromise.

“He waits outside” I countered with a cheeky grin. Michele rolled his eyes and I giggled.