Adriano

Chapter 42:

'So they put a tracker in her?' Xuan asks.

'Yeah.' I reply, fiddling with the metal pen.

'Are you sure she didn't know about it?' Terzo asks.

I turn and look at him.

'You should've seen her face when we took it out.' I explain. 'It's like something clicked in her head.'

'She hasn't spoken to any of us all day.' Xuan says. 'Not even Mimi.'

'She may feel as if this is all her fault.' Alora narrows her eyebrows.

Xuan puts a hand on her knee and rips it comfortingly, I see Alora relax. I'm glad they've settled what they had between them even though Xuan and I may not be as friendly to each other.

'Where's Alessandro?' I ask.

'Him, Zoya, Lorenzo and Amira went back to base.' Terzo says. 'Matteo and Jasmine went to get some things to cheer up Dilara, and Mimi went last minute Christmas shopping.'

I nearly forgot that it's Christmas Eve today. We've been so busy with the accident and the many secrets we've uncovered that it's slipped my mind.

As if she heard us talking about her, Dilara walks into the kitchen and opens one of the cupboards. Her brown hair trails down her back as she reaches up to one of the shelves.

'Dilara come sit with us,' Alora smiles at her.

'I'm good,' she replies, quietly. Dilara takes out a bottle of tequila and disappears back into her room.

Everyone turns to me.

'What?' I ask.

'Go check on her,' Terzo says.

'Why me?' I ask.

'Oh you're so stupid.' Xuan mutters, running a hand through his hair. 'You think we don't see what's going on?'

I look at him with a plain expression on my face.

'You want her.' Terzo smirks.

'Okay!' I immediately get up. 'That's enough of that.' I glare at them before they can say anything else.

Alora giggles and Terzo shoots her a look that says 'I told you so'.

'Idiots.' I mutter, walking up to Dilara's room.

'Pazza, it's me.' I say walking into her room.

'Adriano now is not the time.' She mutters.

'It'll never be the time will it?' I ask. 'Not if you keep avoiding us like this.'

She gets up and tries to leave but I grab her arm and stop her, forcing her eyes to finally meet mine.

'Stop fucking looking at me like that.' She snarls. 'Stop looking at me with so much pity in your eyes.'

I narrow my eyes at her. She glares back at me.

'Stop looking at me as if I'm going to break at any second.' She snaps.

'I want to help you Dilara.' I say.

'I don't need your help.' She snarls. 'I never will.'

She tries to push me off her and my grip tightens.

'Please, let me in I won't hurt you.' I plead.

She looks up at me, her eyes empty of any emotion.

'I'm only going to say this once.' She lowers her voice. 'Nothing is ever going to happen between us, I'm not going to forget what you've done to me and how I was supposed to kill you.'

Her words dig deep but there's not an ounce of remorse behind them.

'Believe me Adriano, if you weren't hiding me from Vittoria, I would have no use for you.' She continues. 'That's the only reason I haven't killed you, don't get it twisted.'

My grip loosens on her arm and she walks out of the room, leaving me alone to go over her words.

She's never going to forgive me.

*************
DILARA'S POV:
I walk out of my room and try to steady my rapidly, beating heart, and shaking hands. Adriano needs to know the truth, we both do and that was the easiest way to snap us both back to reality.

Finding out that I had a tracker implanted into me without anyone telling me makes me feel as if I can't trust anyone.

I'm not going to let the walls I spent two years building inside of me come crashing down because of a stupid kiss.

It didn't mean anything and it never will. All my focus now is going to be on killing Dominico and claiming my place as leader of the Ravens, even if it's the last thing I do.

'Are you alright?' Mimi asks, concern etched onto her face.

'I'm alright,' I smile stiffly at her.

'Jasmine's downstairs waiting for you,' she explains.

'Why?' I ask.

Mimi shrugs and smiles.

'A surprise.'

I walk into the living room and see Mimi holding two  pizza boxes and a bag of snacks in her hands.

'Movie night in your room!' She exclaims.

'Do we have to?' I ask.

'Yes,' she manages to grab my arm and drags me up the stairs. 'We can't be depressed on Christmas Eve!'

I grumble as we reach my room and I see Adriano is long gone.

Jasmine shoves a pair of pyjamas in my hands and forces me to change into them. I see that we both have a matching pair of grinch pyjamas.

I slump into my bed and she joins me.

'Listen Dilara,' she says, her tone suddenly serious. 'What happened yesterday and whatever happens in the future is not your fault.'

I look at her and she puts an arm on my shoulder.

'I know how Dominico is like, I had to dig out my own tracker too once.' She explains. 'Nothing is your fault so you better not blame yourself for anything.'

'I just don't understand how I didn't notice sooner.' I sigh.

'They probably knew that you kept that bit of your arm always covered,' she points to my bandage. 'They didn't expect you to look and find it.'

'Maybe it was when I was unconscious after the torture training sessions.' I say.

We stay silent for a while before Jasmine breaks the silence.

'Enough of this bullshit,' she sighs. 'It's Christmas Eve, we should be enjoying this pizza and watching the grinch.'

'You have an obsession with him.' I laugh.

'He's very charismatic.' She replies, taking a slice of pizza.

*AUTHORS NOTE*
I hope you all like this chapter.
Have a nice day!