XXXV

When she finally entered the long abandoned apartment she had once occupied ages ago, she gave it a sweep and when she found it clear, she locked the doors and fell against the door and slid down to the ground. Her head in her hands, knees to her chest, she let the tears fall, her mind haywire as she wondered if whether Luka was okay, wondered what had happened, a spark of anger lit up in her when she thought of who dared to do that to him.

Whether it was her fault or not, whoever was responsible would come to meet a fate worse than death, she would make sure of it. A thought struck her then, it had been Giovanni Genovese to insist she leave lest something happen to Luka, she wondered if it was his warning then, could he have truly been the one behind Luka's state? she found herself sick then that family could do that to its own family. She wondered if he had planned it, her departure, only to come after her minute she left, that part didn't make sense to her, for why would he be after her.

Deacon came to mind then, the deal, she wondered if Giovani was working with Torres then, had he agreed to catch her for him? but then why was Deacon present if that was the case, what had their deal been exactly? She felt like she would just about go mad and her brain about to combust as she tried to figure it all out. Figure out why Luka's uncle wanted him out of the picture, just who else was he conspiring with? just what the hell was going on?

Letting out a sigh, she got up, and looked around, really looked around. The apartment was quaint with no personal attachments to her, just furniture under the white fabrics draped over it to keep it from being as dusty as the ground. The glass door leading to the small balcony was just as dirty giving way to dead plants outside as well as dirty plant pots.

As she stood, barely touching the railing, she watched the empty narrow streets under the moonlight, loving how clear the stars were. She felt tired and as she closed the door behind her and made her way to the bedroom, she felt apprehensive about sleeping on the equally dusty sheets. She thought of spiders then, and she settled for the couch in the lounge, even then she tore it apart before laying on it to slumber for the night.

The next day came with her cleaning the entirety of the apartment until the sun was high in the sky and the heat became unbearable. It was in the afternoon by the time she finished and the place was no longer a poor resemblance to a haunted house. Another hour was spent with her in the closet as she made a vision board from the Torres to the Genovese, making plans and figuring out just what it is she would need and what it is she would do.

When she was done, she closed the doors and took a bath and readied to go to the market, she felt starved, being that she was yet to eat since her breakfast in New York.

"Bella, Bella Sinclair?" came an uncertain partially shocked manly voice with a heavy Italian accent as she stood near the florist's stand. Turning her head to look at who just called her.

The man wore a crème white short sleeved shirt made from airy fabric, and a pair of jeans with leather man-sandals. He had short cropped brown hair and bushy eyebrows atop brown eyes and she cocked her head to the side trying to place the face

"It's me Sergio, don't tell me you have forgotten about me" he said she cracked a smile then

"Impossible" she said twirling the stem of the flower in her hand she added

"I'm certain Maria would have my hide otherwise" to which the man chuckled with a nod

"Yes, yes she probably would" he agreed

"How is she, still dragging you by the air in front of every tourist girl you bring home?" Bella questioned, amusement alight in her eyes as the image of the old woman came to mind. She had made it clear, her displeasure towards her son's tendencies to play with the poor hearts of the poor American girls that knew no better, ever most prone to fall for his charm and accent, he was a good looking man after all.

"You know her, she is adamant I pick an Italian woman, you are an exception. She would accept no one else." The man chuckled as if amused himself. Not daring to dream that Bella would ever settle with him, for he knew she wasn't the kind to be tied down, she was a free spirit, and he loved that about her.

"But of course. anyways, I've gotta run, tell mama I'll visit soon yeah?" she said as she made ready to walk in the opposite direction.

"I will. She will be pleased" he said and watched her shoot him a smile with a nod before she walked away.

She wore nothing but the jeans from the day before and Luka's shirt was folded at the arms and tied in a knot at the bottom, considering its length on her. She walked with many turns and took too many rides, just to make sure she wasn't being followed until she finally arrived at her destination. The minute she walked through the bakery, she was assaulted by the scent of freshly made bread and the scent of both cocoa and coffee beans.

When she made an order to the man about six years her senior behind the counter. He had shoulder length brown hair in a low ponytail, his thick eyebrows seemed well mowed and a trimmed mustache perched above his lips, he looked just the same, save for a few aging wrinkles and frown lines on his forehead. He had a white apron on top of a black short sleeved shirt and the rest were obscured from view. The man glanced up only to freeze in place. For he couldn't believe his eyes at the sight before him.

"Oh Dios mio" he breathed out. "Bambina?" Bella couldn't help her own eyes from misting over as she nodded. The man walked from behind the counter and stood before her and hesitantly so, knowing how she felt about being touched. Seeing this, it was Bella that threw her own arms around the tall man she hadn't seen in years, yet somehow still looked the same.

"H-how are you alive?" the man questioned as they sat in his office, a brew of coffee mixed with cocoa in the cup in her hands with freshly made garlic rolls on the plate before her, the specific order forever embedded in the man's mind.

"Pure luck, honestly" she said, thinking back to when she had found her home in rubbled ashes. "I had been out then, you know me and my secret rendezvous." The man chuckled then

"I'm glad for them. You haven't changed" and her eyes went from her hot beverage to his eyes

"Really?" when the man nodded she shook her head then "Well that can't be good" to which the man let out a light laugh shaking his own head

"No, not at all" they lapsed into a moment of silence, the man trying to take it all in. After minutes of silence he finally asked, worry in his heart

"What bring you here, bambina?" swallowing the bread in her mouth, she sighed and looked at the man, a part of her wondering if whether she could trust the man

"Personal business" she said. The man's face turned serious then and he asked

"Does Nona know you're here yet, that you're actually alive?" to which Bella shook her head. The man thought then, a suspicious look on his face, she knew he had figured it outthen and she nervously bit her lip then

"You have nothing to do with the commotion that went down at the airport do you?" When she said nothing he had his answer

"Those were Torres men, Bambina" the men all but admonished her only to sigh out, rubbing his temples as if stressed "What trouble have you gotten yourself into now?" the question more rhetorical than not.

"Nona's gonna have a fit, you do know that right? Heck the lot of them are, I'm trying not to myself!" he wailed out the last sentence and her lips twitched then

"But you are" she said and the man shook his head his eyes landing everywhere but on hers.

"No no no, don't look at me with those beady eyes of yours, save them from the rest, and hope that their shock outweighs all else. The only reason they never tore the underworld up was simply because of the Order, otherwise chaos would have reigned"

Bella's heart warmed at his words then, however, guilt clutched at it too for not having let them know that she was alive. However, she had been so adamant on leaving everything behind, with zero ties to her past, she had thought it better to let them think that she was dead, and as she thought of everyone, she wondered then if that had been a good idea on her part, or the worst she had ever come up with.

She had never been more glad for the Order until that moment, for if it didn't exist, then perhaps her Luka would be dead by now. She felt a pang in her heart then at the thought of him. The order was more than one night where every crime family made an appearance for recreational purposes, from the up and coming trying to accumulate allies, to the strengthening of bonds between families that were allies. To discussing business and making sure that despite them being crime families, order still reigned.

However, it went beyond that, it had sacred laws the families were to abide by, however ironic that was. And one law was that, a family could declare war against another and make that known along with reason, and it had to involve the families, excluding outsiders. Therefore, although the Camorra Mafia family were fond of her, she wasn't sworn to Omérta, wasn't part of the family in a true sense that they could have declared war in her name. For had they done it, it would have gone against the Order. She wondered then if they really cared for her that much.

"That would have been stupid" Bella said, and the man rolled his eyes, seeing right through her, he felt pain that she thought herself not important enough.

"You underestimate your importance still, I see. Don't let Papa hear that, lest you be damned to his punishment" the mere thought of the old man's way of punishing her made her shudder with a horrified look that made the man chuckle.

"Don't even say that Tomas" shooting the man a glare