Chapter 7 — Della Vedova

I, Mia Martini, lived my early childhood like any girl from a wealthy family in Italy, I had no friends but I was happy because I was very close to my parents, maybe a little too much to the point of doing adult things in front of to my little self…and I never thought that would change.

However, life began to play with me shortly after I turned 6 years old.

At that time, I was happy to meet more children my age, I thought I would visit my father's aunt's foster children and it would be fun. I met Leo and Irina in that house. Leo was the most handsome boy I had ever seen and at the same time the most boring, or so I thought at first.

The more time we spent together the more I learned about him and he wasn't a boring kid, on the contrary, he was very curious, didn't talk much and was a bit bossy. The reason why he seemed dull was because he was sick and it costed him a lot of energy to behave like a normal child.

We spent most of our time in the library with Irina since we both didn't go to school while I gradually forgot that I was just visiting and didn't realize until months later that I was going to live with them for a longer time. I knew that my parents had problems so I accepted that we couldn't be together for a while and it wasn't all bad since Irina and Leo would be with me as well as the other children in the house.

The first conversations I had with those children were about my safety or how mean Leo was to me, I couldn't understand why they would be afraid of him even though he only spent his time reading books. Later they explained to me what had happened years ago but that had nothing to do with me and Leo was good to me so I just ignored it.

Years later, when I believed that my happiness was in that house with the others, life laughed in my face again. My parents' problems followed me and it was all over.

That day I not only lost my parents, Leo and I lost Irina. I knew that she was the most important person in Leo's hearth and that my problems had hurt him a lot.

When we followed grandpa Hayato to Japan, I knew we were going to start a new life, one that would have nothing to do with the problems in Italy.

However, Leo was much more affected than I thought. After that event, Leo's disease disappeared and got a healthy body, like any other child. I thought he would enjoy all the things he always wanted to do but Irina's death filled Leo's mind with thoughts of anger and revenge.

While I was attending school, Leo spent all his time training his body and fighting skills to the limits, many times injuring himself. He had an indomitable willpower, no 10 year old boy could withstand everything he did to his body but he didn't give up until 3 years later.

For 3 years I tried to fill the emptiness in his heart unsuccessfully, it wasn't until grandpa Hayato's death that Leo woke up from that nightmare that kept consuming his mind. I don't know what their last conversation was but grandpa made Leo recover his familiar temperament. I will always be grateful to grandpa for giving us a new life and for saving Leo, I am sure that if he continued with that obsession, life would soon take someone precious to me again.

From that day he began to study at a foreign university virtually and changed training and fighting schedule for swimming classes. Our lives got back the color we lost in Italy and it may be obvious and needless to say but I love Leo.

Yes, I love him and I want to make Leo the happiest person in the world.

Leo doesn't have much experience relating to other people, and even now he seems to stay away from other people but given enough time I know I can earn his love. I'll do anything for Leo.

In a few minutes classes will end and Leo will pick me up from school, today is the third anniversary of Grandpa's death and we will visit his grave as we did the previous 2 years.

'Leo will take me on his motorcycle~'

'I can't wait~'

…

"Hmmm, I should be leaving by now…"

I put the cell phone in my pocket and went to Mia's room, since I finished my university studies online now I have a lot of free time. So, while she's in high school I either go swimming or amend some plans I made to get my mom's family businesses back.

Yeah… Francesca Della Vedova is legally my mother. The woman whom the old man unilaterally loved and served for more than 50 years. Arriving in Japan we needed a surname, or at least me, since Mia decided to keep her parents' surname, so he offered me to join her mistress's defeated family. An American family with Italian roots that used to be one of the top 6 crime families of the American mafia, people were only aware of 5 though.

Della Vedova family, the strongest and the weakest, a matriarchal family that was constantly oppressed by the alliance of the other 5 families. Individually no family could oppose them, however, it was the only matriarchal family and no one could allow themselves to be led by 'women' so the five families of New York allied during a long war against the Della Vedova achieving their victory by assassinating the last survivor and matriarch of the family 8 years ago.

Francesca was aware of the old man's love so her last order was to go back to Japan and start his own family, with a woman who would love him as he deserved. That's where I came in, the old man used his contacts to register me as the hidden son of his mistress, who hid me from the world because I was not a woman, or so the story goes.

"It seems like yesterday was Nezuko-chan's turn."

When I entered Mia's room, I saw that the dakimakura had changed, this time it had the image of a Nezuko, from Demon Slayer, with her kimono open in a slightly seductive position.

Why is there a dakimakura in Mia's room?

Well, what did you expect from an otaku who started living in Japan?

Her room was filled with products of her favorite anime and manga characters and she even began to read light novels...

On every wall you could see a picture of a beautiful girl doing some sexy pose... I wouldn't be surprised if someone else thinks I live with a fat old man and not a young high school student.

"Hmm… here it is"

I grabbed Mia's hoodie from the pile of clothes on the bed and went out to find my motorcycle.

In addition to swimming, I practiced many martial arts and trained my body as much as I could. A few years ago I lost sight of my priorities and focused too much on seeking power so I could take revenge on those who took Irina from me.

After arriving in Japan I realized that my body was stronger than before, the adrenaline that I never felt ran through every part of my body and I was filled with obsession. However, instead of feeling my condition improve, I just felt the chains of my life tighten around me.

Every time I couldn't move a single centimeter of my body, a helplessness feeling filled me, inside of me I knew that wasn't all I could do.

To want and not be able to, to fight and not win, to stand up and not be able to take another step. It was driving me crazy. I guess wanting to break those chains only increased my obsession with revenge....

I tried to go to a psychiatrist but he couldn't help me get rid of that feeling. Every time I was defeated in a sparring match, I didn't understand how someone so weak could defeat me.

I'm not stupid, I know that my abilities can only be called normal and only improved thanks to the superhuman training I did, but I couldn't get that feeling out of my head until I spoke for the last time with the old man.

It could be because he felt that he didn't have much time left, but he approached me and talked to me like a grandfather would talk to his grandson. I don't consider him my family but I respect a man like him.

During the time we lived together I can tell that he was slightly intimidated by my violent aura so we never spoke properly. However, it was thanks to him that I was able to stop in time and learn a little more about him.

His situation was not so different from mine. Being next to the woman you love for 50 years even though that woman loves another man and being just a bystander for sure is hell.

'Irina is no longer with me but I mustn't get stuck in the past. I just make the one person who is by my side worry'.

I had lost sight of the only person who still cared about me, Mia. I don't know what would have happened to her if i didn't come to my senses in time.

I am aware of her feelings for me and I want to reciprocate them, I want to be happy with her, that is what Irina would have wanted. But it's not time yet, there are still things I need to do.

I plan to recover the companies of my mother and Mia's parents, once I have everything done I will marry her.

Some years ago I read on the internet that the people who sent those men for Mia to the orphanage, the enemies of her parents, died in accidents and different strange situations. Obviously someone arranged all that, my hypothesis is that it is the work of Irina's teacher.

When I arrived in Japan, I called the number Irina gave me and I was able to talk to her teacher. I told him what happened and he ended the call saying that he will take care of everything, after that I didn't hear from him nor was the number available.

I'm already close to Mia's school. It's an average co-ed high school like any other, but it's a bit far from our house. She didn't want to study in a nearby place since she wanted to enjoy the trains that appeared in mangas...

I parked a few meters from the entrance and sent her a message telling her I was already here.

A few minutes later, I could see that several students began to leave, I could distinguish how different each group were. A certain group of guys who seemed like the studious type were walking around with their attention focused on their cell phones, probably playing something, I guess they just have the looks and are just gamers with social problems...

Then there was the group of fashionable girls who I must admit, are cute. They didn't take their eyes off me the whole way, but they didn't have the courage to approach me. This kind of situation happens very often, here people are really shy, frequently they end up getting so embarrassed that their faces turn completely red just for calling them by their first name, boring.

I kept looking at various groups looking for Mia, I must do this since she has many friends and you can't always see her in the same group two days in a row.

As I went back to texting Mia, since I couldn't find her, I heard the murmurs of various people. I looked up in search of what caused everyone to behave this way even though I already had an idea of ​​what it was.

A smile formed on my face when I saw Mia, who responded with another beautiful smile as she walked to where I was.