Chapter 24

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Slightly longer chapter! I hope you like...! I hope it still works and loads all of it, but if it doesn't I will make sure that I upload separately. But listen to this song while you read the second part of this chapter!! Its an amazing song and I love itttt! Anyways! ENJOY, my lovelies! :) XX, Hannah

CHAPTER 24: Natalie felt cold inside. Every part of her felt broken.

Shattered.

Half of what she used to be and she hated herself for it, hated that a man could make her feel so fragmented and cold. She had told herself after seeing her mother depend on a man for everything-attention, housing, money, love-and now Natalie felt like everything was dim without Giovanni.

It had been two days since she had told him since she loved him and she had been going back and forth between regretting that she had told him she had loved him and hating him for not saying it back and running away like a coward.

She wondered what he was doing, what he was thinking-wondered if he felt as horrible and sad as she had the past two days and still felt. She knew that she should eat something. She knew that she should get showered, but it was almost as if everything was drained from her and she couldn't make herself get up, so she laid in bed.

At first she cried-she cried a lot, but now she didn't cry.

She only slept, or stared at the blank wall or pillow next to her. She felt ashamed that she was letting this get to her, but how could she not?

She had let herself go with Giovanni and revealed herself to him only to have him run the other way.

It hurt, and it hurt a lot.

A knock sounded on the door and she blinked open her eyes, still hazy from sleep. She grunted and rolled on her side.

A moment later the door opened and Natalie heard the click of heels on the floor before the drapes were pulled open and sunlight spilled into the room with a bright crescendo of yellows and golds of summer sunlight.

She slammed her eyes shut at the change of light and moaned her displeasure as she pulled the covers over her head.

A sigh before the bed dipped.

The covers were pulled back and Natalie peeled open her eyes reluctantly to stare at the concerned and sympathetic eyes of Ana-Marie.

"Oh sweetheart." She murmured sadly and an ache built up in Natalie's throat, but she cleared her throat against it and blinked her eyes against the hot and harsh sting of tears.

"I am so sorry." Ana-Marie whispered as she laid down beside Natalie and stroked her hair back from her face.

Natalie's chest shook with the effort to hold back a sob and she curled herself into the motherly embrace of Ana-Marie.

She noticed, not for the first time that Ana-Marie had that about her. A certain maternal trait that made her that much sweeter. Even with the spiciness of her personality.

"He...he just left. I told him and he left." She whispered past the hard lump in her throat.

Ana-Marie hummed and held her tighter.

"He is being stupid," Ana-Marie growled.

"He has the same feelings for you too. He just is not admitting them and denying them instead."

"I don't know if he does." Natalie said and sniffed.

"Oh, he does." Ana-Marie said with a wry laugh.

Natalie frowned and pulled back to look at her questioningly.

Ana-Marie sighed.

"Whenever he hears your name, his eyes light up. When he notices you his whole demeanor changes. He may not know it, but he does love you. I promise you that. I know these things." Ana-Marie said with a shrug and that tore a laugh from Natalie.

She raised an eyebrow.

"You do now do you?" She chuckled and Ana-Marie's lips twitched as she attempted to look stern and serious.

"I do!" She narrowed her eyes and picked up a stray lock of Natalie's hair with a grimace.

"Now, I will go get some ice cream, but while I do that, please do go and take a shower. Your breath could knock out a horse." She said and Natalie winced, but nodded as she sat up and stretched, her muscles slightly stiff from not being used.

She got out of bed and yelped when Ana-Marie smacked her pantie-clad bum. She turned narrowed eyes on to the grinning woman.

"Hurry up! I am used to the hygienic Natalie and I want to be able to watch the Notebook with you!"

She said with a giggle and Natalie scowled, pouted, but nodded and made her way into the bathroom for a well-needed shower.

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Giovanni stepped off the plane and looked at his surroundings.

It was good to be home.

Home.

Was it really home anymore?

Was Natalie still there waiting for him or did she leave?

He didn't blame her if she had and wouldn't blame her if she did. Over the past two days, he had felt lost. He had no idea why and it took a lot for him to realize it was because he wasn't with Natalie.

Natalie was his light and he needed light in the darkness, he realized, and with that-he realized he was in love with her.

He was in love with her from the first moment he had set eyes on her.

It had just taken some times to realize it.

He was a foolish, stupid man.

He left Natalie who had bared herself to him and he was too much of a coward to admit his own feelings. The past two days he had spent them doing what he had always done before Natalie came into his life and he felt emotions that he had no idea what to do with.

He drank, and he killed.

Usually after he killed he had felt some small type of remorse, but this time with the person he had killed-he felt nothing but pride for killing Johnny.

He knew that probably made him a horrible man and he would be going to hell, but he didn't care because at least he would be going to hell with Johnny to kill him over and over again. Johnny had at first denied everything about Natalie, but then of course when he was threatened with losing a hand, began to talk like he just couldn't stop which only gave Giovanni more and more incentive.

He had listened to the son of a bitch describe what a good fuck Natalie was, and how she had "wanted it". Natalie had only been 10 years old when he first started.

It went on until she was 15. Giovanni had reveled in the feeling of the man's blood coating his hands and the smell stroking his nose as the screams filled his ears.

All the while the man hadn't shut up about Natalie and that was when just how much Giovanni cared about her.

He would give everything just so that she didn't have to go through that as a child or go through anything else again, and he realized he hadn't felt that and he realized he wouldn't ever feel it again but only for Natalie.

In the past two days he had gone back to his old life, the life without Natalie and only then did he realize how horrid and how lonely it truly was.

He was the lost wanderer and she was his compass.

Giovanni blinked and found Nicholas staring at him expectantly, a twinkle of amusement in the man's usually hard and emotionless eyes. Giovanni narrowed his eyes and gestured for the driver to begin the way back to the house.

He was... he was nervous, he realized.

What if he got back and she wasn't there?

What if she was and didn't feel the same way about him anymore?

His hands clenched into fists on his thighs and Nicholas cleared his throat, drawing Giovanni's attention to him.

"Boss, calm. Everything will be fine. There is no way that Natalie stopped loving you within two days' time." Nicholas said in his deep, all growl voice.

Giovanni merely grunted in response, nodded.

"I know, Nicholas. I just...I cannot lose her." He admitted and Nicholas's eyes were sympathetic.

Giovanni looked away as he growled under his breath. "Do not." He said quietly and Nicholas immediately straightened.

They were quiet for most of the way and with each moment that they came closer to approaching home, he became more and more nervous. Giovanni nervous because of a woman? He would have laughed in your face if you had told him this a year ago, then broken your nose. He didn't care anymore. He loved her and that was that.

The car pulled to a stop and Giovanni clenched his jaw as he got out of the car and went into the house. He stepped inside and set his bag down, unbuttoned his suit jacket, pulled it off and closed the door behind him. The house was quiet, dimly lit in the dark of night.

Milky moonlight filtered in pale and shimmering through the windows as he slowly made his way up the stairs and to their room.

He heard soft giggles and paused before opening the door. The sight before him made him pause.

Natalie and Ana-Marie were laying on the bed, Natalie in a long sleeved-thin sky blue silk sleepshirt and matching shorts, and Ana-Marie in slacks and a tank top, her suit jacket thrown over the edge of the bed. They both had a carton of ice cream in their laps and were smiling at each other. They both froze at the sight of Giovanni standing there. He saw Natalie's throat work as she swallowed hard. Ana-Marie's eyes flared as she rose from the bed.

"What are you doing here, Giovanni?" she growled and he glared at her as he spoke in Italian.

"I am here to be with the woman I love." He said and didn't see surprise on her face, but only a hint of a smile-even as she scowled up at him.

"She has been having a very rough time. I do not want you hurting her any more than she already has been. You need to leave." She snarled.

Anger burned in Giovanni's chest and he gritted his teeth as he spoke in English.

"GET OUT." He said lowly.

Ana-Marie's lips thinned, but she spun away from him and grabbed her coat and kissed Natalie's cheek before shoving past Giovanni and out of the house.

It was silent for a moment and Giovanni drank in the sight of Natalie. She looked beautiful as ever, but he could see how pale her skin was and the dark circles under her eyes. He hated that he did that to her and vowed he would never do it again.

Natalie shot up from the bed and jumped off giving him a great view of her never-ending legs. She came to a stop in front of him and pointed a small finger into his hard chest, her eyes sparking with fury.

"What the hell are you doing here?! Who do you think you are?" she hissed, but he could hear the hurt in her voice and it made his heart squeeze.

"I came to talk to you." He said in what he thought was a reasonable voice, but he saw her eyes grow even angrier.

"Talk?! Now?! I haven't seen you in two fucking days after I told you I loved you and now you want to talk!? You are such an asshole!" She shouted and spun away from him to walk past the bed.

Something flared within his chest.

She was walking away from him, like he had walked away from her. He knew now what she felt, and he felt like the most horrid human on the planet, but he couldn't let her walk away from him.

Before he could think twice he had leapt across the room, grabbed her by the waist and threw her onto the bed. She only managed a squeak of surprise before his body was covering hers. Both of them were spitting angry now and he thought if they were cartoons they would have smoke coming out of their ears. She growled at him and punched at his chest.

"GET OFF ME!"

He grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head as he straddled her, making sure to not put any weight on her as he leaned down to speak close to her face even as she glared hatefully up at him.

"Let me speak!" He shouted with such vehemence Natalie immediately-for once-shut up.

He took in a deep breath. "I came back to talk to you because I have realized something," she scoffed but he ignored her and continued. "I am in love with you Natalie Brown. I have loved you since the very first time I set eyes on you. I have loved you ever since you opened that pretty mouth of yours, ever since you glared at me, ever since you were the first one to ever talk back to me. I love you, mi amour. I was too stupid to see it then, but now I do." He whispered.

She quit fighting and fell limp against the bed as she looked up at him with watery eyes that made his chest clench.

"You hurt me." She whispered and he closed his eyes as a wave of emotion washed over him.

"I know." He croaked hoarsely.

"For that I am, and always will be sorry. I know I don't deserve a second chance, but I thought you deserved to know that I love you, that I feel the exact same way you do. I love everything about you and I will continue to find things I love about you, if you will let me." He said and to his dismay his eyes began to water as he stared down at the woman he loved.

Natalie choked on a sob and he finally released her hands, intending to get off her, but before he could she took his face into her delicate hands as she leaned up to him.

"Oh, I love you Giovanni." She whispered and covered his mouth with her own.

He didn't move for a moment, was scared that he would scare her away if he did.

She pulled back and stroked his cheekbones.

"Kiss me." She demanded.

He didn't need to be told twice. He claimed her lips and took them with the ferocity of love that he felt with her.

She moaned and he couldn't think past the feel of her soft body molding against him. She pulled back and he was confused, thinking that their short make out session was already coming to an end when she surprised him.

"Make love to me." She whispered and he felt his heart stop.

"What?" He asked in a hoarse whisper. She bit her lip, nodded and lifted her hands to the first button of her shirt. He watched as a small amount of more skin was shown and he swallowed hard as he watched her fingers move to the next button.

"Are you sure?" he asked and she nodded.

He pulled her head to him and took her mouth with a fierceness that she couldn't help but whimper from.

She wanted-she needed more.

He sensed this and laid her down softly, the only light in the room from the pale milky moonlight that streamed in through an open window a couple feet away.

He unbuttoned the rest of her shirt and showed her just how much he loved her until she wasn't able to think beyond Giovanni.

All and only Giovanni.

They were both lost, wanderers, until they came together and found their way together. They showed their love to each other over again until they fell happy and sated into each other's arms with no intention of ever leaving again. Giovanni wished that they could forget all the problems, but there was still darkness lurking just waiting to be unleashed...

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All done! I hope you liked this chappy! I had to get it done today because I am going to a big wedding reception tomorrow and will be busy all day. Boo. Anyways! Thank you for each of you that read this. I really hope more and more people can read this. If you have any suggestions as to how I can make it more popular than please don't be afraid to tell me! Thank you, again, SO SO MUCH! You're amazing. Will update soon! Keep reading. VOTE. COMMENT. FOLLOW. SHARE. XX, Hannah