Page 20 of Alessia
Alessia sighs and puts her head in her hands and mumbles something.
“What did you say?”
“I’m a mafia princess.”
Alessia
The room is quiet. I tilt my head up ever so slightly and look over my desk to Harper. Even as baffled as she is right now, she still looks gorgeous in my chair. Her eyes dart from side to side as if she’s trying to put together the puzzle in that pretty head.
“Y-Y-You’re a what?”
“I’m a mafia princess, or well actually I’m going to take over my father’s place in a few days so then I’ll be the Queen of the DiSanti family. Technically speaking.”
“So… You’ll be the head of an Italian mob family?”
“Yes.”
She stays quiet again.
“Why are you telling me all of this?”
“Because you wanted the truth. And I want you. If there’s ever the possibility for you to fall in love with me, I need to be honest with you.”
I look at her beautiful face, the face that’s already carved into my memory, a permanent place for her and her alone.
“Sometimes you need to sacrifice everything you know, everything you have for a possibility… For someone. Just to have the slightest chance to stand in their light.”
I feel the weight of my words hang between them, the tension crackling in the air. I study Harper’s expression, the wide-eyed shock slowly giving way to something much more dangerous: anger. Harper’s jaw clenches, and for a moment, I think I might see fire in her eyes.
“You’re telling me this now?” Harper’s voice is low, almost trembling with fury, but there was something else beneath it. Pain, maybe. “After one fucking day? You really think this is something I can just… accept?”
I take a step closer, my heart hammering, but Harper steps back, eyes flashing with betrayal. She isn’t just angry; she’s hurt. And hurt is something I haven’t prepared for.
“I never wanted to hurt you,” I murmur, reaching out, but Harper holds up a hand to stop me. The movement is sharp, like a warning.
“You’re… the mafia princess? You’re going to run an empire of crime, Alessia? How do I even begin to trust you after all of this?”
I swallow hard. “I wanted to protect you. I didn’t think you’d…”
“You didn’t think I’d what?” Harper snaps. “What? Freak out? Leave you? This is crazy, Alessia. This isn’t some romantic fantasy. You can’t just drop a bomb like this and expect me to just roll with it. I’m not going to fall in love with you because you’re part of the mafia, and if you think for one second that—”
“Harper…”
“No,” Harper interrupts me, her voice growing louder. “No! You can’t just walk into my life, tell me you want me, and expect me to accept this. You’re the head of a criminal organization. You are the danger. You are everything that I’ve spent my whole life running from, and now you want me to fall for you?”
I freeze, the words cutting through me like a blade. The truth hits me like a freight train. Harper doesn’t just fear what I represent, she fears losing herself.
“Harper, please,” I whisper, “I just wanted to be honest. For us. For you.”
But Harper isn’t listening anymore. She turns on her heel, her hands balled into fists at her sides, and storms out of the room, leaving me standing there in a cloud of regret, the air thick with things left unsaid.
My heart twisted as I watch Harper walk away, the words still echoing in my head. I haven’t just lost Harper’s trust. I’ve lost a part of myself I have never known was so fragile.
“Maybe it’s true,” I whisper to myself, standing still in the silence of the room. “Maybe I am the danger.”
