When Angela woke up the next morning, she was surprised to find the house spotless clean- minus a coffee table and a few bookshelves. The smashed glass had been cleared, all of the broken objects were gone and the apartment practically looked like a showroom. There was also a large space made in the living room near the floor-to-ceiling windows. She quirked an eyebrow and wondered why.

After Angela made herself some coffee and woke up a little, she sat down at the breakfast bar and turned on the TV. She needed some background noise, she hated when she was home alone and silence took over the entire space.

Her thoughts went to last night and how scared she had been at the start. She didn't know why, but as soon as she saw Adrianno, she felt a lot of relief, she wasn't afraid of him in that moment although she had been many times before. She found herself hoping he was okay but his words rung in her ears soon after.

I'm a bad man, you don't know much about me but you know at least that.

She knew that she was completely forgetting how she had even gotten here in the first place. Adrianno had essentially forced her but she was better off now than she was in that cold, creaky studio apartment in the middle of nowhere. She was safer here, she knew that for sure. She wasn't always waiting for him to come and find her, she didn't have to think about escape routes if he did come back. Stop, she thought to herself, just stop. He won't come back, you won't ever have to see him again. Stop worrying.

She closed her eyes and breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth but jumped at the sound of the doorbell ringing. Angela cursed herself for being so jumpy and crept out into the living room quietly. She didn't know what to do, Adrianno never mentioned anything about answering the door. It must have been someone he knew or else they wouldn't have gotten all the way up here past security.

"Hey! Anyone home? We have a delivery." She heard a man's voice say from behind the door. She got on her tiptoes and was just barely able to look through the peephole.

*********

"You bought her a piano?" Allesandro questioned Adrianno and sniggered. Adrianno was starting to get sick of this kid, he was always being so damn disrespectful.

"Watch your tone kid." He growled at him. Adrianno knew he was getting a little defensive but no one laughed at him, especially not Alessandro. Franco was grinning wildly and Alessandro looked to be annoyed but he could care less. Adrianno had shut him up which was what he wanted.

Alessandro was replaceable; he was not a part of Adrianno's family, just someone who had joined when he was a late teen. He did not know anything about Adrianno but had an issue with authority. Although Adrianno knew Mike, his very own brother, could be foolish sometimes, he was no comparison to Alessandro. He liked to do his own thing; he made stupid mistakes and was messy. Another slip up and Adrianno would have to teach him a lesson. This business had no room for fuck-ups like Alessandro. "Why don't you go take a walk?" Adrianno asked him but used a tone that showed it was not a question.

"Why so touchy Adrianno?" Franco wondered.

"I don't want that god damn kid laughing at me." Adrianno replied.

"Hey, don't worry about him."

"I shouldn't have ordered the piano, it was a bad mistake. Should I call them up and cancel it? No, I can't it's already there by now." He didn't want to sound flustered but immediately felt regretful for getting Angela the instrument. It was on impulse the night of the dinner party when they got home and she went to bed. It was an irrational thing he had decided on at 5 AM in the morning while he was up thinking.

"Whoa, what's gotten into you? This is the most you've talked to me in like weeks Adrianno." He laughed heartily and patted Adrianno's shoulder. It was true, Adrianno was not a man of many words. Usually, he kept his expression stone cold, he never said much and his stare could burn holes through cement. He stood taller than 6 feet 5, he was like a giant and the definition of tall, dark and handsome except with a touch of dangerous too by supporting his two inch scar on his left cheek. Many would say he was a scary man, which was what he wanted everyone to think.

So here he was now, beginning to complicate things and getting nervous about what some girl he barely knew thought of something he had done. He had no other choice but to plaster back on his cold stare and say:

"Nothing." He said coolly and got back to what he was doing before Angela was brought up. He needed to stay as cool and collected as possible, and he also needed to stop thinking about the girl he was sharing his apartment with but his mind would not let him. He couldn't wait to see her again, even though he didn't know how she would react with him after what he had done and said last night. She probably thought he was crazy. He regretted raising his voice at her, he was angry at his father not her.

Adrianno even left to get home earlier than usual. It was just six o'clock and it had begun snowing when he neared his apartment building. The sky was dark but everything else became white around him. Once he had gotten past security and reached the top floor, he nodded at the two guards outside of him door and quickly stepped in.

The smell of something delicious cooking filled his nose while the sound of what he recognized only to be Otis Redding, playing loudly filled his ears. Both were coming from the kitchen, he knew that for sure and that was where she would be too.

She was in jeans and a really loose shirt, his lips were tugging into a smile at the sight of her on top of the counter, reaching up into the cupboards above her, but he fought it off. He was about to speak but walked towards the radio first to turn it down a bit. Once he did so she jumped and let out a squeal, almost falling to the floor.

He managed to run over to her and stop her from falling. She felt his big hands clamp around her waist before she hit the floor and with her legs on the ground. She steadied herself but couldn't manage to get her mind off of Adrianno's hands on her and his close proximity.

Angela sighed in relief but it hitched in her throat when she felt Adrianno's breath just below her ear. He had crouched down slightly in order to catch her. They stood in silence for a moment, only hearing each other's deep breathing. She turned her head slightly to look over her shoulder at him but quickly pulled away and turned to face him when she realised what she was doing.

"I'm sorry." She apologized and looked down at her hands. He just looked at her, wondering why she had gotten so jumpy all of a sudden. Sure, anyone could be startled by what he done but not that much. "Y-You just scared me." She tried to not sound so afraid but her face gave it all away to Adrianno.

"No, I apologize. Are you okay?" He tried to sound soothing but it only came out weird and made him feel awkward. His reply shocked her more, although his tone was not very open, he was saying sorry? She kept remembering his hands on her, a million thoughts flickered in her mind and she felt flustered again. She gulped and nodded. "What the hell were you doing up there anyway?" he asked.

"I couldn't reach into the cabinets." Her reply made him let out a laugh and she looked up, her big eyes observing how he had a slight dimple on his right cheek when he laughed. "What?" she tried to joke and narrowed her eyes in mock annoyance.

"That's funny." He chuckled again and then stopped. It was like he was just learning, like he didn't laugh a lot. "Want me to get anything for you?" he then asked.

"Just the spices on the top shelf please." She replied shyly, taking in his appearance as he reached up to the shelf. He was still wearing his dark overcoat that was sprinkled with white snow on the shoulders. She wasn't thinking about how much she was ogling over this man but remembering what had arrived today had quickly snapped her out of it.

"Wait!" she said, louder than she expected and she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. Now he was the one jumping and stopped what he was doing immediately to look down at her.

"Yes?" he raised an eyebrow and looked over his arm that was still in the cupboard.

"The piano." She didn't know what else to say, her mind had rid itself of words and allowed her to become only fuzzy. He sighed, relieved for some reason as he put the spices down on the worktop beside them both.

"What about it?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Well... What's it doing here?"

"You play don't you?" said casually.

"Not anymore." She tried to brush it off because she really wasn't in the mood for this conversation, it would bring back too much. She didn't play anymore, that was something in the past.

"Oh come on." He scoffed and looked at her again; she seemed uncomfortable for some reason and avoided his eyes.

"A-Are you going to learn?" she asked, hoping he would say yes so it didn't mean he had gotten her the instrument purely because he had seen her play once.

"Of course not. It's for you." He laughed lightly again and smiled slightly. He seemed to be in a better mood than yesterday for sure and as much as she used to like playing the piano, she just couldn't.

"I can't except that from you, it's too much but you are very generous." She felt awkward.

"Well it's already here and paid for, you can't expect them to take it back can you?" she just looked from the floor to him a few times, wondering what to say. "You'll come around, trust me. I know you must get bored being here, you need something to occupy you."

"Why?" she hesitated. "Why did you get it?" Angela was looking directly at him now. She noticed how his slight smile dropped at her words. He was thinking of how to answer.

"Because I know what it feels like to give up something you really love." Was all he said, his answer made her wonder even more about him but before she could inquire anything, the smoke alarm sounded and made her flinch.

They both had failed to realise how smoky the room had become but as soon as they heard the alarm, they could smell burning. Angela remembered she had left the vegetables on the stove too long and quickly went over to turn them off. The guards had both entered the apartment while Adrianno frantically fanned the smoke away.

"Everything okay sir?" One of them asked.

"Yes, everything's fine you can go." He replied, his voice muffled by his hand. They both began coughing and once the alarm had gone off, they were relieved.

"So-" he said, looking between Angela and the burnt food. "Do you like Chinese take-out?" he asked. She giggled and he just smiled at the sound.

"Sure."

*****

I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who is reading, voting and commenting. You're amazing and it means so much:) Feel free to check out my other works too!

A. Summers xo