A/N: This chapter is written in third person, because I thought it would be easier! Also this is what Neveah is telling Cataleya! ANYWAYS, Enjoy!

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Six years earlier...

It was just another casual schoolday for the girls, or so they thought. Later that day, when Neveah got home, she heard the news.

Her grandfather was terribly ill and on the edge of dying. She and her parents had to go to Italy as fast as they could.

Neveah didn't want to go, she didn't want to miss her friends at school, but she didn't want to miss her grandfather either, so she went anyway.

'At least you get to see Andrea again.' Her mother said, convincing her that it's better this way. They were only going to stay in Italy for a few months, or until her grandfather passed away.

Neveah liked the idea of seeing her cousin again, she hasn't seen her for years, and it's always a fun time with her two years older cousin.

They got into some major trouble the last time they hung out, so it should've been fun. And it was going to be, but it was going to hurt even more.

The moment they got to the airport in Milan, the moment they stepped onto the Italian grounds, their lives would change. But they didn't know that at that time.

Neveah's mother's sister, auntie Julia, made sure that someone picked them up and brought them to the gigantic house her grandfather lived in.

'Long time no see, little one!' Her uncle picked her up and hugged her tightly, making her gasp for air as he puts her back on her feet. 'You've grown so much!'

She didn't know how to respond and looked at her mother. 'Don't be shy Aurora!' Easier said than done.

The adults went to a separate room, to talk about stuff the children wouldn't be able to understand or they were simply too young to hear.

Andrea ran towards her cousin and hugged her tightly, almost as tightly as her father did.

Her dark wavy hair danced around her face. She was gorgeous like always and made Neveah feel a little insecure about herself. About her body. She wasn't as skinny as the rest of her family, but they didn't seem to care about that. So why should she?

Well, she did. She cared because others did. People around them did. They always stared at her weirdly when she would walk through town with her parents.

'Ready to party again?' It was obvious that she wasn't American. She had a thick Italian accent, but that didn't matter. Neveah was used to it from talking over the phone all those nights.

Even if she didn't want to, Andrea would drag her everywhere if she could. She knew she didn't have a choice. So she let her older cousin drag her towards her room to get changed into a tight dress.

Neveah didn't like wearing tight clothes, especially dresses that barely fell over her knees. But she didn't complain, she didn't want to ruin the mood, so she just went with it. For once, she thought.

After the whole family had dinner, the two girls went to town. 'We're just going to enjoy our night!' Andrea screamed before slamming the door behind her.

The fact that her parents let her out at night, alone, shocked Neveah. She wasn't exactly the type to even think about going out, but she was certain her parents would not let her out without anyone else.

Not that Andrea was alone. Neveah wasn't known to the area. She hasn't been there for years and everything has changed compared to the last time she came to visit.

'So I heard the Curzio family is in town.' Andrea said, smiling like crazy. Neveah noticed that her cousin put on more make-up than she usually did, but she didn't care until now.

'Who are they?' Her cousin simply started laughing, thinking that Neveah wasn't serious, but she was.

She had no clue. Neveah was innocent at that time. She had no clue about anything. According to her, there were not many bad people walking on this earth. But god was she wrong.

Her cousin didn't even elaborate, she simply dragged Neveah towards a club and entered. She skipped the entire line of people waiting outside and mumbled something to get past the bouncer.

The man looked at the girls and sighed deeply, mumbling something under his breath. Something Neveah didn't understand. Something Italian.

She never understood why her mother didn't teach her any Italian or Spanish growing up. If she could at least talk one of them fluently, it would've been so much easier to talk to her relatives.

'Come on Aurora!' That's also different from America. Only her family called her by her middle name. They seemed to like that name more than Neveah.

'Coming!' She ran behind her cousin, into the packed club. She was way too young to be there, but she didn't care at the time. She got in somehow, so it wasn't her fault.

Andrea walked straight to the bar and ordered some shots for them. Neveah only drank once, when she was twelve, and she didn't like it. That was four years ago. She thought it would be different from what she remembered, but no. It still tasted disgusting.

'Oh come on baby!' Her cousin pulled her towards the dancefloor, in the middle of the crowd, and started dancing as if it was all she ever did.

Her hands were up in the air and she was swaying her hips from side to side on the rhythm of the music.

Neveah always looked up to her cousin and even now she did. Andrea was the type of person to never care about anything. Ever. She didn't care what people would think, she was the most shameless person in the family.

'Dance with me!' She could barely hear her cousin over the loud music that was playing, but she slowly moved her hips too. Way stiffer than her cousin, but she tried.

She had never done stuff like this. It wasn't like her to go out, especially on a Tuesday night.

Neveah's mind wondered to America. She thought about her friend Cataleya and what she could be doing at this time.

They danced for what felt like hours and talked about everything until Neveah's eyes met his.

Leonardo Tiago Curzio, the boy who would ruin her later on. If she knew what impact he was going to have, would she had done it differently?

His dark magnetic eyes pulled them together and she couldn't stop staring. She never cared about boys, but this boy was something else.

His triangle-shaped face and sharp jaw compelled her even more if that was even possible.

She fell head over heels for him and didn't care about anything else but him. His eyes were glued to her as if she was the only one in the room for him.

Even though there were plenty of girls dancing around him. He simply didn't care.

When Andrea noticed that her cousin was staring at a boy, she immediately looked to see who he was and gasped for air.

'You have to be kidding me, that's Leon Curzio!' Neveah's heart melted hearing his name for the first time. 'He's a Curzio, the one you talked about?'

Andrea didn't even respond and pulled Neveah towards the boy who was still staring at her. The closer they got, the more handsome he became to her. The more attraction she felt.

Of course, they couldn't get past the security standing at the entrance of the little area he was standing in.

'Mossa.' He shouted over the loud music and the security moved to the side, letting the girls pass.

Andrea never felt more important than that moment. She would cherish that moment for the rest of her life.

'Come ti chiami?' He stepped closer to her and looked deep into her eyes. All she could think about was his deep voice and what it did to her.

Never in her entire life did she think she would react to a man like this.

'What?' He looked beside her, at Andrea, and smiled. 'You're American?'

Neveah's cheeks were heating up from embarrassment. Was it that obvious? She was happy that it was dark and that he could barely see her. All that mattered is that he saw her eyes because that was just enough.

'What's your name?' She introduced herself and asked for his name. They talked for the rest of the night and enjoyed their time together. Even Andrea, who simply stood there for the first thirty minutes, got what she wanted.

Leonardo introduced her to his cousin Rafael.

Rafael Adriano Curzio started talking to her. More like demanding her to come towards him and sit on his lap, but Andrea seemed to enjoy it.

Around midnight, the four parted ways. They did exchange phone numbers though. So they could meet up again if they wanted to.

Rafael and Andrea kissed each other that night. For Rio, it didn't mean much, but for Andrea, it meant the world. All she ever wanted was to be noticed by him. To be noticed by Rafael Curzio. And thanks to Neveah she finally did.

For the following weeks, the girls spend every day at Curzio's mansion in Milan. Falling even deeper in love than they expected. When they decide to tell Neveah about their way of working, she wasn't shocked at all.

To her, this was all a love story. Like one of the books, she read once. Leonardo would protect her and love her until the day they both died. He promised nothing would hurt her as long as he lived. Nothing could harm her as long as they loved each other. She was so sure of that.

At some point, Neveah forgot why she went to Italy in the first place. She was too busy with Leon to care about anything else.

One day, the four of them decided to go for a walk through the city. Leon wanted to show Neveah all the perfect spots in Milan and Andrea was forced to stay with Neveah, so Rafael decided to tag along.

Well, not decided. He was forced by Leon since he still owed him for the fact that he covered his ass last time.

All Andrea was to him, was a toy. He needed someone to use for his own purpose and he didn't care that it would break her in the end. As long as they enjoyed the moment. As long as he enjoyed the moment.

The two girls even met the whole Curzio family at some point. It was a big family, with a lot of aunts and uncles, but Rio's parents were nowhere to be found. That's because they were dead. They have been for two years.

Immediately everyone from the Curzio family was happy that the boys finally settled for one girl, but god were they wrong. Rafael didn't care about Andrea's feelings at all and slept with five other girls if she wasn't available.

Their relationship was the most toxic one to ever exist. He used her and she kept running back, just because it was him. Because she fell for his bewitching face. Rafael didn't even apologize for anything he ever did to Andrea and he probably never would.

Leonardo and Neveah on the other hand were a totally different story. They both fell in love with each other. They were each other's first true loves and wanted to be each other's last.

For the first time in his nineteen years of living, Leon felt loved by a girl. He never felt the love he got from Neveah with any other girl he had been with, which was a lot. No one compared to her and he loved to let her know that she was the one for him.

He was so gentle with her, just to make her happy. Normally he would just fuck a girl and leave, but not with Neveah. She was different to him. She was worth every second and he told her that all the time. They even had a safe word for when things went too fast for her.

After two months of love and happiness, Andrea heard something that broke her. Not just her heart but her soul. Rio cheated on her with the girl he promised to never touch. The news broke her into a million pieces and she went full psycho mode.

She ran out of the house, crying like crazy, leaving everything behind. Her family didn't know what was going on, not even Neveah.

Later that night, Neveah went to the Curzio's again. She asked if they had seen Andrea, but they hadn't. Rio didn't even care and that scared Neveah a little.

It was the first time she noticed how cold he actually was towards her cousin. How little he actually cared about her.

Leon told her she could stay for a few hours and as much as she wanted to leave, she couldn't say no to him. So she stayed but wasn't much fun since she was slightly panicking about her cousin.

See, no one knew where she was exactly, and since it was getting late, everyone was getting more worried. Everyone except the only person that actually mattered to Andrea.

Leon noticed that Neveah wasn't really in the mood to hang out so offered her a ride home. As much as Neveah wanted to enjoy her night with Leon, she couldn't focus on anything else.

They talked about happy things while walking to the door. Just when Leon opened the door for his girl, she gasped for air.

There she was. Andrea's body lying in front of her. All bloody and bruised.

Neveah screamed at the top of her lungs and Leon hugged her tightly. Covering her face so she couldn't see Andrea's body. He didn't want her to see this. She was too soft according to him and wouldn't be able to handle it.

She broke down into tears against his chest and didn't let him go ever since. He was her anchor. Her only thing to pull her through this.

Neveah needed to tell her family about her cousin's death and she didn't know where to start. She had to go through it alone though. Because if her parents ever found out she was meddling with the Curzio's, she wouldn't be allowed to leave the house ever again.

After Andrea's death, she stayed with Leon a lot more than usual, since he was her protector.

'Are you okay?' He asked every once in a while, a little too many times, just to make sure that she was alright. She nodded every time, smiling at him.

She was sad but happy that she had him. He was still alive and that made it all a little more bearable.

'I just want to know who did it and why...' she whispered into his hair before kissing him gently. It seemed to help with the pain when they kissed.

'I promise you, I will help you find out who did this and we will hunt them down.' He promised her. One of the first promises he made her. If only he could keep them. 'I'll protect you with my life Neveah.'

She believed him. She believed everything he said because she loved him. And he loved her.

And because of his love for Neveah, he tried. He tried finding out who did this and why, but there was no lead. Nothing. As if she did it herself but that would've been impossible.

Leon even got Rio to help, even though he didn't seem to care that his girlfriend was found dead in front of his house.

A few days past and the Curzio's decide to go sailing the whole day. They invited Neveah since Leon insisted she should be invited. She joined the family on their ship and enjoyed the day.

Leon's mother really liked Neveah, not just because she was a nice and well-mannered girl, but because she made her son happy. Happier than he had ever been. Her heart ached at the thought of Neveah leaving him, she knew he wouldn't survive that.

So she wished she never would.

After a whole day on the ocean, the Curzio's decided to go back to shore and eventually go back home.

They offered Neveah a ride home and so they drove to the house she stayed at. Neveah was scared about her family's reaction to the Curzio's bringing her home, but it was time they knew about all of it.

She jumped out of the car and ran to the front door, knocking like crazy, all excited for her parents to meet the love of her life, but no one answers.

There was a spare key behind the bushes, so she used it to get inside. The hallway was quieter than usual and that was odd. Normally little Samuel and Tamara would've ran into the hall and jumped on her, but nothing.

'Mom, dad! I want you to meet someone!' No response. She slowly walked further into the house and noticed that the normally neatly laid carped, was all over the place. What?

Her heart started racing and she ran into the living room. There they were. Her mother, father, grandfather who was just getting better, aunt, uncle, and little cousins. They were all dead.

The whole room was covered in blood, but there was no sign of anyone. She was alone. They had been dead for hours maybe and she didn't even notice. She was living her life with her boyfriend and his family, not even noticing that her family had been slaughtered.

Tears streamed down her cheeks like waterfalls and she fell to her knees, not being able to stand because of the grief that was consuming her.

She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, but there was too much pain. She wouldn't survive if it wasn't for Leon. He ran towards her and called his family to see what happened.

While Leon was comforting his girlfriend, the others investigated the place. Every member of the family got killed differently. All gruesome and harsh.

For the first time since Neveah met the Curzio's, she felt like a target. It started to become a pattern. She put the pieces together, everyone related to her was getting killed, because of the Curzio's. Yet she didn't leave.

She wanted to know who did this. Who hated her this much. Who ruined her life just because she fell in love with the wrong boy.

Leon carried her back to the car and didn't leave her side while she was crying uncontrollably. Even Rio, who didn't seem to care for Neveah at all, went silent. He looked at her differently, knowing what she saw when she stepped into the house.

Neveah went silent for the next couple of days, not knowing what she could say to anyone or anything. She felt dead inside and not even Leon could help her.

She realized that the world indeed was full of mean people. People who are out to harm and hurt others.

One night she decided to talk again. She needed to know. So she went to the big dining room and stood at the end of the table.

'Who did it?' Everyone looked at her and Leon, who didn't want to look her in the eyes. He didn't want to scare her even more, even though she wasn't afraid of him.

He blamed himself for all of this, because he was a Curzio, and because he pulled her into this mess.

Rio, who normally didn't like to talk to her, stood up and walked over to her. 'We don't know yet.'

He spoke firmly and direct, wanting to show Neveah that she still was just a guest to him. She was just as disposable as all of her family members, according to Rio. He never said it, but she knew that it was exactly what he thought of her.

'Don't lie to the poor girl.' Leon's mother interfered. She was a kind and loving woman. The only woman who knew how to handle the two devil cousins. Neveah's heart stopped for a second.

They knew. They knew who did this. They knew who was behind all of it, yet they didn't tell her. The one thing she needed to know to fix this.

'Neveah..' His voice sounded hoarse all of a sudden as if Leon has been screaming the whole day.

'You know who did it?' She asked, trying to hold back her tears. The last thing she wanted to do is break down in front of them again. Even though they would understand.

'We don't know for certain yet.' They tried to explain it to her, but she didn't catch it. All that she thought about was the fact that they had suspected who it could've been. They were close and didn't tell her anything.

She felt betrayed by the only person she had left and that hurt like hell. Yet she forgave him when he begged her to understand.

Later that night, when everyone was asleep, and Neveah couldn't fall asleep again, she looked at Leon lying next to her.

Pain and fear filled her body. The pain from all the deaths around her. She lost her family within two weeks and doesn't know why. Well, she does suspect that the Curzio's have something to do with it, but why? And who would want to make her life this miserable just to get back at the Curzio's?

Fear because she feared that she could lose her sanity. She wasn't broken yet, she knew it could get way worse than this. Her worst nightmare would be to lose Leon and that scared her. Her family died and all she could think about was him. What if it was him who died?

Her own thoughts scared her and she didn't want to feel this way. Ever again.

She kissed Leon's cheek and slowly got out of bed.

Neveah needed to leave. She needed to forget about him. She needed to create a wall towards him since she didn't want to feel anything for him. The fear of losing him broke her. It scared her that she could have such strong emotions for someone she apparently barely knew.

She didn't think he would lie to her, but he did. He knew who was behind all the attacks or at least had suspected who it was, and he didn't tell her. He lied to her about all of it.

Silently, she walked down the stairs. Trying not to wake anyone. Just as she gets to the front door, she hears someone chuckle behind her. She slowly turned around and saw Rio with his arm folded, trying to see what she was going to do now.

He simply stood there and smiled. 'Please let me go..' She begged, even though all he did was smile.

Rio didn't say anything and slowly walked over to her. He held out a couple of hundred euros and sighed. 'You better run, because he's fast.'

She didn't hesitate and ran out through the front door. He was going to let her go. She would be free from all the lies and pain they had caused her and she wasn't going to ever think about this again. About him again.

Neveah ran as fast as she could and didn't look back. She never looked back. She was afraid that if she did, she would go back to him.

The moment she entered the airplane, tears started flowing from her eyes. She felt alone, but safer than with Leon, which hurt.

He was supposed to be her savior, her protector, her everything. Yet she felt safer without him.

Can you call it home if they hate the fact that you're alive? Neveah told her aunt and uncle about everything and they wanted to go to the police. She begged them not to, she didn't see why they should, since there was nothing that could bring them back to life.

She didn't even notice that she had not been on her period since she had sex with Leon. Until she moved in with her aunt.

All the trauma was too much for her. It was too much for her body and her soul. As if she hasn't been through enough already, she lost the child two days after getting back in America.

It didn't hurt as much as she thought it would and that scared her. She was afraid that the Curzio's changed her for the worse. That they made her heartless and incapable of feeling grief and pain.

At the age of sixteen, she didn't just lose her family. She lost her first lover, her child, and herself.

Thoughts of all the parties she went to with her cousin filled her head. She wanted to live life as Andrea did. To not give a fuck about anything but the moment. So she did.

Neveah started going out and drinking a lot. Which only made her aunt and uncle hate her even more. Not only was she the cause of their death, but she was also becoming an alcoholic.

When it was time for her to go back to school, she didn't talk as much. At least not as much as she used to. She kept it all inside since she didn't want to be seen as weak. She hated being seen as a victim.

She didn't even tell her best friend, who felt very sorry for her loss, the truth. She couldn't.

Neveah promised herself to never talk about the past three months with anyone and just leave it in the past.

In three months, her whole life got thrown upside down. Simply because of a boy she met in a club. A boy named Leonardo Tiago Curzio.