{TRIGGER WARNING! EXPLICIT CONTENT! DO NOT READ IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE IT, THANK YOU! Otherwise, enjoy!}

Neveah Aurora North:

I wake up earlier than usual and immediately jump out of bed. Today is Christmas!

'What the fuck are you doing?' Tiago groans, slowly opening his eyes as he turns to me. 'I promised Manuela I would help her with the food and-' I look at the time, it's already one pm. What?! 'And I'm late already!'

I thought it was just ten am or something, but I was wrong. Terribly wrong.

'Why didn't the alarm go off!?' I ask as I rush into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Tiago chuckles and probably rolls over to the other side of the bed, before shouting something.

But since I'm all the way in the bathroom and he's probably shoving his head into the pillows, I don't understand a single word coming out of his mouth. 'What?'

He groans again and stumbles over to the bathroom, almost falling because of the clothes around the room. We sure made a mess...

'It did go off, I just turned it off because ten am is too early.' Great! 'So now Manuela has been doing everything on her own, because you thought ten am was too early?'

He thinks about it for a second, before moving closer and wrapping his arms around my waist. I feel so small in his embrace, yet so protected even though he could crush me in two seconds.

'She wouldn't mind.' He whispers against my neck, forcing me to melt against his chest as he slowly tries to get his hands into my panties. 'We should-' 'Stay in bed all day, I agree.'

He lifts me up and carries me back to the bedroom, not caring about the toothbrush in my mouth at all. 'Tiago I'm going to fucking kill you!'

'You won't.' I'm placed onto the bed and instantly pushed down by him. 'Because you love me.'

Ever since I told him that night, which was almost two weeks ago, he's been bringing it up. I take the toothbrush out of my mouth, before I fucking choke on it, and roll my eyes at him.

'I hate you.' He shakes his head and kisses me softly, pressing me deeper into the mattress.

I shouldn't cave in. I should be helping Manuela with the preparations. I should be getting ready for the party. I should be running to Leya's room to see what she's going to wear. I should be doing a lot of things, but not this.

Yet I'm too addicted to stop. I'm too addicted to his touch, to his lips on mine, to his voice, to his eyes, to his body, to him.

But of course, a certain someone has to ruin it again.

'Merry Christmas! Okay, listen up! Unless you two are willing to move the fuck out, I suggest you start helping around the house instead of fucking each other every second you're awake!' Brandon shouts as he bursts through the door.

I just know this is revenge for what I did last time he had a guy over. I might have done the exact same as he did right now, but that was to get back at him for the past times he pulled something like this.

And now he's doing it again.

'Brandon, one day I'm going to fucking kill you.' Tiago sighs as he drops down next to me. 'I would love for you to kill me, Leon. But right now I have to get Neveah ready since she's been sleeping in and everything is done already.'

I sit up and stare at Brandon. He's wearing a dark red button-up with a pair of black trousers, and his hair is neatly combed back.

My jaw almost drops to the ground, if he wasn't fucking gay- 'I know right!' He squeals, doing a little spin before smiling at me.

'You look amazing!' I shout as I jump up and look at him again. 'We'll be matching, you'll be wearing that cute black dress I bought you!' Oh...

I was thinking about wearing something a lot cozier since we'll be eating a lot today. But I guess it won't hurt to dress up today?

'And aren't you supposed to go shopping?' Brandon asks, waiting for Tiago to respond. 'I guess.' He sighs, making me roll my eyes at him.

'You still haven't bought the present yet?' 'I just have to pick it up!' He smirks as he heads to the bathroom.

'Okay, go take a shower and put on the set I'll be picking out, so I can do your hair and stuff. I'll be right back!' He rushes out of the room.

I smile as I walk over to the bathroom and stop when I hear Tiago hum some song before he turns on the shower. 'Are you-' 'Can I have some privacy, cara?' Privacy?

Does he want to talk about privacy?

'As if you care.' He shrugs and pulls down his shorts, gracing me with his perfectly shaped ass. God, do I want to smack it right now...

He chuckles and steps into the shower, which is huge by the way. It's bigger than the entire bathroom in the old apartment Leya and I rented.

I continue to brush my teeth, before undressing as well. Brandon did say he wanted me to shower, right?

So that's exactly what I do. I head to the shower and stare at the hunk of a man in front of me. He's washing the soap out of his hair, with his back facing me, and god does he look good.

'Neveah?' I step closer, stepping onto the cold and wet tiles. 'Mhm.' He slowly turns around and smirks at me. 'How long have you been-' 'Shut up.'

I wrap my arms around him and kiss him deeply, pressing my chest against his. If it wasn't for the steam, if it wasn't for his wet, hot body, I would swear I was on fire, because god is it hot in here!

'I knew you would give in eventually.' He smirks as he turns us around, forcing my body underneath the hot water. I let the water run down my back and press my hands on his chest, slowly lowering them to his crotch.

'Don't get too excited now.' He groans, trying to stop me from going even lower. But he doesn't really want me to stop.

Because if he wanted me to stop, he could've easily stopped me. But he didn't.

As soon as I reach him, as soon as I have him in my hands, someone knocks on the bathroom door.

The same person that ruined it earlier.

'You better not be fucking in there!' Brandon shouts through the door, making both of us groan out of annoyance.

I lean against the cold tiles and feel Tiago's head against mine. 'Finish the shower, we'll finish this later.' He kisses me softly, before stepping out of the shower again.

I watch as he walks away, enjoying the view while I can, before lathering myself in soap.

Brandon sure knows how to ruin the mood. He keeps doing it too.

Ever since I pulled this shit on him, he's been awfully quiet about his dating life. He hasn't slept with anyone in a week or two. Unless he hasn't told me about it because he's afraid of what I might do if I knew.

As soon as I'm done, I wrap a towel around my body and one around my hair, before walking back into the room.

'Took you long enough.' Brandon groans, pointing at the set he picked out. It's nothing too special, thank god!

'Turn around.' He does as I say and waits for me to get changed. Once I'm done, he turns back around and points at the cute dress he picked out a few weeks ago.

He already told me he wanted to match with me since all the others decided they wanted to choose their own clothes.

I put on the dress and look in the mirror in front of us. It's cute, but I don't think it'll hold if we eat all the food today.

But Brandon thinks otherwise and pulls me into a chair, before grabbing his little make-up box.

'Now don't move, I'm going to glam you up a bit more.' I nod and try not to move too much, since it'll only annoy him more.

'Who do you think pulled you?' I ask as he turns to my hair. He simply brushes through it, before using almost all the products I own. 'I hope it's Kai, I heard he got someone a very expensive bracelet.' He did?

'I think he pulled Celine, but I'm not sure.'

'Didn't Roman pull Celine?' What? Oh right. That could also be it. 'I guess we'll see.' He grabs the blowdryer and starts drying my hair.

I never wear my hair down anymore, it's too much effort and I don't have the time to do it. Well, I do, but I don't see the point. We mostly stay in, go through some stuff for Rio, and study. So there's not really a reason for me to dress up or do my hair.

'And you're all done!' He chimes as he turns me towards the mirror again. I look at myself and smile. Brandon always seems to be able to pull it off.

'We look amazing!' He nods and grabs his phone, so we can take a bunch of pictures. 'Why are you two still not heading downstairs?' We both turn to the door and smile at Leya and Celine.

Celine is wearing the cutest white, two-piece, with golden lines crossing over. Very Christmas vibes if you ask me. She looks like some holy angel.

And then there's Leya. She's wearing a silky red dress, with golden jewelry and a Santa hat in her hands. 'Put it on!'

'No!' She shouts, before throwing it at me. 'I got it for you since you're wearing black.'

'I didn't-' 'She looks amazing, shut up!' Brandon shouts defensively. I roll my eyes and put on the stupid hat, feeling like an absolute idiot because it messes up my hair.

'No hat.' Brandon chimes as he throws the hat on the bed. I nod and turn back to the others. 'Merry Christmas!'

Leya shouts as she runs over to me. I wrap my arms around her and hug her tightly. 'Merry Christmas Ley.'

We always celebrate Christmas together and I'm happy we're able to celebrate it together this year.

'Merry Christmas, but we have to go. Rio really isn't in the mood today and-' 'When is he ever in the mood for anything?' Leya jokes, throwing her arm around my shoulder.

I smile at her and pull them out of the room, towards the dining room. Everyone is already standing there, they're all dressed up. The men are wearing suits, neat like always, and Manuela is wearing the cutest dark green dress.

I've never seen her wear something like this, and she looks absolutely stunning.

'Merry Christmas everyone!' I chime as I head over to her.

I promised her I was going to help her, and I overslept. The least I could do is apologize and see if I can help.

'Merry Christmas Manuela! I'm so sorry-' 'Master Curzio already explained, I heard you had a pretty rough night last night.' She hugs me tightly and pets my back. He told her?! 'If you ever have a nightmare again, you can always come to me, okay?' Nightmare?

I glance around the room, trying to find Tiago, and stare into his eyes. He smirks devilishly, before lifting his glass to me. Liar...

Not that it's bad. I would much rather have her believe that I had a nightmare than tell her the truth. That would be so embarrassing.

'I will. Thank you.' I whisper as she slowly lets go of me.

'Can we open the presents now?!' Brandon eagerly asks. He's ready to find out what he's getting and to be honest, so am I.

I turn to the table filled with all types of packaging, but I still feel like mine's the prettiest.

A basket filled with perfume and some other stuff.

Leya asked me who it was for since the perfume was for a male and the other stuff is basically all sex toys for women.

I couldn't tell her it was for Rio. Well, more for her since he'll be using it on her, so I told her she had to wait until Christmas to find out.

She was very curious.

'Who's going first?' Roman asks, taking a seat on the other side of the table. We all look at each other, none of us saying a thing.

'I think Neveah should go first.' Leya states. I know she wants to find out who my present is for, but I didn't think she was this curious. 'Fine.'

I get up and walk over to my basket. Everyone can see what it is, but no one knows who it's for. It might as well be for Tiago, to use on me, but it's not.

Everyone looks at me, waiting for me to give it to the person it belongs to. But when I head over to Rio, they all start gasping for air.

'Merry Christmas.' He looks up at me and stares at the basket in my hands for a second. 'You're kidding me right?'

'Does it look like I'm kidding?' Brandon, Celine, Tiago, and Roman start laughing. I try to keep in my own amusement, but it's getting harder every second.

Rio looks like he's about to explode and I kind of want him to.

'This is-' 'Great! Your turn!' I turn to Leya who's eager for the presents to continue.

Her cheeks are red and her eyes are wide. She knows that I picked those out for her. Specifically for her.

I head back to my chair and take a seat next to her. 'You didn't-' 'I really wanted to pull your name, but this worked out pretty good. I hope.'

She chuckles softly and covers her face for a second. She's glowing.

'Okay Rio, your turn.' Celine laughs as she tries to catch her breath.

Rio's face was worth a million fucking dollars. I will never forget his face when he realized what all the things inside the basket were.

'Who did you pull?' He grabs the saddest present on the table. A little box and envelope.

He shoves it towards Marco and sits back down, waiting for him to open it. He's pissed, but I couldn't care less.

'Merry Christmas Barsetti.' Marco smiles at his old friend and opens the little box. Inside is a little package of rubber bands, some gel, and something that looks like a bandana or something. What?

'I- What's in the envelope?' He places the box on the table and opens the envelope, revealing a Christmas card with at least two hundred euros inside of it. You have to be fucking kidding me...

'Thank you?' Marco says a little hesitant. He's happy with it, that's for sure, it's just random.

'You didn't put any effort into it, did you, Adriano?' Tiago jokes as he pulls the card out of Marco's hands. I take a look, seeing nothing else written on it.

Rio didn't even fucking try.

'I didn't know what to get him and he said that he needed some hair shit, so that's what I got him.' He sighs, pouring himself another drink. 'He literally has been talking about that stupid necklace he wanted for the past week!'

'I'm not his girlfriend, so I'm not buying him jewelry.' We all sigh and turn to Marco, who seems pretty pleased with his present. 'I don't mind, thank you, Rafael.' He chimes, giving his old friend a thankful smile.

Celine is right again, he really is kissing Rio's ass.

'Your turn.' Brandon sighs as he waits for his brother to get up from his chair. Marco grabs a sparkly, dark green bag from the pile and hands it to Celine. 'Merry Christmas Celine.'

She slowly takes it from him and smiles, 'Thank you.'

We all wait for her to open it, but she seems a little shocked that Marco picked her. Which I am too. I thought that he picked me for sure. But I guess not?

'Open it!' She chuckles at Brandon's excitement and looks inside the bag. She slowly lifts out a little box, a jewelry box, and a little bottle of perfume. 'I didn't know what else to get you, but it does not mean I want to be your boyfriend like Rio said.'

I look at the jewelry box and can't wait for her to open it. When she finally does, she reveals a cute golden necklace with a crystal. A light blue crystal. Wow...

It's shaped like a tear and bigger than anything else she's ever worn. 'At least someone followed the rules.' Brandon sighs, obviously jealous of the gorgeous necklace.

'Hey, I did too!' I shout while smiling proudly. I totally didn't, but I don't care. 'You basically used Rio as an excuse to buy Leya sex toys!' Roman jokes, making me shrug before turning back to Celine.

She's still in shock by the necklace and looks at Marco for a second. 'What's the catch?'

'Celine!' I burst out laughing and head to the wine closet. 'There's no catch, it's Christmas!' Tiago laughs. I walk back and brush past him, purposefully brushing my arm against his head. He looks up and smirks, almost pulling me on top of him, but I rush to my chair and pour myself a glass of wine.

'Anyone else?' Celine and Brandon nod, but the others already have a drink. Something heavier. But if I want to remember something about tonight, I can't join them.

'Thank you, Marco... I just-' For the first time since I've met her, Celine doesn't seem to know how to respond. She always has something to say. Just not this time. 'I know, I'm the best at picking gifts.' Marco proudly chimes, making the others grunt.

I have to give it to him, he's pretty good. Not as good as me of course, but good.

'Okay, my turn!' Celine quickly puts the necklace on and rushes to the pile of presents, before grabbing the biggest boxes there are. 'Merry Christmas B!' She hands Brandon the boxes and takes a seat.

Brandon is smiling like crazy, happy that he gets the biggest presents I think. He quickly unwraps the first box, opening it as if there's food inside and he hasn't eaten in years, before screaming at the top of his lungs. 'No fucking way!'

He pulls a big, black, fluffy jacket out of the box and looks at Celine in shock. 'Thank you so much!' He shouts, running over to her. 'I'm sorry but I don't even fucking care what's in the other box!'

We all laugh and watch as he puts on the jacket. It fits him perfectly as if it's made just for him.

'Open the other one too.' Celine chimes, eager to know how he'll react to whatever it is she bought him. 'Sure!' He runs back to the box and opens it, revealing a pair of Nike shoes, I don't know which one they are, but they're red, black, and white.

Absolutely stunning if you ask me. 'Celine if I wasn't gay, I would've fucking kissed you right now!'

Celine smiles proudly and takes a sip from her wine, before letting Brandon squeeze her to death.

After a while we continue, everyone gives their gifts. Brandon pulled Tiago, giving him a necklace and a box he's not allowed to open until later. Making me more curious as to what's inside. But Tiago tells Brandon he will do as he says.

Tiago picked Leya, which is the cutest shit if you ask me. He bought her a big bottle of perfume and a new knife set since we all know what happened with her old knife. She did not want to touch it ever again.

It's almost the same, just with a red glow if you keep it at a certain angle. She loves it.

'And don't let Adriano ruin this one for you, okay?' She nods and stares at Rio for a second. The tension is up again. I'm happy that they're sitting on opposite sides of the table, because damn.

Leya picked Roman and she bought him a cute necklace with boxing gloves since that's his passion, and a Maserati watch. He instantly throws away his own watch and puts on the new one. It fits him.

Roman pulled Kai, giving him a new pair of shoes and a simple black watch.

To be honest, I don't know why Kai's name was in the basket and at first, I hated the fact that he was allowed to join, but I don't care anymore.

Everyone turns to Kai. He's the only one left. Meaning that he pulled my name out of the basket two weeks ago.

'Now, I know you don't like me very much...' He sighs as he slowly walks over to the last sparkly bag on the table. Tiago shifts in his seat and keeps his eyes on me.

I smile at Kai and hesitantly grab the bag from him. 'Merry Christmas Neveah.'

'Thank you.' I look inside, noticing that he bought me a bottle of perfume and a little long-ass jewelry box. Is it a watch?

I open it, revealing the most sparkly bracelet I've ever seen. It's made out of crystals that look like a bunch of leaves attached to one another. 'Holy shit!'

All the other presents were gorgeous, but this one. This one is something else. This one is perfect.

Kai Carter Davis is the one who's the best at buying presents, that's for sure.

'Please, wear it. I know you-' I don't let him finish as I eagerly turn to Leya to help me put it on. I want to see how it looks on me.

She giggles and helps me put on the bracelet. It fits perfectly and I will never take it off again.

'It's perfect. Thank you so much!' Before I know what I'm doing, I'm wrapping my arms around him. He chuckles and awkwardly pats my back, before looking at me weirdly.

I know I'm supposed to hate him and all, he's the one who shot me and he's the one who worked for the fucking bastard that killed my family, but this is just amazing.

'Okay, now all for the one!' Celine shouts. I turn to the others and nod. Tiago does not seem pleased, annoyed even. He looks as if he's ready to kill Kai on the spot.

'Us first!' Brandon shouts as he runs to the other side of the room to grab our gift. 'No, safe the best for last!' Leya shouts, turning to the boys.

'I agree, they won't top our gift. Let them go first.' Celine smiles, waiting for the others to move.

Tiago rolls his eyes and turns to Marco and Roman. 'Who has it?' Roman chuckles and grabs a little golden bag from underneath the table. 'Merry Christmas Manuela, from all of us.'

'Wait what? This wasn't part of the plan.' We told her that we would be doing Secret Santa together, but she didn't want to join. She said that she was busy with her own family stuff, but that got canceled last minute, or at least that's what we told her.

We didn't tell her we would be buying her all a bunch of gifts as well. But she deserves it. We've been asking her to do stuff for us all the time, so she deserves to be praised as well.

'You deserve it Manuela.' Rio smiles as he hands her another envelope. This one is bigger than Marco's and looks way fuller. She starts tearing up a little, making me smile at her.

She deserves the absolute best. 'Open it, before the guests arrive!' I chime. She looks at me for a second and stares at Rio. 'Guests?'

He nods and points at Leya and me. 'They decided to invite Antonio and his family.'

'You did!?' 'Yes! Now open it!' Brandon shouts eagerly. He wants to know her reaction to our gift and is eager to ignore all the others.

She takes a deep breath and opens Rio's envelope first. There's nothing in it. Except for a big stash of hundred euro bills. Holy shit... That's way more than three hundred, maybe even a thousand. 'Master, I can't-' 'Yes, you can. You earned it.'

Manuela is always working her ass off for him, she certainly does. 'You just had to ruin all of our presents didn't you?' Tiago sighs as shifts in his seat. Rio chuckles and pours himself another drink.

It's his what? Fifth one already?

'Open ours, it's more sentimental.' Marco smirks as he waits for her to look inside the bag. She looks inside and slowly pulls out something that looks like a wrapped book. 'Did you get her a book?'

'Shut up and wait.' She neatly opens the packaging, probably saving it as a memory, and gasps for air at what's inside. 'What is it?'

Tears start welling in her eyes again and she shows us a cute picture of the little Curzio's, Barsetti's, and Lewis. They look so fucking cute and innocent. They're barely four in the picture, which makes it more adorable than ever. 'Awh, look at little Brandon!' Leya chimes as she leans over the table to look at it.

'That's cute.' I admit. They're right about something, it's sentimental, but it's not the best. Ours will blow her away. 'Kai!?'

Brandon sure is desperate for Manuela's reaction, making him a bit more bossy than usual. Kai nods and points at the bouquet of flowers on the edge of the table, 'I already gave her mine.'

'Flowers?' Manuela rolls her eyes at Marco's statement and kicks him from underneath the table. 'That, and I made her some cookies.' Cookies?

'Now it's our turn!' Celine, Leya, Brandon, and I decided to buy Manuela the most stunning set of jewelry there was. A bracelet, necklace, and earrings with the same purple crystal. Tanzanite.

When the lady at the store said Tanzanite, I thought she was talking about some type of pills or something. But no. It's a gorgeous crystal that instantly made us think of Manuela.

'Merry Christmas Manuela.' We say in unison, making her glow like crazy. She'll never get over today.

And that feels wrong.

She's been working for the Curzio's, for God knows how long, and she barely gets a day off or even some recognition. Sure, the Curzio's are busy most of the time, but they could at least show her some appreciation.

She slowly opens our gift, almost dropping it to the ground. 'Oh my god!' She exclaims as tears start rolling down her face.

I knew she was going to love it, but I didn't expect her to react like this at all.

'Thank you so much! I don't deserve any of this.' She cries as she puts all her presents onto the table and wipes her tears. 'You do.'

'You really do.' Leya and I walk over to her and hug her tightly. 'Grazie'

And then the doorbell rings, making all of us turn to each other. 'The guests arrived.'

We all head to the hall, greeting Manuela's family. Her son, Antonio, looks just like her. Dark eyes, dark hair, perfect lips. But he is way taller than his mom.

His wife, Zahra, has dark hair, green eyes, and glowing skin. As if she's been kissed by the sun. She's wearing a beautiful black dress with a black belt around her waist.

They have two kids, a boy named Alessandro, and a girl named Farah. They look like the perfect mix of their parents, both have dark hair and light eyes, with tinted skin.

And they are so well-mannered.

We decide to all go to the dining room so we can enjoy the meal Manuela, Celine and Cataleya made today. Apparently, they've been working on it since last night, but Tiago wouldn't let me leave so I couldn't help.

The food is absolutely delicious, they made a bunch of different dishes and made sure there was enough for all of us.

After dinner, we head to the living room. The children run to the piano and beg their father to play something.

'I don't think that's a good idea. It's getting late and-' 'You can play if you want to.' Tiago chuckles at Antonio. He seems a little hesitant to play, but shrugs and decides to play anyway.

I've never seen Manuela be so proud of anyone or anything. She absolutely adores her son.

Antonio starts playing and everyone watches. The children run op to me and Celine and pull us towards the middle of the room. 'Dance with us!' Farah shouts as she tries to pull me off the couch.

I can't resist her cuteness and dance with her. The others watch, slowly starting to dance too. Everyone except for Marco.

Farah turns to him, but he does not seem fazed at all. 'Dance or you are stupid.' My mouth almost drops to the floor. 'Farah that is-' 'I like you.' Marco giggles at the little girl, lifting her up for just a second.

She giggles before pulling Marco towards the middle of the room, forcing him to dance with her.

It's the cutest shit ever.

I feel strong arms wrap around me and instantly lean back, knowing it's him. 'You look good, did I tell you yet?' Tiago whispers against my neck, sending a wave of heat down my back. 'No, you did not. But thank you Tiago.'

He spins me around, before wrapping his arms around me again, pulling me as close as I can get.

'I just want to keep dancing with you like this forever,' He grins against my neck, making me shiver a little. He's obviously a little tipsy, pressing himself against me as if I'll be able to carry him all alone.

'Get you drunk on a love like mine, instead of that dull wine.' I smile and feel him trying to pull me as close as possible.

His chest presses against mine as we dance around the room.

'You're the drunk one here Tiago.' He shrugs and kisses me softly, making me the happiest woman on earth.

'You're the one thing, the one person I can't lose.' He whispers against my lips. 'And you won't.'

'Good.' He smirks before pressing his lips against mine.

He needed this. He needed to tell me how he felt, even if I thought he didn't have to. I already knew.

'No kissies!' Alessandro shouts as he pulls at Tiago's leg. Tiago lets go of me as if it's illegal for him to touch me, and smiles at the little kid pulling his leg. 'That's against the rules!'

'You're right, I'm so sorry.' Tiago chimes, kneeling down a little. Alessandro looks at Tiago and pokes his cheek, before running to his mom.

'Neveah, could you get some more wine?' Brandon asks before continuing to talk to Zahra. They really seem to get along. 'Sure. Where-' 'I'll go.' Manuela gets up from her place on the couch, but I step in front of her.

'Tell me where I can find more wine, I'll do it.' She sighs, knowing I'm not going to let her do anything else tonight. 'Rio's office.' She mumbles, before taking a seat again. I smile and head to his office, opening the door without knocking first.

And I instantly regret it.

He's sitting there, talking to someone on the phone, with a glass of whiskey in his hand.

I nod at him and turn to the bottles of alcohol stashed in his office. There are so many types of wine to pick from and I just- 'Excuse me for a second, I'll have to call you back.'

He waits for the other person to respond and fake laughs to please the person on the other side, before hanging up and turning to me.

'Ever heard of knocking?' He asks as he chugs his drink away. 'I just needed to grab some wine, calm down.'

'You really know how to annoy me, don't you?' I turn to him and raise a brow. 'I know how to annoy you?' I know I do, but what I don't know is what the fuck I did? I did absolutely nothing for him to be annoyed at me right now.

'We hate each other and we always will, guess it's something we both have to live with.' He sighs before pouring himself another drink. 'I have a reason to hate you, you don't.'

'Oh, and what might that reason be, North?' His tone is annoying me more than ever. 'Maybe it's the fact that you used my cousin and got her killed!?'

He sighs and looks at his drink as he twirls it around a little. 'And I don't fucking regret it either.' Asshole...

'So if you want to kill me, do it. Now is your chance.' What? I look at him, not understanding where the hell this is coming from. He's a little tipsy, I can tell, but even in his tipsy state, he has never said something this insane.

'No one's around to stop you. So what are you waiting for?' I take a deep breath, fighting against every muscle in my body that's telling me to take this opportunity to kill him. He's right.

If I want to kill him, now is the perfect chance.

But I can't. I can't because of Celine. I can't because of Brandon. I can't because of Manuela and Roman. Hell, I can't because of fucking Marco. But mostly, I can't because of Tiago.

He would hate me for the rest of his life if I took the only family member he has left away from him.

'Tell me honestly, what did I ever do for you to hate me so much?' I ask, trying to change the subject.

'Simple.' He grins as he pours himself another drink.

I don't understand why he doesn't just drink straight from the bottle, since he's going to empty it anyway.

'You make Leonardo weak and I'll hate you for it until you stop doing it.'

There it is. The hate Celine warned me for. She said it, and she keeps saying it, he hates me for making Tiago weak. At least according to him.

I don't know how to respond to that. I mean, I don't feel like I make Tiago weak, but Rio certainly thinks differently.

'I don't make him weak.' 'You do.' He sighs, throwing his glass onto the table. 'You fucking do.'

'I don't.'

'Has he told you yet?' He asks, searching for another bottle to devour. 'Told me what?' 'About that night.'

He does not need to clarify what that night means. I already know. So I shake my head.

Tiago has not told me about that night.

'See. He doesn't care about anyone else, if you were Celine, he would've told you months ago, but no. He's afraid you'll break. He thinks you're made out of glass or something. He thinks he has to protect you from everything bad in the world. So you make him weak.'

'He does-' 'Neveah? What are you doing here?' We turn to the door and stare at the person standing there.

'Fratello, please take North to her room. She seems pretty tired.' I roll my eyes at Rio's statement and look into Tiago's eyes. He does not seem tipsy anymore, he looks sober as hell.

'Sure.' I stare at him for another five seconds, before pulling him to our room.

If Rio is right, if Tiago thinks I can't handle the truth about that night, I need to prove him wrong. I need to show him that I'm perfectly capable of knowing what happened that night.

So the moment we get to our room, I close the door behind us and turn to him.

'Tell me what happened.' He furrows his brows before slowly taking a seat on the bed.

'This is all great, amazing even, but I feel like you don't talk to me- Tell me what-'

And it clicks. He knows what I'm talking about and starts to panic a little.

'Neveah stop! I'm not going to tell you! It's not supposed to matter!'

I stumble back and take a deep breath. He never shouts at me. And his loud tone is only angering me more.

'How?' He stares at me, now getting what I'm asking here.

'How what?'

'How is it not supposed to matter? He killed my family because of a feud he had with your family! I deserve to know...'

'I can't tell you Neveah.' He whispers as he steps closer to me.

Just as he's about to reach for my face, just as his fingers are about to grace my skin, I step back. 'Why not?'

'Because I know you, I know that you'll freak out. I know that you'll think about it for the rest of your life, trying to find a way to undo what can not be undone. Trying to heal something that has already been healed...'

I turn to the door, ready to leave. If he's not ready to talk to me, to tell me what happened, I don't want him around me.

Call me childish or selfish or whatever you want to call it, but I need to know what happened that night.

'Where are you going?' Panic clear in his voice and I hate it. I hate that I have to push his buttons like this for him to talk to me.

'I'm going to talk to Rio since he is willing to tell me the truth.' No, I'm not. I'm going to fucking cry in Cataleya's room and wait for her to go to bed so I can stay with her.

Rio is the last person I want to see right now.

'He won't tell you anything either.' He stutters. 'He will tell me more than you're willing to!'

He pulls at my arm and presses me against the door, with my hand still on the handle. 'Let go of me.'

'Don't go.' I freeze and look into his eyes. I feel cold, despite him standing so fucking close, despite his hot breath brushing against my face, I feel cold. Ice fucking cold. 'Tell me.' I beg him, wanting to know how all of this happened.

I deserve to know.

He takes a shaky breath and leans back, allowing me to follow him back to the bed. 'Promise me one thing...'

'Anything.' I breathe, moving closer to him. 'You'll let me tell you all about it.'

I nod and place my hand on his and I look into his eyes, waiting for him to start. He drops onto the bed and pulls me with him, allowing me to rest my head on his chest.

'It all started with our grandparents. They were friends, Hunter's grandpa was close to ours, they even went to each other's weddings and all of that.' I nod and look up at him, but he seems to avoid eye contact.

'They claimed that my grandfather slept with Mary Steel, Hunter's grandmother.' What? 'He never did. But they freaked out and took revenge. They killed him.'

I almost gasp for air, but stop myself just in time, before turning to the ceiling. This is going to be a long story.

'My uncle and my dad weren't really close with my grandfather, but they wouldn't let this go. Especially while my grandmother was in so much pain.' The pain in his voice is clear and I'm trying to hold in my tears. 'So we killed both of them. Mary and Garrett. They had children, of course, Adrian, another son that died when I was around the age of four, and another daughter.'

'Adrian married Angelica. They got two kids. Hunter and Brooke, the heirs to their little empire in America.' He chuckles, before taking a deep breath. 'The other daughter died in a car crash, which they somehow blamed us for too. In return, they killed Esmeralda, since she was the easiest target.' Esmeralda was Rio's mother, right?

I wonder how that must've been for him. Sure, I hate him with my whole being, but losing a mother like that must suck.

'Luciano, her husband, freaked and went on a rampage. He killed everyone that assisted with her death, forcing them into a little corner. We had them, we almost did. But he met Natasha and everything went downhill. And they attacked. They made sure that something like that will never happen again. They killed Luciano and his new wife, Natasha. Leaving all of us flustered and broken.' Oh...

'After that, Adriano was enraged. He not only lost his mother but also his father in the same year. He ordered everyone to hunt them down, but it was like they vanished. We were out for business that week when we met you and Andrea. All our men were busy trying to find the Steels, but we needed some time off.'

Perfect timing. We met at the perfect time. Just when he needed me.

'We got ahold of Gregory Steel, a cousin or something, and killed him. Hunter was apparently very close to his distant cousin and was furious. So he took revenge. That's why they took revenge on us.' He slowly turns back to me and stops for a second, letting me fill in the blanks. 'That's why they killed my family?'

He nods and pulls me closer, slowly wiping away my escaping tears.

'They thought Adriano cared for Andrea, so they killed her first. And after that, your other family members.' Another tear escapes and I feel the anger build up.

All of this happened because of a stupid mistake. A stupid rumor that escalated into a war.

'Continue.' He takes a shaky breath and nods. 'When you left, we found the location of another Steel. Angelica, Adrian's wife. Hunter's mother. We kidnapped her and let her rot in a cell as we tried to exchange her for Hunter. To stop their bloodline, their rule.' I nod and take a deep breath, trying to stop myself from crying.

'He wanted us to suffer, he wanted me to suffer.'

He stops and closes his eyes, before turning to me. 'I don't like killing people, Neveah. I really don't.'

I always thought that he kind of enjoyed it, like deep deep down, but he doesn't. It's clear in his voice that he doesn't.

'But for this one, I simply didn't care. They killed my family and they deserve to die. They are the reason you ran away, so they deserve to die.'

'Why did he want you?' I whisper as I try to keep my tears in. 'Because I'm the one who killed his mom.'

-----

A/N: tuntuntuuuunnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!! Secrets revealed... Kinda? I don't know! Anyway! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Keep commenting and voting and let me know what you liked most!

Also, the next chapter might take a while, but I'll try to get it done in the next two days!

I'll see you next time and I hope you have a great day!!!!!