Matteo

"M-Matteo. Matteo help."

His body froze at the quivering of her voice and the urgency her words held in them.

"Aurora? What's going on?" he asked in a hurry.

She sniffled over the phone. "I don't know. I w-was baking cupcakes and t-there were voices outside and I got so scared."

"Voices?"

"Mhm. P-please come home." she cried.

"I'll be there soon, okay? Are you safe?"

The sudden abruptness of Matteo getting up from his seat startled the two men who continued to eat in front of him. They both has a questionable look on their faces but Matteo continued to throw a few dollars onto the table.

"I am safe. T-the voices seemed to disappear."

With a nod of his head, he signaled the two men to follow him and they both realized that there was an urgent matter at hand. He stormed out of the restaurant not caring that he had just thrown open the door, as his only goal was to get home to Aurora.

"Stay where you are and do not move until I get home. Can you do that for me, baby?"

"Yes."

"Good. I'll see you soon."

"O-okay." she said before hanging up the phone.

Matteo threw his phone on the passenger seat and with a swift movement, the car maneuvered out of the parking lot and he sped off. Reggie groaned as his back hit against the backseat of the car from how fast Matteo was driving.

"What the fuck is going on?" he yelled at Matteo, rubbing his lower back.

Matteo's hands tightened against the steering wheel as he thought about anybody trespassing in his home. Especially when Aurora was the one who was left alone in his house.

"Someone was on my property. Aurora called to inform me about it."

"How is that possible? You should have gotten a notification if that happened." Vincent said.

Matteo could care less about whether someone broke in or even stole whatever was in his house. It was true what Vincent said, that Matteo should have gotten a message on his phone from his security system that there was a break in but oddly enough he didn't receive one.

The only thing that mattered to him and what was troubling him was the chilling fact that Aurora could have been harmed. He had left her alone at home with no one to look after her and even though he had many enemies he was aware of, he still decided to continue with leaving her alone.

His foot unconsciously stepped harder onto the gas and the car sped even further down the road. He ignored the scoldings of his friend in the backseat of the car as his only motive was to make sure that not a single scratch was found anywhere on Aurora. He needed to know that she was safe and get the bastards who stepped foot onto his property.

It was less than five minutes when his house came into view. The gates opened for him and while he drove into his driveway, his eyes roamed the area to check if there was anyone lurking amongst the bushes or anywhere in particular. There were no signs of anyone being there.

He shut the car off and jumped out of his car. He took out his keys from his pocket and opened up the front door. Reggie and Vincent disappeared to scout the area and make sure that everything was secured.

"Aurora!" he yelled the second he entered the house.

You like her. Vincent's words echoed at the back of his head.

The worry he felt deep down, could that possibly be the reason? Is he worried about her safety because he likes her?

Bullshit.

He yelled her name a second time and he was about to go into a panicked state until he felt something punch him in his gut. Her small frame crashed into him and as if on instinct his arms were wrapped around her body, as were hers.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" he asked as he examined her from head to toe.

She shook her head, her tears wetting his shirt as she cried into his chest. "I w-was so scared. There were men outside and I didn't r-recognize their voices. I thought they were g-going to hurt me."

He is so going to kill those fuckers. His body heaved as he took in harsh breaths when he heard how fearful she sounded.

"Did you see any of these men?"

"No." she replied.

She wiped her tears after pulling her face away from his chest. Her eyes widened as she realized something.

"I d-did see something! When I looked out the window to see who they were, one of the men spoke to someone over the phone. On his left wrist there was a tattoo of a snake."

"Snake?"

She nodded her head. "T-that was all I saw."

Matteo instantly knew who these people were just by the description of the tattoo on the man's wrist. He was grateful that none of them had seen Aurora for he doesn't know what they could have done to her if they did. They were a group who was an imitation of how he treated people and with their lust towards women, their ruthless ways of abuse were stronger.

Matteo grabbed the back of her head, and forced her forehead to meet his lips. "I'm just glad that you're safe." he said.

"Get a fucking room, you lovebirds." the annoying voice of his friend echoed in the house.

Aurora blushed as she ignored their stares and he found it to be the sweetest thing he would ever see in his life. He rolled his eyes at his friends.

"Everything was clear. I don't think their intention was to steal anything since nothing was stolen." Vincent said.

"Theft should be the least of our worries since it was Miskav's men."

Reggie's eyes widened. "Miskav? I thought your father dealt with him already."

"Clearly not. They must have been unhappy with something and decided to have a meeting with me rather than with him." he sighed.

"T-that isn't true." a soft voice said behind him.

The men all turned to look at Aurora. Matteo raised his brow for her to elaborate on what she said. She played with her fingers as the intimidating aura of the three men became too much for her.

"The man that spoke on the phone said and I quote 'Chandler is not here'".

"Chandler?" Reggie asked.

"Where does he come in?" asked Vincent.

"That was all that was said?" Matteo asked her.

She nodded her head and Matteo began to think. All possible reasons for why they were looking for Chandler couldn't quite enter his mind since they had no connection to each other. Chandler was known for causing havoc to prove that any mafia should allow him to be a part of them.

Miskav can have his head for all he cares since this was bound to happen to his idiot of a cousin sooner or later. He sighed as he realized that Miskav was now on his cousin's back and his father would quite possibly make a turn when he hears the news.

Matteo sighed. "We are going to my father's house." he told his men and Aurora.

Vincent nodded.

"Teaming up against Miskav?" Reggie asked.

"No. He might have entail on why they have an interest in Chandler." he replied as he took out his car keys from his front pocket.

Reggie nodded and the two men left the room to get into the car.

"Come." he told Aurora and walked away to get into the car.

"I'm going with you?" she asked him.

Her question stopped him and he was baffled by such a foolish question to ask him when an incident like this has just happened. He furrowed his brows as he watched her closely.

"I am not leaving you alone again." he said.

He could see that something was bothering her from the way her cheeks flushed pink and her lips was caught between her teeth. She avoided any sort of eye contact with him since the moment he saw her and he couldn't fathom what was wrong with her odd behavior.

"What bothers you?" he asked her.

She glanced up at him for just a moment before looking away from him again. Her cheeks flushed even more and he stepped closer towards her.

"E-earlier-" she whispered.

"Hmm?" he asked, urging her to speak up.

"Earlier, o-on the phone. You c-called me..." her voice trailed off at the end of the sentence but he waited for her to continue.

She fiddled with the loose string on her dress as she told him, "You called me 'baby'."

His brows raised a bit at that, not knowing that she was going to address that. He could remember very vividly that he had called her that apart from the other times in which he would call her 'little lamb'. He had to admit that it did come as a surprise to him for even calling her something so intimate, yet he seemed to like it.

Matteo became humored by the situation but kept himself calm.

"I did." he said coolly.

"Why?" she asked him.

"Do you not want me to call you that?"

He stepped closer towards her, his hands in the pockets of his pants. He could hear how fast she was breathing from how close they were now.

She continued to avoid looking at him. "I...I do want you to..." she blushed as she stuttered.

"Then what is the issue?"

She shook her head. "N-no issue but did you... mean it?"

"Mean what?"

He could see that she was irritated by his responses only be questions and he found it oddly cute to see the frustration on her face.

"To call me that."

"Yes I did." he answered her without any hesitation.

She peered up at him through her lashes. Her flushed face and her parted lips caused a wave of heat to travel through his body. Those bambi green eyes of hers were they key feature that he admired the most on her, and that was the cause of himself nearly falling to his knees.

Just like previous times, she looked as beautiful as always. Her hair was in a high ponytail with a few strands of hair lazily flopping in front of her face and her ears. The white dress on her reminded him of her purity and innocence, the epitome of a flower that was so delicate he didn't want to whither away.

You like her. His friends' voice continued to haunt him at the back of his voice and the more he heard it, the more believable it appeared to sound.

He didn't realize that he was staring at her for a long time and when he heard her call his name, his face was a few inches away from hers. Her face was a few shades darker than the usual red and he quietly cleared his throat.

"Come." he told her before turning his back on her and walking out of the house.

He's fucking losing it.

Hello everyone! It's been so long since I've engaged with any of you. How are you guys?

Thank you so much for 194k reads on this books <3

Matteo is just so cute, that rude teddy bear.

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