Chapter 21

Cole's POV

Anger floods through me, my fists clench beside me.

"You brought her father here?!" I turn around, screaming at my uncle.

"Jesus Christ. When did you get here?!" the girls say at the same time, startled.

Ignoring them, I continue to death stare at my zio for answers.

"I didn't know that was her father, figlio, lo giuro." (son, I swear.)

I inhale deeply, trying to calm me down myself down.

"Cole?" her angelic voice calms me down instantly.

It confuses me how someone that I've known for a mere two weeks can make me calm down so much quicker than the people I've known for my whole life.

I turn around and see my gattina staring at me with such a worried expression on her face. For some reason , the sight warms my heart, because I know that she cares about me.

What the fuck is wrong with you, Cole? We're a heartless monster, we don't care about little girls.

My inner voice says.

Shut up. Just let me have this. I need this. I need her.

I argue back.

I was so busy with my internal battle that I hadn't noticed Cassie struggling to limp towards me.

I rush over to her and manage to grab her just before she falls. I ignore all three of the judgemental glares directed at us, and pick Cassie up. She instantly wrap around me.

"Cosa stai facendo? Ti farai male, gattina." [What are you doing? Your going to hurt yourself, kitten?] I say, placing her on a chair and debate on unwrapping her legs from around my waist, but decide against it.

I know that earlier, the adrenaline pumping through her was probably what caused her to become numb to the pain.

Cassie never spoke about her family, so I just figured that they weren't on good terms and that's why never asked. But now, I need to know. So I'll ask her later.

"Lo so, lo so. Ma sembravi cosi in conflitto con te stesso." [I know, I know. But you just looked so conflicted with yourself.] she whispers so only I can hear.

I kiss her head, reassuring her that I'm okay.

"So, when I can get my hands that imbécil chupapollas?"

I raise a brow at Santiago.

"Cock-sucking dickhead?" I repeat in English.

Such a weird insult.

Hispanics, I swear.

Cassie bursts out laughing and I look down at her, the twitch of a smile appearing on her face.

"Creo que te refieres a un hijo de puta chupapollas, hermano." [I think you mean a cock-sucking son of a bitch, brother.] she laughs out, and the small smile finally lands on my face.

Cassie looks at Santiago and they both have a laughing fit.

When they realise no one else is laughing at their strangeness, they awkwardly stop.

Cassie buries her head into my torso and wraps her arms around me, and

Santiago awkwardly clears his throat and looks at me.

"Seriously though, when can I get my hands on him?" he asks seriously.

"Tomorrow. Right now, I think we should all get some rest." I speak after thinking for a moment.

"There's a spare guest room if you'd like to stay the night." I offer.

"Prometes no matarme mientras duermo?" [You promise not to kill me in my sleep?] he jokes, but his eyes show seriousness.

"Prometo." [I promise.] I laugh.

"Come, I'll take you." Cassie says.

My brows scrunch up in confusion.

Wait- She doesn't even know where it is.

I open my mouth to protest, but mia gattina has already grabbed his hand and left.

"So, you and Cassie, huh?" Liv says, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

I narrow my eyes at her in warning, but all that does is make her smile like an idiot.

I roll my eyes at her girlish behaviour.

"Seriously though, what's going on between you two?" zio asks.

"None of your business. Either of you." I snap.

In truth, I wanted to speak to Cassie about things more before I tell anyone or put a label on us.

But they don't need to know that.

"Well don't worry cugino, I already know everything." [cousin] Liv winks at me, a knowing smirk on her face.

Pride swells in my chest when I realise that must mean she told her brother as well.

Speaking of, I make a mental note to find out to find out his surname -if it's Antonov like the dick downstairs, or if it's Voronovo like Cassie- and do a background check on him.

Santiago may be Cassie's brother, but family doesn't always tell each other everything about themselves.

I also don't go around trusting people I know nothing about.

"So..." zio awkwardly trails off after a while.

"I'm going to go to bed. Gotta long day tomorrow. Buonanotte bambini." [Goodnight children.] he says, turning around and going to his room.

Zio and Liv are here a lot, so it's only natural that they both have their own rooms here.

Olivia comes up to me and stands less than a metre away.

I raise an eyebrow at her as her face becomes stern.

"Listen here, Cole. You hurt her," she starts in a serious tone.

Before I can even think, she pulls out her gun and presses it firmly against my chest.

I look down at the gun and realise she's trying to threaten me.

Trying to.

"I hurt you." she finishes.

I look her dead in the eye and laugh.

"I wouldn't even dream of hurting her." I say honestly.

Well, at least not in a way she won't like.

"Good." she smiles and puts her gun away.

"Night squirt." I say, ruffling her hair and walking up to my room.

I chuckle under my breath as she curses me for messing up her hair.

Walking upstairs, I process all the information I found out today...

1- Mia famiglia [my family] are coming to Italia in 3 days

2- Mio zio tried to call a truce with the Russians

3- The Russian they sent is il padre del mia gattina [my kitten's father]

4- Mia gattina feels safe with me

Safe.

I never thought that would be an emotion anyone would associate with me.

Not even my own family.

I lightly smile at the thought of mia gattina feeling safe and happy with me.

Because of me.

Not looking where I'm going -a result of too much daydreaming- I bump into the 5'8 blond-headed angel by accident.

"Oh, hey lupo. Sorry I- hey!" she shrieks, giggling as I life her off of the ground and into my arms.

I pepper kisses all over her face and neck as Cassie has a giggling fit.

"You're perfect, gattina." I state, pressing her back against the wall and locking my lips on hers before she can respond.

Cassie matches my passion in the kiss and we become trapped in the moment for what feels like forever.

When we break the kiss for air, Cassie has a silly grin gracing her swollen lips.

"Hey to you too, gattina." I say, a small smile on my moist lips.

Her smile somehow grows even more, and she buries her head in my neck. I laugh lightly, knowing that mia gattina probably has rosy red cheeks right now.

I walk us over to my room and open the door. After I shut the door and lock it, I sit us down on the bed, resting my back against the headboard and pull the covers over us.

"Daddy?" Cassie yawns.

"Si gattina?"

"Can you spoon me tonight please?" she whispers, playing with the string of my hoodie that she's wearing.

Her whisper is so quiet I'm not even sure if I heard her right.

"You want daddy to spoon you?" I ask to confirm what she said.

Cassie nods against my neck in response so I spank her, to which she gasps in shock ad then moans.

"Words, principessa." I warn.

"Yes please daddy."

"Good girl." I praise her.

"Of course I can spoon you, piccola. C'mere." I say, moving to lay on my back.

After Cassie lays down with her back facing my front, I wrap an arm around her petite waist and pull her closer to me so she's flush against my chest.

I steal her bottom leg and trap it in between mine, burying my head into mia gattina's neck. She responds by snuggling her head into my arm that she's laying on.

"Are you okay, gattina?" I ask once we're both comfy enough.

"As of this moment? Yes. As of everything that happened today? Well, I need to sleep on it. That's for sure." Cassie sighs, kissing my arm.

"Goodnight lupo." she mumbles out, slowly drifting off to sleep.

"Goodnight gattina." I say, kissing her neck.

Shortly after, her breathing evens out, a sign that she's asleep.

I take a deep breath and say my thoughts aloud to her in a hushed voice, despite the fact that she's asleep and can't hear me.

"I may not have known you then, but I swear to you piccola, I will give each and every one of them a fate worse than death.

Honestly, I envy you, gattina. You've been through so much worse than what I've been through, yet you still shine. You still have your humanity. I envy you for that. You was still keep the ability to feel love, to feel joy, and even to feel pain and sadness.

The only emotion I still have is anger, and I just hope you can teach me how to be human again. How to feel. How to feel sadness, how to feel pain, how to feel joy, how to feel love. I have hope that you can restore the human part of me. Of my inner monster.

I really like the connection we have Cass, and I like it even more because I don't know why we have it or where it came from. I like it so much to the point that one would even say that I love the connection we share. I just hope you feel the same, because if you don't, I'm not sure what I'd do with myself."

Suddenly, I feel tear drops on my arm and my brows furrow in confusion.

"Do you really mean all of that?" Cassie asks quietly while crying.

I freeze in my position when I hear her speak.

I thought she was asleep and she heard everything I just said?!

"Yes Cassie. I really do." I say, squeezing her lightly.

She turns around to face me and slams her lips onto mine and a salty taste fill my mouth. I instantly meet it and it turns into a make-out session. The kiss intensifies as she climbs on my lap and staddles me. I sit up and pull her flush against me so we're chest to chest. My hand weaves its way into her golden locks and I push her into the kiss. Gattina mirrors me as her hand meets my scalp.

I swipe my tongue along Cassie's bottom lip, asking for entry, and she gladly gives it to me. Our tongues play a game of dominance which I -of course- win.

By the time we pull apart, we're both out of breath. Our breathing is ragged and irregular and our lips are wet and swollen.

Cassie wraps her arms around my neck and I wrap mine around her waist. We rest our foreheads against each other and gaze at each other.

I memorise her face; her eyebrows, her lips, her cheeks, her nose.

Every single inch of her.

When our breathing normalises, Cassie speaks up.

"I promise to teach you how to feel again. I promise to show you how to feel joy and love. I promise to help you tame your inner monster if you want me to. As for "giving each and every one of them a fate worse than death", can I help?"

"Only if you're up for it gattina."

She nods her head yes, followed by a "thank you."

"And just for the record, lupo, I really like the connection we have too. In fact, I love the connection we share." she beams.

A silly smile falls on my lips as she emphasises the word 'love'.

"You do?" I ask her.

"Yup. I love, love, love it." she smiles, giggling at nothing.

"Okay, amore, let's go to sleep. We have a long day tomorrow." I say, moving her so we can both lay down.

"Okay amore." Cassie smiles, pecking my lips and then turning around so I can spoon her.

"Night gattina." I say, securing my arm around her waist.

"Goodnight lupo." she says, getting comfy.

Soon enough, we both begin drifting away into a happy and content slumber.

Right here, in this moment is when I realised...

I never want this to end...