Chapter Twenty-eight

Rose

It has been a week since he left and ever since that, I was left with an unsure feeling—somehow confused and stressed but it's not severe. I won't stop thinking about Elia and even if I try, he will always be in my mind or his images will continue to haunt me.

Ever since he left, I've never heard about Elis or Elliot. It's like they all disappeared; which confuses me even more. As for Luciano and Marc, they've been taking care of me. We are building up our friendship and we're slowly getting comfortable with each other even though they were far from what I expected.

Why?

That's the only question I have in my mind. Every single day. I want to know why. Why can't we just be together? He's risking everything while I don't want him to risk anything; but he's right, we can't always run. If we continue to run, we'll never make it. We'll just be running.

Nonstop running.

I don't want that.

''I know you'd be here,'' I turn to see Luciano entering the room as he sits down beside me, glancing at my direction while I let my lips curve up into a small smile—glad that he's here, I could use a distraction because I need to stop thinking about Elia for once.

When he notices that I'm not uttering a single word, he starts to bump onto my shoulder, causing me to glance up into his eyes, ''You're still thinking about him. I can see that,'' He says and I just respond with a sigh—wanting to get him out of my head. If I keep on thinking about him, it'll feel like forever.

''I can't stop,'' I mutter.

''Rose, I haven't heard from him. Marc has been looking everywhere, he has been asking every sources but he's nowhere to be found—even though it has only been a week. I know he would've pulled a stunt like this again,'' He continues, frowning.

''Again?'' I ask.

Luciano clears his throat, ''It was a long time ago. He kind of went rogue. We couldn't find him for almost two years; I guess he's good at that, running away, hiding. Then, he appeared out of nowhere. He never really tell us about it.'' He mutters under his breath, earning my attention since we're talking about Elia—he would always have my attention.

''I don't understand him, at all. He would act like everything is alright and he would promise me a lot of things but then, the next day, he'd disappear. He would leave me and he wouldn't come back, not until he thinks that it's the right time—let me tell you, he left me thrice, I don't know if I can handle it anymore. Maybe, one day, I'll be the one who leaves.'' My heart breaking at the thought of leaving him because I've never wanted that.

''Honestly, we don't understand him either.''

We both end up chuckling as I run my fingers through my hair—I don't know, it hurts me to know that he would easily leave me , whenever he wants. I know, he's trying to protect me and all that shit but at the same time, he's also breaking my heart. He's breaking something that would take time to fully heal.

''I want him here,'' I mutter under my breath, loud enough for Luciano to hear. ''He's everything to me, Luciano. I can't lose him. What if I'll never see him again? What if he'll be gone?'' I've been thinking about this for quite some time because obviously, when he's gone, I'll think of all the possibilities.

He sighs deeply beside me, ''He's fucked up. He should've just leave it all behind and I can solve it for him but no, he's being a selfish fuck and just trying to settle everything on his own.'' As I look at him, I can't help but chuckle because from the look on his face, it shows how he's deadly serious; like he would really bring him back here before saying those crap.

''Yeah, for sure. You should've said that before he left, you idiot.'' I chuckle and he smirks, agreeing but then again, Elia is stubborn. He would probably continue on with his plan; not bothered to care about the consequences. That's Elia.

''I know,'' He smiles.

We stay quiet for a few minutes before he starts to speak again, ''You know, I'm just saying this. I'm not trying to be an asshole or anything between you guys but I think that you're hot,'' He winks, causing me to laugh and just shake my head in disagreement.

''Thank you but I'm definitely not hot,''

''Nah, you're hot. Like, you should see the way you walk and the way you stare at someone. Not just that, you're body is fucka—'' He stops once I place my index finger on his lips, leaving him looking at me in surprise but with a smile on his face, I stop glaring at him; knowing that he's trying to cheer me up.

''That's very sweet of you,'' I roll my eyes.

He laughs loudly, ''I'm sorry, I'm not really a hopeless romantic. I'm bad at words because I just can't express them correctly. Besides, girls love it when I dirty talk—especially in bed. We can try that if you want?'' He raises an eyebrow, waiting for my reaction while I just stare blankly at him.

To my surprise, I see a familiar car stopping in front of the house, quickly making Luciano and I to walk towards the front door and my eyes widen as soon as I see Elis stepping out of the car, his eyes landing on me. From the look on his face, it shows nothing.

''Elis,'' I mutter under my breath

''Elis,'' I mutter under my breath.

Elis takes a few steps towards me until we're close enough before glancing up at Luciano and looking back at me, ''How are you, Rose?'' He asks, smiling.

All of the stresses are immediately drifting away due to his smile; it soothes me down in a way that I can't comprehend, ''I'm alright. Why are you here? Is everything—''

He cuts me off, ''Everything is fine. Rose, I need to talk to you, if you don't mind?'' Then, he looks up at Luciano, seeing that he is actually standing beside me as he eyes Elis but from the way he eyes, it shows how he's trying to search for answers.

Luciano steps inside the house, leaving Elis and I outside, ''What is it?'' I ask, looking straight into his eyes as I try to understand him. He seems a little bit urgent but at the same time, he seems calm.

''Let me take you for a drive,''

After glancing back at the house, I follow Elis towards his white Lamborghini Huracán—before entering the car and he's already driving me away from the house, slowly entering the road, leaving me in utter silence yet it doesn't bother me much; I've been living with silence long enough.

''What is it that you have to tell me?'' I ask.

''I'll tell you when we get there,'' He replies.

It takes us about ten minutes to reach the destination and I open the door to see myself staring directly at the sky—darkening. I turn to see Elis stepping out of the car with a frown on his face but as soon as he looks at me, his frown disappears.

He takes a few steps closer, ''I want you to understand. What I'm going to tell you is very important and you have to do as I said, don't trust anyone and don't ever look back.'' He says, leaving me in confusion but I keep quiet, letting him speak.

''What?'' I breathe out.

''Look, Rose. You're in danger. Your life. From the day Elia took you out of that shit place, your life is worth more than a million dollars. It's because Elia owns you, you're his first priority and people find you as his weakness,'' He continues, his eyes pierced into mine.

''How'd you know?'' I ask him. My eyebrows continue to furrow due to the fact that he knows almost everything. He knows that Elia took me out of that place and that he paid one million dollars for me—did Elia tell him? ''Elis, I don't understand.'' I mutter.

''I can't keep it a secret anymore, not when you're life is at stake. Elia left you thrice, it's not on purpose. He planned it all because he knew, one day, he would risk everything including his life just for you.'' He continues, ''Luciano and Marc doesn't know about this but Elia trusts them enough to let you stay with them so I guess, you'll need to trust them too.''

''No, Elis. Where is Elia?''

''He's not here, Rose.''

Why won't he tell me? Is it so hard? I've been so lost without him and I can't continue on if he's not here with me; I'm not strong. Yes, he might have planned everything but why can't he explain it to me? Why is he keeping this a secret if it has anything to do with my safety? Why can't he be honest?

''So, people want to kill me?'' I ask.

Elis looks at me for a few seconds as he keeps quiet, only focusing into my eyes before he continues to speak, ''That's half of it. Look, Elia has a lot of enemies. He has more enemies than friends. That's one of the reasons why they want to kill you. There are a lot of things that you don't know about Elia; a lot worse and a lot more terrifying things. He has been the caused of destruction before you show up, he was what anyone would call a monster.'' He breathes.

''Elia left because he wanted them to think that he has nothing to do with me? Then, he's stupid. If he wants me gone then I'll be gone but he doesn't need to keep on hiding secrets from me because that's not what I want.'' I try to calm myself down, trying.

''Rose, don't misunderstand.'' He sighs.

''No, I'm tired. I'm tired of him leaving me behind. So, fuck it because I'll make sure that when I find him, I'll stay for good. If it kills me, then fuck because I don't care. No one can stop me, not even Elia himself.''

Then, he clenches his jaw, only looking at me.