An Arranged Marriage To The Mafia...?

Airports were never something I handled with ease. People bustled along in rushed panic, men and women in tailored suits carried brief cases and pulled along luggage as they ran toward cab lines and boarding planes. Families scolded young, screaming children and the smell of bleach lifted from the shiny linoleum floors.

It was only made worse when the airport was directly across seas in a completely foreign country.

At first I was confused and curious as to why customs officials did nothing to stop us as we boarded an international flight with nothing but a small carry-on bag, no luggage or suitcase in sight. Though, I suddenly understood once I noticed the large wad of green bills he freely handed aong to security and officials. It made me wonder how easily is could be made to bribe your way onto a plane for any reason.

Ethan barely spoke the entire flight, the only words shared were minimal basic conversation and actions shared were his hand clasped tightly around mine as the plane set into flight and I nervously clawed at the arm rest, followed by him allowing me to fall soundlessly asleep at his side. Though now he marched a decent two paces before me, guiding his ways around the terminals and out into the warm Italian air.

Rome was everything and nothing like what the story books told. Beautifully crafted monuments stood tall and perfect along rough, balancing horizons, they boardered and guarded a bustling city beneath.

It never ceased to suprise me the amount of connections Ethan had obtained well before the age of twenty-one, the people who would drop everything to stand by his side, who would do anything he asked, the things he was able to obtain and achieve simply by dropping his name. And the second we stepped into the over crowded carpark of the airport was no different, in the very centre awaited a brand new shiny european car, suitcases laid up in the back seat and a gps pre-programed with the destination of his mother and father's hideout.

The sleak car glided down busy roadways in an almost silence, it eased around bustling city intersections and purred once the congested towns stretched to endless country highways. Trees littered road sides and pavement grew to vacant paddocks. It felt like hours before the tyres rolled to a gentle hault and my line of view caught sight of a worn barn-house, it's wooden frame weathered and wiltered in the conditions of europe's wet winters and burning summers.

Slowly I disconnected the seat belt fastener and pulled at the door release, the fresh hinges squeeked slightly and I waited by the car side until Ethan shifted to my side, he said nothing but instead nodded toward the collapsing house. Uneasy I stepped behind him, following as loose stones crumbled under foot until tired wooden steps echoed under each stride. Ethan took a tight, almost comforting hold of my hand and pushed upon the leaning doorway, dust and dirt stirred and a dark room with minimal basic furnishings greeted us quietly.

Shaking with a nervous poise I allowed Ethan to remain holding my palm in his, his feet gliding over the unsettled dustmites over the wooden slat floors, his body bending and hands searching for something upon the floor; a latch. He grunted as the heavy floorboards lifted and an underground bunker revealed itself. Instantly a muffled voice whimpered from below the lowering set of stairs and my blood ran cold. I felt Ethan's hand upon the small of my back give a reassuring nudge forward and I tip-toed down the steps before him.

"Amelia!" A shrill cry pierced through the stale oxygen and the hairs on the back of my neck stood completely on end, shivers chilling down my spine. "Ethaniel!" Maria Radev's sobs filled the air and her arms flung around our necks, her body trembled against my own and I felt her motherly kiss my cheek, her hand cupping my face as she viewed me from a distance quickly before she shifted her attention to her son. Antonio Radev smiled down upon me, his eyes warm and welcoming and he gingerly kissed my cheek.

Maria bustled over Ethan and I as eagerly dragged us deeper inside the small bunker. A main metallic room was arranged much like a kitchenette and living room. Smal benchtop allowed room for cupboards and a thin stove top, an even small sofa leant against a far wall and a squaure breakfast table was situation in the dead centre, an opposing doorway led into a small hall and opened up to two seperate closed doors. By simply looking around it was apparent that they had been hiding out since my father had interrupted every one of our lives.

"Has it begun?" Antonio's question startled me and I felt Ethan hand wrap comfortingly around my own, his thumb slightly caressing the soft flesh upon my knuckles.

"To an extent." Ethan's voice was softer than I last remembered and suddenly held a tone of wisdom. "George and Mason took Amelia from the house that night, I found her two days later held in the basement with benjamin Draver," his palm tightened over my own hand and his voice was filled with disgust. At the mere mention of my father's name my eyes dropped immediately to floor, my body filled with total shame.

Maria's cooed and pulled me along to sit at the table while Ethan and Antonio entered one of the two ajoining rooms to discuss matters in more depth. She filled a glass of water and fussed about my apparent weight loss claiming I was starved from stress; I disagreed entirely but she refused to obey a word I claimed and hurried along to find something to eat.

Alone I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, the last time I had been in a isolated room was the morning the Moretti clan had invaded my father's office and I had watched on inbuilt security screens as men were prepped for death, that was of course until Ethan turned the cameras off.

"We need to move to the city, out here we're practically waiting for them to find us." Ethan's voice rose as he and his father walked back toward the main room, Maria's hands gripped further around a glass fruit bowl.

"Ethan, we can't be quick to decisions. We need to think ahead, think like them." Antonio was always ready to defer his son from trigger happy fights, he was without a doubt the voice of reason within the Radev family.

"It won't take long for them to realise we're here!" Never before had I heard the youngest Radev raise his voice to his father, "We should go closer to town, stay with Uncle Guieseppi and Louis. George doesn't know where they live, let alone exist."

his eyes flickered to me for a brief moment and look of harsh judgement filled the liquid green of his iris.

Antonio stayed silent in thought before he nodded his head slowly. "Very well... I'll called Danton and we will leave when the sun sets."

Antonio turned back to one of the two isolated room and closed the door behind him, Maria nodded shortly and went back to fixing the fruit bowl while Ethan's eyes stayed cast down over me, for a second his face relaxed and calmed a tiny trace of a smile lifting from his lips. But in a split second it had vanished, his eyes flickered to the table top and a deep frown covered his tranquil aura, a glare burning through the small thin cell phone before me.

Instantly I understood his concern, somewhere due to my bad decisions and the stupid mistakes I had made searching my father's name I had lost the trust Ethan had bestowed upon me, and now as a result he believed that I would not hesitate to contact my father and tell him our location. I only begged that Ethan's sudden opinion was tied with the feelings that made him suddenly compassionate, affectionate and above all the feelings which led to a suprising, devoted and heated kiss.