Chapter 132
KATYA POV
The elevator dinged opened and we walked out into the ground floor. The wide entrance of the mansion ca into view. The three SUVs were lined up neatly.
The truck was farther back. Guards were everywhere. Nonna slowed only when she reached the very edge of the marble, the point where the shade of the house t the sunlit courtyard.
Her hands gripped the armrests. I stood behind her, my heart hamring. Her breath trembled. So did mine.
Finally, the middle SUV door clicked open. A polished shoe touched the ground first.
Then a long leg in dark suit pants.
Then....Roo.
He unfolded out of the car with that sa irritating, arrogant calm he carried everywhere like it was stitched into his bones.
But even from where I stood, I saw it. The dried, rusty stains sared across both his hands.
He might have tried wiping them clean—his palms were streaked like he’d scrubbed them raw against his clothes or a towel—but the traces still clung stubbornly to his skin.
His suit jacket was wrinkled, the bottom hem torn slightly as if sothing had grabbed him.
The supposed once-crisp white shirt underneath was untucked on one side. Hair ssier than usual, pushed back in a way that looked more like fingers dragging through it during chaos than his usual styling.
But his face... God.
His face wore that familiar smug, nonchalant expression. Like nothing had happened. Like he hadn’t been sowhere bullets were flying hours ago.
Like he hadn’t scared Nonna nearly to death. His left cheek was purple though, a bruise forming along the bone.
His Sharp eyes scanned the courtyard, assessing, and I swear his posture scread.
I handled it. Of course I handled it.
Antonio stepped out from the other side of the SUV, eyes darker, jaw tight. He looked more exhausted not injured—but as soon as he saw Nonna, his eyes softened with guilt.
But Nonna didn’t even glance at him. The mont Roo ca fully into view, she gasped,"Roo!" Pushed her wheels forward so sudden.
Roo eyes rolled so hard. He looked like a kid caught doing sothing stupid and trying to pretend he was fine.
Nonna rolled straight toward him—faster than she should’ve been able to—with a strength born from pure fear and pure love.
Roo straightened instinctively, shoulders tightening like he was preparing to face a hurricane.
I stayed right where she left , heart pounding in my throat, watching all the guards subtly step back like they knew Nonna’s wrath was the most dangerous thing in the courtyard.
Roo’s gaze finally fell on her. He plastered on a crooked, sheepish grin.
"Signora..." he drawled, stepping toward her. Nonna didn’t stop rolling toward him—if anything, she sped up.
Roo bent down just a little, enough to be eye-level with her, and reached out.
Both of his hands—ssy, stained, trembling only if you looked too closely—ca up to cup her cheeks.
The gesture was shockingly gentle. Too gentle for soone who looked like he’d just walked out of a disaster zone.
"Nonna," he said softly, like saying her na made everything else fade. "I’m here."
Her trembling hands flew up to grip his wrists—not pushing him away, not yanking him closer, just holding on as if making sure he was really real.
"Roo," she breathed, voice breaking around the edges. "Look at you... mio Dio... your hands—your face—"
He smirked, the most aggravating expression in existence, the bruise on his cheek twitching slightly when he did.
"It looks worse than it is."
"It always looks worse than it is when it cos to you!" she snapped, tears forming instantly.
"Why do you do this to ? Why do you—" Her voice cracked.
Roo swallowed hard, his grin faltering. "Nonna... I’m fine."
"You are not fine!" she hissed, gripping his wrists tighter. "You look— you look—"
"Handso?" he offered.
She slapped the back of his hand lightly. "Stupido!"
Behind them, Antonio exhaled like he’d been holding his breath for ten years.
I didn’t move.
No one did.
It felt wrong to breathe too loudly around them. Roo leaned in a little closer, lowering his voice, gentle again.
"I told you I’d co back."
"And I told you not to make promises you can’t keep," she whispered back, her chin trembling.
He gave her that sa lazy, lopsided smirk—but there was softness under it now.
Real softness. The kind he rarely let anyone see.
"I kept this one," he murmured but he could even try to look charming again. Nonna’s expression snapped, not softened.
Snapped. Her hands dropped from his wrists, and she slapped her palm against his cheeks with a sharp crack that made at least three guards flinch.
"That’s what you keep saying!" she burst out. Roo froze. I don’t think it was from the slap but from nonna’s outburst.
Nonna is the most calm person I know, seeing her like this was another thing I never knew I would see.
"Your father said it too! Sempre! Every ti he ca ho with trouble following behind him like a shadow, he said the sa words you’re saying right now!"
Roo’s whole deanor changed. His jaw clenched. He lowered his gaze, shoulders stiffening.
"And where is he now, hm?" Nonna demanded sharply.
Silence hit the courtyard like a punch. Roo didn’t answer. His throat tightened visibly as he looked away.
Nonna wasn’t finished.
"You think I don’t know what those stains on your hands are?" she said, her voice shaking with anger and fear. "You think I am blind? Or old enough to forget what danger looks like?"
Roo shut his eyes for a mont, as if absorbing the blow quietly. I didn’t know much about Roo’s relationship with his father.
Heck, I barely understood the dynamics in this house at all. But seeing Roo’s jaw tighten like that, the way he forced himself to breathe...
Yeah. He was holding back sothing fierce. Probably biting his tongue so hard it hurt, because Nonna was the only person on earth he couldn’t argue with — even when she tore into him like this.
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Finally getting into the main story lol
Tanks for reading
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