An Italian’s Escort Lover

Niccolo Point of View

“Why –” I gasped for breathe as it was getting hard for me to take a good amount of air into my system. “- Why do you want me to come home so much, Nonna.” I snapped when I heard her curse at me from the other side of the phone.

“I’m hap-py here and waiting for my Bella. She will not be able to stay without me for many days. She will come for me.” I continued looking at the main door for the nth time.

Bella knows the password to my penthouse then what is taking her so long?

Doesn’t she miss me like I miss her?

How could’ve she thought that running away from me was the best decision for both of us?

All these sane thoughts only stuck me when nonna came to meet me a few days ago and beaten me up with a long stick until the influence of alcohol left my body and I was ready to look at things clearly with my own eyes.

She is a very kind lady, no doubt, but hell she can be very harsh too. After giving me the beating, it took a whole night to recuperate after taking so many medicines and salves she provided me. By the next day I woke up, I was not very surprised to find her replace my bar with fruit punches and juices that would help me.

The moment I walked down after a long shower she ordered me to take, the first thing she did after seeing me was to slap me hard.

‘I thought I raised you to be a man, didn’t know you instead turned into a teenage boy who cannot control his emotions. What the heck were you thinking when you mindlessly started drinking?’ And then she slapped me again in angry and I did not do anything to stop her.

I understand her. I do understand her feelings and the emotions she was fighting that moment.

‘Nonn – Nonna, I – Phoebe, my Bella, she went away. You know what she left me the letter nonna; that she was going far away from me because she wanted me to get married to a good girl and have children.” I shameless cried in nonna’s lap forgetting who I was. “How can she think like that? She loves me so much, I confirm it but nonna, isn’t it killing me slowly by going away? Why can’t she stay with me?’

I don’t know why I had cried and let out all the pain to nonna but after a very long time, I felt good by doing so. She was the only family other than my brother and she was always there for me. She was surely tough on me because the atrocities my father did were enough to leave a trauma and she made sure to raise me tough enough to handle them.

‘Are you crying here because you lost a girl? You forgot about me, your brother, our company most importantly, you health and sitting here drinking and bawling out because a girl left you? What if you would never be able to see her, would you still continue to act this way? Is this why I loved you and raised you, So one day you can while away all your life mourning over someone who left you? Is this how you life has come to? Don’t I or your brother mean anything to you?’

‘You both are my world, nonna. But Bella is a part of it too. She was the only person apart from you both who looked with genuine love and who always hugged when I needed it. I- I’m sorry I was selfish. I will be back to my responsibilities very soon but nonna, what about my heart? It’s bleeding. Every times I was in my mind, it taunts me for ripping its life away from it. I want – no, I need her, Nonna.’ I cried snuggling into her hands while she caressed me softly.

‘Then find her. I will give you ten days time, find her. Leave all the office work to me, find her and bring her and if you are unable to find her, then you will be coming home with me and will be staying with me till the time you get your senses back.’

Like she ordered that day, I left every single of my responsibility and spent all my time searching for my Bella.

Once I find her, I will lock her up away from everyone and will isolate her with me in a tower.

“the limit I gave you is over, son. You will have to come home now. I already sent you my driver to pick you so you better bring your butt here and for goodness sake stop hallucinating your lover’s arrival. She will not come.” No nonna, you are wrong, she might not come today but will one day.

“She will, nonna. Might not be today but one day she will return back to me so I cannot leave from here. What if she comes to find me and I’m not here?” I said looking at the pictures I and Bella took together. She had always looked so beautiful but in the blue gown, she looks eternal.

I heard a sigh from nonna and sighed myself. “Son, you almost lost your life without her, what if she is living a good life out there and smiling every day?” She asked me to which I laughed out loud.

“One thing about my Bella is, she had gone through a lot of ordeals in her life. If she is really somewhere out there happy and smiling then I would wait for my whole life to find her and see her smile again no matter it is with me or without me. But, she is smiling doesn’t mean she is happy, nonna. Many years of living in a place like the escort house, succumbed and tortured emotionally, she has learnt to hide her pain behind her smile. She might be smiling but it doesn’t mean she is suffering any less than me.”

I know my Bella too well. I am so damn angry for taking such a stupid decision but I understand her.

Heck, I hate myself right now for thinking from her point of view right now when I was the one who is killing myself slowly.

But the day Nonna knocked some sense into me, I promised to myself that when I find my Bella, I would not be so kind enough to understand her anymore. I will be the selfish one to show her how angry and disappointed I am.

These ten days of searching has done me some good even though I couldn’t find her. That is, I was too much understanding with her all these years and I leant a lesson that being too much considerate has made realize that it has made Bella incapable of standing up for her own feelings.

The kinder I got to her, the insecure I made her. It led her to think that I was only being that way because she was some sort of responsibility to me, love involved or not. She always looked at herself someone very beyond me.

And I understood that kindness can destroy a person too.

“I – understand, son. Trust me I do. I know how she must be feeling very clearly. Alright, what if you find your Bella? What will you do? Would you sweep her off her feet and get married?” She asked me, resignation and curiosity clear in her voice.

My eyes gained its determination and focus back. I don’t have to think what to say. I know what I should do to her.

“No, this time, I will teach her a lesson. I will be harsh on her; hard enough to let her know what kind of person she had turned me into with her one decision.” I said in conviction, banging my hand on the table.

I did not hear anything from nonna for good few second before she let out an angry grunt and started to speak. “Niccolo Russo, trust me when I say I have no hard feelings towards Phoebe and her past profession and I don’t really mind if you marry her but I really want you to torture her before you do that. You promise me that you will not melt down this time and will teach her to stand up for you and her love for her. I do not want a lamb in my family. I want someone who has enough voice to put themselves high and straight. If you promise me that, then I will tell you where your Bella is.”

“What do you mean you will tell me where she is? Do you know where my Bella is, nonna?” I asked her standing up in a hurry and taking my car keys.

“Yes I do. I will only let you know that when you promise me to do what I asked for.” I laughed to myself and chuckled happily while happy tears rolled down from my eyes.

She knows where Bella is and now she will be soon be with me forever.

“I promise. I promise, Nonna.”

“Good. Listen carefully son, I will only accept her in our family when she talks back to me for you. When she proves her love for you and fights for that love. Only then I will she be a part of our family and if in two months, you fail to do so, you will have to forget about her and move on.” I nodded my head and chuckled at my silliness. I answered with a yes and immediately left the city to meet nonna and get my Bella’s whereabouts.

You just wait for me Bella. If you thought your Nicco was a good person, then you are wrong. You had turned him into a monster who is coming towards with no so good intentions.

You will learn you lesson to fight for us. If not in an easy way, then hard way it is.

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