Livia Di Vittorio

My head whips to look to my right when I hear the leaves crunching slightly, giving away his position. My heart was beating so hard in my chest it felt as if it were about to fall out. I suck in a breath so the sounds of my breathing don't give away my position but my actions were futile as it was clear he knew where I was.

"Don't you think we should solve this situation amicably, Livia?" I was slightly surprised to hear his voice had a slight British tint to it mixed in with a heavy northern Italian accent. That helps me understand how we haven't crossed our paths until now.

Left with no other choice I jumped down from the branch I was sitting on and walked to the clearing, the clouds had moved allowing us a little moonlight, just enough to see what was right in front of me.

I looked at the man dead in the eyes, his bright amber eyes that looked almost red, he was quite a bit taller than me and had his dark hair felling into his face.

Our facial features were similar but we looked different enough that no one would suspect we were related to each other, though if I stopped dying my hair all the time we would share the same hair colour.

"It's a little unfair that you know my name, and yet I don't know yours, don't you think?" I asked him with raised eyebrows, the man looked at me with a mix of humour and incredulity.

"You seem to think I'm your mother's son and yet you don't know my name?"

"Oh I know you are my mother's son, it was easy enough to look up the hospital records for the son she had at fifteen, exactly ten years before I was born, I'm aware we share a birthday"

Out of all revelations I think that one baffled me the most, maybe that's why my mother didn't like me. I was born on the same day as the child she never wanted.

"But you don't know my name?" He looked fully amused now, I shook my head. "Giovanni, Giovanni Aresco."

That has my brain working at a million miles an hour, there were about five very prominent families in Italy. The Di Vittorio's were the most affluent and held the most control, especially over the south of Italy but there were other families like Mom's family, the Castillos, as well as the Bianchi, the Epositios and the Arescos that ruled the rest of the county.

The Aresco's mainly ruled over the northern part of the country but I still heard enough about them growing up, the most abouot the head of the family, Niccolo Aresco but I had also heard a lot about his oldest son, his heir, Giovanni Aresco so it was nice to put a face to the name.

But one thing that confused me was that it was ground-breaking news when my mother and father decided to get married, it made every news headline for months leading up to the wedding, and when my brothers and I were all born we all had our own stories in the papers. So it was very surprising that a child between two of the most important families went unnoticed.

But instead of commenting on any of that, I nod in greeting, watching him as he studied me right back.

I had met his father once or twice before, he wasn't a very kind man and I knew he was a lot older than my mother. It was clear Giovanni had been born in a consensual relationship, and although I often didn't think of my mother in a positive light this was one aspect that I felt sorry for her.

The crime world wasn't a safe place for little girls and it was something I was working on changing.

"Livia, Livia Di Vittorio." I introduced myself in the same way, though it was clear he knew exactly who I was. "So is it too forward to ask why you burnt a building down or is that too forward of a question?"

"I'd say our newly formed bond is too fragile to handle that deep of a question." Giovanni drawls out sarcastically.

I hear voices coming closer, shouting in search of me. The most frantic of them being Nikolai's.

"Your boyfriend is looking for you," Giovanni tells me, his eyes were bright and full of amusement.

"He isn't my boyfriend," I deny, my head turning to the direction the noise was coming from. I knew I had to get there before Nikolai had an aneurysm.

"Well regardless of what he is or isn't and whether I want to admit it I just did burn down his warehouse, and I would like to get out of here alive, so is there anything else you need to know to satisfy your curiosity Principessa." He takes a step back, away from me. The moonlight no longer hits his face instead covered by shadows. I ignore his new nickname for me, there was no time to argue the sentamatics of it.

"Yeah, we're probably going to have to talk about that, regardless or not of the fact we just met," I conclude coming back to the conversation he had tried to get out of.

"A lot is going on behind the scenes, Livia." His tone was filled with warning.

"I know," I tell him honestly. There was a game being played, where we were all being treated like pawns, but I was going to be the queen of Italy in just a few years and people needed to start remembering that.

I was starting to wonder what Giovanni's role was in all of this, and Dante.

Dante could pretend all he wanted but I knew what he was after, and I was starting to wonder his he and Giovanni had the same end goal.

I loathed not having all the information, I had most of it but Giovanni had been a wildcard I had only just found out about.

"Don't go digging too far, Principessa." Giovanni's tone was now filled with warning, he said my title with more mocking than anything. "Your title as Regina will not be touched but there will be a power shift in a country very soon."

"Don't try to play mind games on me, it won't work." I took a step forward so he could see my face. "I've been raised in this world like you have, Giovanni. We might share blood but I don't think either of us claim Delia as family so I would say the bonds tying us are..."

"Brittle." Giovanni finishes. "Again, sorella. I don't plan to meddle in your business."

"But you already have, you messed with Nikolai," I argue heat rising up my neck, I was getting angrier.

"Out of necessity."

"For what?" I demand more than I should have as I lose my temper, it had always been one of my downfalls.

"All in time, Livia." Giovanni starts walking the other way, Nikolai and his men were closing in on us; if he wanted to leave alive he had to go now.

"Are you going to stop having me followed now," I grow tired of his evasive words. "I don't appreciate your half-brother following me all the time,"

"Maybe you can keep an eye on him for me," Giovanni smirks. "He gets up to as much trouble as you do,"

There weren't many times I completely lost it but I was drawing nearer and nearer to losing my cool.

"Livia!" Nikolai shouts again and for the first time, I see fear flash across Giovanni's face.

I stared at my newly found blood relation with annoyance, this was a new pest I had to deal with, as if I hadn't had enough on my plate already.

"Go," I whisper with an annoyed sigh. Giovanni scans me before he meets my eye again.

"I'll see you soon, Principessa." His words held promise.

"I hope not," I reply with a fake smile. "Go now before I change my mind and send Nikolai on you."

Giovanni doesn't wait a minuite longer, disappearing into the darkness.

"Kai," I call out, loud enough for him to hear me and it was only seconds before I saw him enter my vision from the corner of my eye. I was still watching the direction Giovanni had disappeared.

My thoughts were louder than Nikolai's because, for a couple of seconds, I didn't even register him scolding me.

"Sorry, what was that?" I turn to look at him for the first time and I suddenly see his very worried face and tense body. "Are you okay?"

"A-a-are, am I okay?" Nikolai stutters out, looking at me like I was going mad. "Livia, I've been looking for you in the snow for the last fifteen minutes, at whatever negative degrees it is. You just took off running into the middle of nowhere and I couldn't find you, and fuck Livia, you scared me half to death."

Nikolai's voice raises with every word before dropping to a whisper with the last word. I decided what we both needed in that moment was a hug so standing on my tiptoes I wrapped my arms around his waist and dug my head into his chest.

I must have put Nikolai into shock for half a second before his arms wrapped around me, holding the back of my head tightly to him.

"Please tell me you're okay?" He asks again, a lot calmer but I could hear the plea in his voice.

"I'm okay," I reassure him, not leaving his embrace. He was so much warmer than I was.

"Good,"

"Can we go now, I'm cold." As the adrenalin leaves my body I start shivering violently.

"Yeah," Nikolai sighs, releasing me from his embrace, I take a step back so I can see his eyes. They pin me with a hard stare. "But best believe once you are warm and safe we are having a conversation about this."

I pat his chest as I walk past him, in the direction of the warehouse. "Wouldn't miss it, baby."