"Giuseppe, welcome!" A loud voice greeted us as soon as we entered the hole in the wall restaurant. I wouldn't have even noticed it, it being tucked away in an alley between two other businesses. The outside was misleading, the exterior suggested a small, rundown establishment, but in reality, inside was beautifully decorated, with dark, deep auburn wood floors and crystal lights hanging from the ceiling, and a giant fish tank that ran the length of one of the walls.

It seemed like a high class place, but at the moment, it was completely deserted, except for a couple random men sprinkled out across the room, sitting in little clusters at the tables.

My focus instantly went to them, because their focus was on us. The dim light in the place, gave their faces shifty looks. The fanciness of the restaurant, was tainted. I knew this was no normal restaurant.

My focus went back to the conversation going on before me, which was entirely in Italian. The loud man that had greeted us was still being loud and very expressive with his hands. He was a man about Giuseppe's age and height, with completely gray hair and mustache.

Giuseppe seemed to have a good relationship with the man.

"Luca, my boy, you've grown so much!" The man finally spoke in English, his words directedly directly on the silent, sullen, beat-up Luca. He grabbed the boy and pulled him into a hug, like he had Giuseppe. I knew the man's warm greeting had to hurt him. "What happened to you, you look like shit!" He pulled away and looked at him at arm's length.

"The boy has a smart mouth that gets him into fights he can't seem to win." Giuseppe said coolly, lighting a cigar that was suddenly between his lips. His knuckles were busted, telling the real story without words.

The man noticeably studied this, but his face remained perfectly blank, that is, before his eyes landed on me. He grinned real big. "And who is this beautiful young lady?"

I took a step back, just in case he wanted to hug me too.

"This," Giuseppe spoke, "is Luca's wife, Nessa. Nessa, this is an old family friend, Frank Rosa." Frank Rosa looked completely intrigued now.

"Oh, marrying young, I see, considering today's standards anyway. I married my first wife when we were both were fifteen, that was back in our country, of course." He grabbed my hand before I could evade and placed a kiss on the back of my hand. "Welcome to the family, Nessa Mato." He grinned like he knew something I didn't, and I would be finding out soon, and I had no doubt that he did.

Shit.

(FT)

The assistant joined us shortly after that at our table, she had to answer a phone call before we entered and had excused herself, so she missed most of the awkward. Though truthfully, all of this was awkward and frightening.

But... the pasta I got was the best thing I've ever tasted. It made the awkward silence besides when Giuseppe would speak to Frank in Italian. I liked Frank on a shallow level once he noticed I had practically licked my plate clean and brought me a whole new one without a word. I'm an eater, I like to eat, and I knew it would just get worse now that I was pregnant.

Luca didn't eat his food, just sat hunched over his seat, his head down, slightly swaying in his seat. I worried about him. I felt bad for him, but I said nothing.

We left after everyone, excluding Luca, had eaten, which left me confused. Giuseppe had said something about me being introduced, but I had only been introduced to Frank.

The assistant got her own ride back to her home, while the three of us piled into the SUV, now minus one silent, beefy man. We pulled up to the mansion just as the sun was setting.

"Show her to your room, Luca, she and your child needs rest. The both of you are to attend your classes in the morning, Friday, I have made a doctor's appointment for a checkup, Nessa, you both with take that day off." Giuseppe said his orders before getting from the car and walking towards his home, gaze focused on his cell phone.

I was alone with Luca, who said not a word as he roughly pushed the seat in front of him up and scrambled from the car. He slammed the door behind him and quickly stalked towards the mansion, not waiting on me.

I sighed. How did I find myself in this situation? Oh, yeah, I had sex. People always said the simple act could have big consequences, I should have listened.

I quickly climbed from the car and caught up to Luca, not wanting to be left behind and find myself sleeping another night in the living room. It was easy, catching up with Luca, that is. He was limping after all, and his left eyes was swelling now.

I followed him into the house and up the stairs, which was a slow process. I thought I would have to catch him multiple times as he stopped and swayed on a step, trying to catch his breath. But he always caught himself.

His room was big and a mess, some of it was obviously from a recent tantrum, like the broken lamp on his night stand. But his huge bed was unmade, and clothes were thrown around the room, along with a couple food wrappers.

"Shut my door!" He snapped at me, speaking to me for the first time since his beating. I jumped, not expecting him to speak and quickly shut the door behind me.

He grumbled as he made his way further into the room and struggled to pull his hoody over his head. Getting it off, he revealed the world (just me) the damage done by his father. I could only see his back, but it was covered in bruises, nasty bruises. It was a wondering he was walking, let alone was able to sit through dinner.

I covered my mouth in shock as my insides clenched, and tears sprung up in my eyes.

He ignored me and moved around his bed, to the nightstand on that side and pulled out a medium sized tin box. When he pulled bandages from the box I knew what he was doing. I bit my lip as I watched him sit on his bed and attempt to first aid himself.

After watching him struggle for too long, I stepped forward cautiously, giving myself ample time to change my mind, but I ended up crawling up on the bed behind him and gently reaching for the bandages, my hand brushing his.

He jumped, his head snapping towards me. "What are you doing?" He demanded heatedly, voice nearly a snarl.

I ignored the overwhelming need to scoot away and met his eyes. "Helping," I said.

"Leave me alone," he tried taking the bandages back, but I held onto them tightly. He glowered at me. "Nessa, leave me the hell alone!"

"No," I snapped back, "just, its taking you forever and its sloppy."

"I know what I'm doing!" He yelled, louder than he needed too. "I've done this before." I didn't back down, I stared at him, heart pounding. He sneered at me and shook his head. "Fine." He released the bandages.

I swallowed dryly, relieved he was allowing me to help him. It selfishly made me feel better about my part in this. "Raise your arms as good as you can." I said softly. He did as I told him too, as I began to bind his ribs.

"It has to be tight," he wheezed.

"I know," I said quietly, "I've done this before." His shoulders stiffening was the only indication I had caught his attention. I took in a shaky breath. "My mom...she wasn't in a good relationship for a while." I shared, I don't know why. I just felt as if I should. "She wasn't real big on hospitals."

He didn't say anything, and I was relieved about that.

"Finished," I said lightly as I indeed finished.

Luca stood and made his way over to one of the doors in the room that wasn't the door leading out of his room and disappeared into it. I was left sitting on his bed on my knees, staring at a pile of dirty clothes, lost in thought.

A plain white shirt being dangled in front of my face brought me out of my dark thoughts. Luca wordlessly handed T-shirt to me.

"Too sleep in," He said simply.

I took it, knowing this was his thank you for bandaging him up.

"You're welcome," I mumbled underneath my breath, if he heard me, he didn't mention it.