Chapter 03. Nostalgic.

In the end, Vicenzo grew tired of waiting and decided to force his way into the library. His grandfather merely looked at him without showing any displeasure or anger.

"What is the meaning of this, grandfather?"

Vicenzo's eyes traveled back and forth between his grandfather and the young man. Elio, somewhat surprised, was watching him too. Silence reigned in the room. Gabriele rose from his seat and returned the phone and backpack to the boy.

"It was a pleasure speaking with you, Elio. I hope we'll see each other again. And give your mother my regards."

"Of course, sir. If you'll excuse me." Elio slung his backpack over his shoulder and stood up. "Excuse me," he said to the confused Vicenzo.

Elio left the library under the bewildered gaze of the hazel-eyed man. Before leaving, he turned slightly and gave a small bow to both men. He rested his blue eyes on the dark-haired man, and after a few seconds, the enormous door closed behind him, its sound echoing through the room.

"Why did you bring him here? He doesn't even know my name and you're already interrogating him. That's too much, grandfather."

"Well, he showed less fear and less confusion when he found out who we are than your little girlfriend of years past, Adele Petrucci."

"Don't compare Adele to that kid. She was like that because I lied to her, grandfather. I made her fall in love with someone who didn't exist."

"And she left you asking for money for the years they'd been together. She even took the engagement ring. Besides, she's the one who caused..."

"That's already been settled! Adele had nothing to do with that. She just wanted security. Don't you remember the bastards from the south kidnapped her? I never thought of blaming her for anything. Giving her everything she asked for was the right thing to do. If I'd been with them, they never would have taken her. Nobody could endure something like that."

"Keep telling yourself that, son." Gabriele dismissed the subject. They'd talked about it before and never reached any conclusion. "And that's where her love for you ended. Don't tell me she never wondered where all those expensive gifts you gave her came from." The elder Di Marco let out a frustrated sigh. "That girl, the only thing she saw in you during those six years was a dollar sign. Back then, I respected your wish not to have her investigated. But now I have to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again."

"Fine, let's say you're right, that she only cared about the money and not me. How is that boy any different? He'd be by my side for the money too."

"The difference is that this time you know it, and he wouldn't be playing games with you. Watching you be miserable years ago, as a Di Marco... it made me sick."

"That's all you care about, isn't it? The family name." Vicenzo fell silent, trying to calm himself. They were both tense; the atmosphere was heavy. After a few seconds, he spoke again. "Besides, I don't understand the need to get married."

"It's time you give us an heir."

The seriousness in his grandfather's words caught him off guard. However, as soon as those words registered in his mind, a thunderous laugh echoed through the library.

"Grandfather," he said, catching his breath, "Elio Mancini is a man, in case you forgot... he can't conceive."

"Of course I haven't forgotten. However—" The elder Gabriele walked to the desk and grabbed a yellow envelope. He tossed it to his grandson and said, "Look that over, and then we'll talk."

The more he read, the more interesting Elio Mancini became. Vicenzo looked up at his grandfather. He knew the old man wouldn't be interested in a marriage to a man without some hidden motive.

He furrowed his brow, gave his grandfather one last look, and then left, taking the collected information with him.

...

In the days that followed, Elio had been thinking a great deal about the proposal. It was incredibly tempting, but also quite unreal. He didn't know for certain how much power they held, but thanks to what he'd heard from his mother, he knew they were influential people, both in the world of the mafia and in politics and finance.

At first, he tried not to think too much about it. He was barely more than a boy, and getting married wasn't part of his life plan, much less to someone he didn't even know.

However, his family's debts from his mother's illness were becoming increasingly unsustainable. His older brother shouldered the bulk of the debt. Elio did what he could to help, as did Luka, his other older brother. The youngest sister only focused on her studies, and he knew little about his second sister.

He could spend nights without sleeping, turning the same issue over and over in his mind.

They had given him two weeks to think about it. He had definitely rejected it at first, but even so, the old man had given him a second chance to reconsider carefully.

He kept asking himself why a man like that would want to marry another man. Elio didn't have the profile of a rich kid, nor did he belong to a powerful family. There was no benefit in marrying him.

Besides, he knew what life was like for mafia wives, and he definitely didn't want to live that way. Still, he knew perfectly well that he couldn't afford university on his own.

He had decided to take a year off before enrolling so he could save as much as possible. Tuition was expensive, both enrollment and semester fees. Elio dreamed of graduating from the most prestigious university in the city. With a scholarship he could make it happen, but he also didn't want to leave his brother alone with the debts. It was stressful thinking about all of it. Studying medicine had always been his dream. Before, he'd even considered entering a military academy and specializing in medicine, but due to his family background, that had proved impossible.

He'd had it all planned out, but he knew that during his residency he'd have to stop working. On top of that, his younger sister was also about to start university, and since she didn't work, their brother and mother would help her.

Things didn't look easy, and the circumstances were increasingly pushing him to accept. Nonetheless, Elio was a person with deeply rooted principles, and accepting a marriage for money definitely violated every single one of them.

Elio let out a sigh as he leaned against the counter at the cinema. Despite going out to distract himself and stop thinking about the Di Marco patriarch's proposal, he couldn't do it.

"How frustrating," he whispered.

He let the air out of his lungs as he lifted his face and ate some popcorn. It had been a while since he'd set foot in a movie theater. Elio didn't go out much. Being surrounded by people made him deeply uncomfortable.

From the crowd, a pair of friends recognized him. They both approached the distracted Elio.

"Elio?"

Elio turned around to find two very familiar faces. They had been his friends during middle school, even before that. However, he'd distanced himself from them years ago. He never expected to see them again, much less that they would speak to him first. Elio had cut off their friendship abruptly; they'd stopped seeing each other, and they had never contacted him.

"Oh, Gianni, Enrico, what... what a surprise."

Elio recognized his voice immediately, along with the lilac-and-white hair that was Gianni's trademark. And the familiar figure beside him: Enrico, who wore the same expression as always, one that didn't reveal much of his personality. His black hair with some green streaks was somewhat long.

They looked a bit taller than the last time he'd seen them. Even Gianni, who had been a little shorter than him in the past, now seemed taller, though he was still smaller than Enrico. Apparently, they still had the same taste in fashion: baggy clothes in dark tones, mostly black, boots, and silver accessories like chains, earrings, rings, or piercings.

They smiled at him warmly, especially Gianni, who had never dared hope he'd see him again. Gianni, or "little busybody" as Elio used to call him, had always been the closest to him. They had known each other since childhood and had stayed together through middle school.

Gianni and Enrico sat down and tried to chat with him, but he didn't want to have anything to do with them again. He was supposed to have left all those feelings of affection behind. But in that moment, all he wanted was to get his thoughts out of his head.

Still, telling them everything that was happening could come across as overwhelming and strange. After all, it had been years since the three of them had last been together.

They started talking about trivial things. They tried to catch up on each other's lives. Enrico, who had been in the same class as Elio in middle school, began telling him about their classmates from that time. Gianni also told him about classmates who'd had a "friendship" with him in the past.

Elio just kept glancing at his watch, impatient, wishing time would fly. But the clock seemed determined to stay on the same minute even after an hour.

"I think I have to go now. The movie I'm going to see is about to start."

"Oh, right," Gianni said. "Give us your contact info so we can get together another time."

Elio thought about it for a few seconds, but in the end, he pulled out his phone and gave them his number. He wasn't sure they'd actually reach out, but he did it anyway.

...

After that unexpected encounter with his old friends, Elio found himself remembering the moments spent alongside those two boys he'd met when he first moved there. He'd met Gianni first, who lived in the same building, one floor below. He was barely seven when he moved there, and they quickly became friends. He met Enrico a couple of years later at school. Although Enrico was already an old friend of Gianni's, at first Elio didn't like him at all. But they soon became friends, and from that day on, they were inseparable.

Remembering all of that gave him a headache, even more so knowing that they knew about his real life, not just the image he'd tried to project since childhood. He had always been careful to make sure no one associated him with the Mancinis, or that others found out about the life they led. But he couldn't hide it from them, and even though they'd helped keep his secrets, he had never fully trusted them.

Elio was so immersed in memories and feelings from the past that he nearly forgot about the elder Di Marco's proposal entirely.

It wasn't until Friday that a message reminded him. He was in his room getting dressed, having just gotten out of the shower minutes before. He put on comfortable clothes. His room was tidy, the white light dim. He liked the peace of darkness. There were several books on his desk and a few more on a small bookshelf. Though it might not seem like it at first glance, Elio enjoyed literature.

His phone buzzed a couple of times. He'd decided to ignore it because he was about to have dinner, but he grabbed it to check the notification. When he turned it on, he had many notifications from various social media apps, but the one that caught his attention was the message he'd just received.

In the notification bar, he read the message from an unknown number. His expression changed instantly. Elio no longer had time to keep deliberating. The next day, he'd have to give an answer, and he hadn't told his family anything yet.

He turned off his phone, slipped it into his pocket, and headed to the dining room.

Elio paused to look at his family at the table. He saw his mother serving the food, his younger sister arguing with the neighbor's son (she babysat him occasionally), and his older brother focused on his phone. Carlo couldn't even rest from work at home.

He let out a sigh and walked in with a smile.

Despite not having many friends, Elio was close to his family. He was certain they would help and support him in whatever decision he made.

Even though he was afraid of being threatened by the Di Marcos.

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