In the end, Vincenzo got tired of waiting and decided to enter the library by force. His grandfather only looked at him without seeming displeased or annoyed.
“What is this, grandfather?”
Vincenzo's eyes darted from his grandfather to the boy and vice versa, Elio, who remained somewhat surprised, looked at him too. Silence reigned in the place. Gabriele got up from his place and returned the cell phone to the boy along with his backpack.
“It was a pleasure talking to you, Elio, I hope we see each other again, and give my regards to your mother.”
“Of course, sir. Excuse me.” Elio slung his backpack over his shoulder and stood up. “Excuse me,” he said to the confused Vincenzo.
Elio left the library before the hazel-eyed boy's confused gaze, before leaving he turned slightly and made a small bow to both men. He fixed his blue eyes on the black-haired man's, and after a few seconds, the huge door closed echoing with the sound.
“Why did you bring him here? He doesn't even know my name and you're already interrogating him. That's too much, grandpa.”
“Well, he showed less fear and less bewilderment when he found out who we are than your girlfriend of years, Adele Petrucci.”
“Don't compare Adele to that boy, 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 you were together, she even took the engagement ring, besides, she is the cause of...”
“That's clear! Adele had nothing to do with it. She just wanted security. Don't you remember that the idiots from the south kidnapped her? I never thought of claiming anything from her, and giving her everything she asked for was the right thing to do. If I had been with them they wouldn't have taken her, no one could bear something like that.”
“He keeps believing that, son.” Gabriele ignored that topic. They had already talked about it, and they never got anywhere. “And that was the end of her love for you, don't tell me she never wondered where all those expensive gifts you gave her came from.” Mr. Di Marco snorted in frustration. “That girl, the only thing she saw in you during those six years was the dollar sign. Back then, I respected that you didn't want me to investigate her, however, now I have to make sure the same thing doesn't happen.”
“Well, let's say it was like that, that she only cared about the money and not me, what's the difference with that boy? He would also be by my side for money.”
“The difference is that this time you know it, and that he wouldn't be playing with you. Seeing you miserable years ago, like a Di Marco… makes me sick.”
“That's all that matters to you, isn't it? The family name.” Vincenzo fell silent trying to calm down, both were tense, the atmosphere was heavy. After a few seconds he spoke again. “Besides, I don't understand the need to get married.”
“It is time for us to have a descendant.”
The seriousness of his grandfather in those words took him by surprise, however, as soon as those words made sense in his mind, a loud laugh was heard throughout the library.
“Grandpa,” 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,” old Gabriele walked over to the desk and grabbed a yellow envelope. He threw it at his grandson and said, “Review that and then we'll talk.”
The more he read, the more interesting Elio Mancini became. Vincenzo looked up at his grandfather, he knew that he would not be interested in marrying a man without some ulterior motive.
He raised his eyebrows, gave his grandfather one last look, and then went out, taking the collected information with him.
...----------------...
The following days, Elio had been thinking a lot about that proposal, it was too tempting, but also, quite unreal. He didn't know for sure how much power they had, however, and from what he'd heard from his mother, he knew they were influential people, both in the mafia world, as well as in the political and financial world.
At first he tried not to think about it too much, he was just a boy and getting married was not in his life plans, much less with someone he didn't even know.
However, his family's debts from his mother's illness were increasingly unsustainable. His older brother bore most of the debt, he did his best to help him, as did Luka, his other older brother, the youngest only dedicated herself to studying, and he knew little about his second sister.
He could spend nights without sleep and go over the same issue.
They had given him two weeks to think about it, he had definitely turned it down at first, but still, the old man had given him a second chance to think about it carefully.
He kept wondering why a man like that would want to marry another man, Elio didn't fit the profile of a rich boy nor did he come from a good family, there was no benefit in marrying him.
Furthermore, he knew about the lives of mob wives, and definitely didn't want to live like that, however, he knew perfectly well that he couldn't pay for college on his own.
He had decided to take a year before entering to save as much as possible, tuition was expensive as were tuition fees. Elio dreamed of graduating from the most prestigious university in the city, with a scholarship he could achieve it, but he also didn't want to leave his brother alone with the debts. It was stressful to think about all of that. Studying medicine had always been his dream, before, he had even thought about entering a military academy and specializing in the area of medicine, however, due to his family history, it was impossible for him.
He had everything planned, however, during the internships he knew that he had to stop working, in addition, his younger sister was also going to enter university, and since she didn't work, her brother and mother would help her.
Things were not looking easy and more and more, circumstances pushed him to accept. However, Elio was a person with well-founded principles, and accepting a marriage for money definitely violated every one of his principles.
Elio let out a sigh as he leaned back against the cinema table. Despite going out to distract himself and stop thinking about the head of the Di Marco family's proposal, he couldn't.
“How frustrating.” He whispered.
He let out the air that he was holding in his lungs, as he raised his face and ate some popcorn. It had been a while since he had set foot in a movie theater. Elio didn't go out much, being around people made him too uncomfortable.
From among the crowd, a couple of friends recognized him. Both approached the distracted Elio.
“Elio?”
Elio turned around to find himself with that pair of very familiar people. The two of them had been his friends throughout high school, even before that. However, he had walked away from them years ago, he never hoped to see them again, much less that they would speak to him first, Elio had abruptly cut off their friendship, they stopped seeing each other and never contacted him.
“Oh, Gianni, Enrico, what… what a pleasure to see you.”
Elio then recognized his voice and that lilac and white hair that characterized Gianni. Also, the familiar figure beside him, Enrico, who remained with the same expression as always, one that didn't show much of his attitude, his black hair and some green streaks were somewhat long.
They looked a little taller than the last time he had seen them, even Gianni, who in the past had been a little shorter than him, now seemed taller, although he was shorter than Enrico. Apparently, they still had the same taste in clothes: baggy clothes, in dark tones, mostly black, boots and accessories in silver, such as chains, earrings, rings or piercings.
They smiled at him very friendly, especially Gianni, who had never hoped to see him again. Since always, Gianni or, little busybody, as Elio used to call him, had been the closest to him. The two had known each other since childhood and stuck together until high school.
Gianni and Enrico sat down and tried to talk to him, however, he didn't want 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 all his thoughts out.
However, telling them everything that was going on could be overwhelming and strange, after all, it had been years since the three of them last got together.
They started talking about trivial things. They tried to catch up on their lives, Enrico, who had been in the same class as Elio in high school, began to tell him about their classmates from that time, Gianni also told him about classmates who had had a "friendship" with him in the past.
Elio just looked at his watch, impatient, wishing time would fly by at that moment. However, the clock seemed to want 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, yes,” Gianni said. “Give us your contact information so we can meet again.”
Elio thought about it for a few seconds, but in the end, he took out his mobile and gave them his number. He wasn't sure if they would actually contact him, but he did anyway.
...----------------...
After that sudden encounter with those old friendships, Elio was remembering the moments alongside those two boys he had met when he had just arrived at that place. He first met Gianni, who lived in the same building as him, but one floor below. He was barely seven years old when he moved there and they soon became friends. He met Enrico a couple of years later at school, although Enrico was an old friend of Gianni's, at first he didn't like him at all, but they soon became friends and from that day on they were together.
Remembering that gave him a headache, even more, knowing that they knew his life and not just the appearance he wanted to give since he was a child. He had always worried that they would not associate him with the Mancinis, or that others would know the life they led, but he could not hide it from them, and although they helped him keep his secrets, he never came to trust them blindly.
Elio was so caught up in the memories and feelings of the past that he almost completely forgot about old Di Marco's proposal.
It wasn't until Friday that a message reminded him of it. He was in his room changing since minutes before he had gotten out of the shower. 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 some more on a small bookcase. Although it didn't seem like it at first glance, Elio enjoyed literature.
His cell phone vibrated a couple of times, he had decided to ignore it because he was going to have dinner, however, he grabbed it to see the notification, when he turned it on, he had many notifications from different social networks, but the one that interested him was the message you just received.
On the notification bar he read the message from an unknown number. His countenance changed instantly, Elio no longer had time to think about it, the next day he would have to give an answer, and he hadn't even told his family anything.
He turned off the cell phone, put it in his pocket and went to the dining room.
Elio stopped to see his family in the dining room. He saw his mother serving food, his younger sister fighting with the neighbor's son (she looked after him occasionally), and his older brother focused on his cell phone. Carlo couldn't even rest from work at home.
He sighed and entered with a smile.
Despite not having many friends, Elio was close to his family, he was sure that they would help him and support him in any decision he made.
Even though he was afraid of being threatened by the Di Marcos.
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