Chapter 57

*Chapter 57
Clear View University*

**"Wait what?" I** asked stunned. Did I just hear wrong because I could swear I just heard Nikolai telling Ava that he loved me! His head turned to me so fast I wonder if he had whiplash but then he looked around the hall and took a deep breath.

There was a crowd forming around us as I wanted for him to talk to me. "This wasn't how I wanted to do it but it's the truth." I looked at him with wide eyes. He looked around the crowd again and said. "Yes, I Nikolai Moretti, the biggest playboy in Clear View Point is in love with you Tatiana Aksakor. You turned me into a One-Woman-At-A-Time kind of man."

I gulped and he looked down. "I love you Tatiana and you don't have to say it back just yet but it doesn't change anything." I was silent. I remember the promise I made myself at the beginning of senior year when I met Nikolai, the bad boy of Clear View Point. I promised that this would be no cliché story but the truth was; that I changed my mind after Nikolai asked me out.

For some people, it might be too quick. The truth was we didn't decide who we fall in love with; there was no book that said you had to be with someone for a certain time before you could fall in love.

It was in that moment when I realized, between the silent crowd waiting for my answer and Nikolai's face that only held the truth that I too was in love with him. I gulped again and said the 4 words that in my world meant weakness

"I love you too"

« • x • x • x • »

*'Da Pasquale' Headquarters*

"Tatiana, he is going to be your weakness." Silva stared at me with a surprised expression on his face. "I know. What I don't know is how it happened but all I know was when he told me he loved me I knew I loved him too." I chewed my nails sitting on one of the chairs in his office.

It's been 49 hours 5 minutes since I said those three words to Nikolai. 49 hours since I last saw him and 5 hours since his last call to me. After I realized what I said I had run, in my line of work, love meant weakness. I have never had a weakness since my mother died.

"How did you do it?" I looked up from my lap at Silva. How did he get over the fact that Grace was his weakness? How did he get over the fact that she could be taken from him in a split second?

"Tatiana, I never got over that fact. Every night I go to bed thinking how much I love Grace and that I could lose her but then I think about all the amazing things she brought into my life. If it wasn't for her, you wouldn't feel like family to me and I would have hit rock bottom years ago."

I didn't answer; I didn't know what to say. My emotions were all over the place and that made me angry. I didn't want to feel weak and vulnerable. I told myself from the beginning that I wouldn't be a cliché story, I wouldn't fall in love and what did I do? I broke the promise I made myself in less than a year.

In my eyes, things were going too fast and I didn't know if I wanted this. "Tatiana look at me," I looked up at Silva and saw him looking at me like I was a puzzle. "Talk to him, tell him how you feel. We'll be having dinner tonight and after you talked to him and you both have decided what you want to do together come over for dinner. If you want to be with him, bring him with if not... then come alone."

I nodded and stood up from the chair in his office. Slowly walking out of his office I go over everything. How he asked me to Homecoming or how he acted when he found out about my father or even my mother.

I think about the time how his face looked when he realized that I was working for the mafia. Thinking about all those things I quickly imagine my life without Nikolai Moretti in my life. My life was cold and I had no friends. I didn't want to be involved with anyone and then he came and wormed his way into my heart without me even knowing it.

Maybe this was too quickly but it wasn't like we're getting married, he just said he loved me and I do love him. I wouldn't be able to go back to the life I had without him.

Whipping my phone out of my jean pocket I dialled his number that I only now realized I knew from the top of my head. He answered a second after the first ring. "Tatiana?" his breath was deep and it sounded like he was worried.

"Can we talk?" Nikolai didn't waste a second "Sure, where?" I looked at my car and then back to the office. "My house?" I replied, "Yeah, see you there." I hung up and got into the car doing the 30-minute drive from the office to my home in 20 minutes.

When I got there I walked to the living room and on the way, I told one of the butlers. "Mr. Moretti is on his way. When he gets here bring him into the living room." He nodded and I walked to the L-Shaped couch and dropped down dramatically, thinking about what I was going to say.

« • x • x • x • »

"Are you going to say something?" Nikolai asked after 5 minutes of eerie silence. "I Love You." I replied quickly and I saw Nikolai's shoulders relax a bit but I could still see the worry in his eyes and the tenseness in his arms. "Okay?"

I looked up at him and then started "Nikolai, I love you but no matter what, in my world, you are a weakness. I don't want you to be my weakness but I also don't want you to not be in my life." Nikolai nodded pondering over the words I just said. "What are we going to do about that?" He asked.

"I don't know... But I don't want you to leave. What I do know is that if you give me the chance to work on loving you and not pushing you away we could do this. We can be together but you will have to understand that you being in my life, is a death wish every day."

He sat up straight and looked me into my eyes. "I know that, but I want to be in your life, and I want you to be in mine." I nodded and rubbed my sweaty hands down my thighs.

"You sure? Because if you say yes now you can't change your mind because then the fact that I love you is set in stone and our lives will change forever." Nikolai smiled at me and stood up.

He looked behind him and walked to the piano. He took the cover off and sat down on the white glass oak chair. He nodded next to him and I walked to sit next to him. He touched a note and winced when he realized it wasn't the right one.

I smirked at him and he rolled his eyes, before starting to play. It was a song I never heard before but it had a really beautiful melody. He started singing softly and I was kind of surprised that his voice wasn't too bad.

"Wow," I breathed out. He looked up at me and smiled "I love you and nothing is going to change my mind." I chuckled and looked down at the ground and a blush rose on my cheeks surprising me.

"Well this may," Nikolai raised one of his eyebrows at me "Silva wants to meet with you." Nikolai gulped looking nervous making me chuckle. I quickly add "Tonight,"

**Copyright © 2018 by Grace Write**