Friday Night

“You’re searching for his familiar eyes in a room full of strangers aren’t you?” Johnny mocks Nova as she stares into the crowd from behind a curtain, hoping to see Kaiden’s face.

“The show started an hour ago amore, he’s not coming.”

“I have to go check on my models.” Nova’s voice cracks as she tries to get away from Johnny’s truth – Kaiden wasn’t going to show up on one of the biggest nights of her career.

 
 
On the other side of the world, Tokyo. Japan, 4:18 am

“Staring at the phone and drinking whiskey won’t solve your problems brother.” Nikoli reminds Kaiden.

“I’ve living vicariously through instagram models and influencer posts hoping to get a glimpse of Nova- I need to know if she’s okay.”

“You called me for advice and I’m going to give it to you – both our fathers had their fair share of taking down kingpins, hell your mother was even kidnapped by one and ended up losing someone she loved. All that fighting only brought pain – learn from your parents, the best thing you can do for Nova is let her go.”

“Are you insane? You want me to let her stay with that bastard?”

“Here me out, Johnny only went after Nova because he knew it would get to you – show him that you don’t care and he’ll let her go.”

“My father always said ‘fight for the things you love’.”

“Do you love Nova?”

“No.” Kaiden responds after some deliberation.

“There you go.” Nikoli leans back into the chair, pleased with himself before calling over some woman to keep them company.

Back in Tuscany, after the show

"That's my most expensive bottle of scotch." Johnny leans against the doorframe, admiring Nova in his study.

"I deserve it." She takes another sip of the brown liquor, hoping it would quieten her mind.

"I don't know why you're so upset amore, your first show was a success and you looked ravishing walking that runway. I'm one lucky bastard for getting to be the man that takes you home."

"You mean the man holding me against my will."

"The man that could of sent a few of his goons to keep an eye on you tonight but instead decided to sit through an entire show he had absolutely no interest in."

Nova takes a moment to herself before responding, remembering the way Johnny's face lit up as he watched her strut.

"Don't act like this is about anything more than getting revenge against Kaiden, you're just using me as a pawn in your vendetta."

"Quale modo migliore per farlo incazzare che far innamorare lu sua ragazzi di me. (What better way to piss him off than have his girl fall in love with me?)"

"That will never happen and if tonight is anything to go by, he clearly doesn't care about me as much as you hoped."

"Enough of this pity party, how about we have some real fun?" Johnny takes a small plastic bag out of his pocket, its contents as white as snow.

"I don't need to tell you what this is." He clears a small section of his desk and begins empting the bags contents on to it.

"Ladies first." Johnny insists after dividing the white powder.

Needing an escape, Nova quickly fell into old habits...

Nova's p.o.v

The rest of our night went by in a blur of bad decisions, but how can something bad make you feel so good? I don't know if it was the alcohol or cocaine running through my blood stream but with Johnny all my problems seemed to fade away- even though he was the one causing all of them.

"There's two of you and you're both looking at me funny." Johnny spoke in-between a recount of one of his adventures and I couldn't help but laugh, a heat growing inside of me.

End of p.o.v

"Fuck is it getting hot in here?" Nova felt uncomfortable in her clothes and began to remove the garments, piece by piece - her heart beating with each button being undone.

"I know what will help." Johnny springs to attention, removing a cube from the nearby ice bucket and running it against Nova's bare skin, from the back of her neck all the way across her collar bone before letting it slide in between her still covered breasts.

Having such a beautiful woman in nothing but the underwear that barely covered anything didn't seem to faze Johnny as he sank back into his chair, admiring the condensation of his glass.

"Do you know what we should do?" Nova casually walked over to Johnny and sat on his lap, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Take a trip to Mexico and get Fajita's? I'm starving."

"No, we should go skinny dipping."

"At midnight? In the cold?" He looks at her in confusion.

"Please." Nova pouts, readjusting herself on his lap until she was directly on top of his growing erection - turns out Johnny's body had been paying attention to her bareness.

"Fine, how can I say no to that face?" Johnny picks Nova up and carries her out of the room towards his pool - she cries out in joy, leaving the mansions guards in shock of their boss's carefree behaviour.

The next morning

Nova comfortably awakens in a room that was not her own. She noticed a figure at the foot of the bed, hunched over and could barely comprehend what happened last night.

"You're awake early amore, luckily I had the chefs prepare breakfast." Johnny gestures towards a bedside table, where a light spread lay.

"Did we?" Nova stops mid-sentence, trying to cover her naked body with his cotton and silk sheets.

"Your body would have remembered if we did." Johnny was now beside Nova, caressing her cheek and for the first time she didn't flinch away from his touch but instead leaned into it.

"I would have erased every trace of Kaiden from you... but I don't think you're ready to let him go - which is such a shame, because I'm ready to give you everything he doesn't want to."

Unsure how to respond, Nova realised it was better to stay silent.

"I'll be going out of town for a few days, try not to get into any trouble while I'm gone." Johnny strides away in his best suit, leaving Nova in confusion - one minute he was sociopath and the next he was promising her the world.

"Wait." Johnny turned around at Nova's plea.

"What if I need something and you're not here?"

"One of my men will arrange for whatever you desire." He took one last look at Nova, admiring the sexy woman that rested in his bed before leaving with a satisfied grin on his face.

Nova rolled over, groaning as she pulled the sheets over her head. At this point her impression of Johnny had being clouded, he was still the notorious bastard that was holding her captive yet last night she couldn't of felt more free - away from any remnants of Kaiden.

Hoping for a distraction away from her wavering emotions, Nova began nibbling on some fruit and scrolling through TV channels - until she saw something that made her blood run cold.

Kaiden's drunken laughter filled the room as she watched a video of him lick salt of some woman's body before drinking a shot out of her belly button, being cheered on by a crowd. The high definition and size of Johnny's screen had Nova feeling as if she was right there, within the mass of people watching the man she had feelings for move on without her.

Although at this point she had no right to be angry or heartbroken over Kaiden's behaviour - she was the one laying naked in another man's bed, it would be hypocritical for her to feel any sort of way, but when it comes to matter of the heart, we're all a bit selfish.

"Here I am sacrificing my freedom for him and he doesn't give a damn about me. Screw you Kaiden Romano." Nova throws the TV remote across the room in a rage before breaking down in tears.