29. It can't be...

HUGO'S POV

Right now, I am angry, very angry and I didn't want to be around anyone to avoid hurting someone, especially Alexandra. What I was wondering now is how the hell did my father get out of prison if he had a life sentence here. 

Thousands of thoughts ran through my mind in a few seconds, and I was starting to get overwhelmed with them, especially if we take consider the main one is what my father can do to Alexandra. I don't want what happened to Amelia to happen again, I'll kill someone first if necessary. 

I was walking for an hour and a half through half the city until I decided it was better to go to the port. I know it may sound strange, but hearing how people work and being surrounded by boats calmed me down. 

After an hour I reached the port and sat on the edge. From there I could hear all kinds of conversations, and apparently a lot of people there were happy, which at this very moment didn't apply to me. Here I could also see Alexandra's boat, because why fool us, right now I'm living with her because I have nowhere to drop dead and because she's protecting us. 

That's doesn't mean I don't love her, because I love her more than anything in the world, both her and Alison, but I feel useless. Since I was eighteen, I've been working to get everything I need to live, but now I must hide because of the Russians. 

After a few minutes in which I spent looking at how the small waves crashed against the pier when I heard a shot that made me get up quickly and hide, because I had come out unarmed and I didn't want to die today in case something was happening, but then I heard a man scream and I couldn't help but go to help him, I didn't want anyone to be killed either, even less if I could help it. 

Once I got there, I saw a couple of guys on the ground in pain from something and a woman with her back turned, who at the moment she turned around, I asked myself how she got here and found me, because no one knew I was here, much less where I was going to go 

"I found you, I didn't know where else to look for you." She said relieved, "What are you doing here? How did you find me? And what has happened to these men?" I asked confused and looking at the man who was on the ground "Get away from her, she's crazy." He said this and I couldn't help but frown. "Didn't get your hands on me, stupid." 

As soon as I hear Ale's words, my anger does not take long to appear "He did what to you?" I said approaching the guy who tried to put his hands on Alexandra, but soon a pair of hands grab my wrist, causing me to automatically turn to face Alexandra's hands. 

"I'm fine…let's go." She said quietly, "I don't want to leave." I replied, because I didn't want to go home right now, "I know, but I'm not saying home… let's go somewhere else." She tried again "But…" I started to protest, because I didn't want to be with anyone "We don't have to talk about anything, let's just get out of here." 

I knew I wasn't going to change his mind, so I nodded. I stopped focusing on the guy and put my arm around her shoulders and she tucked the gun into the waistband of her jeans. I don't really know where we were going at this point, until we turned onto the platform would lead us to the ship. "Why are we going to the ship?" I asked confused, but she denied "We're not exactly going to the boat, unless it's what you want right now." 

" I don't care." I said shrugging. We keep walking, past the boat until we reach the end of the wooden platform. She sat up and I just stared at her and tried to figure out what she was doing. 

"I know how you feel, and I think I'm completely sure what you want to do with all of this. I want you to know we will do whatever you want." She assured without looking at me at any time "Did my mother tell you about that asshole?" I asked looking at her and Alexandra nodded "She was worried you were going to do something stupid, and neither of us want that to happen." 

"Shit, I'm sorry I scared you guys." I said putting my hand to my hair "Don't worry about me, I would do whatever it took to stop what's happening, but your mother was scared." She said looking at me for a brief time, then turned to look at the horizon again "So you're not mad at me?" 

"No, because I understand you. I myself want to kill my father, so I tell you we will do what you think is best for you and your mother." Alexandra said with a shrug, "What do you think of me doing what's on my mind?" 

"My opinion doesn't matter in that matter Hugo." She assured, but for me it was the most important "But it matters to me." I told her "I really think you have to do what you think is right." She answered, but I sensed there was something she was wanting to say "But?" I asked for 

"But you are a great man, Hugo. You shouldn't tarnish your reputation or your pure soul for a shitty person like your father. I don't want you to stain your hands with blood." She said and although it maybe I haven't stained my blood for years, I already had them and I have no idea why she thought it "I don't have a pure soul as you think, much less do I have hands clean of blood. While I was in the Navy…" 

"I guess you had to kill a lot of people, but those people weren't good Hugo. On the other hand, I killed people so they wouldn't find out I was the one looking for information from the Russians." Each time her tone dropped which told me she was going somewhere dark, it's the last place I wanted her to be, so I took her hand and kissed her. 

"But you did it because if those people spoke, your family would be in trouble, and you wouldn't allow that." I said, and I knew that "Well, Hugo, you should do what you think is best for you and your mother." She said taking her hand out of mine "Let's put it in the case I do, would you break up with me?" 

"I would never break up with you. I love you for the person you are, and I will always love you despite the fact you kill people, because one, I have done it too, and two, in the world we both are involved in, if we aren't the ones who kill, they are the ones who kill us." Something was wrong with Alexandra, and I have no idea what to do to get her out of whatever place her mind has gone. 

"I don't know what to do really." I said, "You have time to think about it, so don't worry." She assured me "What I don't understand is how the hell he got out of jail. He had a life sentence." I still couldn't understand how he got out of the damn jail and it's something that was killing me inside "I don't know either, but if you want, I'll have someone investigate it." 

"It's not necessary, I can do it myself, so it will help me distract myself a bit." I assured my girlfriend "As you wish, if you need someone to help you just let me know." He said, "Thank you, but I don't think it's necessary." 

We were silent for half an hour or so. I could tell she was a little tense, but I don't know if it's because of what those guys had tried to do to her, or because I had disappeared myself. "We'd better go home before your mom worries about me anymore and Megan goes crazy thinking, I'm doing something I shouldn't." 

She got up and didn't even wait for me, which makes me think she's mad at me. I soon catch up with her to where she had left the car, and we walk home in silence. I know when she's angry she doesn't usually talk, and I don't want to argue with her right now, so I keep quiet. 

After what seemed like forever, we got to the house, and she went in without saying anything else. I get out of the car and before going home I take a deep breath. As soon as I enter, I find Megan going upstairs where I suppose Alexandra left, Analissa's playing with Alison and my mother sitting on the sofa looking out the window until she hears the front door open as she comes running in my direction and comes to hugs me, which I don't hesitate to return. At this moment what mattered most to me was reassuring my mother, then I would go to fix things with Alexandra. 

MEGAN'S POV

As soon as I saw Alexandra walk through the door of the house, I knew something had made her angry, and I suppose she had found Hugo, because if she hadn't, she wouldn't be home. At least it looked like she hadn't done anything stupid, so I got up from Alison's side and headed upstairs to see what was going on. Once I'm in front of the office door, Luke appears with his computer. 

"Did she call you too?" Luke asked with a frown. "Apparently you're the only one she's called." I said something annoyed, because I don't know what was going through Alexandra's mind at this moment, but I knew something wasn't right "So what are you doing here?" He asked curiously. 

"Because I want to see what is bothering my sister. Are you going to stop me?" I asked raising an eyebrow, because nothing and nobody was going to stop me from making sure my sister is okay "No, no. I don't need another D'Angelo angry." 

With that, we entered the office, and I could see Alexandra looking out the window with a glass in hand, I just hope she doesn't have any alcohol, because then it would not only be that she was upset, but she was angry. 

"Did you need me for something?" Luke asked and Ale laughed without a hint of humour "Otherwise, I wouldn't call you. Do you have any of what I asked you for last time?" she asked, and Luke nodded. She sat at the table on the other side of the desk while I sat next to her looking at Alexandra. 

"Let's see, everything is clean from Sergio. He tells you the truth he stopped getting involved in the world of the mafias and the Russians the moment he was fired. You have nothing to worry about that part. Then, on his mobile there's nothing to indicate he's passing family information to anyone, yes, he's meeting a friend…" Luke began, but I was quite lost. Had Ale asked Luke to investigate her father? "What do you know about that friend?" Alexandra asked coldly. 

"At the moment not much, apparently, he does maintain some contact with the world of mafias, but I don't know with whom. In no time I will have access to his mobile phone and from there I can tell you if he is involved with the Russians or not, but your father can assure you he's not." 

"Are you controlling your father?" I asked, stunned, "Well, what about the other one?" she asked Luke, completely ignoring my question. "He's also telling the truth. He works at the Russian Federal Agency and has an impeccable record I must say having the kind of ilk his brothers are. His parents kicked those two out when he was twelve years old. They didn't want him to get into the same world that his brothers got into." 

I don't know why I got the feeling they were talking about Carlos, I mean, Nikolai, and I wasn't really understanding the topic was going on either. Was she really sending Luke to investigate her father? What the fuck was going through my sister's head? 

"I need you to continue to keep an eye on them as well. And I need you to do me an important favour." Alexandra said looking out the window behind the desk "The one you want." Luke answered quickly, "I need you to find Hugo's therapist." 

"What?" he asked confused and there were already two of us "Because she's the only person Hugo trusts with his things. You have fifteen minutes." my sister said flatly "do you have the name?" he asked, and Ale denied "Oh… Well, then I'll have to enter Hugo's email from before. Do you have any problem with that?" 

"No but find her as soon as possible." She said taking a swallow of whatever was in the glass "Okay, I'll do it." Luke started typing on his laptop while Alexandra went to the drinks cabinet and poured herself another glass. Something was bothering Alexandra and she seemed to be in that place neither of us liked to be in our minds, which I couldn't allow her to do. 

"Alexandra, what's happening? And why are you drinking tequila? What's wrong?" I asked her, but of course she ignored me completely. "Luke, is there any way Hugo could do his sessions online and his therapist couldn't record anything or operate any electronic devices while he's in session?" 

"Ugh, it's complicated, especially if we take consider you don't want any electronic device to go there, but it could be done." Luke replied without taking his eyes off the computer screen "How?" inquired Ale "Well, for starters, I would have to show up at that therapist's house. I would install some device would stop all electronic devices from working, and at the same time I could install a computer I could control from here, so it only turns on during the sessions." 

"Would it be safe?" she asked, and Luke nodded "Yeah… Hmm, okay. Her name is Madison Farragani, and she doesn't have a single ticket. She's not related to any mafia, nor is close to them. She had a brother who died of an overdose... Oh, we won't have a problem with the mafias then... Apparently the girl does everything in her power to end drugs. It helps people with drug addiction problems and little else." 

"I need you to fly to Italy as soon as possible and fix all that. I also need them not to recognize you." My sister said "Tonight I'm leaving then, and don't worry, I'm the master of disguise. Do you need anything else?" he asked getting up from his chair and closing the laptop "No thanks for everything Luke." 

"You're welcome, sis. I'll call you as soon as everything is ready." With that, Luke got up and left the office leaving us alone at once. I don't know what Alexandra was thinking of doing or anything that had happened while she was gone, but she wasn't okay. 

"Ale, what happened while you weren't home?" I asked now we're alone. "I'm seriously screwing up, Megan." She said and I kept looking at her because I wasn't understanding what she was referring to "You're not doing it. Who the fuck told you, you were screwing up?" 

"No one needs to tell me; I realize it myself." She said convinced, and I denied, because she wasn't doing it, I have no idea why the idea had entered her head "And what are you screwing up according to you?" 

"Hugo isn't well… and it's my fault." Alexandra took a breath and then finished the tequila in her glass, pouring herself some more. "It's not, and the man is happy with you." I said thinking if I had ever seen him bad, and I don't remember a single time he was "I know he isn't... I feel it in my chest... I don't want him to leave me... but... but I also don't want... him to be tied... to my…" 

I went over to her and squatted in front of her, because what she was saying was stupid "You're saying stupid things Alexandra. That man loves you more than anything and he won't break up with you." 

" I'm not so sure about that... I feel since we arrived... everything is going to shit... and I don't think I can bear... if... if he leaves me..." she continued, and she was on the verge of an anxiety attack, I could sense it "I'm not going to... I would never do such a thing." 

At that moment, she closes her eyes, puts her right hand to her chest, and I turn to see Hugo standing there looking at Alexandra's back. I decide it's better to leave them alone and they talk, because I don't know what the hell made Alexandra think she was screwing up her relationship with Hugo, but if something is more than clear to me, it's I hate seeing her this bad. 

HUGO'S POV

I knew Alexandra was angry with me when she went up to the office, but what I didn't expect at all was she thought I was going to leave her, because that wouldn't even kill her, but apparently, I wasn't giving her the confidence she needed. 

As soon as I hear how the door closes behind me, I start to walk slowly to where she's looking out the window until I get to a few steps from her, I put my hand on her shoulder, and I notice how she jumps a little. 

"Love, you know I would never break up with you." I assured her. I have no idea why she had gotten that into her head "Then why do I feel like I'm taking you away from me?" I could hear how she started to cry, so I moved closer to her so I could hug her to try to make her feel better. 

"You're not doing it. I'm sorry you feel that way, that's my fault, but right now I think neither of us are in the right place in our minds and it could be that's why you feel like you're taking me away from you, but that's far from true, because I love you and I would never leave you." I said taking her face in my hands. All I wanted right now was for him to calm down and understand he was being serious. 

"I feel like I'm not doing enough to make you feel good." She answered and I wiped the tears from her cheeks "You are doing it, and it may not feel like it right now, but you are. And if at this moment I'm jumpy it is only because they released my stupid father who should be serving a life sentence." I assured her, because it was what bothered me the most, nothing more. 

"And what would you say about going back to your therapies?" she asked pulling away from me and wiping away the tears had escaped her "It's not for Fabio, but as I told you, I don't want to have to tell him everything I've experienced." 

"I'm not saying with Fabio." She answered quickly and I frowned not understanding where she wanted to go "So what do you mean?" I asked " Madison." I was as confused as I had been in a long time, and I didn't have the slightest idea who woman was. "What? Who…? Madison my therapist?" 

"Yes, I've been thinking about it and before you say anything, I think she won't say anything you're alive, and we'll do everything in my power so there's no way for them to know we're alive." She said and I stared at her in shock "That's a big risk, love and I'll be fine." 

I knew Alexandra was terrified of being found, and whether she liked it or not, I was in contact with Madison, it was too dangerous for us right now, I didn't want her to stress more than she was already doing "I know you will, but I don't want you to keep it inside either. We both know that's not good, and if I don't want something, it's for you to go to a dark place." 

"It's difficult for me to not go to a dark place." I whispered, because right now was exactly where I was except when I was with Alison and her, "Not when one of the craps from your past shows up out of nowhere. I tell you from experience Hugo, and I don't want anything to happen to you." She said placing her hand on my face, making me lean into her. 

"Then would you agree to Madison therapy again?" I asked surprised, because I knew she wasn't going to back down. "Yes, all I want is for you to be okay." She said with a shrug, and couldn't love this woman more "Thank you… I really appreciate it. I know how hard it's for you that people in Italy to know we are alive, and I understand this puts all that stuff about us being dead at risk, but…" 

"Right now, it doesn't matter to me." She assured. I took her hand and kissed it "And what about you?" I asked, because it was more than clear she wasn't in a very nice place in her mind either "What's wrong with me?" she asked with a frown. "I know something isn't right either with you. You know you can tell me, right?" 

"I know, but there are so many things I don't know." Alexandra happened to look out the window and I sat next to her feet. "The fear of Stefan?" I tried to guess; I know that would be one of the problems would be at the forefront of all her worries. 

"That's just one of them." She said nodding "And the rest?" I asked trying to help her in some way "Well, if my father could be giving information to someone who works for mafias, or if Nikolai is telling the truth he's not like the other two, someone is following us... everything." She sighed and I started making small circles with my thumb on the back of her hand and I kissed her thigh looking up at her. "Do you think your father may be giving information to the Russian mafia?" 

It might be I didn't know Sergio very well, but I didn't get the feeling of him passing information to those guys, he seemed more worried about Alexandra than anything else "I don't think so, and if he does, he doesn't even know." My girlfriend replied, "What are you talking about?" I asked curiously "I remember when I was a child and someone came to visit my father used to talk a lot about me, and he would get so excited he wouldn't stop talking. When he gets excited, he can't stop talking about whatever excites him..." 

"And that's what scares you, that he's so excited to find out you're not dead and he's talking to any of us." She nodded and now I could understand why she was wherever she was in her mind "It's not I don't trust him, I know he's a good man whose life ended up screwed up by those bastards too, but emotion sometimes is so much to him he needs to tell everybody." 

"And what about Nikolai?" I asked, "I don't know, there's something doesn't convince me at all." She responded with a sigh, "Don't you think it could be because of the last name he has?" I tried, because I think the problem she had with him was because of the last name "That's what scares me the most. If neither he nor his parents are like that, where the hell did those two get so much evil from? 

"From anywhere." I said shrugging. If my work had taught me anything, it's not all the family's fault "I don't know, but I didn't end up believing the truth." She answered crossing her arms, but without letting go of my hand, "I understand you don't, but maybe you should give yourself the opportunity to meet them." 

"That's not as easy as saying it. It may take too long and at this very moment I'm not interested in knowing the truth about them." She said and I understood. Even Megan did it and she did know the man "I will support you in everything you decide." I said giving her a kiss on the hand "Thank you, I really appreciate it." 

I knew I hadn't convinced her of anything, but at least she was calmer and that's what mattered to me. Now all I had to do was find something to distract her for a while. "How about we do something?" I asked after a while, causing her to turn in my direction. "What?" 

"I know it's not easy for neither of us to talk about everything that happened to us in our pasts, but maybe it can help us get some weight off our chest and get to know each other, because we really don't know anything about our pasts." Not that I really needed to know what had happened to her in there, because one, I didn't want her to go to that part of her mind, and two, I didn't want to have any more intentions of ending Stefan with my own hands. "Do you want to know about my past exactly? You know it's ugly." 

"Yeah, I know, but is your middle name really Maria?" I asked with a small smile because in the last few days I had noticed the face she made whenever she heard Sergio call her by that name "You did notice, didn't you?" she asked with a small smile on her face. 

"How not to do it, it's the way Sergio calls you all the time. I could say you don't like it at all he calls you that" I replied laughing "And I really hate it." She laughed too, which was a step in the right direction. "What if you tell him to stop calling you that?" 

"Believe me, I told him a thousand times not to call me that, but there's no way, he always calls me that." Alexandra replied with a shrug "So where are you really from? Are you American? I asked curiously "Actually according to my ID I'm Italian and that's how it will stay, but before I was." 

"And where did the name Maria come from?" I questioned, because it was rare for Americans to have that name "From dad's mother. They wanted me to bear her name and that's how they put me, Alexandra María, it's just every time I hear it, the two of them together sound very bad." She said as if giving her a chill and I couldn't help but laugh "It doesn't, it sounds great." 

"It doesn't." She answered seriously "Well, I like the combination of names." I said with a shrug, "You're weird, I'm telling you." She answered laughing, "I know, everyone tells me so, but despite that, you're still in love with me." 

"True." I kissed her on the forehead and just at that moment Alison runs into the office directly to where we were with a big smile on her face which makes both Alexandra's face and mine appear a smile. 

Alison leaped into the air and Alexandra wasted no time in scooping her up in her arms. The first one began to tell her about something that had happened to her, and I could see Megan at the door with a big smile on her face and then she leaves, leaving the three of us alone.