Chapter 5

When Alessio returned home that evening, the house was silent. Too silent that he could hear his own heartbeat, it was as if no one had lived there for a while and it did not even have any sort of indication that someone was in the house. Dread gripped him, he took deep breaths to try and calm himself down as he tried to listen for any sign of life. “Avanya?” He called out almost fearfully. There was no reply, his fear increased and he found himself bounding upstairs taking them two at a time. He entered his room and almost fell on his knees in relief. Avanya was curled up in his bed fast asleep, he sauntered over to her and sat next to her. He frowned when he noticed she had been crying,’ Did she have a nightmare again?’ he thought while caressing her cheek lovingly. Upon feeling the touch, Avanya was awoken from her slumber and she sat up as soon as she saw her man.

“You’re back? Do you want me to make you something to eat?” she asked in a hoarse voice.

Alessio did not say anything, he only pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. Avanya broke down as soon as she was pulled into his arms, Alessio was worried but he did not ask any questions. He whispered sweet words to her as he rocked her until she finally calmed down. “Are you ok?” he asked as he wiped her tears.

Avanya shook her head silently, she was still getting herself together after all the emotional turmoil she had been through all day, “I will be fine.” Alessio nodded in acceptance,” Do you want to tell me what made you cry all day?” he asked softly.

The girl sighed tiredly before she began to tell him about her day. She also told him about her nightmares being connected to her past and about how her parents died. Though she did not go into detail on what exactly her dad was working on, he still understood what she was talking about. After all this incident occurred happened 3 years ago and it was of the most talked about case that year due to the cruelty of the crime. Alessio had watched the news back then, almost everyone was following the case closely as Luciano De Luca was an influential man, and his sons were in the Army and held higher positions there. His wife was a reputed criminal lawyer and Luciano was known as the best scientist in the country. He worked in forensics though and mostly worked with the police. No one knew that he was a secret agent so Alessio was shocked to know that piece of information. “I remember that incident, no one was arrested for the homicides of your parents and you were declared dead. Your car had fallen off the bridge and exploded, how did you survive? Even your brothers couldn’t locate you.”

“I had jumped into the water before the car hit the water, I remember getting injured and pushed away by the effect of the explosion, after that I passed out and I woke in a hospital with no memory. I must’ve been washed up to shore and someone found me.”

The man pulled her close and kissed her forehead lovingly, “I’m glad your father saved you, thank you for making that jump and I’m glad that someone found you. I know that losing your parents like that must have hurt you a lot. What do you plan to do now?”

“I’m going to finish what my parents started. The ones responsible for the deaths will have to pay for it. Papa trained me and my brothers since we were kids and I have both my parents’ skills. They might have killed my father and mother but I will not fall under the same trap.”

For some reason Alessio knew she was going to say that, he was scared for her as he did not want her put in harm’s way but he knew she had to do this. Even if he asked her not to, he knew she won’t stop and truthfully even he wouldn’t if he was in her shoes.” As much as I want to ask you not to do this, I know it would be unfair of me to not allow you to get justice for your parents when I’d have done the same had I been in your shoes. All I ask is for you to let me help and to be careful.” Avanya smiled softly at his request and kissed him,” You understand that this could get you and everyone you care about killed, right? This is an international criminal we’re talking about, as long as my true identity is not revealed then my brothers will be safe but you’re my man. If they find out I’m linked to you then they will come after you to get to me.” She warned him as to give her a chance to back down. Alessio looked into her eyes firmly, “Avanya, if you’re doing this then I’m doing it with you. I don’t want you to face all of them on your own, I know you won’t involve your brothers as that would most likely reveal your identity so let me help. The only family I have are my three close friends, they’ve been with me through thick and thin. I trust them with my life and I know they’ll help you too so please trust me. Meet my friends once and then decide whether you want to tell them about your past.” Avanya reluctantly agreed. She knew she won’t be able to do anything on her own and needed as much help as she could have.

After her talk with Alessio, Avanya felt better and made her way downstairs to prepare dinner while the man showered. She was happy to finally know about her past but it hurt to remember how her parents died. Though Avanya wanted nothing more than to go find her brothers and be reunited with her last living family. She knew that she will never be in peace knowing the murderer of her parents is still out there. Also if she returned to her brothers, the man behind her parents’ death will come to know that she never truly died and then he’ll come hunting for her. There was no way she was losing another family member because of that man and she will make sure of it.

Dinner was silent that night, the couple was content eating in silence as they processed whatever happened that day. After dinner, Alessio washed the dishes while Avanya dried them. They both headed to bed soon after that. No one said a word to the other as they cuddled up together in bed and fell asleep. Avanya did not have any nightmares that night and that made Alessio happy. He knew that the nightmares were probably caused by a past trauma experience and something might have triggered them. Though he didn’t exactly know what triggered the memories, he was still glad that his woman did not have to deal with the nightmares anymore. Now he hoped that they will be able to find whoever killed the Romano couple and punish him for good so that Avanya can finally live in peace.