Feeling warm, almost too warm, I opened my eyes and Vito’s torso greeted me. I didn’t remember being this close to him when he joined me back in bed after getting his phone. 

“Oh, you’ve finally rejoined the land of the living, have you, Ilya?” I heard Vito say, and I felt his hand tuck into my hair. 

“No.” I said, closing my eyes again, and breathing in the smell of the body wash Vito used. 

“Ilya.”

Ignoring him, I pressed my face into his side, and I heard him hiss. Worried I hurt his ribs, I tried to roll away, but he kept me in place. 

“It’s fine. You just hit a tender spot, that’s all.” 

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you, I swear.”

I heard Vito sighed. “Ilya. I said it was fine. Get up and we can get lunch.”

“Do I have a choice?” I muttered. 

“No, you need to eat. You only had toast.”

“Yogurt?”

“How did I know that was what you were going to ask for?” He groaned. He pulled away from me in the bed, and I grunted at him. 

“Wait! Come back, I wasn’t done.”

“After you’re done eating.”

I had a feeling he was going to go back to being normal Vito. Keep your hands off me, Vito. Not the Vito who touched me intimately a few hours ago. That alone left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. 

“Come along, Ilya, if you want your yogurt.”

Groaning, I got out of the bed and stretched, my back and shoulders popping as I raised my arms above my head. I felt pretty content for the first time in a while, and I wasn’t sure if it was the fantastic sleep, or the other thing that happened. 

Vito had a bowl of yogurt on the counter for me, and a spoon in it. I took the bowl and sat down at the table. The bitter flavour coated my tongue, and I wanted to spit it out, but I didn’t. I swallowed it. 

“Honey?” I asked.

“Yes?” Vito said and looked at me. “What did you need?”

“Honey. For my yogurt.” I said, confused. 

“Oh, let me look.” Vito said, making a face and giving his head a shake before checking his cupboards. He turned around empty-handed. “I don’t have any.”

“I do, in the basement. Did it not get brought up?”

“Apparently not. I don’t think I grabbed any of your food.”

“I’m going to get my honey.” I groaned, standing up and leaving the table. 

“Do you want me to come?” Vito asked.

“Nope, I’ll be quick.” I said, telling the truth. I wanted my yogurt with my honey. Ignoring everything, like my phone and shoes, I headed down to the basement. Alessio was inside his office yelling when I passed by, and I definitely walked quicker, not waiting to be the next one he yelled at. 

Walking down the hall in the basement felt weird, even though I lived down here for a while. Punching the code in, I opened the door and flicked the light on. The space looked weird. It was missing all my stuff. 

Walking to the kitchen, I opened all the cupboards, and there were still a ton of my things left here. I knew Vito said he had missed some stuff, but this was ridiculous. Not to mention a gigantic waste of food. 

Grabbing my jar of honey, I checked the rest of the cupboards to see if there was anything I wanted right now. Nothing jumped out at me, so I closed all the doors and opened the fridge. It, too, was full. 

“Vito. Vito. Vito.” I hissed, shaking my head. Slamming the fridge door, I was feeling annoyed, and I didn’t have the patience to grab all this stuff right now. I just wanted my damn yogurt with honey. I jogged the halls on the way back, only slowing down by Matteo’s door. I could hear arguing there, too. It made me wonder if Caio or Matto had been the one Alessio was bitching at before. Not that hard to imagine. 

Opening the door, I heard talking. Walking right into the kitchen, I stopped in the doorway. Alessio, Lev, Vito, and who I could only assume was Alessio and his brother’s mother, were staring at me. 

“This is a private conversation, do you fucking mind?” She snapped at me. 

Strolling by her, I set my honey on the counter and turned around. Crossing my arms, Vito took a step closer to me, and I looked at him. Looking at Alessio, he gave me a half smile, and Lev spoke. 

“Ilya lives here.”

“I don’t care. He doesn’t need to listen to things that are not his—--”

“That.” I said, pointing to Vito. “Is my fucking business.” I snapped. 

“You have no reason to listen in on my conversation with Vito. I don’t care what you think you’ve got going on here.” She bitched, and her tone rubbed me the wrong way. 

“Change your tone of voice with me before I rip your fucking tongue out.” I said, losing the last of my calm.

“Do you know who the fuck I am!” She yelled and tried to close the space between us. Vito stepped in front of me. “Siena, don’t.”

“You’re going to protect him! He threatened me! Do something, Alessio! I am your mother.” 

“What would you have me do, mother?”

“He threatened me!”

“Siena Concetta, meet Ilya Russo.” Alessio said. He definitely had enough of his mother.

“What!” She yelled, her eyes wide. “Since when did you have ties with the Russo family?”

“A couple years, and stop yelling. It isn’t needed.”

“I came to check on Vito. I heard what happened, and suddenly I hear Matteo is his son, and then this kid comes in and we can’t even discuss the problem. That is Matteo—--”

I shoved Vito out of the way, being as careful of his ribs as I could. 

“Don’t you fucking call him a problem. You don’t have the right to even speak of him.” I said, clenching my fists. I felt Vito behind me and he slipped an arm around my waist. 

“Don’t. She is not worth it, Ilya.” He whispered, his lips brushing my ear.

“Just let me snap her neck.” I breathed. 

Her eyes widened again in terror, and she looked at Lev and Alessio. 

“Ilya, I can only ask that you don’t. For my little brother’s sake. Think about Gabe.” Alessio said, and I think his mother for the first time realized she had burned all her bridges. She didn’t have Alessio to protect her. 

Relaxing, I dropped my shoulders and leaned against Vito. “Thank you.” He whispered in my ear again. His lips brushing the shell of my ear again and causing goosebumps.

“You should leave. Don’t drop by uninvited again. Not here, not to Matteo, not to the property.” Alessio said, and he grabbed his mother by the arm. “Sorry for this.” 

She fought him the entire way out the door, and he tossed her out the door before following her. Lev lingered for a moment more, and spoke. “Alessio has had all he can handle of his mother. So thank you for thinking of his brother. If not for him, I think he would have let you end her. Right here.”

“Lev. If she comes back again and speaks ill of Matteo or Vito, I’ll kill her. I have warned you, at the very least.”

“Duly noted.”

Lev left and Vito relaxed, his arm falling from around me. He stepped back and went to the fridge, pulling out my yogurt. “I put it in the fridge when you left. Right around the same time that cow showed up, and tried to fake concern for me, Alessio and Lev came a few moments later.”

“I hate her. I’ve heard about all the things she’s done to her children and continues to do to them. I can’t stand her. I would give my last breathe for that fucking kid down the hall, and she calls him a fucking problem. Garbage women.” I huffed. 

“Ilya?”

“What?”

“Let it go. She is gone, and she doesn’t need to take up space in your mind.”

“She isn’t gone enough.”

“Eat your yogurt.”

“I’m going to eat you.” I muttered. 

“Don’t you think you’ve tried that enough?”

“No. Not really.” I said, cracking a soft smile.

“Come eat your yogurt. You got your honey you wanted.”

“You left a lot of food down there. I’m going down to get it tomorrow.”

“Ill help you, so it gets done before Viktor comes by.”

“Right. Viktor.” I muttered, grabbing the honey and twisting off the lid. Vito passed me a new spoon, and I drizzled the top of my yogurt.

“You can cancel if you, but I can’t do it for you.”

“If I have to be the one to do it, I might tell him to gargle on rocks at the bottom of the river, he and Alessio’s mom.” I laughed before stuffing a bite of yogurt and honey into my mouth. I felt the honey drip down my lip, and Vito lifted my chin and swiped the honey off my lip with his thumb before he licked it. He pressed his lips to mine, and I felt his tongue on my lip.

“You taste sweet Ilya.”

Reaching up, I set my hand on his forehead. Vito had to be ill, despite the fact his body temperature was normal. He was not.