Page 17 of Vita Mia

“Hi,” MiaBella said.

MiaBella had changed only her hair color. She looked the same as he remembered her in his dreams and nightmares. She dashed across the street in tight denim jeans with cuts to the front and a halter top that was bright yellow under a white blazer. Her navel was revealed. Her hair was curly instead of straight.

When she arrived only a few feet before Ryder his trance broke. He scowled instead of smiled. “What the fuck do you want!”

MiaBella double blinked at him as if she’d had hot water thrown in her face.

“Haven’t you destroyed enough of my life? What do they want from me now!”

“Uhm, I’m not here to hurt you. I need to talk to you.”

“About what? Look lady, I don’t want any fucking trouble okay.” He glanced to the Range Rover. Were her brothers inside? He was sure someone was watching them. “I know it was your family that had my aunt’s restaurant burned to the ground. I nearly died because of you. I was in physical therapy for six months because of my broken back and legs. I got the pain of a sixty-year old man at times and I’m only twenty-four.”

“I’m sorry,” she said softly.

“Sorry? You’re fucking sorry? How did you find me? What the fuck are you doing in Staten Island?”

“Can we please talk? Can you hear me out? After you hear what I have to say I will go and never come back. I swear.”

Ryder felt the tremor in his chest and hands. His anxiety surfaced no matter how much he wanted to control it. He should tell her to go fuck herself. He wanted to hate her. He even convinced himself he did. But one look at her and part of him, the crazy part of him, was glad to see her again.

“Please Ryder. Only a few minutes.”

“Do your brothers know you’re here?”

“They sent me,” she said.

Now Ryder was confused. Two days after he was nearly beaten to death, he awoke in a hospital in Jacksonville Florida. His mouth had been wired shut. His left arm was broken in six places and so were both of his legs and his back. The staff said that he would walk again but he didn’t believe them when he couldn’t feel his toes. The police came but he wasn’t able to speak. And then other men came, and he was glad he didn’t. He listened as they told him everything they’d learned about his life. And they warned him to never mention Jekyll Island or the Battaglia’s. It was only a few weeks later that he learned his aunt’s beloved restaurant had been burned to the ground.

“Come inside.” He sighed.

He opened the door and held it for her to walk in. Ryder tried not to look at her hips and ass as she walked up the two steps into the restaurant. Her beauty was deadly. He knew that very well.

“Have a seat,” he gestured.

“Ryder? We’re not open!” his aunt said. “Oh, hi honey, sorry we’re not open yet.”

“Auntie, she’s a friend. I need to talk to her.”

“But—?”

“Only for a few minutes. Then I’ll start the prep for the vegetables. Okay?”

MiaBella flashed his aunt her charming smile and he could see the spell she put on him working on his aunt. She smiled at her in return.

“Okay, but not too long. I’ll give you some privacy.”

Ryder removed the dirty apron around his neck and dropped it on the back of the chair. He sat at the table with the red and white checkered cloth and looked into Mia’s eyes. “You heard her. I don’t have much time. So say what you came to say.”

She nodded.

“I’m sorry.”

Ryder frowned.

“I used you that night. It backfired horribly. But I saved your life.”

“You almost got me killed.”

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