Leah's POV
"Put your hands off Leah right now, Finn," Troy said in a cold, stern voice.
Finn didn't let go of me. His hands were holding my arms so tightly that my skin started to turn red.
"Leave Leah alone right now, Finn, or I'll have to cut off your hands," Troy warned in a threatening voice.
I placed my hand gently on Finn's hand and said in a tranquilizing voice despite the pain from his grip, "It's OK, Finn. I know what you mean. Why don't we go into the restaurant and find a nice, quiet cubicle, so we can talk about it."
Finn let go of my arm and walked out of the car with me. He was following me like a little terrified puppy, which was heart throbbing.
I had never met someone that made me feel the same way as I felt when I was with Finn. It was like... Whenever I thought about him, my heart would bleed. He was able to touch the tenderest part of my soul even without doing anything.
After we took our seats, the restaurant owner, Tony Soprano, showed up with a giant smile on his face.
"Miss Lewyn, welcome to our humble restaurant." He said and offered me the menu.
"Glad to meet you again, Tony. How's business?" I asked.
"Busy as usual! This gentleman here is..." Tony looked at Finn with curiosity.
"He's my boyfriend, Finn." I proudly replied.
"Aha, great. You two make a lovely couple!" Tony winked and said. "I shouldn't have invaded your privacy, Miss Lewyn, it's just... My second daughter Elena is getting married. If you two lovely couples could come to her wedding on Sunday at St. Peter's Church, we'll be greatly honored." Tony rubbed his fat palms together.
"Oh, congratulations! I won't miss Elena's wedding. I'll be there!" I smiled and said. "Who's the lucky man?"
"Mattia is a kid living on the block. He's been friends with Elena ever since they were in diapers. She's been growing up with him and he's been caring about her," Tony smiled. "Luckily, they're mates."
"Ah, amazing! That's so lovely!" I gasped in admiration. Deep in my heart, I felt a bit sad. I knew I wanted something exactly like that. Ordinary puppy love. Something that I could never get in my life.
"Please order anything you like on the menu, Miss Lewyn. Everything will be on the house." Tony said and left.
Finn looked around at the restaurant. He still looked anxious.
I unfolded the napkin, placed it on his lap, and said, "Come on, Finn. This place is safe. It's just a pizza restaurant. We order some pizza, eat together, and have fun. Easy like that."
Finn looked a bit hesitant, but eventually, he settled down on my side, pressing his legs against mine closely.
"That man... Tony... Is he your friend?" Finn asked in a quiet voice.
"Well, sort of. He's the owner of this restaurant. A few years ago, I did him a favor. That's why he's been kind to me ever since." I poured a glass of lemonade for him and said.
"What did you do?" Finn asked.
"Someone wanted to take away his restaurant and change it into a shopping complex," I replied. "I made a motion to City Hall, arguing that we should preserve some authentic family-run business in the neighborhood. I was in college at that time and I used to come to this place for pizza all the time. I didn't know they would take my advice and save this place."
Finn looked down, took a sip of the lemonade in the glass, and mumbled in a low voice, "Everything seems to be easy with you. You always get what you want."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I frowned. I had never expected Finn would say something like that.
As a matter of fact, he seldom says anything to me.
Finn put down the glass of lemonade and kept his head low, avoiding eye contact with me.
"I'm sorry, Leah. I shouldn't have said that," Finn murmured. "I exist to make you feel happy."
His cold, detached voice annoyed me.
"Finn, I know we've just met and we're getting to know each other, but what have I ever done to make you feel so alienated from me? If you don't have any feelings for me, or you don't feel like going out with me today, you can tell me. We can go home right now..."
"I don't have a home." Finn interrupted me. Even though both his head and voice were low and he was with great composure, I could still tell that he was pretty mad. "I used to have a brother and wherever he is, it's home to me."
My heart sank.
Are we having our first argument right now? I thought to myself. I felt pretty irritated because this lunch date wasn't going on as I had expected.
I decided to speak the truth, "Finn, Sak Doyle isn't your brother. He's a pimp and he brainwashed you. He was sexually exploiting you when I found you. All I want to do is to protect you from him."
Finn raised his head and stared into my eyes with anger.
"Who are you to decide what's good for me and what's not?" he asked. "Just because you're rich. Just because you've got all the soldiers working for you. Just because you're used to getting what you want. So you have the right to separate me from my own brother? And you call it protection. Has it ever come to your mind that I don't want this?!"
After Finn finished his speech, he smashed his hand on the table and made one of the glasses drop to the floor. It immediately smashed into shards and it broke my heart.
His sudden burst of anger was unexpected. I didn't know that he could be so moody... So out of the line.
Troy charged into the restaurant to check it out on us, only to find out that I was petrified, looking at the mess on the floor.
"What the fuck have you done?!" Troy asked in a harsh voice and grabbed Finn from his seat. "Look what you've done?! Making a mess like this?! Get down on the floor and clean it up, knucklehead!"
Finn didn't respond. He didn't even lift his eyes. He completely shut down as if he didn't hear Troy's angry voice.
Didn't get the response he needed, Troy felt crossed. wrestled with Finn and pressed him down to the floor.
I immediately jumped up from my seat to stop Troy.
"Stop! Stop it! Troy! It's me! It's my fault! I broke the glass!" I grabbed Troy's arms, trying to break him away from Finn.
At that time, Jalin walked into the restaurant, followed by a group of soldiers, who were holding a short man captive.
As soon as Finn saw Jalin, he curled into a ball on the floor, trembling.
"We've caught him tampering with your car," Jalin pointed at the short man and said to me. Then, he kicked Finn and said, "Nice play. Good boy. I asked you to make a scene. You indeed made a scene and terrified Leah."
"I'm so sorry, Sir. I didn't mean to..." Finn whispered. I could tell that he was frightened by Jalin's presence.
"What's going on?!" I frowned and asked Jalin, trying to hold Finn up from the floor.
Finn immediately hid behind me, trying to use me as a shield against Jalin.
Jalin stared at me and said word by word, "Someone is trying to kill you, Leah. That's what's going on. That's all I know for now. The rest of the story, we need to ask this motherfucker." He locked his eyes on that short man.