Harbinger Of Glory

Gianna had looked back at Vittoria once, with a wink that said everything, and then the door closed, leaving just the two of them in the vehicle while Milan moved past them.

They’d spent a couple of hours together, but Carlo and Gianna had opted to leave for whatever they had going on.

The two didn’t really say much, which felt weird for Leo considering how close they’d gotten back in Manchester.

But as the van moved through the city, they sat close enough that the occasional glance across was inevitable.

And when those glances met, one of them would look away, and the other would follow shortly after speaking so little with their mouths but so loud with their eyes.

The van took them down into the underground parking of Vittoria’s building, the ramp curving into the cool, quiet concrete of it.

Before the driver had fully stopped, Vittoria was already moving, opening the door, stepping out and reaching back for Leo’s hand before pulling.

He barely had time to thank the driver when she dragged him out.

She moved through the parking level at a pace and urgency that suggested she had done a precise calculation of how many cameras were down here and how quickly they could cover the distance to the lift, and Leo followed, mostly because she had his hand.

”You know,” he said, keeping up, ”with this level of operational awareness, you could have had a completely different career.”

Vittoria shot him a look over her shoulder, but he didn’t mind that look.

”Spy, maybe,” he continued. ”Something in intelligence.”

”Leo.”

”I’m just saying the skillset is there.”

She pulled him into the lift and jabbed the button for her floor.

When the doors closed, she finally exhaled.

Then she turned to the unhelpful body beside her.

”Are you done?” she said.

”For now,” he said, and she pressed her lips together against whatever she was going to say next.

The lift didn’t stop on any of the floors between the basement and hers, which felt like a small mercy, and when the doors opened, she quickly led him out and down the short corridor to her door and let them both inside.

Leo stepped in and stopped.

The apartment opened up in front of him, and although he wasn’t really a fan of minimalistic settings, this one, he could live with.

And then the glass.

The far wall was almost entirely it, floor to ceiling, and beyond it, Milan spread out in the afternoon light with rooftops and spires showing in the skyline of a city that had been accumulating itself for centuries.

Vittoria walked beside him toward it.

Leo looked at it for a moment, then at her.

”You’re doing really well for yourself,” he said.

She turned and looked at him with an amused expression.

”You’d have the same if you wanted it,” she said simply as he looked at the view again and said nothing.

Vittoria disappeared toward the bedroom to take her makeup off and change while Leo found the couch and sat in it before pulling his phone out, alternating between it and the view beside him.

She came back in something more comfortable with her head in a ponytail and the pin she’d used to hold it in place sticking out.

”I thought you were going to show me around,” Leo said.

Vittoria raised her eyebrows slightly. ”I said I was going to show you my world in Milan.”

She stretched her arms out slowly and turned them in a gentle arc across the living room.

”You’re in it,” she said.

Leo looked at her, then shook his head as a small smile formed on his face.

”You’re such a tease.”

The two of them settled into looking at each other after they’d run out of words to say, but like it always went, Leo tried to look away, only this time, a hand came to his jaw, just light enough to hold him.

”Not this time,” Vittoria said, shaking her head.

Leo laughed quietly, though it came out more nervous than it should have been.

”What do you mean, not this time?”

He almost looked away again, but then stopped because she was still looking at him, and her thumb had moved slightly along his jaw, still not letting go.

”Seriously though. Why do you always look away?”

This time, Leo didn’t shy away and kept his eyes on hers.

”Because looking at you too long,” he said after a while, ”is not good for my heart.”

After those words came out, Vittoria went still.

She had been prepared for him to pull away, but of all the things she thought he could say, none came across as what he’d just said.

Leo brought his hand up slowly and covered hers where it sat against his jaw, his fingers folding around it.

Then he drew her toward him, closing the space between them until they were facing each other properly, close enough that it was just them in the moment and nothing else.

”You’re really not good for my heart,” he said again, looking at her directly the way he almost never let himself do.

Vittoria held his gaze, but after a while, she felt fuzzy and realised it was her turn to look away.

She began to pull back slightly, just a fraction, but Leo held her.

Not forcefully but just enough that she read the action, and whatever in her that had led her to retreat changed its mind.

She leaned in instead, closer, until the distance between them was just the width of a breath, while the corners of her mouth began to widen.

”I’m not running,” she said quietly.

The two stared at each other for, in this situation, an unhealthy amount of time and just as Leo could say what he had in mind, her phone rang.

The sudden jingle caught them in place, but they stayed exactly where they were, with neither looking away.