Future dreams fulfilled

Posted on Monday, 24 January 2022 - 2:07pm by Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt

---Some Years Ago---

Adrianna, beaten, bruised and glistening in diamonds of sweat, slumped down onto a step on a doorway of the Baciami villa. She winced as she placed an ice pack onto her cheek. Cussing, the woman sighed, staring at the floor. Ade was exhausted.

"You know I don't like to hit a girl," came the interruption from her thoughts.

Adrianna looked up and smiled at Constantine, who was holding out a bottle of water for her. "To be fair, I made you look like shit too." She took the bottle, taking a sip.

The man sat down next to her, stealing the ice pack and placing it on his own cheek, "I know. For a right hander, you have one hell of a left hook."

Adrianna chuckled softly, nodding and looking back to the floor, "do you ever think about the future?"

Constantine looked Ade over, thinking, "sure. I mean, who doesn't?"

Adrianna maintained eye contact with the floor and in a moment of honesty, sighed, "I have, and I'm starting to wonder if my future will only involve this. Being beaten in the name of a cause I'm not even sure I want to fight for."

There was a level of understanding that emerged on Constantine's face. "It's a job and a family rite. It doesn't mean you have to take it. You're the first girl to be accepted to come through this lot of training. Your father must see something in you. That said, you as the Don, now that's scarier than going through this life we're currently living."

"I know," she simply replied, defeated. She sat back up and looked at the scenery and away from the floor. It was time to fake being alright, again.

"I went through this, you know," Constantine smiled. He followed her eye line, putting an arm around her. He kissed the top of her head and pulled her in for a side hug, "I thought: why should I follow my parent's family business of kissing the Baciamis' feet. This next run, I should earn enough to step away and just be a runner for anyone, instead of just the Baciami's. I just want a house that's my own, a wife and a family."

It wasn't something Adrianna had expected. Constantine was quite the Casanova. They'd had something on and off again. Right now, it was on. He was her first and she couldn't say no to him as it seemed to hold a power over her. "You, with a wife and children?" she asked, chuckling in disbelief.

"Why not?" the Russian ran a hand through his hair, "imagine if we married. Our two households would be one hell of a business selling point. That and imagine how good looking our children would be. Like, damn."

Business made Adrianna cringe. She was tired of getting used for her name or feeling like collateral or being a bargaining chip at times. A moment that started out with her heart fluttering, cheeks burning, to now feeling like an object. "We should get back to training," she sighed.

***

Adrianna woke up. It was 2am and Emilia was stirring, needing a bottle. The Italian stretched and looked over to a sleeping Leopold. This was her happily ever after. He wasn't Constantine, but he was everything she wanted and needed, and more.

Whilst her and Constantine had been in love on and off, for years, he was always a flight risk. He'd abandoned her more than once; he'd even left her for dead once. She had once dreamt of a future with him: wedding bells, a house and children. The dreams had been stomped on with every time he'd betrayed her.

Leopold could have dropped her in it, in Ekos, but instead saved them both. He loved her and would never hurt her. He protected her, defended her, loved her and most of all, made her dreams of being legit and having a home and family come true.

How could she be more grateful and more in love?