Matias’ POV:

I wake Everest up as soon as I open my eyes; there's no way he's going to want to stay here all day with my parents around. Especially since my father works from home during the day and my mother is always hovering around him. Neither of them will filter themselves and I'm not really scared of them; I'm scared of how Everest will fire back.

As much as it's fun to watch, I worry they're going to try to speed up the surgery and I need a way to get him out before that happens. I just have no ideas or plans when it comes to that because without any identification or passport, it's going to be near impossible to get him out of the country.

Even though I can afford a private jet or some kind of transportation, that takes time and I worry about my parents finding out. I'll need someone else to sponsor or help, probably someone my parents respect.

They don't care who I end up with, so long as I have children. Honestly, I never wanted kids of my own, and Cody being infertile almost was a relief to me. He was terrified it'd lead me to reject him, but that thought never crossed my mind.

If only Everest's true mate thought the same... he deserves the world, and I cannot give him what he truly deserves. Getting involved with me has only lead to chaos and kept him from a normal life.

"Why are all of your clothes so fancy?" Everest asks me, already going through my wardrobe and finding something that will fit him. "Is that a rich person thing?"

I shake my head. "People don't go out in sweats and t-shirts with pizza stains on them like they do in the United States. The fashion standard is a bit higher here."

A nice pair of trousers and a fitted shirt look great on him; I wear similar clothing, and I grab his hand before we leave the room. You know, to keep up appearances and simply because I feel like it.

Everest's cheeks get a little pink and he looks away from me in order to hide his face a bit. He scowls at Anthony when we are bid good morning.

"What are your plans for today?" Anthony asks, scowling right back at Everest. "I will be driving you."

"You are staying in the car," I say. "We will be spending today out in the city so Everest can see what it's like here and where I grew up."

Everest huffs when Anthony gets up and grabs the car keys. "Does he have to come?"

"You will not be going out otherwise." Anthony opens the front door for us, dramatically waving us toward the car.

I slide into the bench across the back of the car and Everest sits beside me. He's right behind the driver's seat, so during the drive he doesn't hesitate to kick the back of the seat and piss our driver off.

When Anthony glares at me in the rear view mirror, I just shrug.

Anthony pulls the car up to the curb in the downtown area. "Call me when you're ready to go home. I will have people in the city, so don't try to do anything stupid," he scolds us, mainly looking at Everest.

"I'm American. Doing stupid shit is kind of in the job description."

"Come on," I say, grabbing Everest's arm and guiding him toward one of cafes where I used to go as a kid to escape my parents. "This is one of the best spots."

"Matias! Where the hell have you been?!" A man's voice bellows in Italian as soon as we enter the cafe, making Everest jump and hide behind me.

He must've heard my name.

"Are we going to get into a bar fight?" Everest whispers. "Because I've never actually won a bar fight."

"How many have you been in?" I whisper back.

Everest doesn't respond because I'm interrupted once again.

"Are you going to ignore me, boy?"

"Ah, knock it off," I respond, sitting at the long bar and smirking at Alberto. "I haven't been gone for that long and my companion here is worried he's expected to get into a bar fight."

"It has been years." Alberto looks over at Everest. "English?"

Everest sighs. "Thank goddess," he breathes. "You're not going to yell at me, right? Just Matias?"

"I would not have to yell if he had not abandoned us without explanation. Your father informed us that you had found a new mate... I doubt his integrity."

Everyone that knows my father probably believes the lie that Cody got sick and died that way opposed to being murdered by my father's head of security.

"As you should. His dad is a dick," Everest comments. "I'm not his new mate, we just got kidnapped together. Now, we're stuck here and I'm hungry, so what's on the menu? Matias is paying."

Alberto laughs. "You should try to charm him. He reminds me of little Cody... in a way."

"If I was going to be with Everest, it wouldn't be because he reminds me of Cody. That's not fair to him," I say bitterly, looking at the menu. "Two cappuccinos and whatever sweet pastries you have. Everest prefers sweet to savory."

Everest taps my arm. "Hey, I heard you say my name," he grumbles. "If you're going to talk shit, do it in English."

"I was ordering for you," I respond, ruffling his hair and pulling my hand away when he attempts to bite me.

"I heard you say Cody's name."

"Alberto was just asking about him. It's not really common knowledge that he was killed."

Everest clearly doesn't believe me, as his eyes are narrowed and his lips pursed. If I wasn't so anxious about what he'd think of me, I'd ask to kiss him right now. It's scary to think that I'm actually kind of falling for this Omega, but I can't let that happen under any circumstance.

If I let myself fall for him completely, it will be so much harder to let him go. There is no world in which I'll be able to sever ties from my parents and live a happy life with Everest; they'll just find us and kill him like they did with Cody.

Everest deserves better than that.

Alberto serves us and offers a selection of pastries for Everest to try and gives us our coffees.

"Wow," Everest says after trying his coffee. "This is a lot better than Dunkin."

Alberto gives us a confused looks. "What is Dunkin?" he asks, pronouncing the word very incorrectly, which draws a dorky smile from Everest.

"A coffee place in America," Everest says. "Big scale, capitalist, corporate coffee. And doughnuts."

"You'd kill the owner of the company. It's basically all sugar," I tell Alberto, which makes him scowl. 

Everest elbows me. "I don't speak Italian," he grumbles.

"I'm aware."

He growls. "Anyway, this is one of the best coffees I've ever had," he say, flashing a smile to Alberto. "Thank you for making my second day in Italy much nicer than the first."

I don't know if he's trying to make me jealous (or if he can even tell that I'm attracted to him) but it's working. Even though he has a mate, Alberto has a flirty personality and, despite our friendship, I'm irritated with him.

He's known me long enough to know when I'm flirting with someone or attracted to them; this is a place where Cody and I would spend time and Alberto would flirt with him too just to irritate me.

"Would Alessia be okay with you flirting?" I ask, glaring at Alberto.

Alberto chuckles. "She doesn't mind, as long as it's someone that you're interested in."

Everest glances at me, chewing on a pastry. He swallows his bite and looks over at Alberto, a smirk drawing on his face.

"Someone you're interested in?" he asks, sounding way too cocky.

"Shut up," I mumble, glaring at Alberto.

Everest grins, finishing off his pastry and coffee. "If you want to ask me on a date then all you have to do is say the word," he chirps, but I'm pretty sure he's joking.

"I don't think he is lying," Alberto says as the door opens and someone else walks in. "But I will let you two figure that out on your own!"

"Let's go," I mumble, grabbing Everest's wrist.

He scowls at me. "Just hold my hand so I feel like I'm important as opposed to some misbehaving child being dragged around!" he hisses, grabbing my hand and glaring daggers at me.

"Sorry," I say, frowning at him. "Bye, Alberto!"

"Did you pay for that?" Alberto calls. "Matias, I swear-"

I cut him off. "Consider us even!"

"For what?!"

I ignore him and keep Everest at my side.

The next few hours are spent exploring the small city where I grew up and purchasing clothes for Everest so he has his own style here and more options. Since my wallet and assets are frozen for the time being, I have to use one of our family's credit cards so my parents can track our purchases.

That way they can see if I try to find a way to get out of the country. Last time I used cash at the airport to get out of here, and it was a huge bribe.

Alberto helped me to escape; he drove me and Cody to the airport and bred lies to my parents until they ended up catching up with us.

"I don't know if this is my style," Everest says, looking down at the top he's trying on. "It's very awkward."

"That's because you grabbed a shirt made for a woman's body, Everest," I comment. "I'd love for you to wear it, but you don't look all that comfortable."

"I don't feel all that comfortable, thanks for pointing it out," he quips. "Why are you spending so much on me? I really don't need all of this."

I smirk and hand him the next shirt. "I'm pissed at my parents so we're spending as much of their money as we can."

"That's pretty fucked up," Everest comments. "I'm in. Suddenly I'm really into material things that cost a lot of money."

How am I supposed to keep from falling for him when he continues to do stuff like this and appeal to me?

"Wonderful," I say, watching him head back into the dressing room.

I need to get him out of Italy before I fall too hard.