Page 105

Cyro was a bit confused to see Britain returning to the car with her bags. Instead of wasting any time pondering why she was coming back, he got out the car, taking the bags from her. "Where to next,Mrs. Justice?" he asked her as he placed the bags in the back of the SUV.

Britain felt an urge to tell Cyro to take her back to the ramp so she could fly back out to Italy. She felt so uncomfortable and alone in the city at the moment, almost like she had been forgotten. Despite wanting to go back to Italy so soon already, she knew it wouldn't be possible to do so. There was no way the jet would be ready to take her back on such short notice.

"Back to the penthouse I guess," she sheepishly muttered as she eased into the leather seats of the vehicle.

Cyro could see the sadness webbed within Britain's eyes, which caused him to let out a short sigh. She thanked him for assisting her into the vehicle before he made his way around toget in himself. "Sorry for making you take all these blank trips. I just?—"

"No need to apologize,Mrs. Justice," Cyro asserted in his baritone voice as he kept his focus on the road back to TriBeCa.

She nodded her head as she leaned back in her seat. This definitely wasn't what she envisioned when she packed her bags to head back to the city. It seemed as though the trip back was bringing her more pain than she came to the city with, and that alone made her want to run back into Priest's arms. She felt so silly to think that she could handle her mother and the trauma of Priest's shooting alone and so soon. She had overestimated her own strength and in turn endured way too much for one day.

Digging into the pocket of her coat, she extracted her phone. Glancing down at the screen, she sighed heavily at the sight of the missed calls from Priest and a few from Jazzy that displayed on the screen.Just as they reached the bridge, Britain mustered up enough courage to return a call to Priest, who answered in no time after having to hear from Cyro that she decided to find elsewhere to stay when she left the penthouse. "Britain, you can't pull stuff like that. We talked about this shit before you even got on the jet," Priest sighed deeply in clear frustration, the fact that she had him worried for a bit evident in his voice.

"I know," Britain murmured, allowing Priest to hear the sadness that struck her voice.

A silence waved over them momentarily. Priest could sense all her emotions, which led him to the only conclusion. "It ain't go well with your moms, did it?" He opted out of reminding her what they had agreed to before she flew to the city and turned his attention to what had altered her entire mindset about her trip back home.

Britain shook her head as if he could see her on the other end of the phone. "No," she let out lightly.

"I'm sorry to hear that,Gioia," he sympathized. Priest knew how important Seven was to Britain. He just wished Seven could put her stubbornness and beliefs aside and just support her daughter through whatever. She never saw past what she thought could go wrong for Britain. It was like she always wanted the front row seat to sayI told you so.

Britain always knew that at some point she would no longer be able to deal with the fact that her mother would always be expecting her to fail. It just so happened that this very situation brought her to that point.She quickly wiped the tears that slipped from her eyes before she even registered that she was crying.

"It's fine. I just wanted to check in and let you know I'm okay," she assured him, forcing a light smile onto her face in hopes of ridding herself of the powerful urge to cry.

Priest knew she wasn't okay, but he also knew timing was very important to her. Instead of forcing her to spill all the emotions she had bottled up, he agreed to give her some time. She deserved that much. "You don't want to talk?" Priest asked in a tender voice.

"No. I'm heading back to the penthouse. Just a few minutes away, actually," she informed him as she glanced out the window, noticing that they were heading off the bridge. "It's pretty late on your side, so just get some sleep, and I'll call tomorrow," she suggested.

Although Priest didn't mind losing out on any sleep just to comfort her, he knew her suggestion meant she was hoping he wouldn't fight her on it. "Alright," he agreed. "I love you, Britain.”

"I love you too, Priest," she returned before they shared goodbyes and ended the call.

In just a few minutes, like Britain estimated, she and Cyro returned to the penthouse. Like last time, they went through theparking garage and secured a parking spot near the elevator. Once the doors opened, she assured Cyro she could take her bags up alone. He was skeptical since he could see her tears forming at the brims of her orbs, but she didn't seem like she would be satisfied if he accompanied her on the elevator ride up. He handed her the bags, and she thanked him before pressing the button to be lifted up to the highest floor.

She quickly arrived at the penthouse, where the thick steel doors glided open. This time around, she was met by Jazzy, who had a look of relief etched on her face.

"She just made it up," Britain noticed Jazzy say to who she assumed was Priest on the phone. "I'm sorry for not being here when you landed," Jazzy said, quickly spilling out an apology as she pulled Britain into a hug.

Although Jazzy was focused on making things right for not being there for her arrival, Britain appreciated her hug for reasons that surpassed the warm welcome she had to go without. She genuinely did need a hug at the moment, and with Priest being across the world, she had to find comfort in Jazzy. In the embrace, she convulsed into tears, catching Jazzy completely off guard.

On the other side of the phone, Priest could hear her cries, which pulled on the strings of his heart. He wanted to be there for her, but it just wasn't possible."I got her," Britain heard Jazzy say to Priest as she allowed Britain room to release her cries onto her without any shame.

Priest had managed to call Jazzy, letting her know that Britain was returning to the penthouse, but she wouldn't be in the best spirits. He didn't go into much detail besides telling Jazzy that Britain had a run-in with her mother. Jazzy was all too familiar with the drama that came with a complicated mother, so she understood why Britain would be sad.

"Thank you," Priest expressed his gratitude.

The two siblings shared their goodbyes, allowing Jazzy to focus on consoling Britain.

Jazzy kept her arms around Britain, being her safe space since Priest couldn't physically be there. Even though Britain had come to the realization that she and Seven had reached a breaking point, that wasn't the only thing hurting Britain. She had come back to the city just for a peace of mind and to feel how she used to feel before her life changed so drastically. She would have never thought her first day back would’ve been the emotional disaster she was enduring now.

Sadly, Britain just wanted to go back home.

Back home toItaly.

Chapter Seventeen

Priest never really had the privilege of living life in solitude and peace. He had a very noisy and unkempt lifestyle. With the invasiveness of the media, the amount of support he had to give others in his personal life, and the way he made his money, he never got much time just to enjoy the silence and to be alone. Just a year ago, he craved just an hour of peace, where he could go without his phone ringing, someone needing something from him, or just without simple conversation. For Priest, peace equated to absolute silence and time alone. He never saw it any differently until he met Britain a year ago.