Chapter 2 1.2 Eva's PV

"Don't gooo...please stay with me! Just few more minutes.." I continue to follow the shadow that constantly hunts my sleep. And, as in each and every night, I'm losing it somewhere on the small streets of Rome

Suddenly, I feel lost, scared and without hope.

The sound of my allarm woke me up abruptly. I'm all sweaty and I' more tired than last night when I got in bed.

These dreams are becoming more intense and I have them now more often, almost every two nights.

Is like a warning ..like something is about to come and, in thee same time, I have a strong feeling of loss and dispear.

Is 6 a.m and I need to put myself together. I have a huge pitch presentation at the agency and I must be ready.

I'm now a senior into a top advertising company. The road to this position and the financial comfort provided comes with a high cost: i'm constantly stresed, I work 10-12 hours per day. But is sometjing that I like and it's take my mind of the misery that my life have been. A continuous struggle!!! I have no family, they long gone..long enough for me to not remember the face of my mother and father. The only people that where close to me where my grandma and my best friend since kindergarden, Angela.

There is no day without thinking of my grandma. Teodora was a force!! Strong, smart and very beautiful. A Lady in the true meaning of the word.

Each morning, like today, when drinking my black coffee infront of my living room window, watching the quiet little park in front of my building, i'm thinking about Grandma Teo.

She had a fascinating life: a little gipsy girl adopted as a baby by a very wealthy family who couldn't have children. The little beautiful girl with big black eyes and wonderfull olive skin had been treated like a princess. She was well educated, having home tutoring. Her parents adored her and she , in return, warship them. Even her father, with his addiction on gambling, was seen by little Teo like a god!!! And even when he lost all family's fortune in a poker game and she was force to marry, she still adored him.

Thomas was something that she didn't desire first. But he was so in love with her (as he will be all his short life) that she tolerated him at the beginning. Thomas loved her since first moment he saw her: a 12 year young lady, speaking french fluently and entertaining the guest from high society in one of her parents elegant balls. For the young Thomas she was a vision in a dark burgundy velvet dress, wearing proudly her black pearls and a infinity symbol adorned to them. She had a sparkle in her eyes and she was full of life. From that moment on, the young master of the Mare family was lost in love without hope. She was everything he desired and everything he could think about. Even if his business was strong and well build he wouldn't think about anything the whole day, except a pair of black wonderful eyes.

She haunted his dreams, day and nights and when she refused his first proposal of marriage, he was beyond dispair.

But her father offered him an unique opportunity and he was too smart to lose it. So when her family was on the edge of losing everything , he made his move: he offered them help in exchange of their daughter hand. And she accepted without hesitation and it was a decision she never regreted. She loved and she devoted to Thomas for the next 20 years, until his death took her happiness away, leaving her with two children and starting the unhappy series of events that will mark her life.

Stirring my coffee I just realized it's cold now. I must make another one..there is nothing more annoying for me that cold coffee in the early morning.