Sofia’s POV He didn’t, to my disappointment, and just nudged me forward a little, just as his grip around my waist slowly loosened until I was standing on my own and not leaning against a thing.I turned my head around and glanced back at him, and he smiled at me encouragingly before nodding his head towards the piano and pointing towards it eith his fingers as well.I moved my lips around to the side a little as I made my way towards the piano and I finally paused before it. I placed my hand on the top of the piano and felt the surface up, it was firm and cold to the touch. I had no idea if the piano was strong enough to hold my weight up and the thought of falling along with the piano wasn’t appealing one bit. I turned my head around and stared at Luca before starting to slowly speak.“Um, would it hold me up?” I asked in a small voice, and my cheeks tinged with color when he breathed out a small laugh in response before starting to close the small distance between us. He pau
Sofia’s POV Luca’s hand was outstretched in invitation and I slipped my hand into his, allowing him to help me out of the car. Paparazis started to take thousands of pictures of the both of us at once and tried to shove mics and cameras into our faces, and I felt like I was getting close in the midst of all of them with the way the noise went up a high notch. I squeezed hard on Luca's hand and pressed myself into his side, trying not to fall on my birthday due to how my legs were wobbling a little in the heels I had on at the moment.A few seconds kayer, the guards came out of nowhere and started to shove the paparazzi out of the way in an instant. I watched as one of the female paparazzi he’ll down as she got pushed, and I felt a pang of pity for hrt, and that feeling only started for a few seconds before I turned my head back around and shoved her out of my thoughts, after all, she had just recently disrespected my privacy and shoved some mic into my face rudely, not caring I’d be
Sofia’s POV “You have a little cousin?” I asked him after a few moments had passed and the elevator had started to move slowly.Luca nodded his head once. “Yeah, I do. James would never ever admit it but he’s so much in love with her.” Luca breathed out and I knew that he had a connection with this said cousin as soon as I gasped the soft tune he was using in talking about her.“Oh, who is she? I had no idea you had a cousin.” I started to say after a few moments and Luca’s laugh wasn’t a funny one, it sounded dry and unfunny to my ears, right before he started to reply.“I have a lot of cousins, we’re all just not on good terms at the moment, for a really long while, and some, ever since we were born.” I blinked a little as his words sank into my head and I started to wonder just how many other details of Luca are out there that I was yet to know about.“Oh.” I said in response, because I honestly had no idea of what to say in reply to that. If I choose to start to ask him mor
Sofia’s POV “Oh.” I breathed out as I blinked up at him, as I started to wonder what it was that made him start to see me in a way like this, I mean, yes, our marriage was an arranged one, but if he hadn’t liked me for myself, then there was no way he’d have been able to be treating me this way only him had been able to treat me in my whole life.I could feel goosebumps start to bloom on my skin when Luca’s rubbed his palm over my bare arm, as he tugged me towards him into a hug, as he pillowed his head on my hair and kept on stroking my arm, at this moment, the urge to cry had completely deserted me, and in its place, laid lots of overflowing affection and gratitude. I started to wonder how my life would have been if I hadn’t enter out getting married to Luca, I started to wonder just how I’d have been living me life if I had been married off to another older person that wasn’t Luca, I wonder just how I’d have survived being treated in a way that wasn’t this particular way tha
Sofia’s POV The elevator doors slid open and Luca and I exited the insides of the elevator instantly, walking straight on a particular lane on the rooftop. I stared up into the sky instantly, feeling my stomach start to flutter once again, coupled with the fact that my heart sss hammering heavily agdinst my chest as well. Like it wasn’t enough that my stomach felt like I had swallowed a bunch of alive butterflies, and now they were all hosting a parti down there, making me feel countless flapping sounds against different parts of my stomach, my chest just have to also be hammering due to the fact that I was indeed in love with him.“Bunny?” Luca called out and I stared up at him, before following his gaze to the down part of where I climbed to see the faint image of a table and some people sitting around it.“That’s them?” I asked as I stared back at his face in the next second. He nodded his head in response and reached up to rub at a spot beside my left part of my lips, making
Sofia’s POV Kayla called out instantly as soon as our eyes locked and I beamed at her and felt Luca’s hand release mine, indicating that I could go over to her if I wanted to. Kayla was already on her feet when I made my way over to her side and we exchanged a deep hug instantly, and I held her against me tightly, loving how she didn’t find thst weird and instead tightened her hold around my body as well. We broke the embrace after a few minutes and stared into each other's faces. The lights from the walls around this particular side of the roof were so bright that it felt like we weren’t on the roof of a building at all.I pulled her hands in mine and smiled at her and she returned the smile immediately, mirroring the excited expression on my face, I had a feeling she was trying really hard to keep her over enthusiasm on a lowkey tonight, which I find really cute and endearing because I know without even thinking, that she was going to crack before we’d be done with dinner t
Sofia’s POV “Oh my gosh, I understand you completely now and I’m really sorry. I could unfollow him if you want me to.” She proposed and I rolled my a little, huffing a little for extra drama.“You don’t have to, that’s unnecessary. I don’t have a problem with you following him, I also do not have a problem with you finding him attractive there… but it’s pretty harmless since you’re just basically just admiring him and nothing more.”“Yup.” Kayla replied before muttering something along the line of ‘lord, this is so embarrassing’ which made me let out a small chuckle.“Then we’re cool, right?” I asked her and squeezed on her hand for emphasis, and I watched as she started to nod her head in the next second, as she also tightened her hold on my palm.“Yes, we most definitely are.” She gushed out in the enthusiastic kind of way she’s always able to effortlessly pull off.“There's really no need for this to still linger between us, right? It’s going right into the past and it’s goi
Sofia’s POV I sat down beside Luca because I wanted to be close to him and I was glad he wanted that as well, seeing as he was the one that pulled the seat out for me before sliding in the one exactly beside me. Kayla chose to sit beside me with her husband sitting beside her on her other side, and James, the only one who didn’t come here with a date, chose to sit opposite us. We ordered wine and I was pleased when Luca ordered a particular brand which I had just discovered that I like, as expected there was little to no alcohol in it but I was alright with it, because I wasn’t ever looking forward to getting drunk just because I wanted to drink some wine.Kayla got curious and decided to share the bottle of wine with me, and she surprisingly fell in love with it. I wasn’t expecting her to love it because I used to feel like she was someone who’d be more into drinks with lots of alcohol in it, and not this particular wine which was more fruit than alcohol. The men all ordered
Sofia’s pov The kids had been bursting with excitement, which only meant one thing. It meant more headaches for Luca and I.“Baby, we talked about this, didn’t we? You can’t check the presents until it’s Christmas.” I murmured to Aria while holding her against my chest. She was clearly unhappy about this tiny rule because her frown deepened at once.“But it’s so far awayyyyy! No one is gonna know if I take a peek.”I chuckled as I let her slid down. “Daddy is gonna know.” I reminded her and that seemed to make her have a change of heart.“Oh.” She hesitated a little. “I guess I can wait a bit more.”“More like one more day, honey cause it’s tomorrow!” I gushed out and a grin split out on her face.“Really?!” She demanded and after getting another confirmation, she went off to find her brother, leaving me to myself. I sighed as I watched her leave with a fond smile on my face while massaging my forehead. I called out to her to be careful before I got back to what I was doing before.
FOUR YEARS LATER Sofia’s pov “Be careful, honey!” I called out at once, but I doubt she heard me as she hurriedly raced forward till she was standing before James, a glass of milk carefully clutched in her hand.“Here it is, Uncle James!” She called out enthusiastically and a familiar feeling of fondness swelled in my heart as I watched as an exaggerated look of awe got plastered on James’ face as he accepted the glass of milk.“Thank you, Aria! You’re so hardworking.” He complimented as he took a few gulps of the milk because a tiny sip wasn’t gonna be accepted by Aria who’s clearly still waiting for more compliments.“It tastes so nice and fresh, wow.” James gushed and I listened as Aria’s pleased giggles filled up the room. She began to bounce on her toes when she began to speak. “If you noticed, uncle James, the glass wasn’t totally filled up this time because mommy said that’s how it’s supposed to be to avoid it spilling from the top, and I listened to mommy because she’s alwa
Luca’s POV The bouquet of flowers I had gotten on the way home was a mixture of lilies and tulips, and I paired it with a bunch of balloons and a wrapped gift on the side. It’s a little past six and I couldn’t wait to be home already. I couldn’t wait to get home to my wife and our babies.Work has been quite stressful for the past month, the mafia aspect, to be specific. After news of my wife giving birth circulated around, I already knew that the amount of enemies I have was automatically gonna triple, and in order to keep my family safe, I was gonna have to be more at alert. The mafia clan had thrown a party in celebration after the birth of our babies, and I had purposely attended it alone, keeping my wife and kids far away from a gathering like that because it was filled with dangerous people from top to bottom.“Your enemies are gonna start attacking you even more now that you have a successor. People who have hoped to replace you if you ended up dying without an h
Sofia’s pov TWO YEARS LATER “I look ugly and bloated.” I blurted out while eying my reflection in the floor length mirror in the walk-in closet. Luca, who had been running a comb through his hair, paused for a moment before throwing me a glance, and then a smile bloomed on his face.“Of course you don’t! How can you even think that when you look like a goddess right now.” He murmured, discarding his comb and heading in my direction. I pouted at my reflection, not at all impressed by what I was looking at.“Now you’re just lying cause I’m sure goddesses don’t look this bad. My face is swollen and I literally feel like I’m gonna die.” Luca who had now eased up behind me let out a chuckle into my hair as his hand slid around my waist to carefully cradle my large stomach from the sides.“You still look very gorgeous to me. I don’t think your face is ugly, neither do I think you’re no longer sexy, because you still are. Did last night not explain that enough?” He chuckled at the end of
Luca’s pov It was clear as day that this particular topic has been troubling Sofia for a while now. I could tell from how she was wringing her fingers. I lifted her fingers and brushed my lips across it, and then I let out a long sigh.“If I’m gonna be honest, I haven’t actually thought about it. I just assumed you don’t want them and I was cool with that.” Her eyes widened comically as she whispered. “But… I want children.”I hummed. “I see that now.” “You don’t want children?” Sofia asked after a few moments and I slowly shook my head.“I don’t think I do, cause I don’t actually like the thought of bringing a child into a lifestyle as dangerous as my current one, and leaving the mafia is completely out of the question cause the past would end up catching up with me no matter what.”“Oh.” She whispered while chewing at the inside of her mouth.“Yes, love. But, that aside, I love babies. They’re always so cute and clueless of all the evils in the world.” Sofia laughed at th
Sofia’s pov TWO YEARS LATER*** The sounds of soft laughter filtered through the screen of the television I was currently staring at and a small smile tugged at the side of my lips as I averted my gaze and took a glance at the wall clock situated at the top of the wall here in the room. It was past eight in the evening, which indicated that Luca was almost home, and an excited feeling coursed down my spine. It doesn’t matter that Luca has almost returned home to me every damn day, that giddy feeling still engulfs me every day.Which is the best thing ever, said my therapist when we stumbled on that topic. It’s been over two years and till date, I’m still yet to stop seeing my therapist. She, a Middle aged woman, has made me feel so much love and comfort than my mother has done for me throughout the past two decades that I’ve been alive. The sounds of cute giggles emitting from the television screen grabbed my attention and once again, I focused on it. This time, my bre
Sofia’s pov The weeks flew by faster than i could keep up with.Healing was slower than I anticipated, and I hated almost every second of it, if I was being honest, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t willingly take another bullet for Luca if I could, because I will. Luca had gotten extremely displeased when I offhandedly said those same words to him, and he made me promise to never, ever do that again.I stayed in the hospital for months, because Luca wanted me to be completely healed before getting discharged. The flowers that got sent to me by every well wishers had gotten thrown out more than three times because at a point, they all began to rot.A little gathering was thrown in celebration of my release from the hospital. Everybody was there waiting in the house as entered the house, from Kayla and her husband, Travis, to Armani and his girlfriend, Nala, to James and his fiancée, Blair, to Angelo. It was relieving to finally be home and be surrounded by so much love right now ma
Sofia’s pov ‘Was this how it feels to float?’I asked myself over and over again, the more time I spent in that same unending loophole. It felt like I was stuck in a fluffy space, but instead of sinking, I remained afloat.Muffled voice could be heard coming from multiple sides at once but I couldn’t make any word out, neither could I tell each voice apart from the other.I limbs literally felt nonexistent because I couldn’t wait use of them no matter how much I tried. It’s almost weird how it’s pitch dark in this fluffy space, preventing me from making anything out.Or perhaps, I was the one who had my eyes closed throughout, I realized when I discovered that I could feel my eyelids twitch a little. I tried to get my eyes open after that, but ended up giving up after trying over and over again to no avail. I drifted straight into an unconscious state after that.When I came to once again, I felt warm fingers around mine. The fingers felt familiar in a way, and with everyth
Sofia’s pov The scream that left my mouth this time was completely silent as I watched as the kneeling man who was apparently working with Ryan, fell to the ground face first after being shot by Ryan. That sent a more terrified feeling down my spine, because not only was Ryan crazy, he was clearly also heartless as hell. Seeing how he could effortless kill off his own partner made it more obvious that it wouldn’t be hard for him to kill me if he wants to, and that he wasn’t just bluffing by threatening to shoot me.“Fuck, man, you really are a freak. Your own partner?” Angelo mused with an unimpressed look on his face. Luca snorted and leveled Ryan with a look. “That’s not something a Ricci would do, you know?”“Well it’s a good thing I’m not a fucking one, okay? And now that I’ve killed my partner myself, you clearly don’t have anything to threaten me with, I have nothing to lose in this situation unlike the rest of you.” Ryan responded haughtily, sneering as he tugged on my hair.