Luca’s POV I forced each forkful of food into my mouth even though I knew it was supposed to taste way better than how it was tasting at the moment, due to my sudden loss of appetite.Swallowing the food was the hard part, trying not to have come right back out was the hard part, which made me sip a little bit of water after each forkful off food. After clearing off the plate, I shoved the tray away from me and dragged the tablets towards me on the counter. I picked up the first pack and stared at with without reading a thing off it. A sudden beep suddenly vibrated from my phone which was on my side of the counter, a few feet away from me, along with the screen of the phone lightening up at the same time, signaling the incoming of a text.I dropped the pack of tablet back on the counter and picked up the phone which unlocked immediately once my face got scanned. I clicked on my iMessage and saw who the most recent text was from.My cousin, Aria.Aria and I had a weird relationship
Luca’s POV Picking up my suit jacket and phone from the counter and the chair beside the one I was sitting on, a moment ago, I draped the jacket against my shoulder as I made my way out of the empty kitchen. I paused beside the entrance of the kitchen and switched off the light before heading straight for the stairs. The pounding in my head was thankfully starting to decrease, which was why I didn’t feel a lot of pain echoing in my head as I climbed my way up the stairs that would lead me to the second floor of the house.I paused outside the door of the bedroom and waited a few minutes. A quick glance at the screen of my phone showed that the time was some minutes past twelve a.m in the morning. I pulled on the door knob and pushed the door open before letting myself in and pushing the door shut behind me. The main lights in here were turned off and only the low dim led lights were turned on, casting a shadowy look upon the quiet room. I flicked the lights on and glanced towards th
Luca’s POV And that was the last I saw of her. Father said they were no longer family and had dissuaded me from daring to go to them first.I had listened to him, despite the way a part of me suspected that my father might have been the one at fault and the cause of the fight between the two of them.Aria had reached out to me first, she had texted me when I least expected it, a few days after my father got killed and I was still finding it hard to grasp everything that has happened. We had agreed to meet up here at home and I almost didn’t recognize her when she walked through the doors.She was already a grown woman– something my mind and head found extremely hard to adapt to because I have only been imagining four years old Aria in my head throughout the years, only to be met with a very matured looking replica of the little girl I had grown to adore, years ago.We had talked a little that particular evening, the air had been tense as hell and I was little to no help towards lighte
Luca’s POV With that, I rolled out of the bed and stretched for a little while before making my way towards the bathroom. I placed my phone on the sink before the mirror and stared into it for a few seconds, the unwanted hair that was starting to grow on my face reminding me that I had promised myself I was going to trim my beard last night.I picked up my tooth brush and cleaned my teeth thoroughly before proceeding to line out my shaving necessities on the counter, in the bathroom. I sprayed a thick layer of the shaving cream over the whole edges of my jaw before starting to lightly and carefully trim the edges. The mirror on the wall has always been the perfect guide and I changed the blades and scrubbed over my light beard, knowing it was only going to trim it and render everything into a particular look without one part looking higher with the other part looking really low.Once I was done, I cleaned the shaving cream off and washed my face a couple of times before finally bur
I rose up to my full height immediately and started to type in a reply immediately. I faintly heard Matilda informing me that the coffee was ready as she placed it on the counter, a few feet away from where I was standing but I paid her no attention as I immediately sent the text I had typed down.Luca: What’s happening???On getting no reply after a minute, I sent another one over immediately.Luca: Where the fuck are you?I dragged my left fingers through my hair and turned around, heading out of the kitchen and heading towards the door leading outside immediately.I sent another text as I stepped outside the house and slammed the door close behind me.Luca: Aria? Fucking reply my texts right now.“Good morning, Mr Ricci.” Two voices echoed beside me and I glanced sideways to lock gazes with the two guarded whom I had assigned to Sofia. I nodded my head at them and alighted the small amount of stairs immediately. My driver was already thankfully waiting for me outside the car and a
My gaze hardened the moment I noticed what it was that has made him react that way– a bunch of guards in their uniform walked past our car in their uniforms, making my brains start to rack immediately. That could mean a lot of things but I wasn’t letting any detail that might end up being important, slip off my fingers.The car started to slow down after a few more minutes and Victor leaned forward towards the front of the car to ask the driver if we were already where the phone was.“Yeah, it’s probably in one of those buildings.” The driver replied before finally stopping the car and unplugging the iPad from the cord of the car and handing it back to Victor. I looked into the screen of the iPad once victor was sitting once again and noticed that the red button that has signified Aria’s phone all through our journey was kinda glowing, the shape getting bigger and wider despite the fact that it still haven’t moved from it’s particular spot.Which only signified one thing, the phone wa
Luca’s POV “I don’t know what you’re talking about, we- I haven’t seen any girl, please leave our premises immediately, you’re trespassing private property.” The dude said and I stepped forward once again, closing the distance between us until only a few feet separated us from being in each other’s private space.“Did you hear what I said clearly? I said ``get me the girl right this instant!” I repeated again, but in a really quiet voice this time. The guard took a step back like he was contemplating going back into the house which he had come out from or to stand and continue to act like he didn’t know what I was talking about.I took two more steps closer to him and watched as he shifted backwards, the movement was barely noticeable but I noticed just fine, my eyes narrowing at him.“Where is the girl?”“There’s no– umph…” The dude started to say again but gargled out something stupid when I grabbed him by the front of his jumpsuit and jerked him forward.“Where’s the girl?” I d
Sofia’s POV “Can you tell me a little about Mexico?” I said to Ryan after a few minutes and he glanced up from my phone that he was currently helping me reset some things on the– a phone which I had no idea was going to be that complex to operate.It was past two p.m in the afternoon and I had asked him this afternoon if he could help me with a few things on my phone. He had agreed immediately, sinking into the same couch I was sitting in after I had patted it on invitation, when he had wanted to remain standing while operating the phone.He had disagreed at first, and tried to argue but ended up giving in, he was sitting almost too tensely on the tip of the couch, making me wonder about this whole thing between them and Luca.Speaking of Luca, I could already feel my cheeks start to heat up, and my mouth dry up as I remembered all too vividly how he had raked his intense grey eyes over my whole body, but still not touching me.It had felt like he was brushing his finger over my
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.