James’ pov I was burning up with rage.Not just because these stupid guys had thought it was wide enough to try to catch me off guard this way. I was more annoyed about this being such a bad timing. I was looking forward to going home to Blair, and now this was happening.Fucking hell.I glanced out the rearview mirror once again and saw the guys on the mother bike staring to pull even closer to my car. The one riding the bike was very fast, and the one behind him who was shooting the gun at my car, had a mask over his head. They both do.I wonder why they haven’t shoot at my tires. That’s the first thing they’re supposed to do if they wanted to catch me so bad, unless perhaps they hope I’d come in with some accident while trying to outrun them.Just how dumb can these people get?It seems like people have began to underestimate me too much cause what the hell is this.I slowly pulled to a stop while reaching for the guns beneath my suit jackets, taking off the safety instantly
James’ pov I made sure the water was in a warm temperature before running the napkin beneath it, and then I existed the bathroom in the guest room which Blair was currently occupying. I walked over to the spot at the foot of her bed which was still huddled in, and then I crouched beside her.She glanced at me without saving a thing, and then she slowly averted her gaze. She thankfully wasn’t crying any longer but she was as silent as a night, and I didn’t like it.I gently held her chin as I dabbed her face, cleaning off the tearstreaks on her cheeks. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were flushed, but that didn’t her look less beautiful than she usually does – instead, they made her appear cute and soft as hell.I returned the napkin and fetched her a cup of water, which she only took a sip from.I puffed out a long exhale as I sank back into the spot beside her, but I made sure there was some space left between us this time, because I wasn’t sure she’d appreciate me crow
James’ pov We didn’t continue to talk after that, and once again, the silence that stretched out between us wasn’t an awkward or uncomfortable one.I told her I’d be back soon and went to check my phone which I left on my bed in my haste to go check in on Blair after I had arrived home and had taken a shower.There was a few notifications from my private number, some were from Luca, which I opened immediately.Luca; Things has somehow gotten even worse between my wife and I.I checked the time that message had been sent, realizing that it had been sent almost an hour ago. He must have probably thought I was banging some chick, which is definitely why he had refrained from calling me after not getting a response to that text, and the other couple of texts he had sent to me.Luca; I feel like a really bad person. Like a really terrible husband.Luca; I don’t even know what to do man. I’m going crazy at this point.I let out an exhale as I read through those texts while slowly s
James’ pov The next morning wasn’t all that awkward.It really wasn’t.As soon as I woke up, I let out a small yawn and carefully sat up. My back cracked as I stretched my arms around side by side for a few moments. It didn’t take long for the last images from last night to begin to flood my head, and I let out a small sigh as I glanced sideway at a peacefully sleeping Blair.Her body would definitely be hurting this morning as soon as she wakes up. I thought to myself as I let out another yawn.After she had fallen asleep against me last night, I had carried on with watching the horror movie on my own, but I genuinely hadn’t been paying much attention to it, seeing as all that was in my mind throughout those minutes, was no one but Blair.After some time, in which I had made sure Blair had fallen asleep really deeply against me, I finally decided to move.I moved us over, maneuvering her lithe body around before carefully laying her on the rug at the foot of the couch. I
James’ pov Once we were done with our breakfast, I declined her offers to clear the table and did it myself, loading the dishes into the dishwasher at once and cleaning everywhere up.As I worked, Blair refused to leave the kitchen, choosing to lean against the other side of the counter. Once I was had washed and dried my hand, I carefully made my way towards her. She was in one of my shirts, a different one from the one she had slept in. Its still surprising to me that she had agreed to use my shirts without arguments, which is very much unlike her.I stopped a few inches away from her and let out a small breath when she glance up at me. She didn’t have to look really high to meet my eyes because she wasn’t that short, and I liked that about her.I drew closer to her, guaging her reaction and trying to find out if she’d try to back or run away, but she did none of that, which made me continue to draw closer to her until only a little gap prevented us from touching each other
Luca’s POV I would be lying if I dare claim to be surprised after waking up with tiredness weighing down my muscles really heavily, seeing as I had only gone to sleep late into the night and early morning.It was a Sunday morning, which I was really glad about, bed that way, I didn’t have to actually leave the house today.After the drama that had broken out between Sofia and I last night, I’m very sure I wouldn’t be in the mood to leave the house today.In all honesty, I just want to end this whole thing with her so we’d be able to go back to being how we used to be before.I let out a small sigh and tugged on the roots of my hair as I slowly sat on on the bed. Even before I glanced at the space beside me on the bed, I could already tell that Sofia wasn’t in bed with me any longer.I briefly wonder what her reaction had been after she woke up to see me laying in bed.Had she been pleased by that? Or annoyed? Or irritated?When I had made my way up here at around 3 a.m. in the
Luca’s POV The shock that had descended over me had been from my shock and unexpectedness of the situation, and nothing more. I was quickly able to shake the shock off my shoulders, and both individuals had broken out of the hug and were looking at me.Feeling put in the spotlight when I least expected, I awkwardly cleared my throat.“You don’t need to stop because of me, I was leaving right away anyway.” I called out and turned around to exist the bedroom but Armani stopped me instantly.“What? Why are you leaving? C’mon in!” He called out and I regarded Sofia for a few moments.It was the first time I was laying my eyes on her today, and the sheer beauty of her face made my breath slow down at the first few seconds. She had on a large sweater that’s literally swallowing her up right now, and a pair of soft looking pants, while her hair was rolled up in a loose bun.She didn’t look at me. Her eyes were averted the entire time, which was a reminder that I needed to fix the t
Luca’s POV James didn’t pick the call, probably because he’s still asleep from hangover, and so I shot him a couple of texts and decided to get some work done now that I was in here.Today was a Sunday, but it didn’t mean I wouldn’t be working from home at all. I usually work on Sunday before Sofia’s presence in my life, and even after he presence in my life at first, I only stopped once we began to get closer and all of that.Now that I find myself going back to this, it made me shudder in distaste at the thought of going back to how I used to act around her in the past.That only made me feel more determined to have that conversation with her today, and I was going to do just that.But, for now, I’m going to be getting some work done.I needed to carry out some more research, and I also needed to make some important phone calls. There are a lot of bad guys roaming around, waiting to catch me off guard, while some were obviously planning lots of things at once against me.Which is
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.