Sofia’s pov ‘It couldn’t be.’ The same words kept echoing in my head over and over again as soon as I exited the restaurant, without waiting for a response from her. It felt like the more I repeated those three words in my head, would somehow make it real, but deep down, I knew that was impossible, which made a heavy lump settle in the middle of my throat. I remained silent during the car ride all the way home. I had previously planned to do something else after the conversation with Lola, but after the outcome of the said conversation, all I wanted to do is to get home so i can finally let everything out.If my bodyguards noticed anything off in my demeanor, they didn’t mention it, which I greatly appreciate. Ryan would have definitely attempted to find out the reason behind my stiff silence, but Ethan’s presence in the car prevented that from happening, which is for the best because I wasn’t actually ready to speak to him just yet, especially with the mood I’m curre
Sofia’s pov I shook my head and a dry chuckle vibrated through my lungs. I couldn’t believe what I was currently listening to. It felt like I was experiencing a really bad dream which is going to follow me into the real world.“It’s not how it looks?” I echoed in disbelief. The sudden chill that engulfed me made me wrap my arms around my middle the next moment.Luca remained silent; and then he struggled to look for what to say. It felt like I was currently staring at someone else entirely right now, and the pain that previously settled in my chest hours ago, seems to be currently multiplying in folds. “It’s not how it looks in any way.” He stated after a few minutes and the lump in my throat only grew bigger, but I made sure to fight past it as I made to speak.“You told me you didn’t know who she was, Luca.” He whispered, and it was as if saying those words out made a glaring realization dawn over me, that Lola had definitely saw me as nothing but a fool, and that only made t
Luca’s pov It felt like a huge hole got ripped out of my chest as I watched the car drive out of the compound. Feeling helpless isn’t exactly a feeling I’m familiar with, but I know damn well how to identify it because I used to experience it a lot while growing up and having to protect Armani all by myself. ‘Helpless’ is what I feel right now, because it felt like I was watching my soul walk out from my body.Even after the gate had been closed, I still remained frozen in the same spot while trying to wrap my head around what had taken place in only a couple of minutes.Before arriving home today, I had been looking forward to coming home to my wife. Work had been extremely stressful and the wife I was going home to was what kept me sane throughout most of the meeting I attended. If I had an idea that this was going to happen, I’d have definitely found a way to prevent it from happening.A slow sigh eased out from my lungs as I forced my gaze off the closed gate after a few
Luca’s pov It wasn’t a surprise that I wasn’t able to get a sleep throughout the night. What was a surprise, was that I was expecting her to forgive me as soon as I get to explain myself to her.Armani made me understand that it was a dumb mindset. I didn’t bother trying to sleep last night because I knew I wasn’t going to be successful. I knew it was gonna break me to even attempt to sleep in the bed without Sofia in it. To avoid hurting myself more than I’m currently in, I tried not to go into the bedroom at all cost.I spent most of the night trying to get through to Sofia on the phone, not because I was worried about her safety, because that wasn’t the case at all.I knew where she was, her guards relayed that to me as soon as they got to the destination. I knew she was as safe as possible because I sent some guards to go guard the hotel as secretly as possible to provide more security for her. The reason why I kept trying to reach her was because I wanted to hear her vo
Luca’s pov The first thing that tumbled past my lips was a laugh.A chillingly, humorless one. One that vibrated through the empty sitting room which I’m currently in.I reread the text once again, eyes hurriedly scanning it, just so I could be sure that I had indeed read the text she sent correctly.The same text was still there, staring back at me almost mockingly. I didn’t realize when my grip around the phone began to tighten until a sharp pain shot up my arm.“Fuck.” I whisper out loud while trying to digest what I had just read.She couldn’t be serious. Could she?Refusing to even consider that she had actually what meant she had texted me, I decided to try calling her instead. Of course, I got no response to my calls, and when I still attempted to ask her what she meant by the text, I got met with nothing but silence. Like she has suddenly had enough of me for now and wasn’t going to bother responding to me any longer for now. After waiting on a response for over an hou
Sofia’s pov Never did I ever imagine that I’d one day experience a pain as vivid as this. I probably never saw it coming because it came from the man who was my literal world.It was from the man in whom I get the energy to live a new day from.It came from the man who I was ridiculously in love with. Perhaps, that was why it hurt this much. At least, I was very certain I wouldn’t be going through a quarter of things I’m currently experiencing if I wasn’t in love with him.I glanced around the hotel room for a few seconds and let out a long sigh, and then I hastily cleaned of the teardrop that was sliding down my cheeks once again.I had cried so much in only a day, than I had in a really, really long time. My head was currently pounding, and the only reason why I had agreed to take a shower some minutes ago was because Ryan had suggested it was gonna help with my headaches and was gonna help me sleep better tonight.After showering, I exited the bathroom and came to my
Luca’s pov The fire that flashed before my eyes was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, and the image right in front of me was the cause.It was Ryan, cradling Sofia in his arms.I instantly reeled myself back, reminding myself that he was only doing his job, that he was only protecting her, telling from the unconscious body laying a few feet away from them.But still, the possessive part of me was struggling against the hold a rational part of me had on it, the part of me that wanted to order Ryan to his knees for daring to hold what was mine in his arms the way he was currently doing.But one look at Sofia told me that was shit faced drunk, which is probably why they’re in this current situation, because she’d be on her feet right if she could stand, at least.As if already sensing how close I was to losing it, Ryan began to speak.“Your wife got drunk, boss. She ended up getting taken advantage of by the dude who I knocked out some minutes ago, and she’s safe now.”Once he was
Sofia’s pov The feeling of disbelief running through my veins right now is one which I’m yet to wrap my head around even though I’ve been frozen in the same spot for long seconds.A sharp stab of pain which shot through the middle of my head made me let out a sharp cry and hurriedly clutch my head. I couldn’t believe I had brought this upon myself, with my own hands. “You must be having a really horrible hangover right now, you should use these pain killers.” Luca’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts, startling me and causing me to wince because another stab of pain shot through my head. Luca began to move towards me but I forced myself to held out a hand even though doing something as simple as that made another pain shoot through my head. “Don’t touch me.”The words sounded heavy on my tongue and I almost gagged from how bad my mouth tasted. “I only want to give you these pain killers.” Luca murmured quietly, sounding almost resigned and I forced my eyes close while s
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.