Natalia's POV: ‘I like Carlo.’ The moment the word escaped my lips, the air around us stilled. My pulse quickened and it felt as though the heater had been turned on to its maximum temperature. Angela's fingers stilled in my hair and I pushed myself up, shifting until I was seated opposite her. She just stared at me, her expression unreadable. Embarrassment washed over me like a tidal wave, the whole situation was awkward. Why did I think it was okay to blurt it out like that? What was I thinking? This was stupid, so stupid.. “Or maybe not. I don't like Carlo. Never will. I guess I was just confused? I dunno. Just—” A loud bubble of laughter escaped her, cutting my rambling off and if I thought my cheeks felt hot earlier, it was like a burning furnace now. “Just… just forget about it.” “Forget about the fact that you admitted to liking my brother? Hell no,” she said between laughter, her shoulder trembling with it.“Did you miss the part where I said, ‘I think?’ I made a mistake
Carlo's POV: The soft raping had me lifting my eyes from my laptop. “Come in.” My eyes shifted back to my laptop and I continued working as the door creaked open. I heard it click shut but didn't bother looking up.“Hey.” My shoulders stiffened, hairs stood at the back of my neck as that familiar voice echoed around the four walls of my office. My gaze met dark blue ones. “Didn't think you'd be home.” She pulled out the chair across my desk and lowered herself into it. “Seriously, do you ever go to your company's office?” “I do, when necessary—” I paused abruptly. Why was I explaining myself? “What are you doing here, Natalia?” She arched her brows, a sly smirk tugging at the corners of those sensual lips. “Natalia? You rarely call me that.” I felt my stomach clenched but I maintained my cool on the outside, returning my attention back to my screen. “What do you want? I have a lot on my plate.” “You've been avoiding me, why?” My eyes met hers again as my mind darted back to t
Natalia's POV: Ding! My phone chimed with an incoming text and my heart leapt like it knew who it was. I grabbed my phone from my bedside table, glancing at its screen.Grumpy asshole: My room in five.My stomach flipped. Hard.I knew he'd give in. I might not be certain about a lot of things but this one, I was quite sure of.One thing I knew for certain is that Carlo was insanely attracted to me as I was to him even if he didn't have feelings for me—the thought of that made my chest ache but I chose to ignore it. I knew what it was from the start.Which takes me back to what I said to Angela. To Carlo, this was just sex, hot, dirty, wild sex. Nothing more. Even though I was starting to want ‘more.’Pushing away the negative thoughts, I got off my bed, and out of my room. I slipped into the hallway, heading straight for his room, my heart pumping fast with anticipation and excitement.Few rooms away from his bedroom, I caught myself grinning from ear to ear and my smile dropped ins
Natalia's POV: Sweat beaded at his forehead, jaws slack, pupils blown wide and his expression twisted in pure, intense pleasure. I could tell he couldn't handle it anymore. Could tell from the way his cock twitched in my mouth and how full his balls looked.I doubled my effort, swallowing down his cock like a pro, my head bopping rapidly. Gawking sounds mixed with his harsh pants echoed around us. My mouth ached, my throat felt sore but it did nothing to dampen my arousal. In fact, my poor panties were drenched in my juices“Madonna, you're sucking me so good,” he groaned and I preened at his praise. I pulled off his cock, saliva coating my lips and where it connected it to his thick length. I slid lower on my knees until my skirt barely covered my ass. I took one heavy ball into my mouth, sucking it in, careful not to use my teeth while my hand moved up and down his shaft. With the way his breath hitched and his inner thighs flexed, I knew I was driving him insane. So I jerked h
Natalia's POV: I snapped out of daze and I couldn't tell what possessed me to react, maybe later, I'd question myself. “Carlo!” I yelled, marching over to him. “Stop doing that!” His eyes snapped to mine, a shocked expression flickered on his face before morphing into anger. “Get out!” No way! I fell to my knees beside him, my stomach twisting and churning as my eyes fell to the fresh wounds he'd carved into his right forearm. “Leave!” He barked again, but I could barely hear him over the sound of my pounding heart. Tears stung my eyes, blurring my vision of the brutally wounded arm and the way blood dripped from it onto the floor like a faulty faucet. He pushed himself up, about to get to his feet when I grabbed his wounded arm and he winced. “Why are you doing this?” My tear-filled eyes met his, my chest heavy with a mix of emotions. I could barely breathe. “Why do you hurt yourself, at first I thought….” What did I think? Nothing. No one explained things to me, the
Natalia's POV:Getting Carlo to calm down and leave that room wasn't an easy feat. It had taken Caterina giving him a resounding slap across his face to snap him out of the trance.And to be honest, I was shocked. But she did what she had to do though and if anyone knew Carlo better, she was the one.I stood at a corner, watching her talk softly to Carlo in Italian while he kept his mouth shut. His fearful expression from earlier was gone and now replaced with an unreadable one but I can only imagine what must be going through his mind.Embarrassment.Which made total sense because I know if I'd been in his shoes, I'd have bolted once I came to my senses. And maybe that was why he'd attacked me the first time I found him here, he probably wanted to distract me from the fact that he was a broken mess despite the hard, ruthless mafia boss exterior he put on for the world to see.I honestly still couldn't wrap my head around it though. Given his reputation, one would never imagine to see
Natalia's POV: ‘Because he killed his mother.’ Doctor Camilla words echoed in my head. My brain struggled to process that little piece of information as my jaws hanged loose, my eyes unblinking as I stared at her.For a brief moment, silence stretched until I finally found my voice. “You're joking…” Carlo was ruthless, sure. But he couldn't possibly kill his own mother, right? “Please, tell me you're joking.” She let out a heavy sigh. “No. I'm not.” My heart dropped to my stomach and I had to lock my knees in place so they wouldn't buckle, my mind reeled with possibilities, excuses, reasons why a child would kill his own mother and I came up with nothing. “I…I don't understand… why would he do that?” I wanted to make up an excuse for him so badly. But she'd already confirmed it…Doctor Camilla's eyes softened, but the pain in them was as clear as day. “It's not what you think, he was only trying to protect her.” My head reared back, my face contorting with disbelief as I blinked t
Natalia’s POV: ‘You love him.’ “Wh…what?” My throat tightened as I sucked in a sharp breath, only to choke on my own damn spit. A burning sensation clawed its way up to my chest to my throat, leaving me coughing and gasping for breath as her hand came down on my back repeatedly.“Shit, are you okay?” She asked, still patting my back as a worried expression plastered on her face but I couldn't respond through the harsh, forceful explosion of air leaving my lungs “Fuck,” she pulled away, twisting the cap of the bottled water open and handing it to me. “Drink this.” I lifted my hand, waving her off. “I'm…I'm fine now,” I assured her, despite the uncomfortably tickle in my throat. She let out a sigh of relief, capping the bottle back. “Okay that was dramatic, what happened?”My brows shot up as I eyed her like she was crazy and maybe she was…What happened?! Really? “How could you spring that on me? Love him? I don't love Carlo!” My voice sounded hoarse, my eyes burning with hot te
Carlo's POV: ALMOST SEVEN HOURS LATER… I was wrong. So fucking wrong. Seated at the backseat of my car while we drive back home, I couldn't help the way nerves thrummed in my body, panic skittering across my chest… This was bad. This was trouble. I couldn't sit still, couldn't breathe. What do I do now?! We'd searched everywhere and everyone we'd suspected and came up with nothing. I'd been too fucking sure that'd we'd find them in no time. But we'd failed woefully. The police couldn't find a trace, even Miguel who was being treated at the hospital said he couldn't identify any of their attackers since they'd all been on masks. The other heads were innocent, hell, Gianpaolo had no idea about anything that had happened and it had been a goddamn war getting the fucker to cooperate with us even after being threatened. Stronzo. Laughed in my face and called me, ‘weak and pathetic.’ That'd earned him a black eye and a broken nose, would have loved to send a bullet through h
Carlo's POV:With a shaky hand, I grabbed the phone from Enzo, placing on my ear. “Miguel! How did this happen?” I barked out, my breath shaky, sweat breaking out on my skin. “Where the fuck are you?!” “Th‐the nngh! M-mall,” He grunted in pain. He'd been injured. Shit.My wide eyes met Enzo's, my heart was in my mouth but I pretened to be calm. “What mall?” I asked impatiently, pacing, unable to keep still. “Where are they?! Angela and Ava?!” This news was going to hurt Natalia badly, the little girl was her only family, I've seen how much she loves her and Angela… My heart ached at the thought of my sister going through another pain….“Miguel, speak up,” It was supposed to come out as a command, but it sounded more like a plea. My was heart racing wildly, chest tight with a mix of emotions. “Are the girls with you?” Please tell me they are unhurt. “Ah… nngh!... Th-the atta…ckers, too-took—” His words ended on a cough, almost like he was coughing off blood from the spluttering sou
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-SIX: Carlo's POV:MEANWHILE… BACK AT THE MANSION…It might seem creepy that I watch Natalia more than a normal human should, right? But I couldn't help it, especially now…I'd obsessively called Camilla more times in a single day than necessary and I'm sure she was tired of my calls and too many questions already. Few minutes earlier, I'd just got off the phone with her and her parting remark was, “I know I said to be more careful and treat her well because it's her first time and all of that but I didn't ask you to overdo it! You're being excessive and it's barely a week!” Overdo it? Was she kidding? And how is it that she tells me what to do and then turns around to switch up? Also, what's considered as excessive? How do I not be ‘excessive?’ Fuck that, I was paying her handsomely for this and if I wanted her attention on Natalia all the time, then so be it…Also, there was one more thing I needed to get done in order to ensure Natalia's safety and com
Angela’ s POV:He thinks I'm perfect?Me? I..I wasn't perfect.My eyes darted around and I realized we had people watching and that made my face flamed hard. “Rueben,” I whispered . Can you set me down already? Everyone's looking.” He glanced around briefly, then flashed me a smile. “I don't care about them, but if you do…” he leaned in, planting a chaste kiss on my lips, shocking me. “I'll do as you say.” I was still dumbfounded, heart thumping erratically from the soft kiss when he set me onto the large picnic blanket and settled down beside me. I watched quietly as he began arranging the stuff he'd probably set down before I realized he was behind me. The more I watched him, the more my chest swelled with so much emotion. I didn't just ‘like’ this man… I think… I think I'm in love with him.I could barely contain these feelings anymore. The pressing urge to kiss him, spend hours talking to him, hugging him tightly, just wanting to be around him. Love. That was what I was feel
Angela’s POV: PRESENT…That kiss wasn't my first, but it was the first time a kiss as simple as just brushing lips had me melting on the inside, my brain short-circuiting. If only that damn nurse hadn't so rudely interrupted, I would have kept kissing him for hours!Well, enough of the daydreaming, I was seeing him today for our picnic date like he'd promised. The plan was to let Ava mingle with the other kids while we have at least twenty minutes to ourselves.Annoying right? I know, but it was all we could have for now, that is until I found the courage to tell my family I was interested in someone again after the last disaster…. Now my biggest issue was, how long was Rueben willing to endure these hide and seek and stolen moments for me? How long until he was tired of hearing my excuses?The thought of it made my heart clench and made me crazy with anger so I decided not to dwell on it.After breakfast, I waited patiently for Natalia and zia to prepare a very excited Ava for our
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & FIFTY-THREE: Angela's POV: FLASH BACK…FIRST KISS MOMENT…I think he knows… That I like him, I mean.We've been texting back and forth since Alessandro saw my chat with him. It went from formal greetings to cute gifs and stickers. Sometimes, we'd send each other reels and I decided to be sneaky, I always sent ones relating to my feelings for him but I was being subtle about it.I still worry he might reject me if I take Natalia's advice and you know, ask him out. But with each day that passes, the urge to just do it grew stronger. And maybe I was being delusional when I told myself he liked me too but who stays up texting someone they didn't like until three in the morning? The other day, he called me at midnight and we stayed up talking for hours.Can you see what I'm talking about? I've gotten to know a few things about him. I also found out he likes to read romantic novels too, how cool is that? You could call us soulmates at this point. Oh and he always
Angela's POV: I waited patiently for the doctor to be done examining Natalia, given her instructions on what to do and whatever it was that a pregnant mother should know.I smiled at her expression as she was listening attentively to Doctor Fabbri. She looked cute jotting down the information on her phone. She will be a good mom irrespective of her age, I could just tell… I did kind of feel jealous though. I mean, I wanted a husband and a baby of my own and I thought one day, that wish would come to pass until I was forced to be bound to a wheelchair for life.But I was happy for her though, truly. More importantly, I was happy for my brother. He might be too stubborn to see what's in front of him or to admit it, but it wouldn't be long now until he realizes…That aside, there was a reason why I was here today. It's a secret and no one else had to know. At least, not yet. I just needed Natalia's permission to grant me the best cover I could think of…“And that's all for today,” Doc
Natalia's POV: After Carlo fed me and exited my room, I realized there was something I hadn't done…Telling Tanya about my pregnancy. I was nervous as fuck and I didn't know why. Tanya was basically my sister, I knew she'd be happy for me. Deciding to ignore my nervousness, I called her. It rang on and on but no response. I tried three times more and still came up with nothing, so I decided to send a text and get it over with. It wasn't ideal, I know. But… you know, whatever.I pulled up my message thread with her and quickly typed out the message in the best way I could.Me: So uhm, hey T.Me: We haven't talked much in the last few days and uhm… something came up.Me: I don't want you to freak out okay? What the hell am I saying? I was the one freaking out.Me: I am pregnant. Me: Crazy, right? Oh and of course, it's Carlo's. I was completely shocked about it (which was stupid, cause you know, I never used condoms with the man) But on the bright side, I don't have to marry Luca
Natalia's POV: My face was burning…‘She knows. She definitely knows.’ I thought to myself as the maid carefully set the tray down on my dressing, clearly avoiding my eyes and Carlo's.“I'm leaving now, miss,” she said, hurrying out before I could even reply and I turned to Carlo with a glare.“Great, now I'll never not be awkward around that maid,” I huffed and he pulled me in for a side hug.“I could let her off, if you want,” he suggested, placing a kiss on my cheek and I tried to wriggle out of his hold. “I didn't say that,” I sighed deeply. “You can't fire someone because you refused to wait until we were alone to do…”“To do what?” He teased. “Go on, say it.”“Whatever,” I rolled my eyes. “I'm just saying it was crazy letting her stand by the door while we did what we did.” He pretended to brush something off my tee shirt. “But you liked it, didn't you?” “Liked what?” I feigned ignorance.But he wasn't buying it, if the way he was biting back his smile was any indication. “