The rest of that week went by pretty fast. I spent most of my days planning for the party with Elena and Sabrina. When we weren't doing that, I was in the gym or I was sleeping. From what Dr. Martin said, I was about a month pregnant, and physical exercises are much needed at this stage. In fact, at all stages.I was in an entirely different dilemma, though. I had no idea what to get Luca for his birthday. Everything I could think of, he either already has or would get in a heartbeat. And it didn't make me feel any better knowing it was his money I would be using to get him a birthday present since I didn't make any of my own.“Take that frown off your pretty face,” Luca said, walking out of the bathroom to meet me on the bed. He had on a pair of shorts with droplets of water dripping down his bare chest.I breathed out a laugh. “I didn't realize I was frowning,” I said, trying not to drool at his body. Luca had the body of a god. Don't even get me started on his perfect skin.“Ca
I hurried away to find Luca without waiting for her response. Why would she go against my words and tell him? He must be angry. I didn't know what to make of that, but I needed to find him, and I needed to fix it. Luca was always with one person or the other anytime I saw him. It was like everybody wanted to get a taste of the celebrant. I decided not to wait until he was free anymore, so when I found Luca with two other people, I approached them swiftly. “Luca?” I called out shakily.He turned around with a warm smile. “Nazlynn, come here. I was just talking about you,” he said, stretching a hand towards me.I took it tentatively. He was in a completely different mood from what I had expected to meet him in.“This is my good friend, Chappo, we go way back. Chappo, this is my lovely wife that I've been telling you about,” Luca introduced.The man beside Luca greeted me with a warm smile, holding a hand out. I stretched mine out to meet his, expecting a handshake, but instead, he br
I stood, frozen in place. It was like my feet had forgotten how to move. “Luca,” I called out shakily without turning to face him. I didn't even know what to say, talk more of how to say it. “Look at me,” he said. I hated that I couldn't decipher any emotions from the tone of his voice.I shook my head in disagreement.“Look at me, Nazlynn.”I steeled myself, turning around slowly to face him. He wasn't looking in my direction when I turned, and that got me even more worried.I closed the distance between us with two short strides. “I'm really sorry, Luca. I found out shortly before I ran off. I was still locked in the room, and I was all alone. It was a few days before you hurt Enzo.""I was so overwhelmed and scared that I made the decision I made to run. It was selfish of me because I put my child in harm's way, I shouldn't have done that,” I said with trembling lips. I hung my head low in fear. Not because I was scared of what he would do to me but because I was scared of what
Luca and I had agreed not to tell anybody about the pregnancy just yet. He said it was fine to tell Elena and Sabrina if it would help me feel comfortable, but I said not to worry. In a couple of weeks, I had seen sides to Luca that I didn't even think existed. He was so sweet, so caring and more importantly, a lot more active. He worked from home a lot more and hardly went out unless it was unavoidable.“You know, you don't have to stay coped up with me like this? I know you have work, and I can take care of myself,” I said to Luca one day as I was sitting in his study while he worked.“I know you can. But if I can stay home with you and work then why not?” He said without looking up from his table.“Luca, come on.”He looked up at me with a sigh. “I need to be sure you both are safe, and there's no better person to entrust with that than myself,” he said in a voice that left no room for arguments.“What's Gabriel here for then?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.“I like it w
I shot out of bed with a loud gasp, scrambling all around me as I struggled to breathe. “Hey, hey, hey, Nazlynn. Hey, look at me,” I heard Luca say. His voice sounded distant, but from the warm hand on my face, I knew he was right beside me.My vision cleared just as he pressed me into his chest for a comforting hug. “I'm right here. You're okay,” he said, rubbing my back soothingly.It was the same dream again. The one I've been having recently that sometimes makes me wake up sweating and panting. In the dream, I saw Dee. She had a shawl in her hand, and it appeared to have a child inside it. The child was crying loudly and I wanted to go to the child but I couldn't move. Suddenly, she turned the shawl over, and the child fell out, making me scream and jolt awake.I and Luca stayed in that position for a while before I finally moved, pulling myself away from him. My hair was all tangled up in knots on my head.I made a move to go back to bed when Luca held my hand to stop me. “He
“Oh come on, Nazlynn, it's your birthday. How could you not want to do anything on your birthday?” Elena whined, tugging on my arm.“I'm really not feeling up to it if I'm being honest with you girls. I wouldn't want you to put a lot of time, money, and effort into planning something, and I would have to force myself to enjoy it,” I said in a low tone. Elena was at our house, and we were on a video call with Sabrina.“But Naziiiii,” Elena whined in my ear, making me wince. “Stop yelling at the pregnant lady, Elena,” Sabrina said in a sing-song voice. Elena scoffed. “Fine. Can we at least do dinner that day? We can't just all sit at home like it’s not a special day,” she exclaimed, pacing around the living room.“Elena's right, Nazi. We celebrated Luca's birthday in such a grand style. Luca wouldn't even be on board with this. Does he know you don't want to do anything on Friday?” Sabrina asked with a frown.I stayed quiet, avoiding her eyes.Elena paused mid pace, turning slowly to
“Luca, you're here!” I breathed out from where I stood.He walked towards me, standing close enough that I could feel the heat of his body at my back. His silence made me shiver, I gulped forcibly.“I have to go check in on Nora in the kitchen,” Elena said, excusing herself. She almost stumbled over her own feet as she dashed out of the room.“Look at me,” he said in a calm voice that surprised me. I shook my head in refusal.I didn't know if I could face him. He literally just heard me telling his adopted sister how I feel overwhelmed and uncomfortable by his affection. “Look at me, Nazlynn,” he urged again, placing one hand on my arm this time as if to encourage me. I turned around tentatively, unable to meet his eyes. “Luca…”He cut me off before I could get another word out. “Look at me, baby,” he said again. My heart clenched in my chest at the word baby as I met his eyes. They weren't angry or really hurt like I expected. They were more concerned than anything else. “Is that
The past days leading to this day have been hell for me. I have been acting completely fine towards Luca when all I wanted to do was bring up the conversation I eavesdropped on. It's been four days since I overheard Luca talking to someone over the phone about what I think was me. I've wanted to ask him about it, but I could never bring myself to actually get the words out. The most likely scenario is that my assumption is wrong, but who then could they have been talking about?Four days, which meant it was my birthday. And all assumptions that Luca didn't know that it was my birthday flew out the door when he woke me up with a kiss and a groggy “happy birthday baby”. It was the sweetest thing.“So small dinner. You, me, and the girls, right?” I asked Luca again when I was getting dressed. He had picked out a dress for me out of my numerous untouched dresses after I told him I wasn't interested in any more clothes when I still have so many.“Did I say small?” He asked with a smirk
I looked from the man to Alice and back to the man. My face was still stinging from the impact of his hard palm on my cheek when I opened my mouth to speak. “What do you mean she's my sister? I'm pretty sure I would know if I had any other siblings for over twenty years that I have been alive,” my voice trailed off towards the end as it clicked in my head.Until a few weeks ago, I didn't know that the man I thought was my father was not. That meant I could have a whole line of siblings that I was unaware of.The thought that they would all be crazy like Alice crossed my mind, and I shivered. I couldn't believe that I had a sister or that she was the crazy lady with me all this while.“Do you know what started the feud between my clan and Luca's?” Santos asked, ignoring my question as he walked away from the pole and to a chair I had not noticed in all that time. My eyes followed his every movement until he sat on it and returned his gaze to my direction. I shook my head in response
“Don Luca, we have a big problem,” Marco said as he walked up to me. “I can see that, what's happening?” I asked, looking around me.My men were scampering from one place to the other in the compound, so much that my presence went unnoticed. “There's a strange gas that was released in the house, it made a few people drop like flies. I'm not sure if they are just unconscious or it's something worse. We're having everyone evacuated before anything worse happens.”An alarm bell went off inside of my head. “Where are my wife and daughter?” I asked, making an attempt to go into the mansion.Marco sidestepped me. “Your wife wasn't in the house sir.”“And Hailey? Where is Hailey?” I demanded.“Mathias has her, Maria and Tracy stay at one of the safe houses alongside your sisters but I don't know which,” he responded.“Find out this instance and let me know.”“Sir, the less we know about their current location, the safer they are,” he argued. I took two angry steps closer to him, sizing hi
“How is this….how are you…I don't understand,” I spluttered. It was either my brain had gone radio silent, or I was just slow like Alice had said because I could not make sense of the situation.She gave me a few seconds to try to process things, and when she saw that I wasn't able to, she spoke up. “Let me make it easier for you, I kidnapped you,” she said with a sinister smile that made me want to puke.“So you see,” she started, dropping the pair of glasses on the table and picking up the blade that was used to free her. “My mafia needed inside information on Luca's mafia, so I decided to go through you. It took days of my tech guy doing his tech thing for us to finally find a social media presence for you. Although it turned out you had just opened the account that day. You live a very sad life, if I may say,” she tutted.“Anyway. You weren't giving me the information I wanted, so I suggested the therapist thing. It wasn't at all difficult to rent a space, place a few members of
Luca's POV“We've been driving for quite some time. I think we would have found her SUV if it were here to see.” Gabriel said, taking the words right out of my intrusive thoughts. I've been forcing myself to ignore the fact that my wife's car was clearly not in sight. “I'll just drive around this street one more time then,” I said, stepping on the gas to increase my speed. “She's not here, boss,” Gabriel said, and I only hummed in response but showed no sign that I had heard him.“She's not here!” He said, louder this time, causing me to step on the brake so hard that our bodies lurched forward in the car. I glared at him so hard until he cowered. “I'm sorry, boss. You were driving at a speed that was going to get us pulled over by the police.”Scoffing, I shook my head in disdain. I was irritated with myself, with the fact that I couldn't even protect my own wife. “I can't have a repeat of what happened a year ago, Gabriel. I really cannot,” I said, feeling my tough facade slipp
Alice struggled against her restraints, gnashing her teeth at him. “Who are you, and what do you want with us?”The man's face came into view, and I frowned slightly. It was a boy actually, he didn't look a day over fifteen years old. His voice sounded a lot more mature, I would have guessed he was in his late twenties if I hadn't seen his face. “Please let her go. She has nothing to do with me, and she doesn't know anything,” I pleaded on my friend's behalf. Alice looked scared shitless, like she would piss her pants any time soon.“Way to go, Nazlynn. You meet your friend for the first time ever and get her kidnapped,” I said to myself mentally. I couldn't let them hurt her. Alice could already clearly see that she's missing something about my life.The boy just stood there and stared at me. “Do you know him or something?” Alice whispered to me.I shook my head, “I've never seen him before.”He stared at me for a long time without saying a word. His face was void of any facial exp
She scrunched up her nose, and her eyebrows pulled together in a manner that screamed confusion. “You mentioned it when you told me about your nightmares some time ago,” she said.I nodded. “I think you should do what you think is best for your child. You know it's not just yourself that you have to take care of or look out for,” she said, giving me a look that my mother would give me when she was trying to make me see a point that I am intentionally blind to.We talked some more, and I told her everything about everything, going into more details than I did when I sent that long text message. For some odd reason, I felt really calm around her, like I could tell her anything at all. Which was surprising considering how much I was freaking out when I got here.I had come to meet with her to get some advice on what I should do and how I should do it, but here she was telling me that the decision was all mine to make. Just sitting down and talking to her did help me feel better, thou
I agreed to meet up with Alice two days after she had sent that text. Coincidentally, we were in the same city, so it wouldn't be too much of a hassle. She said it was important we met up, and I was curious as to why.“I already fed her, but in case she gets whiny again, give her water in her bottle,” I said to Tracy, crouching down so I could give Hailey a big kiss.The only thing I hated more than being away from my baby was being away from my baby.“I'm going out,” I said to Luca when I saw him in the hallway. He was speaking to some of the members of our security team. He frowned, giving me a once over. “Where are you off to?” “I'm going to meet with someone,” I responded briefly, checking my reflection in the full-length mirror hanging on the wall. Luca dismissed the small gathering of men before turning his attention to me. “Who? You don't have any friends. You're not exactly the most social person,” Luca pointed out. I froze. He had a point. Considering everything that has
Luca walked towards me in a predatory type of way. “Hi princess,” he greeted Hailey before taking her off of me. I stilled as he passed by me, keeping my eyes on Enzo at the other side of the room, who looked half as uncomfortable as I did. “Judging by the fact we've been married for almost two years, you should know that I know you better than yourself,” I heard Luca say from behind me before hearing the door shut and then the sound of a luck turning.I whipped around and was shocked to see an empty space behind me. “What just happened?” I asked Enzo, who was just staring at me.“Your husband just locked us in,” he stated simply.“Yes, I can see that. But why?” I asked as my panic level started rising. Enzo hopped off the chair he was sitting on and started walking towards me. “I asked him how I could get you to talk to me. He said you have a thing for eavesdropping on his conversations, so we decided to see if it'll work. We left the door open a bit, sprinkled your name into the
You're really not going to talk to me at all?” I heard Enzo ask, making me sigh.I had come down the staircase the next morning only to almost bump into him at the bottom. I increased my pace so I could disappear from him as quickly as possible, but Enzo just wouldn't let me be.“I thought I made that clear enough, but apparently I didn't, seeing how you're currently trying to talk to me,” I replied with a fake smile.“Nazlynn,” he called out softly, taking a step in my direction.My eyes searched his. I could still see fragments of the little boy who had left for Atlanta years back, but I could also see something darker. The kind of darkness that you are bound to be exposed to while working with the mafia.I was one to talk, considering how I'm married to a mafia don who is the rival to my biological father who is also a mafia don.“I'm not ready for the conversation you're trying to have, Enzo. I would like to get through one day without reminding myself of how I failed you as a si