“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
Luca hovered above me, peering into the kindle reader screen to see what I was doing. “What book is that?” He asked, coming to sit beside me on the couch. We were in the library. Or rather, I was. I had no idea where he just came in from. I raised a brow at him in question. “Since when do you ask me about the books I read?” He shrugged. “My subconscious mind is curious. Come on, humour me. What sub-dom freaky freaky are you reading this time?”My cheeks instantly burned red in embarrassment. Just one time, I had left my phone unlocked so I could use the bathroom that Luca peered into my screen and read the words there. Just that one time, and he's still holding it against me. I narrowed my eyes at him playfully. “For your information, it's actually not one of my fictional novels. It's a self-help book titled ‘first time mom? Grab a chair’,” I said.Luca looked a bit surprised. “That’s amazing. Strange title, though.”I hummed in agreement, turning my attention back to the screen.
It was the day of my appointment with Dr. Martin. You can imagine my shock when I opened my eyes to see Maria peering down at me with a strange look in her eyes. Okay, what the hell? I sat up in bed, holding a hand to my throbbing head. I felt like someone was ringing a bell and walking around my brain. “Maria? What are you doing here?” I asked her groggily.“You called for me, Signora,” she replied, confused.“I did? When?”“Just a few minutes ago. But when I got here, you were fast asleep.”I nodded. “Run my bath for me, please. I want the lavender scented bath salt. I'll be there in a bit,” I said, stretching.“Lavender? But signora, you hate the lavender. It makes your skin itchy,” Maria said with a frown, making me pause.“Mix in a little bit then,” I responded, standing up from the bed and walking towards the closet.I had gone to bed angry after my conversation with Luca last night, and he had left earlier this morning. I felt him kiss my forehead before leaving.*Flashback*
I was in the room one morning when I picked up my phone and turned it on. “Hey, I'm glad you finally called back. How are you feeling?” my brother's voice came through the speakers when the call connected.I sighed at the sound of his voice. It was like a breath of fresh air. “I’m alright,” I said. “How are you?”“Are you sure you're okay, Nazi?” Enzo asked again. “I'm alright. Yeah, I'm alright,” I said, sounding like I was convincing myself more than him.We spoke about nothing in particular for a little over thirty minutes before I took a deep breath midway through a conversation. “What’s up? Wanna tell me something?” Enzo asked, taking away every other doubt I had in me. “I'm pregnant,” I blurted out. The line went silent for over a minute. I couldn't even hear the sound of him breathing, and I had to check to see if the call was still connected.“Enzo. Please say something,” I pleaded, biting on my fingernails. “You….. congratulations,” he finally said.“Thank you,” I whis
I woke up to a hushed conversation. “No, I need you to check again,” the first voice demanded angrily. The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place my finger on it.“You've been right here, watching while I checked four times. There is nothing out of the ordinary,” another voice said. This one was softer, more feminine.“You weren’t…” a brief pause. “You can't tell me she's okay. Didn't you just see that? You weren't there before, but you can't ignore what you just saw,” the first voice said again, sounding more frustrated and scared than angry.“Calm down, Luca. You're starting to yell.”Luca. The first voice. It was Luca's.I opened my mouth to speak but I couldn't get any words to come out of it. I finally managed to force my eyes open after struggling, and I saw that I was still in my room.The brightness of the room caused by the sunlight from the wide open windows made me shut my eyes in pain.I groaned lowly, and the burning sensation in my eyes.“Nazlynn?” Luca call
Since Elena told me those words, I haven't been able to speak, and I also haven't slept a wink. Maybe it was the fear that I would try to harm myself again, but my lips seemed to have been glued shut. I couldn't speak, I could only get a small quantity of food down after a long time of trying. “Hey,” Luca greeted cheerily as he entered the room with a box full of my favourite chocolates.I waited to feel the excitement I would usually feel at the sight of that yellow label, but I couldn't. There was nothing.He's done this for the past two days when he comes back in the evenings. Two days. That's how long it had been since I found out I tried to harm myself in my semi asleep semi awake state.I smiled thankfully at him as he approached me. I closed my eyes as he leaned in closer to place a kiss on my forehead. Luca had avoided kissing me on the lips since that day. That day when I had drawn back from his attempt to kiss me. You would expect the repulsed look on my face to have thro
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