ALESSANDRO Long after Farrah falls asleep, I stare at her with my hand on her tummy, my three sons moving inside her. They do that every night when she's sleeping. I smile. I hope it's not an indication of what's to come. I read that they tend to sleep during the day because the mother is moving more, lulling them to sleep. I've never been so equally happy and terrified in all my life. I'm scared something will happen to Farrah and the babies every single second of every minute of every hour. I've just lost my parents in the blink of an eye. What if all the bad deeds, all the people I've hurt and killed, what if all that somehow comes back to me and steals the one person I don't see myself living without? A now familiar ache starts in my chest as I think of my mother and father. I can still taste the fear on my tongue as I saw my mother lying in an alley in a pool of her own blood, barely breathing. I should've known then that I wouldn't find my father in a better condition, y
ALESSANDRO I get up at the crack of dawn, reluctantly pushing Farrah's leg from mine. This house is not as luxurious as the ones I usually stay in because my enemies wouldn't expect me to hide my family in this neighborhood. I know for a fact that the lower rungs of the mafia think I'm out of touch with what's happening in the streets. And maybe I am because I'm done doing business there. Maybe I should just hand the mafia over to Mattia. He wants it after all. But if I do that, my deal with the FBI will be null and void. They want one less mafia family to deal with, and just handing over the reins to my uncle is not going to do that. I need to squash his need to rule in the city and direct him back to where he came from. And I need to keep him the fuck away from Farrah. He seems to want everything I do, and dangling the information that Raquel is my side-piece in front of him only confirmed that. I wouldn't touch Raquel even if she was the last woman on earth. She's spoilt and
FARRAH "Why couldn't we hide on a tropical island?" Phoebe moans at the breakfast table. "Greece was really cool. We could've gone somewhere where it's summer." I roll my eyes at her. "Spoilt much? You sound a little like Raquel." She pulls a face like I poured sour milk into her cereal. "Do not make that comparison ever again. I'm going to have to wash my ears out." I can't help but smirk. "I thought you liked her. She has a lot of Instagram followers, remember? " "In case you haven't noticed." Phoebe points her spoon at me. "My followers are steadily climbing. Last week, I got a death threat from a girl who told me to leave Kevin alone or that she would stab me in the vagina." "That can't be good." Alma places a plate with steaming hashbrowns, eggs, and sausages in front of me. "This is just the start." Phoebe shrugs. "Once Kevin goes pro, things will probably get worse." The culprit in question joins us and steals a hashbrown from my plate with a dimpled smile. Alma swats a
ALESSANDRO The proverbial cat is out of the bag. Yesterday, I sent Simon, the guy who covered my wedding, a tip-off that there might be suspicious activity looking a lot like human trafficking to me. I didn't expect it to make it to the actual news. Simon has a lot more pull than I thought. So now, I wait. Whittle will reach out to me sooner rather than later. He needs me to sign those purchase papers, or else he's going down the drain. I've been coming up with reasons why I'm not signing, always finding something in the contract I wanted to go over again, waiting for him to confess. What the hell was the guy thinking anyway? Did he think his illegal business would go on right under my nose after I bought the majority of his company's shares? After I take over all the operations? How stupid could he be? I rub my eyes as I lean back in my office chair. I love working corporate, and I have a talent to scout promising startups and invest in them. There have been times that some of
ALESSANDRO "You owe me!" At this point, I'm pretty sure that Edward Whittle is going to have a heart attack right here in my office. He better not keel over and die before he gives me that damn confession. I lift my eyebrows in surprise. "I don't owe you anything, Edward, and all I'm asking is for full disclosure of a company you expect me to pay twenty-three million dollars for. As you can imagine, that kind of money isn't just lying around." Defeat crosses over Whittle's expression, and he walks over to the couch and sinks onto it, his head falling in his hands. "What's really going on, Edward?" I prompt calmly, moving to sit next to him. I rest my hand in comfort on his shoulder. My skin burns where it touches him, disgust for the high-class addict searing through me, but I breathe through it. This is what I have to do in order to keep my family safe. "I fucked up." He starts sniffing, and I realize he's crying. I squeeze his shoulder in the act of support when, in reality,
I slick one of the younger members in the mafia to follow Whittle. The guy sounded surprised when I called him. He's currently a freshman at the same university Farrah attended, but right now, I don't know who to trust, and the younger generation at least has respect for me. I don't have time to follow the bastard with the satellite technology I usually use. I have one more fish to fry. My heart aches as I stop opposite the safehouse, knowing that my reason for breathing is inside, probably fuming by now. She hates being kept out of the loop, but I'd rather her be mad than be in danger. It doesn't matter how safe I'm being, there are still always the possibility that someone is following me. Thomas being an absolute badass, doesn't even come from the safehouse's direction. He comes walking down the sidewalk as if he's coming from somewhere totally different, wearing a hoodie that conceals his face. The only way I recognize him is from his bodybuild. I unlock the door, and he slide
ALESSANDRO My apartment is quiet as I lean back in my office chair and look out the window at the city lights. This doesn't feel like my home anymore. Looking back, maybe it never did. It was a place where I slept and got dressed and occasionally ate. I've never had a woman over to spend the night, I never wanted them to get any ideas. Farrah was the first. She's the first and only in so many things. My hands are itching to touch her smooth skin, to caress the tiny bump that is housing our babies. She's probably slapping or maybe stabbing me the next time I see her. It's almost the new year, and there is nowhere I'd rather be than by her side, so I have to squash the cockroaches before then. I only have a few days left. My phone ringing halts my thoughts, and Enzo's name flashes on the screen. He's currently stationed at one of the clubs because I thought we didn't need any more bodyguards. Guess the joke is on me. "Enzo, to what do I owe the pleasure." I check the time on the
ALESSANDRO Blood rushes to my ears as I run from the office, the employees on the floor staring at me in confusion. I vaguely hear Ray calling me, but I only have one mission. Get to the hospital. I've never felt panic like this in my life. Not even when I found my mother bloodied and beaten, or my father dead. It feels like my wedding band is burning a circle on my finger as I drive like a maniac, the other drivers laying on their horns and surely swearing at me. But I don't care. Farrah is bleeding, and that can't mean anything good. I want those babies like my next breath. They've become a manifestation of my love for her. One wasn't enough to demonstrate how much she means to me. It had to be three. Prayers spill from my lips, I ask my mother and father to look out for my family if they're out there. If something happens to Farrah, everything I've done would have been for nothing. I'm nothing without her. I don't want to live in a world where she's not in it. Thomas is s