BIANCA'S POV"How?" That was the only word I could manage to say. I doubted she was gonna say anything to me, but to my surprise, she did. Even though she had started in a very confusing manner, I was glad she still did."I thought it was going to be a thing of a few days, but somehow, she stayed at the hospital longer than I had imagined. The first week, the second week, and third week, and I had not seen my mother. I finally mustered the courage to ask Mr Fernando about mom, and all he said was that she was gonna remain in the hospital for a long time, with the look of things." She paused, looking far off as she reminisced the past. I could see those tears clouding her eyes again, but I knew better than to say a word. If I did, those tears would come pouring out, and I really wanted to avoid that. I looked around the executive lounge where I had been successfully able to take her, so we could have our discussion in a somewhat calm and private manner. "Knowing Mr Fernando was already
MANUEL'S POV"You hadn't an idea?""Like I said, this batch of employees were selected strictly based on merit. I made sure that only people who were best qualified for the job got it. If Ricardo Fernando was good enough for the job, then I'm impressed." Alexander smiled. "Rich kids these days, normally have an empty brain.""I would agree to that." I nodded. "But it's clear Honourable Fernando offered us this contract because he felt we were of help to his son.""And.... why are you saying that?" Alex gave me that pointed look of his. "Don't tell me you feel sorry for taking the contract from Ferrari?" He said in disbelief, and I could only hang my head low. "Atimes, I don't just get you. Francesca is supposed to be happy for you! If she really cares about you and sees some sort of future with you, then your success is supposed to be her success as well. Or is there something I'm missing?""There is nothing you're missing Alex." I sighed. "Francesca could be quite difficult to unders
BIANCA'S POV The grin on my face when my boss had told me he was sending me to his cousin's office, was as wide as anything anyone could imagine. It had been two weeks since I last saw Manuel when he paid a visit to my boss. Now, I had the opportunity to be at his office again, and I felt excited."You should get going immediately." My boss said. "I would love for him to send a response today, so the files have to get to him on time.""Okay sir." I nodded, before stepping out of his office. I guess I was lucky because I had worn the new dress my mama had gifted me just yesterday. Quickly applying some more lipstick to my mouth, I picked up my files and the handbag, and made my way out of the office. I decided to follow the stairs, rather than the elevator, so I could breeze in and out of Laura's office. I also wanted to know if she was fine. Just today, the list of names of the just promoted employees had been released and somehow, Ricardo was part of them. I wasn't surprised though.
BIANCA'S POV "Biancaaa..." Laura groaned as she tossed and turned on my bed. "I wish I can remain here for the rest of the week. I don't want to go to work anymore. I don't want to see anyone. I think we should both rebel." She suddenly sat up on the bed, folding her leg into themselves. I felt like a mess, but seeing her hair all spiked up in different angles, with her large doe eyes looking through the equally big and thick frames she wore, made me burst into laughter. "You're weird." She muttered, having no idea what made me laugh so hard."Oh, Laura! You have no idea." My laughter imcreased. "You look like medusa right now." Hearing me say that, she quickly rose to her feet and walked to the mirror on the wall of my room. "Urrgghhh!" She groaned, making me laugh again. "How come I look more pathetic than you do? I thought we were both suffering?""Well, I'm suffering from heartbreak. You on the other hand, are suffering from the fear of the suffering and excessive work that Rica
MANUEL'S POVI looked at my wrist watch again and again, excited about the suprise I had planned out for Francesca today. If only Alexander knew that the suprise I had finally settled on, was a certain statement he had made as a joke. Yeah right! I was going to wed my fiancee today. Or rather, tomorrow. The flight from Italy to Moscow was roughly a 7 hours flight, which means my men and Francesca would get here by dawn. I know anyone who hears this might be wondering and asking themselves why anyone would do something so spontaneous. Well, since Francesca's father wasn't ready to let go of his daughter, I had to do it the hard way. Moreover, I was very sure Francesca wouldn't turn down the request once she realized how serious the situation was. Francisco Ferrari had no idea know what was coming for him. This would be me killing two birds with a stone. I would be finally getting married to the woman I wanted, and also making the Ferraris and Russos allies. If I married Francesca, the
BIANCA'S POV When I opened my eyes to see the 4 men around me, I screamed in horror. So it wasn't a dream? It was real. Indeed, I had been kidnapped last night. I looked all over my body to make sure I was in one piece, and that these rugged looking men had done nothing to me. "Madame, you could make things easier by remaining quiet please." One of the men spoke to me, and I found myself calmly nodding at his requests. For all I knew, I was alone with them on this.... on this.... I suddenly looked around the room to see that it no longer looked like the bus they had thrown me into last night. This looked like a plane. Bit by bit, I started recalling all that happened the previous night. I hadn't stopped yelling and screaming..... suddenly I felt a stronghold on me, I couldn't breathe anymore. It was as if they had been trying to suffocate me. Slowly, it made sense. I finally figured out what had they done to me, because I had passed out. They had made me inhale something that was de
MANUEL'S POV It wasn't like I wasn't remorseful or sorry for the emotional turmoil I had caused her, but I was too shocked to even calculate my thoughts or manage my anger. I had spent the passed hour or so, making series of calls. And it wasn't just about my cousin's personal assistant being here under a mistaken identity, it was also about the raid that had taken place yesterday. I was so furious listening to the feedbacks from Massimo, but was more furious when the call had just disconnected while he was still trying to explain all that had transpired. Now, I didn't know the full story, but a lot of our men were injured. The one that got me so mad was when he said uncle Alexander had been shot on the arm. A whole lot of things were going through my head, making me reluctant to stop her from walking away in anger. I was not in the right frame of mind to make her calm down. I also couldn't explain the situation of things to her, because she had no business knowing what the Russo fa
BIANCA'S POV Travel ban. That was the last thing we had talked about before he disappeared on me, leaving me alone in this big island. For 7 days, I had been here with just a few men and Eleanor. Turns out Eleanor was actually a sweet lady. She was the one who had managed to save me from the boredom that would have consumed me. I had not come on the island with my phone or any gadgets, so I didn't have any idea what was going on outside the island. According to Manuel, the travel ban was supposed to be for just a week, then I'd be able to go home. I had not stopped asking myself why it had to be now of all times. Why so suddenly was a ban implemented, restricting people from coming in and going out of Russia? Manuel had explained that reasons were due to infiltration of some enemy forces into the country. All I knew was that I missed my parents and wanted to be with them. I had never imagined I would miss work so much, but now I did. I missed my boss as well. Atleast, I'm sure Man
MANUEL'S POV I watched as she played in the soft sand, turning around so fast that I feared she was gonna get dizzy. Her hair shone so beautifully under the sun, making me want to run my hand through it. Oh, my wife was beautiful. I noticed she gently sat on the sand, but I couldn't really see her face. She was probably exhausted from all the fun. "Baby!!" She called out to me, signaling me with her hand, to come over to where she sat. I stood up from the soft sand where I had been lying on, and lazily walked up to her. My shirt was completely unbuttoned and my abs were pretty much on full display for her to see. I hoped she was going to see it though. The whole day, I had been trying to get her to notice me, but it didn't seem like she was. Instead she had been busy with the rest of my family, talking about God knows what. Now that she had come to this secluded part of the beach, I was hoping she'd noticed me and we could run into one of these beach houses for a quickie, but
MANUEL'S POV We came back from the hospital, and I found it difficult to smile. That witch doctor; Luigi, just ruined our plans. What did he mean by 'she is not in the right state to travel long distance'? "Baby stop frowning. I'm also not happy that our plans were spoilt." Bianca pouted. "So, we wouldn't be able to..." "Is that trip more important than my health?" She cut me off, and I shook my head in negation. "Exactly." She sighed. "We have to be more careful for the sake of our baby. After this baby is born, we would have many more weeks to elope together and spend some quality time alone. For now, we have to remain home with the rest of the family, taking care of this little angel." She pouted, rubbing her belly lazily. I released a sigh and nodded in agreement. She was right after all. Our baby came first. After I got discharged from the hospital, we decided to wait two more weeks for the shock of uncle Dante's death to get lighter, before we travel to Moscow. When
BIANCA'S POV We were all silent for the next couple of seconds, everyone looking at each other. What the fuck did we just hear? We heard it all, and I couldn't for the life of me, understand how one person could be so evil. This was outright wickedness! I looked at Francesca and her face was as blank as sheet. I wasn't suprised. The poor lady had been suffering in silence all these while. Meanwhile, the same man she called 'father', was responsible for her mother's death. How could a human being even have the heart to do such? To perpetrate such evil? "There is no time to waste!" Alexander suddenly called our attention. "The men I sent, would have probably gotten to the warehouse already. But as we can all see, there are more people we have to save. Please, we need to get to uncle Dante and his family right now." "Call him already." I rushed out, sweat breaking out on my forehead. "On it!" We all looked up to see Matteo and Tommaso by the doorstep. Tell me they had been he
MANUEL'S POV I blinked furiously as I came back to consciousness. I looked around the dark room and frowned. Where was I? The next minute, I tried to get up and walk, but nothing. Rather, no movement. Why the hell couldn't I move my body?! I wanted to talk, but realized I couldn't. Nothing was shutting my lips, I could feel it. So why then, couldn't I talk? Slowly, the events of earlier flooded my mind, and I found my anger intensifying. What the fuck was this about? Who had taken me, and what did they want? I continued trying to struggle in the dark room, but to no avail. I literally couldn't even move my muscles, I felt like a vegetable. Fuck! I was in deep shit, because that was when I realized what was going on with my body. I may have been shot a high dose of sedative, now I couldn't feel my body. The moment I realized what situation I found myself, I quit struggling and waited for whomever had taken me, to show up. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, waiting for th
BIANCA'S POV "Massimo." I muttered in disbelief. How??? How was all he just told me possible? I thought he... I never knew that the lady he talked about was Francesca. Oh, my world! I felt soooo sorry for him. How could a human being be so unfeeling and selfish? How could she think to keep Massimo's baby away from him and try to pin it on my own man?! I was literally going crazy here. "I know! I messed up and I'm sorry. But I couldn't keep it inside anymore. The guilt was eating me up, and after the attack on my life yesterday, I..." "Massimo, you are not guilty of anything!" I yelled out, hoping I would be able to put that deep into his senses. "You are not guilty!" I repeated. "You fell in love with a woman who doesn't value love or bond. For all we care, Manuel was no longer with her when you finally acted on your feelings for her, and that was only because she seduced you. And what is this attack you just spoke of? Massimo, is all well?" "How can all be well?" He looke
FRANCESCA'S POV 5 YEARS AGO "I miss you mom." I sighed deeply, my hands on the gravestone that had her name boldly encrusted on it. "I miss you so much, even if it's been so many years already. I feel so alone all the time, hoping someone would finally fill that space." I sighed hopefully. Maybe one day, I would finally have such a person in my life. That person who would never be okay seeing me shed a tear. That person who would always be there for me, no matter what. That person who would love me unconditionally. Seeing that I was already thinking far off, I sighed and gave an apology. "I'm sorry mom." I smiled. "I know that today is just supposed to be for us to spend quality time together. Here." I dropped the chrysanthemums on her gravestone. "I brought your favourite flowers, freshly picked by the florist just this morning. It's afternoon already, so it is not soooo fresh anymore." I chuckled at my own words. This felt lonely, but satisfying at the same time. I sighed and
MASSIMO'S POV I woke up so late in the morning, feeling extremely tired. There wasn't a doubt that the recent happenings had really drained a lot of strength from me. I hadn't even had the time to see Francesca lately. We last saw each other about a week ago, when she said she was going to be at her father's place for the next week. That simply meant seeing her was going to be much difficult. I groaned in frustration, realizing she was the first person I thought about after waking up. And it drove me crazy because, I couldn't even tell what we were doing! Our relationship wasn't defined and I didn't want to complain about the fact that she was showing me any form of commitment, because I was scared I would lose her completely. If being in this undefined relationship was what worked best for her, I'd try to work with it. But for how long? I didn't know how long I was gonna be able to keep hiding what we shared. I knew we both shared something, we were beginning connect with each o
THIRD PERSON'S POV He spotted her the moment she stepped out of the gigantic gates of the Ferrari mansion, walking towards his car in that skimpy skirt that didn't go lower than her mid thighs. The designers crop top she had been putting on, did little to hide the slender curves of her waist. He hated that other men had to see her this way as well, but could do nothing about it. He wasn't her fiancee, neither did he have any right to question her dress sense. He had been pretty much swallowed by his thoughts that he failed to realize when she had gotten to the car. Her tap on the window glass had pulled him back to the present. He quickly unlocked the car doors, making it possible for her to pull open the front passenger's seat and hop in. "Good afternoon Miss Francesca." He greeted. "Hello Massimo." She gave him a small smile that made his heart do a silly flip. He quickly pulled his eyes away from her and focused back on the road as he drove off. The Don had asked him to br
MANUEL'S POV "Don't goooo!!" She whined, making me smile. "I miss you alreadyyyy." My wife could be a big baby sometimes. "I would be back before you know it." I smiled. "Come here and give me a kiss." I walked closer to the bed and bent down for a kiss. She pouted in mock annoyance, before finally giving in and kissing me. While she kissed me, her hands snaked around my neck, holding me very close to her. We broke off the kiss and she still refused to let go. "Babe?" I muttered. "I need to leave now, don't want to keep my men waiting." "I'm sorry." She pulled away, looking a bit distraught. "I don't even know what is wrong with me. Crazy hormones." She sighed. "But I do not like the way you look. If you insist I should remain home, then I would." "No no no!" She rushed out. "Not at all. You don't need to do that. All you just have to do is go and come back to me in one piece. I'm just naturally worried because nowhere seems safe for us anymore, and my senses feel more he