Madam Bardi stepped up to the door, and before she could knock, she heard humming. Smirking as she listened to the tune, she thought, ‘Not bad, little girl, but I wonder how long you can keep this up.’She knocked on the door and opened it. Looking ahead, she locked eyes with Daphnee.Daphne’s eyes widened in surprise, then confusion. “Can I help you with something?”Madam Bardi walked in and closed the door behind her. She smiled at Daphnee, saying, “Oh child, don’t be so on guard. I’m just here to visit my granddaughter and her mother.”Daphnee was holding her daughter, and she almost slipped out of her arms. She didn’t expect to see her mother-in-law this time of the night. She placed her daughter down between her legs and sat up. “Madam Bardi? I thought you weren’t coming?”Madam Bardi was beautiful with her long salt and pepper hair, more salt than pepper. The smile on her face was mysterious and cunning and her eyes told no lies, she knew too much for any human. She wore a long
Sitting in a cafe with casual clothes on and a hood covering his head, Raffael stared out of the window with a profound look on his face. His gaze trailed back to the documents in front of him about Daphnee. ‘I don’t understand this. How is she capable of doing all of this with no background in this life? She’s become capable so soon?’ He thought. The door to the cafe opened, followed by a bell. Looking up, he saw it was Dante, dressed in casual wear as well, and he made his way over. Dante stopped beside the table and looked at him. He was about to speak, but his gaze drifted to the paperwork on the table and he saw a picture of Daphnee and Angelica together. Picking the picture up, he frowned and stared at it. This picture shouldn’t be more than a few days old, as Daphnee had gotten her hair cut into a bob after she was discharged from the hospital. And Angelica? Isn’t she supposed to be dead? “Dante, have a seat before you ask me questions,” he said. Dante took the seat in
Alessandro arrived, and he looked like he had aged quite a bit. Stopping in front of the table with food on it, he looked at his buddies. He had been wondering what this was about, but now it seemed like all they were here for was to eat.He sighed as he sat down. As the two looked at him and he said, “You called me out here to eat?”Dante nodded his head, “The two of you have been working hard, so I thought I’d treat you to lunch.”Alessandro looked at the burger that was brought over and the drink. He nodded his head and placed a fry in his mouth, then forced a smile, “If you really want to treat me to something, I want to go back to working for you.”Dante's, and Raffael’s eyes met, wondering why he would say that. Raffael was the one who snapped out of his thoughts and asked, “Why, what’s going on?”Picking up his drink, he looked at his friend and said, “Why don’t you try working with Daphnee for a week? She’s worse than her husband.”Dante raised a brow. “What is she doing that
Dante arrived with the two at the park Daphnee and her children were at. In the parking space, they could see Daphnee playing with the two children by the seesaw, laughing to her heart’s content.The world around him seemed to slow down as he watched them. The son he never met before knew Daphnee so well, but yet him?He knew nothing.“Mommy?” Giovanni suddenly called his mother.“Yes, baby?” She answered.“Who?” He asked, pointing behind her.Aurora squealed when she saw it was Dante. Jumping for joy, she almost made a run for him, but Daphnee grabbed her arm.When Aurora looked at her mother, the look in her eyes warned her to stay put, and she couldn’t understand it. She was with Dante every day; he wasn’t a stranger to her.Her eyes started tearing up and she looked at her brother for him, but Giovanni was hiding behind their mother.Daphne sighed when she saw Dante, but expected this, especially since Alessandro told her she was with him.She looked down at her son, then at Gabri
A/N: I messed up around chapter 50. So the twins are 3 in age and Dante and Daphnee have known each other for 7 years. Dante meets the children a few months before their 4th birthday. So Raffael has been investigating Daphnee for almost 3 years after seeing her at the hospital’s back entrance. (I’ll fix this on a later date)—Dante snapped back to earth as he heard a little voice speaking to him. He looked to his left, where Giovanni was standing beside him.“Uh, what did you say?” Dante asked him.Giovanni stared at him for a moment, then repeated, “Open, please.”Dante looked at the packet of chips, then took it. Handing it back to him, he watched as Giovanni went back to his mother and plopped down in between her legs.Daphnee kissed him on the cheek, then went back to eating the chicken salad she bought.Feeling a stare on her, she turned to Dante and asked, “Aren’t you going to have anything?”“I ate before coming here,” he answered.“Daddy, you not hungry?” She asked as she han
“It’s laughable seeing you just sleep like that,” Dante said.Something had been assaulting her nose. It was a strange smell. She knew the scent but couldn’t pinpoint where she knew the smell from. She was slowly waking up when she heard his words.Opening her eyes, everything was hazy. Her head was pounding and as her gaze focussed on her husband before her, she saw he was shirtless staring at her and the look in his eyes wasn’t friendly at all.‘When last did I see that look in his eyes? Ah, it was back then when they caught me,’ she thought.“What did you do to me? My body feels like shit,” she asked him.His jaw ticked. He made his way behind her and sat her up on the bed.Daphnee looked around, figuring out that she was in the guest room from the decorations.Looking down at her hands, she saw they were tied together. Sighing, she asked, “What are you up to now?”Dante knelt between her legs, spreading them apart, and looked up at her. “What am I up to? Why don’t you try guessing
An hour before Daphnee woke up…“Where’s mommy?” Giovanni asked.Dante was sitting on the living room floor with the children, watching them play with Aurora’s toys.She was showing her brother all the toys she had here and speaking to him with excitement.Giovanni didn’t seem phased because he didn’t like none of the pink stuffed toys and doll houses along with all the babies and dolls.“Mommy’s sleeping,” he said.Giovanni stared at Dante, unsure. He understood he had a ‘daddy’ but now to see him and be with him for so long, he didn’t know what to do or how to act, especially with his mother not being around.“Can I go home now? I’m tired,” he said.Aurora looked at her brother, then at their father and found it confusing. Their mother would never leave Giovanni here.She got up and went to Dante, who smiled at her, “Daddy, are you and mommy fighting again?”“Fighting? No baby, we’re not,” he said.She looked at her brother, then looked in the room for Alessandro or Gabriele, but th
Dante locked the door as he left. Making his way downstairs, he put on the shirt he was given by the maid. He looked at Alessandro, who walked in with Raffael behind him, asking, “Are you ready to take us to Angelica?”He nodded his head, defeated. “Yes.”“Alessandro, this is the second time you took Daphnee’s side. I hope it’s the last,” he warned him.Alessandro nodded his head. They climbed into the car that Gabriele was already waiting in and drove off.When they arrived at the house, everything seemed to be a mess.“What’s happening?” Raffael asked as he climbed out.The others followed him, with Gabriele right at the back, taking his time. Alessandro looked at the dead bodies on the floor then rushed to the door that was opened.He looked back at them, then saw that Gabriele was left behind while Dante and Raffael checked the bodies.“What did you do?” He asked.Dante and Raffael looked at Alessandro’s panicked expression, then at Gabriele’s calmed expression.Before he could an
A few months later…Giovanni and Aurora climbed into the back of a limo. Facing Aleksandr, the twins could tell that something was wrong. Aleksandr looked at Aurora, “Aren’t you going to greet me?”She smirked. “Do you seriously want to do this in front of my brother? You know he doesn’t like you.”“Cut the crap Aleks, why did you call me here? Wouldn’t it be better if it was only Aurora?”“Well, I wouldn’t call you for anything. You know we don’t get along, but I’m doing this for Aurora.”He looked at her and saw that she was confused. “So I know the story and I find it strange that your father doesn’t want to talk about it, so I did my research.”Pulling out an envelope, he handed it to Giovanni.Giovanni took the envelope cautiously and opened it. Aurora placed her hand on his. Her heart was beating incredibly fast, and she was unable to fathom what was on those papers. Looking at her brother, she shook her head. “I thought you didn’t care.”Staring at his sister, he hook his head
Aurora felt guilty from the depths of her soul and heart. She could feel that her brother was staring at her and she didn’t know if she wanted to look at him or dig a hole and die. “Why are you staring at me?” she asked as she finally got the courage to look back at him.To her surprise, Giovanni wore what seemed to be a bored expression on his face. He should be freaked out by this information, but he didn’t seem to be bothered at all. “Why do you look like you don’t care?”“It’s not that I don’t care. You’re just making a big deal about nothing. I already told you that you shouldn’t listen to those girls, but it looks like you’ll jump into a fire if they mentioned it a bunch of times.”Aurora sighed. “It’s not like that. I don’t know why, but it’s like something told me to look into it.”“And what did you get out of it? A broken heart, red eyes and me glaring at you? You even made momma cry with your stupidity! Just because you have the resources to do shit doesn’t always mean that
Aurora walked into the house with heavy steps. Suddenly, it felt like there was a heavy load on her shoulders with all the information she now knew.‘Don’t worry about it. Just forget it,’ Aleksandr told her before he dropped her off, but how could she? I dug my grave. How am I going to face them now? “Oh, you’re here?” Giovanni said as he walked out of the living room, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked at him and saw that he was typing away on his phone as he walked round shirtless and in green socks. “She’s got presents again for us. You took so damn long. I want to find out what she got us.” Walking up to him, she asked, “Why didn’t you just open yours?”“Did you forget? We always open our shit together. What’s wrong with you? Forgetting your own rules like a damn idiot.”She nodded her head as he walked away, following behind him as she put some distance between them.From head to toe, she looked at her brother. ‘How did I not see it? But how am I going to live witho
“So when are you going to be my girlfriend?” Aleksandr Novikov said as he stared across the table at Aurora, who was picking at her plate of food.Aurora glanced over at him and smiled. They had been going on dates for the past three months, getting to know one another. He was three years older than her and somewhat of a hostage in the Bardi Familia. It wasn’t a secret that Aleksandr had a thing for her. He made sure everyone knew she was untouchable.Pouting, she said, “Aleks, you know I’m not allowed to date.”He reached over the table and moved her plate to the side. Taking her hands in his, he looked into her beautiful hazel orbs saying, “And I want no one but you. I’ve spoken to your father already–”“But has he agreed? I also told you I’d consider it.”He raised a brow and squeezed her hand firmly, minding not to hurt her. “I know what we spoke about.”She smiled weakly with a shake of her head.“So tell me, what’s bothering you?”Aurora stared at him, and immediately her eyes
Ten years laterAurora stormed into the living room where fifteen-year-old Giovanni was lying on the floor eating popcorn.He looked over at his sister and saw that her eyes were red, her cheeks were swollen, and so was the skin under her eyes.He quickly sat up, asking, “Who should I kill?”She shoved her bag on the floor and walked up to him. She sat down in front of him. “Why don’t we look the same?”“What?”“Isabella said we don’t look like twins,” she said as she broke out in tears. She had been crying for so long already that her eyes were burning, but the tears just wouldn’t stop.Her heart was broken and if what they were saying was the truth–what was she going to do?He shook his head, annoyed. “Why do you still hang out with those idiots? All they do is bad mouth you when an opportunity arises and make you spend money.”“That is not the point!” She took out her phone and went to the gallery and showed a picture to him saying, “Giovanni, you look so much like daddy and I do t
Giovanni was sitting on the staircase watching his mother walk, or you could say waddle up and down the steps. Her stomach had grown over the months, but the relationship between his parents was dour.His father was home every day. He made sure to give them enough attention too but just wished things would go back to the way it was before he met his father but then again; he liked his father too.“You’re making me dizzy.”She stopped next to him and glared. “No one told you to watch me!”“I missed you,” he said.Daphnee chuckled, “You’re supposed to pay attention at school, not miss me.”Giovanni rolled his eyes. “Whatever mommy.”“Where’s your sister?” She asked.He groaned inwardly, “I left her in the playroom, she talks too much.”Daphne chuckled. She worried about him, especially the relationships between Giovanni and his father and him and his sister.Dante had told her he saw what happened that night and for about two months, his relationship with Aurora wasn’t good. They suspec
“What do you mean?”Daphne chuckled. Rolling her eyes, she walked towards her with the sound of heels clicking against the cream tiles. Backing Emelia into a corner, between a cupboard and pillar, she said, “So, there was this woman, and she decided she was going to kidnap my dear husband and take care of him in her own way. So, I killed her.”Emelia’s eyes widened. She recalled the chaos that occurred many years ago and, come to think of it, but the details, “An, Angelica–you killed Angelica?”Daphnee nodded her head slowly with a calming yet canning smile, “I did and I don’t regret it. She played so much in getting me to where I am today, but you—”Emelia pushed her away. “Oh, don’t lie. I know all about you. You killed all those men a few months ago, and that’s why Dante’s here with me. Thanks to you, I am going to b
Daphnee wiped the edges of her mouth as she came up from the toilet—disgusted and nauseous. Walking to the sink, she stared at herself in the mirror—glaring, not at herself but at the future awaiting her.Her gaze slid down to the pregnancy test tube she had just took ten minutes ago. She recalled how Dante man handled her a few weeks ago.Since that night, he didn’t show his face–never even called.The children asked about him and all the lies she spoke. She was slowly starting to believe, living in delusion.Wiping her mouth, she left the bathroom, throwing the test tube in the bin at the corner of her desk.Sitting down behind the desk, she leaned against the chair and closed her eyes as she rubbed her stomach, thinking about the little rat growing inside her womb.Her week had been miserable. She even lashed out at her children for wanting her attention
“Are they going to be okay?” Dante asked her as he watched Daphnee stroke Aurora’s hair. They ended up laying the children down on their bed because they didn’t want to leave Daphnee’s side. She gazed over at him contemplatively, asking, “What happened between the three of you?”His nostrils flared up as he took in a deep breath, recalling what the conversation was about. Rubbing his nose as he paced around the room taking off the clothes, he said, “They can tell that things aren’t okay between us. Aurora said they wanted to go out together as a family, hoping we would make up.”Daphnee raised a brow. She looked down at her children and sighed. She tried her best to not make it obvious that things weren’t well between them, but how was it possible when she herself wanted nothing to do with Dante and he–all he knew was not to come home. “Are you staying or leaving?”“Leaving,” he answered and froze. Turning to Daphnee, he looked at the children and realised that it was because he a