ALESSANDRO'S POV

Paper, paper and paper. I played with the pet between my fingers as I read through more files.

Apparently in the last few days, I've missed a lot. About sixteen ships have been delayed which I had to set new dates for their arrival. Since I've sent Dante for a little road trip, Emilion has been coming in and out of my office. Whenever I finish signing off papers and contracts, he gets in and sends them away. Usually I have my men for these tasks but no one is allowed in this house, plus everyone is busy training for the upcoming war.

War, the word spread around my head, making me realize how close we're getting to this battle. My grandparents will fly here in three days along with the irritating Abran. My eyes widened and my lips fell apart. How could I forget about this.

Eleven years, out of business, no children, Abran. It all hit me at once, my mind froze. Akila is supposed to be the queen of the Mexican Mafia.

It all makes sense now, everything settled in place as my mind tried to gather all the new—old information. That means if she makes an appearance they will take her away and force leadership upon her. If she makes any public return, she won't have a choice. She is the only right heir for the Mexican Mafia. I see now what her grandfather did. The Mexican mafia never had a female leader and since her idiotic father cared only about his love, he let it all spilt under his watch.

My body tensed at that thought, how could a father let go of his daughter, knowing she's getting abused day by day. My jaw clenched and I tried my best to push the subject away before I take my jet and fly to Mexico which will end up with tears shed on Gerardo's dead body, laying next to his father.

Emilion walked in at the perfect time for distraction. "What are you having for lunch?" He asked, placing more papers on my desk. I lifted my chin up and looked him in the eyes when he easily read my anger.

"May I ask" he spoke again, standing still in his place. I replied with a no and he sighed. It's not my place to tell anyone Akila's story. Hell, it took her half a year to tell me.

"Take a seat" my words took him by surprise but he responded quickly and sat down in front of me. I took a deep breath and said, "So how's things between you and Kira" His mouth fell open at my sudden question while I couldn't hold back a smirk.

"Uh—um we are doing great" he stuttered, running a hand through his hair. "Damn man, you seriously have crazy mood swings" he finished with a chuckle which I followed.

"But yeah, it is amazing you know. I like her a lot and I enjoy telling myself she likes me just as much" he blushed at the end of his sentence. I can't believe what I'm seeing. "Oh don't look at me like that, should have seen yourself with Akila in that hallway" before he could take back what he said, the words already rang around the room, breaking into the walls.

He looked up, searching for any rage he might had caused and I guess his shoulders relaxed when he didn't find any.

Hell like I could deny a letter he just said. Even if I try, my actions are much more clear—exposed than some ridiculous lies I could come up with.

Emilion's eyes fixed on me until I finally shrugged. "Wow" he mumbled to himself, pulling his stare away. "Right" I found myself sharing his shock. My gaze sank between my joined fingers as silence grew louder around us.

"Are you guys together?" I shot my head up, not believing Emilion actually had the courage to ask me that question. I broke our little eye contact. I saw fear trembling in his eyes. "You can call it that"

"Oh. My. God" he screamed in the air before jumping out of the chair like a nut case.

I looked him up and down, watching him circle the room for the third time with both his hands on each side of his head. His hair now is a total mess due to his need to jump. His hands finally left his head and rested in his hips, "I owe Armandro a very sweet gentle slap" his voice filled with excitement, I got confused for a second then understood what he's talking about.

"You guys made a bet off me and Akila's relationship?"

He froze in place, unable to find the right answer. I cocked my eyebrow and tapped my leg on the floor impatiently. "I-well yes and no" this did not please me. He took note of the change of my expressions and continued, "We didn't sit down and rambled about you two. God, no. But Armando did challenge me into something" the bastard in front of me swallowed loudly and opened his filthy mouth again, "it was the night she left, he got so frustrated with the whole situation and you know how he had some issues with her. Anyways, I tried to calm him down saying you will be fine when he swore you guys would never work it out. He gave me the full right to slap the hell out of him if things got fixed and here we are"

Armando is not just getting slapped. After Emilion's pathetic story, I kicked him out of my office. If I'm being honest, I'm not even that mad. I mean, he had a point.  I was pretty miserable back then but now she's here and that's all that matters.

I shake my head in disapproval. Idiots. I checked the times and it's currently three in the afternoon. I heard my stomach groan, yelling at me for only eating breakfast since the morning. I drank a cappuccino a few hours ago so I don't know why it's complaining.

Following what my body wanted, I dialled Adriano's number. Something about food always makes him happy.

His voice against my ears pushed my thoughts away as I spoke, "Pick something for dinner, I'm starving" another groan left my stomach. Are you kidding me? What am I doing right now?

I ran a hand down my face, all this work is slowly driving me insane. "It's about time you ask. Let's see" I could picture his finger tapping the end of his chin while thinking about something. It's a thing Adriano often does.

Julia's voice came on the line as she asked what Adriano was doing. He told her we are looking for dinner when I heard her gasp before whispering something to him. Well isn't that lovely.

Knowing Adriano probably has me on speaker, I took advantage of Julia listening and said, "Julia, you really think I can't hear you?" She started making weird ass noises and excused herself. That was random.

I pulled the phone away for my ear to check the date. It makes sense now. 

[V]

After my useless call with Adriano, I decided to figure out dinner when it's dinner time. Now it's turning seven and I still have no idea what to do about it. I got distracted with work which turned out I had to leave tomorrow for some business meeting with a car company in northern Italy. I haven't visited my company in a while but I guess my workers are used to that. I leave the small work for Dante or Emilion and sit here deal with my mafia. Man, a lot of people think running a mafia is just about getting rich and killing people. We leaders like to invest our money in clubs, casinos, hotels, restaurants, not forgetting the constant marking territory for the new assassins in town. Plus, the little fights we get into when two immature men mess with each other during a shipment. One of them pushes the other to the edge, then you turn both sides in a blood bath. In those conditions, the leader of these groups are forced to show their faces and that goes against their laws. These groups live behind bars, between dark alleys and sometimes underground. They're the type of people who want to work on the illegal side without joining the mafia nor getting caught by the police. I would be lying if I said we have any sort of police connections, growing up when my father ruled the empire, he hated the cops so he built more pressure on his men to not leave any evidence they can find to use against us and if one of us get caught, we leave him behind to his faith. He taught them to work in between shadows, made sure everyone deeply understood that no matter your loyalty to the mafia, if you go down, you go down alone.

Growing up, I disagreed with him. He didn't care about these men, never showed sympathy for their wives, their children. However, when I took over I started to comprehend it often. Not as cruel but the point is a win or lose trope. The cops are nothing but a pain in the ass that last longer than it should. They walk  with these rock-headed minds, believing what they're told with no questions. It always fascinated me how once in a while they test us. The station sends these dreadful agents to visit my houses and check for anything. They know who I am, they know what my name stands for but here's the thing, how could you hold someone prisoner, guilty with no real evidence. Many times we would be chasing down men who stole our money or guns when a police car is parked on the sidewalk yet what are they going to do, we have access to all cameras around Italy.

I snapped my head up at the door bursting open. I almost threw some hands and stopped when Akila stood in the door frame. My heart raced down slowly as I took a deep breath. I saw her lips twitch into a smirk before she made her way towards me. I rose to my feet uncontrollably, chills ran down my arms the closer she got.

She stood in front of me, putting me right in my place with her eyes pierced to my soul. Only my desk was situated between us and it took every nerve in my body not to break it.

She brought her hand in the air and moved it closer to my body until it hit my chest and pushed me down on my chair.

I was too stunned to speak, so I stared at her leg crawling up my desk. She separated her thighs and sat down right in front of me. Her knees brushed against my forearms as she sat comfortably. Her face was at the same level as mine while her hands rested on the edge of the wood. She wore a black shirt with black jean shorts. I found my eyes travelling down her widely opened legs when a chuckle escaped her lips.

I cleared my throat and met her eyes. She's loving this. Her brown locks moved lightly in her ponytail due to the air rushing through the opened window. Right now, this looks unreal. She looks unreal. So magical and heavenly, almost sinful for the human eyes.

"Hey you" her voice snapped me out of my body and some feeling hovered my entire body. "You came" I managed to say. I knew she would come eventually. It's been the only thing keeping me going through this day. It would get very difficult to focus when everything leads to her.

"I like to keep my words" a hint of her dimples caught my eyes as she spoke something I didn't catch. I heard a snap and shifted my eyes back on her. She laughed softly, shaking her head.

I watched silently her body vibrate in laughter. Every inch of her attracts me, any small movement receives all of my attention. If there's more I could give her, god I would give her my own lungs to breath.

My hands sneaked around her hips, I made sure my grip was tight enough and pushed her on me. Her legs hooked around my waist while her arms wrapped on my neck as she sat on my lap. She punched my shoulder. I totally deserved it. I whispered an 'ouch' in her ear, leaving my warm breath to create chills upon the side of her neck. I smiled at the view before she caught me and punched me again. Yes. I totally deserve it.

I moved a hair out of her face and looked at her. We locked eyes for a moment, taking in each other's. Her eyes held so much life, curiosity. They shine so bright, making her whole face much more beautiful than it already is, if that's possible.

She took a deep breath before leaning on me, digging her head in my neck. My hand reached her hair and played with it making sure not to hurt her. I placed a soft kiss on the side of her head and twirled her long strands between my fingers. "I've missed you"

Air got stuck in my throat, my voice lost its own melody as her words travelled deeper in my mind. It's the way she said it, the softness in her tone, telling me she truly and genuinely did. I relaxed my body against her and sighed. "I've missed you so much more"

Her head left my neck and her face rose a few inches away from mine. Her features dropped into a sharp serious look and said, "Did you tell anyone about us"

Am I in trouble?

I swallowed, feeling my hands create a weird texture out of nervousness. "Yes" I said through my teeth, unsure how she would reach. "Who?" Her question calmed me down in a way yet didn't help unease the worst case scenarios. "Emilion if that counts. He came in my office this morning and I asked about him and Kira when the idiot started blushing" I stopped to get any reaction from her, she gave me a hm so I continued. "Then I looked at him ridiculously when he mentioned how I look at you" I spoke honestly, crossing my fingers she doesn't get upset about it. I can't handle her not talking to me again.

"I see" her answer didn't shut down my nerves, she saw the hint of hesitation on my face and fell silent which didn't help those nerves. So should I apologize?

I avoided eye contact, planning an apology in my head and before I was able to say anything, she cut me off, "I'm not mad just so you know, but I have to admit it is kind of weird. I've never been in a relationship nor had this sort of human connection with anyone but if I were to choose anyone in this whole wide world Alessandro, it will always be you"

"So no. I'm not upset with you, I'll never be. I don't think I can be. Something about your annoying face and the way you look at me makes it impossible. It gets frustrating sometimes but I'll let that split because you have a handsome face"

She lightly poked my dimples caused by the smile I didn't know formed on my face and started losing her grip around my waist.

Aside from the way her words affected me, I felt nothing more vivid than pure chock. My heart hurts, so badly she became my only way of surviving.

She made it on the ground again, fixing her clothes and walked to the door. "Where are you going" my own body surprised me, the way I managed to talk and push through what she just said is something I'll never get used to. I don't think, I'm sure I'll never be able to normally push through those words. I'll never be able to forget them, or let them fade away somewhere away from me. They'll always stay near and close to me, so close so dearly to my heart. My heart that's laying in the palm of her hand, waiting for directions, her attention, her love.

"We are taking a shower then will get you something to eat" she said, pulling the door open and standing there waiting for me. She is waiting for ME.

[ VOTE•COMMENT•SHARE  ]