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~ Alessio's POV ~

"Chi era? Dove è questo cazzo? Ho finito con tutte le bugie, hai una possibilità di dirmelo o sei morto." (Who was it? I'm done with all the lying, you have one chance to tell me or you're dead.)

I held the gun to his head pressing the tip into his temple while he stared back at me. He didn't say a word so I pulled back the hammer on my gun, indicating that I wasn't going to ask him again and the next thing I'd do was pull the trigger. "Alessio-"

Before Tomasso could say whatever he was going to to try and stop me, a loud bang echoed through the room when I pulled the trigger. I heard him let out a frustrated sigh behind me and a few seconds later Diego passed me a tissue to clean up the blood that had splattered across my face. "Alessio you need to stop doing that, how the hell are we supposed to get information out of anyone if you're just going to kill them?"

"Maybe they should learn to not freaking mess with me. They know who I am, I don't show mercy to anyone. If you have a problem with that Tomasso, you can go to hell." My best friend rolled his eyes at my words before storming out of the room, leaving me with Diego and the dead guy.

"Capo, what shall I have them do with the body?" I finished wiping off the blood before tossing the tissue on the floor, my eyes focussing on the dead guy tied to the chair. "Make sure people know that if I ask them a freaking question they should tell me the answer."

Diego nodded with an unsure look on his face but at least he didn't argue with me. Not that he would have the balls to do that, he was used to dealing with Tomasso who for some reason or another has a soft spot for him. I'm sure the two of them will have a lovely bitching session later, especially with how annoyed Tomasso has been recently with the way I've been dealing with things. It's about time though, I was going soft before. I shouldn't be doing that anymore. I need to put the mafia and my family first and thats what I'm going to do.

"Alessio!" I rolled my eyes when Tomasso called me as I neared the door to my office, a pissed off expression on his face. I rose an eyebrow at him waiting for him to speak but instead he gestured for me to open the door. Obviously he couldn't take the hint that I didn't really want to let him in. Once we were both inside my office Tomasso slammed the door shut behind himself turning to face me with that familiar glare on his face. Same thing different day.

"You need to snap out of this Alessio. I know it's bad, I'm your bestfriend and I'll be here for you but you need to start acting like you again."

"I don't need your freaking sympathy Tomasso and I don't need you to tell me what to do. Get the hell out of my office." He shook his head at me as I made my way around my desk to sit down, hoping he'd just leave. But the idiot was too stubborn for that - a quality I've always admired but he doesn't need to know that.

"Alessio just listen to me, I know you better than you think. You're taking out all your anger on everyone else and that's fine, I'm freaking used to it. But it's starting to effect your work, you can't let that happen. You need to keep a clear head."

"My head's fine Tomasso." He rolled his eyes at me and took a seat opposite my desk. "With enough persuasion the last three people you killed could have told us who tried to shoot her. If you had a clear head you never would have killed them."

I let out a sigh while leaning back in my chair, wishing he would just go. "Next time why don't you interrogate them then."

"Fine." Instead of saying anything else I started sifting through the papers on my desk, deciding it was better to start working than arguing with him. But of course he wasn't done. "How is she?"

"She's fine Tomasso." My voice came out clipped and cold when I spoke but he didn't seem fazed by it in the slightest. "Your dad?"

"What do you think? Someone tried to shoot his wife. Do you ever think before you speak?" He rolled his eyes at my words, a small amused smile tugging at his lips when I said this, but it wasn't funny, and he knew it. "Tomasso I'm not in the mood for this."

"Then you need to sort yourself out, because this isn't doing us any freaking favours Alessio. You're bringing us down." A scoff escaped my lips at the tone he used and within seconds I was standing up with my gun pointed in his direction while he just sat cooly opposite me.

"I'm the damn Capo Tomasso, not you. Don't speak to me like that, bestfriend or not, I won't hesitate to put you in your damn place like everyone else." There was something different about the way this conversation played out compared to any similar ones we'd had before. There was no humour, I was dead serious and so was he.

"Go ahead Alessio, soon enough you'll be running things on your own. You've already lost Rafael, Thea and even Luciana. Keep pushing like this and you'll lose me too." I narrowed my eyes at him when he mentioned her name, completely ignoring anything else he just said to me. "Don't talk about her."

Tomasso scoffed at this and stood to his feet, a bitter smirk on his face. "Why Alessio? Feel guilty?"

"Tomasso." He rolled his eyes at my warning tone and shook his head, heading towards the door while I kept my eyes on him. "Go screw yourself Alessio."

I watched him leave my office slamming the door behind him before I threw my gun down on my desk, dropping back down on my chair with a sigh. The last couple of months have been absolute hell, this rift with Tomasso is the last thing I need. We couldn't find Giuseppe, it's like he dropped off the face of the earth. Three weeks ago someone tried to kill my mom and now all hell has broken loose. All I want to do is find the bastards that were behind it and show them how I deal with people that go after my family. But we can't find them and the longer this goes on the less patience I have, which is why I've resorted to killing anyone that pisses me off.

Then I have Tomasso trying to give me his opinion every damn day. Rafael has completely taken Daliah's side even though I'm not with Luciana anymore, so he's not speaking to me unless it's completely necessary. Not to mention Thea who hasn't spoken to me since the night she walked out of my house.

I get why she's angry, I probably should have handled the Luciana situation better. But it was true what I tried to explain to her, I just don't have time for a relationship as you can see. It's nothing to do with her, she's one of the most beautiful people I've ever met. I just knew I couldn't give her everything that she deserves, so it was better for both of us to end things before it got too serious.

Especially with the Russians lurking about, I had to put her first. I promised I would keep her out of mafia and that's what I'm doing. It's just better for her this way.

I worked for a while longer before I finally shut down my laptop and tidied up my desk, heading out before it got too late. I didn't see anyone else in the hallways as I made my way out, apart from a few men turning their gazes away when they saw me coming.

It only took me a few minutes to drive to the house and the second I made it through the front door Silvana came down the stairs, a glare etched across her face. Ever since that night three weeks ago she's been glaring at me the same way, she blames me for not doing enough to find the people that did this. "How is she?"

"She's been better." I rolled my eyes at her cold tone taking off my shoes, brushing past her and heading upstairs knowing she was following closely behind me. "I'm sure she has if that's the face you've had on all day."

Silvana chose not to respond as we reached my parents room. I quietly opened the door, making my way inside the dimly lit room. "Mamma?" Silvana closed the door quietly behind me and we went over to the bed where my mom was sitting up reading something on her phone. It was the first time since she was shot that I saw her sitting up properly. "Mi fa davvero sparare perché il mio unico figlio venga a trovarmi così regolarmente?" (Does it really take me being shot for my only son to come and see me so regularly?)

I gave her a small smile sitting down next to her on the bed, leaning forward to place a kiss on her cheek. "I see you're looking a lot better then. I promise I'll come and see you more often from now on."

"You better Alessio. I wasn't happy when you moved out but you promised you'd come more often." When I moved out a few years ago, it was only because no one could handle me coming and going at random times during the night. They were always complaining that I was disturbing them.

"I know mamma, I'm just always so busy."

"You're always too busy Alessio. You're 27 years old now and you don't have a girlfriend, so that means you're not getting married any time soon, so you're not going to be having children for a long time. You're not getting any younger. You need to start making time. What happened to that girl you were infatuated with a while back?"

I clenched my jaw at the mention of Luciana once again today. Everyone else seemed to love bringing her up except for me. I hadn't seen Luciana for almost five months. It was December now and I ended things with her when Eli and Mason came back from their extended trip to Sicily at the end of July. I knew she was still working at the job I got for her and she kept the car which I was glad about. I did get those for her because I screwed up her old ones, it wasn't just a gift. So I'm glad she didn't get rid of those too, just because we're not together.

I heard Silvana scoff next to me causing me to send her a glare before turning back to my mom. Silvana only knew what happened between me and Luciana because she just so happened to be bestfriends with Thea who's not talking to me because of how I handled the situation. So of course now that Thea's back here with Mason and Eli, she's back to telling my sister everything.

"It didn't work out with her." My mom frowned before turning to look at my sister, obviously seeing the glare she just sent me so she knew there was more to it. "Alessio didn't want a relationship with her, so he strung her along for months."

"I didn't string her alon-"

"You got her a job, bought her a car, took her on a business trip with you, and then you told her you didn't want a relationship. That's called stringing someone along." Even though I wanted to argue with Silvana, especially because she cut me off when I was talking, the look my mom was giving me told me that wasn't a good idea. There were only two people I answer to, my mom and my dad. In that exact order.

"Is that true Alessio?" I let out a sigh while shaking my head. "I just told her I wasn't ready for a relationship, it's not like I cheated on her."

"I raised you better than that Alessio." Am I the only one that feels like this whole thing is been blown out of proportion? If only they knew the whole damn story.

"This is ridiculous. It happened five months ago, we weren't even together and I'm pretty sure she's probably moved on by now. Just leave it."

My mom shook her head narrowing her eyes at me. "If she put up with all your issues, you obviously meant a lot more to her than you think." Silvana chuckled at my mom's words while I rolled my eyes at her. "Well it's over, for both of us, so just leave it mamma."

I think she could tell I was getting increasingly frustrated because she finally decided to leave it there, narrowing her eyes at me one more time before she switched the conversation to something else. I spent the next hour sitting with my mom before my father came into the room to call me out, saying it was important.

I silently followed him to his office, not being able to make any sort of small talk with him as we walked. He hadn't been the same since my mother was shot, all he did was blame himself, that much was clear for everyone to see. He made a promise to her on their wedding day that he would never let her get hurt, and he managed to keep it for the next 28 years, until now.

I sat opposite my father in his office, taking his in cold glare and demeanour.

"We have an opportunity to take down some of the Russians. A few of them are coming to New York for some sort of gathering, if we plan it right, we can blow them up. We can send Giuseppe a message, that we're coming for him."

It was probably the best news I'd heard in a while. I knew Tomasso and Rafael wouldn't agree with it, they'd say it's just going to cause them to retaliate or some shit like that. But my dad was in the same place as me, he wanted revenge and he wanted it now, on everyone that had hurt my family, and if we could get to Giuseppe he would take any chance he had.

"Let's do it."

<<<<<<<< >>>>>>> <<<<<<<

~ Luciana's POV ~

"Well everything with the baby is okay. You're currently five and a half months pregnant. Do you want to know the gender?" I shook my head while wiping away a few stray tears from my cheeks as I watched my baby on the ultrasound monitor. Seeing it now was just as surreal as seeing it for the first time when I had my first scan when I found out I was pregnant. "Not yet, I think I want it to be a surprise."

It was true I wanted to be surprised but I also didn't want to find out without Alessio here as weird as it sounds. I hated him, but he was still the father of this baby. Even though I haven't told him yet, that was something he should be here for if we do find out before I have the baby.

"Luciana I need to talk to you about some problems that have come up in regards to your health." I got of the bed and moved over to one of the seats when he gestured for me to come and sit next to him so he could read his notes on the computer. "So I understand your morning sickness hasn't improved very much?"

I nodded to confirm what he said while he added to his notes. The morning sickness has been awful for the past 5 months of my pregnancy. It was obvious that I'd lost a lot of weight since I could hardly keep any food down and the anti sickness tablets they gave me only made me more and more exhausted. I was a healthy weight before I was pregnant since I always took care of my body, but now my weight wasn't healthy for the baby because of the morning sickness. It's only been a few days since it's started to calm down but I'm sure it'll make an appearance again soon.

"At this stage it's very important that you keep an eye on your intake of food, if you start feeling too faint and dizzy you'll have to come in so we can give you some fluids to keep you hydrated and top up your energy intake. Especially as your blood pressure levels are quite high too. That in itself is a risk to the baby."

"What do you mean?"

"High blood pressure can cause problems during the last few months and delivery. It's important you keep your stress down and look after yourself Luciana."

He went through a few more things to do with my health and pregnancy before he asked me the question he's been asking every time since I first met him.

"The father? Is he around yet?" I let out a sigh and shook my head putting some leaflets about high blood pressure in my purse. "Not yet."

"Luciana you really should tell him now, especially with the concerns about your health." I nodded and ran a hand through my hair tiredly. "I know, I've been meaning to tell him. You already know how things ended, I don't know if he'll be happy or not when I tell him."

"Your next appointment is in two weeks Luciana, tell him by then. Bring him to the appointment if you can." I rolled my eyes at him, it and was so clear he was trying not to smile when he said this. "You just want to make my life harder, don't you?"

This time he cracked a small smile as I stood up, grabbing my purse. "I'll try, but I'm not promising anything."

"Bye Luciana." I gave him a small smile as I walked out the room, dreading the thought of having to tell Alessio about the baby. The whole drive to work all I could think about how was how I was going to do it. Over the past four months since I found out I've been putting off the thought, I haven't wanted to think about it. The best way to do it would be to call him and ask him if he could come over for a bit, but I was just too much of a pussy to call him.

The last time I saw him he told me he didn't want to be with me and that he didn't want children yet. I don't know whether that meant he didn't want children yet at all and he didn't want to be with me, or if he didn't want to have children with me. Either way the last thing I wanted to do was tell him that he was having a baby with me whether he liked it or not.

I bit my lip as I made my way back to my office after taking an hour out of the afternoon to go to my doctors appointment, the pain in my feet was absolutely excruciating. Everyday I decide I'm not going to wear heels the following day but every morning I end up wearing them again. I have no discipline when it comes to fashion. They just look so nice sitting there all alone in my closet, but they would look so much better on my feet.

I'm a mess I know.

I walked through my office door, letting out a sigh of frustration when I saw the huge pile of documents on my desk. Obviously someone didn't have the balls to come and give them to me when I was here so they chose to come when I wasn't. I don't blame them to be honest, even though no one here knew I was pregnant yet, I've been a seriously moody bitch for the last few months. To them I probably looked like I was on my period 24/7 since I'd done a good job of hiding my growing bump as much as I could, although it was getting harder now.

The secret was oversized shirts and dresses and to just stay sitting behind my desk as much as I could.

A few hours passed while I continued getting through the whole pile of work someone kindly left for me to enjoy and by the time I was done I was absolutely exhausted. Along with the disastrous morning sickness and therefore lack of food, I've also not been sleeping very well. This pregnancy is definitely taking a toll on my body and I wasn't even in the third trimester yet.

The sound of my door opening took my attention away from the figures I was reading through on my computer, instead causing me to look across my office.

"Luciana you're still here? Go home, it's late." I gave Gemma a tired smile at the concern in her voice while shaking my head as she came closer to my desk. "I have to finish this first then I'll go."

"How was the doctors appointment?" She wiggled her eyebrows at me while placing her purse down and putting her coat on. She's always thought my doctor was cute and since she was taken, she insists I should go for him, which I'm not going to do obviously. Now wasn't the time for me to be getting caught up with guys again, but he was cute though. I know it sounds weird because he's my doctor but I always found it easy to talk to him, especially about all the problems in my life, not just medical related. "The baby is okay but he's still concerned about my health. He's also pushing me to tell the father again."

I was always careful around Gemma to not tell her exactly who the father was. She knew the story between us, excluding the part that he kidnapped me, and that he's part of the mafia going after my father because my he is also part of the mafia but now he's with the Russian mafia. When I put it like that it sounded like I was crazy. This stuff just doesn't happen in real life.

"You should, I've been telling you for months Luciana. He has a right to know." I rolled my eyes at the pointed look she was giving me and instead I decided to change the subject. The last thing I wanted to think about was Alessio. "Are you leaving now?"

"Yeah, Simon keeps calling he's waiting for his dinner." She rolled her eyes with a smile on her face, all I could see on her face was love. I was so happy for her, having someone she loves in her life like that but every time I saw that smile it just reminded me that I didn't have anyone like that. Not even the father of my child. I had no one.

I forced a smile on to my face chuckling at her remark. "Go on then you don't want to keep him waiting."

She gave me one last smile before making her way out of my office, leaving me in silence once again with my thoughts: work, loneliness, baby and Alessio. Not in that order either.

It wasn't easy over the last few months getting over what happened between Alessio and I while dealing with the fact that I was now pregnant with his baby. I loved my baby, of course I did, but I hated him. I hated him for leading me on and making me think whatever we had was more than it was, and then for ending it how he did. Out of nowhere with absolutely no concern or care for my feelings. He allowed me to feel things for him that I'd never felt for someone else so strongly before. Then he crushed my heart, out of absolutely no where. Sure we were arguing a lot, but I really didn't see it coming the way it did.

Eventually when I tell Alessio about the baby I know he'll be back in my life again, which is something I'm not ready for. But I know for a fact I'll never get into another romantic relationship with him. I almost did, because I was clouded with the idea that he really wasn't as bad as I thought he would be when I first found out exactly who he was after our one night stand. But this whole thing has been a wake up call for me. Being romantically involved with him is the last thing I need now, all I need to do is focus on my baby. Alessio is nothing to me, just the father of my baby.

That's all.

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