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~ Luciana's POV ~

"That's disgusting." I turned my attention away from the magazine I was reading, sitting on a stool at the island, to look at Alessio who had just walked into the kitchen. But that's now what caused me to almost have a heart attack. It was the fact he was dripping with sweat and completely shirtless.

If we were on good terms I would have begged him to take me there and then.

"I'm pregnant Alessio, I can eat whatever I want." He grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and scrunched his nose up at the left over pizza from last night, stopping at the island opposite me. "Maybe you wouldn't feel so sick all the time if you didn't eat that crap at 9am and instead ate a proper breakfast."

I rolled my eyes at his words and instead picked up another slice, taking a bite out of to make my point to him. I knew he didn't care about me, all he cared about was our baby. That's it. So he really didn't have the right to say anything to me about what I'm eating. "Stop acting like you care Alessio."

"It's not an act. You're the mother of my child Luciana, of course I care." I rose an eyebrow at him while swallowing another bite of my pizza. "Sorry but the day I told you about the baby you didn't even believe it was yours. If I recall correctly you called me a 'money grabbing puttana'. So no, you don't care about me."

If he thought I was going to forget about what he said and act like it didn't happen he was wrong. It might have been two weeks since we went to the doctors together, and the last time we spoke, but it didn't matter. Even if a year had gone by since that particular night, I wouldn't forget what he said.

"You're not over that yet? People say things in the heat of the moment Luciana, I told you afterwards that I believed you, I was just angry. You need to learn to get over things faster." I scoffed at what he said while he screwed the cap onto his water bottle and put it down infront of him, not making a move to leave the kitchen yet. I let out a small sigh and looked down at the magazine again, hoping he would take the hint to just leave me alone. "I'm not in the mood to do this right now Alessio."

"I don't care and look at me when I'm talking to you. Don't forget who I am Luciana." I lifted my eyes away from the article all about the best houses in California, focussing them on Alessio who was now glaring at me, this tone cold and threatening. "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten. You are the man that dragged me into your life, waited until I started falling for you then kicked me out like I meant absolutely nothing to you."

"That's not how it happened, don't blow it out of proportion. We weren't together, I decided I wasn't ready for a relationship so I ended it. It's not my fault if you let yourself get lost in it." It took everything inside me to keep my temper under control as the conversation went on.

"Don't do that Alessio. You led me on! Don't say you just randomly woke up one day and decided you didn't want to be in a relationship, it doesn't work like that. Unless something happened..." I narrowed my eyes at him, and the emotions that flashed through his eyes told me he knew exactly what I was suggesting.

"Nothing happened, I told you, as soon as I started seeing you I didn't do anything with her, or anyone else." There was no way I was ever going to believe he wasn't with Alice during the time we were together. Especially with the way he ended it, it was clear he didn't care about me, so there was no need for him to stay 'faithful'. "So why then?"

"Why what?" I rolled my eyes at his confused expression. "Why did you suddenly decide you weren't ready for a relationship?"

"I've already freaking told you-" Alessio glared at me when I cut him off, he always hated that. "Tell me the truth. You led me on, you had feelings for me too Alessio. What changed?"

I knew from the look he was giving me that he wasn't going to give me an answer. Instead he just shook his head and took another sip of his water keeping his eyes focused on anything else but me. "You can't deny it Alessio. Everything you did for me, the time we spent together, the way you were always so different around me compared to anyone else." The whole time I spoke he refused to look at me, but he didn't need to because for once I wasn't hiding the emotion I felt. It was there for him to hear in my voice.

"You knew what you were doing. When you came to help me at the club when I was drunk and that day when my car blew up you were there straight away Alessio." Alessio refused to look at me as I spoke and towards the end he started to shake his head, as if he didn't want to believe or acknowledge what I was saying. "What about all the times you called me 'amore mio' ? You didn't have feelings for me then?" As soon as I said this his eyes finally shifted to mine, but he refused to show me any emotion. Even though I was pretty much about to break down into tears at that moment. Alessio stayed quiet for a moment, before he finally grabbed his water bottle and started walking towards the kitchen door while speaking. "My parents want to meet you, we're going to to their house for dinner today. Be ready at 6pm."

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

"Why are you so nervous? You're making it so obvious." I rolled my eyes at Alessio's words and finished applying the lipstick I chose after spending ages deliberating over the right shade at home. I had to choose the right one. If it was too much then it would make me look exactly like the type of person I didn't want to be perceived as.

Alice.

She was known as a whore in the mafia, at least that's what Tomasso told me anyway. So if I accidentally chose the wrong shade that reminded anyone of her, my life was over.

Please don't judge my thought process, because honestly this whole thing is just crazy. That's the only thing that makes sense to me right now.

Anyway I took so long choosing it at home that I had to put it on in the car because Alessio isn't a patient person. Patience is one thing he wasn't blessed with.

"You can't expect me to not be nervous, I'm meeting your family for the first time and I'm pregnant. It's embarrassing."

"Why is it embarrassing?" I could hear the frown in his voice but I refused to look at him.

Because when they look at me they'll see I'm just your mistake.

"It just is."

I was nervous as hell, that was for sure. The last thing I wanted to be doing was meeting Alessios family because I was pregnant, without actually being in a relationship with him. Apart from when I met his father when I was crying my eyes out, I'd never met any of them before. It was definitely going to be awkward, for me at least.

Alessio did fill me in on things I should expect; for instance his youngest sister is into designing and fashion whereas his other sister is completely different. He also warned me that Tomasso would be there since he gets on extremely well with Alessio's family. One more thing added to the list of why I was dreading tonight. Also that they all like to rile each other up so he said I should expect to experience that some how. I'm not really sure what that's going to entail.

"They already know about the baby, I told them when I found out." I nodded absentmindedly while admiring the huge house in front of me as we drove through the gates onto the drive way. "What did they say?"

"My mom cried, my dad smiled." I turned to look at Alessio as he parked up properly. "He smiled? That's it?"

"My dad hardly ever smiles Luciana, I was expecting him to just nod when I told him." I couldn't help but laugh at this when he told me. I realised just how similar to his father Alessio was when he told me things like that. Even when I met his father for the first time I could already pick out similarities between them but now that I'm getting to know Alessio a lot better they're becoming more obvious. Alessio turned to look at me with a weird look in his eyes when I laughed, causing my laughter to die down awkwardly.

"Are you ready?" I let out a deep breath and nodded, causing Alessio to open his door, getting out the car. I let out a sigh and grabbed my purse just as he came around to open my door, he still did things like that even though we really didn't get along at that moment in time. I got out the car mumbling a 'thank you' to him, taking a step to the side so that he could close the door. Before I could start walking away Alessio stepped infront of me, giving me a cold glare. "Don't say anything stupid Luciana, my parents don't know the situation between us. You don't have to pretend we're together but don't make it obvious that you hate me."

For some reason when he said this, the only thing on my mind was that I wanted to reassure him that I didn't hate him. At least not properly. I have no idea why though, maybe it was the way he said it with a softer tone. It was like he was trying not to let me know that the last part hurt him or affected him in any way. "Okay."

With that we made our way towards the front door where Alessio rang the bell. I let out a nervous breath, subconsciously edging closer to him slightly just as the door swung open revealing a younger girl. She didn't look older than 18 and I could instantly tell who she was just from the similar features she shared with Alessio. As soon as her eyes landed on Alessio next to me a smile broke out onto her gorgeous face and she flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around him tightly causing him to laugh. "Alessio, I missed you so much."

"Mi sei mancato anche tu, Mona." (I missed you too, Mona.) I smiled watching the exchange between Alessio and his sister before she finally pulled away from me, her eyes now landing on me for the first time. I watched as her smile faded slightly, obviously knowing who I was. Her eyes were lingering on my bump when Alessio turned to look at me before gesturing me to come inside with him when she finally stepped back to allow us to come in. "Mona this is Luciana."

"Hi." I gave her a small smile to which she just nodded, her own smile from seeing Alessio fading a lot more now. I didn't really know why, but I just went with it I guess. "Everyone's in the living room." She gestured to the door immediately on the left as you walked into the huge foyer from the front door. The house really was insane. Much bigger than Alessio's but obviously it would be since more people live here.

I followed the two of them into the beautiful living room, admiring the decor as we stepped inside. It was exactly how you would expect it to look after seeing the foyer and outside of the house - extravagant and beautiful. I watched as Alessio and Mona went over to the couches in the middle of the room in front of a fire place, where the rest of his family were sitting.

Alessio first went over to his mom who stood up excitedly when she saw him come through the door. The two of them hugged for a moment while speaking in Italian before he went over to his father. I was well aware the whole time that I was awkwardly standing to the side, but it's not like I could do much in that situation. I had to wait for Alessio to finish saying hello before he introduced me to everyone.

I watched Alessio hug his other sister when I felt someone nudge my arm next to me, taking my attention away from the scene in front of me. "Why are you always so nervous?"

"I'm not nervous." Tomasso rolled his eyes at my clear lie while nodding, sipping on the drink in his hand. Usually I would have given him a snappy comeback but I was really just glad to have someone to talk to for a moment so that I didn't feel as awkward as I did a few seconds ago. I don't know if he came over to me on purpose though, he might have just been trying to give the family some space too. But then Alessio did say he was pretty much part of their family, so I'm not really sure why he would need to do that. I don't think it's something he would do, especially for me anyway.

Before either of us could say anything else I heard Alessio call my name, gesturing for me to go over to him. I stepped towards him when I felt Tomasso nudge me further in Alessio's direction, obviously knowing it was going to annoy me. "Don't touch me Tomasso." I heard him chuckle to himself as I stopped next to Alessio in front of his parents.

"Luciana this is my mom, and you've already met my father." I gave them both a shy smile moving slightly closer to Alessio when his mom gave me a beaming smile. She really was a beautiful woman and I could tell the way she carried herself was with sophistication and class. "Luciana it's so nice to meet you. Congratulations on the bambino, I'm so happy for you. You're so big already!" (Baby)

Her excitement caused a few chuckles in the room while she stared at my bump with happiness.

"You too Mrs Del Russo and thank you." As soon as I said this she let out a melodic laugh while shaking her head. "Oh please dear, call me Donna. When I hear that I think of my mother in-law." She glanced over at Alessio's father giving him a pointed look who rolled his eyes at the gesture causing me to smile. I'm pretty sure from that exchange she didn't like her mother in-law.

"How have you been Luciana?" I turned to look at Alessio's father, Ricardo, aware of the rest of Alessio's family who were listening to the conversation; I decided it was better to leave out all the problems Alessio and I were having. The last thing I needed was to accidentally cause a scene. "I've been okay, just busy with work and appointments for the baby."

"Ah, it's not been giving too much trouble I hope?" I let out a small laugh rubbing my baby bump while responding to Donna's question. "It's definitely not been the easiest six months of my life, but I've been handling it okay I suppose."

She gave me a sympathetic smile before Alessio called my name to introduce me to his other sister who was standing next him with a smile on her face.

"This is Silvana, my sister. Be careful around her, if she gets angry she likes to hit people." Alessio's words seemed to be more directed at his sister who laughed before explaining the joke when she saw the confusion on my face. "I'm a fighter in the mafia. I help them on missions and train other people, things like that."

My mouth formed an 'o' shape while I nodded listening to her speak when really I was just focussed on her thick Italian accent. All of them had one, but hers was just a little stronger for some reason. She must have lived there for longer or something.

"And of course you know Tomasso." Alessio gestured at Tomasso who gave me a smirk, raising his glass towards me, obviously trying to be a little nicer to me now that Alessio's family were around us.

"Luciana dear, take a seat, dinner should be ready soon. Silvana come and help me set the table." I did offer to help her with the food but she just shook her head at me, nodding towards the couch instead with a motherly glare on her face. Now I knew why Alessio only ever really listened to his parents. They were scarier than he was.

I sat on the couch next to Alessio who was busy speaking to Tomasso and his father about something in Italian, leaving me next to Mona who hadn't really said a word to me since I first saw her. She was typing away on her phone for a few minutes before she finally put it down giving me a chance to try and speak to her.

"Alessio told me you're into designing." I gave her a small friendly smile trying to start a conversation with her while we waited for dinner. But it didn't work. "Yeah."

"You go to a fashion school right?" She silently nodded before looking away from me taking out her phone again, clearly not wanting to speak to me. It was a bit weird considering the rest of his family were okay with me but for some reason she just really didn't like me. I could tell that from the moment her eyes landed on me when she opened the door.

"Luciana." My eyes snapped to Alessio who was holding his hand out for me, his eyebrows furrowed slightly as he looked between Mona and I. "Dinner is ready."

So far dinner was going a lot better than I thought it would have, especially after the cold shoulder Mona gave me when we were in the living room. No one brought up Alessio and I's relationship which I was glad about, it would only end up making things so much more awkward if we had to explain that we really didn't get along anymore. I spoke to Silvana about a few things here and there while listening to the rest of the conversation, mainly between Alessio and his parents. I couldn't help but admire the way Alessio was with his parents. He was no longer the arrogant, hardheaded mafia leader when he was around his family, particularly his mom and Mona. He was sweeter and gentler, but obviously still cocky as always. But he was just different. I'd only seen glimpses of this side of him when he was with me, like when he stopped me from drinking again that morning at his house when I was fired, holding me while I cried and things like that. Most of the time he's closed off, protecting himself with his barriers and his arrogant, confident front.

"What's it like living with my brother then Luciana?" Silvana smiled at me before giving Alessio a subtle smirk which I definitely didn't miss. I could tell straight away the relationship between the two was a lot different than Alessio's relationship with his youngest sister. Probably because they were only four years apart and Silvana was part of the mafia, she just seemed like she was a lot more confident with Alessio. Whereas Mona was quieter, obviously because she was eighteen and the age gap was larger, but it seemed like there was more to it. I'm not really sure why though.

"You don't have to answer her questions Luciana." Alessio was glaring at his sister across the table from us, who was now smirking straight back at him.

"Oh no, I want to hear the answer, go on Luciana." I turned to look at Tomasso who rose an eyebrow at me, clearly enjoying the fact he just put me in the spotlight again.

"Ignore them Luciana, they're acting like children." I gave Ricardo a small smile trying to hold back my laughter when the three of them turned to look at Alessio's father who have them a pointed glare. "It's okay, Alessio already warned me about this and I'm used to it from Tomasso."

"Please Luciana, I'm always nice to you. There's no need to exaggerate." I rose an eyebrow at Tomasso who was clearly trying to goad me into reacting. He's been trying to do it all evening. "Of course you are, I didn't say you weren't."

I heard a few chuckles around the table when Tomasso narrowed his eyes in irritation at my innocent tone, anyone could easily see what was going on. "Luciana, Alessio told me you're working at one of our companies now?"

I nodded while glancing over at Alessio nervously, now they're going to think I'm just here for the money or something. I'm pregnant with Alessio's baby and working at one of his companies, next I'll be moving into their holiday home in the Bahamas or something. "Yes, ALR Investments."

"That's good, I've seen your resume, it's impressive. We could do with more young people like you." I gave him a small smile while Alessio's mom just started lecturing him about talking about work over the dinner table. The way they bickered reminded me of how Alessio and I were before everything started going south. You could tell it wasn't serious yet they were both so stubborn they wanted to be the one to have the last word.

"How long are you planning to continue working for? You're 6 months along, yes?"

"I'm 6 and a half months along. I'm not really sure, the doctors are a bit concerned about my health so they've recommended I don't do anything too stressful, but I still-"

"She's going to stop soon." I had to stop myself from narrowing my eyes at Alessio when he abruptly cut me off with a hard edge to his voice which showed no room for arguments. Of course it was me he was dealing with.

"When I'm ready to stop, then I will." Alessio narrowed his eyes at me, his glass stopping midway to his lips. "Sure you will."

I think everyone picked up on the little exchange but thankfully no one mentioned it and instead the room fell into an awkward silence.

"Dessert anyone?"

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

"Are you excited Luciana?" I nodded as I watched Alessio's mom put the plates in the dishwasher from my place on a stool at the breakfast bar. "I am, Of course I'm nervous but I'm excited."

"I don't think you'll ever stop being nervous honey. Every time one of my children leaves out the front door I'm a nervous wreck inside until they're safely back home." I gave her a small smile as she spoke with a far away look on her face. I'm guessing by the way she said it she hasn't told many people that.

"It must be worse with Alessio living alone now." She nodded while drying her hands before coming over to me. "When he moved out it was harder than I expected with him being my first child and everything. It got easier, missing him I mean, but not the worrying. I guess that really doesn't stop until he comes here, but that's only for a few hours every now and then." She gave me a sad smile when she said the last part.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure he comes back to visit you more. Especially when the baby is born."
Her eyes brightened at the mention of the baby and she nodded. "I can't wait to meet my first grandchild, I really didn't expect it to be happening any time soon. What are you hoping for? A boy or a girl?"

The second she asked me this question Alessio came into the kitchen with Tomasso, the pair of them coming over to stand next to me. "I have a feeling it's a girl, but I'd be happy with either."

"No way, it's a boy." I swivelled my stool slightly to turn to look at Alessio with a small frown on my face. "It's a girl."

The pair of them scoffed at my words while Tomasso shook his head clearly taking Alessio's side in the debate. "It's a boy."

"Oh and is this boy inside you? No, so I know better. It's a girl." I gave them both one final look before turning back to Alessio's mom who was smiling at the three of us.

"It's a boy." I rolled my eyes when Alessio mumbled under his breath before speaking to his mom. "What have you been talking about?"

"Oh, I was just telling Luciana all about the things you got up to when you were child. You know, there was this time when he-"

"That's enough mamma." Tomasso and I laughed at Alessio's reaction as he took a seat on the stool next to me. She was probably the only other person apart from Tomasso who he allows to make fun of him. "I was just telling your mom that you'll be coming to visit her a lot more now." I gave him a pointed look causing him to nod quickly in agreement. "I will mamma, I promise. I've just been so busy recently, but I will."

"I know baby, don't feel pressured to come here. I know you've got a lot on your plate now especially with the bambino coming soon too, you'll have to make time for everything." Alessio nodded keeping his eyes focussed on his fingers fidgeting with the black Rolex watch on his wrist. "Don't worry mamma, I'm getting my priorities straight. I know what's important."

His eyes snapped up towards hers giving her that smile that would always make me go weak at the knees. "She's all that matters right now." He gestured his head towards me but the whole time he kept his eyes on her. "And my family."

I had no idea if what he was saying was for his mothers benefit and her peace of mind or for mine. But what he said was enough to cause butterflies in my stomach. But I wasn't sure if I should have been happy or worried.

"That's good Alessio, I'm glad. Luciana is going to need all the help she can get when the bambino comes along. It wasn't easy when I first brought you home, back then your father was as useless as he is now." A small laugh escaped my lips when she said this, and even though I knew she was serious, all I could see was love in her eyes when she spoke about Alessio's dad.

We spoke for a bit longer about random things, while I just got to know Alessio's mom a bit better before Alessio stood to his feet after checking the time on his phone.

"Mom it's pretty late, we should probably get going." When he said this I could tell she was forcing a smile onto her face while she nodded, it must have been hard for her to say goodbye when he only came for a few hours. "Of course, you guys go. Luciana look after yourself, if you need anything you can always ask me. You're part of this family now."

I gave her a smile of my own and stood up wrapping my arms around her in a hug. "Thank you."

Ten minutes later after Alessio and I said goodbye to everyone else, apart from Mona who once again completely ignored me, we were finally alone in Alessio's car. All I kept thinking about was what he said in the kitchen.

She's all that matters right now.

I knew I was going to drive myself crazy trying to dissect that sentence to figure out what he meant. My mind was going to run away with me and I had no way to stop it. I knew there was no way Alessio would ever admit his feelings for me any time soon, especially after the argument we had this morning. That's if he even had feelings for me. So I doubt he would ever mean what he said in the way I wanted him to mean it.

His meaning behind those words could have literally been keeping me safe to protect the baby. Maybe that's why he added 'right now' on the end, because as soon as the baby was out of me it wouldn't matter what happened to me anymore.

I could already feel a headache coming on as my mind went into over drive thinking about what Alessio meant. My thoughts were interrupted when Alessio said my name, breaking the silence in the car, a small frown etched on his face. "You look deep in thought, what's on your mind?"

"Why does your sister not like me?" Of course I wasn't going to tell him what I was really thinking, mostly because I didn't want to hear him tell me that he was infact planning on waiting for my baby to be born before he disposed of me. I'm not even sure if that sounded too far fetched at this point. Every time I got a glimpse of his lavish lifestyle, or the guns he has hidden everywhere or the way he acts and behaves I remember exactly who he is. The Capo. The leader of the Italian Mafia. I knew what he was capable of because I've seen all this before. He didn't want me, he wanted the baby. He only cared about the baby.

"Mona?" I nodded while glancing over at Alessio who kept his eyes on the road as we spoke. "She's just a bit protective, that's all." His words caused me to frown and I turned to look at him properly.

"Protective? Why does she need to be protective?"

"My sisters know what happened between us. Silvana blames me for what happened..."

"And Mona blames me..." Alessio while finishing off my sentence for me.

"...because you didn't tell me about the baby." I let out a sigh at his words and looked away from him, although I knew he was looking at me now that we'd stopped at a red light. Even though I was angry about everything that happened, I did feel guilty for not telling him. He did have a right to know. That in itself could have made him angry enough to want to take my baby away from me. The thought of that was enough to push me to apologise to him, maybe to appeal to his slim sense of forgiveness. Maybe he wouldn't take her away from me.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I should have, I was just angry and hurt. But I'm sorry." The car stayed silent for a moment while my words lingered in the air, before I suddenly felt Alessio's hand take mine, resting our intertwined hands on my leg. He didn't say anything else, just focusing on the road infront of him when the light turned green, speeding off in the direction of his house.

~ Alessio's POV ~

"Alessio we need to talk." I let out a sigh and nodded at my father as my mom and Silvana started clearing away the plates after dessert. I stood to my feet with Tomasso and my father, catching my mom's attention when she came back into the dining room to collect more plates. I always told her to stop doing it and that we have people for it, but just like the freaking laundry she liked to do it herself. I'll never understand that woman I swear.

"No Ricardo, I told you no business tonight, this can wait until you see Alessio tomorrow." I let out a small laugh when my father cursed under his breath before turning to look at my mom who was now glaring at him obviously hearing what he said. "Give me ten minutes with him mia cara, it's important." (My dear)

"Only ten minutes, nothing more. Luciana you can come and sit with me in the kitchen." She scooped up some more plates while Luciana grabbed the last of them, much to my mothers dismay, she honestly looked like she was about to have a heart attack when she saw that. Like I said I'll never understand her. She gestured for Luciana to follow her out of the dining room but not before calling over shoulder. "Ten minutes Ricardo or so help me God, I'll come and get you out of that damn office myself."

I rolled my eyes at my mom's exaggerating tone as we left the dining room, heading towards my fathers office. The three of us filed in, Tomasso immediately going over to the selection of alcohol bottles, bringing a bottle of Ameretto and three glasses over to the table. Once he'd poured the drinks we clinked our glasses together before sitting down, knocking back the bitter liquor before my father finally spoke.

"What are your plans Alessio?" I rose an eyebrow at him, putting my empty glass down on his desk. "What do you mean?"

"You're not married to Luciana, you know they already broke the code with your mom. They're not supposed to mess with your wife, but they showed they obviously don't mind, so messing with your girl isn't going to be a problem Alessio. That freaking Aleksei already tried."

"I know that. But I'm not going to rush into this, we're already on the rocks as it is. Just give me time I'll sort it out. I've got more security watching her so she should be safe." My father shook his head in irritation. "I like her Alessio, but this was wrong. You should have been more careful. This is the wrong time."

"I was careful! I ended things with her. We haven't been together for almost 6 months." I knew that they could tell from the tension between Luciana and I tonight over dinner that there was something wrong in our relationship but my parents didn't know exactly what had happened. "What do you mean?"

"Alessio broke up with her-" Tomasso cut his sentence off when he saw me send him a glare, quickly changing his words with an eye roll. I didn't break up with her because we weren't together in the first place. "-sorry, he 'ended things' with her, then five months later she turned out to be pregnant."

"She didn't tell you?" I let out a sigh when I saw the familiar anger in my father's eyes starting to make an appearance. He had a deep rooted hatred for Giuseppe but sometimes I felt that he was trying to find a way to hate Luciana and her brother too. Even though he promised Giuseppe years ago he would always be there to protect them when they moved away from Italy in an attempt to live a normal life away from the mafia. Giuseppe knew that if they were ever found out by his enemies they would need help but they would never go to him for help, so he asked my father to look out for them since he lived in New York.

"No she didn't, but I'm not angry anymore so you shouldn't be either. I understand why she didn't tell me." My dad rolled his eyes while grabbing the bottle of liquor on the desk, pouring himself another glass. "Oh you understand do you? Tell me son, why didn't she tell you then?"

I had to grit my teeth together when Tomasso chuckled next to me at my father's sarcasm, willing myself to keep my temper under control when he decided to open his mouth again. "Alessio told her that he didn't want children and he wasn't ready for commitments when he broke u- ended things with her."

My father turned his glare towards me and I knew straight away he wasn't going to let me deal with this on my own anymore. "That girl doesn't deserve what you do to her Alessio."

"I haven't done anything to her! I'm trying to protect her! Are we done?" I was about to get up off my chair when my father sent me a furious glare, stopping me in my place.

"Guarda come mi parli! Voglio che tu sposi il suo Alessio. Trattala come la tua regina perché altrimenti perderai lei e il tuo bambino. Dovrebbero essere tutto per te ora." (Watch how you speak to me! I want you to marry her Alessio. Treat her like your queen because otherwise you will lose her and your baby. They should be everything for you now.)

"I'm not marrying her yet, you know what happened. We're not speaking properly, she won't agree yet."

"You have to woo her Alessio." I turned my glare towards Tomasso who was giving me a small smirk. "You have to shut the hell up before I put a bullet up your-"

"That's enough. I don't care what she wants or what you want. She needs to understand her safety is at risk unless she's married to you. If her safety is at risk so is the baby's. That's my grandchild, your child and the heir to the mafia. It's bigger than just 'understanding her' Alessio." I shook my head in frustration while running my hand through my hair.

"I can protect them. But I'll try, but she needs to get over everything else that happened first." My father held my stare for a moment before he nodded. "Fine, but do it quickly Alessio. It doesn't look good, we don't do girlfriends in the mafia. You have a wife, a woman to stand by your side through everything - thick and thin. Luciana is good for you, she was born into this life, she can understand it. She can make you stronger going forward when you take it all over on your own. Just make her yours."

"Non preoccuparti, ho intenzione di farlo." (Don't worry, I plan to) I gave my father a small smirk when I said this and he seemed satisfied with my answer and instead of responding he filled up the glasses again, before holding his up in a toast. "To the newest member of the Del Russo clan."

I spent time with my father and Tomasso talking over some work we needed to discuss, especially to do with the Spanish cartels. We needed to strengthen our alliances knowing the Russians were planning something. Especially with Aleksei's visit to Luciana. Tomasso told me about that when we made up from that little fight we had in my office, saying he'd already had someone check out what happened and more security watching her.

Of course we could handle the Russians alone, but now with the baby on the way and Aleksei already threatening Luciana in a freaking baby store of all places and my mom being shot, I knew I had to take extra precautions. We still haven't found out who shot my mom. Even though she's pretty much recovered now physically I knew she was still shaken by it. Nothing like that had ever happened to her before.

So I needed to make sure my alliances were strong. I was on pretty much good terms with the Spanish cartels and French mafia, but the Russians had their own allies - the Mexicans and the Japanese mafia. At first when the Russians started putting their noses in places that didn't concern them I thought nothing of it, I wasn't going to enter into a war with them when I was still in the process of taking over from my father. But then they just had to go and make it personal. They broke the codes, you never go for a wife. It's a code generations of mafia families have stuck to. Then they went after my father's wife - my mother, and Luciana. I don't care if they didn't hurt Luciana, they still made contact with her.

They made it personal.

I was sure as hell going to end it, just how they started it. By getting personal.

We finished off our little talk, which my mom definitely was going to be giving my father hell for later since it was over ten minutes. But she always knew not to come in and interfere, she always respected my dad. She wasn't happy with it but she waited until later to tell him how she felt.

The rest of the evening went by and the second we got in the car I could tell something was going on in Luciana's head. She had that usual troubled frown on her face that I always see whenever she's thinking too hard. What I would give to know what's going through her head half the time when she makes that face.

I can almost guarantee it's something negative and something to do with me.

I also knew when she mentioned my sister, that wasn't the truth, that wasn't what was on her mind. If she ever had a question like that she would ask me, I know Luciana very well. It wasn't that.

Whatever it was, it definitely got her over thinking things.

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