For everyone who's forgotten who Rafael is, he was one of Alessio's closest friends at the start of the story. He was in a relationship with Daliah (Luciana's bestfriend) and when Daliah betrayed Luciana he took her side so Alessio and Rafael weren't as close anymore because of that.

~ Luciana's POV ~

It took a few moments for everyone to comprehend what had just happened while tensions ran extremely high in Alessio's office. You could hear a pin drop it was that quiet.

"Get out." Alessio finally managed to force the words out through gritted teeth breaking the silence around us. He was now standing up again with his hands gripping the edge of the desk tightly, probably to control himself from lashing out since Alana was only a foot away from him sleeping in her Moses basket.

As soon as he said the two words everyone quickly began scrambling to the door, except Tomasso who came over to me and picked up the Moses basket. I gave him a grateful look, unable to muster up a smile after all the hurtful truths I just heard from my brother. Just as I was about to turn around Alessio spoke again stopping me in my tracks.

"Not you Luciana." I looked towards him hesitantly before turning back to Tomasso who gave me a reassuring nod like he knew straight away I didn't want to part with Alana at all in this building. "I'll take her upstairs. She's safe with me."

With that he left the office leaving me and Alessio once again enveloped in silence. Except the only difference from earlier was that now I was starting to feel my own anger rising the more I thought about everything that had happened - not just today but over the last few months, all the way back to when Alessio and I argued in his office at home when I went into labour and he didn't believe me. Now that Alana wasn't in the room anymore there was nothing stopping me from expressing to him how I really felt. It was like Alessio's behaviour tonight was enough to trigger the anger that had been buried so deep since then while I was trying to recover from my coma. Alessio told me he loved me in the hospital which only pushed the anger down further - I was less likely to find a reason to be angry at him when we were getting on. But now that he's gone back to how he used to be, there was nothing keeping that anger at bay anymore.

For once I wasn't scared of him. I wasn't wary of him.

He was the one who should be wary of me.

"You've made a habit of not trusting me Alessio." The coldness of my tone caused his head to snap up, his eyes moving from the spot on the desk he was previously staring at, and now focusing on me. I didn't give him a chance to speak, the next words just flowing out of my mouth.

"I have forgiven you over and over again. From the first day when you kidnapped me instead of just asking me like a normal person what I knew about my father, after that you didn't trust me with the cops to keep my mouth shut. That was just the start of our so called 'relationship'."

Alessio's eyes followed me as I slowly started pacing around his room, my mind going back over the key events in our relationship stretching all the way back to a year and a half ago when he first kidnapped me from that club.

"Lets not forget about how you broke my heart just because you couldn't tell me about the Russians threatening me. You put me through months of pain for nothing, all you had to do was tell me. Then you didn't trust that Alana was yours when I told you I was pregnant and to top it all off you didn't believe me when I told you something was wrong." I stopped in my tracks right in front of his desk, my eyes locking with his, as a harsh glare settling on my face.

"And then I ended up in a coma."

The look on his face told me straight away I'd struck a nerve with him. Looking back at it he was probably hurt more than anything that I'd just basically told him it was his fault I went into a coma, but this was Alessio. He masked that hurt with anger. Like he always did.

"Well done, it's all my fault. Every thing that's happened to you is my fault." I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm his eyes never leaving mine. "Don't paint yourself out to be the innocent one in all of this. You're not free of blame. You were the one who fell for a freaking cop lying to you. You were the one who didn't tell me that you'd been receiving threats. You were the one who didn't tell me you were pregnant!"

"Because I wished with every freaking fibre of my being that she wasn't yours!" The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them and for the first time that night I finally saw a glimpse of the hurt in his eyes before he covered it again. But I knew I got to him. The sad part was that regardless of how much I loved him, it was true. I didn't want this to be his baby. I never wanted this. I did tell him this once before when we had that heated argument that led to me going into labour early, but I guess me saying it again now that Alana has been born is worse.

Now he has to face the reality of that.

"Alessio...I never wanted any of this. I've told you this so many times. I never wanted to come back to this life. All of this pain with you and whatever screwed up memories of my 'past' I've conjured up in my head are enough. I don't need anymore. I'm done."

"What do you mean 'you're done'? You can't just leave-"

"That's exactly what I'm doing Alessio." He shook his head, coming around his desk to stand in front of me. "You're not taking her away from me. I screwed up, I know that. I should have trusted you, I should have treated you bet-"

"Don't Alessio. I don't want to hear it. I'm not taking her away from you, you can see her whenever you want, just not me." I turned away from him taking a few steps towards the door but his hand quickly shot out stopping me before I could even make it a few feet away from him.

"I love you Luciana." I closed my eyes, willing myself to keep myself under control and not get pulled back in once again. It took everything in me to not run back to him and forgive him again like I wanted to. I knew he was going through a lot with Rafael being killed, but so was I. I was still recovering from my coma and depression as well as struggling to develop a proper bond with my daughter after missing a critical time of her life. No one else could see it but I felt it. I loved him with everything, he was my everything. But that just wasn't enough. Not anymore. It wasn't worth all this pain.

Once I knew I was capable of finishing this conversation without bursting into tears I turned back around to face him. I held his hand in mine as I stepped closer to him.

"I love you too Alessio. But that's not enough. You don't trust me, I've seen that now and I've accepted that. It isn't working anymore."

"Luciana-" I shook my head at him effectively cutting him off squeezing his hand in mine before I finally let go, stepping away from him I cleared my throat, swallowing all the emotions and putting my cold tone back on.

"You said you got that house for Alana and I, so send someone to get your things, you can put as many men outside to protect it if you want. If you want to see Alana you can message me or come and pick her up, I won't ever stop you from seeing her. But I don't want to see you again."

I didn't wait to see the expression on his face or hear what he had to say and instead I let go of his hand making my way out of his office leaving a piece of my heart in there with him.

He'd always have a piece of my heart. But now it was time that I moved on.

I refused to let any tears fall as I made my way through the familiar hallways heading back upstairs to the room where my baby was sleeping. I quietly made my way inside to see Tomasso sitting next to the Moses basket watching Alana intently as she slept.

"You okay?" I shook my head letting out a deep breath as I leaned against the door to catch my breath before I pushed myself off making my way over to him.

"What happened?" I sat down next to him, running a hand over my face as I thought about what I just had to do - the hardest thing of my life.

"I told him I never wanted to see him again." Even saying it out loud hurt, but it didn't feel real. This was Alessio. I couldn't imagine never seeing him again. I knew that wasn't going to happen since we did share a child, but in a way it would. If I had my way we would only ever talk if it was about her. Something which would kill me every time.

"You didn't really mean it, did you? I mean, after what just happened emotions were running high, once you calm dow-"

"I did Tomasso. I meant every word I said when I told him I loved him, but love just isn't enough anymore." Tomasso held my stare for a moment studying me for a moment before he shook his head standing to his feet when he realised I was deadly serious.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He kept his voice low as he spoke but the anger was clearly there for anyone to hear. "His closest friend was just killed. Ever heard of kicking a man when he's down?"

"Don't give me that Tomasso. It's not all about him. I'm the one getting through depression, he's the one who believed I was working with his enemies. The mother of his child, the woman he supposedly loves. It works both ways."

Tomasso scoffed at the words coming out of my mouth while shaking his head once again. "You really are a cold hearted bitch aren't you."

"Get out. Don't you dare use that language around my daught-"

"And Alessio's daughter. Not just yours." With that he left the room leaving me all alone.

I wanted to cry. I wanted to break down then and there. I wanted to give into the floods of emotions waiting to break free.

But I didn't. Because I had to think about my daughter now. She was the only good thing that's come of this whole thing and I was going to protect her with my life. I was going to stay strong for her.

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

The night went exactly how I thought it would, Alana was up every two hours crying and I'm pretty sure that meant the rest of the house was up too. But it didn't matter to me, they were the ones who forced me to come here and the second I was out I wasn't planning on seeing most of them again.

Once I'd finally managed to get Alana back to sleep at around 11am I had time to have a quick shower to freshen up afterwards changing into the spare clothes I'd packed the night before. I only packed one outfit because I didn't think I'd be here for more than one night so if this went on for any longer I was going to have a problem.

The sound of a soft knock on my door took my attention away from combing my damp hair, tiredly putting the comb down I quietly made my way over to the door, cracking it open slightly to see who it was. A number of people who would come to my room came to mind but this definitely wasn't one of them. "What do you want?"

"Can I come in? Just for a minute." My eyes roamed over Daliah's tired features, in particular her puffy eyes reminding me again of what happened last night. I hadn't seen her for longer than I could remember but she definitely looked so much more different than I remember.

"Fine." I moved aside to let her in, closing the door quietly behind her when she did. "Talk quietly, Alana's sleeping."

I leaned against the door, my arms crossed over my chest as I kept my attention on anything else but her.

"She has a set of lungs on her, that's for sure." I rolled my eyes at her attempt to lighten the mood, finally shifting my eyes to look at her properly. "I asked you a question. What do you want?"

"Luciana I know what I did hurt you...but I have no one else." I watched as she wrung her hands together, her eyes filling with tears. "He's dead Luciana. He's gone and he's not coming back."

The tears began to fall down her cheeks, a broken expression making its way onto her face and as the seconds passed I felt my resolve begin to crumble more and more. I know what she did to me was bad, but losing the person you love is hard on anyone. Even with everything going on with Alessio even the thought of something happening to him hurt me and Daliah was my friend once. I didn't want her going through that, I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

"Daliah..." When her body began to shake with sobs I finally took a few steps towards her until I stopped in front of her. Hesitantly I wrapped my arms around her, bringing her in for a hug. I'm not sure how long I held her in my arms for, but eventually she pulled away from me when her sobs began to calm down.

"I know you don't forgive me and I can't ever expect you to after what I did Luciana. But I've lost everything. Rafael was the only person who loved me, I guess in my head he made up for not having you, so I was a bitch, because I had him. But now that he's gone I've lost my fiancé and my best friend."

"Fiancé?" A soft sad smile graced her lips as she nodded, her eyes going to the ring on her finger I hadn't noticed before. "He asked me to marry him three weeks ago."

Instead of saying anything I just took her hand in mine, squeezing it softly.

"I don't really know why I came to see you. I just wanted you to know I'm sorry. Anyway, I'll go." She gave me a small smile before she stepped past me heading towards the door.

That was until I stopped her.

We could all see it happening, no one can even pretend to be surprised.

"Daliah wait. What are you going to do now? I mean that Rafael isn't here..."

"I can't stay here. I mean, I've hated it here, I only ever stayed because I loved Rafael. But right now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. We sometimes stayed here or at his house, but I can't bring myself to go back there. Not yet." I could tell by the way she spoke she'd already given her next steps a lot of thought, which only made my heart ache for her more. Daliah had a tough upbringing like I did, except her parents were killed in a car accident when she was 6. She had no one else and instead spent the next twelve years in and out of the care system. But still she managed to get a job to save up for college not that she needed it since she was smart enough to get a scholarship.

"Come and live with me."

Yes I said that. Why? I have no freaking clue.

"Luciana I can't...Alessio doesn't really like me, not that I blame him-"

"I'm not with Alessio anymore. It's just me and Alana now, so I guess I could use the help?" A small laugh escaped her lips at the sight of me uncomfortably scratching the back of my head as I spoke to her.

"Are you sure? I didn't come here to be friends with you again. Not that I don't want to be, it's just that wasn't my intention. What I'm trying to say is that I'm not trying to use you."

"I'm sure. We always talked about living together once, maybe we can use this as a chance for both of us to move on. Together."

So that's how I ended up packing up Daliah's things that were in the room she and Rafael shared here sometimes which was hard since he'd only died the night before. She refused to come inside so instead I offered to pack her things while she watched Alana. I knew it was going to be a long time until I ever began to fully trust her, but after knowing her for so many years, the one thing I was damn sure of was that she would never hurt my baby.

"You can leave now." I jumped at the sound of someone coming into the room behind me, causing me to turn around to see Tomasso standing there.

"Sorry?" He rolled his eyes at my question, stepping slightly more into the room.

"It's safe for you to leave here now. The shooter is no where to be found and the cops have calmed down a little. They were asking everyone too many questions last night after the gunshots were heard in Rafael's neighbourhood. So for those reasons it was safer for everyone to be here last night. That's over now so you can leave."

That was the last conversation I had with Tomasso, all I did was get the rest of Daliah's things and went back to my room to finish packing all our stuff up. It was all going so smoothly until I realised I needed the car seat from Alessio's car to put in Daliah's car, just as we got to the front door.

So I had to muster up the courage one more time to go and see him before I left.

So close to freedom yet so far.

I took a deep breath as I rounded the corner nearing his office, my eyes landing on the guard once again stationed outside his office. At least this time there was only one of them. The guards here wore all black uniforms, black sunglasses and a black cap, with a huge gun in their arms. They were intimidating enough without having to actually interact with them.

I eyed him carefully for a moment when I stopped next to him in front of the door, but he didn't seem to be making any moves to stop me, his face focused straight ahead as if I wasn't there. Not that I could see his eyes through the sunglasses, but it didn't look like he was watching me so I lifted my hand to knock on the door. Just as my knuckles were about to make contact with the door his hand shot out, gently wrapping around my wrist. Still he continued to stare ahead, an emotionless expression on his face.

"Um..." I awkwardly stood there for a moment before he lowered my hand putting it back down next to my side before he lifted his wrist to his mouth, speaking into the radio tucked in his sleeve. Of course he spoke in Italian. Seconds later he used his hand to turn the knob opening the door, still keeping his face staring straight forward.

I rose an eyebrow at him but he didn't even turn in my direction in the slightest. Ignoring his odd behaviour I turned my attention back to the matter at hand and instead went into the office to get the conversation with Alessio over and done with.

Once again Alessio was sitting behind his desk, his eyes fixed on the work in front of him, refusing to look up at me. Of course he knew it was me who was awkwardly standing a few feet away from his desk since that annoyingly professional guard gave me a nice announcement, but he still didn't look. That was until I cleared my throat.

"I need Alana's car seat." I forced the words out of my mouth, keeping my voice steady and firm while he pretty much glared at me.

"You're leaving? With who?"

"Daliah." As soon as I managed to force her name out after a moments pause a scoff instantly left Alessio's mouth and he shook his head. "Daliah? Really?"

"Not that it's any of your business but we're in the process of making up. Your mafia has taken a lot away from both of us." I didn't really need to add the last part, but the way he said her name just really got to me. Sure she hurt me, but so did he so it's not like he could pretend he was ever any better than she was to me.

Instead of responding to my dig, he just shook his head and stood up grabbing his car keys as he made his way out the room with me following close behind. Neither of us said a word as we walked through the excruciatingly long hallways until we stopped at the front door where Daliah was holding Alana in her arms. We'd already put the bags in her car, it was just Alana left, and before anyone says we should have just gone without the car seat, it is absolutely essential to put a baby in a car seat when travelling. I wasn't risking her safety just because of my disagreements with Alessio.

No matter how painful it was for my pride to go and ask him for the car seat.

~ Alessio's POV ~

I don't know why it bugged me so much to see Daliah holding Alana, but it did. I guess it was because I was so used to being the person that Luciana relied on to look after Alana when she was busy doing something. Now she has someone else to do that for her, and that person happens to be someone I'm not particularly fond of. She was one of the main reasons why Rafael and I weren't close anymore before he died, not to mention what she did to Luciana and all the stuff she said about me to her.

I walked past the two of them out the front door to my Lamborghini Urus, unlocking the car to retrieve Alana's car seat from the back seat. I quickly secured it in Daliah's car before I gently took my baby girl from her arms giving her a sharp glare when I did. I definitely wasn't going to let her think I was okay with her being around Alana, the only reason I wasn't kicking up a fuss now was because I just wanted Luciana to calm down after last night.

If I made a fuss now my chances of getting her back would reduce before she'd even had a chance to calm down. So instead of showing her just how angry she made me last night, after a long argument with Tomasso I realised that the best thing was to let her do what she wanted because if she really did love me, when the time was right we would get back together.

The only part I didn't like was being separated from Alana, but I was definitely going to make sure I saw her whenever I could. Otherwise this wasn't actually the worst thing, it allowed Luciana to work through her issues on her own and decide exactly what she wanted while it allowed me to mourn Rafael while ending this thing with Giuseppe Donato and his boss Vladislav Sokolov once and for all.

Once I'd said goodbye to Alana, making the goodbye as long as possible just so I could piss Daliah off, I finally put her in the car seat and closed the door, a smirk tugging at my lips when I turned to see Daliah glaring daggers at me and Luciana just frowning.

I knew straight away from the way Luciana was behaving that this wasn't going to last. She may have been furious last night and I know I screwed up and when I got the chance I would prove to her how sorry I was. She was stubborn that was for sure, but it wouldn't last.

I was sure that however long it took Luciana and I would find our way back to each other. That was because she was stubborn in proving she could survive with out me and once I was sure she was over what happened and in a good place mentally, I was going to be stubborn in proving to her just how much I love her.

She won't be able to stand a chance.

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