~ Luciana's POV ~

"Get the hell off me."

I resisted the urge to groan when Alessio and Tomasso started arguing once again. The fact the sun was coming up and only Alana had managed to sleep wasn't making my mood any better.

At least she wasn't awake all night with us or I would have just walked out at this point. I did not need an irritable baby along with Alessio and Tomasso who were just plain irritating even on a good day.

"I'm not even touching you this time Alessio."

"Yes you freaking are, what was the point of putting the pillows between us if you're just going to cross them?"

Tomasso didn't reply to Alessio's question and instead moments later I heard a loud thud on the otherside of the bed followed by a pained groan.

That's 6 times.

"Luciana you're marrying a violent person."

"If you don't shut up you'll be saying that to him instead in a minute." Tomasso started shuffling on the floor as he got back to his feet before he got back on the bed next to Alessio.

"You two are made for each other."

Alessio let out a sigh and sat up, leaning against the headboard with his eyes shut. None of us had any sleep last night since we were all lost in our own thoughts and then also Alessio wouldn't stop arguing with Tomasso all night.

This was only our first night staying here.

After another half an hour of lying there in silence I finally decided to get up and go and make some coffee when Alessio and Tomasso started arguing again. By the time I came back to the room with three mugs off coffee, Alana was awake and standing next to the bed, using it to hold herself up so that she didn't fall over.

"Hey baby." She smiled at me when she saw me and quickly let go of the bed, trying to run towards me but as soon as she took three steps she fell down. I had to hold back my laughter when she made a weird noise and sat up, frowning at me.

She still hadn't learned that she can't walk without the support of someone holding her or some sort of furniture.

I may have held back my laughter but both Alessio and Tomasso didn't even bother, the two of them bursting out into laughter when Alana let out a whine from her place on the floor. A few chuckles escaped my lips as I quickly put the coffee mugs down and made my way over to her, lifting her up into my arms.

"Are you okay princess?" Alana just babbled something, wrapping some of my hair around her tiny fist before resting her head against my chest.

"Okay baby." She continued mumbling incoherent things as I sat back down on the bed next to Tomasso who was busy drinking his coffee. It was just the two of us in the room since Alessio had quietly slipped away to go and take a shower.

"So Luciana, did you sleep well?" I rolled my eyes at Tomasso's lame attempt at making conversation after a few minutes of sitting in silence together.

"You don't know how badly I want to hit you right now." I looked up from my coffee glancing over at him just in time to catch the smirk he was sending my way. He was in a surprisingly good mood considering the lack of sleep we'd all had last night and the fact he had to lie to Thea.

"I'm sure I have a good idea." I rolled my eyes just as Alessio came back into the room with only a towel wrapped dangerously low around his hips.

Dear lord give me strength.

"You're filthy rich and yet you don't own any clothes?" Alessio rolled his eyes at Tomasso's comment as he picked up the mug of coffee I had made for him, downing most of it in one go.

"Alessio it's not hot anymore, shall I make you another one?" I was about to get up when he quickly shook his head giving me a smile. "No, it's fine, I don't have time anyway, I need to get ready."

"Why? Where are you going?"

"To get some freaking answers." Tomasso let out a sigh when Alessio went back into the bathroom after grabbing some clothes.

"I told him not to go." His words, although quiet, caused me to look at him with a frown on my face.

"What do you mean?" He shook his head and stood to his feet, running a hand tiredly over his face. "When you went to make the coffee he said he was going to speak to someone he knows in Russia to find out what's going on."

"Who?"

"We have a guy, hopefully if he knows he'll be able to tell us what we need to know - for the right price." I frowned at the way he said the last part as I slowly stood to my feet. It definitely didn't sound like the safest thing to do, especially when taking into account Tomasso's frustration.

"A guy?"

"He's part of the Russian mafia, but for the right amount he'll give us their inside information. Alessio is just reluctant to ever ask him because he wants a lot of money and we don't know if he's telling us the truth or not. I guess now he's willing to risk it."

With that he left the room to go and get ready to go with Alessio since he was his right hand man. It was only a few minutes before Alessio came back into our bedroom with his black Italian suit on.

"Is it okay if I go grocery shopping? We hardly have any food, take Alana with you, she'll be safer with you anyway." Alessio only glanced over at me while he was busy putting on his watch - even when there was a chance we could all die at any second these mafia men had to look their best at all times.

I could tell he was reluctant to let me go first, but after I put up a fight explaining that I can't stay locked up until every single threat against us is killed, he finally agreed. But he wasn't happy.

"I'll need to go with Tomasso to get your car first, but make sure you only go to the nearest store. Be back within half an hour." I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes when he started giving me a list of demands on how to keep myself safe and how to keep a low profile.

After he'd given me a long lecture, he left with Tomasso to go and get my car and bring it back here, and I finally left to go to the store while he went to wherever it was he was going with Tomasso and Alana.

I know I shouldn't have split from Alana, but we desperately needed food and Alessio was awful at food shopping so there was no way he could go alone. Besides, she's safest with those two anyway.

Of course, although Alessio gave me all the do's and don'ts for my little trip, it didn't matter because this was me and nothing ever goes to plan.

"Luciana." The sounds of the voice behind me instantly triggered something inside me, I knew the voice. Very well.

I turned away from putting the grocery bags into the trunk of my car, coming face to face with someone I never even thought I would see again. Someone I definitely didn't want to see again.

"Jake..." My eyes roamed over his familiar features and as much as I as I would wish he looked worse, he actually looked a lot better. These last two years have been kind to him.

"What a surprise." I tried to keep my voice levelled and my tone void of any emotion but when my eyes landed on the silver hand cuffs in his hand, it was no use.

"I suppose that's a good thing, we don't really alert people before we arrest them." I narrowed my eyes at him as he stepped closer to me, causing me to take a step back.

"You're arresting me again? What did I do this time? Run over an old lady with a bus?"

"Obstruction of justice." He held the cuffs out in front of me, a cold glare on his face as he spoke, completely ignoring my pathetic attempt at sarcasm. "You can either come with me willingly, or I'll be forced to put these on you."

I scoffed at his words, closing my trunk and going towards the drivers side of the car.

"No way am I going anywhere with you." Jake followed behind me, this time opening the cuffs as he came closer to me.

"You don't have a choice Luciana. I'm giving you one last chance - we can do this the easy way or the hard way."

I kept my eyes on him for a moment, trying to determine whether the was telling the truth and when his hard glare didn't waver, I knew my chances of getting out of this were slim to none. Might as well go out in style.

"Fine, let's go." I locked my car before following Jake to his car which happened to be a cop car. I rolled my eyes when he opened the door, gesturing for me to get in the backseat, next to another cop this time dressed in a normal uniform.

Once Jake got in the car we drove to the same station where I was last held two years ago by my fake ex-boyfriend. I wasn't really sure what to call him.

I followed Jake inside and soon we arrived at a different questioning room from the last one although this was just as dark and miserable. The other cop escorted me to the chair and after pushing me down to sit on it, Jake gave him a nod and he left the two of us alone.

"So, obstruction of justice. What justice did I obstruct?" Jake narrowed his eyes at me but ignored my comment and instead flipped open a file in front of him, scanning over the page. I watched his hand reach out hitting record on the recording device next to us before he set up the tape, stating the time and date - the same thing you see in the movies.

"Luciana do you understand the penalty you face for the obstruction of justice?" He leaned back in his seat, keeping his eyes focused on me.

I shook my head at him, mimicking his movements and leaning back in my seat, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Well let me tell you then. For knowingly obstructing the investigation of a murder, you could be facing up to twenty years in prison. Give or take."

"Wait, murder? Whose murder?" Jake rose an eyebrow at me when I suddenly sat up, the feeling of panic slowly settling in the pit of my stomach.

"Rafael Bandini."

"Rafael? I don't know anything about that-"

"Don't lie to me. We both know you know what happened." This time Jake sat up too, that familiar cold glare coming back onto his face - the same one he used to interrogate me last time.

For the next hour he was busy asking me a load of questions about where I was and what happened that night, all while reminding me about the penalty of obstructing his investigation. When he finally gave up asking me questions I wasn't giving him any answers to, he paused the recording.

"You're really determined to protect Alessio and his mafia aren't you? You won't even say a word."

"Alessio is the father of my child, I'm sure you know that." He nodded his head, his eyes going back to the file in front of him. "Alana, right? Cute name."

We sat in silence for a moment before I finally decided to ask him a question to break the awkwardness.

"So why do you hate him so much? You must have a personal vendetta against him to go to so much trouble."

Jake shook his head at me keeping his eyes focussed anywhere but me.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just doing my job."

"Right, being my 'boyfriend' was all part of your job? And now this, we both know these charges are bullshit. You just want Alessio and you're using me to get to him. So, why?" Jake let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair, a dark expression slowly creeping onto his face.

"Fine. Alessio killed my younger brother." My eyes widened at his words as the air suddenly changed around us, becoming thick with tension as he carried on talking.

"His name was Luke, he was a cop just like me but he was only starting out then, straight out of highschool. He was intent on proving to everyone he could be just as good, even at 18 years old." A sad smile tugged at his lips as he relived the memories in his head.

"Three years ago, just after he joined, we were raiding one of Alessio's warehouses - it was either for drugs or weapons, I can't really remember now. He was supposed to be in Italy, but the son of a bitch is too smart for anyone. When we got there, we were outnumbered three to one. But once we realised we didn't give up, we should have, but we didn't."

Jake let out a shaky breath, his eyes filling with unshed tears but despite the sadness, you could see the anger and hatred in them too.

"The first lot of our men went in not expecting anyone to be inside, but when Alessio's men opened fire we couldn't just leave them in there. We had to go in and help them. I tried to tell Luke to stay outside, that he was too young for this one, but he didn't listen. We got inside and bullets were flying everywhere. I remember pulling him behind one of shelves, standing in front of him to protect him as much as I could while we fired at his men. After maybe about ten minutes of firing, I realised Luke wasn't behind me anymore. When I looked around for him I saw Alessio standing in front of him. Before I could even call out his name, Alessio shot him. Then he turned away from his body on the floor like nothing happened."

He wiped away the tears from his cheeks, lifting his head to meet my gaze, a cold glare on his face.

"That's the person you're so intent on protecting."

I wiped away my own tears, neither of us saying a word as I took in the story he just told me. As much as I hated the fact Jake had been using me to get to Alessio, I understood why he was doing it. I could never imagine witnessing something like that, ever.

"Jake..."

"I don't want your pity Luciana. I want that monster behind bars. I need you to help me. Give me Alessio and I'll let you go."

I scoffed at his words, shaking my head instantly at his offer. I may have felt for him and understood why he was doing this, but that didn't mean I wasn't loyal to Alessio. As bad as it sounds I knew what he was guilty of. I wasn't naive. I was born into this life, I knew exactly what you have to do to survive. That's all it was about.

Survival.

What he did doesn't change a thing - he was and always would be my everything.

"No way. These charges are bullshit, I haven't done anything that you have proof of Jake. Even if I did I would never give you Alessio."

Jake's eyes slowly hardened again and any hint of sadness disappeared. Clenching his jaw he looked away from me for a moment clearly thinking about what he would say next.

"Tomas-"

"Absolutely not." He narrowed his eyes at me when I cut him off, which is, ironically, something which both Alessio and Tomasso always do too.

"Silvana Del Russo."

Once again I shook my head at his suggestion. "No."

"Are these people really worth going to prison for Luciana? You won't be able to see your daughter, she'll have to grow up only ever seeing you dressed in a nice orange jumpsuit."

He stayed silent for a moment letting the image he painted in my head sit for a moment but when I didn't answer his question, he carried on with his list.

"Eli Scott." I shook my head at him, but my lesser protest seemed to make him think he was on to something.

"Mason Winters." As soon as I heard Mason's name my mind went back to the argument we had a few nights ago, back to all the horrible things he said to me. He definitely wasn't someone I would throw my whole life away for. But if I gave him up I would be doing just that. Alessio would kill me for breaking that vow I made to him the day after we met.

You never tell a soul. That's how the mafia works.

But I also had to think of Alana.

My silence seemed to be enough for him and he nodded his head, reaching out and turning the recording back on after saying one last thing.

"Alana should be the most important thing to you. Not them."

"Luciana if you tell me what you know about Mason Winters any charges to be made against you regarding the obstruction of the Rafael Bandini murder investigation will be dropped. Are you willing to cooperate?"

Jake held my stare for a moment waiting to hear what I had to say to him.

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

After my 'questioning', I was finally released and since I had come here with Jake almost five hours ago I had to call someone to come and pick me up.

Of course I wasn't stupid enough to call anyone who was mentioned in my interrogation, so I had a very limited number of options.
Taking my phone out, I scanned through my list of contacts the only options being Thea and Daliah.

In that moment I had to go with my head and choose the person I thought was the least likely to be working against us. The second she answered the phone and instantly agreed to come and pick me up, I was so sure I had made the right choice.

Within ten minutes her car pulled up outside the station and I watched as she got out, her light brown hair blowing in the wind as she came towards me.

"Thea...thanks for coming." She gave me her usual soft smile and held her hand out for me to take. "No problem Luciana."

I took her hand and she dragged me over to her car, the smile unwavering on her face as she did. Once we got in the car I glanced over at her as she started driving while I rubbed my hands together to warm myself up after standing outside for such a long time.

Ten minutes might not sound like a long time but in February in New York, it is.

"Where are we going?"

"Alessio and everyone are at his parents house. They heard you'd been arrested." When she saw the confusion on my face she elaborated. "They have people undercover everywhere."

"Right." She gave me another smile before directing her eyes back to the road. Moments later she finally broke the silence again.

"So what did they want? What did you do?" I rolled my eyes at her overly happy tone, my mind going back to the conversation I had with Jake after he suggested I give him Mason in exchange for the charges being dropped. Of course at that point they hadn't charged me, but that wasn't the point.

"I'd rather not talk about it Thea, If that's okay." I could tell it bothered her but she didn't object and for the next twenty minutes we drove in silence while I thought about what had just happened in that questioning room.

When we finally pulled up to the house I instantly dreaded going inside to tell him what happened. Especially since he told me to be careful and I ended up getting arrested at a time when we couldn't afford any hiccups.

Being arrested was definitely a hiccup.

I followed Thea inside the house heading straight into the living room where everyone was sitting. As soon as they saw us, they all stood to their feet and Alessio instantly rushed over to my side. He took my hand in his and gently pulled me away from Thea and over to one side of the living room near Tomasso who had a furious expression on his face.

If furious was even the word.

I'd never seen him this angry before.

"Alessio I-"

"Not now Luciana, we'll talk later." Alessio cut me off by whispering quietly to me, while everyone in the room was staring in our direction.

At first I thought they were all staring at me, probably because I'd just been arrested and I thought they were curious about what happened. But after a moment I realised it was in fact Tomasso they were staring at.

I watched Tomasso as he slowly stepped into the middle of the room away from Alessio and I and towards Thea who was standing in the centre of the room watching him with confusion on her face. The smile on her face faltered and the confusion grew, that was until he pulled his gun out and held it against her head and the realisation dawned on her and on me.

I'd just made a huge mistake by calling her.

"Any last words?" I watched with wide eyes as Thea stared back at Tomasso, her eyes filling with tears when she realised just how serious he was. It was an expression I would never forget, even after what she had done.

"Tomasso it was for you I swear - I did it all for you. Just let me explai-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Tomasso pulled the trigger causing me to flinch and look away, the sound of her body falling to the floor echoing through the silent room.

Tomasso walked out the room and within seconds Alessio was guiding me out too while he used his free hand to stop me seeing Thea's dead body on the floor. I followed the two of them vaguely aware of some other people following us.

We all went into the kitchen and Alessio closed the door while I finally looked around properly to see Tomasso, Eli and Mason all in there with us.

My eyes lingered for a second longer on Mason my mind going back to my conversation with Jake at the station, before I looked over at Alessio waiting for some sort of explanation.

"While you were out shopping and getting yourself arrested, we decided to do something useful and got some answers." Honestly if I wasn't so shocked by the events that had unfolded over the last few hours all leading up to Thea being shot in front of me I would have had a smart comeback.

Not that he was wrong - he really did just say it how it was.

"Thea was the one working with the Russians. She claimed she was doing it for Tomasso, but it was all for herself really."

I shook my head in confusion as I sat down on one of the stools nearest to me, my mind going into overdrive trying to keep up after what had just happened.

"I don't understand. Why would she do that? She always said you guys were her family and well, Tomasso was..." I glanced over at Tomasso who was glaring at the floor in front of him while he leaned against the counter. It was silent for a moment before he finally spoke.

"She claimed she was doing it for me. She helped kill Rafael. She was the one who had us shot at the other day, she just didn't expect me to be there - that was meant for Alessio and you. She also tried to hurt Alana, the aim was to get rid of the heir to the mafia."

Tomasso took a deep breath before he stood up and looked over at me properly. He was clearly just explaining this to me since everyone else already knew.

"She thought if she got rid of everyone else and left me, that I would take over the mafia and that she would become more powerful. So for some sick, screwed up reason, she worked with your father and your brother to take out everyone, except me."

Once he put all the pieces together it did make sense I suppose but even though I had many questions to ask him, I didn't get a chance because they all decided to the turn their attention to me. To have a conversation I really didn't want to have. A conversation I didn't want to face.

"So what happened at the police station?"

Omg guys. I'm so sorry this has taken so long, I started university and it's horrible and I'm also super ill too. I have the rest of this week off so hopefully I can get another couple of chapters up but this book will definitely be finished by the end of the year.

It's just so hard to keep switching from writing Wattpad stories to history papers for university 😭

Thank you all so much for your support! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

What do you think she said to the police then?

Don't forget to vote and comment ❤️