Two years later

The morning after we baby sat little Alexandria, Xander and Aria's daughter, I woke up to find Marco lying beside me, his eyes open and a smile on his face.

"I'm never going to get used to this mia regina," he said quietly while I struggled to get out of my haze of tiredness.

"Never going to get used to what," I grumbled confused and far to sleepy to be having a full conversation.

"Waking up to you every morning," he said, leaning over to kiss my cheek.

"If you don't bring me coffee soon than you won't get the chance to," I muttered grumpily.

He only laughed and got up, letting the sheets from our bed fall off of his waist, showing off his picture perfect physique.

"I'm angry at you," I declared making him stop in his tracks before walking out the door.

"What did I do," he asked worriedly.

"You woke me up last night so we could have sex," I grumbled. "Now I'm really tired... and sore."

Marco laughed and said, "I know you like it rough El. I'm only giving my queen what she wants."

I groaned and turned over, letting the pillow be my face mask. Marco came back in a couple minutes later with a cup of coffee in hand.

"How many times do I have to tell you that's a health hazard," I scold when I grab the mug from him. He sits down on the bed beside me, wrapping an arm around my bare shoulders.

"I'm not going to stop walking around our apartment naked. It's a free country."

"Yeah I bet you won't say that though when you pour a cup of hot coffee on your dick. Imagine how much that would hurt," I teased.

He winced and pulled away from me. "Fine, I'll wear an apron or something. But we got to get going. We have a long day. We have a meeting at ten, the walk through of the building on sixth street at twelve, lunch with my Dad, another meeting after that until-"

"Wait," I said, holding up my hand, making Marco stop mid-sentence. "The first meeting isn't at ten, it's at twelve."

Marco seemed to think about it for a bit before saying, "I thought it was at ten?"

"No," I shook my head. "I was the one who booked that meeting, I would know. What is this walk through thing you're talking about?"

"I want to go see a possible new site for a new boys and girls club. It's the only day they can show it until they start the bidding for it. Eliza, we need this building."

"But you can't miss the meeting Marco," I argued. "You know it's just as important."

Marco groaned and sat back down on the bed, his head in his hands. "I don't know how Xander and my father have done it all this time. It's so much work. I'm not like them Eliza."

I instantly felt bad because whereas his brother and father had hundreds of people working for them, Marco only had a handful. He was only starting off of course but within the past two years he's made quite the name for himself. People are calling him 'the hero of the people' from how many lives he changes for the better.

"You know what they don't have though?" I crawled over to him, setting my cup on the side table and wrapping my arms around his neck, my bare chest pressed against his back. "Me," I said huskily into his ear. I could feel the shivers run down his spine.

"I'll do the walk through on my own while you go to your meeting, but only if you give your queen what she wants."

"I love you so much," he said before turning around and crawling on top of me.

...

At twelve o'clock I arrived in front of the address that I had messily written down on a piece of scrap paper. The numbers were so messily scrawled on that I wasn't sure if I even read them correctly. But from where I was, on a barren street with vacant buildings lining it all and construction on the next street over, I figured I was in the right place. Marco did find it more useful to transform a whole neighborhood by starting with one single building.

I left my car down the street on the cracked paved road before it turned into the cobble stone thin road I was walking on. I knew I had to tell Marco about the cobble stone. Whereas it might look pretty it won't be useful if the kids want to play a game like basketball on the secluded street. I looked up at the warehouse I was supposed to go into and noticed how broken it looked. Windows were missing, paint has disappeared and the faint letters of a company had faded through time. I wouldn't be surprised if it fell down any second.

If the inside was any better than Marco would have to do some serious renovations to it. Maybe it would be better if he tore it down and just rebuilt it from scratch.

I walked through the torn down fence that had everything from flyers, warning tape, and old pieces of cardboard on it. It looked like it was straight out of a scary movie.

I texted Marco quickly before I pulled open the smashed in door. The text read, 'Going in now. So far, so... not so great. Needs A LOT of improvements.'

He texted back quickly with, 'Just try it out babe. Meet me at my parent's house for lunch after. You are wearing that white dress I left for you right? My Ma wants to see you in it.'

'Yes but only because I love you;)'

Once inside the warehouse I got chills running down my back. Maybe because of how vacant it looked, maybe because of the bat that flew over my head five seconds in, or maybe because of how cold it was. The whole place was giving me a bad feeling.

From what I saw, a wall dividing the room in two and no upper level, I knew it wouldn't work. There were way too many things that we would have to do to make it livable. It would include putting up multiple walls, putting in new windows, painting, probably giving it better sewage, and more electricity. This place was useless, I knew that, but I knew if Marco was here he wouldn't stop until he saw every single inch of it.

Just last year he bought a ran down old apartment building, filled with rodents and in a horrible neighborhood and which was the definition of failure, but he bought it anyways because of the view from the top floor.

Now that place serves as a home for young kids who had been in the foster care system until they were eighteen. He knocked out all the walls on the top floor and converted it into one large rec room where the kids could become inspired from the outside world.

The pride I felt for Marco was so genuine and big that I couldn't put it into words. He was an angel sent from above, I know it. So I kept looking around even though I knew it was a bust. I was only hoping for that one single wow factor, that one good view that could make this place change lives. But I didn't.

Instead, half an hour into my useless search by myself I heard a noise coming from outside. It was a voice on a loud speaker counting down from ten.

I stood confused for a bit, not knowing what was going on but once I finally figured it out it was already too late.
...
Marco's POV

"Where the hell is she," I asked for the hundredth time. It was ten minutes passed the time she was supposed to be here and she has yet to show up. I wouldn't be freaking out if she was never late for anything and if my entire family wasn't sitting in the crowd in front of me, all waiting to watch her come through those doors in a white dress.

"Calm down dude," Rocco said with a roll of his eyes. "Maybe she hit traffic or something."

"I already checked the traffic before from the warehouse to here. There is no construction or accidents," Xander says with a calmness that I wish I had.

I wondered if he felt this way before he married Aria. If his hands were sweating, if his body was shaking, if his heart was beating out of control.

Maybe the circumstances were different though. Eliza didn't know that instead of this being a simple family lunch it would be our wedding. There would be a chance that she could figure it out and run away which terrified the hell out of me.

I only hoped that my plan worked but so far it wasn't. I did however succeed in tricking her into being busy for the past two hours while I set everything up but she had yet to show up.

I didn't want our wedding to only be my family so I invited Lily, Rumi, and Shai as well. Aria didn't seem to mind and was even sitting right by her Mom. Ever since Pop's death a couple months ago Aria and Lily grew closer through the grieving process.

Eliza deserved her friends here too even though they're small in numbers and even if I still hated Rumi with a passion. It might have been two years since I met him but I've seen him again on a handful of occasions, mostly holidays and each time I couldn't help but want to punch him in the face. I guess that feeling will never really go away.

"Check again," I order my brother. He whips out his phone and searches the traffic app with Aria hovering over his shoulder.

"Stop pacing before you end up in China," my Mom said with a frown.

"Yeah, you're giving me head ache," Victoria muttered.

"What," Antonio shouted in panic. "Are you alright? Are you in pain?" Victoria was pregnant with her second child, making Antonio even more worried than last time. It would be funny if it wasn't so annoying.

"Stop before I deck you," Victoria threatened.

"Oh no," Aria gasped, making everyone turn to her.

"What is it," Rumi asked, speaking up for the first time.

I felt my whole world crack down the middle as Xander slowly lifted his head towards me, his eyes filled with remorse.

I turned my attention to Aria as she began to cry beside him, snuggling her head into Lily's shoulder.

"What is it," I asked urgently. "Is it Eliza?"

"There was a building demolition down the street from the warehouse. Somebody was inside when the building collapsed," he says.

"You don't think," Lily asked, letting the sentence hang.

"Oh god," I whispered to myself.
"What does it say," Rumi yelled, running over to my brother in panic. "Who was it?"

Xander looks down at his phone, his eyes skimming over the words quickly before he shoots up from his seat in a panic. "It was a young woman. That's all its saying."

"We need to get to the hospital now," Rumi demanded. I didn't have the chance to utter one word, not that I could, before he grabbed me by the collar and began to drag my down the aisle.

Everything was hazy but I distinctly noticed everyone rising from their seats and following us to the cars in front.
...
**Next update: Monday**
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