I'm lying over JP, tracing his tattoos after we finish another round of making love.

I turn, kissing his chest as he trails a finger lazily down my back. "What time is it?" I ask.

He reaches for his watch on the nightstand, on his side. "It's 1:20."

"Do you think Annalisa's still down at the party?" I ask, laying back, looking up at the ceiling. Guilt seeps in as I already made up with JP and haven't yet, with her.

JP turns to his side to look at me, propping himself up on his elbow, and picks up a lock of my hair and plays with it through his fingers.

He shrugs. "She could be. Do you want me to go check?"

"If you don't mind. I'm just going to jump in the shower to wash off." I move to sit up, but he pushes me back down.

"You don't want people to smell me on you, princess?" He nuzzles my neck, making me shiver.

I laugh, pulling his face up. "You know I don't care about that, JP."

His dark eyes are alight with humor. "I know, I'm just teasing, amore mio." He leans down to kiss me.

"Alright, I'll be back." He sits up and gets dressed. While I make my way to the bathroom, putting my hair up.

He stops me before I walk into the bathroom. "I'm going to have to borrow this back." He says, grabbing his hoodie from the bed. "Someone ruined my shirt." He smirks.

"I don't even feel bad about it." I look over my shoulder at him, winking. He laughs as he walks out of the door; it's quickly becoming my favorite sound to hear.

After the quick shower, I'm slipping on a shirt and shorts when JP walks back in. "I couldn't find her, and the party's over; I guess it has been for a while. One of the guys said Joey left, and everyone started leaving since he left."

"What about Victoria?" I brush my hair out while he watches me through the mirror.

He snorts. "Please, she left not long after you kicked her ass." I grin back at him.

"Is it bad that it felt good to smash her face in?"

JP chuckles, "You've never been in a fight before, amore. Well, other than fighting for your life. The adrenaline you get is pretty hard to beat, but making love to you might beat it out."

I laugh, shaking my head as he walks up behind me, holding me around the waist while he rests his chin on my shoulder.

"You are so beautiful, Charmaine." He looks at me through the mirror lovingly. I turn around to face him.

"Would you still think that if I gained weight or when I'm old and grey?" I tease.

"I know I would." He places a soft kiss on my forehead. "I've had dreams of your belly swollen with my baby..." He places more kisses on my cheeks and nose.

And the intensity of his gaze makes my heart flutter as much as hearing him say he's had dreams of us having a baby. "You have?" I whisper.

"Yes, and I can't wait for that day to come, someday." His eyes move down to my lips. He brushes the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip. "...down the road, of course. We're still young and have plans to travel, and you are opening a business soon. I want to be there and help you reach your dreams."

"What about your dreams, JP?" I ask, and he moves his eyes back to mine.

He places his hands on either side of my face. "Don't you get it, amore mio? You are my dream." He leans down and kisses me. His lips move over mine, slowly. My belly starts stirring, and I run my hands through his hair, moaning quietly.

A loud, screeching alarm rips through the quiet room, ending our kiss abruptly. I bring my hands over my ears to drown out the sound. "Fire alarm?" I yell up at JP.

He shakes his head, his eyebrows creased as he hurries over to his side of the nightstand and pulls out one of his guns. He started leaving one in my room because we are in my room as much as his.

"JP, what is it?" I shout over the blaring alarm.

He removes the safety of the gun and cocks the gun to load it. "Security breach. Stay here." His deep voice carries over the shrieking alarm as he runs out of my room.

Yeah, right, like I'm staying.

I run to the nightstand on my side and pull out one of my guns, slipping it in the waistband of my shorts; the cold metal gives me the chills. I grab my phone and hurry out of my room after JP.

The alarm stops as I come to the top of the stairs; but movement catches my attention from the corner of my eye.

I see Annalisa peek her head out of Joey's room, and her eyes widen when she sees me. I can see she's unsure if she should approach me, so I walk towards her. She's wearing a zip-up jacket over her dress which I assume is Joey's.

"I thought you left," I say quietly. Annalisa shakes her head. As I come closer, I see her eyes are a little puffy, and her mascara is smudged.

I hug her tightly. "I'm so sorry, Anna. I shouldn't have gotten so mad. I was just embarrassed more than anything."

Annalisa wraps her arms around me tight and sniffles. "Please don't apologize to me, Char. That just makes me feel worse. I should have told you, but I was so embarrassed when it happened. I was going to tell you that night you called me when you made out with JP, but I figured it wouldn't matter because it was so long ago and just a one-time thing, I swear."

"JP talked to me, too," I tell her. "I just wish I didn't have to hear it from Victoria and not in front of everyone."

"Ugh, I hate that bitch! I don't even know how she got that picture." Annalisa groans. "After JP asked me to leave you two alone in the kitchen, I went back to the other room and confronted her."

She chuckles. "I told her she proved she doesn't have a life since she's always trying to start drama with us. She tried to come at me, but Joey stopped her and kicked her out, telling her she caused enough shit for the night."

"Good riddance, if I ever see her skank face again, it'll be too soon." I hook my arm in hers. "Come on, let's go get a snack. I'm hungry, are you?" She nods.

I give her a side glance. "So, speaking of Joey..."

Annalisa tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Nothing happened, Char. He thought that kiss with JP happened recently. When he got a good look at the picture on her phone, he realized it was when we were younger.

And he apologized for going off on me. He saw how upset I was and offered to go talk in his room," She rolls her eyes, laughing a little at my questioning look. "And talk was all we did. He can be sweet and thoughtful when he wants to be." She smiles softly.

Annalisa stops as we reach the bottom landing. "Um, Joey mentioned there was a security breach. Are we okay to be wandering around?"

"I'm sure it's fine; the alarm is off; it was probably just a fluke or something. I've only heard it go off a few times the whole time I've lived here, and nothing's come of it."

But I spoke too soon.

We hear glass shattering from the kitchen, and I grab Annalisa's hand and pull her down to crouch next to the stairs with me. Then the front door bursts open, and several of my Uncle's men run in, spreading out through the house.

I hear Ares' and Zeus' loud, deep barks coming from another part of the house. It's chaos with all the shouting, and then I see a fight spilling out from the kitchen into the large foyer.

Tobias runs over to us. "Charmaine, you two get upstairs now and lock the door!"

But as we turn to start heading for the stairs, the fight is now in the middle of the foyer, and I see it's only one man. He's wearing a black hoodie with something covering his mouth.

I can't look away as I watch him, fighting several men at the same time. He moves too quickly for anyone to shoot at him without risking hitting one of the other men.

My heart stops as I watch JP and Santino start going head to head with him. They block and counter each other's moves, and the fight looks like it's a dance.

The man focuses on Santino, and JP takes advantage by coming up behind him; only the man anticipates that and turns quickly, giving JP a straight leg kick to the chest that sends him flying backward.

Now Joey moves in and starts fighting with him, and Annalisa gasps as Joey gets punched and kicked, but he recovers quickly and counters with his own moves, getting in some hits of his own.

Zeus and Ares are now at the side of the foyer, snarling and barking. Tony holds them back on their leashes as they strain to get loose.

"Enough of this shit," Tony says. "Attacco!" (attack)

Tony releases Zeus, and I hold my breath as I watch Zeus run straight for the man in the hooded sweatshirt. Zeus leaps into the air, latching on to the arm of the man, pulling him down.

The man falls from the sheer force of Zeus ramming into him and ends up rolling around on the ground with Zeus. I move back down the stairs and stand next to the other men, watching the awful scene unfold. Zeus' deep growls echo in the foyer.

Zeus shakes his head violently as he's still latched onto the man's arm, but the man somehow manages to lessen the movement so his arm doesn't rip off.

The man maneuvers quickly, so he's now over Zeus putting his weight on him; Zeus whimpers, and I watch as he pulls a knife, with his free hand, from the bottom of his leg.

I don't realize I'm running towards them. "Stop!"

"Charmaine, NO!" JP yells.

The man's head lifts to look over at me quickly, and he gets tackled by several men. The knife clatters to the ground, and I kick it away from him further and check on Zeus; he gets ups from the laying down position he was in and sits as I command him to stay; he acknowledges me by licking my hand.

The man struggles for a bit before he finally seems to submit. He gets pulled up onto his knees roughly, he keeps his head down, breathing heavily. I notice the arm of his sweatshirt is torn and bloodied where Zeus latched on to him.

Everyone's guns pointed at him.

Annalisa walks next to me, and we watch as Tony makes his way to the center of the foyer, where the man is kneeling.

"Remove his hood and mask."

Joey rips the hood back and yanks down on the mask, and Annalisa and I both gasp.

"Leo?" We question at the same time.

Elena's aka Sofia's friend from the study group and from the night we went out with Annalisa's brother, is in front of us.

Tony turns towards both of us, his thick eyebrows drawn together. "You two know this piece of shit?"

Annalisa speaks up. "We met him through Elena or Sofia—whatever she goes by." She waves her hand in the air dismissively. "He's a friend of hers."

"I'm not her friend."

I inhale sharply at the sound of his voice, and I move up closer, towards Tony.

"My name isn't Leo. It's just an alias I use." He speaks quietly, but he lifts his head, and his eyes find mine. "Stella, it's me." I stare back at him in disbelief; my mouth opens.

"You're Furia?" JP questions, from behind him and the entire room audibly reacts.

"My name is Lorenzo Romano. My father, Frank Romano, worked for Timoteo for several years." Again, loud reactions and murmurs sound off throughout the room at the mention of Frank Romano's name.

I shake my head at the shock I feel, clearing my thoughts. "That's common knowledge," I state. The room quiets down as I continue. "For all we know, you've just learned all this to fool us..." 

He lowers his gaze, and I see his thick eyebrows furrow.

"Tell me something only Enzo would know..." I fold my arms as I stand next to Tony.

He looks up at me, his golden-hazel eyes focusing only on me as he starts talking rapidly. "When we were kids, you hated having milk with your cereal, but I guess you might like it now. You had a crush on Taylor Lautner, and you were obsessed with watching Twilight."

I cringe, but then I remind myself I was nine; who didn't like him then?

"You always talked about being a baker when you grew up. The scar on your left knee is from falling after you begged me to ride the skateboard that I got for my 10th birthday.

You cried at the end of Toy Story 3, and I made fun of you for it, and you didn't talk to me for a whole week, and you'd always kick my ass in a one-on-one game of basketball."

My eyes are burning with tears as all the memories rush through my mind.

"The last time I saw you, you had come over to ask me to watch a movie at your house like we always did on Fridays; your mom was making cookies. I told you no, and you asked me why my dad was yelling and throwing things in the house.

It was the same day I opened an envelope that arrived with pictures of my ma's tortured, mutilated body. I tried to get you to leave, but you wouldn't, and I pushed you so hard, you fell, but you stayed on the porch until my dad pulled away, and you ran after our car as we drove away." He lowers his head, when he's finished, looking down at the floor.

Tears are running down my face, remembering the day so clearly. I kneel in front of him, and I lift his face with my hands. I look at him and push his hair back, and I can picture the face of my childhood friend on this grown-up version.

How did I not see it before? I pull him into a hug, my tears wetting his shoulder. The men must have let him go as I feel his arms come around me, hugging me tightly. I pull back, wiping my eyes.

"Why did you come here, Enzo?"

He looks around and rubs his neck. "I tried calling and texting you, wanting to tell you something I found out and didn't hear back from you, so after a few hours, I decided to try calling you again, but it went straight to voicemail. I thought something had happened to you, and I had to come to see that you were okay." 

I look up at JP, who's watching us, his jaw muscle is twitching, so I move away from Enzo.

"I had turned my phone off earlier." I glance at JP again. "I'm sorry I made you think something was wrong."

"It doesn't matter, now. I'm just glad you're okay." He pauses. "So...I guess I'll go now."

"Not so fast," Tony speaks up. "Timo will be arriving in a few hours. He'll want to speak with you."

"Timo won't have any issues with me being here; he's been talking with my Uncle," Enzo informs him.

"I wasn't informed of any arrangement," Tony counters; he looks over at Tobias, who shrugs, unaware of anything either, it seems.

"Maybe he doesn't trust you," Enzo says confidently, and the atmosphere in the room becomes tense again while Tony glowers back at Enzo.

I stand and hold my hand out for Enzo to grab, and he reaches for my hand and stands as well. "He can stay here; we have extra rooms."

"I don't think so, Charmaine. He may be an old friend of yours, but it doesn't change the fact that he was hired to hurt you, maybe even kill you and Timo," Tony states.

"I would never hurt Stella." Enzo defends himself and emphasizes my real name.

"Too late for that, asshole. Maybe you forgot the black eye you gave her and the fingerprints you left around her neck after you tried to strangle her." Joey steps up; he looks at Enzo accusingly. Enzo's eyes flame in anger as he looks over at Joey.

Joey falters a little, trying to maintain eye contact with Enzo.

"I didn't know it was her, she colored her hair, and she doesn't use her real name. Not to mention, the entire time I've known her, I thought her parents were Dominic and Serena. Not Isabella and—"

"He can stay in the other house with the rest of the men. We have extra rooms there." Tony cuts in.

Enzo glances over at Tony. They look at each other as if they are talking silently before looking back down at me.

"I'll see you later?" Enzo asks. I nod and smile at him, but I can feel JP's eyes burning the side of my face.

Tobias asks Enzo to follow him, telling him they'll clean up his arm, and they head out of the house. Enzo looks back at me one more time, and I give him a small smile. The rest of the men walk out, but I notice some still have their guns out, watching Enzo warily.

"Tony, you're not going to hurt him, are you?" I turn to ask him.

Tony looks over at me. "Not unless he gives me a reason to." 

I narrow my eyes at him, and he turns away from me, giving out orders to a few of the men to find something to block the window for the night and gives assignments on guard duty.

"Well, I guess I'll be heading home," Annalisa says quietly.

I look over at her, shaking my head. "No. It's almost three in the morning; you're not going anywhere." I tell her.

"She can stay with me."

We turn to look at Joey.

"What? I promise I won't use the gift you gave me for my birthday, no matter how much you beg." He holds his hand up like the boy scouts do. Annalisa scoffs at him, shoving him.

"I'm joking! I'll take the couch in my room, and you can have the bed. I'll be the perfect gentleman." Joey smiles at her.

I look at her and wait for her to respond, and she looks over at me, and I smile back at her.

"Okay," Annalisa says.

Joey holds his hand out for her, and she takes it as he leads her back up the stairs. "You should probably get ice for that, Joe." She reaches up to touch his swollen lip.

"Nah, you know what I heard works for swelling..." He leans in and says something in her ear, and she swats his arm.

"Joey!"

He laughs as he puts his arm around her shoulders. "I'm kidding, damn!"

I turn back to JP and notice he's got his hands in his pockets. "Are you okay?" I ask him as I walk up to him, reaching my arms around his waist and my hands brush up against his gun.

He looks down at me and pulls back. "Why didn't you stay in your room? And, are you carrying?" He lifts my shirt and pulls out my gun.

"You could've gotten hurt, Charmaine." He puts my gun behind his back, too.

"You're the one always telling me I should carry, JP. Now I shouldn't? Plus, Enzo wouldn't hurt me."

JP growls. "I'm so sick of hearing you say that. You don't know him, Char. He's not the same little kid you played with as a child." He looks down at me; the vein on the side of his face is bulging.

"Why are you so angry at me?" I ask crossing my arms.

He runs his hands through his hair and takes a deep breath. "I'm not angry at you. I'm angry at this whole fucked up situation." He says quieter.

"What situation?"

"Nothing, I just don't want you to get hurt. I know you think you can trust him, and he was your friend growing up, but he was raised, trained, and molded to kill." He states.

"I know that, JP, but it wasn't his choice. What could he do at 12 years old? I think if he completely shut that part of him off, then yes, I would be hesitant being around him, but he still remembers me. His memories are just as vivid as mine."

He looks at me and sighs as he pulls me in for a hug. "I just don't want anything to happened to you, principessa."

"Nothing will, as long as you're with me. You and me." I smile up at him. "Come on, let's go to bed, Lover."

JP chuckles as he reaches down and picks me up, so my legs wrap around him. He starts walking up the stairs, and I start kissing his neck and nipping at his ear.

I chuckle as I notice he picks up the pace. "I know what you're doing, princess." He nuzzles my neck. "But that's okay; I'll torture you when we get to your room, lo prometto." (I promise)

I squeal as he runs to my room, kicking the door shut behind us, and throws me on the bed, playfully.

True to his word, he starts his slow, pleasurable torture on me as the long night finally comes to an end.

****

What do you think of the story so far? I'd love to hear your comments!

Also, I thought there'd only be a few chapters left, but I don't want to rush through the story so, I'm starting to work on a sequel!!!

I know this is not your typical mafia story, there's more focus on Stella and JP's story but there's a reason for it, I promise. They are both going to go through some major, life altering decisions and changes, so it's important to see where they start and where their choices and life takes them.

***If you like what you're reading please comment, vote and share!***

A/N: EDIT 8/27/21: Its fun to re-read my story as I've gone through and edited; to see where it started to where everyone is right now (I'm currently also working on third book). I never would have thought this idea would turn into a 3 book series! That's just crazy! But thank you to all the loyal readers (including you silent readers 😊).