~ Jordan's POV ~

I smiled a wide toothy smile at Leo who just stared back at me like I was crazy. "You're going to scare him if you keep doing that tesoro."

I glared at Adrian who was laughing to himself while reading through some documents. We were currently in his office at home, I was trying to convince him to tell me what he was planning with Dante but he told me it's better if he doesn't tell me. I don't know why he would think it's better that way but oh well. "He's two months old and he hasn't smiled yet Adrian, it's not good."

"Just give him time. He's just had his shots yesterday remember, I doubt he's going to smile after that traumatic experience." I rolled my eyes at him and looked back at Leo who was on my lap. "It wasn't that bad, was it baby?" I kissed his cheek but he didn't even respond, he just continued to stare at me blankly. "You've passed on your bad genes to him Adrian."

"What?" Adrian looked at me in amusement waiting for me to elaborate. "He's got that same look you have when you're just done with life." He chuckled and stood up coming around his desk to kneel down in front of me. "He's just tired tesoro, let him do it in his own time."

I smiled down at the two of them as Adrian interacted with Leo who was staring at his father with curiosity - he seemed more interested in Adrian than he was in me. I could tell straight away from the last two months that Leo and Adrian were going to be super close when Leo got older, they already had a strong bond. There's certain things only Adrian can do, like calm Leo down when he's having a bath; if it's just me he cries and screams.

Adrian smiled at Leo and tickled him causing him to wriggle around in my lap. We were busy playing with Leo when the door to Adrian's office revealing Matteo and Angelo. Adrian stood to his feet straight away going back to his cold demeanour, he nodded at the two as they made their way over to us.

"How's my favourite nephew doing?" He took Leo off my lap and spun him around resulting in Leo frowning at him like he was crazy. "He's your only nephew Matteo, and he's fine just a little grumpy."

"Why? What did you do to him Jordan?" I frowned at his accusing tone and scowled at him defensively. "I didn't do anything! He had his shots yesterday." He glared back at me and grumbled something to himself before he kissed Leo's forehead. I rolled my eyes at his overprotectiveness and turned back to Adrian who seemed to be having a silent conversion with Angelo, and whatever it was, it didn't look good.

"What's up babe?" He glanced down at me and shook his head before going back round to his chair behind his desk. "Nothing Jordan, go upstairs." I frowned at his sudden cold tone and slowly rose from my chair. "Um...okay? Is everything okay?" He just nodded while keeping his eyes down concentrating on his desk giving me my cue to leave. I took Leo from Matteo and carried him out of the silent tense office, closing the door behind me.

"Your father is up to something baby." He just gurgled in response causing me to sigh as I walked upstairs to our room. "You're not very good at giving me any advice Leo." Instead of responding once again he just stared at me, I bet if it was Adrian who was carrying him he would have done more than that.

I can't believe I just thought that. I'm getting jealous of my husband over the attention of a two month old baby. I seriously need to get a life.

I waited for Adrian to finish his meeting with Angelo and Matteo downstairs - whatever they were talking about it seemed to be very important. I was with Leo busy trying to get him to smile for the first time, while he was laying on his tummy on the floor in the nursery when my phone rang. At the sound of the marimba ringtone Leo began to wriggle around causing me to chuckle. "You like that baby?" I stroked his hair while pressing answer and holding the phone up to my ear.

"Hello?" I waited for a while for the other person to speak and eventually a familiar feminine voice spoke. "Jordan."

"Grace?" I couldn't help the tears that instantly welled up in my eyes at the sound of my older sister's voice. "I.." Neither of us said a word instead we just sat in silence for a few minutes.

"I miss you so much Jordan." I nodded and wiped away the tears from my cheeks. "I miss you too. I miss you all so much, it's been ages since I've spoken to you. How's Riley?"

"He's enjoying university. He's got a girlfriend now." I smiled and shook my head letting out a small laugh. "Is she nice? He was always choosing the wrong girls when he was younger."

"Yeah, she's sweet. Sometimes annoying but she's good for him. He lost himself a little after you left, it took him a while to settle down again. He misses you a lot." I nodded as a fresh wave of tears made its way down my face. Riley was one of the most important people in my life - if not the most important. We argued like nothing else but I loved him with all my heart and it's been killing me to be away from him and miss seeing him develop into adulthood. He always used to make a joke that when he turned 18 he would need me to show him 'how to adult' because he thought he would never he able to do it alone. "Tell him I love him."

Grace sighed but mumbled an 'okay', I chose not to ask her why it would be a problem for her just because I didn't want to argue with her and I also didn't want to know anything that could possibly hurt me even more. I cleared my throat and changed the subject away from our younger brother.

"How are you Grace? What's new?" I smile down at Leo as he gripped my finger with his hand. "I'm getting married." My eyes widened at her confession and a beaming smile made its way onto my face. "Grace! I'm so happy for you! Is he nice? Does he treat you well? Are you sure he's the one? Does he have money?" She chuckled at my response and tried to cut me off to speak, which eventually I let her do.

"He's perfect Jordan! He's everything I've ever wanted in a man. I love him so much. He's the one who I went on a date with when you left, then he came my boyfriend, remember? I can't wait for you to meet him." My smile soon faltered at her last line but I tried to not let the sadness in my voice show. I didn't want her to know I would probably never see her again.

"I remember and I can't wait either. He must be special." We spoke for a few more minutes while she took the opportunity to catch me up on everything that had been going on in her life. She moved out of our parents house to live with her fiancé at the same time Riley moved out to go away to university. She was working as a manager at an art gallery which she always wanted to do since she loved art. She was always the creative and artistic one in our family.

"What about you Jordan? How's Adrian?" I sighed and leaned back against the crib and placed Leo on my lap when he frowned at me, he snuggled into me and closed his eyes as I stroked his head. "Everything is just the same here. Adrian is fine, there's nothing really to say about it."

I know I should have told her she was an aunt but I couldn't. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I didn't want her to know about all the stuff she had missed out on in my life, the things we always talked about. Like being each other's birthing partners and throwing a huge baby shower when either one of us gets pregnant. I couldn't do it to her.

"What did you do for your one year anniversary?"

"Adrian and I weren't talking at the time and he forgot about it when we made up. So nothing." I couldn't hide the sadness in my voice when I told her that one small truth about my life here in Italy. My first wedding anniversary with Adrian came and went during the weeks when he wasn't sure about his feelings towards me. After we had made up he never brought it up and neither did I. If we haven't rekindled that romance and sexual chemistry that we had before Leo was born, there was no way we're ever going to talk about something like that together. It would either end in an argument about Adrian's behaviour during that time, the fact he forgot our anniversary or the fact we haven't had any sort of sexual contact apart from kissing since Leo was born. I wasn't ready for any of those arguments with him yet, things were going perfectly for now. I didn't want anything to spoil what we had because you guys know whatever good patch I have with Adrian is always followed by an extremely bad one.

"Oh...I'm so sorry Jordan." I shook my head and sighed while staring up at the dark blue ceiling with small silver stars on. "Don't worry about it Grace. So...how's mom and dad?" I heard Grace sigh when I asked the dreaded question.

"They're different, both of them. They're not really the same loving people they used to be. That's why Riley and I moved out as soon as we could, I try and go back regularly to see them but Riley doesn't. He cut them off completely after they didn't come to your wedding. Like I said, he was lost after you left us." Her tone became bitter towards the end showing me she clearly hadn't gotten over the way I left but I chose not to argue with her. I missed her too much to waste this time arguing over what happened.

"I love you Grace." I had nothing else to say in response to that. I let out a shaky breath trying to keep my emotions in check for the remainder of the conversation as the ache in my heart grew stronger. "I love you too Jords. You need to come back here soon to visit us. I miss you like freaking crazy." Her voice broke at the end of her sentence causing me to release a heavy sigh.

"I'll try my best." She mumbled and 'okay' and we said our heartfelt goodbyes before I hung up and wiped away my tears. I stroked Leo's cheek while he slept on my lap before carefully standing up and placing him in the crib. I grabbed the baby monitor and made my way downstairs trying to stop the tears that kept falling, mostly due to my hormones which were all out of whack, meaning I couldn't control my emotions very well.

My steps faltered outside his door when I heard the sounds of the three of them arguing loudly in Italian. I eventually gathered the courage and knocked on Adrian's office door while sniffling quietly, I waited for him to tell me to come in before I opened the door. They looked up at me clearly irritated that I had interrupted such a heated conversation but as soon as Adrian's eyes took in my my red, blotchy tear stained face he instantly assumed the worst. All three stood up while pulling their guns out, getting ready in case they needed to use them.

"What happened Jordan? Where's Leo?" Adrian quickly came over to me and took my hand, he glanced over my body to check for any injuries while I shook my head at him. "Nothing happened Adrian, he's asleep. I just need to talk to you." I knew as soon as I told them that nothing was wrong they were angry, all of three of them were furious. I didn't expect this to happen.

"What the hell Jordan?! What the hell is wrong with you?" Adrian sighed and threw his gun down on a table while running his hand through his hair. "Don't freaking scare me like that, stupida cagna." (stupid bitch)

I flinched at the pure anger in his voice as he walked back over to his desk. Both Angelo and Matteo glared at me as they put their guns in the back of their pants. "Use your freaking head Jordan." I frowned at Matteo who pushed past me and out the door followed by Angelo who didn't even look at me. I took a moment to get over the shock of their horrible behaviour before I cautiously made my way over to the chair that was previously occupied by Angelo. I slowly sat down feeling uncomfortable under Adrian's intense glare.

"Adrian.." He shook his head at me, fury clearly evident in his eyes. "Are you living on another planet or something? You know what's going on here Jordan! How can you randomly turn up to my office with a face like that, without Leo and not expect me to assume the worst?!"

I didn't even know what to say to him. I thought he would have just given me a hug if he saw me so upset instead of shouting at me. I know he's worried Dante might show up again but that's not always the first thing on my mind when I'm at home, where I'm meant to be safe. He can't expect me live a normal life with him if I can't even come to him when I'm upset without him blowing up on me.

"I-I'm sorry.." He scoffed and stood up, he began pacing around the room and let a deep sigh. I ran a hand over my face and leaned back in my seat. "What happened then?" I bit my lip unsure of whether to even tell him now, no doubt he was going to have another rant at me if I mentioned going to London. However the murderous look on his face when I didn't answer him the first time he asked made me sing like a canary.

"My sister called. I just got so upset when I spoke to her, so I came here for a hug..." Adrian's eyes softened slightly as I spoke and I stupidly decided to carry on talking. "...and to ask you if I can go to London to see my family." His eyes instantly hardened as his expression morphed back into his usual glare.

"No." I frowned and sat up properly. "Why Adrian? I haven't seen them in over a year!" He glared at me with so much anger and warning that any one else would have pissed themselves if they were on the receiving end of the stare, however I've always been a stubborn idiot and when someone tells me I can't do something, it makes me want to do it more. You would think I would have learnt by now not to argue with my husband over things like this but the hormones and my stubbornness aren't a good combination when it came to making these decisions. "Do you really freaking think I'm going to let you and Leo go to London after what's happened to you and after all the threats you're receiving?"

"What threats? From Dante? Adrian what's going on?" He just shook his head in response causing me to stand up in frustration. "Tell me Adrian! What's so bad about it? You can just send guards with us or something!"

"Don't push me Jordan. I said no, that's the end of it. You're never going back to London." I stepped towards him feeling my anger towards Adrian's domineering attitude replace my sadness. "You've got no right to stop me seeing my family or to stop Leo seeing them. I can handle myse-"

My words were cut off when a sharp sting erupted on my left cheek. Tears stung my eyes as I looked up into his furious brown eyes, my hand going to my throbbing cheek. "I'm not in the mood for this Jordan. I said no. Get out."

I stared at him with my mouth agape, I couldn't even form any words as I stared him while he just waited for me to leave his office unaffected by what he just did. I let the tears, which seemed to be endless today, fall down my face as I shakily turned around and made my way out of his office slamming the door behind me. At that moment all I felt was alone. The same feelings I had when I first moved here were just reinforced, he didn't give a damn about me, instead he just added to the loneliness and despair I was feeling. Adrian hadn't hit me since before we found out I was pregnant with Leo, I completely forgot he had this violent side to him.

I thought he was getting better.

I stopped in my tracks in the doorway of Leo's nursery when I saw Matteo next to the crib. "Get out. Get out before I kill you Matteo because I swear I will." Okay I think I have issues; I'm not sure if I can blame my murderous threats on my hormones from breastfeeding, but if any of you can think of a good explanation for them, then I'm open to it.

"Jordan.." He came towards me slowly, his eyes focused on my red cheek which was still stinging from the force of Adrian's slap. I saw anger flash across his face as I glared at him but it didn't stop him from coming closer to me and eventually he pulled me into a hug even though I resisted at first but eventually gave in to the much needed comfort. "Stop Jordan, just come here.." I wrapped my arms around him just as he kissed my head. It took me some time before I eventually calmed down and stepped away from him.

"Adrian's just worried, don't over react." I scoffed at his comment and wiped my eyes while leaning against the wall. "Overreact? Forget it. I don't care, just leave Matteo."

"You came in at the worst time. Let him calm down and talk to him later, he'll explain everything to you, it's you and Leo that's got him so worried." I shook my head and sighed in annoyance, I just wanted to be alone. I didn't care what excuses Matteo had for Adrian's actions. I've never let him physically abuse me and I'm not about to let him get away with it now. "No Matteo. I don't care what he has to say, I don't want to see him right now, not after what he just did to me." He nodded and kissed my forehead once more before mumbling. "I'm sorry." I stayed silent as he reluctantly walked past me out the room.

I made my way over to Leo's crib and smiled at his peaceful face. I know I shouldn't want to risk his life to go out but I also don't want to spend his whole life locked away just because of any enemies we have. I know I probably won't go back to London; but as Leo grows up I'm going to want to take him to places where Adrian will always say no - we don't even go out for walks or anything and he's only two months old. When he gets older Adrian's going to stop me taking him to the park or shopping because of the possible dangers. There's no way I'm going to let it go this easily, I'm not going to let him control everything that I do with my son. I want Leo to live like a normal child - well, as normal as you can be if you're the heir of the Italian mafia. That's an argument I'm yet to have with Adrian, if he thinks I'm going to let Leo take over this evil and inhuman organisation then he's in for a shock.

Guysssss, I'm so sorry it's taken so long! I've honestly
been so stuck on what to do next 😭 Please point out any spelling mistakes and I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please let me know what you thought ❤️