~ Adrian's POV ~

Being a mafia leader means I always feel on edge, angry and cold. That's just how I am, it's how I survive. You can't get to where I am now and have a heart. You can't get to where I am and be kind and understanding. But it also means you earn yourself countless enemies - people who would stop at nothing to hurt the ones you love. I hardly ever get to feel peace. Just pure peace; no stress, no anger, no arguments or fighting and no worries. So when I do, I savour every moment. Every second I spend with the ones I love are irreplaceable. Knowing everything is going good between Jordan makes me feel peaceful - only for a few minutes until I remember the whole situation going on with Dante.

The whole situation with Dante is a strange one. Essentially all he wants is revenge; for the way Jordan spoke to him and the way I pulled my gun on him after he slapped her at my dad's birthday party. Since then he's managed to send someone to confront Jordan at her old job at the school and also had people watch her in the bath while I was out at my club opening. When we came back to Milan after staying in Florence where Jordan had Leo, the threats began to start again. This time though, Dante was trying to contact Jordan directly. There is no way anyone can underestimate Dante, especially when he has the likes of Kaito working for him - someone who used to work with us and therefore knows the ins and outs of how we work and is able to offer good knowledge on how to bring us down.

I'm not worried though, I'm the most powerful Italian mafia boss, I never worry. I also have Frank Sperro working with me; who happens to be the most powerful American gangster. You would associate him with the likes of the greats such as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano.

I know I have the means to take down Dante, I just don't know how. He's too crafty and prepared, as the top mobster in Portugal, he's got countless allies and therefore - countless hiding places and alibis; many people can claim they've seen him but only one claim maybe true. I know I have to work hard to bring him down for the sake of my family but for the moment, lying with Jordan is one of the only ways I can feel peace. And I was going to savour the moment with her.

I ran my hand through her long brown hair causing her captivating eyes to shift towards me. "You're so perfect Jordan." She smiled at me from her position on my chest before sitting up, covering herself with the bedsheets. "You're not too bad yourself baby." Jordan smirked at me and leaned down placing her lips against mine - any other day I would have gone for round two, but I agreed with Carlotta I wouldn't pick Leo up too late. Eventually I broke the kiss and gently pushed her away. "I need to get Leo."

Jordan frowned that cute frown she always has when she doesn't get what she wants; the one she knows will eventually make me give into her. Who can blame me though? It's not my fault I have the most beautiful woman trying to seduce me. After round two and three, Jordan and I eventually managed to shower and change.

"Are you coming babe? Carlotta was asking about you earlier, she said it's been ages since she saw you." Jordan nodded as she walked out the closet wearing some casual grey leggings and a white tshirt. "Yeah, just give me two minutes." Her two minutes turned into ten minutes - I don't even know how since she wasn't wearing any make up or any fancy clothes; eventually we made it to the car and I was almost an hour later than I told Carlotta. I'll just tell her it was important - it's not a total lie...

"Adrian?" I glanced over at Jordan who was leaning back in her seat staring at me with a slightly worried expression. I reached over and took her hand kissing the back of it before resting it on my leg. "What's wrong?"

"I don't think I can take anymore arguing with you. I need you on my side, not against me. With all this stuff going on with Dante, I can't deal with being on bad terms with you." At the mention of Dante's name I felt anger flood through me. If he wasn't so powerful with so many allies I would just take my best men and kill him on the spot. I nodded and leaned back in my seat while pressing down on the gas to pick up the speed of the car, there was hardly anyone out at this time of night anyway. "I know Jordan, it's just hard that you're the most stubborn and frustrating girl I've ever met." I sent her a teasing smile causing her to roll her eyes but she smiled and that's what I wanted. I hated seeing her unhappy, she doesn't deserve it. "Adrian! I'm being serious." I chuckled to myself before nodding and averting my eyes back to the dark, dimly lit road. "I know tesoro, don't worry. I'll do my best to cooperate with your stubborn ass."

She rolled her eyes once again but nodded clearly satisfied with my response. I know if I had said anything else she would have argued with me completely going against the entire point of the conversion. "What did I tell you about rolling your eyes?"

"Just concentrate on your driving Adrian." She chuckled at the playful tone in my voice and turned her attention to the music selection. "What's your password?" I smirked and shook my head keeping my eyes on the road. "I'm not telling you."

"Adrian please." I chuckled at the whiny tone she used but shook my head once again. "How am I going to choose the music if I can't access your phone?"

"Guess baby." She let out a sigh and sunk back into the leather seat. "Well its a number code...your birthday?" I shook my head at her question. "I'm not that stupid to use a date."

"Then what is it?" I chuckled and shook my head. "Try harder Jordan." She groaned and stared at my iPhone with a deep frown etched on her face. "Okay I'll give you a clue. It's a time, not a date."

It took her a few minutes to finally figure out what I meant when she sent me a heart warming smile. "The time Leo was born?" I nodded and Jordan keyed in the the code '0317' - 03.17am when Leo was born.

"You're so cute Adrian." I smiled at her before she looked down at my phone going through all my music. Eventually she settled on Summer Games by Drake. One of the best songs of the year. In the corner of my eye I saw Jordan turn to look at the view out her window reminding me of the day she left her house in London in my car. She kept turning away that day to stop me from seeing her tears, from that moment I knew she was going to be okay with me. She didn't cry and beg me to take her home, she tried her best to hide it from me which just showed her strength. One of the things I love about her.

I continued speeding through the deserted streets of Milan, over taking a few cars here and there which were sticking to the speed limits. "Adrian slow down a bit."

"Jordan there's not point owning fast cars if you're not going to drive fast." I gestured to the deserted streets in front of me. "Plus there's no one else in front of me, so don't wor-"

"There is." I frowned in confusion when Jordan cut my sentence off. I eased off the accelerator and glanced over at her but she was busy looking around outside. "What are you talking about? The roads are empty." I looked forward again just to check I wasn't blind or just going crazy, but like I said, there was no one there.

"Adrian I think someone's been following us." Immediately I picked up the speed again instinctively whilst checking my rear view mirror to see an empty road. "There's no one there baby, you're being paranoid, just calm down." I squeezed her hand but Jordan pulled it out of my grip and turned towards me. "No I'm not. The car hasn't been on our roads."

"You're not making any sense, what are you saying?" In these situations Jordan should know just to tell me clearly what she means. I shook my head at her cryptic sentence feeling the air in the car becoming increasingly more serious since our conversation about my passcode on my phone. "Every time we've pulled up to a junction there's been the same car, it's just been going in another direction so you haven't noticed it. I've also seen it driving on some other roads that we've passed too."

"Call Matteo for me." I gestured towards my phone in Jordan's hand which was linked to the bluetooth in my car and Jordan began to dial Matteo's number so that I could speak to him using the car phone. I picked up the speed once again and as soon as Matteo's tired voice sounded in the car I spoke."Meet me at Carlotta's house, don't park outside though. Park a few roads away."

"Is anyone hurt?" I frowned at his question and shook my head. "No but-"

"Then why are you waking me up?Adrian it's too late for this, I'm tired." I tightened my grip on the steering wheel trying to keep my loose temper under control. "Non me interessa. Smettila di piagnucolare e vieni ora. È un'emergenza." (I don't care. Stop whining and come now. It's an emergency.)

I ended the call and took a deep breath muttering words under my breath. What kind of stupid questions does that idiot come up with? He should know I only call him in emergencies, he may be my brother but don't like him enough to call just for a casual chat at this time of the night. "Adrian?"

"What?" I felt Jordan's gentle hand on my arm after I forced myself to respond to her. I didn't want to but the last thing I need is to be arguing with her because I ignored her. "You don't need to get so angry."

"Le persone hanno solo bisogno di usare il buon senso a volte." (People just need to use common sense sometimes.) She nodded and leaned over kissing my cheek just as I pulled up a few houses down from Carlotta's. We both got out wordlessly and made our way towards her house in silence lost in our own thoughts. I don't know how I didn't manage to see whatever car Jordan had seen so many times. Even after all the training I've put myself through, maybe I'm not as skilled as I thought I was. As soon as I rang the doorbell a furious Carlotta opened the door, her eyes going straight to me. "Do you know what time it is Adrian?! I love my nephew don't get me wrong, but I have to be on a plane to Paris at 6am."

"Carlotta.." Carlotta's blazing eyes moved from me towards Jordan and suddenly she calmed down like the last few hours didn't happen. "Jordan!" She wrapped my wife in a hug, excitement written all over her face, replacing the pure anger she just had towards me. "I missed you so much! Wow you look so different! Your hair is longer, it suits you." I rolled my eyes at Carlotta's behaviour and nudged her aside so that I could walk past her into her house in search for my son. "He's sleeping upstairs Adrian, don't wake him. It took me ages to put him down."

"I'm not the one screaming over Jordan's hair." Both the girls laughed at this causing my mood to worsen. I walked around the house making sure everything was still how it should be - I wasn't taking any risks. I knew what Dante's men were like, they could be already hiding in her house waiting for the perfect moment to hurt her. All I had to do was think back to the time when Dante had men watching Jordan in the bath when she was pregnant with Leo. There was no way I was letting anything like that happen to any of the women in my family ever again. I know I should be the one protecting them.

"What's wrong with you Adrian?" I let out a frustrated sigh and turned around to face Carlotta who was standing by the kitchen door alone, Jordan must have gone upstairs to see Leo. "Have you noticed anything odd tonight in the house?"

"Apart from the way you're acting? No." She chuckled to herself and walked over to a cupboard taking out two glasses and a bottle of Campari. "I thought you needed to sleep?" She shook her head and poured two glasses of the red liquor before passing one to me. "I'll just get another flight, I'm already awake, what's the harm staying up a bit longer to spend time with my baby brother." She sent me a teasing smile as we both sat down at the breakfast bar. "What's up Adrian?"

I knocked back the liquor and sighed before turning to face her. "I don't know what I'm doing. How can I protect my family if my wife is the one noticing when we're in danger and not me?" I ran my hand through my hair in frustration before snatching up the bottle of Campari and pouring myself another glass. "Hold on, when were you in danger?"

"On the way here. Jordan noticed the same car kept popping up here and there, it just wasn't directly following us so I never noticed it." Carlotta sighed and swivelled her stool to face me even though I kept my eyes on the liquor in my glass. "You couldn't have noticed if you were busy driving Adrian. Now you're just being silly."

"Non sono sciocco!" (I'm not being silly!) I gulped the drink down before I slammed the glass down and stood up before facing my sister. "I should have noticed! I should have been able to protect her from all of this! I should know what Dante is planning and be all over it but I'm not because I'm freaking useless Carlotta!"

Carlotta just kept her calm demeanour, sipping on her drink as she watched me begin to pace around her kitchen. "When I chose Jordan to marry me back in London I thought to myself - 'It's okay, she won't be in danger with me. I'm Adrian De Mancuso, I can protect my wife, of course I can' But no, look at what's happening!"

I glared at Carlotta when she nodded along with what I was saying while casually sipping on her drink. "Hai perso la tua dannata voce o qualcosa del genere?" (Have you lost your damn voice or something?) At this she just chuckled and shook her head. "No, non ho, sto solo aspettando che tu finisca." (No I haven't, I'm just waiting for you to finish.) I sighed and leaned against the counter near the window, savouring the fresh cool air blowing inside.

"Are you done?" I rolled my eyes at her patronising tone but nodded anyway. "Good." Carlotta stood to her feet and stepped towards me. "You need to snap out of whatever this is Adrian, your family need you, none of us can afford to let you lose your touch. You are the best and you know it, so stop beating yourself up over something you couldn't have helped. Jordan noticed the car because she's been on edge and she wasn't driving so she had the time to notice things like that. You couldn't have known, they planned it like that."

"But-" Carlotta's glare cut me off before I could even finish my sentence. "No buts Adrian. We need you and more importantly your wife and your son need you - you have to be strong. You can't doubt yourself, not now. So stop."

I was about to retaliate once again but the sound of the doorbell prevented me from doing so causing Carlotta to smirk happily. I rolled my eyes and followed behind her out the kitchen and towards the front door. Carlotta opened the door to reveal Matteo clad in sweatpants and a tshirt looking half asleep.

As soon as the door was opened he pushed past us and made his way into the living room dropping himself on the couch. Matteo has always been the type of person to love his sleep so much that whenever it's disturbed, he doesn't let you forget it. It reminds me of all the times when we were younger, Matteo would never wake up on time for anything. Even with multiple alarm clocks he always found a way to sleep through them. "Go on then. What's so damn important?"

I heard Carlotta chuckle at the way our younger brother was acting while I took a seat across from him in order to explain everything that happened earlier.

"What do you want me to do about it Adrian?" I rolled my eyes at his question while Carlotta reached over hitting the back of his head; Matteo sent her a glare while rubbing his head tentatively. "Send some men to search the area and make sure nothing is out of the ordinary and also have a few more watch Carlotta for a while. I'm not taking any risks." Matteo nodded and took out his phone to send the message; he was probably just glad that was all he needed to do before he could return back home and sleep again.

"Adrian is everything okay?" I looked up just as Jordan walked into the living room holding a groggy Leo in her arms - even he was super tired. "Yeah, it's all good don't worry." I sent her a reassuring smile and took Leo from her arms when she sat down next to me on the couch.

"Can we go now? I'm exhausted." I nodded and kissed her forehead while she rested her head on my shoulder. "You guys are so cute together." Carlotta squealed loudly to herself causing both Matteo and I to send her a glare, the high pitch tone was something we're used to but hate passionately. It's the most annoying thing about Carlotta hands down. Now that everything was being sorted by Matteo I was starting to feel the effects of staying awake so late; especially after all the physical activities Jordan and I took part in earlier. I let out a yawn catching Leo's attention, he's always so curious about the things Jordan and I do. Like he watches so carefully just so he knows how to do things in the future.

"Carlotta when you come back from Paris make sure to come and see us." Jordan tiredly stood up while heading towards the door - it was her way of subtly hinting we were leaving now. She's never been the most patient person that's for sure, I guess in that way we're extremely similar. We all followed her to the front door to say our goodbyes to Carlotta before we left. Jordan gave my sister a long hug I actually thought she might have fallen asleep in her arms. Eventually she pulled away and Matteo hugged our sister before Carlotta finally stopped infront of me.

"Ricorda quello che ho detto Adrian, c'è troppo in gioco per te per perdere la concentrazione ora." (Remember what I said Adrian, there's too much at stake for you to lose focus now.) I nodded and kissed my sister on the forehead before she turned her attention to the baby in my arms. Leo frowned slightly like he knew it was time to say goodbye when Carlotta kissed his cheek while sending him a dazzling smile.

"You guys really did make a beautiful baby." She sent me one more smile before Jordan opened the front door but stopped dead in her tracks. I couldn't see what made her stop so suddenly since she hadn't opened the door wide enough, but the look on her face told me she didn't know how to react one bit.

"Jordan?" Matteo frowned and pulled the door open making Jordan's hand fall from the door handle and limp to her side. The door swung open revealing my third sibling.

"Mia?"

Okay...so this took a longgg time to write 🙈 I'm so sorry it took so long but - on the bright side we hit 100k views 🎉 Thank you everyone so much for reading, please point out any spelling errors and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter ❤️ I'm not sure it's very good but it's a just a filler until the next one x