~ Adrian's POV ~

"Adrian." I closed my eyes even tighter hoping Jordan would just go back to sleep, but she didn't. "Adrian!" I jumped at the sound of her voice next to my ear. "What Jordan?" I pushed her gently away from me so that I could sit up. "I'm thirsty." I resisted the urge to groan knowing my wife would just start an argument right now and I didn't fancy arguing with her at 2am, especially since she was PMSing and there was no way I would win against her.

"Don't you have water next to you?" Jordan rolled her eyes at my question. "Do you think I would wake you up if I had some next to me?" I just stayed quiet and got up to go and get her some water. It's been four weeks since she broke her ankle and she still makes me do everything for her. She even learned to use crutches weeks ago but she just doesn't like using them. Anyway, she claims since it was my fault she broke her ankle I have to do everything for her, I don't agree but I don't argue with her, it doesn't end well.

Our relationship is exactly the same as it was when we left Bangkok, basically nonexistent. We only talk when it's necessary, we don't get along at all and we argue about almost everything. I gave up trying to get her to forgive me because she didn't want to, unless she's willing to forgive me and move on from what happened herself she'll never truly get over it.

"Here." She took the glass of water, which I had got from the kitchen, without saying anything and I just got back into bed next to her. That ladies and gentleman is as far as our dialogue ever goes, she's not really the same as she was when we got married. For some reason ever since her encounter with my brother she's just become really closed off. She doesn't make the weird jokes she used to make anymore, she doesn't even call me a stupid Italian, it used to piss me off so much but I can't lie and say I don't miss it because I do. It's what made Jordan so different from all the other girls, she was never afraid to speak her mind or make her stupid jokes. Now she's just resorted to speaking to me when she really needs something or if she's seriously angry she'll have a go at me. We haven't had a normal conversation since that day we ate pizza and watched movies all day. Four weeks ago.

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"Boss, he's in here." I nodded at one of my men who directed me through the halls towards one of the rooms. I opened the door and instantly the metallic smell of blood hit me causing a sadistic smirk to stretch across my face. I took off my suit jacket to stop it getting dirty and handed it to Angel0 who was already inside.

"Quindi sei il coraggioso bastardo che ha cercato di rubarmi?" (So you are the brave bastard that tried to steal from me?) The eyes of the man strapped to a chair in the middle of the room were half open, almost closing from the bruising he had suffered.
"Adrian per favore, mi dispiace. Lo farò per te, qualunque cosa tu voglia, lo farò." (Adrian please, I am sorry. I will make it up to you, whatever you want I will do it)

I let out a small chuckle and nodded mockingly. "Certo che ti dispiace ora. 4 settimane dopo, ho sentito che hai speso 3 milioni di euro, i miei soldi. Non ti dispiace, vero?" (Of course you are sorry now. 4 weeks later, I heard you've spent 3 million euros, my money. You weren't sorry then were you?)

Before he could answer I took out my gun and pointed it in his direction. His eyes filled with tears causing my smirk to widen, I've learned to live and thrive off the fear of people like him. Their fear is like my fuel, it makes me work harder and pushes me further.

I shot him in the knee caps, he let out a cry of agony as I stepped towards him. I held the gun against his shoulder and gave him my coldest glare. "Nessuno mi ruba e se la cava. Sei fortunato che tu abbia potuto goderti le ultime 4 settimane con i miei soldi, ma ora pagherai." (No one steals from me and gets away with it. You're lucky you got to enjoy the last 4 weeks with my money, but now you're going to pay.)

I shot him once in each shoulder and left him writhing in pain, I turned towards Angelo who was watching the scene unfold in front of him with a glare on his face. "Uccidilo." (Kill him.) His glare turned into a ice cold smirk as he stepped towards the man who had tears running down his face. Neither of us felt any remorse, this is what we do.

I grabbed my jacket and left the room, the sounds of the screams fading as I went back to my office upstairs. I felt my phone ring in my pocket as I got inside, I pulled it out to see that my mom was calling, I hadn't seen anyone from my family except Matteo since the wedding. My sisters had been busy doing their usual stuff and my parents went back to Sicily straight away.

"Ciao?" (Hello?) I sat down at my desk whilst I spoke. "Adrian, stavo solo chiamando per verificare che tu stia ancora venendo qui per il compleanno di tuo padre questo fine settimana?" (Adrian, I was just calling to check that you're still coming here for your father's birthday this weekend?)

I held back a curse, I had completely forgotten about it. I tried to play it cool knowing my mom would kill me for forgetting it, even if she was in Sicily. "Eh certo che lo sono, perché non dovrei essere? (Um yeah of course I am, why wouldn't I be?) She sighed but didn't say anything, it was completely obvious I had forgotten.

"E Jordan?" (And Jordan?) I bit my lip, there's no way she's going to go, she hates me too much to go for me. But my mom doesn't know that. "Certamente mamma, è tutto ciò di cui ha parlato nelle ultime settimane. Lei è così eccitata" (Of course mom, that's all she's been talking about for the last few weeks. She's so excited.) I tried to make it sound as convincing as I could but my mom has this way of knowing straight away if any of her kids are lying to her

"Adriano. Faresti meglio ad essere lì e portare tua moglie. Non mentirmi di nuovo." (Adrian. You better be there, and bring your wife. Don't lie to me again.) I cringed at the anger in her voice and nodded.

"Ok mi dispiace" (Okay sorry.) There's only one woman in this world that scares the hell out of me, and it's my mom. She hung up without saying anything else and I threw my phone down on my desk letting out a deep breath. Now all I have to do is find a way to convince Jordan, who hates me, to come to my fathers birthday party.

I held the heavy box in my hand as I walked into our room, Jordan was laying on the bed watching TV, she completely ignored me when I walked in, which I expected. I sat next to her and put the huge white box down infront of her. "Open it." She looked at me in confusion and paused whatever she was watching on Netflix. "What is it?" I gave her a small smile and gestured towards the box, I leaned back against the headboard after taking off my suit jacket and loosening my neck tie.

"Adrian just tell me what it is." I shook my head causing her to roll her eyes. She untied the ribbon and pulled off the lid of the box, she moved the white tissue paper out of the way, first she was confused but then a smile took over her face. I held back my own smile as I watched her look through all the clothes, shoes and accessories that I got her, finally she smiled again for the first time in a month, well the first time in front of me anyway.

"You didn't have to get me all this Adrian, this is too much." I shrugged and looked at her. " It doesn't matter. At least now you can still dress how you used to but this time in better clothes." She rolled her eyes before leaning over and kissing my cheek catching me by surprise. "Thank you."

She was busy looking through all the things in the box when I decided to ask her about coming to my dads birthday party. "Jordan." She hummed in response waiting for me to talk. "You know where you could wear some of those clothes..?" She turned to me and rose an eyebrow causing me to give her a nervous grin. "Sicily?"

It came out more like a question since I tried to ask her as carefully as I could hoping she wouldn't get angry. Jordan frowned in confusion and leaned back against the cushions she had propped up against the headboard.

"Why Sicily?" I nervously chuckled and rubbed the back of my head, something I always do when I'm nervous or feel awkward. "It's my father's birthday this weekend and my mom has invited us to their house." She went quiet, thinking over what I just told her then a small grin broke out on her face.
"So you're trying to tell me you brought all these clothes for me so that I would come to Sicily with you is that it?"

"Sort of...maybe. I need you to come with me Jordan." She nodded and looked back at the box of clothes before sighing. "I would have come with you even if you didn't buy the clothes Adrian, all you had to do was ask nicely and not do what you always do." Her last words caused me to frown at her. "What do I always do?"

"You always say I have no choice, you tell me not to piss you off and just to listen to what you say. You know the usual crap you come out with." She was in an unusually good mood because when she said this she was smiling. I feel like I'm missing something here; last night she didn't even say thank you for the water I got her.

"Jordan is everything okay?" Now it was her turn to frown. "Of course it is? Why wouldn't it be?"

"You're just surprisingly chilled out about all this, I thought you would have kicked off about going to Sicily." She shook her head at my assumption and started looking through the clothes again. There were a lot to look through.

"I'm fine with it Adrian, I haven't met your dad properly, I only saw him at the wedding so even though it's terrifying since he was be leader before you, it'll be nice to meet him properly. I also haven't seen your mom and Mia since the wedding either, they were really nice." I nodded as she spoke and stood up to go over to the closet to change.

I left Jordan to look through all her new clothes as I slipped off the slightly blood stained shirt and my suit pants leaving me in just my boxers. I grabbed a towel and went back into the bedroom. "What designer is this?" Jordan held up the black handbag as I sat down next to her, her eyes went over my body but she tried to look away before I caught her staring, which I did straight away. "Versace." She nodded and put it down next to her. "Now I can be like you." I chuckled at her comment as she started admiring the Louboutins in the box.

"Did you get to speak to Carlotta at the wedding?" Jordan let out a scoff, her eyes still down on the pair of shoes. "I spoke, she glared. I swear Adrian you only have one nice sibling."

"Yeah..Carlotta isn't really the nicest person. Obviously I love her, but she's difficult to say the least." Jordan glanced over at me sending me a teasing grin. "You just described yourself Adrian."
I rolled my eyes but still a small smile made its way onto my face.

"When are we going to your parents house then?" I had to think about it before I answered her, I hadn't actually made any plans since I didn't think she would say yes. "Erm, Friday. We'll have to stay till maybe Tuesday since I haven't seen them for quite a while." Jordan nodded in agreement. "No that's fine you should spend some more time with them."

"We'll leave Friday morning then. The flight is around two hours so we should get there by the afternoon." At least that gave me tomorrow to sort everything out with Angelo so that he knew he had to look after all the business whilst I was gone.

"This one?" She held up the denim shorts. "Gucci." Her eyes widened and she looked back at the shorts. "Gucci shorts? Adrian I would have been happy with a pair from forever 21. How much were they?" I shook my head and got off the bed, I noticed her eyes fall to my abs and v line causing me to smirk slightly.

"Don't worry about the price, if it's for you I don't worry about it either." I turned around towards the bathroom but stopped in my tracks when I felt a swat on my ass. I turned back around to see Jordan smirking at me holding my towel. "You forgot this." I glared at her grabbing my towel from her grip and lightly swatted her back with it. "You're lucky you're hurt Jordan." She just laughed as I made my way towards the bathroom. That girl is something else.

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~ Jordan's POV ~

I nervously got out of the car after Adrian parked outside the huge house. When I say huge, I mean huger than huge. It was massive.
Adrian handed me my crutches and I hobbled towards the door next to Adrian who had slowed his pace to walk next to me. I slowed down as we approached the door causing him to look at me, I was already staring at the cast on my ankle going over the bottom of my black leggings. I was also wearing the blue distressed Givenchy sweatshirt that Adrian got me.

"My crutches.." Adrian gave me a questioning look. "They're embarrassing Adrian. I don't want to go to the house of the richest people in Sicily on crutches." Adrian stepped towards me and gave me a reassuring smile.

"You're beautiful Jordan. Your crutches don't mean anything, they're nothing to be embarrassed about. My dad, Carlotta and I have been on crutches too, you're not the only one. Trust me Jordan, and I'll be there to help you if you need anything. Just ask me, you don't need to ask anyone else." I nodded as he kissed my cheek and continued towards the door. He knocked on the door before wrapping his arm around my waist to support me so that so that I wouldn't get tired whilst we stood and waited. The little things he did like that made my heart warm.

My relationship with Adrian was a little better than it had been over the last few weeks. We still bicker, we wouldn't be us if we didn't, but we're a lot more civil. I know it may seem like I only started speaking to him again because he got me clothes but that's really not the reason.

After Matteo attacked me I just went into a state of depression, I didn't want to go outside, I didn't want to walk around the house - partly because of my ankle but also because I just had no energy and no desire in me to do anything. For those few weeks everything seemed so pointless. I hated having to rely on Adrian and I hated struggling to do things alone.

I did take out my frustration and anger on Adrian which I will apologise to him about because it wasn't fair, but I was still partly annoyed about what happened in Bangkok too, I wasn't about to get over what he did that quickly even if he begged for forgiveness and helped me through my injuries. I wasn't a push over.

The door opened revealing Adrian's mom, Paola. She hadn't changed much since the wedding, she was still dressed as glamorous as she was on my wedding day, which is probably normal for her. Her brown hair was a little shorter than before, just below her shoulders, apart from that she looked the same, just as nice and welcoming. Her eyes landed on Adrian and she smiled, soon her smile faltered and worry over took her features when she noticed the crutches.

"Oh my sweetheart, what happened to you? Come on, come inside and rest." She moved aside so that I could go inside and Adrian followed behind me. "Adrian help her into the living room, I'll just call your father." Before Adrian could respond Paola had gone off down the hall, her heels clicking against the floor as she went off in search of Adrian's dad.

"Hurry up Jordan, if she gets back and you're not sitting down she's gonna kill me." I couldn't help but chuckle at Adrian's anxious expression. "Don't laugh it's not a joke." He opened the door for me as we slowly made our way into the huge lavish living room. The room was decorated in an Italian style, gold was the main colour theme running through the room.

Adrian helped me towards one of the expensive looking couches and took my crutches as I sat down. He pushed the footstool towards me so that I could rest my leg on it even though I insisted it wasn't necessary. "It's not necessary for you but it will be for her. Just don't argue and try not to feel to overwhelmed by her kindness, because you need to get used to it. She'll be like this every time you see her."

Before I could respond Adrian's mom came back followed by a tall older man who was the spitting image of Adrian. I instantly recognised him from the wedding but I just never got a chance to speak to him since the day was so hectic.

Adrian stood up and went over to his father, they spoke in Italian as the two hugged. I knew Adrian loved and respected his father immensely, they were very close probably because Adrian took over his father's position as head of the Italian mafia. Eventually he went over to his mom and gave her a hug too since he didn't when she opened the door.

I awkwardly looked around the room, admiring the furniture whilst trying to give them some space. I didn't want to just sit there and stare at them hugging, but I didn't really know what else to do.

"Jordan. It's nice to finally meet you." I looked at Adrian's dad as he came over to me where I was sitting, concern written all over his face as he took in the cast on my elevated ankle. He kissed my forehead since I was sitting down and gave me a smile which resembled Adrian's completely.

"How are you my dear? I hope you're not in too much pain, you really didn't have to come." I shook my head and smiled. "No I'm okay honestly, there was no way we were missing it."

"I hope Adrian has been looking after you properly." I glanced over at Adrian who had taken the seat next to me on the couch, his parents sat opposite us. "He has. He's been amazing." It was true, he did almost everything for me without complaining much. He did complain a lot but just not as much as I thought he would have.

"That's good. How did it happen?" I looked over at Adrian's mom and nervously looked towards Adrian for help. I wasn't sure who knew about what happened or how much he wanted people to know. "Mom.." Adrian shook his head slightly and his parents seemed to get the hint since they changed the conversation.

"How was your honeymoon?" I resisted the urge to groan as yet another sensitive subject was brought up by Adrian's mom. This time I decided to speak so that they didn't think we were keeping everything a secret from them.

"It was really good, we managed to do a lot like sight seeing, shopping and water activities.." My sentence trailed off when I heard Adrian chuckle, it was probably his dirty thoughts again. He noticed all three of us were looking at him and he cleared his throat. "Sorry." I rolled my eyes and turned my focus back towards Adrian's parents. Before I could speak the door to the living room opened and Mia walked in, her long blonde hair pin straight and she was wearing a loose yellow summer dress.

"Jordan!" I jumped at the sound of her loud voice as she excitedly came over to me. "Hi Mia." She stood next to me and frowned, taking in the cast on my ankle. "What did you do to her?" Mia turned to Adrian with a glare.

"Why the hell would I break her ankle? I'm the one that's been looking after her idiot." Mia smiled sheepishly and turned back towards me. "Well how are you Jordan?"

"Im good thank you." Seconds later the door opened and Carlotta walked in, she looked gorgeous as usual, her brown hair was up in a bun and she wore a bodycon dress showing off her perfect figure.

Her eyes passed me as she stepped towards Adrian who had stood up. "Carlotta."

"Adrian." They stared at each other, neither of them looking happy to see the other. "You've met Jordan haven't you?" Adrian gave her subtle smirk knowing she purposely ignored me when she walked in. Carlotta turned to me with a look of disgust on her face.

"Of course, your wife.." Her strong Italian accent easily showed just how she felt about me when she spoke. I gave her a forced smile as she turned back towards Adrian.

"Matteo just told me what you did." I frowned as the two glared at each other, Adrian's jaw was clenched whilst he angrily stared at his sister.

"Is he here?" His voice came out cold and Adrian looked like he was trying his best to keep his temper under control, by the looks of it he wasn't doing very well.

"Of course I am, it is my dad's birthday after all." I froze at the sound of his voice, I refused to look in the direction where his voice came from. Adrian tensed up at the sound of his brothers voice just as Carlotta smirked the same evil smirk I saw on Matteo's face a month ago, the same smirk which keeps coming back to me in my nightmares.

This chapter is a bit of a filler but I hope you enjoyed it! More from Adrian's POV coming soon, please vote and comment ❤️ Thanks for reading x