~ Madison's POV ~

"Ow!" This word was followed by a string of curse words, and then another curse word when Santi realised what he just did. "Oh crap, don't tell your mama I said any of that."

As I came down the last few steps, I cringed at the sound of another loud crash coming from the kitchen followed by two cute giggles.

"Oh you think that was funny do you?"

In response to his voice, the giggles rang out again causing me to smile.

"What's going on?" I let out a yawn as I walked into the kitchen, taking in the scene in front of me.

"I told you both to be quiet, now look, you woke her up." Santiago pointed his finger at the twins who were both sitting on the kitchen island counter, apparently watching him cook.

"But daddy-"

"It was your fault Kenzie." He narrowed his eyes at Mackenzie before turning to look at Cameron when he spoke to defend himself and his sister.

"But daddy you dropped the pot on the floor and-"

"Don't argue with me Cameron."

"But daddy you shouted and we didn't-"

This time he shook his head and gave them a playful glare. Of course to them it seemed real though.

"It was you two, do you understand? Not me."

In response to Santiago's question, the twins just let out a defeated sigh followed by a nod.

"Yes daddy."

Santiago cracked a small smile when they both backed down, agreeing to take the blame for his actions. Letting out a laugh, I shook my head as I walked over to them.

"Stop forcing my children to accept the blame for your loud noise making."

Santiago rose an eyebrow at me when I said this, standing in front of the twins protectively.

"You really think you can take me on Ms Clarke?"

"Who's that?"

"Mama."

"Oh."

Santiago glanced over at the twins behind me in amusement before turning his attention back to me.

"Of course I can." This time as he came over to me, placing his hands on my waist he gave me a teasing smirk.

"You sure?" The volume of his voice dropped extremely low as he looked down at me, while I just about managed to nod my head. I was trying to ignore the sudden tension that arose between us when I remembered our children were right there and that we weren't alone.

Suddenly in one swift movement, he lifted me up off my feet and stepped to the side a little, putting me down on the island counter next to the twins with ease.

"I admire your confidence. Now sit here, be quiet and stop distracting me while I finish my masterpiece."

I couldn't help but smile when he leaned towards me, interlocking our hands before using them to block view of our faces from the twins as he quickly pecked my lips, his other hand resting on my stomach which he rubbed gently.

"Did I hear you swear before I came in here? Three times?"

"Hm? I don't think so. I love you."

He gave me a smirk when I narrowed my eyes at him, before he quickly went back to the stove to carry on with whatever he was making.

I was busy watching him cook, enjoying the view of his muscles working when Kenzie leaned closer to me to whisper.

"We got put on the naughty counter too mama."

I turned my head to look at her, just as Cameron spoke.

"Daddy said we were a dismaction so he put us up here."

I couldn't help but laugh at his attempt at saying the word as he swung his legs backwards and forwards while sitting on the counter.

"It's distraction baby." He pouted his lips for a second before turning back to look at his father again. We sat there for another ten minutes before Santiago finally placed a huge stack of pancakes on the kitchen table.

"I was going to bring the food up to you in bed but the twins woke you up."

When he said this he glanced over at the twins who were now glaring at him.

"Mama it was daddy!" I let out a laugh, shaking my head as I jumped down off the counter before helping them get down too.

"I know baby, but daddy feels bad so let's not make him feel any worse, don't mention it to him." I whispered my words to her trying to end this little game while she just nodded before running over to her father, wrapping her arms around his legs.

"Don't feel bad Daddy, it was accident."

I let out a sigh when she completely ignored what I said while Santiago just laughed, lifting her up into his arms.

It was clear to me he didn't feel bad in the slightest.

"I won't feel bad anymore then."

After that was finally over, we all sat down together to eat for the first time in what felt like ages.

I didn't believe Lucia yesterday when she said that telling Santi about the baby might help him to come back to us, but it did.

First the twins brought us back together and now this little one brought us back together again.

Our children really were the biggest blessings in our lives.

"Mama I need to go potty."

Sometimes.

"I thought you go alone now that you're four?" Santiago rose an eyebrow at Kenzie who just shook her head at his words, ignoring his smile.

"I like it when mama comes with me, she makes it fun." I couldn't help but laugh at her words as I stood up from the table and took her hand. "Come on then baby."

I heard Santiago and Cameron start up some kind of conversation as we walked to the bathroom downstairs. By the time we got back, I was surprised to see Arturo and Lucia in our kitchen too.

"Lucia!" All of a sudden Kenzie let go of my hand and ran towards Lucia who turned to give her a smile.

"Hello little one." She reached out and picked her up, placing a kiss on her cheek.

Considering this woman once told me she had no experience with children, in the space of a month she was arguably better than me at dealing with my twins.

At one point after a very hard day, I was considering asking her if she wanted to adopt them.

"What are you guys doing here?" At the sound of my voice Arturo turned to face me with a grin, wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug while I just tried to get out of his grip.

"I missed you Maddie, didn't you miss me?"

"No, let go of me." He let out a laugh at my words, tightening his hold on me causing Santiago to laugh.

"They're just here about some work baby."

"And because I missed you." Arturo mumbled the words in my ear causing me to roll my eyes. Just as I was about to make another attempt to try to get out of his grip, he spoke again this time much quieter, softer tone.

"Lucia told me about your baby, congratulations Maddie." His kind words brought a small smile to my lips and I mumbled a 'thank you' before he finally let go of me and I went over to sit down.

We ended up sitting together for a while, having a light conversation with the twins and between ourselves.

I couldn't quite put my finger on it at first, but something about that felt so perfect, like I'd been waiting for it for a very long time. But then I realised what it was.

Peace.

No one was scared or worried or angry or stressed. We were happy. We felt like a little family.

The twins were happy, Lucia and Arturo were happy and so were Santi and I.

But eventually all good things have to come to an end unfortunately.

Once the twins got bored of sitting down for too long, they left to go up to their playroom to start their day off with whatever game they wanted to play. That just left the four of us.

"So..."

Santiago frowned at Arturo when he gave him a smirk, wiggling his eyebrows at the same time. "So what?"

"Is there anything you would like to tell me Santi?" Santiago shook his head, a confused expression surfacing on his face until his eyes landed on me.

It took a him a second to figure it out but when I gave him a sheepish smile, he just let out a sigh, leaning back in his chair while closing his eyes as if he knew what was about to come his way.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you the saying? Don't be silly protect your willie?"

When Santiago didn't reply, Arturo just continued with a number of sayings, clearly trying to get a rise out of his bestfriend.

"No? Well, let me know if you know any of these. Wrap it before you slap it? Stop the stream before you cream?"

The more he went on, the more Lucia was trying to hold her laughter in and the more I was trying hide my raging blush.

"Bag the mole then do her hole?"

Santiago just continued to sit there, some how remaining extremely calm with his eyes closed while Arturo continued.

"Cloak the joker before you poke her?"

When he said this one, Arturo poked Santi's cheek, causing him to clench his jaw.

"Wrap your meat before you-"

"Just shut the hell up, will you?"

Finally Santiago opened his eyes, glaring at Arturo who just smirked in response. After a moment, his smirk morphed into a smile.

"Congratulations bro."

It wasn't long before Santiago's glare turned into a smile too and he stood up, pulling Arturo up to give him a hug. They stayed in each other's arms for a moment while Arturo said something to Santi which was too quiet for me to hear.

Their bromance always gets me.

"Maddie? Are you crying?" My eyes widened at Arturo's words as he pulled away from his hug, but I quickly shook my head, grabbing a napkin to dab my eyes.

"N-no I just got something in my eye."

"See, thats what you should have been saying instead of letting Santiago finish in your-" Before Arturo could finish his sentence, Santiago slapped him on the back of the head causing him to laugh while I just struggled to control my tears and now my blush too.

Hearing him talk so openly about my sex life was mortifying to say the least.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

The most annoying thing about this was that I actually already told Arturo we were trying for a baby so he knew this wasn't an accident.

He was just trying to be annoying.

While Arturo just continued to laugh, Santiago came over to me, sitting down next to me to give me a hug. He held me in his arms as I hid my face in his shoulder, trying to calm my sudden wave of tears.

"It's okay baby, you don't need to cry. You know I don't like it when you cry."

"He doesn't like it when she cries." Both Santiago and I turned when we heard Lucia repeat the words to Arturo, dabbing at her own eyes while he just rubbed her back soothingly while they watched us.

Seeing the tears running down her cheeks just caused me to let out a laugh as I wiped the last of my own away.

"You said you had work to do? Shall I get out of your way?" As soon as I said this, Santiago shook his head, taking my hand in his.

"No baby, stay."

I can't lie and I say I wasn't surprised by his words because I was. I'd gotten so used to being left in the dark whenever it came to their business.

Even Lucia knew more than I did.

Once Lucia had stopped crying, they both sat down across from Santi and I.

"We still have 300 million dollars left to spend for Hugo, so before we went to kill Pedro I-"

"Wait, did you kill him?" When I accidentally interrupted Santiago straight away, I instantly clamped my hand over my mouth. "Sorry, carry on."

Surprisingly he just shook his head in amusement before nodding his head.

"Yeah, I did. But, he's not behind the threats unfortunately. We got another one on the way home."

"Wait, you did? Why didn't you say anything?" This time it was Lucia who was questioning Arturo.

"I forgot. It was just a note though, no ball this time. The note said something about congratulating us for killing Pedro, which told us it wasn't Pedro behind the threats."

The last ball that we'd received was the fifth one when we found out Sienna had been killed.

Thankfully they'd stopped since then but I guess the person wasn't done playing their sick game with Santi just yet.

"So anyway, I came up with an idea of trying to do business with a certain...organisation, but it's kind of a risk, a big risk."

"How big?" Arturo had a frown on his face when he questioned Santiago.

"Well...if it backfires they could end up also coming after me. All it takes is for them to kill me and they can take over everything we have here in America."

"What is it? Your idea, I mean." Santiago turned to look at me probably noticing the apprehension in my expression.

The last thing I needed was another person coming after him. Pedro was one gone, but that didn't mean El Dios Del Diablo or the person behind the threats had been dealt with yet.

"The Mafia."

As soon as he said this I just frowned and so did Lucia, whereas Arturo let out a laugh.

"Oh hell no. You don't mean going straight to-"

"I do." I glanced over at Lucia to see if she had any clue who they were talking about but she just shrugged her shoulders.

"Santiago thats crazy and you know it. They're rumoured to be just as bad, if not worse then El Dios Del Diablo. Of course it will backfire. If they know you're in any kind of trouble, they'll try to take whatever you have."

"But they're also the only organised crime group who could do one single deal with us worth 300 million dollars. We'll finally have spent it all and then Hugo can give us the answers we've been waiting for."

"What kind of deal?" Turning to look at me, Santiago let out a sigh.

"I don't know about that yet. They're known for their weapons and drug trafficking but we already have our own supply so I can't really buy anymore from them. It wouldn't strengthen us anyway."

He seemed to be deep in thought, much like everyone else at the table until I accidentally let my thoughts slip out.

"What about buying their loyalty?"

When the words flew out of my mouth, they all just stared at me instantly causing a blush to rise to my cheeks at how stupid I probably sounded.

There's a reason I went into nursing and not crime.

I'm sure there's more than just the one reason honey.

"Sorry, never mind, ignore me." Even after I spoke, they still just sat there in silence staring at me before Santiago suddenly turned towards me, pulling me in for a kiss.

"I freaking love you." My eyes widened at his actions but before I could say anything, both he and Arturo stood up, as if they could read each other's minds, leaving the kitchen together without another word.

It fell quiet as Lucia and I just sat there, now the only two left.

"Tea? Would you like some tea? I feel like having some tea."

Turning my attention away from the door my boyfriend just walked out of, I looked over at Lucia who suddenly stood up, going over to the kettle in my kitchen.

Before she turned away from me though, a frown formed on my face when I noticed the sad expression on her face leaving me even more confused than I was before.

What the hell just happened?

~ Santiago's POV ~

Two Days Later

"Santiago!"

"What?!"

I let out a sigh when I didn't hear anything back from Maddie for the third time.

I can't be the only one that gets pissed off when that happens. She kept calling my name from the kitchen and then ignoring me when I responded.

Just as I was about to get up to see what the hell she wanted, she came into my office with a glare on her face.

"I've been calling you for ages."

"And then you've been ignoring my responses." She narrowed her eyes at me when I said this but instead of arguing, she just let out a sigh, coming around my desk.

"I need you."

I turned my attention back to the points I'd made on my laptop for the call I was expecting from the Mafia any moment.

It was a long process trying to get into contact with them but finally, I did it.

For all I knew this call could be the beginning of the end of my life.

How ironic would that be? It's not the cartel who are pretty much blackmailing me, or the person threatening me, who will end up killing me but the people I go to for a way to end all of this once for all.

At least it would end though, but then I would be dead.

"Need me for what? I'm kind of busy right now." She let out a huff next to me causing me to roll my eyes, still focusing on my work.

I wasn't trying to be a jerk, I was just trying to get this done before I had to go and get the twins from preschool since Maddie claimed to be too tired for that.

It was quiet for a moment before she moved closer to me, taking my hand in hers.

"I need you Santiago."

As soon as she mumbled those words, my whole body tensed up as she moved closer to me, placing my hands on her hips.

"Maddie..." When I tried to pull my hands back, she grabbed my wrists to stop me.

"Is your work really more important than this? We haven't done anything for over a month. Why don't we do it on your desk again? Right here."

She trailed one of her hands along my desk and when I turned to look at her, she gave me a small smirk knowing I was so close to giving in to her.

However just before I could pull her into my lap to kiss her, my phone started buzzing on the desk catching my attention.

"This is the call I've been waiting for, it's important, I have to take it baby."

"But-"

"Later, I promise." She let out a sigh before nodding her head, but just as she was about to take a step away from me I pulled her into my lap.

I didn't want her to be upset and I also just needed the comfort, I had no clue how this conversation was going to go. When I hit answer, Maddie quickly reached out to put my phone on speaker which probably would have made me roll my eyes if I wasn't so nervous all of a sudden.

"Hello?"

"Santiago Hernández?" The Italian voice on the otherside spoke in an abrupt, harsh tone, catching me off guard.

"Ye-"

"What do you want from us?"

Suddenly I had no clue what I was supposed to say. I'd made sure I knew exactly how I was going to make my proposal to them, but I didn't expect them to be so...angry?

"Uh-"

"That's not how you speak to people idiot, just give me the damn phone." I frowned when I heard someone else speak in the background and then a couple of mumbles in Italian. I'm assuming the first person passed the phone over before the new person spoke, still in an Italian accent.

"Sorry about my brother, he doesn't have any manners. You're speaking to Matteo by the way, Matteo De Mancuso."

Matteo De Mancuso, younger brother to Adrian De Mancuso, second in command and married with three children.

Letting out an awkward cough, I cleared my throat but before I could speak, he continued.

"So what does the great Santiago Hernández want from us?"

"Great?" He let out a laugh at my confused tone.

"Yeah, you've got quite the reputation here in Europe. Ruthless, cold, cunning, kind of like my brother. And, you just killed Pedro Diaz didn't you?"

Wow news travels fast.

Did he really want me to do admit to that?

I let out an awkward chuckle as I took Maddie's hand in mine, savouring the comfort it gave me.

"If you've heard that, then I'll let you believe whatever you want."

"Hm, that's a good response - cautious, I like it. So what do you want from us then?"

"I have a proposal for you." He fell quiet for a moment before he responded in a curious tone.

"What kind of proposal?"

"You've heard of El Dios Del Diablo, right?"

"The legendary Mexican cartel? Yeah, why?" I could tell from his tone that he was confused by my random topic.

"Well they're real. Very real."

Of course just like I did when Arturo first told me, he let out a laugh in response to my words.

"No way, they're just fictional."

"They are real Matteo. It's a long story but I've seen them. I was in Mexico City for a while where they're based and a lot happened there."

Once again it fell silent before he spoke again.

"Tell me everything."

I was definitely surprised by his demand, especially since I'd heard that his family were anything but caring or helpful. I had an option of trying to hide the truth from them, knowing my current situation would make me look like a target that they could kill off and become even richer by taking my cartel. Or, I could tell Matteo the truth and hope to gain his trust that way.

I glanced over at Maddie who was watching me carefully, clearly trying to see what I would do. I'd already spoken to her about my plan and all of the problems with it since I was trying something new - I was trying to keep her as involved in this as I could instead of pushing her away. Eventually, she nodded her head in encouragement, helping me to make my decision.

Starting from the beginning I told him the story from the day Arturo turned up at my house in the middle of the night to tell me about them when our business in Mexico took a hit.

I told him about the letter they sent me, about the meeting I had with them when they kidnapped us in Mexico City, about the deal
I'd made with Hugo to spend all his money to strengthen my cartel and lastly about the threats they knew all about.

"Damn, they really tried to kill your daughter?"

I felt Maddie tense up in my lap at the bluntness of his words causing me to clench my jaw.

"Yeah, they did. They killed one of my friends too. This Hugo guy knows who is behind it, but he won't tell me anything until I've spent this money."

"And he wants you to spend it to strengthen your cartel?" I mumbled a 'yes' confirming what he asked before Matteo mumbled something in Italian to someone, probably to his brother Adrian De Mancuso next to him who first spoke to me.

"We think they might be trying to take your cartel. It's the only thing that makes sense. They want you to get yourself into the strongest position and do all the hard work before they take over and enjoy the product."

"So its just a matter of time...brilliant." When I let out a sigh, Maddie pressed a kiss to my cheek, clearly trying to comfort me.

"Not exactly. Look, the last thing we need is someone becoming that powerful. If they really do exist they become a threat to us anyway but if they take over everything you have too, then they'll be unstoppable, so to speak."

"So what's your point?" My words came out a little more disrespectful than I intended them too, but all it did was make Matteo laugh.

"My point, yes, I shall get to it, sorry for wasting your time jefe." (Boss) I couldn't stop the laugh that escaped my lips when he said this, dipping into Spanish, while Maddie just cracked a smile.

"You need to spend all that dinero somehow, and well, we enjoy the dinero." (Money)

"Dinner?" When she spoke in a soft voice, my eyes widened and so did Maddie's when she quickly slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Who was that?"

Running a hand over my face, I let out a sigh while shaking my head at her stupidity.

"My girlfriend."

The fact I was letting her listen into the conversation probably wouldn't go down very well with them at all.

"Oh. Wait, she doesn't speak Spanish?" I could hear the amusement in his voice probably thinking about how Maddie had confused the word for dinero which meant money, for dinner instead.

"No she doesn't."

"Oh. Cute. Anyway, as I was saying, if you agree, I can have my lawyers write up a contract stipulating that once we receive your money, there will be a loyalty agreement between our organisations, no matter what."

As soon as he said this I let out a small laugh. "What's so funny?"

"That was my intended proposal for you."

"Ah. Well, I guess that means you agree señor?" (Sir)

Before I could reply, another voice spoke up, which I'm assuming was Adrian again.

"How much money is it?"

"300 million dollars."

"Make it 500 million. Put some of your own money in so I know that you'll stick to it." I couldn't help but my roll my eyes at his demand. I had a feeling the fact it wasn't actually my money would cause a problem.

"Okay. So we have a deal?"

Just as Matteo tried to speak up, Adrian cut him off to speak again.

"Not yet. This will be permanent. If anyone on your side or our side goes against this agreement now or in the future, there will be a penalty. If you agree to that, then we have a deal."

I glanced over at Maddie apprehensively but once again she just nodded her head.

I could tell she knew what he meant by 'a penalty', it was easy, it meant death.

But if it got me out of this mess, it would be worth it. Anything would be worth it.

"We have a deal."

"Very good Santiago. We'll have the contract written up within 24 hours and it will be sent to you to check it. Once you're happy, transfer us the money and it'll be done."

Once again, before I could reply, Adrian jumped in.

"Santiago, you do know that this means you will side with us not just against El Dios Del Diablo, if it comes to it, but against any other threat. We will do the same for you too."

For some reason, although he sounded like a very hostile person which probably just comes with tittle of being the leader, his words held a comforting, reassuring tone when he said them.

I didn't need to tell them that I needed all the support I could get right now, that was clear for anyone to see.

"I know."

With that we said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone, letting out a deep breath I didn't even know I was holding.

"I'm so proud of you baby." Maddie gave me a small smile as she brought her lips down to meet mine. Once she broke the kiss, we just sat there in silence while I thought about what I just did.

"I just made a deal with the devil."

"Well, they sound like nice people." Rolling my eyes at her words I leaned back in my chair letting out a sigh.

"I've heard Matteo is a lot nicer than his brother. Adrian is your typical cold mafia leader."

"Don't judge him Santiago. Just the other day you told me that you're a leader and that you can never appear to be weak. He probably feels the same, I bet he's not like that with his family."

I nodded my head in response to her words but instead of replying I just stayed quiet.

"What does jefe mean?"

"Boss. I've told you this before." I gave her an amused smile to which she just rolled her eyes.

"Are your men supposed to call you that out of respect?" I nodded my head, now fiddling with the bracelet on her wrist.

"So can I call you it too?"

"No." I didn't bother to look up at her to see her reaction when I declined her request straight away.

"You say that as if you're the jefe of me." She let out a laugh at her own joke while I just glared at her although it was kind of funny.

"It's supposed to be a sign of respect Maddie, you don't need to-"

"Sorry, I'll be more respectful. How about Señor Jefe?" (Mr boss)

"Maddie, you don't even know what you're saying."

"No I do. Arturo told me that señor means sir."

"Okay well in this context it doesn't. On its own, yes, it means sir, when you put it in front of another name or title it means Mr, so you just called me Mr Boss."

Clearly, she didn't appreciate my Spanish lesson since she just rolled her eyes before pressing a kiss to my lips.

"I don't care I'll call you Mr Boss then."

"Madison-"

"Would you like to have some fun with me on this desk now Señor Jefe?" (Mr Boss) She cut me off, giving me a smirk as her hand travelled down from chest down my stomach and towards my belt.

She knew exactly what she was doing by asking me that and honestly, I had absolutely no problems doing it.

Lord knows I needed the release anyway.

Did you guys like the surprise of Matteo and Adrian in this chapter? 😍

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