This is the last chapter before the epilogue 😭

Enjoy!

Don't forget to vote and comment ❤️

6 Weeks Later

~ Madison's POV ~

"Kenzie."

"Mama."

My five year old completely tried to copy my warning tone, but didn't sound threatening at all.

"Go upstairs Kenzie."

"Go upstairs mama."

I let out a frustrated sigh when Kenzie once again infuriatingly copied what I was saying to her.

"Mackenzie Carmen Hernández, get your little butt upstairs right now. It's way past your bedtime."

Finally when I used her full name, she pouted her lips before turning around to stomp towards the stairs. But, even though she'd clearly lost the argument, she still turned around to give me one last sassy reply.

"I'm five now mama, I don't have a bedtime."

I rolled my eyes at her response, my mind instead returning back to all the unpacking in the house still left to do.

Santiago's mafia friends were coming over tomorrow for to meet us for the first time and to have a quick lunch before they headed back to Italy and absolutely nothing had been unpacked yet.

"Go upstairs and go back to bed please."

Letting out a huff, she continued back up the stairs and to her room where I was hoping Cameron was fast asleep. Once I was finally alone again, I turned back to the seven boxes that still needed to be unpacked for the kitchen and open plan living area in our new house.

We'd only just moved into the house the day before after spending six weeks in the hotel suite here in Mexico City. That was a freaking nightmare in itself with twins and a newborn.

We never actually went back to the house in LA, Santiago just had all our belongings packed and sent to us here along with little Pancake who came with Santiago's sister.

For now we decided on keeping the house we had in LA. We both said it was because we may go back to visit but honestly deep down, I think it was just the fact we weren't so ready to completely let go of our previous life yet.

Santiago and I both grew up in Santa Ana, I know it's not LA, but it's still close to it. I guess by letting go of our home, we would really be cutting our past in California out of our lives completely.

I felt these exact same emotions of worry and anxiety when I sold my parents house in Santa Ana, which is how I know the real reason behind our actions. When I sold their house after my mom died, it felt like I'd closed a whole chapter of my life and it scared the hell out of me.

I know we'll probably just end up selling it soon since there's absolutely nothing left for either of us in LA anymore, especially since everyone we care about is here in Mexico.

Arturo bought a house a few minutes away from ours and moved in with Lucia there.

Santiago also asked his sister Isabel to move here with us since she was only 21 years old and he didn't want to leave her behind again. She was also looking after our dog while we'd been in Mexico so we kind of needed her to bring him back to us.

I guess the fact Sienna was moving here also persuaded her. After all, Sienna was her girlfriend so it made sense since they were madly in love.

Apparently this romance of theirs happened in the six weeks we were gone. According to Isabel it was a whirlwind which was just so romantic and cute.

Just as I was about to open the next box when I finally had time to unpack since Romeo was fast asleep, the unmistakable sound of Kenzie crying upstairs caught my attention.

I swiftly grabbed the baby monitor incase Romeo woke up before I rushed upstairs to the twins' room. The moment I walked inside I had to resist the urge to completely lose my shit when I saw Kenzie and Cameron fighting over something by Cameron's bed.

"Stop it! Both of you get away from each other right now."

When they heard my voice, they suddenly stopped fighting, pulling apart from each other. I was very quick to go towards them, kneeling down to be at their level.

The first thing I did was pull Kenzie towards me, wiping away her tears. I may not have known the problem, or who was at fault but the last thing I wanted to see was my daughter crying.

We could deal with everything once she'd stopped.

"Can one of you calmly tell me the problem please."

I definitely should have known that the word calm wasn't in their vocabulary.

"Mama Kenzie won't leave me alone. I'm trying to go to sleep and she keeps stopping me."

"No! Mama I just wanted to snuggle in his bed."

"I don't want to snuggle with her."

Once again Kenzie let out a cry when he said this before moving forward to push him until I quickly grabbed her again.

"Hey! We don't hit. No matter the problem you don't try and hurt your brother Mackenzie."

"But I want to snuggle." She pouted her lips as her tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Then you ask nicely and you don't hit your brother. Do you understand me?"

She slowly nodded her head before letting out sob causing me to frown. She continued to cry as I pulled her in for a hug, rubbing her back soothingly when her sobs got louder.

"Oh my baby, what's the matter? Why are you crying so much?"

When she just continued to cry, Cameron slowly walked towards her, his own eyes now full of tears too as he watched her.

"I'm sorry Kenzie. We can snuggle, please don't cry."

When she heard his voice, she pulled away from me, turning her head to look at him.

"Really?" She sniffled as he nodded and took her hand, pulling her towards his bed. I helped the two of them to get into Cameron's bed, giving Kenzie her favourite stuffed toy before I sat down next to them.

Her tears had slowed down as she lay there holding Cameron's hand while I stroked her hair out of her face.

"What's the matter Kenzie? Why are you crying?"

"I don't like it here mama. I want to go home."

When I finally found out the reason why she was refusing to go to sleep, especially on her own, guilt instantly filled me. I knew it would be a challenge to move to a new house and with a new baby, but the process had definitely been much harder than I thought. Especially for Mackenzie.

"Baby this is our home now, you'll like it soon, I promise. It takes time. Soon you'll be so happy to be here."

She let out a small sigh pouting her lips as she lay in the bed next to Cameron. As soon as she finally got settled into bed, the lateness of the evening began to catch up with her.

"I'm tired mama." I nodded my head as I leaned down, pressing a kiss to her cheek which was still damp with her tears. "Go to sleep then my princess."

She nodded her head as I leaned over to kiss Cameron's cheek too.

"I love you both so much. Don't forget that." I stroked Cameron's cheek, giving him a soft smile before I eventually stood up from my place on the bed.

Once I left them to sleep, I went back downstairs to the open plan kitchen and living area. The first thing I did was check on Romeo who was thankfully still fast asleep.

But, in true Hernández child fashion, as soon as I opened the box to start unpacking, he woke up.

"Why can't any of my children listen to me?" Of course Romeo just continued to cry as I held him against my chest in my arms, trying to get him to calm down.

He wasn't due for a feed or a change, he was just being fussy.

Throughout all his crying I must have not heard the front door open and close because moments later Santiago walked into the room.

The first thing he did was look around the entire room, taking all the boxes in which were still yet to be unpacked.

"You haven't started yet?"

"What? Of course I have." I shook my head at his words, glancing over at the numerous boxes.

"It doesn't look like it."

"It's not my freaking fault you left me to unpack all on my own with three children while you went to see your bestfriend."

Santiago rose an eyebrow at my reaction, taking a slow step towards me as if he was worried I would shout at him for moving.

Good, he should be worried.

"Okay, so I see that you're mad."

Well done.

"I'm not just mad Santi, I'm stressed out. How am I supposed to get all this done tonight if our children just keep crying?"

"I'm here now, you don't need to stress. I'll help you, we'll get it done. Don't worry baby."

I let out a sigh, nodding my head as Santiago pulled me in for a hug being careful of Romeo in my arms.

This was all his fault.

First he gets me pregnant twice and then he disappears when I need him. And these are his mafia friends coming tomorrow, not mine.

Instead of telling him exactly how I felt, since it would probably just cause an argument neither of us needed, I just focused my energy on the unpacking that needed doing.

Once I'd put Romeo back down, it took us a good few hours to get through all the boxes downstairs in order to at least make the downstairs look presentable for when we had guests.

The upstairs was still a huge mess and it probably would be for the foreseeable future.

That's what life is like with three children unfortunately.

<<<<<<< >>>>>>> <<<<<<<

"Mama door."

I let out a sigh, holding Romeo in my arms while trying to finish laying out all the food for lunch with Santiago's Italian friends.

Of course when they arrive that bitch decides to disappear upstairs.

Cameron followed me into the hallway to open the door, although he made sure to stay behind me.

"Santi!"

I heard a thud upstairs followed Kenzie's giggles when I called Santiago's name. Rolling my eyes, I let out a nervous breath before I opened the door revealing four people.

They all looked like they'd just stepped off the cover of a Vogue magazine. The men were both tall dark and handsome and the women were just absolutely beautiful.

Only one of them didn't look to be obviously Italian, but the other three were no doubt of Italian heritage.

"Ah, you must be Madison, Santiago mentioned you."

I nodded my head at the man who spoke to me, stepping aside to let them in. The one who spoke gave me a warm smile whereas the other man barely glanced in my direction. In contrast to him, both the women smiled fondly at my son in my arms and then at Cameron who was holding my hand.

Before they could introduce themselves, Santiago came down the stairs carrying Kenzie in his arms.

"Daddy there's people." He glanced down at her, giving her an amused smile as he nodded.

"I see them, shall we go and say hello?" She nodded her head keeping her eyes on the new people in the house as Santiago began to walk over to us. Eventually when Santiago reached us, he put Kenzie down on the floor and she went over to Cameron.

"Santiago." They nodded in his direction while he reached out to shake the men's hands.

"I'm Matteo and this is my wife Gabriella."

I smiled at the way Matteo wrapped his arm around his wife's waist, pulling her closer to him, before he turned his attention to the other couple.

"This is my brother Adrian. He's pretty moody so he probably won't talk and that's his wife Jordan. She's the nicer one."

All Adrian did was narrow his eyes at his brother, stepping closer to Jordan. The entry hall fell silent for that second before a small voice broke it.

"I'm Mackenzie." At the sound of her voice we all turned to look at Kenzie who was smiling at the four of them before she pointed to Cameron.

"This is Cameron, he's my twin."

"It's very nice to meet you both. You have a beautiful house." It was Gabriella, Matteo's wife, who responded to Kenzie with a kind smile.

"Thank you." When Kenzie gave a bright smile, accepting the compliment both Santiago and I let out a laugh.

Once we showed them to the formal living room, the four of them went to sit down with Santiago while I went to go and get them some refreshments.

Unfortunately Romeo wasn't settling down so I had to carry him the entire time.

"Madison? Do you need any help?" At the sound of a voice behind me, I turned around to find both Jordan and Gabriella behind me, standing by the kitchen door.

"Oh you can just call me Maddie, and definitely not. Please make yourself comfortable, I'm fine, I can get everything sorted-"

"Maybe you don't know but both of us have multiple children so we know you're lying." Jordan flashed me a grin as she came further into the kitchen, surprising me with her British accent.

"You're British?" She nodded her head, giving me an amused smile.

"Yeah, I met Adrian in London a very long time ago. I moved to Italy after that." The one thing I had to say about her was that she just had an aura of joy surrounding her. It was hard not to smile around her.

The two of them came over and helped me to get the drinks ready as we started up a conversation.

"Oh I see. How about you Gabriella? How did you meet Matteo?"

"Please call me Gabby. I met him at the salon, I'm a hairdresser. I was cutting his sister's hair and yeah, he was there at her appointment." She let out a laugh as she most likely remembered the time she met her husband.

All I could see was love in her eyes.

I didn't get a chance to reply to her as we began to leave the kitchen, heading back into the formal living room where the men were sitting.

Once we sat down again and the room fell silent, Jordan finally questioned me on my relationship with Santiago.

"So how did you two meet?"

I guess this kind of question is always a conversation starter, it works well.

"We met in kindergarten, when we were five years old." I sent Santi a smile when I said this while the four of them looked surprised.

"Oh my God, he's your childhood sweetheart? That's so cute." Gabby looked between us, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Not exactly." I let out a laugh at her reaction before elaborating a little more.

"Santi and I were bestfriends until we were eighteen and then we lost contact for a few years. When we met again around six years ago, I guess that's when things changed."

She nodded her in understanding, glancing over at the twins as if she was putting the timing together in her head.

Soon, Gabby flashed me a grin, wiggling her eyebrows at me subtly.

"I see."

I rolled my eyes at her response, trying to control my blush. Thankfully, Matteo changed the conversation after that although he seemed amused too.

"So you said you had some news to tell us Santiago."

Santiago nodded his head, clearing his throat, turning his attention away from the mafia men across from us and down to his glass instead.

I knew he was nervous about telling them who he was now since they'd already made a deal with him and his previous cartel.

"So, about a month ago, when we got here, I met with Hugo."

"That guy you owed money to?" Adrian's deep voice caused Santiago to glanced over at him before he shook his head.

"I didn't owe him money, he just wanted me to spend it, but yeah it was the same guy."

It fell silent again as Santi nervously cleared his throat before he finally dropped the bomb.

"I'm the new leader of El Dios Del Diablo."

Once again silence fell around us as we waited for Adrian and Matteo to process and digest the information Santiago had just told them.

I didn't know what I expected from them, maybe for them to be angry or something.

"What about your cartel?"

"I merged it with El Dios Del Diablo." Adrian nodded at Santiago's response before giving him a cold glare.

"You know that doesn't get you out of your deal with us."

"I know, I know. I was actually...well I was hoping we could work together. You guys control most of Europe, I control America and South America. I guess it makes sense."

Santiago kept his eyes trained on them trying to gauge their reactions.

"As long as you don't try to back out of our deal and you stick to your own territory then we'll be happy to work with you." Matteo was the one who confirmed this to Santiago, giving him a small smile.

They both waited for Adrian to reply since he was the leader from what Santi had told me.

"Okay." Adrian gave him a small smirk, before taking a sip of his drink. "I guess I'm taking over the world with a bastardo spagnolo." (Spanish bastard)

"You know Italian and Spanish are pretty similar, right Adrian?" Santiago gave Adrian a smirk of his own, raising an eyebrow at him clearly understanding what he said.

I mean it wasn't hard, he called him a Spanish bastard. All he did was an 'o' to the end of bastard.

"I know."

<<<<<<< >>>>>>> <<<<<<<

"You have beautiful children Maddie."

"Thank you so much." I gave Jordan a smile as I washed the dishes while she dried them, but her attention was mostly on Romeo who was being held by Gabby since he just woke up.

Our lunch went by smoothly, but most of the conversation was focused on business rather than anything personal. Afterwards, the men went into Santiago's study to drink alcohol and make their plans to take over the world.

Once again both Gabby and Jordan insisted on helping me in the kitchen.

"Are you going to have another one? Matteo keeps asking for a fourth but I'm not so sure."

A laugh escaped my lips at Gabby's words.

Men seem to be the ones to desire numerous children forgetting the amount of pain it takes to birth one of them.

"Santi wants five although I'm not even sure I want four. It's already hard enough with three and one of them just cries, eats and poops."

"Jordan has four." Gabby nodded towards Jordan who seemed amused by our conversation.

"You do?"

"Yeah, two girls and two boys. As much as I agree that children are hard work, you never regret having another one. You love each one just as much as the first."

"Aww." They both laughed at my reaction to her words before I passed the next plate to Jordan to dry.

"So when are you planning to get married? I noticed the engagement ring on your finger." Gabby smiled at me, glancing down at my finger when she said this.

"Oh, we haven't set a date yet. We've been so focused on everything else, it just isn't a priority right now."

She nodded her head as she leaned against the counter, rocking Romeo in her arms gently.

"I remember when Matteo proposed to me, it was so sudden and I was pregnant at the time too, but we got married two weeks later anyway."

"Aw you did? Some people are really against getting married while pregnant but I don't see the issue. You made the baby out of love anyway." She nodded her head in agreement just as someone interrupted our conversation.

"What are you guys talking about?" At the sound of the thick Italian voice behind us, we all turned around to see Matteo grinning as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

"When did you come in?" He turned his attention to Jordan who questioned him.

"Just now. So tell me, what are we gossiping about?" He wiggled his eyebrows looking at the three of us while Jordan rolled her eyes and Gabby giggled.

"Nothing that concerns you baby." She gave him a sweet smile while I just chuckled at the frown he gave her.

"Are you guys ready to leave?" Matteo nodded his head as he made his way over to Gabby, stopping next to her to look at Romeo who was in her arms.

"See how good you look holding a baby? It just makes sense for you to have another one."

Men.

Of course Gabby just rolled her eyes as I finally passed the last plate to Jordan to dry before I turned off the sink and dried my hands.

"You guys are leaving? Have you finished your talk?"

"Yeah, but we'll see you again soon, there's actually a lot more we need to discuss but I guess now isn't the right time. Maybe next time you guys can come to Italy? We'll show you around, take you to all the best places."

He flashed me a smile as both Gabby and Jordan nodded excitedly. However before I could reply, Adrian and Santi came into the kitchen.

"It's not a vacation Matteo. If they come it will be for business only."

Adrian's deep voice cut through the momentary silence in the kitchen causing us to turn to face him.

"Ignore him Maddie, he doesn't have many friends." Matteo shot Adrian a playful glare while I just let out a small laugh.

It should have been awkward considering I'd only met them today, but honestly it felt like I'd known them forever.

It wasn't long afterwards that they left the house, leaving Santiago and I alone since the twins were upstairs and Romeo was sleeping.

"So what did you think?"

"They were really nice." He nodded his head in agreement as he pulled me into a hug, resting his chin on top of my head.

"But not as nice as you my baby."

"What do you want?" As soon as he heard my unimpressed tone, he let out a laugh, pulling away.

"What makes you think I want something?"

"We both know you do." When I gave him a look he just laughed again, pulling me closer to him with his hands on my waist.

"Romeo was six weeks old yesterday."

I have one word to say to this.

Men.

Before I could say anything in response to his suggestive comment, the front door bell rang.

"Let's talk about this later." He let out a frustrated sigh as I placed my hand on his chest pushing him away from me.

Santiago followed close behind me as we went to the front door, opening it to reveal Arturo and Lucia. As soon as I opened the door, they pulled away from each other, a smirk tugging at Arturo's lips as he wiped his mouth while Lucia looked away hiding her blush.

She subtly tried to wipe her mouth as they walked into our house.

"Can you ever go a few minutes without throwing yourselves at each other?"

Arturo rolled his eyes at Santiago's words, guiding Lucia into the living room where we followed them.

As soon as they sat down, Arturo asked Santiago how the lunch went and we then spent the next half an hour discussing the Italians who just left our house.

Santiago did invite Lucia and Arturo for the lunch but they insisted that they were busy.

Judging by the way they were kissing on our doorstep, it's not hard to guess what they were doing.

Once we'd finished with that conversation, they both offered to stay and help us to unpack which was really nice of them. We spent the rest of the evening just as a little family, or extended family should I say, unpacking the house and playing with the children before we eventually ordered some take out.

It's crazy how it once felt like we were becoming a family in such a short time when Lucia came into our lives for those few months.

And then we lost it all for a while.

But as the saying goes, if it's meant to be it will come back to you.

She came back to us and somehow just completed everything, Santiago and I had another baby and we moved into a new home to make a fresh start.

A lot of our journey was bittersweet, but this was definitely one of those moments that made it seem worth it - the six of us sitting around our new dining table with little Romeo in his basket next to me.

We were laughing, joking and smiling. We were looking forward to our new future in Mexico as a family.

Because in this world, family is all that matters.

<<<<<<< >>>>>> <<<<<<<

"Are they sleeping baby?" Santiago let out a sigh as he closed the door to the master bedroom, nodding his head.

"Yeah, finally."

I nodded my head, letting out a tired yawn as he lay down before he shuffled over to my side of the bed.

"Shall I put Romeo in the nursery?" He gave me a smirk before he rested his chin on my shoulder, pecking my cheek.

"Hmm, I don't think that's really necessary." I kept my tone light as I joked, knowing how much he wanted this.

Honestly, I was actually ready to try something with him tonight too since it had been such a long time, but it was fun playing with him.

"Maddie come on." His frustrated tone brought a smile to my face as he placed an over my waist.

"You sound kind of desperate Santiago. It's not a good look."

"Playing hard to get isn't a good look on you." I turned my head to look at him, taking in the challenging smirk he was giving me.

"Who says I'm playing? Maybe I am hard to get."

"Mhm, shall I take Romeo now?" He placed a kiss to my jaw as he spoke and I could feel him smirk against my skin when I tensed up.

"Yes I think that would be best." He let out a laugh at my response before pecking my cheek one more time before getting up to take our sleeping baby boy to the nursery.

<<<<<<< >>>>>>> <<<<<<<

"Remember when you could never tell me that you love me when we were younger? You used to think it was weird to say it."

I felt his chest rumble under my head as he laughed at the memories.

"It wasn't always, sometimes I did say it but yeah, I guess I was a pussy."

Flashback - 16 years old - 11th Grade.

"This is weird."

Once again he glanced down at our intertwined hands causing me to tighten my grip on his hand when I thought he would try to pull his hand away.

"You're my bestfriend, it's okay to hold hands." He rolled his eyes at me but didn't respond as we continued walking down the path along the field.

It was so empty and quiet, the sun was just beginning to set, there was a gentle breeze around us and I was with the person I loved the most in the world.

It was perfect.

"Have you thought much about college?" When Santi mentioned that one topic that had been looming over us for a while, I felt my mood dampen ever so slightly.

Even though I was only sixteen, we were in 11th grade which meant we had to start at least planning for our futures.

The thought of a future without Santiago broke my heart. It was a thought I couldn't even comprehend. I'd known him since I was five and I had hardly any memories of the few years of my life before I knew him.

He was my everything.

"No, I haven't. What about you?" I glanced over at him as he looked down at the floor as we walked.

"I haven't thought about what I want to study, but I've thought about us."

"You have? What about us?"

"The fact that we might split up." When he said it for the first time out loud, my steps slowly came to a stop and we were now standing still.

We were the only ones for what felt like miles even though we were only twenty minutes away from my house.

"I don't want that Santi. I can't lose you." When I said this, he gave me a soft smile and stepped closer to me, keeping my hand in his.

"You won't because I'll go wherever you want to go. You want to study nursing, so everywhere you apply, I'll apply for something too."

Although his response was absolutely ridiculous and anyone in their right mind would tell him to put himself and his career first, I didn't do that.

As a 17 year old terrified of losing their bestfriend, that's all I ever dreamed of hearing.

"You would do that for me?" He nodded his head at this as another breeze whipped around us.

"We only get one chance at this life Maddie, I want to do it with you. I want to do everything with you. We did kindergarten, grade school, middle school and high school together, why not college too?"

When I heard his words tears filed my eyes when I realised just how intent he was on staying with me for the next few years of our lives.

"I love you Santi."

"Alright." He nodded his head awkwardly before he started walking again and since he was still holding my hand, I had to walk with him too.

I wiped my tears away as we walked before I looked at him.

"You don't want to say it back?" Although it should have hurt me that he didn't say it, I was so used to it that I just smiled. He did say it to me, but he usually saved it for a special moment or occasion.

"No, thank you." I couldn't help but laugh at his response as I leaned my head against his arm as we walked.

"Well I love you and I'm not scared to admit it. I'll love you for the rest of my life Santi."

When he heard the seriousness in my tone, his steps slowed and eventually we came to a stop again. He refused to look at me as he stared at the floor before he eventually let go of my hand.

Before I could say anything to him, he wrapped his now free arm around my shoulders pulling me into him as he placed a kiss on my forehead.

"I love you too Maddie."

"That day was so perfect, I just wish...sometimes I wish our plans never changed. I wish we did end up going to college together and doing what we planned."

Santi stayed quiet for a moment after I said that and I was suddenly worried I'd offended him or upset him by mentioning us going to college together.

"Me too. But it didn't happen and, as much as it hurts me to remember those years we spent apart, there was a small silver lining to it."

When he said this I sat up, turning to face him properly.

"What silver lining? They were the hardest years of my life."

"Mine too, but I would never have had the chance to realise just how much you meant to me. There's that saying, you don't know what you have until you lose it. That worked perfectly for me. I didn't know I was so crazy in love with you until I lost you."

Even though this topic always caused a pain in my heart whenever I thought of our lost time together, I couldn't help but agree with him.

If we hadn't parted ways for those few years until we met outside that club when I was 21, I never would have known what it was like to lose him.

And I never would have known what it was like to get him back again.

"I love you Santi. It's probably unhealthy how much I love you, maybe borderline obsessive, but I don't care." I let out a small laugh as I brought my face closer to his, stroking his hair with my hand.

"I love you more than anything else and I can't wait to be your wife one day. I can't wait to watch our babies grow up and I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together."

Santiago smiled at me as he pulled me in closer to him, placing a hand on the back of my head to bring my lips closer to his.

"I couldn't have said it better myself."

With that he pressed his lips to mine in a loving, tender kiss.

Of course that kiss was interrupted by the baby crying on the baby monitor, but a mother of three you take what you can get.

It was perfect nonetheless.

After all, it was our children that brought us back together.

Without them, we never would have taken such a crazy ride to where we are now.

It was all thanks to them, all thanks to our little babies.

Sorry this one took so long! I've been busy but I wanted to also get it perfect.

I hope you all loved it ❤️

It's just the epilogue left to go now 😭