Principessa (Book II of The Stepbrother)

Chapter 39: Big Chop

I was still learning but from the little I could make out, I knew someone had been hurt. The fellas stood around the island with serious faces as they waited for Haden to get off the phone.

Soon he disconnected the call and sighed as he looked at the guys.

"Ghidorah trouble again?" Enzo asked with a sigh.

"Fucking Russians." Haden huffed. "We need to go to DyverCity. Kaleb was shot."

"Is he breathing?" Enzo asked. I knew he didn't care too much for Ghidorah but the look on his face showed he was worried.

"Barely, he flatlined twice, Nonna insists we go check on them."

They all nodded in agreement as Morgan and I shared a look. My thoughts went to Mia. I wondered how she was handling the news. If it was Haden...I couldn't even begin to imagine.

I looked back up to see Haden already looking at me. As if he could read my mind, he was in front of me within seconds.

"Nothing can take me away from you Tesoro." He whispered as he grabbed my face.

I gave him a small smile and nodded as he kissed the tip of my nose.

"When are you leaving?" I asked, wrapping my hand around his wrist as I leaned into his hands more.

"Tomorrow morning. Tony will be here before I leave."

I nodded. Did I want him to go? Not really, but I also knew this came with the job. I just hoped he would be safe. I didn't want Haden to become a bigger target, we had our own problems with the Russians.

Maxim's smug face popped into my head and I quickly shook the negative thoughts away. This was Haden we were talking about. I knew if he said he was coming back to me, there was nothing in this world that would stop him.

"How about we focus on making some babies when I come back." He slyly threw out there causing me to laugh and playfully push him back.

"One day," I said with a smirk.

"Soon." He added before pecking my lips a final time before straightening back up and walking back into the kitchen with the guys.

.
.
.

"Joella, go get Brad's clippers please." My mom asked as I placed a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup in front of her.

"Why do you want the clippers?" I asked as I handed her the spoon.

Mom had gotten quite thin. She was still beautiful as ever but I could tell the chemo treatments were taking a toll.

"I want to shave my head." My head snapped in her direction.

"What?" I asked softly.

"My hair is thinning and falling out from the treatments. I rather just get it over with."

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I stared back at my mom. I looked for any sign of hesitation but there wasn't any. She had made up her mind.

"Why don't we wait for Brad-"

"No, he will try to talk me out of it. I want to do it now. Can you help me?"

My shoulders slumped as I slowly nodded my head. Going into their bathroom, I grabbed Brad's clippers off the wall and walked back into their bedroom.

"Don't look so down. AJ got me these beautiful head wraps and some gorgeous lace fronts." She said with a smile. AJ was mom's hair stylist, he had been doing her hair for over 20 years so I wasn't surprised in the slightest.