Adopted by the Mafia King

Seventeen

I woke to a face moving in my chest. I smiled and lifted her above my head.

"Hi baby girl." I say and she smiles down at me.

"Daddy." She smiles and reaches out. Her small fingers graze my cheek and she smiles brighter.

"You hungry baby girl?" I ask and she nods. I sit up and climb out of bed. I hold her on my hip and make my way downstairs with Duke not far behind.

"Dwuke." She squeals and I smile. At the bottom of the stairs I set her down and Duke tackles her licking her face.

"Come on Chloe." I call out walking to the kitchen. She runs in after me and climbs into the chair next to me. She crawls over to my lap and plops down.

"Here you go sir." The Chef says setting two plates in front of us.

Chloe eats as much as se can and pushes her plate away. I finish my food and carry her back up to my room.

"Can we go see Clayden?" She asks and I nod. I changed her out of her pull-up and into some panties. I dress her in dark wash skinny jeans and a t-shirt.

"Chloe. Let's go." I call to her when she runs off giggling. She instantly turns around and runs back to me and jumps on my leg, completely wrapping herself around my knee.

"Are you a monkey now?" I ask looking down at her. She nods while smiling up at me and tightening her right arm so she can cradle her left casted arm.

Sometime last night Chloe woke up and was crying that her arm hurt. Turns out that she had a golfball sized bruise that covered most of the bones in her tiny Palm. The doctor wrapped it in a cast so she wouldn't hit it on anything. The bright pink cast travels halfway up her radius and ulna before it stops.

I'm brought out of the painful memory when Chloe starts her one armed crawl up my leg. I grab her under the arms and place her on my hip.

"Come on munchkin. Let's go see uncle Clay." I say and she bounces in my arms squealing.

"Yay yay yay yay." She squeals. I make my way to the hospital wing of the house and into Clay's room. He flicks his eyes from the tv and smiles at the sight of Chloe.

"Hey Clo. How you feeling?" He asks and Chloe climbs onto his bed out of my arms.

"Good." She says and climbs up to his chest.

"You hungry Clay?" I ask and he snaps his head up at the nickname. He smiles warmly and nods his head.

"Yeah. Their mush isn't gonna last very long." He says making a disgusted face.

"Alright." I say and press the nurse call button. A nurse walks in a minute later and smiles at us.

"Yes sir?" She asks.

"Get him some real food." I say and she looks like she wants to object but shakes it off and leaves.

"So what's the damage?" I ask.

"Four broken ribs, a badly sprained wrist, and a very bruised and cut up back." He says and I nod.

"So. Doesn't that hurt?" I ask looking at Chloe whom is laying on his ribcage.

"A little. But she barely weighs anything." He says and I nod.

"Ok. Serious talk now. Are you acquainted with the people who did this?" I ask seriously. He sighs and looks at me.

"Yes I was acquainted." He says and grabs his water. He takes a quick sip and sets it back. My eyes watching his movements closely.

"I didn't know that they'd be kidnapping her. I didn't know when it would be or how. I didn't know anything along the subject. I did know something was gonna happen but not to you.

"When I'd walk by them whispering they'd all quickly quiet down and start talking about something else in a normal voice. They were all skeptical around me and no one talked to me at all. I wasn't aloud to go to meetings and I wasn't aloud in the office.

"They brought Chloe to the safe house and she was naked and unconscious. I was quick to take her from them and I put my shirt on her. The one she was wearing when we arrived.

"They told me their plan and I yelled at them to stop and not to do it. But they saw me as a traitor and threw me in a cell with her. When ever they tried to beat and abuse her I'd hold her against my chest in a corner so they couldn't hit her or take her from me. They used the club to make me cringe back so one of the men could grab her but I'd seen it happen before. Not to kids but to prisoners that they'd abduct. The newer man had the guts to protect the man that was there before him because he wasn't weak like the other." He paused when Chloe moved and faced away from me.

"The night your found me. The men had a gambling party and they all got drunk. I was sleeping and I guess Chloe got out of my arms because I woke to her screaming. One of the men they invited had her pinned on her back and he was touching her. His pants were at his ankles and Chloe didn't have my shirt on anymore. I didn't think twice when I lunged at him and smashed his head against the concrete wall." He stopped and looked at my hands when a crack sounded in the room. The doctors wooden arm of the chair had a long crack going down the center and down the front right leg.

"When happened next." My voice came out darker and more dangerous than I expected.

"His head was bleeding and Chloe was crying looking at the man. I grabbed her and put the shirt back on her. The stupid basterd left the cell door open so I left undetected because they all were passed out. I slowly made my way here. My vision blacked out and when I woke up I was standing in your backyard." He says and I nod. I look at my little girl when she moves again and this time Clay winces. I stand and lift her off his chest into my arms. A knock came to the door and the nurse slowly walked in with a tray of food.

"We'll leave you to eat. We will probably be back tomorrow. And an officer will be here to take your statement and ask you who it was." I say and he nods taking the tray from the nurse and setting it on the table she attached to his hospital bed.

"Ok." He says and I follow the nurse out.

"Al" he says and I look at him.

"I didn't hurt them." He says looking at his food. I gulp and he looks at me.

"I can promise you that." He says and I nod.

"Thank you. For bringing my baby girl home." I say.

"Linda" he says and I look at his eyes.

"Don't say her name." I snap.

"Linda. She told me to give you this. You always thought I killed her and whenever I showed up to give it to you. You threatened me and I was forced to fled." He says pointing to his pants that were on the chair next to the one I was sitting on. I slowly walked over. I checked his pockets and pulled a folded envelope from his left back pocket. I unfolded it and read the name on the front.

Il mio amore