My mafia king

Chapter 13

Chapter 13: "Listen to what they have to say."

As I opened the front door, Adrian beside me, I could already hear the voice of my parents, parent, talking to my brothers. I took a deep breath and Adrian squeezed my hand in reassurance, sensing my unease. I didn't bother taking my shoes off, in case this went south I needed a quick getaway, not 10 minutes to lace up my shoes.

"Amazon!" Oliver said excitedly.

"Hey bud," I replied, kissing the top of his head, Oliver would always be the baby of the family, to be honest, I think he preferred it. I looked over to my mother and then over to Arnold, a look of confusion then fear crossed his features as he looked at Adrian, hand in mine. He knows who he is. That was all I needed for confirmation that he was definitely involved somehow with Adrian's family, and it definitely wasn't in a good way.

"Hello Amazon." Mom said shortly. "Who's this?" She added.

"Adrian." I replied, not bothering with details, my mom and I have never had that kind of relationship where we just talked about things together and I sure as hell don't want to start with Adrian of all people.

"What is he doing here?" Arnold tried to sound confident but his words came out shaky.

"I guess you could say he's here for... support."

"Yeah, in other words-" Brody started making kissing noises. I didn't miss the smirk that tugged at Adrian's lips.

"Brody, shut. Up." I warned, he blew me a kiss innocently as his way of saying, 'sorry, not sorry' and I couldn't help but smile.

"Enough. He needs to go." Arnold hissed.

"If he goes, I go too."

"Sweetheart, it's fine, let him stay, don't make this a big thing." Mom whispered through gritted teeth.

"Can we start, I have places to be." I snapped impatiently.

We all seated ourselves in the living room, my brothers all on one couch, Adrian and I in another, and mom and Arnold standing up.

"You're all probably wondering why you're here, and it is regarding the move. We ARE still moving. We leave in 2 weeks."

The room filled with uncomfortable silence as the boys processed the information. They didn't want to move, they like it here, they have a life here, and so do I.

"No." I said flatly.

"Yes. Your father and I need this business deal, we are moving, and you are coming with us."

"Right, 'Father'," I air quoted.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Arnold said, his voice tightening. That was all I needed to confirm that he knew.

"I think you know what that's supposed to mean." I replied coolly. Adrian squeezed my hand and nodded slightly to me.

"Boys, go upstairs will you?" Mom said, plastering a fake reassurance smile across her face.

"But it was just getting interesting." Oscar whispered to Xavier.

"Keep moving." Xavier glared.

I checked my watch and clicked my tongue. "Hate to cut the little family visit short but Adrian and I have somewhere to be, Adrian?" I moved to get up but Adrian pulled me by the waist to sit back down. Damn it.

"Listen to what they have to say." He whispered in my ear. Mom and Arnold sat down.

"Amazon, what did you mean when you said what you said?" Mom asked.

"Don't play dumb with me." I said sharply.

"You need to go. Now. I'm gonna say it again before I call the cops." Arnold said to Adrian.

"I'm with Amazon, when she tells me to leave, i'll leave." Adrian said calmly.

"Tell him to leave." Arnold said, pointing his words at me, but not taking his eyes off Adrian. The two men locked eyes and Adrian refused to back down, and I didn't expect him to, he is a mafia boss to-be for heavens' sake. Eventually Arnold gave in less than ten seconds later and looked away.

"She knows." Mom whispered to Arnold, trying to be discreet.

"Yeah, I do know. And NOW I wanna know why the fuck you've both been lying to me about my real father, and don't bother trying to twist the facts because I know all about Dominic Royale."

"He's a bad person, a dumb ass, a coward." Arnold bit back. Adrian moved to stand up, but now it was my turn to pull him back down.

"Don't you dare talk about him that way, you have no right or place." I seethed. Yeah, I didn't know Dominic as much as I hope to but that didn't mean that I would let Arnold sit there and say those things about him.

"I am your REAL father, not him, he could never be a good father like i've been to you for all these years."

"You were never around!" I yelled. "You two were always off on some 'business trip' to god knows where, you left me with nannies and babysitters. When Xavier was born, you both just turned your backs on him and his brothers, I became their mother, where the fuck were you two?" All attempts to bite down on my tongue and try not to say anything went flying out the window, I said what needed to be said.

"You little fucking brat!" Arnold practically jumped out of his seat in anger, only to be met by a force way worse.

"You will NOT speak to her that way." Adrian growled, standing in front of me protectively as I stood up. I grabbed his hand in mine and pulled him towards the door before things escalated any further. Arnold may not be a good person but I didn't know the full story yet. It was best to just walk away now.

I could hear mom and Arnold 'forbidding' me to leave, but I was already out the door.

We got in Adrian's car and I exhaled a shaky breath I didn't even know I was holding. A tear rolled silently down my cheek as I thought back to all the times I had wished that my parents would come home from wherever they were and take care of me, Xavier and Brody, and then later on Oscar and Oliver, but they never did.

Adrian remained silent but I knew damn well that he was trying to control himself as his knuckles turned white from his tight grip on the gear stick. I put my hand over his, feeling his hand relax against mine. We didn't need to exchange words to make each other feel better, that one simple gesture said more than any combination of words. Turning on the ignition, we sped off in the distance to, i'm assuming, Adrian's house.

We drove past the turn we would usually take if we were going to Adrian's house, instead we drove along the coast, arriving at the beach we were at the other night when I read the file.

Without saying a word, Adrian parked and walked around the side of the car, opening my door, extending his hand. I took it and we walked down the steps to the soft sand, sitting down on the shore, where the waves barely reached. Adrian wrapped his arm around my waist as I relaxed my head onto his shoulder. This was all I needed, the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I might be falling in love. It's a lot to say since I've only known Adrian for a month, give or take, but honestly it was different being around him. I felt safe, like I could tell him anything without judgement. And I knew I could.

God when did I become such a romance cliché?

A/N Ok so that was kind of a hard chapter to write, i'm pretty sure I got writers' block like seven times but ANYWAY, I tried. I'm planning on doing a chapter very soon about them going on an ACTUAL date but i'm still figuring out how to go about that chapter...

-J 💚