*SUMMONS KEETIES WHILE APOLOGETICALLY DISCO DANCING*
Before you read this chapter, here's where I want you to envision! Gasparro is KILLED. He is dead AF (RIP a bitch ttyl), and Fico won that battle. He WON! He finally avenged his father, and he doesn't have to worry about that sicko anymore. And as far as Vincent, Robert, and Maria go, for now just imagine these characters are not existing because they need some #FIXINGUP in the next draft LOL. I imagine Scarlett has helped Ferro finally heal over the loss of his brother. This needs to be concluded for this story to properly end in my mind and it should have happened in this plot.
P.S - Check my announcement at the end of this chapter for an extra special surprise. ;)
***
"BRAAAAIIIINS!" I moaned like a zombie, holding my arms out with a moving box with a dramatic Frankenstein walk.
Behind me, holding only a potted cactus, Samantha cackled with laughter. "You are so weird."
"I'm not weird, the rest of the world is just a snore."
"Is it break time yet?" Sam moaned.
"Yep!" I threw open the large walk-in pantry in the kitchen, my new walk-in pantry, and grabbed the only item inside off the shelf. A bakery bag filled with cannoli that I was hiding from the Italian thieves currently walking in and out of my apartment. But it was break time, and I was starved from all this exertion.
"I smell sugar," Samantha said, as if she could smell the cannoli like a bloodhound from across the kitchen. Before I could pull the bag away, she peered inside and licked her lips like a predator. "Yum, cannoli. Did you get ones with chocolate chips?"
"Yes, but you can only have––" She snatched the whole bag from my hand. "One!" I finished in a shout.
"Ooooh," Sam said, already chomping one down. "No, these are bad. The might be toxic. I should take these for inspection and make sure they're safe..."
I moved into Sam's path. "Hand over the cannoli and nobody will get hurt," I whispered with violence in my eyes.
She munched down another bite of the cannoli in her hand and handed the bag over with a scowl. "I'm telling Ferro you bullied a pregnant woman!"
"Ah, go tell it to the marines!"
She narrowed her eyes at me. "Have you been reading that old expressions and idiom book Ferro gave you for your birthday?"
"Fiddledeedee that's a bunch of hogswallop!"
"A-what-dee a who-a-hog?"
"You can't pluck feathers off a bald chicken, Sam."
"I'm just going to ignore you and have my daily five minute dread session about how I'm going to shit and pee probably simultaneously while giving birth."
"What's that got to do with the price of onions?"
"FERRO!" Sam shouted over her shoulder. "Come fix Scarlett, your idiom book broke her!"
"He can't hear you," I said with a sinister expression. "Nobody can hear you here, my dear!" I came toward her like a zombie and Sam feigned a scream. Walking around her, I picked up another box to open. "Ferro's working on some project in the bedroom with the door closed and his earbuds on. Real focused, male-meditation-like shit."
"What's he working on?"
"I have no idea. He's been so sneaky about it that he got up early to get here first."
"Mhm." Sam made a face. "Five bucks says he's in there eating pizza and jerkin' it."
I burst out laughing. "Sam! Everyone knows Ferro's got a high libido, but not that bad. He's working on a project. I pressed my ear against the door earlier and heard a ton of banging and frustrated curse words."
She tilted her head down, her eyebrows raising. "Like I said..."
I threw a balled-up napkin at her. "Gross."
"Ugh, okay. Time to sit down, brosky." Sam stared down at the only chair in the kitchen currently she slowly and took a deep breath, as though preparing to do a significant physical exercise. Turning away from the chair, she braced her hand on the table and slowly, inch my inch, lowered herself down with a huffed out, "I did it! Phew." She patted herself on the shoulder. "Good job, Sam."
I dropped the box in my hands on the kitchen floor. "You need anything? Water?"
"And pee it out in three seconds? Thanks, but no thanks." She flipped a strand of blonde hair out of her face. "But there's a forklift somewhere around here to pick me back up to my feet though, right?"
I laughed. "If by forklift, you mean Fico, then yes. He's somewhere around here. Are you sure you're okay hanging around? Maybe you should be resting at home."
"And miss my best friend moving into her second New York apartment with her enigmatic dark-haired assassin? Um, I don't think so, bitch."
"I can't wait to get everything set up. We decided to start fresh and resell a lot of our furniture from our own apartments, but we definitely haven't been very organized with furniture shopping ourselves."
Sam glanced behind her at the empty living room. "Ya think?"
"I've been so eager in my hunt for a good communication job in the city that we haven't had time to look for furniture. But we got a lot of the essentials. We got a really nice bedframe!"
Sam arched her shaped blonde brow as she sipped on a juice box, which I was pretty sure she'd pulled randomly out of her bra. "What's the point of having a bedframe if you're just going to break it?"
I rolled my eyes at her. "Calm down over there, hormonal girl." Bending down, I cut the box at my open to check what was inside, before lifting it back up to Frankenstein walk toward the kitchen counter. "FOOOORRKKSSS!"
Sam burst into laughter again, though this time, it was cut short. "Are you going to be doing that all day? Because I keep peeing myself a little by little and I know you know it."
I started dividing the utensils to go in the right drawers. "I thought you were temporarily wearing those diaper things for that?"
"Shhhh!" Samantha shushed me loudly, smacking her hand on the kitchen table. "Utshay upyay aboutyay ethay iapersday!"
"What about diapers?" Of course, Fico walked in on the perfect moment to overhear that, helping carry a black leather couch in with another employee of his. "Why are you talking about diapers in pig latin?" he called out from across the apartment once they set the furniture down. "Is something wrong with the diapers we ordered?"
"Ugh, literally everything is a panic with him lately," Sam groaned. Then, louder, over her shoulder, "The diapers are fine! You just keep lifting and moving, you big, strong boss-man!" She rolled her eyes at her own exaggerated words to feed his ego.
Behind her back, Fico glowered at Sam as he stalked over to us. "What did I tell you about mocking me in front of my employees?"
Sam bit her lip playfully. "Not to do it."
Fico sighed heavily, before wiping powdered sugar off corner of her mouth with his thumb. "How are you feeling? You look a little flushed."
"They had to turn the AC off since the front door is open and the hallway outside gets hot with all the windows, so I'm sweating my tits off."
"Are you sure it's from the heat?" Fico kissed her forehead. "Hm. No fever."
Fico's careful attentiveness toward Sam the past few months had been so damn romantic. I only hoped for the same support when I eventually had children.
"Fico, I'm fine," Sam said. "I'm not even getting mid-day sleepies. I just need to relax with my zombie friend."
"Laughter is the best medicine," I said, winking at Sam for yet another unnecessary idiom usage.
"The doctor said as long as I don't feel unwell or uncomfortable, I can walk around and be active right up until my delivery." Sam yawned and closed her eyes briefly. "I feel so energetic... it's like..."
"You're sleeping," Fico said.
She widened her eyes. "What? No, I wasn't. I was just resting my eyes. I have so much energy that I could literally run a marathon right now."
"But you'd pop like a water balloon," I said, turning Sam's glare onto me. "You'd cross the finish line and the babies would just come sliding right out with their hands up in excitement. What? Fico was thinking it, too."
"Sammy, I think you need to go home," Fico said, bending down to place his hand on the large swell of Sam's stomach. "There are only three more weeks until we finally meet our little patatinos. Let's not risk anything."
"Agreed," I said.
"But guys––"
"I'll get you pickles on the way home," Fico added casually, like he'd had to bribe her like this many times before.
"Mkay." Sam held out her arms toward Fico. "Pick me up, bitch."
Fico chuckled as he scooped her up to her feet.
"Text me when you get home, okay?" I asked, after giving Sam a hug. "I'll come visit you this weekend."
"You better," Sam said. "Where's Ferro, anyway?"
"Right here," Ferro's deep voice came up from behind them. He was wiping his forehead on a black towel. "I just finished fixing the faucet in the master bathroom."
"Sam's feeling a little tired, so we're heading out," Fico said. "They're just about done with the moving trucks. Call me if you need anything."
"Likewise, frate." Ferro reached out shook hands with him, before turning to Sam. "We can't wait to meet the little bambini."
I threw up a peace sign to Sam. "Later, skater-scooter."
She saluted. "Farewell, maiden. The apartment is gorgeous, by the way. Lots of space. Keep your aim sharp, Ferro. We need little BFFs for my bambini."
"Cucciola," Fico snickered under his breath, steering Samantha out of the apartment with a hand too her lower back.
"What's wrong with the faucet?" I asked Ferro.
He grinned. "Nothing, now. It's fixed."
"Oh, wow," I drawled out with a smile. "Ferro the handyman."
"Want to see it?"
"Duh." I took his outstretched hand and walked down a hallway to the bathroom joined to what would soon be our bedroom. But as he pushed open the door, my eyes widened at what was inside. The whole bedroom was put together.
"Ferro..." My hand climbed to my mouth as I fought back tears. "Now I know what you've been doing cooped up in here all morning! Oh, the dressers! Oh my gosh, this headboard!" I ran my fingertips over the dark blue velvet texture of the headboard. "This color is gorgeous."
"I remembered you pointing something similar out online," Ferro said, watching me with a smile on his face. "You like it, then?"
"I love it! Ferro, I had no idea you were doing all this..." I smooched the air and reached for him. "Come here and give me some sugar, bad boy."
He puckered his lips with a raspberry noise and touched mine.
"What's in the bag?" he asked.
I felt a little shy as I held it out to him. "Well, my surprise is a little lamer. I got you your favorites. Cannoli and hidden at the bottom of the bag––"
He was already digging to the bottom. "Sfogliatelle!"
"Sfow-lee-uh-the-lay," I repeated the word awkwardly. "So that's how you pronounce it. I just called it a lobster tail like every other New Yorker."
"Americans," Ferro said with a judgmental shake of his head. "Sfogliatelle makes more sense, it refers to the thin leaf-like layers of the dessert. I haven't one of these in so long. These look very authentic, too."
"Sam said that Fico said he was at a wedding with you once, and you got so drunk you ate like twenty of these in one sitting for a dare."
He burst out laughing. "It was actually sporcamuss. The cream can be kind of like sfogliatelle, though. This pastry is more flakey and layered."
"Aw, I'm sad," I said. "I got you the wrong thing..."
"No, you got me the perfect gift. I love sfogliatelle." He set the bag down, his eyes flashing with mischief, before his hand snatched my waist and he pulled me in for a tight hug. "Your sweetness is my favorite, though."
"You're all sweaty," I laughed out, although I didn't really mind it. We'd had to turn off the AC since people were coming in and out of the apartment and Ferro had clearly been getting a workout in here rapidly putting together our bedroom furniture.
"I'll be right back, I'm going to run downstairs and see how much more they have to move into the apartment," Ferro said. "You stay right here."
"Okay, but what about the––?" He had already jogged out of the room. "Sink?"
Wandering around the bedroom, I sat down on the bed and plopped back, shocked that this was my new apartment. With him. It just felt right this time around. Once we'd shared a wall, and now we shared a bed.
"Hi," Ferro said, the door clicking shut behind him. "How's the mattress feel?"
"Perfect, just like in the store. I was so busy yapping with Sam and organizing boxes that I didn't even check on you. You could have been plotting to destroy the world in here, for all I know."
"My evil plan to rule the world is underneath the bed, if you would like to review it," he said with a horrible impression of an evil laugh. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha."
"You need to work on that evil laugh. I can't believe how sneaky you were in here. Ferro, it looks absolutely beautiful. Thank you!"
"Of course, baby. Come see the sink." He inclined his head for me to follow him into the master bathroom. "It was dripping pretty bad before," Ferro said, standing directly behind me and reaching down to demonstrate the water could go on and off without a problem. My eyes lingered on the veins in his forearms. "I'm really good at plugging leaks."
"Oh really?" I asked, turning to face him.
"Yeah," he said, lifted the bottom of his shirt to wipe at his face. My eyes clung momentarily to his abdominals and the slight trail of dark hair leading past his navel. "I'm also good at sweating. I was rushing to get the bed put together and it got so hot under the sink with no air ventilation." He gave an exaggerated sigh. "If only that leaky faucet was a squirter like you are. Maybe the water would have cooled me off."
I gave mouth fell open.
A dimple popped in Ferro cheek as he smiled innocently at me. "What?"
I poked at his stomach, jabbing into hard muscle as he laughed, which lead to him bear hugging me to keep me off of him.
"Ew, sweaty boy!"
"What are we going to do tonight?" he asked, placing a dozen kisses on my face. "I can hook up the Wi-Fi router and we can watch a movie."
"Yessss and we can order cheese pizza. And make a tent fort."
"A tent fort?"
I pouted. "Pwease?"
That grin pulled at his beautiful mouth. "Fine." He placed his big hands on my hips, still looking down at me. "Oh, no..."
I tilted my head down. "What?"
"Nothing, tigrotta, it's just..." My skin fevered as his hands slid over my shorts, his thumbs gliding over my inner thighs and pulling the cotton fabric up a little bit. "I think you have a leak, too..."
"Ferro." I burst into laughter as I shoved him away from me. "There are people coming in and out of this apartment."
"Good thing I kicked them all out." He bit down on his lower lip to hide his amusement. "Did you really think you could spoil me with thoughtful Italian desserts and romance and I wouldn't fuck you on the spot?"
Laughing, I ran my fingers through his thick brown hair, his body looming over mine as he pulled leaned me against the counter. "I still can't believe you rushed to do the bedroom for me. That's so sweet. I feel like I need to get you something special."
"Don't get me anything. Just take your top off already."
Cackling this time with laughter, I pulled him in for a kiss. I sighed as he moved his mouth down my neck, my breath coming out in a slight moan as his fingers slid down the front of my shorts. "Ferro," I gasped out, as he slid two fingers into me to the knuckle.
"Yes, tigrotta?" His face hovered in front of mine, his mouth a breath away.
"I think the leak is worse than I thought."
"Don't worry, ma'am. I'm a professional."
We both laughed this time, before he kissed me hard on the mouth, his tongue sweeping over mine. What could have been a brief moment of passion with our mouths turned into a full-blown messy, hot make-out session, my back slamming against the wall outside the bathroom, as I vaguely was aware he'd carried me from the bathroom. My fingers gripped his corded neck, his hands wandering all over my body. Gone went my clothes, as his mouth kissing every inch of my flesh and leaving a fiery burn in its wake.
He laid me down on the bed, both of us panting hard, and kissed me again. "I can't believe I get to kiss you every day," he murmured. "Every morning, ever night." Another kiss. "You're going to get so sick of my lips."
I held his head closer as he sucked on the sensitive flesh of my neck, the sensations he gave me making me feel a little dizzy. "I really don't think that's possible."
A slow smirk curved Ferro's mouth as he stood from the bed, tugging his shirt over his head. His muscular torso and the way his legs looked in medium wash jeans made me want to crawl toward him and lick every inch of him. He looked down at me and rubbed his stubbly jaw with his hand. "Belissima. Just belissima."
I bit down on my lip with a smile. "Someone's wearing his heart on his sleeve."
He chuckled. "You and that idiom book."
I squealed a little as he grabbed my shorts and underwear practically ripped them down my legs. He knelt to the ground in front of the bed and dragged me toward him, his tongue reporting promptly for duty as he devoured me with a passionate, shaking his head . It didn't take long until the ball of pressure in my stomach unleashed, and I flew over that edge. His mouth only sucked harder, his fingertips gripping my thighs and his eyes steadily on mine, watching my pleasure. I grabbed his soft, thick hair, another roll of ecstasy overcame me.
Ferro stepped back and undid his jeans and slid down his boxer briefs, dropping them to the floor and kicking them to the side. He crawled onto the bed toward me, my hands finding his face, his body like home, yet the intensity of his eyes on mine almost too much to bear now. He pushed my legs out and entered me in a smooth thrust, our faces so close I could count his eyelashes, his hands holding mine over my head. He kissed me like he was savoring it, just like the rhythm of our bodies moving together.
"Ti amo," he whispered, kissing my cheek. "I love you."
Suddenly it hit me how much things had changed, how we'd changed and grown together. How we weren't always perfect, but we were damn close for what it was.
"I love you so much," I whispered back.
His hands gripped mine harder, our intimate moment drawing out well afterwards as he held me long afterward in his arms.
Later that day, Ferro went out to get us takeout. We built that tent fort in the practically bare living room with help of our kitchen chairs and our only couch. Wearing my Minnie mouse onesie Ferro told me I should wear, I piled layer after layer of blankets and pillows inside the fort and made it look perfectly snuggly, while Ferro tried to find the electric candles in one of the moving boxes.
"Ferro, you better spray!" I shouted, knowing he was taking way too long to have been looking for electric candles. "Kinda in the mood to watch a romance movie that will make me sob, kinda in the mood to watch a horror movie and then make you check all the rooms in this place for monsters!" A few moments later and with a mouthful of sour gummies in my mouth, I shouted out again, "Ok, I don't have any patience, so I'm really sorry but I pressed play! I chose horror! Oooo, damn, this guy's kinda cute! Ooop, aaand he's dead! Spoiler alert! You just keep pooping, no rush! I'll let you know what happens!"
I watched about fifteen minutes of the trashy movie, slumped on all the blankets like a potato, before I started watching funny videos on YouTube. "Alright," I sighed to myself, rising from my position like a mummy having slept for a thousand years. "I should probably make sure he didn't fall in..."
Crawling out of the fort with a sour gummy in my mouth, my Minnie mouse hood momentarily blocked my vision as I stood to my feet. "Ferro––?"
I looked around at the bouquets of red roses and candles surrounding me, stunned.
There were so many flowers that the floor was nearly covered. My heart hammered in my chest, as I slowly followed the path of candles back to the bedroom. My hand lifted to my mouth, as I found Ferro standing wearing a black and white tuxedo.
"A ogni uccelo il suo nidi è bello," Ferro said, stepping closer to me, as I just stared at him disbelief. "In Italian, it means every bird, his own nest is beautiful. In other words... there's no place like home. You're my home, Scarlett."
Ferro knelt to one knee in front of me and a small sob escaped my mouth.
His eyes filled with emotion as he reached into his pocket and held out a velvet red box and opened it, unveiling an elegant, breathtaking ring.
"Make me the happiest man in the world and let me love you forever. Marry me, tigrotta."
"I thought you were pooping," I sobbed out, and we both started hysterically laughing. "Yes, yes of course, I'll marry you! Yes, yes, yes!" Ferro slipped the ring on my finger and gathered me into his arms, lifting me off the ground as he kissed me.
And that's the SparkNotes version of how I met my mafia ex-husband.
Kidding!
***
The End.
SCREAM "KEETY FOREVER" IF YOU LOVED OMERTA!!!!
OKAY. GUYS. KEETIES. FAM.
I'M LITERALLY NOT OKAY RIGHT NOW THERE WILL BE VERY LITTLE PUNCTUATION AND A LOT OF CAPS BECAUSE I'M EMOTIONAL BUT HERE WE GO. I TOOK SO LONG TO FINISH THIS DAMN BOOK BECAUSE I GOT SO OFF TRACK WITH THE PLOT AND I WAS LITERALLY FLIPPING 18 WHEN I WROTE IT AND I'M SO SORRY FOR BEING FLAKEY AF AT TIMES BUT HOW IS IT DONE???? HOW IS IT OVER ALREADY???? LIKE DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THE WATTY AWARDS RALLYING AND HOW CRAZY IT WAS I FEEL SO GRATEFUL AND BLESSED FOR YOU GUYS AND TO HAVE THIS KIND OF READERSHIP IN MY LIFE ON LITERALLY MY FIRST DRAFTS LIKE WHAT THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE SUPPORT ON THIS BOOK IT'S ACTUALLY CRAZY???? I guess for me it doesn't feel "done" because I see myself rewriting these books and publishing them with all new scenes and a coherent plot!
As for my announcement...
She said the end...
BUT SHE DID NOT SAY THE END OF THE VENDETTA SERIES.
Please stay tuned for my big secret, BOOK THREE of the Vendetta series!!!!!!! GET HYPED!!!! I'll be revealing the cover on my Tik Tok (katrocks247). ;)
BOOK THREE will be all new characters you haven't met before, but same world. Trust me...you DO NOT going to want to miss this bad boy. LOL. Can you guess the title of the book??? ;)
If you haven't already, go give "BORGATA" a read on my profile! *cue fangirls recommending it* LOL. I'll be wrapping that book up in a few chapters and it's just a blast to write for Sam & Fico! :)
Anyway. Guys. I can't thank my vendetta series fans enough for all the support throughout the years. You guys are incredible and I so appreciate you following my journey!! If you enjoyed this book, please take some time to vote, share the story, and maybe even give some of my other stuff a read if you're bored! :D
Xoxo,
Gossip Keety
P.S - Follow me on my socials to keep in touch and show your support! I have a TIK TOK now! YEE HAW.