Antonio
"I'll be whatever you'll make me."
Her innocent tone vibes with wavy cruelty thus ensures me she is not the weak girl I thought she was. Arielle has a chapter which she never revealed to the world. I told her my secret. I'm suspicious she's been hiding something from me. This can't be a sudden coincidence, there must be something indeed daring her to walk on my burning fire.
What is she hiding?
***
Rocco gets here when I called him and said it was an emergency. He enters the patio.
“What happened?” His heavy breathing tells me he must’ve been running.
Sitting calmly and collectively on the couch. I down my scotch and set the glass on the coffee table. I take a deep breath before dispelling, “Arielle is pregnant.”
“Shit. Really?” He slowly walks over to the couch and sits next to me. “So...this is bad news? I thought you wanted to have children? You seemed fascinating with Arielle.'
“Not right now,” I shake my head. “Maybe when I was like forty. That’s not the point though. Marco Ricci betrayed me with Seraphia.”
“What?” Rocco’s fists clench yet he looks puzzling. He’s always hate Marco Ricci just as much as I always have. “That’s an act of war. That dick! So what are we doing? What about Sera?"
"Sera is Marco's daughter. Her and Arielle has the same father and different mothers. She's dead and betrayed me by hiding the fact about being Ricci's children. She was fucking working with her father! Sera changed Arielle's birth control pills, she framed us."
"Damn! She didn't left you after her death. I never thought she was so fucking vicious. She used to be nice with us. Fuck." Rocco curses as he leans back in the couch. His rage can be seen in his visible veins. "Should we call for a war and slay Marco?"
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Killing him is definitely an act of war. Luca and his sociopathic tendencies won’t be good for the Outfit which is already weak from our war with the Bratva.”
“What’s the plan then?”
I sigh. “I don’t know. Honestly, I want to kill him as much as you do. He’s waiting for Ary to get pregnant, if we never announce the news or let him know then we have the upper hand.”
“So we keep the baby a secret?” Rocco clarifies.
“I’d like to keep it a secret until it’s like ten years old, but I know rumors spread easily and along with the paparazzi...Ary would have to stay inside for the next,” I do the math, “seven months. Then what, the child stays inside for the next ten years? He’ll have to go outside for fresh air and school and just fuck, I didn’t want a kid.”
“So we keep both of them hidden as long as possible until we have a plan. Like you said, we have the upper hand. Okay, so we start with telling Arielle and Riccardo to keep their mouths shut about the pregnancy. Not to tell anyone, not even our relatives.”
"Riccardo's in our side. He thinks hiding the baby will be a great idea too." I mumble.
"Good. But we are in New York, this sounds like a planned game. Someone's must be conspiring this with power." He says with gritted teeth.
"Yeah."
"Antonio." My brother glances at me. "Are you sure you want the baby?" This time he asks me with a real concerning face.
"At first I intended not to..." I sigh then meets his gazes, "every king needs a hier." I half smile.
He beams, "that's like my brother." He mutters before patting my shoulder. "We're fighting this war together. Nothing will happen to your wife and baby."
"Let's end this shit between New York and Chicago. I want my city to be free from Ricci's grips." I sigh in rage. "I need to take things down." I tell Rocco and he nods.
I will do anything to make sure my wife and unborn baby is safe. I don't care how huge the consequences are about to be, all I know is, the safety of my family.
"Make sure Angelo and Riccardo are alert. Tell our men to be New York by the sun is up. We finish this shit."
"Everything will be arranged." Rocco snaps.
This is the first battle for me with New York mafia and for the very first time in my life I feel anxious about fighting this thing—I don't want to be dead. I want this life with my family. I know things might got down. Arielle needs to stay strong.