Victoria's POV
I was suddenly in the middle of Jake and Ross, and I felt so small compared to their heights. I felt too shy to look at them. Jake glared at Ross for his words, and sighed before going to his office to work or something.
I looked at Daddy in the eyes and I could tell he truly regretted the way he talked to me before. It wasn't too important, but I was happy he apologized because I really needed to be with him. He crouched down to my level, and put a strand of hair behind my ear.
"I was... angry. I shouldn't have treated you like that... I'm sorry, baby"
I simply nodded and hugged him, as I laid my head on his chest, something I liked to do. I could never be mad at him, or any of the Caruso's.
He cradled my head with one hand, letting out a sigh of relief.
"It's okay, daddy. Can we cuddle? Please?" I asked.
"Of course, princess" Ross picked me up and took me to the couch, where he let me pick a movie. I didn't mind, I had a lot to process about today, so I chose some random film to watch.
Also, I didn't realize how much I hated not being close to him until now, when he was hugging me and pulling me closer. And even though I had just woke up from my nap, he was making me feel sleepy. So I decided talk a little with him.
"Daddy?"
"Hm?"
"Who was she?" I asked while laying my head on his shoulder.
"She... she is Cheryl. We broke up because she constantly cheated on me, although I didn't really care because I didn't love her either. She just loved the money... and the power. Also, she is pretty annoying, isn't she?" He rhetorically asked. "I'm sorry she hurt you, I'm glad Jake was there or I could- never mind"
I hummed in response, his hands rubbing circles on my back as I laid my head on his chest. I didn't know he had an ex, specially one like Cheryl. I wondered if she also knew he worked for the mafia.
I was starting to feel smaller at the way he was holding me, and I was falling asleep again. He realized how I was struggling to stay awake and chuckled, making his chest vibrate. I really liked this, being with Ross was my favourite thing to do now. I didn't know why everyone called him Devil or stuff, because he was really caring and nice.
"You can help me, princess" he suddenly said, making me confused. "Stay safe, with us. That's all I need"
Ross' POV
My words came out more like a plead than a suggestion. No one could ever know about Victoria, although it was inevitable that people from other mafias eventually knew about her. But for now, I needed to hide her, she needed to be safe.
Specially since today's incident, someone could tell our enemies about her. Of course if anyone had the chance, they wouldn't doubt it. I tightened my grip on Vicky thinking about that. She was too innocent to be in a mafia family, but at the same time I was glad she was here with us, so that we could protect her from everything. She had something that made me want to kill everyone who dared to make her cry or scare her.
Maybe that's why I overreacted today. I couldn't even focus on my work because of how guilty I felt at speaking to her like that, but she forgave me so easily. I told myself to never hurt her again.
When I looked down, she was letting out soft snores, already asleep. Her hands were clutching my shirt as she rested peacefully. I turned the tv off and stayed like that for a while, because I liked holding her. I thought about putting her to bed, but it would be about dinner time soon, so I'd wake her up in some minutes. She seemed so tired.
"Ross, are you her-"
I shushed Marcus, who came downstairs almost yelling, and signaled the girl on my arms. Vicky just moved her head a little, but didn't woke up. But he truly was desperate.
"Sorry, is she asleep?" He whispered. I nodded in response and held her tight.
"Look, I still don't know how they did it. I can't find anything, there are no hacking tracks anywhere and I'm starting to get worried"
"Well... do you have any suspicions, at least?"
"Not at all, I mean, Vincenzo's men might be good or whatever, but I can always fix anything they try to do. But this time..."
"Are you suggesting it wasn't them?" I seriously asked. Even if we had already been through similar situations, I had a bad feeling about this.
"I... I don't know. I need more time. I could see something was different on the code, but I couldn't fix it"
"Marcus, we-"
I stopped talking as soon as I felt my baby stirring up on my arms, and slowly open her eyes. She didn't left her place on my shoulder though, just repositioned her head.
"Daddy... I'm hungry"
And then, she realized Marcus was standing right next to her.
Truth be told, none of my brothers could find the fact that she called me "daddy" weird, because we all had that kind of relationship with her, and, well, everytime she said it, I'm sure we could all tell it was adorable.
But Vicky may not had seen it that way. She squirmed in my arms to be put down but I had a strong grip on her, so she started whining.
"Princess, it's okay. There's nothing to be ashamed of, yeah?" I reassured her.
"P-put me down"
"But what do we say?"
She gave in pretty quickly, probably more embarrassed now than before. I decided not to push her too much. Marcus just chuckled at her, both of us kind of forgetting our own work issue.
"You're okay, baby. There's nothing to stress about", my brother said. I just rubbed circles on her back, something I knew that helped, and Marcus stroked her hair until eventually she calmed down, slowly getting his head out of my chest.
"I think we should give food to that tummy of yours, right?" Marcus said, not really waiting for an answer and going directly to find the chef, who answered pretty quickly. Before Victoria came, he didn't really work too much because the four of us were too busy to have a proper meal, but now it was different.
Marcus came soon after, telling us Carl would cook some pasta for us.
"Pasta?" Vicky fully woke up and her eyes sparkled with excitement. I laughed at her and now put her down.
"Yeah, princess. Your favorite"
Even only for a minute, I didn't think of work or the mafia, and I'm sure neither did Marcus.
...
Alistair Williams, 26 years old
Elizabeth James, 48 years old
Vincenzo Bianco, 52 years old
Edit: guys... I'm really sorry, I realized I had put the wrong picture for Williams. Sorry 💀