Lettie was once again in Storm's arms. In the three days she had been with storm, she had grown attached to him.
In her kid mind, she saw him as her ultimate savior, and her safe place, just like her family but this was a little bit different. She had also developed a kiddie crush on him just like she had once on the young doctor but she didn't like him anymore.
(A/n angelo: funny story huh-
Angel: shhh
Angelo: angel over here had a huge crush on our oldest brother's best friend when she was eight. He was like 22 back then.
Angel: he's 33 now and still hot. Problem?
Angelo: i wonder what zaylen has to say about this.
Angel: honey we talk boys for hours and last night's topic of discussion in our late night talks was how hot Sean O'pry is so I dont really think he will mind-you can definitely try tho- he just gets mad at my fictional crushes bc, you don't wanna hear this hehe. And you're the one to talk! You literally had a crush on Zaylen's dad!
Angelo: I can never win against you can i?
Angel:do you really want an answer to that?
Angelo: nope. Let's just move on)
Her eyelids fluttered open, revealing her beautiful eyes to everyone.
"Hi baby." Storm quietly cooed to her when she snuggled more into him.
Lucius and Domenico glared heatedly at his hands, just wanting to burn them off. The possessive beasts inside them didn't like their sister in anyone's arms unless it was their family.
They didn't trust storm yet. It was only fair. He was still a stranger to them and he had their baby sister wrapped around his little finger.
"Hi" Lettie smiled with a cute blush on her face. Storm just gave her an amused look while her brothers, father and uncles stared at her in disbelief.
She was so sassy with them and here she was, acting all shy in front of this guy.
Soon, they pulled up in front of the mansion. The whole ride, Lettie literally only rambled about her whole family to Storm, not giving anyone else any attention causing them to sulk the whole way.
Even when they got out of the car, Lettie demanded to be held by Storm, making Lucius and Domenico huff and stomp away.
Aries, Lucian and Hades only sulked and led the way with slumped shoulders.
Storm felt bad for them but he selfishly didn't want to let go of Lettie, his only comfort system after a long year of grief, so he didn't make a move to hand her over back to them. He knew he would have to, though.
As soon as they stepped inside, Lettie was pulled out of his arms. He was about to turn and punch the person when he saw a woman holding her tight in her as and sobbing her heart out.
'Must be her mom' he thought.
"Oh my baby, my love" Athene cried into her daughter's neck, holding her tight to herself, afraid she would vanish again if she loosened her grip.
"Mommy!" Lettie squealed and hugged her back, snuggling into her and breathing into her mommy's familiar scent that brought her comfort.
"My baby's okay" She rocked her back and forth crying tears of relief.
Being the youngest and the smallest of her little circus of kids, Lettie was the one Athene worried about the most. So, when Lettie was kidnapped, Athene went hysterical and killed twenty people kept in the torture chambers. After rage came sadness and longing. Her little girl had never spent even a day without her or Aries or heck her whole family.
'Had she eaten?' 'Was she hurt? 'Were they hurting her there?' 'What if ' happened to her?' 'What if she gets ill?' 'She must be so scared'
These were Athene's thoughts. She couldn't sleep, she couldn't eat, she couldn't even function without worrying.
Now her baby was back into her arms safe and sound and she had never felt so much relief in her whole life.
"Mommy" Lettie cooed tiredly, wrapping her arms around her mom's neck as a cute yawn escaped her mouth.
"My turn." Julian spoke as he took her from Athene, hugging his baby sister tightly.
"Hi monkey!" He held his tears back.
"Juli!" She kissed his cheek.
Julian practically melted in relief.
"You okay, love? They didn't hurt you did they?" He asked her gently, kissing her head.
"No no, juli! Stowmie beat up all the meanies who tried to hwurt lettie! And you know, he's a vewy pwetty boy!" She giggled.
Everyone furrowed their brows. Who was this Stormie she spoke so highly of? And why, for the love of God, did Lettie call him pretty?
"And who's Stormie, sunshine?" Atlas piped in. He so caught up in his baby sister,that he didn't notice Storm literally standing there. It wasn't only him who was oblivious. Everyone else was too.
"He's right here." Aries grumbled, still upset at being ignored by his only daughter. He was so used to all her attention always being on him so now he could feel what athene felt. Being ignored by your own kid for someone else sucked and it seemed his princess was smitten by Mr. hurricane over there.
"Oh I'm sowwy! That's Stowmie, but onlwy I can cawl him that! His name is Stowm Xavi? Oh no Xaview Gawcia!" She clapped her hands when she finally got it right.
"Wait. Garcia as in Nixon Garcia! Oh hell no!" Within a second, everyone had their guns out and Julian gently pushed Lettie's head into his neck.
Thinking it was a bear hug, Lettie gladly snuggled in.
Storm just sighed.
"No, Storm Garcia as in Alejandro Garcia's son, Julian." He explained.
There were guns pointing to him and he wasn't even fazed. He was nonchalant, if anything.
"Nixon is my uncle who killed my family, remember?" He raised a brow
"I knew you were alive!" Atlas cheered as Julian handed him a hundred grumbling.
"You seriously made bets on me being alive or not!" He exclaimed.
"Well, before your uncle betrayed your dad, he had come to us with a few papers and some instructions. He had a feeling this would happen. So technically, everything Nixon is- or well, was ruling over, is rightfully yours." Aries explained.
"I didnt catch your full name at first so I didn't really know you were Alejandro's son." Aries shrugged while lucian only nodded.
"You're Ale's son!" Athene exclaimed.
"Ale?" Storm frowned.
"We used to be best friends until our late twenties. Then your um, mom came along and we just drifted away, I guess." Athene shrugged.
"You mean to say my mother ripped your friendship apart don't you?" Storm asked once they were settled in the living room , just waiting for the grandparents to arrive.
"She means just that but she doesn't want to hurt your feelings." Hades rolled his eyes.
"Eh, I knew how pathetic she was so there's no point. She was a good mom though." Storm snorted.
She wasn't a good mom. Not by a long shot. Yet, Storm still loved her.
"And that brings us to how you met Lettie." Lucian spoke up.
"She was thrown into the cell I was kept in." He simply answered.
"Before you ask, I know I could've easily gotten out if I wanted to, but I didn't really have much to live for until I met miss shy and sassy over there. She was the first person to show me love and warmth after grieving for a whole year. I became attached and decided I had to get out. My initial plan was to get her and start a new life with her, where she would be safe, until she told me she had a family and of course, about the bracelet. I made an escape plan. We would get out, I would bring her to you and I would leave, but I'm too selfish. She's the first person to show me love and I'll be damned if I let that little girl leave me." He finished.
He didnt care if he told them his whole life story. He wasn't ashamed of it. He had gotten over it. He knew it wasn't anyone's fault but Nixon's, who was now resting in ashes. He had made peace with his family's death.
"Okay. Something tells me I should trust you. I always trust my instincts, but if you ever try to hurt my baby niece, just know I am named after the devil himself for a reason." Hades warned.
Storm nodded.
He really had work cut out for him didn't he?
"Wait wait wait. It doesn't matter if you agree with this. I don't. This guy basically stole my kid! She doesn't even pay attention to me anymore!" Aries protested.
"What are you, two years old?" Athene laughed.
"No I don't care. Look, you have a whole mafia to take care of, you do that. We have it covered with my kid." Aries smiled tightly at him as he grabbed Lettie from a sulky julian.
"Can stowmie stay, daddy?" Lettie spoke in an adorable sleepy voice as she snuggled more into her father's chest.
How could Aries ever say no to that adorable little girl? He had no balls to do that.
"Fine." He huffed. Storm sighed.
"I can't stay here, Mr. Romano. All I ask is to let me see her when ever I want to. She's like the baby sister I never had." He explained.
"Where will you stay then, storm?" Athene asked worriedly.
"I have a penthouse here, don't worry." He assured.
After a lot of discussion, Athene and even Aries, finally agreed to let him stay alone as long as he hired help for the house. They didn't want him completely alone.
This man had saved their daughter. Of course they would care about him, and even though Aries didn't show it, he was very grateful.
Storm bid Lettie goodbye as he was leaving to get his penthouse cleaned but she started crying and refused to let him go.
"No! Lettie go wif you!" She wailed.
"Hey hey hey, listen baby, I'll come see you everyday okay? How about I come see you tonight and bring a present for you, hm? That way, you get a present and see me too. How does that sound?" He asked her in a super soft voice.
"You pwomise to see Lettie?" She sniffled as she raised her pinky.
"I promise." He said, intertwining his huge pinky with her extra small one.
"Otay." She sadly frowned as she went back to her dad.
Storm felt bad for her but he couldn't impose on a family like that.
The grandparents arrived as soon as he left so Lettie cheered up a little, but she still missed storm.
"Gramma!" She cooed, jumping into her grandma's arms.
"Oh my darling, thank goodness you're okay." Delilah sighed in relief.
"Look, gramma, grampa and papa brought gifts for you, my love" She gave the little girl a smile as she put her down.
The maids entered with boxes stacked in their arms. Lettie didn't even care about that. She ran and jumped straight into her grampa's arms since she saw him first.
It was very clear she adored her grandparents more than anything.
"Grampa! Grampa! Grampa!" She rushed.
"Oh come here, princess!" Arturo chuckled as his only granddaughter ran smack into his arms.
"You're not hurt anywhere are you, princess?" He asked her and sighed in relief when she shook her head no.
"That's good."
Once she was in Salvatore's arms, Arturo asked the question everyone was dying to know the answer of.
"Is he dead?" He asked icily, looking at his granddaughter playing with her favorite bunny in her papa's arms.
"Yes. His mansion was blown up to pieces. Our men found him still alive, half burned. He spoke some shit about princess so one of our men got mad and emptied a whole clip in his head. He is now dead, his lower burned and his ashes were scattered into a ditch, his head is being brought to the warehouse as we speak, for evidence of him really being dead." Hades informed.
"Good." Salvatore smirked.
They didn't risk it by bringing him here. As much as they wanted revenge and to torture him, they knew Nixon was a clever guy. He could escape anytime and if they kept him here, he could be a danger to the family so they decided it was better if they just killed him.
"And who is this Stormie, princess speaks so much of?" Salvatore asked curiously. Even Arturo and Delilah looked intrigued.
"Storm Xavier Garcia. Alejandro's son." Athene piped in.
"Ale's son?" Delilah raised her brows in surprise.
"He had a son?" Arturo frowned.
"Turns out he did. He approached us with his will before he died. I was thoroughly surprised to see him after twenty two years of no personal contact. Heck he even avoided me at mafia balls and Charity Galas." Athene exclaimed.
"I had a feeling he knew he was going to die and I was right. Why else would he come make amends with Athene if his wife was still alive." Aries scoffed.
It was a dick move on Alejandro's part for breaking a harmless childhood friendship just because his girlfriend was jealous. Even more with his wife because heck Athene was already in a relationship with Aries when both women met. Athene had even assured her countless of times she saw Alejandro as a brother and nothing else, but she never believed her and just like that, Athene and Alejandro's lifelong friendship was in shambles.
Athene still tried time and again to reconcile but you can't help someone that doesn't want to be helped.
__________________
Here's a little backstory on how Athene knew Storm's father.
No he's not going to be Lettie's bodyguard because he has his own empire to look after.
No he's not Lucius or Domenico's love interest. They're aromantic come on people!
He's not a long lost sibling either.
He will still show up in the story to see Lettie from time to time.
Yes Nixon is really dead. They made sure he was.
No one will be coming back from his family for revenge.
ANY MORE QUESTIONS?
anyways, did y'all like this chapter?
Originally, Alejandro was supposed to be Athene's first cousin as in her aunt's son but eh we changed our minds because athene doesn't have an aunt
Love you <3
Angel and Angel's bitch who really likes my hair and keeps touching it but doesn't want to admit it~
Angelo: that's so not true.
Angel: sure brother sure.
Angelo: whatever. I need my beauty sleep so bye
Angel: mhm.