I sat in the formal living room with Celeste's head placed on my lap. She slept peacefully as I caressed her head and stared at her beautiful face. She had gone through so much these past few days that it actually hurt me inside that I wasn't there to help her.
She went through all of the abuse from him and had to endure it all alone.
It's been a few days since we got back from Sicily and throughout the days we stayed inside. She wanted to rest and I stayed since I wasn't going to let her out of my sight. She was fine with it and apart from her parents and siblings, no one was able to see her.
Even though I was around, she barely spoke. Most of the time she slept or lay on the balcony chair. I kept my distance from her though it was difficult, but Cel came up to me once in a while, bringing me out of my work slump to cuddle.
At least all of the torture was over. Everything was taken care of.
Except for Beatrice. Her father was Vlad. The man that Celeste so brutally murdered. And yet Beatrice would probably never feel bad about it.
She knows what a terrible person he was, I made sure of it. But I don't see how the conversation would go. Gabriele took it upon himself to chat to her on that matter.
My father. My damn father was always around but never cared to take me away from the Satan I lived with. But I didn't hold a grudge against him. Apparently, he wasn't even aware he had two kids from another woman. Well, he knew I was his kid.
That must have been quite weird during the ball at the Louvre while we exchanged s few words.
A light knock disturbed my thoughts, making me glance at the arc of the entrance. I smiled lightly at my father who walked into the room and sat down across from us.
"I hope I'm not disturbing you," I smiled, shaking my head.
"But I do wish that we keep it as quiet as possible," I glanced down at my love, still resting peacefully.
"So that's the girl your mother kept telling me about?" I looked up at him, meeting his eyes. Gabriele was one of the more intimidating men of the Cosa Nostra. Not only did he have enough power, but he looked the part with his lean muscles, a sharp jawline and short, dark hair which was curly towards the ends. That made sense where I got my hair at least. Apart from the colour which was blond all thanks to my mother. His facial expression also was one to fear. He rarely smiled or showed any emotion during meetings or around people that weren't his family.
But around his blood and friends, he was the golden retriever that he was deep down. That alone made me respect him even more.
"You kept in touch with her?" He crossed his arms over his chest. This was one of the times I could see him without his usual formal attire. He wore a light beige sweatshirt with black pants and black sneakers. He definitely seemed fitting for the role of my father.
"Not quite. Well maybe we did talk once in a while but we never met up to simply talk." I nodded, caressing Ce's head. "We never ended on bad terms, Liam. It was all about the circumstances. I wasn't allowed to marry a woman that wasn't of Italian descent and she wasn't able to leave Francesco if I couldn't take her in with one hundred per cent certainty that we would last," he explained. "I loved her. I really did and when she told me that she was pregnant all those years ago, I tried to act calm. We both agreed that there would be nothing wrong with giving you a chance if no one other than us knew the truth. I sent her money, although she clearly didn't need it. She, in exchange, sent me photos and videos as well as made sure you'd learn to speak Italian for when the truth came out.
"Once I moved on and had to marry my wife, I let her know of your existence. So she was the third person that knew about my involvement in your life." He smiled as he looked down at his lap. "I was always there, Liam. And don't think that just because you didn't know about me, that I don't know anything about you," I smiled as his eyes met mine once again. "But I didn't know anything about the way he treated you, son." That one word made my heart skip a damn beat. It was the first time I actually felt as though the one calling me their son actually meant it and didn't feel even slightly ashamed to admit it.
"If I had known, you would've been out of that place in a heartbeat," I nodded, understanding why he couldn't step in.
"What about Audrey?" I asked. Audrey was the spitting image of my mother. And although I've always tried to find any aspects that she had shared with Francesco, since then I believed he was our father, I couldn't. And always wrote it away by thinking it was just the fact that she failed to adapt even a bit of him to her.
"She is my daughter. There's no doubt about that. I don't think you want to know how it happened," I smiled, looking away for a second. "But she's one hundred and ten per cent, my daughter."
"So do I change my last name?"
"Your name legally has always been Liam De Niro but to keep the secret, the falsified documents show Martinelli. If you decide that you want to keep the name you were given at birth, then I'm more than happy to take care of it. However, if you think you want to keep the name you've had for years, then I won't blame you," I took a deep breath.
"So in my official birth certificate-"
"It says Liam De Niro," he finished. I hadn't thought of this at all.
Changing the name I've had my entire life, would be a change I wasn't sure I was willing to make. Francesco gave off his duties to me and it was only fair I didn't let my first family down. But now, I was the heir to a family in the Cosa Nostra. And for some reason, I wanted to change my name to honour my actual father that cared for me. I couldn't blame him for not knowing what I had to endure with Francesco and knowing he was always there, helped my mother as much as he could and was willing to save her from Francesco's wrath was enough for me to make a decision.
"It's your choice, Liam," I looked down at the girl laying right beside me and wanted to ask her for her opinion. But I didn't dare to wake her up.
"Don't you want to give Enzo the throne?" I looked at him before he shook his head.
"As much as he is my kid almost as much as you are to me, I'll be old school. I've always known that you would take over. You're my firstborn and Giana wouldn't allow me to put him in that much danger."
"Giana is your wife, right?" He nodded.
"She knows about the both of you. And she's trustworthy, trust me. She's excited to finally meet you on different terms," I smiled, nodding.
"And Audrey. Have you spoken to her?" He nodded before clearing his throat.
"She was confused. Like a lot. But she liked me. As far as she told me," I smiled, a light chuckle coming out of me. "And just like with you, Alessia kept me updated. At least after her tenth birthday," my eyes slightly widened. "I found out once I was visiting Francesco. Most of the time, it was just for the sole purpose of seeing you but once Francesco introduced me to his daughter, I knew she was mine. It didn't take much to piece together since math did the work. And she looked like me when she was younger. Now, I'm glad she takes after her mother. She was beautiful," I smiled at the memory of her.
"You said something about a letter?" He nodded.
"Alessia sent me a letter before she left the Rossi estate. She explained everything. All the way from how Francesco abused you to the way he raised a hand on her. I don't think I've ever been angrier after reading something." His eyes looked to the side, away from me. "He abused my son and the woman I love to this day. I followed your path and hoped I'd be able to save both of you. I was too late to save her."
"Since... am..." this was harder to say than I had imagined it would be. "Since your my dad," he smiled, looking at me, "I need your help with my other sister."
"Beatrice?" I nodded. "Alex told me who her father is."
"Before they put anyone in charge, we need to take up the spot temporarily. I'm not sure I want her to become the boss but it's our chance to restore some sort of piece," he nodded.
"She has the fire in her. She'll do well. Besides, if they try anything, The Mob and the Cosa Nostra would be behind her. You know that." I was about to answer but Celeste's head started to move.
"Hey," she lifted her eyes up to me before turning her head towards my father.
"What..." Oh, yeah. She had no idea that Gabriele was my father. I didn't want to tell her too much while she was still healing.
"My love, I'm sure you know this is Gabriele," she nodded. "But I haven't told you that he's actually my father," her head turned toward me while her brows pinched together. I smiled as I tugged a strand of hair behind her ear.
"What?" I placed a kiss on her forehead before pulling her to my chest.
"I'll fill you in," Gabriele said before he started explaining what has happened in these past three days.
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"Where are you taking me?" She asked me impatiently as I drove away from the estate. I smiled, making a turn to the right as the estate gates closed behind us.
"You'll see," I said, grabbing her hand and holding it in mine.
"I hate this. As much as I trust you, I want to know where the hell we're going," I smiled, bringing her hand to my lips. As I drove onto the highway, I sped up, letting the wind touch our sides. It was already evening but the sun hadn't completely set.
"The house is way too crowded," I said, keeping her hand close to my lips.
"Oh, you mean the fact that almost every member of your and my family are there conversing on every damn corner?" I chuckled, seeing she was just as annoyed.
Ever since what had happened in Palermo a little longer than a month ago, everyone started to mysteriously get along with one another. I officially changed my last name with my sister Audrey, Gabriele made me his underboss for the next few years so we could bond before he gave over his businesses to me.
Dante took it upon himself to put Mario Ricci in charge of the Bratva until I was certain that Beatrice could take over or give her suggestions of what to do.
I let Egon take over the Martinelli businesses since it felt slightly wrong to keep them but I knew it was all in good hands. Leo would make sure his son did well.
All four families ended their ties with the Browns after Lorenzo found out that they had helped Vlad to locate some shipments the Russians weren't supposed to know about. Since they were now out of the picture, Guinevere was too, making my life a million times easier.
And most importantly, everyone in the world found out that Celeste Rossi was alive and was, in fact, the mastermind behind the murders of the Usoro family. Luca was found dead but no one apart from a few of us knew what had actually happened to him. The world just thought the man hung himself after the reality that he had raped a girl for years started to kill him from the inside.
I passed many cars as I moved out to the side and took a turn at the closest exit. "Where the hell are we going, Liam?"
"Somewhere," I said as we entered the business district, letting the lights of skyscrapers illuminate the visible sky. "Don't worry, baby. You'll like it."
"Considering the fact that you asked me to pack a bag which could last me a few days at least means your taking me away for a few days," I glanced at her with a smile.
"Smart girl," I placed a kiss on her hand as I made my way to the airport. She gasped once she noticed the path.
"You're not."
"You won't know until we're there." She rolled her eyes before resting her head on my shoulder. "I love you."
"Ti amo," she said as she brought our interlocked hands to her lips and placed a kiss on the back of my hand. I smiled before placing a kiss on her head.
She had no idea where I was going to take her. But after everything that happened there, I wanted to make it up to her.
We might have met again in Paris but I didn't get to enjoy my love in the city of love the last time we were there.
And now, with no distractions, I was going to take my time with her.
I was going to make her happy.
"I love you," I said again before making a turn to the airport.
Finally, our life was at some kind of piece and everything seemed to have written itself out pretty well.
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