--Angelina POV--
It was finally over, after months of tiring drama, it was finally over.
I explained everything in extreme detail to my husband once the doctor had left the hotel room, and while it took some time to calm him down to prevent him from raging to Donovan to finish off the job, he had managed to settle down sooner rather than later.
And, now that I was in better condition, I had called Neveah; Leandro was ever so nice to have gotten me the number through some definitely illegal sources, and I talked to the said woman about the state of her husband.
Donovan would live since he appeared to have been lucky after losing so much blood, suffering from a black eye, busted lip, and broken as well as fractured, bones; Lucian really tried his best to get rid of him, that much was obvious.
But other than Donovan, Nevaeh and I made it clear that we still hated each other's guts and that wouldn't be changing anytime soon. Furthermore, we agreed that we would stay away from each other, and she assured me that Donovan would no longer have anything to do with me or my family ever again.
And I felt the need to trust her one last time.
So, I did.
"Oh? What's this?" Lucian grinned as I came to sit beside him at the dining table, handing him a small envelope as he gratefully took it.
"A love letter?" He jokingly guessed, inspecting the paper in his hand.
"Of sorts, open it and see," I gestured as he hummed, sending me a mischievous look before going to do as told, taking out the picture that sat inside, and staring at it for the longest moment, a look of confusion on his face.
"This is..."
"A being that is currently residing in my womb, he or she is expected to come out into the world in approximately 9 months," I explained as he looked at the picture of the scan where a small embryo could be seen.
And slowly, he turned to look at me with large, surprise-filled eyes, and I couldn't help but laugh at his facial expression, leaning in to peck his lips.
"You're pregnant?" He whispered.
"Yes," I nodded, laughing at him.
"You're not joking, right?" He unsurely asked.
"Do I look like I would take a joke so far?" I glared, offended.
"I mean..." He drifted off for the longest moment, and I silently watched him as he came to terms with the fact that he was going to be a father, and then a second later, he had picked me up in his arms, spinning us around before settling me back down gently, his hand placed on my womb.
"I'm going to be a dad," He gleamed as I laughed, nodding my head.
"A real dad," And he hugged me. "I'll be a good one, I promise," I didn't need to hear his promise to be aware of the fact.
"I know," I decided to say anyway as he moved in to hug me once again.
"But... We have so much to do," And he pulled away, going to his phone as he went to dial someone, confusing me.
"We do?" I raised a brow.
"Yes, we need to clear the room next to ours to make room for the baby's nursery, and we'll buy a spare cot to put in our room in case he or she doesn't want to be separated from us, the parents," He paused as he said parents, a look of awe falling over his face.
"I say we paint the nursery a neutral colour though, nothing sexist like blue for a boy or pink for a girl. And we have to figure out what we're going to do with work, I guess I better move to Italy with the company-"
"Hey, hey, wait a minute now. Slow down, you silly man," I cut him off.
"Move your company? What the hell is that about?" I asked, putting a hand to my waist as I asked, waiting for him to answer.
"Don't say Hell when there's a child in you, they learn things even before they're born. Babies are all just cool like that," And suddenly he was a fan of babies.
"Lucian..." I stretched his name out as if reprimanding him.
"I don't want to ask you to have to move your company to Germany for me, but I don't want to be away from you either so I decided it would be best for me to move-"
He was, without a doubt, too good to be true. How could a person be so adorable? Honestly, I was excited to see him as a father, I knew he'd be a good one no matter what.
"You really are a silly man," I cut him off with an amused laugh.
"I am?" He asked.
"Yes. Now, if you would just let me speak then you would understand that I never planned to settle down here in Rome after having confessed my love to you," I poked his cheek as he blinked, struggling to follow my words.
But I understood why he would think that I was being reluctant.
We weren't supposed to stay here in Rome for as long as we have since I got my company back, but I had underestimated the amount of damage that had been done to the said company, so bringing it all back on track has been deemed difficult.
But, while I've ended up staying here longer than planned, I never planned to stay here for the rest of my life. Eventually, I'd return to Germany, that's my home now.
"From the moment I first told you that I loved you back then in Berlin, I planned on moving my company to Berlin because that is my home now. Julia, my in-laws, and most importantly, you... You're all there, so why would I stay here?"
He gulped, eyes beginning to water either out of emotion or because he wasn't blinking, but either way, he released a loud sigh, coming to embrace me tightly as I hugged back, getting on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek.
"I want our child to be born in Germany, Lucian. I want them to grow up surrounded by family, I want them to become a person as great as you," I whispered into his shoulder as his hand stroked the back of my head.
"I love you," He murmured.
"I love you too," I laughed.
***---***---***
Days slowly drifted by until they became weeks, and weeks into months. As I worked to move my company headquarters to Germany, Lucian stood by me the entire time, in the moments that he wasn't busy baby-proofing the house, I mean.
The baby hadn't even been born yet, but he was already so overprotective of it, and I can only imagine how protective he'll be once the child is actually born.
"Hey, what are you doing standing up, you should be sat down," I jumped, feeling as though I got caught doing something bad as I turned to see Lucian walking into my office.
"I've been doing nothing but sitting since you found out I was pregnant, let me stretch my legs a bit," I sighed, glaring at him as he came to put a hand on my protruding stomach, leaning down to kiss it before standing up to peck my lips.
"Okay, but don't stress yourself out too much, you know I worry," Rolling my eyes, I went back to reading over the papers in my hand.
We were still in Rome, and I was finishing up in clearing out the company. All the workers had been relocated, some of them going to a different branch while others decided to move to Berlin with me, Alice, my secretary being one of them.
And now that this building was being emptied out, I sold it to someone. And that someone is expected to come and inspect this building today.
"The only one who's stressed out is you, darling," I chuckled.
"And can you blame me? I'm stressing for the both of us since you're not doing it for yourself," He complained, following behind me like a lost child as I walked around my office.
But we came to a halt as the sound of someone knocking on the door was heard, and not a moment later, Alice peeked her head in, a sheepish grin on her face when she saw me.
"What is it?" I curiously asked.
"I might have made a little mistake in the meeting time with the buyer,"
"And? What time did you give them?" I asked.
"Um... Half two?" I turned to look at the clock.
"It's half two right now, Alice," I said.
"Yes, I know... That's why they're here right now, waiting in the lobby for you," A deadpanned look settled down on my face as she spoke.
"You're kidding me," But I couldn't blame her. She's been stressed about the whole move of the company that she's been working tirelessly for hours on end; She's not made this kind of rookie mistake in years, it was honestly quite refreshing to see.
"No... I'm sorry," She sighed, disappointed.
"Can I ask who the buyer is?" Lucian cut in as he made his presence known while I went to sit down on the couch, taking a deep intake of breath.
"Oh, right, it's Mr Marcos Romano. The Owner of Romano Corporation, the number one highest earning company in the world, easily making him the richest, and most influential man on planet Earth-"
"You could have just stopped at Marcos Romano, Alice," Lucian cut her off with a bit of a weirded-out look as I gulped back my amused laughter.
"Sorry, I'm just a big fan of him. The Romano's only rose to fame in the early 1900s so their company's not as old as you Vandenburg's, but I guess they're just really smart because they manage to make double the amount of money as you guys, and-"
"We get it, Alice. You're a big fan," Lucian cut her off once more, amused.
"Yeah, I am," She giggled as he rolled his eyes.
"And if you're such a big fan of the Romano's then you should know that I'm good friends with the chairman of that company,"
"Oh my god, you are!?" I jumped at her sudden squeal.
"You are?" I asked in my own calmer tone of voice as my husband nodded.
"In the world of business where most people are old men, I found myself having a good relationship with him since he's closer to my age than the rest." He spoke before turning to look at Alice. "What are you waiting for? You can't just leave him waiting, go get him," Lucian shooed her away as she jolted back to reality, nodding her head before scurrying off.
"Hey, but I thought both of us were loners," I said.
"Well, I meant that in a way of making friends out of business. These people that I get along with are all friends I met through business meetings and such, I didn't think it counted," I hummed as he came to sit down beside me.
And another knock was heard on the door as I went to stand up, and Alice opened the door, walking in as another man stepped in behind her, a smaller child strolling in with him.
"Hello, Mr Romano. I apologise for the little mix up with the times," He chuckled, going to shake my outstretched hand.
Marcos Romano was, without a doubt, a beautiful human being, someone that was looked up to by many people. With black hair, and steel grey eyes, he stood at a tall height, wearing a fitted black suit that highlighted the muscles he hid under. With a caramel skin tone similar to mine, stubble lined his face while a small smile rested on his face, he had a warm, approachable personality.
"Don't worry about it," He moved to greet Lucian with a laugh as I turned to look at Alice who was giving me an encouraging thumbs up.
"Long time no see, how have you been?" My husband asked.
"Great. I brought my son along today, thought it would be good to let him experience business life since he's already trying to take over the company," He gestured to the young child that stood beside him, barely reaching his father's knees.
"Right, this must be Giovanni. Last time I saw you, you could barely stand up," Lucian chuckled, shaking the child's hand as I went to stand beside Lucian, and Alice went to get us all a cup of piping hot tea.
"That's because I was only six months old at the time, that's around the age when babies learn to walk. Don't you know that?" Lucian was taken aback for a moment as I laughed, sitting down on the couch as they all followed to do the same.
"He's... quite the child," He awkwardly laughed.
"Well, yes. Gio is an odd child, he's smart and he knows it, nothing like his parents," Marcos chuckled along as he patted his child's head. Even though he was a quite child that was a know-it-all, he was undeniably adorable, looking like an exact, younger version of his father, maybe that's what made him cuter.
"Anyways, last time you came here, Alice was the one that guided you around the building along with the agent, what did you think?" I asked, getting to the topic at hand.
"It's perfect. Of course, I plan on renovating around it a little bit so that it'll go with my company's standards, but it's well maintained, located in a helpful place, and isn't hard to miss at all... How long do you need?" He asked.
"Just the end of the month, and then it's all yours," He hummed, nodding his head along.
"Can I ask why you decided to move your company?" He seemed hesitant to ask.
"Nothing complicated, my family is in Germany, and I want to be with them. And, I want my child to be born and raised in Germany, it'll be easier for everyone if I moved there,"
"Right, that makes sense. Nothing has you thinking more than when you're about to become a parent. I remember when my Dahlia announced that she was pregnant with Gio here, I had cried quite a lot that day, and stressed all throughout her pregnancy, I'm surprised that I still have a head full of hair," He laughed at the memory.
"I see why you're such good friends with my husband then, Lucian is just like that. The man won't even let me stand up for a few minutes without making me feel like I committed a crime,"
"Darling, you don't need to go telling everyone that," The said man whispered, embarrassed.
"Enjoy it while it lasts, things get hectic once the child is born, and before you know it, enough time has passed by, and they're trying to get you to retire before you even hit 40 so they can hurry up and become the chairman," The last part of that was directed to his said child that sat beside him, sipping on his cup of tea.
"Why is a 5-year-old drinking tea with the etiquette and poise of a grown man?" Lucian curiously asked with a raised brow.
"Because this child doesn't consider himself a child. I don't know how he turned out like this, honestly, we never even put him in any etiquette classes. He watches documentaries instead of kids cartoons, we take him to the park and he's doing maths equations in the sand pit. He's either a psychopath, or a genius. It's one or the other,"
"What are you going to name your baby?" Giovanni curiously asked while glaring at his father from the corner of his eyes.
"Well, we're still thinking, do you have any suggestions?" I smiled.
"If it's a boy, then maybe Isaac since Isaac Newton was a really cool man that discovered the existence of gravity. But if it's a girl, then... will she be pretty?" He paused to ask a question as I nodded my head, holding back my laughter as I spoke.
"Well, do you want a German name or Italian? Since she'll be mixed race. And if you give her the same surname as both of you, then I would suggest that you give her an Italian name so she can have a bit of both," I have to say, even though he was a child, he made a valid point.
"We'll go with Italian then," I said.
"Then... Personally, I like the names..." He drifted off, a finger to his chin as he thought about it in depth.
"...Aurora, it means dawn in Italian, and Aurora was also the name of the Roman goddess of the morning. I also like the name Celestina which means something like heavenly, and Valentina, which means healthy amongst other things, and-"
"How, and why do you know all this?" His father cut him off.
"I did my research on names for when you and mother give me a little sister," He replied as if it were obvious.
"You're expecting?" Lucian beat me in asking.
"Not that I know of," Marcos sighed. "Gio here just wants a little sister," He chuckled, amused. "But Dahlia's got certain health issues, so it won't be easy to just give him a sibling," He rolled his eyes, ruffling his son's hair.
"Other than that, I wish you both the best of luck in parenting. It's difficult, but definitely a rewarding job. Let's just hope that your child is a child and not a young adult in a child's body like this one over here," He gestured to his son.
"I'm sure that whatever kind of child my child becomes, I will love them all the same," Alice re-entered the room with a pile of papers in her hands that needed signing, and as she placed them on the coffee table, Lucian spoke up.
"Um... Alice, could you give young Gio here a tour of the building," He asked.
"But I want to-"
"Since he'll own all this one day," Lucian quickly added before the child could disagree, and we watched as his ears perked up as he jumped up to go stand in front of Alice, expectantly waiting for her to guide him out of the room.
And once they were gone, and safely out of earshot Lucian turned to look at a waiting Marcos who could tell that something was up.
"I have a small favour to ask of you," He started.
"I thought you would," Marcos chuckled, going to dip a biscuit in his tea.
"You did? How?" My husband asked, surprised.
"There's a fight between two wealthy and influential families; the Moretti's, and the Vandenburg's. Of course I'd make sure to keep up with the drama, I need to know what future enemies I'm protecting my family from,"
"And? Did you find out what you're protecting them from?" He curiously asked as Marcos nodded along, sipping his tea.
"The Moretti's, of course. I heard what happened from one of my informants, and I see you've both been through a lot. But I heard it's all settled down now, the Moretti's are living quietly with their heads turned down, and you've not heard from them in months,"
"That's true..."
"But... I'm guessing there's something more?" He prodded.
"Yeah, I don't trust them at all,"
"Understandable," Marcos shrugged as he went to pour himself another cup of tea, I swear, this was his fifth cup.
"Donovan and Nevaeh, while what they promised has held out till now, there's still an uncertain feeling on my shoulders, maybe it's because I'm about to be a father so I'm being overly-cautious, or maybe not. But either way, I need someone to keep an eye on them,"
"And that's where I come in," He correctly guessed.
"Yes,"
"Of course. The Moretti's aren't exactly on friendly terms with me either, but this favour doesn't require a lot of work. I already have someone keeping a constant eye on them, so I'll keep it like that and report anything suspicious to you, but I do have one, singular question?"
"Which is?" Lucian curiously asked.
"Why don't you just punish them? I know for a fact that if anyone, be it Royalty or just a little thief, would dare to kidnap my wife, they won't live to tell the tale, so why are you letting them go scat free? I would have expected to see the Moretti estate burned down by now," Marcos chuckled at his words as he spoke.
"It's a double-edged sword that I don't think I'm willing to use. At least, not yet." He simply answered as the man hummed his response.
"I understand. You're not willing to risk the safety of your family to take down some enemies, I get it. But, you never know what the future holds,"
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Lucian chuckled. "Then, I guess I owe you now," He added on, and I released a relieved sigh as I slouched back on the couch, my hand going to rub my pregnant stomach.
"Yeah, maybe in return we could set our children up together in the distant future, that would bring the Romano's and Vandenburg's closer, right?" Lucian coughed, choking as I burst into laughter. The child hadn't even been born yet and we were already getting a marriage proposal.
"My child will not be a business transaction, so I can't agree to that, maybe something else. And besides, I don't think the child will be a girl,"
"Oh, really?" I raised an amused brow. I knew the gender of our baby, but Lucian refused to find out, he wanted to wait until the baby was born.
"Yes, you keep unknowingly giving me hints that it'll be a boy," He jokingly glared.
"I do?" I pointed to myself, not having noticed that I did that, damn.
"Yes, you do,"
...