The door opens and I hear Marco talking to James as if he's ready to shoot him any moment now.
It's as if I came in here just in time.
'You know you will regret this!' James shouts as he glares at Marco.
I look at my friend and notice the need in his eyes. I told him he couldn't finish this before I got here. And now that I'm here, I can see his patience has run very thin.
'What did he have to offer?' I ask as I look at Marco. 'Nothing.'
Marco slams his fist into James's face and I can tell that James is about to take his last breath soon.
'You don't want to speak, huh?' I ask as I stare at his bruised face. He looks up at me, blood dripping from his mouth or nose.
I can't even tell and I honestly couldn't care less.
'I'm giving you two seconds to tell me what you know about any movement, before I allow my friend to finish the job.'
'I'll die either way.' James mumbles and I grin to myself.
Of course, James knows how this shit goes. He does it himself all the time.
'How about we make a deal?' I can see something flash through his eyes before it disappears, 'You tell me what you know, and I spare your precious partner. Doesn't that sound amazing?'
James locks eyes with me and tries to see if I'm bluffing or not. He doesn't know how much information we have about him.
'Wouldn't want precious Valerie to get caught up in this mess, would we?' Even in his beat-up state, he tries to launch himself at me.
But due to the chair, he fails miserably and drops back down with a groan of pain coming from him.
'Tell us what you know.' Marco says, lifting James's face with the end of some pipe.
He takes a deep breath and struggles to keep his head up. If it wasn't for the pipe Marco's holding underneath his chin, he would've looked away already.
'He-,' He groans when Marco pulls the pipe away, making his head fall onto his chest, 'He said he would do everything to prevent his little bird from marrying Marco Barsetti.'
His little bird? Marco visibly shivers as he realizes who he's referring to and I can't help but chuckle lightly.
'What does he want with her?' Marco shoves James's head back and glares down at him. I can tell how much he wants to kill James even more now, but stay silent.
We need answers, then he'll be able to kill him.
'She knows too much.' James mutters as a tear escapes his eye. I frown slightly at his statement and watch as Marco does the same.
He looks up at me and shakes his head, trying to convince me James is lying. But James doesn't have anything to lose at this point.
According to Marco, Norman has no clue what went down with the Steels. She just lived there, hiding from the world.
I know she's hiding something and she hasn't said anything to any of us yet, but I feel like we should keep our eyes on her even more now that James is telling me she knows something.
Because that's why Martin has been trying to get closer to us. He wants Norman...
'But-' James starts coughing and I can see the blood drip down his mouth, 'He also wants someone else.' Someone else?
James uses all his strength to look at me and starts grinning like a maniac, blood dripping from his nose and mouth, down his neck.
'Your wi-' I shoot a bullet right between his eyes before he can even finish his sentence. His body slumps down and I notice Marco glaring at me.
'I thought you said I could kill him.' Even though he's dead, even though James can't go back to run to his boss and tell him we know who he's after, I still feel the anger somewhere inside of me.
'Go cry about it Barsetti. He's dead now.' I say as I head out the door and walk up the stairs.
Marco stays behind to clean up the mess as I reach for my phone. It's getting late and I promised I would be home early today. Shit.
I get in the car parked outside and drive off, straight to the mansion I left earlier today, contemplating on how to make my next move.
Martin wants Norman... But he also wants- I feel my grip on the wheel tighten and take a deep breath in hopes it will make my knuckles turn back to their normal color. He won't have her.
But Norman knows something...
I park the car next to the others and realize that Leonardo is home already as well.
As soon as I open the door, I hear footsteps running towards me. Victoria jumps into my arms and smiles when I lift her up. 'You're finally back!'
'I am.' I say as I look around to see who else is down here, 'Where are the others?'
'Mom is sitting on the patio with Aunty Cel, and Aunty Leya is taking the twins to bed. We had so much fun today!' She's already taking them to bed? 'We went to the city and we got some new clothes! Oh and I had the best sandwich ever today! It was so good. It had all these toppings and it was just the best!'
I look at her, smiling at her excitement, and hear someone clear their throat ahead of us.
We both turn to the person and see North and Celine standing there. 'Didn't we tell you to go to bed, young lady?'
I lower Victoria to the floor and watch as she quickly runs up the stairs to her room, followed by North.
'Welcome back.' Celine chimes as her eyes go over me, silently checking to see if I'm injured or not.
'How is she?' I ask instead of running up the stairs to see for myself. 'Exhausted.'
Guilt washes over me and I feel like shit for leaving them for this long again.
'Maybe you can give Marco more work so you can take some time off to help Ley?'
I look at her and frown, 'Marco's thinking with his dick and I can't have him ruining our plans.'
Celine takes a deep breath and turns serious once again. We rarely talk to each other because we're both busy, but I can tell she has been wanting to do this for a while now.
'She needs you.' She says, making me feel even guiltier than before, 'She won't ask for help but she needs you. Celestina was a bit fussy today.' Fussy?
'Is she okay?' Celine smiles and fights the urge to roll her eyes, 'She's fine. She just doesn't like to be held by anyone but her parents for longer than thirty minutes- but that's not the point. You need to stick around more and help her out. So postpone Marco's wedding and let him go and run your errands for a while, I'm sure he won't mind.'
Marco's wedding to Norman... After hearing what James's said about her, I want to cancel the entire thing. But it's too late.
Word got out already. The world knows we took her in because Marco wanted to make sure no one tried to mess with us and decided it would be a good way to let the world know that she's with us now.
'I'll stick around more.' I say as I look up the stairs when I hear footsteps. North looks down at us and smiles, making me want to throw something at her face. 'Good luck with that.'
She stumbles away, towards her bedroom, and I look back at Celine, 'I'm glad your back, but I'm heading to bed. Goodnight.'
'Goodnight.' I mutter as I take a deep breath and watch her head out the door. I walk up the stairs and gently open the bedroom door.
'Valentina?' I peek inside and notice my wife standing near the window with one of our babies in her arms.
'You're back already? I thought you were going to be gone until Monday?' I shake my head and move over to her, desperately wanting to hold her in my arms.
I hate to admit it, but James's words startled me today. If something happens to this woman, my woman, and my family I'll lose it.
'I hope you don't mind, I used your card for some clothes today.' She whispers as she turns to me a little.
I did get a notification, but I didn't bother to check, 'More clothes for the twins?'
She nods and starts smiling proudly, 'I'll show you tomorrow morning.'
I nod and lean against the wall, watching her as she stumbles through the room with one of the babies in her arms. I could watch her like this all day.
'Can you please give Celestina a bath?' Valentina asks as she walks around with Adriano in her arms. What?
She turns to me and frowns when she sees the confusion on my face, 'Our daughter needs a bath and I'm asking you to do it.'
'You- you want me to give her a bath?' She nods and enters the nursery, and I quickly walk after her, 'Are you sure? I mean, I don't think-'
Her eyes lock with mine and a shiver runs down my spine, 'Rio, I'm really tired and I thought we would do this together?'
'Yes. We will, I just- I don't know how to do it.' I lie in hopes she'll take it. I've been watching her every time and I know exactly what to do. I just don't know if it's an intelligent thing to do.
'That's- what's up with you? Did something go wrong today?' She asks as she finally lowers Adriano into his crib.
'Quiet the opposite actually.' I say as I walk over to her and wrap my arms around her waist, 'It went exactly the way I wanted it to.'
'So you finally got to kill someone?' She asks as she rests against my chest.
I nod and place my lips on her warm skin before taking a deep breath. God. I love her.
'You didn't take a nap today, did you?' I ask as I brush my lips along her neck, feeling her sink into me even more.
She slowly shakes her head and takes a deep breath, 'They didn't feel like napping so I couldn't really take a nap.'
'Couldn't or didn't want to?' I ask as I place kisses on her shoulders in hopes it helps a little with whatever is bothering her mind.
I know damn well North or Cel wouldn't mind watching the twins while she rested for a while.
'Doesn't matter.' She says as she turns around and looks at me, 'You're here now. So if you wouldn't mind taking Celestina, she's been very grumpy today and I am exhausted.'
I tense and she notices and frowns at me again. 'You want to tell me why you don't want to wash your daughter? Because I know you know how to.'
'I'm scared I'll hurt her.' I admit, feeling a little embarrassed.
Every other time I bathed the twins, we did it together. I never had to bathe them alone, because we always did it together whenever we could.
But I don't want her to stay awake for something so simple, yet I don't want her to go to sleep either.
I want to catch up, talk about her day and listen to her go on about how much Celestina enjoyed the food, or how much Adriano smiled at the people walking by.
'You're kidding me right?' She asks in a severe tone, but I shake my head. 'I'm not.'
Her eyes widen before she starts smiling like crazy, 'The big bad mafia man who murdered someone today, is afraid to give his own daughter a bath?'
I roll my eyes and pull her closer, 'That same big bad mafia man can take you right on this floor while our son sleeps right there.'
Her cheeks flush red and she shakes the thoughts away, taking a step back to create some distance.
'Rio. You can do it on your own, you'll be fine.' She whispers as she stumbles out of the nursery and into our bedroom.
'What if I drown her?' I ask and I almost panic at the thought of hurting my precious little girl.
'You won't drown her, you just have to be careful.' Valentina turns around and grabs my face, 'Stop being such a baby and go give your daughter a bath.'
'But what if-' 'Rafael Adriano Curzio. Do not make me tell you again.' She groans as she heads to our bed and slumps down almost immediately.
I take a deep breath and try to calm down my nerves as I make my way back to the nursery. But I seem to get more and more nervous with each step I take.
Celestina's big eyes stare up at me and my heart swells when I look at her.
'Hello there princess.' I whisper as I gently stroke her cheek with my thumb. Her skin feels so soft and I melt when I hear her little giggle when I take her hand.
It might not be a giggle but just a grunt, but it's perfect to me.
I slowly lift her up and place her against my chest, feeling how tiny she is in my arms. Okay.
After a few minutes, I finally decide to head to the bathroom and place her on the little changing table there. Now what?
No. I know what to do. I can do this. This isn't some crazy science. I have to give my little girl a bath. That's all.
I fill the tub with water and glance at the changing table every two seconds to make sure she's okay. When the tub barely has a bottom layer, she makes a sound.
I jump up and run over to her, panic filling me for some reason. I take her into my arms and check to see if something's wrong. But everything seems fine.
I keep her in my arms and head back to the tub, feeling to see if the water is the right temperature. How hot can I go? What if this is too cold?
'I have no idea what I'm doing.' I mutter to myself as I slump down with Celestina in my arms.
She looks up at me and I swear I can see a smile form on her little face. Almost as if she's laughing at me for not being able to give her a simple fucking bath.
'Don't do that.' I whisper as I lift her face towards mine, 'Don't laugh at me, you're supposed to be on my side.'
Her tiny hands reach for my nose and I can't help but smile when her fingers graze my skin.
So tender. So soft. So tiny.
And all mine. My daughter. My precious little princess. Celestina...
I look at the tub and realize that it's full enough by now, so I turn off the faucet and feel the water to see if it's okay.
To my surprise, it feels good. Not too cold and not too hot. Just right in between.
'Okay. now we just have to-' I look at Celestina and smile when I see her frown at me. As if what I'm doing now is the first time she has ever seen me do this.
I take her back to the changing table and take off her clothes. Or at least what's left of it because she's not wearing her full outfit anymore.
She kicks her feet around and tries to eat her toes again, making me chuckle a little. 'Come here you little fighter.'
I pick her back up and take her to the bath. My heart starts racing as I kneel down and slowly lower her into the water.
My arm stays right underneath her, not moving a single inch, my grip on the back of her neck firm but not too firm to hurt her.
I don't think I've ever been this stiff in my life. But I do know that I've never felt something like this either.
This calm. This ease. This serenity.
Celestina leans her head back into my hand and looks up at me with another smile. She lets her arms float beside her and quickly glances around, staring at the walls.
'I'll paint them tomorrow. Just for you princess.' I whisper to her, not caring how stupid I might look to anyone watching me right now.
Another noise comes out of her mouth and my smile drops for a second as panic rises and makes me think something's wrong.
But the panic melts away when she continues to make sounds as she looks around the room.
I reach for the soap, not taking my eyes off of her for a single second, and open the bottle before making sure she's all cleaned up.
She starts fussing a little when I drip some water over her face to wash her face too and I feel bad for doing it to her.
'It's okay, you're almost done. Almost.' As soon as I'm done, I reach for a towel and wrap her up, making sure she's warm and safe in my arms, 'I got you.'
I quickly put her into her pajamas, taking my time with the diaper since that's still something I have to work on and pick her back up.
She's already half asleep when I get to the nursery and I can't bring myself to put her down.
But I know Valentina will hate me for taking her to our bed instead of making her sleep in her own. It won't be fair towards little Adriano, but right now I can't seem to put her down.
It's like my body refuses to let her go.
I slowly lower her into her crib and wait until she shuts her eyes again, which doesn't take long at all. When I take a step back to head to Valentina, I can hear noises coming from my little girl.
I turn back to her and look down, wondering what has gotten her all worked up again. But there's nothing.
I lean down and give her my hand, her fingers wrapping around my index finger with a tight grip on them.
'You need to sleep, my princess.' She looks up at me with her big eyes, not letting go of my finger in the slightest and I almost chuckle at it.
How is a baby that's barely two months old holding onto me with the tightest grip ever?
I get on my knees and try to give her my other finger in hopes of getting a little more comfortable while I wait for her to fall asleep, and she takes it, slowly letting go of the other finger she was holding.
I lean against her crib and feel her tiny hand on my finger, smiling the entire time, and wait for her to fall asleep.
After what feels like fifteen minutes, I look up to realize that she's already asleep. But her tight grip on my finger is still the same.
As if she doesn't want to let go of me either.
----
A/N: I suck.
Hi guys... How have you been? It's not like I haven't done anything on here for like the past eight months or so? A lot happened and I don't even know where to begin... But I miss you guys :(
I'm so bad at keeping you guys updated or like in the loop about anything and I'm sorry! I do still read your comments (I'm so behind on everything bruh....)
I am working on a few stories at the same time because I can't figure out what I want, so maybe I'll post something, maybe I won't (not sure)
Some of you wanted a bonus chapter and I had this cute idea for Rio with Celestina, so here you go! If you want more bonus chapters, leave me some inspiration in the comments and I might use some ideas? (I'm still slow as hell when it comes to writing so don't get too excited.)
LIKE ALWAYS I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH AND I CAN'T WAIT TO START POSTING A STORY YOU GUYS MIGHT LIKE AND AAHHHH!!! thank you for all the love <3