Isaac's POV
The drive back to the warehouse is unbearable, the dead silence in the truck is so uncomfortable that I actually think my father sitting to the right of me can hear my thoughts and I begin to regret riding in the same vehicle as him.
For a second there I actually thought that he wouldn't follow me out to the trucks when I decided to leave the room.
I genuinely believed that he was gonna ride this out as long as he could and make me lie to my own mother.
There was no way in hell that I was about to go back home, tell her that her husbands alive, yet he refuses to come home because of his own stupidity and pride. I couldn't let her continue living in this lie that he forced on top of us.
I couldn't look her in the eyes knowing willing that her husband was alive somewhere out there, but had no intentions on coming to see her I would tell her regardless of his decision I would pull her out of her misery, the pain, the hurt, out of that depression, even if it meant triggering something new inside her, anger, betrayal, hatred for him.
I would gladly push my feelings on top of her if it meant he came back home to her, if he would stay under the roof as us, I know my mother- eventually, she'll give in she'll let him back in, he'll win her back, it was me who he was going to have to put up with because I have no intentions of letting any of this go anytime soon.
I open and close my right hand a couple times trying to get rid of the nasty nagging ache from repeatedly hitting him in the face. It's definitely going to bruise, but not as bad as his face, which I still wouldn't mind hitting another twenty nine times.
My left hook isn't as powerful as my right one but I could definitely put it to work for a couple of minutes before having to stop and ice it if it meant being able to get my frustrations out.
I'm still a little taken back that he didn't have the need to stop me hitting him or even have the need to fight back because believe me- if it weren't for Beenie we'd still be at Roxwell's warehouse and I would still be beating the shit out of my father.
Hitting him honestly didn't make me feel any better, if anything it made me feel worse.
Hitting him only confirmed that he was actually standing in front of me, that I wasn't seeing some type of ghost or imagining shit in my head, the ache in my hand is real, the blood on my knuckles is real, it's my dads blood and he's very much alive.
"I see you finally met Sacramento," he speaks softly, breaking the silence in the truck.
"Don't fucking talk to me," I grumble turning to my left and looking out the window. I begin to softly message my left temple while continuing to avoid him. The immense headache is now starting to take place as the frustration continues to slowly die down.
"What do you think?" He wonders out loud, testing the little fucking patience that I have left . "Do you like him? Is this his first time you've worked together?"
I turn around to face him, my right hand in the air lock and loaded ready to hit him, "what part of don't fucking talk to me don't you understand?!"
Beanie quickly slams on the breaks bringing the truck to a stop.
My dad immediately shifts backs into his seat, moving to the side, "don't you fucking dare," he points over at my fist. "Use your fucking words if you want to hurt me, I still can't feel the left side of my fucking face."
I scoff sitting back in my seat and tap a hand on Bernie's shoulder as he looks through the rear view mirror, "continue driving."
"Maybe we should switch seats, boss, until the tension dies down a bit," Dominic says, looking over his shoulders from the passenger seat.
"We're fine, Dom, I ain't moving," my dad muttered under his breath.
Dom frowns, "with all due respect, Carmelo, I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to -"
"Me," I growled. "You honestly believe just because your back everything's gonna go back to normal? That you're gonna be back on top, in charge, boss again?"
He shakes his head, "of course not, it's out of habit, Isaac, I-"
"Beanie, drive!" I exclaim, smacking my hand on the back of his seat.
"Yes sir.. Warehouse still?"
I shake my head and look in my dads direction, "home," I respond.
My dads lips slightly tug to the side as he snorts softly to himself.
"What?" I grumble.
He shakes his head, "it exudes you."
"The hell are you talking about?"
"Power," he says. "It really does suit you son. Seeing you in charge, being in command, being the boss ," he smiles. "It's damn near amazing."
"I'm sorry, am I supposed to be thankful here? Being in awe because you're proud? Because I suddenly have your approval, your blessing?"
"No," he says quietly, "I'm just saying-"
"How about you shut the fuck for the rest of the car ride, hm?" I retorted.
Surprisingly he stays quiet and is turning to look away from me but it only lasts for so long, he's opening his mouth again five minutes later and I'm threatening to leave him in the middle of the street if I hear his voice one more time.
Again, silence only last for so long before Pops is asking another twenty one questions and I'm really debating whether I wanna stick my pistol in my mouth to take me out of this fucking misery.
I ignore everyone of his questions deciding to give him the silent treatment, praying to baby Jesus that he'll take the hint and shut the fuck up for once and instantly wanna kill Dominic when he begins to answer him.
I'm instantly flying out of the truck once we're parked in our driveway, the air already immediately feeling lighter.
"Hey," Beans places a hand on my left shoulder blade. "We'll stay out here, give you guys your privacy, lord knows your moms gonna blow the roof off of this place.
I shake my head looking behind me to find Dominic standing near my father as they slowly begin to make their way in our direction.
I don't blame Dominic for sticking by my fathers side, his long time best friend just resurfaced from the dead. He's a lot less petty than I am, he'll hear him out, he'll feed into my fathers bullshit, he'll forgive him.
I shake my head and stick my hand in the back of my slacks and pull my gun out handing it over to Beanie, "I need someone in there that I can trust. I need someone there for me when my mom begins to lose her shit and I get triggered. I need someone that I can still believe in because I genuinely don't trust myself right now."
Beans nods his head and is taking my pistol into his hand. I watch him release the mag from my gun and is quickly shoving it into his pocket and is clearing it a second later, the live round that was in it flying onto the floor.
He hands the unloaded weapon back to me, "I'm with you all the way kid."
I nod, "Hailey-"
"I know, keep her at a good distance if anything goes down."
I nod for a second time and inhale a deep breath, "let's get this over with."
"After you," Beanie waves a hand towards the front door and my feet are quickly moving in that direction. I don't bother looking back to see if my fathers following me behind, I know he's there.
An instant aroma hits my nostril once I've stepped through the front doors and my heart immediately begins to slam in my chest as the smell becomes more and more familiar.
It smells like her cooking, it smells like my moms food, her pasta sauce to be exact.
"Isaac? Is that you?"
My heart begins to slam harder in my chest as Hailey walks out of the living room, finding us in the middle of the walkway heading in her direction.
She comes to a quick halt once she's standing in front of us, all of us.
I take a step towards her, her gaze away from mine, her full attention behind me, on the man who she also believed was dead; she's staring my dad straight in the eyes.
"Y-you're alive," she mutters. "You're actually alive."
I turn to look back at my father to find his full attention on my wife's stomach and is quickly shifting his gaze towards the floor as he looks to the side.
Hailey's immediately pushing past me a second later and is running over to him, throwing her arms around him as my dad stays completely still, frozen in his spot.
I watch him closely as he inhales a deep breath, about to wrap his arms around her when she's letting go of him and is shoving him back.
"How could you fucking do something like this?!" She raises her voice.
"Baby-"
"Hailey?" My mothers voice is immediately making all the hair on my body stand up as she rushes out of the kitchen. "You okay honey?"
Time definitely slows down as she comes into view with her husband who's standing behind me and I watch all the blood drain from her face as the sauce spoon falls right out of her hand.
My dad on the other hand wastes no time. He quickly walks around my wife and heads towards his as she takes a step back, shaking her head.
"Hi, Adriana.."
"H-how?" She stammers.
Pops shakes his head closing in on the space in between them, "it's a long story.. Mio Dio, mi mancava vedere la tua bella faccia.." - My god I missed seeing your beautiful face.
Ma scoffs firing back her own Italian at him, "Mi stai prendendo in giro in questo momento?" - Are you kidding me right now? "Dimmi che non hai finto la tua morte, Carmelo.." - Tell me you didn't fake your own death.
He sighs heavily, "lascia che ti spieghi." - Let me explain.
"Get out," she snarls, speaking in English again.
"Adriana.."
She quickly picks her hand up in the air as if she's going to hit him but she doesn't move a muscle. Her hand stays open, frozen mid air, never once connecting with my dads face as he slightly begins to turn his face to the side, preparing for the impact of the slap.
She softly scoffs as she makes a closed fist now and is dropping her hand back to her side, "I'm not gonna hit you," she says pointing over to his face. "It looks like your son's done plenty of that already."
"Not nearly enough actually," I comment from where I'm standing, folding my arms across my chest.
"Adriana-" Pops begins to say, but my mother quickly talks over him.
"You died," she grits in between clenched teeth. "I screamed for you. I cried for you. I mourned you, grieved you, Carmelo! It took some fucking time but I came to terms with that your life finally caught up to you. You're not this untouchable immortal God, King, like you think you are. You're human, Carmelo, and you died. As happy as I am to see you standing right here, to be able to smell your fragrance, scent, one last time thinking I'll never get to anymore, you're gonna stay dead."
"Adri-"
"Go find the little men who will still choose to stand beside you after this," she points towards the entrance of our home. "Have them come pack up your shit and get the fuck out of my house!"
"Adri, please. Five minutes, I just need you to hear me out for five minutes, give me a chance to explain."
I watch my mother stare my father, the love of her life, in the eyes as she tries to put on her best poker face but I know her all too well, unfortunately he does too.
She's on the verge of tears, she's getting ready to break, and if she gives into him, if she gives him those five minutes she knows that she'll cave almost immediately, she'll give in, he'll have her and she'll forgive him without making him work for it, without making him hurt.
Chills are instantly running up my back again when I hear her voice a second later.
"I don't have time for the dead," her voice nearly cracks towards the end.
She attempts to push past him and head towards the hallway but Pops is quickly wrapping his hand around her arm, begging, "Adriana, please."
The loud slap sound that fills the room the next second is nearly just as satisfying as when I connected my fist with his face an hour ago, if not maybe more.
"Get your filthy conniving hands off of me!" She hisses, snaking her arm away from him and is storming off and up the stairs, slamming her bedroom door so hard that the walls almost rattle.
***
Hailey's POV
Like clockwork I jolt out of my sleep, my eyes instantly flying over to the clock on the wall. 2:13 am. Of course it's still the middle of the night, of course I've only been asleep for a few hours.
I instinctively want to throw the blanket off of me and go look for my husband downstairs like I normally would every other night, but tonight I don't have to, tonight is finally different.
Isaac is actually laying on his side soundly asleep right next to me, he's still here, he's still in bed, snoring softly through his nose and the mere sound of his heavy breathing is enough to make me want to cry.
He's sleeping. He's actually genuinely sleeping.
I haven't heard this man snore since our honeymoon so it instantly makes me happy to know that his head isn't on override and is actually letting him sleep.
I scoot a little closer to him and immediately get a whiff of his sweet delicate vanilla cologne. I personally was never a big fan of vanilla scented things but the first time that I got a whiff of his warm, creamy, rich, scent I nearly wanted to bury my face into him.
He of course usually only ever wore it whenever we went out on dates or to special occasions or when he was trying to seduce me because he knew how much I loved it.
I know that he's trying to kiss ass by spritzing himself with it because he knows I'm still upset about the little stunt he pulled in the gym this morning, and as bad as I wanted to throw him out of this room, make him sleep anywhere else but here, I needed to know that he was okay after that bombshell today.
Carmelo's alive.
His father is still fucking alive and as mad as I am at him for doing what he did to his son and wife, I couldn't be more greatful to have him back. The issues that I had with my husband this morning immediately became irrelevant when I saw Carmelo standing behind Isaac, they suddenly didn't feel so big anymore, they definitely did matter still but there will be another time later on when we could talk about them.
Right now the only thing that I wanted to focus on right now was moving past whatever fucking mess Carmelo decided to create and focus back on being a family now that everyone was alive and breathing again.
Cris is also another major reason why I'm beyond grateful to see that Carmelo is still alive.
Carmelo still being here meant that Cris didn't kill him, he wasn't the bad guy he was painting him out to be, he was still winning, he was still getting his redemption, straying away from his family's bloodline, habits. He was still rewriting his own future and I wanted to desperately know why they did it.
I quickly begin to make my way out of bed, my bladder suddenly feeling full, careful not to wake Isaac up and make my way over to the bathroom, quickly using it.
I begin to get some late night cravings and crave something sweet once I'm washing my hands and remember that Isaac had someone go out a couple days ago and grab of a bunch of different sweets, remembering the packet of Oreos in the pantry and decide that I need one or two before heading back to bed.
I slowly make my way out of the bathroom moving as quietly as I can so that Isaac doesn't wake up as I walk across the room and manage to make my way out with him soundly asleep still.
I freeze dead in my tracks after closing the bedroom door behind me to find Carmelo sitting on the floor down the hall next to his bedroom door, his head leaning back, his eyes closed, asleep.
Adriana was definitely giving him hell. Isaac and I had just showered and got into bed when we heard the yelling begin, it actually went on for a few minutes and then it got quiet for a couple seconds and the breaking sounds started, she was throwing God knows what around that it even began to worry her son.
Isaac quickly climbed out of bed and tried to go check on his parents and I quickly followed after him, or tired to at least. I slammed the door shut, preventing him from leaving the room, begging him to leave it alone, to leave it alone. His mom needed to take her frustration out on her husband, he did deserve it after everything he just put his family through; being back from the dead now.
I stare over in Carmelo's direction almost feeling sorry for him, there's definitely something different about him, he no longer highly carries himself, the man sitting asleep on the floor in front of me is broken, he's just as broken as much as his wife and his son were a couple months ago when they thought they buried him and that breaks my heart.
I attempt to make my way down the hall quietly without waking him up but he's instantly sitting up straight, fully awake the second I take my first step.
"Sorry," I whisper. "I tried really hard to not wake you."
He inhales a deep breath, silently shaking his head.
"What are you doing sitting on the floor?" I asked, quietly.
He shrugs his shoulders, looking up in my direction, "groveling."
"It's a little hard to grovel with the door closed, ain't it?"
He smiles softly, "she threw me out, again."
"As she should. Why don't you go try and rest in one of the spare bedrooms downstairs, try again in the morning?"
Carmelo shakes his head, "I want her to see that I stayed here the entire night."
I nod understanding his logic, he does have a lot of making up to do and his wife is gonna make him work for it the hardest.
I place my hands on top of my stomach, "well, I'm craving something sweet, care to join me?"
He stares up at me for a second or so and is then looking off to the side, shaking his head.
"Carmelo, I'm literally the only one talking to you right now in this family, get your stubborn ass up from that floor and have some cookies with me."
He laughs softly through his nose and is nodding his head. I stick my hand out to help him up but he pushes it away and I'm taking a step back giving him some space.
Once he's back up on his feet we begin to descend down the stairs as he quietly walks behind me, following me into the kitchen. I wave towards the bar stools behind the kitchen island indicating that he go take a seat while I grab the milk and cookies.
I grab the half gallon of milk from the fridge and place it on the counter and go back for two short glasses and the double stuffed oreos that's in the pantry.
I walk around the island and sit on one of the soft black high chairs, sitting at the edge of the island, on Carmelo's left side.
I place both of the short glasses in front of me, pour some milk in each glasses, sliding one of the cups towards Carmelo, along with the packet of Oreos letting him have first dibs.
He shakes his head, "I'm just here to keep you company."
"More for me," I smile and shrug my shoulders, pulling the Oreos back in my direction.
I tear open the packet and grab a small stack of cookies, placing them on a napkin in front of me, watching Carmelo fiddle with something in his hands, it has his full attention.
"What is that?" I asked, dunking my first cookie into my milk.
He smiles and holds up what appears to look like a small black tube of lipstick, "Adriana left it in the truck a few months back when we went on a trip."
"And you've had that with you this entire time?" I asked.
He nods, his attention back on the Mac lipstick.
I inhale a deep breath finishing the last of the Oreo that's in my mouth. "I'm really trying hard to understand why you did what you did, Carmelo, but this has got to be the most selfish thing you've ever done since I've known you."
"I-"
"I'm not done," I say, quickly talking over him. "I understand that everything you do you do it in perspective to protect your family, but I really don't think you thought this one through. You did more damage than good-"
"I-"
I quickly hold up my hand again, "I am not done talking, please stop interrupting me."
He smiles softly and nods his head and is reaching for an Oreo, although he doesn't plop it into his mouth, it stays in his fingers, fiddling with it like he did moments ago with the lipstick.
"I'm not gonna sit here and scold you all night, for days, weeks, your wife and son will do plenty of that, I'm gonna say what the hell I have to say and make peace with it, regardless of it pissing you off or not."
Carmelo glances in my direction and nods his head while dunking the oreo into the glass of milk I poured for him, sticking it into his mouth a couple seconds later.
"I actually don't even know where to begin because all I really wanna do right now is yell at you, but not for me, for your son."
"Hailey-"
"You broke him, Carmelo. I need you to really comprehend and process that because that man that's sleeping upstairs is not the same son you knew and left behind two months ago, he's not the same man that I fell in love with, that I married. You robbed him from his livelihood again, just like when he was fourteen. You made him mature and man up way too quick just like when he was a kid. You stole my son's father from him," my voice cracks. "In order to keep your legacy alive, and I was perfectly fine with it until I saw you walk through those front doors," I pointed over towards the front of the house.
"I wanted him to avenge your death, I wanted him to get his revenge but he wouldn't, he was holding himself back because old unwanted thoughts kept resurfacing at the back of his head that I never knew about until this morning. His arrogant cocky father was back in his head telling him that emotions made him weak so you know what he did?"
Carmelo shakes his head quietly looking down at the counter.
"He shut them off and pushed me and everyone else away," I told him. "He didn't let anyone in, he kept to himself and only himself while he tried to take care of a broken widowed mom, a pregnant wife, all while running an entire mafia organization that he was nowhere near ready for! He suffocated himself so his mom could properly grieve her loss, he tore himself apart so that his wife didn't have to worry about him, so that the only thing I would have to worry about is your grandson!" I jab a finger at his shoulder. "He lost himself in his own grief, drowned himself in his pain and you know what I had to do, Carmelo?"
He remains quiet, not uttering a single word.
"Ask me what the fuck I had to do to save your own son from himself!"
His eyes immediately begin to glister with tears, a couple of them falling down his face as his bottom lip starts to slightly quiver. "Break him," he mumbles, his voice barely audible.
I nod my head, suddenly feeling spiteful. I honestly can't tell if Carmelo's tearing up out of his guilt or anger because I've hit a nerve, and frankly I don't care at this moment, he needs to get it through his skull that he fucked up, that for once in his life he could've trusted someone other than himself.
"I had to break him," I hissed, a sudden sour taste in my words. "I had to push my husband, your only son, over the edge and trigger the one emotion he quickly feeds into to make him feel something, to help him stop feeling empty, numb, lost."
He looks to the right, in the opposite direction of me, wiping his face with the back of his hand. He's not necessarily crying per say, any emotion that he managed to feel just now is slowly disappearing as the retired nonchalant mobster remakes an appearance.
"It took some time to grow the balls, but I managed to get under his skin after physically hitting him."
He quickly turns to look at me.
I nod, "yeah, I had to repeatedly hit him over and over in order to really get under his skin, we all can't be master manipulators and just use words."
"Hailey-"
"I know that you have good intentions, Carmelo, I know you would do anything for this family, but let's not pretend like you didn't do this for anyone else but yourself." He instantly frowns. "You say that you wanna break this tedious cycle between your father, yourself and Isaac, you wanna show your son that it's okay to ask for help from others, you don't have to carry your demons all on your own, yet you never take your own advice. You were scared, I get it and that's fine, but you could've confided in your family, your son, you could've asked for help, it wouldn't have made you any less of a man, but this- this little stunt you just pulled, this is what makes you weak, this will be the reason why you lose your family."
The tears that are brimming his eyelids spill about half a second later and begin to stream down his face as he sits up straight, "I would rather they give up on me and you lose all your faith in me than to have to bury my family," his voice cracks as more tears freefall onto his cheeks. "I would give my life up in a heartbeat if it meant that he got to live his," he shifts his gaze over to my belly. It's definitely a lot bigger since he last saw me. I've noticed every time he looked down at it from the second he saw me.
"What are they holding against you that's got you so scared?" I think out loud, my voice nearly coming out as a whisper.
"Everything," he answered. You can hear the genuine fear at the back of his deep voice.
"I died so you guys could live. I died to save everyone I love. I took the heat off of my family to let them live peacefully," his voice cracks for a second time. "I gave up my life so that he could live his," he shifts his eyes down to my stomach.
"Isaiah."
Chills run down my back when I hear my husband's deep raspy tired voice coming from the entrance of the kitchen. I really don't have the energy tonight to stop these two from killing each other right now. Carmelo looks over his shoulder as Isaac takes a step forward.
"We're naming him Isaiah-"
"After the two most strongest men in his life," I quickly talk over my husband and watch a wave of emotions hit Carmelo, his eyes immediately begin to refill with tears just like they did a few seconds ago.
"Not that you deserve to have someone so innocent and pure named after you now," Isaac mumbles angrily under his breath, his arms folded across his bare chest.
Isaiah is Carmelo's middle name. I actually didn't think that he had a middle name until the night Isaac suggested it and I absolutely fell in love with it because of how much meaning it had behind it, of course this was a few months back when Carmelo meant the world to his son. Now I'm afraid that he'll actually want to change our son's name and I sure as hell aint about to go through that headache.
Carmelo quickly turns to look at Isaac, "just give me ten minutes son, I promise it'll make sense, just hear me out please."
"I don't have the patience to talk to you tonight, or tomorrow, or for the next week. When I'm ready to hear you out I'll come looking for you, just stay out of my way for now. " Isaac looks over at me and inclines his head to the side, calling me over to him. "She's the reason why I'm down here, why I'm even acknowledging you right now."
"Son-"
Isaac quickly talks over his dad, his attention still on me, his eyes never once leaving mine, "you coming back to bed or not, Hail?"
I inhale a deep breath and nod my head. I slowly make my way off of the high chair reaching for both glasses of milk.
Carmelo lays his hand on top of mine, "I got it, I'll clean up. Head back to bed."
"Thank you," I smiled, about to walk away and quickly go in to hug him instead.
He doesn't hesitate nor does he go stiff like he normally would, he immediately embraces me back, needing the comfort, hugging the dear life out of me.
"Glad to see that you still secretly like affection," I whisper.
I feel him laugh and shake his head as he continues to hold me.
My body is immediately crawling with goosebumps the second his whispers into my ear, "Please don't trust anyone in la famiglia other than your husband right now."
I frown instantly trying to pull away from him but he pulls me back in, keeping me in his bear hug, "please listen to me if he won't. We're not safe, you're not safe, they're watching, from inside la famiglia. Marv wasn't the only one, there's more, a lot more."
I feel Carmelo loosen his arms around me, finally letting go as a lump begins to form in the back of my throat. I try my best not to panic and make it obvious that a fucking bomb was dropped on me and trigger my grumpy husband who's watching us like a hawk.
I force a smile on my face and lean down to kiss Carmelo on the cheek, "try and get some sleep grandpa."