"Sometimes you don't realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weaknesses."
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Gianna Pov~
"It's a lot of work but thank goodness I don't have to do it all by myself." Ano V said with a lighthearted smile making her wrinkles show her true age. We were watching the vast vineyard in the back as we leaned against the balcony. Ano V was telling me how she used to love to work in her father's vineyard growing up.
"I wish I had this when I was younger." I muttered remembering the days when I would rejoice just to be standing in our Garden when I was with my father. "It was my only time I felt free and complete, like nothing could touch me." I felt a hand grasp mine, I looked up and saw Ano V give me a small but reassuring smile.
I couldn't help but smile back, hers was contagious. "I don't know where I would have ended up without Adriano. He saved me." I whispered feeling the emotions rush through my body. The amount of love I have for this man, the respect and happiness I feel when he's with me and our kids. It's indescribable.
"I believe you saved him figlia." She whispered with her heavy accent showing through, with a crooked smile. Turning her head back out to the field the sun gracing her face perfectly. "When Adriano was a boy him and his father would visit me for a couple months every year. My brother was always difficult, he always wanted the best out of everyone and everything."
"He was always hard on Adriano, rebuking him when he messed up and showing him things no 5 year old boy should see. So when they came to visit, Adriano would be this quiet mouse in the corner. Everyday to get him to eat or change his clothes or shower I would tell him a story to distract him. He would be so engaged in the story he would forget about me actually helping him. He was always the serious one whereas with Matteo he was the free spirited one." She reminisced with a soft sigh.
"Why was he so quiet?" I asked intrigued. Adriano was always private about his past, I never got to really hear stories about when he was little. So I wanted to know, I wanted to be selfish just a little for once. And Ano V was the best person to ask.
She shrugged and glanced at me for a second before turning back to the lush land. "I would say it was because of his father. Growing up, Enzo pushed that poor boy into doing some very gruesome things, Things Enzo liked to call "Mafia Building." If you ask me he just wanted a mini version of himself. I think Adriano was just trying to figure everything out in his little head. You're never born with the instinct to harm people, you're taught that. That doesn't mean he never struggled with it.
"Was there a point in his life where he didn't want this life?" I asked curiously. She nodded with a firm face "For sure. Around the age of 14, 15 his guilt got to the point where he ran away for a little bit. Came here all the way to Italy. He wasn't always the all feared Capo di Capi who everyone is scared of. He went through a lot that made him the strong and scary man he is today. There is humanity in him far more than he likes to show. That hard exterior of a husband you have is nothing compared to the man with a full heart underneath."
I nodded and smiled "I know, that's the man I fell in love with."
"What made him go back?" I asked. "That is something he will have to tell you himself." She said.
"When he would come here I would treat him like a little boy and shower him with the love he never got. Not even from his mother, oh that poor soul She could never disobey Enzo."
"I made sure to show him true life skills, teach him how to treat woman and how to show respect to his elders. You know basic things every young man showed know. I tried so hard with him. You know the night he kidnapped you and your sister he called me. Oh he was so confused but had already made his decision." She said laughing clutching her heart with her hand. I laughed along with her not as hard but in a little shock.
"He told me that he met His Queen. She just didn't realize it yet. I knew by those words that he was serious. I told Adriano never to talk to me about a woman unless she's the one." She said looking at me in the eye and grasping my hand once again. The warmth radiating through it. "And you were it. You gave him something I for sure could never fulfill. "Gli hai dato qualcosa in cui credere di nuovo. Gli hai dato la speranza." (Translation: You gave him something to believe in again. You gave him hope.)
I stood frozen letting her wise words seep in. She smiled at me once more, but this time it was like she knew what was going through my head, she knew the impact her words had on me. She squeezed my hand once more before walking back inside. I sighed heavily with a smile on my face. "Mom. You okay?" I heard someone say behind me.
I turned around to see Michael looking at me strangely. "Yea i'm okay." I said nodding at my little 10 year old. He walked over to me nodding "Okay because you had a crazy smile on your face." He said acting like I was a crazy person. i scoffed "Hey." and kicked him in the butt which had him laughing.
Damien Pov~
"I think I made my decision." Raf said as he walked into the living room. Dean and I looked at him, waiting. "And?" I asked gesturing for him to continue.
"I have to talk to Unc. first sorry." He said walking out the room. "So why come in here then!" Dean yelled out after he left. "Idiot." I mutter.
"Damien we need you now. Come on." AJ demanded as he walked into the room with urgency. My defense mode came on immediately as I stood up following him out. "What's wrong?" I asked as we walked towards the garage with all our vehicles.
"Dad sent us on a hide and seek mission." He replied unlocking the black SUV and climbing in the drivers seat. Marcio and Leo walking into the garage and towards the van. I climbed into the front passenger as the other two hopped in the back. "Who are we hiding and seeking?" I asked completely confused.
AJ opened the garage door and sped out down the driveway and onto the road. "Clara Giovanni's ex- lover and the Mafia's best scout claims she had some help from a few people to get her here discreetly. Dad wants us to check out the sources."
"Whoa wait! My dad's ex-lover was that woman at breakfast?" Leo asked with a muddled expression. "Yup. Before Aunt Leena and Unc got together. Apparently she left him and the Mafia and didn't tell anyone. Until they found her again and locked her up and was released and came here." Marcio replied.
"Shit. That's why my parents have been acting so weird all day." He replied with a sigh looking out the window. I looked at AJ as he gave me a "drop it" look. I nodded slightly and picked up the file on the dashboard and read out the people we were going to visit.
Matteo Pov~
"The boys just left." I said to Adriano as we just walked back into his office after talking to Clara who is still locked up in the basement room. "Good. They shouldn't be too long." He replied dropping his file and other things on the desk.
"So if she checks out. Her whole story is true. What are we gonna do with her? Let her back in?" I inquired taking a seat opposite the chair he just sat in. His hand went up to cover he face as he took a deep breathe. "i don't know." He bit out. He clasped his both hands as they res on his lap.
"If we let her back in we are allowing a traitor to enter our Mafia. Which won'tgo well with the other men. Not to mention our sisters fucking hate her. And we still don't know for sure if she is ever going to be a liability to us or our kids. And we still have to ask how Giovanni is gonna feel about this." He strategized out loud.
I nodded taking in what he was saying. "I think you just have to make a decision and go with it. You are the Capo. They have to listen to you no matter what." He nodded looking me in the eye. "i know." With a distressed look in his eye.
A knock resounded on the door, our heads shot in that direction. "Come in." Adriano called out.
Rafael walked in with an uneasy look on his face. "I made my decision." Raf said with conviction in his voice. "Okay but before you tell us, I want to tell you something." Adriano said standing up to face Raf.
Adriano took a breath and looked Raf in the eye with a serious look on his face. "I never had the choice to stay or go. My father was strict, he used to tell me "This was the life you were born with so this is the life you are going to live." He told me if I ever left he would disown me and my mother. He would drop us on the side of the road and leave us there to starve. I was young and stupid and fighting for my fathers approval so much that I didn't really have a choice but to stay. I never had the chance to see what it was like to be normal and I don't want the same for you."
"I want you to know that if you do choose to leave you will always have me to support you and back you up if you need it. The same if you choose to stay. You will always be apart of this Mafia." Adriano said in his Adriano way. Harsh and rough but with conviction and love showing underneath.
Raf. never broke eye contact with Adriano. He nodded and breathed out heavily. "I'm staying."
"Really?" I asked . He glanced at me and nodded. He looked down and then back up towards us most likely getting his thoughts together. "This family is so fucking dysfunctional is so many ways. We kill, torture, drug traffic, own sex clubs, and who knows what else." He said listing the amount of the thing on his fingers. "But we also watch out for each other and love each other in our own harsh and weird ways. We accept the battles and fight for our family. That is something I know I want to do. And if the other things come with it too, then so be it. I will always lead with my heart, and it may get me killed one day but at least I will die knowing I am doing something I chose and wanted."
Adriano mustered up a half smile and clasped him by the arm. "Welcome to the Italian Mafia Rafael Lukas Basilio."
"Happy to be back Capo." Raf said. I stood up alongside the other two with a smile patting Raf's back and said "Now let's celebrate!"
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Thank you all for reading!
This chapter gave you a little in depth of Adriano's past, just a little snip of what makes the brooding man so brooding.
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