MY CHILDREN!!! YOUR EYES DO NOT DECEIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MOMMY STILL LOVES YOU, I'VE JUST BEEN SO BUSY WITH YUMMY SECRET PROJECTS FOR YOU!!!! <3333
THE TIGROTTA -LINGUINI QUEEN IS BACK!!! *twerks into Renegade Tic-Tok*
AND SHE IS HERE WITH A SMALL QUAREN-TEA GIFT TO CHEER YOU GUYS UP!!!
HOW IS EVERYONE HOLDING UP BTW??????
PLEASE READ THE NOTE AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER! MUCH LOVE AND STAY SAFE!!!!
XOOXOO
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If you could kindly vote and leave feedback on this chapter it would help my writing career and I would so appreciate it! Your love is my motivation! :)
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"Come with you?" I asked, whispering it back to him even though the blast of the shower was muffling our words. "Come with you where?" The unease in his expression made me clutch his hand. "What did you do?"
He raked his hand back and forth through his thick espresso brown hair, pulling at the curled ends a little. I noticed the dark circles forming underneath his eyes from stress.
"Fico notified Tra La Ombre of Vincent," Ferro said. "They're sending representatives from Italy to stay at the estate and evaluate the situation. We expect them to arrive in a few weeks."
Tra La Ombre was the organization that had taken Ferro off the streets in Sicily and carved an orphaned boy into a proficient killer. From what Ferro had told me about the organization, which was very little and nothing pretty, and from what I suspected, Tra La Ombre shaped their hitmen using unpleasant methods that engraved their souls like scars.
Luckily, a loving side of Ferro had survived the pain of his past. He still had so much heart and love to him, but that didn't change the fact that he was a hitman, and that at Fico's command, Ferro killed.
Ferro and his younger brother, Vincent, had been separated at a young age, and Ferro had been told he was dead. But little did Ferro know that both him and his brother had shared the same fate as contracted killers with ties to Tra La Ombre.Vincent had tracked down Ferro to Fico's mafia, and in an attempt to hide from his past, he'd disguised himself as someone else entirely, Benjamin and hid right under Ferro's nose.
Vincent's intentions long-term for Fico's mafia and Ferro had been anything but good, but even considering all the recent events, even if it didn't make any sense at all, I couldn't help but feel conflicted about Vincent, especially when I considered Ferro's happiness. Losing his younger brother had been the ultimate hole in Ferro's heart, and now that he had him, he hardly recognized the person he'd become.
"What will this mean for Vincent?" I asked, reeling all of this and the past few days over in a tornado of anxiety. "What will Tra La Ombre do to him?"
Ferro's jaw clenched as he leaned back against the bathroom counter, his head tilting as his eyes down casted. "Tra La Ombre won't tolerate Vincent's disobedience."
"They'll kill him," I guessed.
Ferro nodded tightly. "A blacklisted assassin is sought out and executed. It won't be a quick death."
I covered my mouth with my hand, horrified just by what my imagination could conjure up as a 'slow' death by an assassin organization.
"But Vincent will be lucky if Fico doesn't put him in cement shoes and toss him in a lake before La Ombre arrives," Ferro continued, his knuckles white as they gripped the bathroom counter and his affect growing more heartless. "He'll be lucky if I don't get to him either, for what he did to you."
"Ferro..."
"He's dead to me, Scarlett."
"He's your brother—"
"Don't feel bad for that little fuck," Ferro demanded. "Remember, he wanted to trade you off for big payoff." His nostrils flared. "Every time I imagine the what if... If hadn't gotten to that junkyard in time."
"I know, Ferro, it was terrifying. But Vincent didn't hurt me. Todd also wouldn't have hurt me. He still loves me."
Ferro's gaze narrowed at the idea of that. "Todd cheated on you. He broke all the respect in your relationship. And Todd's father, Gasparro, shot Fico's father at the back of the head and tortured Fico and Samantha years ago. Or do you not remember these details? Vincent knew all of these things. And he still wanted to hand you over to them. Don't feel bad for him. He's made his choices."
I crossed my arms over my chest. "You're right, you're right. Vincent is a shitty, cold-hearted person with absolutely no redeemable qualities, and you should let him die a horrible, painful, probably gruesome death, at the hands of the people you clearly resent."
Ferro crossed his arms over his chest, mirroring my position with a scowl. He didn't seem pleased that I finally agreed with him. "He has a price on his head in four countries. Four. He's taken on private clientele and has killed very important people from very important social circles that want him dead. Tra La Ombre won't pay for his mistakes. And neither will I."
"Well, maybe I talk to Fico––" I began.
"No!" Ferro exploded, losing his temper. He took a few ragged breaths, the sound of the shower water splatting against the tiled bathroom floor, before he continued. "I'm sorry. I just don't want you anymore involved in this than you already are. You have such a passionate heart, filled with so much love, and I love that about you, but this situation is black and white to Fico. Vincent put his pregnant girlfriend's life in jeopardy. I imagine Sam has the same opinion as Fico does."
"Sam doesn't hold grudges like that."
Ferro gave me a long look.
"Ok, maybe she would," I said. "But she's pregnant. We can easily bribe her to do anything with pickles and Doritos."
Ferro shook his head, laughing under his breath, and I could tell he'd really needed to laugh. "Like I said," he continued, "Vincent will be lucky if he survives by the time Tra La Ombre arrives."
"What if there's still a chance of Fico letting him go?"
"Let him go? Vincent can't be in the real world, Scarlett. If all of this has proved anything it's that he's unstable. He needs to be put down."
"He's not a dog, Ferro. He's done horrible things, and he's broken, but he's still your brother. He's the only family that you have. You'll regret walking away from all this right now. At least consider talking to him before Tra La Ombre arrives."
Ferro stared wordlessly at me, his upper body visibly shaking.
"Believe me, I've just about had it with all of this Spanish Soap Opera mafia bullshit," I continued, running my hand up and down his leg soothingly. 'No, I'm the bad guy, no he's the bad guy, no she's the bad guy, no, I'm your long-lost sibling from Sicily let me take out my blue contacts and grow my brunette roots out to prove it!' Honestly, who would want to deal with this shit? But we can't run away, Ferro. Running away from your brother again will destroy you. Think about talking to him. Give it twenty-four hours. Maybe he'll say something that will make all of this easier for you, or maybe he won't. But to never talk to him again...? I just want you to be happy. I don't think you're in the right mental state to be making any huge decisions, Ferro.."
Ferro contemplated my words, his expression troubled as the water pattered on in the shower like glum rain. His head tilted down and his shoulders slumped slightly in defeat. "This is so difficult, Scarlett."
"Hey." Walking forward, I ran my fingers through his soft hair and held his head, tilting his gaze to meet mine. "You'll be okay."
Ferro's warm brown gaze studied my features, and the soft adoration in their sad depths made me both warm and fuzzy and want to hold him so tightly.
As if hearing my thoughts, his fingers looped into my pajama bottoms to drag me close to stand between his legs, so I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him. We held onto each other for a long moment.
Pulling back, I pushed the curls of Ferro's espresso brown hair away from his ears. "Testing, testing, One, two, three." He chuckled as I cupped my hand around his ear for better sound quality and leaned in. "I love you, Linguini," I whispered.
Ferro's lips curved, his hands running up and down my back. "Tigrotta mia, I'm so addicted to you," he whispered in my ear. "I love you more."
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Hi!
We are living in some crazy times, aren't we???? How is everyone holding up? I've been going through so many changes in my life, but I'm hanging in there, and I hope you are too!
I know I haven't updated in soooo long for my poor Keeties, and I just wanted to say that I LOVE YOU, and I appreciate your patience and support of this series so much! As I've gotten older and advanced in my career with an agent, I've had to start working on projects off of Wattpad to pursue for publishing (amongst my titles on Wattpad!)
My #1 goal is to be able to create for YOU forever! But, alas, I need to start making money in order to do that and so I've had to make choices as to what to put my creative energy into! But don't worry, I am on a mission to make it in this industry and become a published author AND PUBLISH THIS SERIES, and I'm SO excited to sprinkle in some updates for the Vendetta series while working on my other projects! I've even started rewriting the Vendetta books to pursue for publishing and they are SMOKIN' so far!
Stay tuned, Keeties!!! And stay SAFE!!!!
Love, Mum