CHAPTER 29

“I missed you all, did you guys miss me? By the look on your faces I guess not.” Carlos says with a fake smile on his face.
“What are you doing here?” I say with venom dripping from my voice.
“Hello, my beautiful niece, did you miss your favourite uncle?” he says, stepping forward, but before he can reach me Enzo steps in front of me.
“Don’t even think about taking another step closer to her.” Enzo says with pure hatred in his voice. I step beside him to calm him down before he blows Carlos’s head off.
“Whoa! I mean no harm.” he says like he actually means it.
“Keep telling that to yourself, we both know that’s a lie,” I say while glaring at him.
“What are you even doing here? Because, I don’t remember inviting you.”Enzo says.
“I don’t need an invitation; I am family after all.”
“You are not family; you are a monster,” I say with a lot of anger in my voice. I can’t believe he has the nerve to say he is family after everything he has done. What a disgusting man, I wish I could blow his head off.
“CARLOS! What are you doing near my daughter.” papa says with hatred and rage in his eyes.
“It’s nice of you to join us, big brother,” Carlos says with a smirk on his face.
“I can’t say the same, little brother. What are you doing here?” papa says.
“I thought I should stop by and say hi to the family.”
“You are not invited here, so leave.”
“Aha, that’s no way to treat your little brother.”
“Just cut the crap and tell us why you are here,” I say getting tired of hearing his annoying voice.
“Oh, someone is very eager tonight but since you must know. I have come to tell you to forfeit your claim as president, and I won’t kill you and your family,” he says finally getting serious.
“You must be insane to think we will accept your offer,” I say giving him my best glare.
“Hey, little one, watch your tongue. I am still your uncle. Show me some respect.”
“You lost that a long time ago, UNCLE,” I say with venom on the word uncle.
“I will give you guys three days to make your final decision.”
“As my daughter has said you must be insane to think we will accept your offer.”
“You can say whatever you want, but after three days, we will all know who is truly insane. For now, bye family, don’t miss me too much,” he says before stepping out with two of his goons following him.
“What a man, what does he take us for? I wish I could blow up his brains” I say with a lot of anger flowing through my veins.
“Cool down, honey; I know how much you want to kill him. Even I want to kill him, but we have to wait for the approval from the council. If we don’t, killing him will be for nothing” Enzo says hugging me to cool me off.
“I know my love; you are right. I must not think too irrationally. I need to calm down so we can figure out a plan to kill him” I say hugging him back.
“Since he tried to kill you, how long till we get the approval, Papa?” I ask.
“They said since I have only made the announcement public today it will take a while but not too long, my dear,” papa says.
“Alright, Papa.”
“I think we should all call it a night, alot has happened today. I believe we all need to rest. Good night everyone,” papa says before walking out of the hall.
“You were amazing tonight, Mio piccolo gatto selvatico (My little wildcat)” Enzo says smiling at me before we walk out of the hall.
“I learned from the best,” I say smiling while winking at him.

TWO WEEKS LATER
Two weeks has gone by, and we have not heard anything from Carlos or seen him. I am pretty sure he knows by now we will never agree to his offer. But the good news so far is we were able to get our approval. Now we can kill him, and Papa will take back his seat as president. If we killed him before getting the approval the position would have gone to William, even though he said he would not take it. We are leaving for Sicily in two days. Carlos left New York as soon as he found out we got our approval, so we have to travel to Sicily to get the mother fucker.

The restaurant is going well, I have hired the best chefs in town to help run the place, and so far it has been going well. I am making pizza for Sofia. She eats more than ever now that her belly is growing. Antonio says her morning sickness is just getting worse, but so far the baby is okay. I am kneading my dough when I hear my phone ringing. I quickly wipe my hands on the kitchen towel and pick up the call.
“Hello, mi amore, how are you?” I say.
“Hi, amore I’m doing fine. How about you?”Enzo says.
“I’m fine, how is work going?” I say.
“Work is fine, but that’s not important. Mi amore, I was wondering if you are busy tonight,” Enzo says.
“I am never too busy for you,” I say.
“That’s good. I thought you could come over and we can cook dinner together. I have something I want to ask you,” Enzo says.
“Sure, what time are you getting off work?” I say.
“I get off work by five today.”
“Alright,”
“Bye, I will talk to you later,” Enzo says.
“Bye,” I say and hang up.

I arrived at Enzo’s house a few hours ago; we are eating dinner prepared by both of us. Enzo has not said anything about what he wanted to talk about. I hope it’s not something bad.
“Baby there is something I would like to ask you,” Enzo says, taking my hands in his.
“You can ask me anything, my love,” I say.
“I was wondering if...” Enzo says then stops and takes a deep breath. I wonder what he wants to say that has him so nervous.
“Whatever it is you can tell me, love,” I say, encouraging him to say whatever it is while giving his hand a warm squeeze.
“Would you like to make here your home?” Enzo says, sounding more nervous than before.
“Are you asking me to move in with you?” I say, wondering if I heard properly. Oh my God. Did he ask me to move in with him?
“Yes, my love I am,” Enzo says, smiling while staring into my eyes.
“Yes, I will move in with you,” I say, kissing him while smiling.
“Thank you thank you, my love,” he says kissing me all over my face.
“You seem very happy.”
“Yes,I am. I was scared you were going to say no.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because mi amore, I felt maybe you would feel things are moving too fast.”
“Enzo nothing is moving too fast between us,” I say giving him full assurance.
“But that’s not all I want to tell you, my love. There was also another reason why I did not tell you I was in the Mafia.”
“Oh it’s okay Enzo, I understand how you felt but I am listening,” I say
“Alright, mi amore, I was not only scared because you might leave me. I was scared because I could not bear losing the woman who has captured my heart. Who makes me feel a thousand things when I am around her. The one woman who can make me do anything without thinking twice. The one woman I never want to hurt again in my life. The most beautiful woman I have ever seen in this world, the strongest woman I know. The woman who makes me feel complete, who makes me feel happy to see another day, who makes me happier than anyone.” Enzo says with a glint of happiness in his eyes.
“Enzo, what are you trying to say?” I ask not sure of where he is heading, but I hope it’s what I think.
“Mi amore, what I am trying to say is, I love you. I love you with all my heart. I have never loved any woman in my life, but I love you. You make me the happiest man in this world. I love you so much. I will understand if you don’t love me, be ba...”
Before he can finish his statement I crush my lips with his, poring all my love into this one kiss right now. To tell him how much I love him. We release from the kiss smiling like we just both won a prize.
“I love you too mi amore,” I say leaning my forehead against his while smiling down at him. I can’t believe he loves me too. Tonight has been the best night of my life, just knowing the man I love, loves me back.
“I can’t believe it; you love me back. I am the happiest man on the planet right now. I love you, I love you, I love you,” he says, spinning me around while placing kisses all over my face every time he says he loves me.
“Enzo, put me down,” I say giggling from all the spinning.
“Sorry, my love,” he says, putting me down.
He puts me down; I regain my balance from the spinning.
“I can’t believe you love me back, mi amore,” he says and wraps his hands around my waist.
“I do, my love,” I say while I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him passionately.

The next morning, I wake up feeling like the happiest woman alive but my joy is short-lived when we got a call this morning saying we have to leave for Sicily as soon as possible. Carlos has made a few problems in Sicily. He had one of papa’s bases bombed. The whole family is leaving for Sicily as soon as possible. I just finished packing Enzo and my luggage while he calls the pilot and makes other necessary enquires. I walk downstairs to let him know I am ready.
“Baby, I have everything we need, we can be on our way,” I say.
“Alright, let’s go. I will have someone carry our bags,” Enzo says while he takes my hand in his and walks outside to meet the driver.
While on our way to the airport, a thought comes to my mind, without thinking twice I voice out my opinions.
“Baby,” I say trying to get Enzo’s attention away from his phone.
“Yes mi amore,” he says giving me his full attention
“I thought since William, or Martino, is involved in all of this, won’t it be right to call him and let him know what’s going on.”
“I knew you would want that, so I called him and told him what’s going on. He said he would meet us at the airport.” Enzo says.
“Thank you,” I say hugging him feeling very grateful.
“You don’t have to mention it, amore,” he says, pecking my forehead.
“I am feeling very sleepy, my love. I can’t believe we are travelling at 4 a.m,” I say getting very comfortable in the car.
“Don’t worry, you can rest in the plane.”
“Yeah, I guess I will.”

We arrive at the airport after minutes of driving and get out of the car. I see William and Joan waiting in front of the plane, with William’s arms around her. Joan looks like she wants to sleep, and she might fall from how tired she is. We walk up to them and greet both of them, before we all enter the plane. After the flight has taken off, I don’t wait to be told before walking into the bedroom to sleep.

After hours of sleeping, I wake up to find out how far we have gone and to eat something. I walk out to see Enzo and William talking and laughing about something. It brings a smile to my face, knowing my boyfriend and best friend are finally friends.
“Good morning, everyone,” I say taking a seat beside Enzo.
“Good morning, amore,” Enzo says pecking my cheeks.
“Good morning, Val,” William says.
“How do you know my real name?”
“I am your cousin.”
“Oh, that’s true,” I say smiling.
“Where is Joan?” I ask noticing she is not here.
“She is probably still sleeping,” William says.
“Oh, maybe you should wake her up so she could get something to eat,” I say.
“Alright, I will,” William says and walks into the other room in the plane.
Some minutes later William and Joan walk out of the room, with Joan looking tired. I wonder why she seems so tired; I hope she is not sick.
“Good morning, boss. Good morning, Kat,” Joan says and takes a seat.
“Good morning Joan,” I say.
“Good morning Joan and you can call me by my name; we are not in the office,” Enzo says.
“Alright boss, sorry Lorenzo,” Joan says.

We arrive in Sicily hours later, during the flight Joan and I did a lot of catching up from the last time we spoke. We drop William and Joan at a hotel before going to Enzo’s house.
“Enzo, I was wondering why we went to a hotel the last time we were here, since you have a house here,” I say while on our way to Enzo’s house.
“It was under renovation,” Enzo says.
“Oh, that explains it.”
While on our way to Enzo’s house we get a call to meet at the base. There is something important we all have to discuss. While we detour, I call William and send him the address of the place. We all arrive almost at the same time.
We are sitting down in an office waiting for papa’s assistant to come and explain everything that happened. A guy who looks like he can kill ten people with just one blow walks in behind papa.
“Good afternoon everyone,” the huge guys says.
“Two days ago, our weapons base was bombed. We lost our entire collection of weapons” The guy says without waiting for anyone to answer his greeting.
“Wow, that’s bad. What are we going to do now?” I say.
“I can get weapons from Spain. I can have it shipped as soon as possible, but it will take a little time since we will be shipping a lot all at once,” William says.
“That’s amazing William, thank you,” I say sending him a grateful smile.
“You are welcome.”

For the next two hours, we talk about how to get the weapons to Sicily as soon as possible and other critical matters. I step outside during the meeting to get some fresh air. While walking I see Joan sitting down. I walk up to her and sit beside her without saying anything. I am deep in thought when I hear Joan speak up.
“How do you do it?” Joan asks.
“How do I do what?” I say wondering what she is talking about.
“How do you live with the fear that one day you might wake up and he won’t be there?”
“You just have to pray and hope everyday will not be his last because there is no secret to how to deal with the fear,” I say.
“I guess that’s all I can do,” Joan says while taking a deep breath.
“Alright, enough sad talk. I thought if you are not busy tomorrow I could show you some places around Sicily.”
“Sure, why not, what time?”
“Anytime you see me at your door, because I won’t lie, I am exhausted and as soon as I get home I am going to sleep like there is no tomorrow,” I say smiling.
“I am with you on that one,” Joan says smiling.
“Thank you,” she says after a while of not saying anything.
“For what?”
“The advice.”
“Oh, that was nothing, you don’t have to thank me,” I say while smiling. Joan is about to say something else when she is interrupted by William.
“There you are, mia principessa. I have been looking for you everywhere,” William says while walking towards us.
“I am pretty sure I have not been gone that long,” Joan says.
“Even so, I missed you,” William says, wrapping his arms around her while placing a kiss on her forehead.
“I miss you too,” Joan says turning to face him.
“I will see you guys tomorrow because I can see I am not needed here,” I say while walking away from the couple.
“Bye,” they both say.
“Bye,” I say, walking back into the building.
I find Enzo, and we go home, but not before stopping to get some food. Once we arrive at home I do not waste any time before I jump into bed like my life depends on it, and I sleep my way to my wonderland.