My Mafia Madness 4

Chapter 13 - Discussing Parenthood

Finishing her shower, Alexa worked to get herself dressed as quickly as she could before she eventually came out to join Dante who was by now with the others in the living room.

The group of men all suddenly silenced as Alexa entered, causing her left brow to lift in question and her arms to fold over her chest.

“Alright, what’s going on in here?” she queried, eyeing each one of them one by one.

Most kept their gazes downward as Dante took centre stage.

“I see you’re finally ready, amore mio.”

He greeted her with a bright and dazzling smile while crossing the room to press a sweet kiss upon her lips.

As their lips parted, Alexa whispered to him with a devious grin as she looked him up and down like a piece of meat.

“Careful sexy… unless you wanna go another round?”

His eyes narrowed as a deep and animal-like growl escaped from the pit of his throat.

One of warning.

She was testing him, here in front of his men. Something he had just warned her about earlier on.

“Don’t tempt me, gattina.” (kitten) he whispered back to her in a huskier tone.

As Dante turned back around to face his men and give them a new command, Alexa suddenly felt a sudden stirring of old memories.

Bad ones.

Memories that she would have rathered not remembered at all.

“Move out.” Dante commanded his men.

Unfortunately, the mere mention of the word gattina, translating as ‘kitten’ in Italian, reminded Alexa of the last man who had ever called her that same hideous pet name…

Alonzo Greco.

All of the traumatising sights, sounds, smells and memories came flooding back, causing her blood to run cold as she followed along after Dante and the others who were all now headed for the suite’s exit to check out of the hotel.

It was time for them to depart and head to their next destination.

One that even Alexa herself had no clue about.

But as she walked alongside Dante, with their parade of bodyguards surrounding them, Alexa began to recall the countless horrors she had been forced to experience over the past year or so.

Ever since meeting Dante Romano by mistake in that elevator.

-

As the group exited the hotel and headed for the many cars that had been parked waiting for them to arrive, a lone figure stood across the road watching on in the darkness.

The forty-six-year-old man’s name was Petros, and he was a freelance henchman who had worked for Don Moroni several times in the past on a variety of different jobs.

Surveillance being one of them.

As luck would have it, he just so happened to be in the right place at the right time as Dante and Alexa both chose to exit the hotel arm in arm with one another.

“No f*****g way!”

After seeing them both many times in the tabloids, Petros who was currently aware of the search for the new wife of his capo, immediately recoignised the couple.

He watched as the Reaper walked his wife out through the doors and towards the limo, all the while his men surrounding them keeping an eye out for anything suspicious as they moved swiftly.

Lifting his phone up, he took a quick snapshot of the Don and his woman as they reached the limo, right before they both got in one by one.

Soon afterwards, all four vehicles pulled away from the curb and merged into the evening traffic in a perfect convoy, one after the other and with the limo positioned right in the centre.

Glancing downwards at the photo he had just taken, Petros smiled to himself as he peered at the perfect shot of both Dante and Alexa, showing their faces and with excellent detail.

With his proof in hand, he then began composing an email on his phone and attaching the image to it as he typed out a brief message containing his contact details.

Hitting ‘send’, it was a matter of less than a minute before his phone suddenly lit up with an oncoming phone call.

The number showed ‘unknown’ but he knew who it was right away.

There was only one person searching the whole of New York right now for his missing wife.

One Don who as rumour had it, was willing to pay quite a lot of money for information regarding her whereabouts.

Answering the call with a smile, Petros spoke with a sudden wave of confidence.

“I take it you got my photo?” he beamed proudly.

“Where are they?” the Don questioned sternly, getting right to the point.

“They just left the hotel together.”

“Follow them. Keep me updated with your whereabouts as you go.” the Don gave his command instead of thinking to ask.

“Do not lose them, is that understood?”

“I might be able to assist, you know, for a little more compensation.” he suggested greedily, his smile widening.

Somewhat desperate to locate Alexa sooner rather than later, Vincenzo gave in quickly, without too much thought on the matter of money.

After all, he could track down this asshole and deal with him later on if need be.

Right now, this man was the only way he could keep an eye on his wife without losing her again.

“Fine, fifty thousand. But if you lose them, you get nothing, understood?” he warned.

With that, the Don hung up on his end of the call, leaving Petros to do the same before he opened his car door and jumped inside.

Skidding off from the curb and forcing his way into nearby traffic, he followed along after the convoy of black stylish cars, which by any means was quite easy to find amongst the other cars around them.

Making sure to remain several cars behind, Petros continued his tail on the Reaper’s convoy, as he had been instructed to do so.

Unfortunately, Dante and his men had no idea that they were being tailed as they cruised along on their journey to the private airstrip.

And what’s worse, their tail was keeping Vincenzo updated with where they were headed along the way!

-

“What do you mean we have to be there in thirty minutes?” Willow demanded in outrage as she carefully climbed into the backseat of the waiting limo with a tiny Alessandro cradled in her arms.

The baby was wrapped securely in a comforting woollen blanket to protect him from the chilly New York evening air and appeared to be fast asleep after yet another evening feed.

While Alexa and Dante had been busy with Vincenzo of late, Willow and Roberto had taken it upon themselves to babysit the little heir until they had returned.

And of course, with the good news that Alexa had in fact been retrieved safely and totally unharmed from her kidnappers, the couple were overwhelmed with relief.

Soon they would be able to reunite a mother and father with their son.

Roberto climbed in on the other side, sitting himself beside Willow as he adjusted his vintage black trench coat and got more comfortable in his seat.

With a frown and a grumble, he reached for the phone that would connect him with the driver up front and waited for him to answer it.

“Yes, sir?” the driver spoke with dutiful respect.

“Is everything alright?”

“Hey Luis, can you turn on the back seat warmers? It’s freezing back here, and I want to keep my nephew comfortable for the trip ahead. We just got him to sleep.” Roberto explained.

“Of course, sir. My apologies, I should have been more prepared with this terrible weather.” Luis replied, leaning forward and switching on the heaters as instructed.

“There you go. It should we much warmer back there very soon, sir. And my apologies again.”

“Thanks Luis.” Roberto said with a nod right before he hung up the phone and turned to look at Willow.

“Sorry cutie, what were you saying?” he enquired.

Rolling her eyes, Willow went on to repeat her question she had asked him earlier.

“I asked why we’re suddenly leaving in such a rush at eleven o’clock at night. You asked me to pack a bag? What the hell’s going on?”

Shrugging, Roberto told her everything that Dante had told him only minutes earlier.

“Dante was really vague with what he said on the phone. Just told me to pack light and get to the airport in under thirty minutes. I swear, I know nothing else.” he promised her, crossing his heart with the familiar gesture of his finger.

“Cross my heart.”

She glared at him for a moment before her expression then softened and she let out a long, built-up sigh.

“What’s he up to this time, I wonder? Geez, I sure hope Alexa’s alright.” she admitted vulnerably.

“I’ve been really worried about her, ever since I found out what happened with that asshole Vincenzo. You don’t think anything’s wrong, do you? That they’re hiding something? Maybe she’s been hurt?”

Roberto frowned.

“Na. I’m sure everything’s fine, cutie. You’re worrying over nothing, trust me.”

Roberto assured her with a smile and whilst lifting his arm up over the back of her shoulders, wrapping it around her and pulling her in closer to him.

“Besides, if I know my brother and how spontaneous he can be, we could be headed anywhere on Earth… Antarctica, Paris, maybe even Germany…”

“Wait, Antarctica?” Willow countered in disbelief at such a ridiculous suggestion.

He chuckled playfully at her reaction.

“Relax, cutie. I promise, everything will be explained when we meet them at the airport. For now, let’s just sit back and enjoy this time to ourselves while the little one’s asleep.”

Willow glanced down at the tiny baby in her arms. A loving smile crept its way onto her face and Roberto made note of it.

“Roberto… have you ever thought of, you know… starting a family of your own?”

Willow’s question seemed to catch Roberto a little off guard, though he managed it well.

Clearing his throat, he pursed his lips for a moment before he spoke a response.

“Well, yeah. I guess…” he admitted hesitantly.

“One day, maybe. And with the right woman, of course.”

Willow playfully slapped his shoulder, causing him to laugh.

He turned to face her now.

“How about you? Ever considered becoming a mother?”

Willow continued to stare lovingly at the tiny baby boy, her emotions spiralling heavily within her chest as she found herself becoming overly clucky all of a sudden.

After a long silence shared between them without her having said anything, Roberto tried getting her attention.

“Willow? You still with me?”

Suddenly pulled from the bundle in her arms, Willow looked up at him with wide eyes.

“Huh?”

Chuckling, Roberto tried again.

“I asked if you’d ever thought of becoming a mother before.”

“Me?”

She faked a smile, clearly unable to bring voice to her deepest, darkest emotions.

But strangely enough, she felt quite comfortable with Roberto. Comfortable enough to speak her mind and heart.

“Yeah. I’d love to be a mum one day.” she admitted.

“You know, if I ever found the right guy.”

Smiling, Roberto reached out his hand and took hers in his, squeezing it lovingly.

“You’d be one hell of a mother, Willow Coulton.” he announced proudly.

“Any child would be lucky to have someone as warm and as loving as you to care for them.”

She smiled back at him, clearly enjoying the sucking up he was doing on her behalf.

Although Roberto was massive in size and quite intimidating in appearance, he had a heart of gold. The guy was a giant teddy bear.

“Do you ever worry, Roberto?” Willow suddenly queried, seeming somewhat uncomfortable as a troubling thought entered her mind.

“Worry? About what?”

“You know… the whole Mafia thing your brother’s involved in? Living such a dangerous lifestyle filled with endless death and violence... aren’t you worried about raising children in such a dangerous environment?” she queried with obvious concern.

Roberto appeared to take on her fears as he sat in silence for a moment.

“I’ll admit, the thought has crossed my mind, once or twice in the past…” he began honestly.

“But at the end of the day, my brother is who he is. And that’s never gonna change. While choosing to include him in my life could possibly put me and my future family in danger…” he paused, shrugging with a smile.

“…he’s still my family. My blood. And blood is everything to us Romano’s.”

Strangely enough, Willow seemed to understand his meaning as she found herself nodding her head in response.

“I get it.” she admitted.

“Alexa’s my family. I mean, not my immediate family of course, but she’s the closest thing to a family that I have. I’d do anything for her…”

Pausing, she looked down at Alessandro.

“And for this little guy.”

“Well, our family might have its ups and downs, but there’s one thing you can always count on…” Roberto announced, pausing mid-sentence.

Willow stared, waiting for him to finish his statement.

“We’ve always got each other’s backs. No matter what.” he admitted proudly.

Frowning, Willow didn’t realise the repercussions that would follow as she spoke her next words.

They came out far too quickly, way before she could consider how they might affect him.

“That certainly wasn’t the case with Matteo.”

As soon as she’d said the words, she wished that she could have taken them back, as Willow turned her head to the side to witness Roberto’s expression.

He seemed dazed, emotionless as he stared blankly ahead now.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” she tried to apologise, reaching out and placing her hand onto his for support.

“I wasn’t thinking-”

“-It’s fine, really.”

He cut in over her, trying to reassure her that everything was alright.

Even going so far as to fake a smile just for her as he reached out his free hand and patted the top of hers.

“While I do love my little brother, so f*****g much… Matteo made his own choices. Now, whether he likes it or not, he needs to live with the consequences of those choices.”

Willow looked saddened now. Not for herself, of course, but for him and what he must be going through.

“Do you ever miss him?”

Roberto closed his eyes for a moment in an effort to fight back the wave of tears that were about to come flooding out. As he spoke, his words came out noticeably shaky.

“Yeah...” he replied vulnerably.

“Every single damn day.”

As Willow snuggled herself up against him to give him the support he needed right now, Roberto tried not to think about what troubles his little brother might be in right now.

Halfway across the world and in an entirely different country to their own.

The worst worry he had was that Matteo was all alone over there, with no one he knew or could trust. No family or friends. No money to help him get by. Nothing.

That ate away at his very soul, the guilt he continued to feel for sending Matteo away as they had. Basically, they were dooming him to death.

Still, it was better than outright executing him in some ways. At least that’s what Dante had tried convincing him immediately after Matteo was exiled.

Perhaps at the time Dante said it to comfort Roberto and reassure his brother that they were making the right choice.

Unfortunately, Roberto would never know if this was the truth or not.

And little did he know, his baby brother was actually doing quite well over in Russia, after having come to an arrangement with Russian Mafia Royalty.

An arrangement that would benefit both him and the prince in the long run. Giving them both incredible power and countless allies to build their growing syndicates with.

In fact, at that very moment Matteo was having a discussion with the prince about the next move in their master plan.