Married To The Mafia

8. It Was Planned

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|| STELLA MARTIN ||

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I couldn't even express how horrible I felt for not being there for my best friends. Everyone kept saying it got nothing to do with me and they were armed burglars but I felt so guilty that my friends were suffering and Wolverine was critical while I was away having fun with Anthony.

I cried into his arms as we sat there, at the King's family home.

Joanne looked like the undead, but Olivia had gathered herself up and was being the mature one.

"We should be going now." Olivia spoke up.

"Where?" Anthony and Leon asked together.

"Hotel. Obviously we can't go back to our apartment now." She said.

"Why would you do that? Stay here tonight. Or as long as the repairs aren't done." Anthony said.

The rest of his family nodded except for Anika, who looked a bit uneasy. Well, she didn't do well with strangers but I thought we had become close over the past weeks. I guess not.

"Oh yeah. I need your landlord's number to make a call. The police said they already contacted-" Gregory was speaking but Joanne cut him off.

"I know. They called me. They said the insurance agency will be involved as soon as we list out what all were stolen." Joanne spoke monotonously, looking the least concerned about the house.

"Oh. It's your place?" Daniella asked.

She just nodded.

I sat beside my best friend and hugged her. She must be so scared and hurt.

"You okay?" I asked.

I felt Olivia wrap her arms around the both of us.

"I spend half my salary every month on that piece of s**t. I will personally go to hell and grill him if he died on me." She muttered.

"Okay she's back!" Olivia pulled away and laughed while I chuckled.

"I am so glad all of you are safe. And that Wolverine is out of danger." Daniella said.

"Who said we are safe?" Olivia looked up.

"Um.."

"We still need to find who did that." Joanne hummed, patting her pockets. "Where's my phone?"

"It's with me." Olivia handed it to her.

"It was an armed robbery but they are not going to come back so-" Daniella stopped talking when Joanne shook her head no.

"It was planned." Joanne stood up. "And it was not some mere robbery."

"How do you know that?" Xander spoke up. And the guy rarely spoke.

"Because if they were clever and organized enough to not leave a trace, attack the security and completely wipe out the CCTV footages, they should also know who lives in there." Olivia said. "The more I think about it, the more suspicious I become. They could have robbed the three locked apartments in there, one of them belongs to a millionaire. Why rob mediocre people?" She said.

Olivia and I looked over at Joanne. She wasn't exactly a mediocre person - she was indeed a billionaire but she lived a normal life so I didn't think anyone would find out she's a billionaire by a mere glance.

"So this was planned?" I asked. "But by whom? "

"Probably someone who was in love with you and heartbroken by your wedding news." Joanne shrugged.

I felt a sting in my eye and a lump in my throat. This all happened because of me?

"Jesus woman, these people were professionals not some psychotic stalker." Joanne rolled her eyes smacking my head.

Anthony hugged me from the back.

"We will talk about this tomorrow. I will show you guys the guest room." He said. And everyone else agreed to that.

Anthony took me to his room. I was getting used to this place. And it was lovely. He had a picture of us on the night stand.

I really was lucky, wasn't I?

I had an amazing family of friends and now my one true love and his family were such amazing people.

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"Wow!!" I gasped as I walked into the dining room. The table was loaded with breakfast of all kind.

"Morning Stella." Anika smiled brightly at me. Whoa, I didn't know she could smile like that.

"Morning gorgeous. You look radiant today." Olivia grinned at me, quirking an eye brow. I felt my cheeks heat up as the two of them laughed.

I knew exactly what they were implying at.

"No one's up yet?" I asked, grabbing a toast as I sat down.

"Nope." Olivia said, popping the 'p'.

"Except Joanne. She went to the hospital early in the morning." Anika informed us.

"Without us?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah. She didn't want to wake you guys up." She said. "She was up and about at six o' clock."

"And you? You didn't sleep either?" I asked, pouring myself a cup of coffee.

"I am bit of an insomniac." She shrugged. Whoa. I really didn't know Anika talked much.

But then why was she usually so quiet? And Anthony had said it was because she felt uncomfortable but she looked perfectly fine with us now. Maybe because she was used to us.

And I wasn't going to complain. She looked beautiful smiling and talking.

Olivia's phone rung and the screen flashed 'Zachy-poo'.

I choked on my coffee and laughed while Olivia widened her eyes at the screen.

"Jesus, this woman! I had told her my pin yesterday. Must have done this while I was sleeping." She muttered as she picked up the call.

"Hey babe." She said while Zach gave her a tired smile. Work must be pretty hectic for him there.

I mouthed 'Don't tell him' as she walked out into the backyard.

"Who was that? Jake?" Anika sat down, sipping on her orange juice.

"Zach." I laughed. "Isn't Ava up yet?"

"Ava's up and giving Reema a hard time." She laughed, her face full of love and joy at the mere mention of her daughter. "Though I am not allowed in. It's Reema-Ava time and no one else is allowed."

"Oh that's cute." I said, feeling a sudden wave of sadness. I had no such childhood memory.

All my childhood, I was passed among my relatives because my parents hated the sight of me. And when they divorced, my grandmother, Seirra, took me in because both my parents didn't want me. They did send grandma money so that she wouldn't send me back. She had no job and no savings but she raised me to who I was today. Her passing away last year hurt more than being abandoned by my parents. She left me her everything. I wanted to keep her memories with me but I knew I had to let go of everything if I wanted to start anew. But, I wish she was here now, to see her granddaughter's wedding.

Olivia was my best friend since college and we met Joanne when we came to New York to work at Her.

She was more than glad to let us stay at her place, as long as we paid the bills and kept the fridge full. But that didn't cost even ten percent of the rent of a decent apartment in New York so we were more than happy.

And now here we were, an year later, bestest of friends.

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I was on my way back to Anthony's room when I heard giggles from what I assumed was Ava's room, given the cute flowers and rainbows on the door.

I knocked on the door and they instantly became silent.

"Hey Ava, it's Aunt Stella!" I called out.

I heard running footsteps and the door was thrown open, presenting a grinning Ava.

"Aunt Stella!!" She threw her arms around me as I knelt down and picked her up, spinning around with her.

"What are you guys up to?" I asked the gorgeous little darling, who was the perfect mixture of her parents. She had Gregory's green eyes and blond hair but Anika's soft features. And the smile, I realized today, she had inherited from her mother.

"Shh.." She kept her tiny little finger on my lips. "Close the door."

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