THE MAFIA’S HEIR

MANUEL’S POV

I put on my suit and got busy fixing my cufflinks.

“Let me help you with that.” Bianca muttered, before walking up to me and taking my hand in hers, as she tried fixing the cufflink that I had been struggling with.

“Thank you.” I said, eyeing her closely as she looked so focused on what she was doing. Her baby hairs curled so cutely above her forehead, the colour of her hair making it look even more mesmerizing. Her lips were slightly parted opened and her eyes blinked a few times, before she successfully clipped the cufflink. “Thank you.” I repeated, and she nodded with a smile. I loved it whenever she acted this way towards me. It made me feel good deep inside, and I really couldn’t tell why. It had already been a week since we had sex and true to my thoughts, we hadn’t done it again. It wasn’t like I had tried making my move and she pushed me away though. It was just that I was…. scared? No, I wasn’t scared. I was never scared of anyone, talk less of a woman. I just wasn’t sure she was gonna let me touch her again. Though we had been able to coexist peacefully with each other for the whole week without any fights, I still couldn’t brush off the feeling of her rejection the last time.

She made it seem like she had been pressed and wanted to pee, but I knew that was not the case. She had outrightly been repulsed by me, and subconsciously pushed me away without even realizing it. When she eventually realized her actions, she tried to make it seem like she wanted to pee, in order not to hurt my feelings. I wasn’t a fragile doll! She could have just told me straight up, that she didn’t want me. What annoyed me the most, was how sweet she had been for the past week. The little gestures she made and the simple things she said. Just like the way she was being so attentive to how I dressed up now. I hated it! It made it difficult for me to flush her out of my system. I had finally agreed in my mind, that expecting our marriage to just develop so fast was rather impossible and far fetched. I realized she need so much more time to get used to the way things had become. But in as much as I decided to try and give it time, it didn’t change the fact or doused those strong emotions I had started feeling towards her and my child. I was gonna protect them with all it took, and no one who tried to hurt them was gonna get away with it. That was the reason for the meeting with Francesca I was supposed to have today.

After much efforts from my men, I had finally been able to know her whereabouts. She had traveled out of the country a few days before my wedding, but just returned to Milan 2 days ago. I hadn’t wasted any time in trying out to reach her and suprisingly, she had taken my calls. She seemed suprised to have heard from me, but even more suprised when I told her we had to meet up today. Eager, if you ask me.

“Do you?!” She nudged my arm, pulling me out of my mind consuming thoughts.

“Hmm?” I asked, not knowing what she had been on about.

“I was asking if you wanted me to help you with your tie.” God! This was the same thing I had just talked about. She was being too sweet to me these days. And it was so annoying because she wasn’t ready for me to have all of her yet. If she wasn’t ready to give me all, I didn’t want half. What was I even saying now? All and half? I was beginning to think rubbish these days.

“No, not to worry.” I gave a tight smile. “I can manage on my own.”

“Okay.” She nodded and took a step back. I got busy knotting my tie when she asked yet another question. “Do you want some coffee? You spoke about having an early meeting today.”

Yeahhh… I may have let her know about my meeting during our walk last night. What I just didn’t tell her, was who I was actually going to be meeting up with.

“No. I’m just fine.” I declined with a small smile. She seemed to not have expected I would decline that as well, making her face fall a bit. “I’m just not in the mood for coffee.” I said, feeling the need to explain to her. More than anything else, I have noticed how much I did not like to see her sad. I finished knotting my tie walked towards the table to fix a file into my briefcase.

“It’s fine.” She forced a smile. “Have a nice day today.” Her smile seemed better, making it easier for me to pick up my briefcase and walk out of the room. I was almost at the door when I halted my steps.

“After your meeting today, you should….”

“I know.” She cut me off with a smile small. “Call Massimo and tell him to come pick me up. You’ve said that continuously for the past few days. You don’t need to remind me anymore.”

“Actually, no.” I found myself grinning. “I was about to ask you to call me. I would come over and pick you up today.”

“What if you aren’t done with work yet?”

“I do not mind.” I shrugged. “Today is a very important day for you, and I would like us to celebrate your win together.”

So Nonno had decided to make Bianca the CEO of the new Gold Empire project. To be very honest, I had always seen it coming. Right from when she still worked as Alexander’s assistant. I had known that Nonno was going to award her a very important position in the empire. What I just hadn’t imagined was him, actually giving her a much more prestigious position than I thought. It only went to show how important Bianca had become to my grandfather. In a way, it pleased me. I had gradually gotten used to the notion that Nonno may really not be interested in keeping a strong and beautiful tie with my immediate family, because of the strife between us. At least, now he was going to. For the sake of his Bianca.

“Oh?” She whispered, looking suprised.

“Of course.” I smiled warmly at her. “That is my duty as your husband. Go get your crown today. All the best.” With that, I walked out and headed for work. I was still on my way when Massimo called to inform me that he had gotten to the estate to take Bianca to Nonno’s penthouse.

Eversince the attack on Bianca a week back, I had been too careful. I doubled the security at home, and always made sure that she never stepped foot out of the house without Massimo following her. At first, it was a difficult change to get used to, because she was new to all of these. The life of a large family, of mafia, of being followed every second just because she had to be safe. I remember the first night after Massimo was made to accompany her to Nonno’s penthouse. She had returned that night, complaining about how uncomfortable it made her feel. According to her, it made her feel even more scared and worried for her life. It had taken me a lot of time to convince her that it was the best approach to protect her and our child. I guess she was ready to get used to any change, for the sake of our child after all. I also think Massimo must have made quite the impression within these few days of being around each other. Now, she was beginning to seem fine with the whole arrangement.

When I got to the office, I reviewed a some files and got them signed. I was still signing some more when my personal assistant knocked on my door and made her way in.

“Julia.”

“Good morning Mr Russo.” She gave a bright smile. “You have a call on hold.” She said, raising up the telephone she was holding. “It’s Miss Ferrari.” Then, I looked up at her and urged her to bring the phone to me. Immediately, I took the telephone and answered the call.

“Hello.”

“Good morning Manuel. I’m already at the venue, and I can’t find you anywhere.” Hearing her say that, I quickly looked down at my wristwatch. It said the time was 9:15am.

“Francesca, we fixed a meeting for 9:30am. It seems to be that you are too early.” I said, trying to sound as neutral as possible.

“Hmmm.” She sighed. “Is that the reason you weren’t answering your personal call line?”

“I was too engrossed with work to notice your calls. My apologies.” I muttered, picking up my phone and realizing it was muted. When had it gone on mute? “I would be with you shortly.” I said, before hanging up the call.

“Thank you Julia.” I said, handing the telephone back to my personal assistant. She turned and walked away. The moment she stepped out of the room, I stood from my seat and picked up my phones. Not forgetting to also take a gun along, I carefully hooked it onto my trouser, then covered it with my suit jacket. The next minute, I was walking out of the office.

The ride to the hotel we had agreed to meet at, was a rather short one. I honestly did not know how to feel about meeting Francesca after all that had taken place in the last couple of weeks. Everything had just run at such a spontaneous speed that made me not really able to understand the way I felt towards anything. I was just going with the flow, the way I was supposed to.

The moment I got to the ground floor of the hotel where the restuarant was located, I sighted Francesca who sat at the end of the public space, closer to the see through glass walls, where her eyes were fixed. She seemed lost for a moment as she stared through the glass. She looked quite different. Almost sick, might I add. She had lost a lot of weight. Why did I suddenly feel bad? I walked up to the table and made my presence known. She had worn a very conservative black turtleneck dress, unlike her.

“Good morning Francesca.” I called and she looked up at me immediately.

“Oh my! I didn’t realize you were here already.” She gave a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. I sighed, before taking a seat opposite her. We were silent for a while, before she broke the silence with yet another fake smile. “So tell me, how have you been these past weeks?”

To be very honest, with how things had ended between us, that wasn’t the question I was expecting. But I gave a reply regardless.

“I have been good, thank you.” I muttered. Realizing I was supposed to extend the courtesy, I returned her question. “How have you been?” I asked.

“Oh, Manuel. Do not pretend like you care about how I have been.” She gave a small smile. “But I have been good though. Trying to get over the pain that your betrayal had caused me.” She kept her eyes fixed on mine, some tears beginning to well up in them.

“I’m sorry about how things had ended between us Francesca. But I did not betray…”

“Oh really?” She raised her brows, looking at me in disbelief. “I was your fiancee, I was your woman, I was supposed to be your wife!!!” She yelled suddenly, causing me to narrow my eyes at her. “But you got that cheap poor wannabe slut assistant of Alexander pregnant!”

Oh God! Now I was pissed. I may have initially felt sorry for her, but that was it.

“Don’t you dare, Francesca.” I hadn’t yelled at the top of my voice like she had done. I didn’t need that to pass a message. The firmness of my voice and the coldness in my eyes were enough to pass my message. “I am sorry for how things ended up between us, but that woman is my wife now. I wouldn’t appreciate you calling her names. You should watch your tone towards me as well.”

She seemed to have been very suprised at how I had responded to her.

“Oh wow! So that’s how it is?” She muttered, her eyes getting red. “The same woman you asked me not to worry about, finally took my place beside you.” She whispered, a tear finally dropping from her eyes. “And you didn’t even have the decency to tell me yourself. You had to beg your grandfather to threaten me?” Oh wow. Nonno. “This is all so unfair. But I guess that is how life is after all. All is only fair in love and war.” At her statement, I quickly looked up at her, remembering the actual reason why I came to see her in the first place. She gently cleaned the tears off her eyes, and proceeded to stand up from her seat. She was about walking away when I stopped her with my words.

“Is that why you tried to hurt my wife?” I asked, and she looked down at me with a smile on her face.

“I would have asked you the meaning of what you just said. But then, it seems to be that even your wife has a lot of enemies. Enjoy your married life.” She started walking away when I stood up and held her arm.

“Now, listen to me Francesca.” I leaned closer to her ear. “I do plan to enjoy the remaining years of my life together with Bianca. She is expecting my child, and I would not hesitate to deal with anyone who tries to hurt anyone of them.” God knew that at that moment, I was seeing red. “Including you.” I finished, not believing I could actually say that to Francesca, considering the guilt I felt in my heart towards our broken relationship. When it came to my family, nothing mattered more. I released her arm and let her walk away in anger. I was mad as well. I had planned to make this discussion very civil with her, but it was no suprise it ended in a fight. That was Francesca’s way after all.

*

*

*

I walked out of the office, suprised that Bianca was yet to call me. I was aware that she had been with Nonno since morning, and the shareholders meeting had only started around 12 noon. But it was quite late already, and she was yet to call me. Weren’t they done with the meeting yet? I looked at my wristwatch to see that it was already 8pm, before making my way to the executive parking lot and hopped into my car. I hadn’t even asked about the venue for the meeting. Fuck! Immediately, I put a call across to Massimo, who picked up in no time. The phone was connected to my car speaker, making it much essier for me to talk with him while keeping my focus on the road.

“Don.”

“Massimo, how are you?”

“Very fine Don.”

“You had taken my wife for the shareholders meeting today right?”

“Not really.” He muttered, sounding a bit unsure.

“What do you mean by that? Did you, or did you not take my wife to the shareholders meeting?” I snapped.

“I didn’t.” He said, making me further confused.

“Why? How then did she get to the venue?”

“Don, the thing is that I took her to your Nonno’s penthouse first. When I got there, he had asked me to leave, saying he was gonna call you to take her home after the day was over.”

“But he hasn’t called me yet.” I muttered in slight worry. “I would call you back.” I said, before hanging up the call. Next, I tried calling my Nonno, but he wasn’t picking up. I tried calling Bianca as well, but her phone wasn’t even connecting. I tried calling Nonno again and finally, he picked up. Thank goodness.

“Nonno.” I rushed out.

“Why do you sound so disturbed, boy?” He laughed. What was funny at the moment? He sounded really weird, but I pushed the thought aside.

“I’m not disturbed.” I lied.

“Okay.” He agreed.

“I haven’t heard from Bianca yet. Did you take her home already?”

“Take her home? Not at all. She just went for a little pee.” What did he mean?

“A little pee? Where?”

“We are at Le’Claude.” He replied. That was a restaurant. What were they doing there? Were they with enough security? God. I was a bit relieved that the restaurant wasn’t up to 15 minutes ride from where I currently was. Immediately, I hung up the call and made a change for my destination.

True to my estimation, I had arrived at the restaurant roughly 17 minutes later, and wasted no time in going in. In the car pack, I saw a very familiar red Audi parked there, but I pushed away the thought. He certainly wasn’t the only one with the same car in Milan.

Eventually, I made my way in and the entire place seemed to be filled up today. I looked everywhere on the ground floor, but couldn’t catch a sight of my Nonno or Bianca. I realized that the were probably at the VIP section of the restaurant, which was at the topmost floor. Without wasting anytime, I made my way there and walked into the private looking mini hall. There were a quite a lot of tables around, so it took me a while of scouting before my eyes finally landed on him. Nonno. He had been laughing so heartily, looking so relaxed and happy. Seeing him that way brought a smile to my face. I hardly got to see him in such a mood. I looked towards the centre of his amusement and my eyes fell on Bianca, who seemed to have her eyes focused elsewhere, or rather, on someone else. The person had been seated by her side and the moment I looked at him, I was seeing red. I had been right after all. He was the owner of the red Audi parked outside. What the hell was Anthonio doing here?

After trying my best to look unnerved, I walked towards the table that the trio had sat around. The moment my Nonno saw me, his smile widened. Weird.

“The husband of the CEO is finally here.” He laughed, making Bianca quickly break her eyes off Anthonio, and look up in my direction. She seemed shocked. I had clearly startled her sweet moment with her lover, hadn’t I? And I had the plans of doing more. I shared a look with Anthonio, who had this glint in his eyes. Bastard!

“Manuel.” She whispered.

“I’m here now. We should get going.” I said, paying Anthonio no heed. I wasn’t about to let him push me into the temptation of getting into another fight.

“Ohhhh, my boy. Always so uptight! You should stay back and celebrate with us.” Nonno chuckled, causing Bianca to look at him in concern. That was when I understood that he was drunk. Just nice. He was drunk?! And here I had been, thinking he would have acted as some sort of chaperone between Bianca and Anthonio.

“Nonno, you’ve had more than enough to drink. I would take my wife with me now.” I finally looked at her, and she seemed to be squirming on her seat. “Anthonio, you should ensure Nonno gets back to the penthouse safely.” I muttered.

With that, I rounded the table and took Bianca’s hand, pulling her off her seat. She had willing followed me behind, as we walked out of the VIP section and outside the restaurant. The moment we were out, I disconnected my hand from hers, groaning internally as the cold atmosphere hit my palms that had been warmed up by Bianca’s own. I walked straight to the car and opened the door for her, not losing my manners regardless of how angry I was. She got into the car and I did as well, driving out of the restaurant and making our way home.

Throughout the ride, I remained silent, my eyes fixed on the road. I could feel her eyes on me, but I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of looking back at her. Just when we had gotten into our estate, making our way to our family mansion, a call came in from Massimo, and I answered immediately, not caring to disconnect it from the car speaker.

“Don?”

“Yes, Massimo.”

“Have you been able to get through to Miss Bianca?”

“Yes, I did already.”

“Oh, okay.” He sighed. “You had sounded so worried about her when you….” I didn’t let him finish speaking before hanging up the call. She didn’t have to hear that I was worried, but I guess she did already. I continued to feel her stares at me, but didn’t look back at her as I had been doing already. We finally drove into our own home, and I picked up my phone and alighted the car, throwing the keys to the security guard to pack my car properly. I walked into the house seething in anger, with Bianca steadfastly following me behind. The moment we got into the living room, I walked past my parents, not answering their greetings. I walked straight into my study, not wanting to be in the same room at Bianca in my current mood.

The moment I got into my study, I sat on one of the seats and released a grunt. It all annoyed me more because just today, I had also been with Francesca. But we did not share the kind of look I had found Bianca and Anthonio sharing. I knew it was going to take a bit of time for my anger to dissipate, so I decided to remain in my study until I felt better. What I had not expected was the door to my study being opened, and Bianca walking in.

I looked up at her and all I truly felt was anger.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

“I would like to be left alone.”

“Manuel please can we talk.” She muttered.

“Well, I don’t want to talk with you!” I burst out. I had expected her to cower at the tone of my voice, but she just remained in her place.

“Well I wouldn’t leave until we talk.” She maintained her position. Was she being serious at the moment? Why was she trying to make me seem like the problem here? I stood to my feet and calmly asked her to leave.

“I don’t want to lose my temper with you, so just go.” I pointed at the door and she remained in her position. “Oh wow! You don’t want to give me my space now? I had walked in on you….” I was still talking when she walked up to me, tiptoed to my level, and cut me short with a kiss. Not a fleeting kiss. An actual deep kiss. I was angry, but it wasn’t enough to quench the hunger she had stirred up within me. I pulled away from the kiss and glared at her. When I saw the clear desire in her eyes, I grabbed her neck and pushed her towards the wall. Without waiting for any invitation, I bent down and claimed her lips into another searing kiss. I guess it was time to pour out this anger I felt within.