Episode 19

Gabriel

I stand looking at the limousine, seething with rage towards that spoiled brat. Didn't Leonardo teach her to follow orders? Because he sure taught me.

I enter the house, trailing after Anna who has just climbed the stairs towards Mia's room.

I burst open the door.

"Who the hell permitted Sophia to go out?" I hiss.

"Young Sophia doesn't need permission to leave, you told me yourself when you rehired her after firing her," she says, meeting my gaze with solemnity, "to comply with any request she makes, without questioning her."

Damn it.

"I didn't mean she could leave the house."

"You didn't specify, sir," she insists as she picks up Mia, who has grown so much in these last four months. She looks gorgeous. Her eyes are huge and her blonde hair has gotten quite long. She resembles Kate a lot.

"I don't want her ever going out again without my say-so. Where is she going?"

"To an appointment with a young man she's been talking with for the last few weeks. Medical student, hardworker, quite a catch if you ask me, but I think he's not Italian."

"A good catch?"

"Yes, Sophia needs to marry soon; she's about to turn twenty-one, and I know if Leonardo were alive, he would've already betrothed her to someone."

"No. Sophia isn't getting married and she isn't leaving this house until Mia can take care of herself."

Anna looks at me with barely contained fury. "I won't let you ruin Sophia's life. I know what it's like to watch your life slip through your fingers while you take care of a child that isn't yours. One moment you're young with many suitors, and the next you're a mature woman with no chance of having a family of your own, and the child you raised as your own treats you like a stranger."

I'm silent, listening to Anna speak to me in that tone. I know I shouldn't let her talk to me like this, but I couldn't say anything right now.

"My head is aching," she says, handing me the child. "Since you're here, you should take care of your daughter," she adds, not looking at me.

She kisses the girl goodbye and storms out of the room, slamming the door shut.

Crap, I think I've upset her.

My daughter looks up at me with her big eyes, and before I can react, she starts wailing with all the strength of her lungs, a trait from her mother.

I pull her away from me as if she were a bomb, which is how she feels at the moment. There are so many ways to defuse her, but I don't know how to do any.

I place her in her crib and offer her some sort of gel rattle, but she tosses it aside and continues to cry.

I grab my phone and call Sophia, telling her she needs to come back at once, but there's no answer. I try again and again to no avail.

I check Mia's diaper, luckily it's clean. If she's hungry, I don't know what to give her, and I'm sure Anna won't help me today.

I can't believe that after being away from home for four months, killing and torturing people, I have to return to taking care of a child who can't even tell me what the hell is wrong.

I pick her up again and decide to go downstairs to the kitchen, hopeful there might be some staff who can assist me, but the place is deserted. It's as if all the women in this house have conspired to screw over my day.

Especially her.

Her who has stayed in my thoughts uninvited this entire time. Her who has kept me away from home, on countless nights when I could have returned, but didn't because I didn't want to see her, didn't want to feel what I did that night when I held her close.

I open the refrigerator and find strawberries. I wash one and hand it to Mia, who immediately sucks on it greedily. She eats the stem too; I guess I should have removed it.

While feeding Mia strawberries, I keep calling Sophia's phone, still no response.

After ten more tries, a message comes through.

Sophia: LEAVE ME ALONE!

"If only I could, girl," I mutter, annoyed. "Fancy a ride, Mia?" I ask the baby, who shows me the food in her mouth as an answer. "We're going to bring your nanny back home."

That woman will learn to obey, one way or another.

*****

Having called Matteo for the address, we finally arrive outside a bar downtown with Mia. The place is packed.

I look at my daughter sitting next to me, no chair, but with a booster seat. I've fastened the seatbelt, but I'm pretty sure I'm breaking a few laws today.

Well, it's a daily occurrence, a couple more isn't that serious. Besides, no cop would dare pull over the Capo of the Camorra; we've made sure of that.

Mia starts to scream and wave her arms. I follow her gaze, and there's that brat, with a man, outside the bar, drinking what seems to be a beer.

Sophia smiles at him as though he's the only man in the world, and the fool smiles back at her. Then he pulls her in for a half embrace, keeping her under his arm.

The nerve.

I expect Sophia to push him away, but instead, she smiles and leans in closer, as shameless as she is. Just like she did with me.

The fool takes this chance to kiss her, and everything halts for a few seconds.

There she is, kissing outside of a bar, in the street, in front of me.

In front of me.

Kissing that brat who belongs to me, even if she doesn't know it yet. She's been mine since I laid eyes on her.

"He's a dead man."

I check my gun and leave the car.

***This work has been signed with NovelToon, and piracy such as reprinting without permission is strictly prohibited.***

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***