Desiderium

33| Until next time

L O R E N Z O

It had been two weeks since I had discovered that my wife was still alive. And it has been just a few days since she has told me the news that left me completely speechless. After finding out about those buried secrets, my priorities have clearly changed.

It doesn't help that now my family is in danger more than ever. Vladimir is livid and out for revenge. We didn't just attack him and killed his man but we also took back three of his hostages.

He will come for us. I know it. And I need to protect my family. I will not lose them again. So that's why I had to take an important decision. It wasn't easy. Not at all. It still breaks my heart.

We are leaving. My family and I are going to live in New York for a few months. I had already found an apartment and bought it in the name of one of my outsider friends and I have set up the security I need there. My kids and the rest of the family surely didn't take this news so well but they knew that we didn't have much of a choice.

This will give us the protection we need and I will give time to focus on my priorities since the mafia business won't be all thrown on me and my oldest son anymore as my brothers and their sons will temporarily take over until we are back.

It will also be good for us. We could grow closer and build stronger relationships with each other especially since now Emilie is back.

I sigh, taking out the old family album that sat in the drawer of my desk unopened for years. Most of those photos were taken when I was just a teenager. And all of them had Federico in them. I stared at him and I felt my heart squeeze in my chest.

Federico. My brother.

He wasn't blood. But he was family. My parents adopted him when I was just a few years old. I was very close to him when we were young and that bond was becoming stronger with age. Until the day his pregnant wife was shot and he decided to leave the mafia world and raise his family in a much safer environment. It was devastating for us but we understood.

"Thank you, Rico," I muttered still looking at a photo of the two of us together at my wedding. We were both wearing suits as he had one hand wrapped around my shoulders and the other holding a beer that he had sunk in since the only alcohol allowed at the wedding was champagne, whiskey, and vodka.

My wife had told me that he was the one she contacted before running away. He helped her with everything. He got her the fake IDs and papers and bought her a house and always checked on her. Then he died, leaving Emilie and his family devastated.

We had always suspected that he was dead after we stopped receiving the yearly updates he used to send us. But after hearing her confirm it, I had felt such indescribable pain.

I missed him. I missed my sister-in-law. I missed my nephews.

At least now I know where my nephews and sister-in-law are.

I just have to wait until the right time to act on this information. I cannot disturb their lives, especially not now. It is not the right time to involve them in our lives.

A knock on my office's door interrupted my thought as I hid the album away and allowed the person to come in.

A smile instantly formed on my lips and my mood shifted as I saw my wife gracefully walking toward me. She was wearing a white dress that made her look ravishing, I was starting to see the old Emilie come back. The bruises have faded and she has been attending therapy as well as bonding with her children. We have decided that once we settled in New York we will have family therapy sessions weekly.