𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐀 | ✔

• Chapter 2 •

Guys! We crossed a hundred reads in just two days 🤧. Thank you so much to everyone who read, voted, and commented on this book. This chapter is dedicated to lyraa_vesti, Xxbeachgirl97Xx, curlyroses03, Rj00006, and readkuku1. Thank you so much for your votes. It means a lot to me. 😍

Also, I didn't understand which song to use. So please give me some suggestions.

Adriano's POV

It was sunny in New York right now. Though I sure as shit wasn't feeling sunny. My father Leonardo sat beside me on the couch in my office and was looking as pissed as me. The idiota presenting in front of us apparently didn't value his life as much as I thought.

As the minutes trickled by, the presenter rambled on and on about the presentation. I frowned upon seeing the numbers on the presentation. The estimated revenue and cost of the project were outrageous and clearly falsified.

To the average eye, it seemed normal and fine to use at least 200 million to open an enormous shopping complex like that.

But my father and I definitely didn't have an average eye. We were better, much better. The best I would say if someone asked me.

It was not only stupid, but the need to own another shopping complex when we already had one was unreasonable. Not only would that be a slap to us and our partnered investor, Inco Holdings, it would also sever the ties we have with them.

Turning my gaze towards my father, I saw his expression was blank and nonchalant. To the outside person, he actually looked a bit interested. But I knew better than anyone else that he was severely irritated at the scheming members of the board.

We were interrupted by my PI as he opens the door, his eyes roam the conference room until they land on me. He gave me the look that said that for whatever reason he interrupted was important. I didn't care if it was important or not. Even going to get an effing ice cream would have been more important than this una cazzata presentation.

Nodding at him, I get up and turn towards my father to check if he will not strangle the presenter without me in the room.

If he was going to strangle the presenter, I would do it with him, to pay the idiota back for frying my brain.

He just gives me a smirk and waves his hand at me to go. As I walk out of the room, David, my PI falls in step behind me. The moment we reach my personal office, he closes the door behind me, and then I motion towards him to tell me.

"It's about Mrs. Rossi", the moment he says my mother's name I suck in a deep breath.

"What about her?", I say, my voice coming out strained.

"We received a call from NYPD. They said that they received some blood samples yesterday", he pauses for a moment and then continues, "They said that the blood samples matched with your father's DNA"

I blink and stare at the distance. All I can comprehend is that he slept with someone else and has an illegitimate child. How could he? Didn't he love mom? I know that she left us, but he promised to keep searching for her. But then David says something else that knocks the breath out of me.

"The child happens to be Mr. and Mrs. Rossi's. And I am sorry to inform you but, Mrs.Rossi was reported dead in a car crash. The child survived."

My breath whooshes out of me as I lose control of my sight for two seconds. She's dead. The woman who gave birth to me and loved me is dead. It takes me at least ten minutes and a glass of water to barely digest that information. Then I remember the rest two sentences David spoke to me.

What the hell? I have a little sibling. And then it dawns on me. Mom was pregnant when she left. And, just like that, all the puzzle pieces start to fit together. She left us to keep the child safe. To save him or her from our dangerous life.

And then I remember the time when she threatened to take Enzo, the twins, Sandro, and me away if he didn't quit his dangerous life. They had a huge fight and then dad managed to convince mom to stay back. Two months later, Enzo was kidnapped, and then we found him back one month later.

But he wasn't the same sweet and innocent boy he used to be. That was the final straw and mom started distancing herself from dad. Fast forward two months and we found all her stuff and her missing. We tried to find her using all our contacts and then dad lost it and started drinking.

If it weren't for our paternal grandfather, he wouldn't be here, with us. Over time we mended our broken family and got back together again. But her disappearance left a huge scar on all of us.

Back to the situation, I ask David if he has any other information and he shows me a photo on his tab. It's two people in front of a restaurant. My eyes pause on Mom's face as I feel tears well up in my eyes. She looks as beautiful and lovely as before.

Then my eyes travel downwards at a cute chubby face. It's the only way to describe her. She has dad's blonde hair and mom's blue eyes. And then it strikes me. She. It's a girl. I have a cute little baby sister.

A smile tugs at my lips as I look at her lively face. She even has dimples! Only Sandro inherited the dimples from dad. I remember all of us being jealous and then mom telling us she loved us all the same no matter how we looked.

Behind them is the restaurant with its name in bold letters, 'Fusion-o'. So she finally opened a restaurant, I thought. It was always her dream to open one. She had countless designs and sample menu's saved in her office. I and my brothers would always act as her customers and she would serve them new dishes she cooked. They were always mouthwatering.

Snapping myself out of my countless thoughts, I turn towards David and ask him the question I wanted to, "Where does she live?"

David looks at his tab for a second, scrolling up and down, before looking up.

"India"

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So did you all like the chapter?

I know you are pissed at me for not making them meet yet, but I just wanted to show the conditions they all were living in and give their lives some details.

I promise that in the next chapter they will definitely meet. Until then, please bear with me.

Thanks! 😊