Melancholy

Prologue

14 years ago

It was the twins' birthday today. Everyone was very excited. Well more like ecstatic. They were turning 3 today. Not that I would ever admit to anyone my little principessa was my favorite. She was the first and only daughter in Romano's family. She was our little queen. I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday.

Flashback

"Amor, I don't know. What if she's scared?" I look down at the little child cooing in her arms.

"Honey, you've had 5 sons before this! And they've never been scared. Even Luca." My wife, Camilla, says still holding both babies. Luca was asleep but Arabella was wide awake.

"But they're older." I justify.

"Luca is older by 17 minutes." Camilla says with a slightly annoyed tone as she looks at me rolling her eyes.

"So? Arabella will always be my baby girl."

"Just hold her and I promise you she won't be scared."

I nod my head slowly and gently take Arabella from Camilla. My eyes look down at the small infant who I rock in my arms. My eyes lay on her and my heart weighs. She was my daughter. My perfect daughter. I would go to the ends of the world for her no matter what, till my death.

My sense of terror, of her being scared of me makes my heart thump wildly in my chest. Though instead of crying or cowering away from my arms, she snuggles closer. She coos wiggling in my arms and I could swear she smiled.

Her little body is gentle in my arms as I look over her mothers features perfectly planted on her face. Same tan skin with a little nose and small pouty lips. But she has my eyes. My green eyes. Out of everyone's hazel eyes in the family, only my oldest son and now my daughter have the pop of green.

Anyways, today was perfectly planned. Starting with waking the twins and completing our birthday activities for them to have the most fun on their birthday. The rest of the boys helped set up excitedly without making a fuss.

The boys loved their sister with all their hearts. I remember when they first saw her, Alejandro, my oldest, said that if any boy dared look at her he would snap their neck in half. Yes it was violent for a 9 year old but he is Romano afterall. The boys would play with the twins as much as possible. Well more Arabella. They were so happy to finally have a baby sister.

~~~

It was around time to cut the cake. Arabella had gone to take a nap an hour ago because she was exhausted from being chased around by her brothers all day. Luca decided to also nap since his twin was.

I started making my way upstairs and heard cries that made my heartbeat quicken. I rush into the room to look for any danger but I'm met with an even worse sight. Luca is crying on the bed but what shattered my heart was that Arabella wasn't there. I don't take time to think as my mind goes crazy as I reach for a note placed on her bed.

Looks like the mafia princess isn't here anymore. (;

Sorry about that. I wish things could be different but you all need to learn that you don't get to have everything you want! So bye bye Principessa.

Love, scratch that,

hate, LP

LP is a dead man. I am going to kill him in the worst way possible. I picked up Luca to try and soothe him even though I can't even feel myself breathing anymore as if the walls are closing in around me. Though without his twin it's as if nothing will calm his tiny little body that continues to tremble in my arms.

I immediately call security to stop anyone who tries to leave. I can't lose her. I sprint downstairs where everyone is waiting at the table to cut the cake. Everyone's smiles falter when they see a crying Luca and no Arabella. Camilla takes Luca from my arms while I continue to scream into the phone.

"Get my daughter you idiots!" At this everyone's heads snap to me. I feel a tug at my pants to see Xander with a pout.

"Papa where's Arabella?"

I take him in my arms without saying anything while he rests his head on my shoulder. I think Alejandro knows what happened because of the heartbroken look that contours on his face.

"She's gone isn't she?" Alejandro says with tears in his eyes. By now everyone's looking at me for an answer. A question I didn't want to answer with an answer I couldn't bear to say.

"Yes."

"M-my baby? My baby! No! Where is she?! Is she in the garden? Is she playing hide and seek? Please tell me my baby's alright.'' Camilla starts to panic before she's pulled into my mothers grasp. They both latch on to each other crying in agony.

My father holds Luca who continues to cry, never letting his face run dry. Soon enough, Antonio and Lorenzo are also crying because they finally understand. Their sister was gone. Alejandro, who still had unshed tears, tried to comfort the kids while he also held a crying xavier who didn't know why everyone was crying. Xander looked up from my shoulder and tears started running down his face. That was the day that my sons were never the same.

"Aunty Lilith." Luca whispers in between little whimpers.

Everyone turns to him and immediately knows what happened. The pieces click like a hurricane running over. Lilith. She hates us. When I first met her, something didn't stick right with me. She was off and it bugged me though I kept my mouth shut offering a hand to shake. She was the love of my life's sister, meaning I couldn't seem like such a bad person.

I knew Camilla and her never had a good sibling bond but Camila still cared and loved her. Though now it was as if something had snapped in her. My wife has a kind heart but she won't spare a second to put a bullet through your head. Her head snaps up fire burning in her eyes.

"That little psycho bitch." She mutters under her breath. She looked like an explosive that could explode any second now. Her eyes go glassy again as she cracks yet again as the pain eats her alive. I held her in my grasp while she continued to cry with Xander's silent whimpers on my shoulder. Soon enough the rest of the boys also huddled closer for any sort of comfort and maybe even reassurance that she'll be back. I held my tears because I needed to stay strong for them.

"Will she come back?" An unsure Alejandro breaks the deathly silence that had surrounded the mute room.

"No matter what it takes we will have our principessa back."

And that is a promise.

Author's Note

Yup. The classic evil twin kidnapping. I have been obsessed over these lost mafia princess books and decided to write my own. So ya. This book will have little snippets of other books I've read. Anywho, next chapter will be posted soon.

Can't wait to see your reactions on Arabella, our lead!