Carlo

Chapter 45

"I have a few meetings at one of the warehouses." Carlo tells me as he ties his shoelaces. "Do you want to come with me?"

After I told Giovanni I needed help last night he was more than happy to help once I explained why. There's a meeting set for today we're going to talk to his men and just for my luck Carlo has to do some big bad Mafia shit.

"I'm going to do some racing today. Giovanni told me he would teach me some stuff." I lie as I lay on my stomach on the bed.

"Alright. Just be safe." He walks up to the bed and cups my face leaning down to my level. He plants a couple kisses on my lips and then my nose. "I love you."

"I love you more."

"I don't think you do." He whispers and kisses me again. I roll my eyes playfully and he glares at me. "Don't do that."

He turns around and puts on his suit jacket and waves childishly at me before walking out the room.

I listen to his footsteps until they've turned faint and I jump out of bed running towards the wardrobe. This is my first meeting that I'm going to be running. Not just sat in the corner like a weirdo.

I grab my new black suit and a nude colored top. I had a shower this morning so I put on the tight pants and top before tucking it in and putting a belt on so it fits better. My hair is slightly curled and cascading down my back.

Looking in the mirror I make sure that the hickeys Carlo gave me the other night are covered. Him on the other hand is walking around showing them off whenever. Except yesterday he let me put concealer on him to hide them from Izzy.

There's three knocks at the door followed by a kick. I run to the door knowing that's what Giovanni said he would do to let me know it's him.

"Hey. Just a second." I tell him as I run to get my suit jacket and black boots.

I put the boots on and walk out of the room locking it behind me.

"They're all in there, so you just come and sit next to me at the top of the table." He informs me as I button up the jacket.

We stop in front of two big doors and he looks down at me. "Um... take this." He hands me a gun. I furrow my eyebrows but take it nonetheless. "Just in case." He mumbles with a shrug before pushing the doors open. The once chat full room turns silent as they watch us walk in.

I keep my head down, suddenly becoming nervous with all the men's eyes on me. Giovanni sits down and I sit next to him opposite one guy.

"This is Adelaide." Giovanni introduces as he leans back in his chair. The guy opposite me winks and Giovanni slams his hands on the table.

"She's a Rivera." A man announces from down the table.

"It's nice to be known." I mumble.

"She'll be a Knight when she marries Carlo."

"Enough of last names." I speak a little louder. "Can we just get to the stuff, Carlo will be back in a few hours."

Giovanni nods his head in agreement. "This will be a top priority mission. In a few days Santiago Rivera will be making an appearance here, he will be on our list."

The men's eyebrows furrow as they look at me, probably wanting to know if it's okay to kill my own blood. "We should probably get him whilst he's on the plane." I announce. "If we all surround the plane, I can go inside and have a talk with him."

There's a silence.

"We're going to blow the plane up." Giovanni declares with a smile.

"And Carlo can't know about this?" A person asks.

"No. He won't let Adelaide go." Giovanni answers.

"Don't you think that's a good thing? This might sound sexist but she's a girl. A girl that no one knew about until it was announced Santiago had a daughter the whole time.-" He goes to carry on.

"If you don't know her reasons you have no excuse to talk like that. Do you know what she went through?" Giovanni argues.

"No but-"

"Exactly. She has her reasons and quite frankly I want to kill him myself but it's her decision."

"Yes boss."

We all talk more about what we are going to do and the men all listen carefully. A few people writing notes on what we need.

****

I wipe my eyes with the back of my hands to make the tears go away.

"Why?" I cry out.

Rose laughs at me as she cuts the carrots. I look back down at the onion in front of me and feel the horrible burn in my eyes.

"Hey baby." Carlo whispers as he snakes his arms around my waist from behind. "How was your day?"

"Good." I mumble rubbing my eyes with his hands this time. "How was yours?"

He spins me around and uses his thumbs to wipe my eyes. "Horrible!" He exclaims. And then whispers in my ear so only I can hear. "I missed you too much."

I smile a little when the stinging stops in my eyes and I go back to cutting the onion.

"Hey momma." I look over to Rose and Carlo to see them hugging each other and rocking side to side childishly. Rose laughs at his foolishness.

He starts to hum a song and dance with Rose, I finish cutting the onions and put them into the pan. Then I go and sit on the side and watch the two of them mess about.

They dance around the kitchen island with goofy grins until Rose makes them both stop. "Okay! Go set the table." Rose dusts herself off and goes back to the cooking.

"You do too much." He mumbles and kisses the top of her head. He extends his hand out to me. "You helping?"

Rose slaps his hand down. "I told you to do it, not her."

Carlo mocks surrender and walks out of the kitchen backwards giving me a wink before he is out of the room.

"That boy." She shakes her head.

I laugh and give her a hug. "Thank you Rose."

She hugs me back. "For what."

"Showing me what it's like to have a mom."

She hugs me tighter and I hear her sniff before she moves away with her hands rubbing her eyes.

"You're going to make me cry." She laughs and I smile at her.