Caught In His World

Joy And Love

Madelyn's POV

"Thank you dear, please make yourself feel comfortable" I smile at Carina and Marco, putting the food on the beautiful Christmas themed table.

"So ladies, how are my boys treating you?" Marco sits across from me and Shantel in the lounge. "Antonio only worries me Mr Romano" Fabiola smirks at a glaring Antonio. Marco chuckles, "want me to teach him a lesson or two hey?" She nods her head enthusiastically. "don't pay attention to her nonsense Marco, but tell me, how are you these days? You look good for an old man" Marco raises a brow at a grinning Antonio.

"This old man still carries on, I'll show you boys later just how strong this old man is" I giggle at Marco's tease and wake up, going to the kitchen to see if Carina needs any help.

"Hey" Carina doesn't face me, she continues seasoning some meat. "how are you darling? Don't you want to sit in the lounge?" I go by the sink and shake my head to which she nods. "May I help?" I go to the countertop and peel the boiled eggs. "We will be making egg salad with that" I nod and continue my work.

"How are you, really? It's not any of my business but I meant it when I said I'm here for you" I hear Carina stop rubbing the seasoning on the meat. I carry on peeling the boiled eggs, releasing it from its strong shell. "I'm alright dear, how about you?" I can't really force her.

Carina will find her way in her own time. I figure this family could use some good news. "I've got a favour to ask" I turn around and see Carina sitting at the kitchen table, wiping her washed hands. "What happened?" I nervously rock back and forth on my heels. I hope she doesn't get upset.

Dylan's POV

"Hey!" Shantel glares at Leonardo. "Don't touch the potatoes!" Papà chuckles at the bickering. "I remember a time when Carina didn't want anything to do with me either." At this everyone starts to listen. "Why?" He looks at Zolia. "Because I took her away when I found her hurt and sought to kill her boss" clunk. "What?", Fabiola picks up her fallen fork from the plate and places it neatly on the side.

"It's true, I didn't want anything to do with him. I protected people, not tried to kill them. He was the opposite of who I was." Mamà comes out holding a wooden tray of roasted chicken, as my Principessa follows behind holding a gravy jug and some serviettes.

"By the way, why didn't you guys come to the Christmas Eve party?" My parents share a look and then look to me confused. I swallow hard and gave a look to Mateo which meant, I'll tell you about it later.

"This smells wonderful" Madelyn complimented mio Madre. "Thank you dear, all the things you girls cooked smells divine" Shantel huffs out and Zolia smiles mockingly. "Thank you, I actually made two of the dishes we brought. Shantel can't cook to save her life." Mamà laughs loudly as do everyone else except for Shantel who mumbles something under her breath.

"Let's dig in-" "no" my papà cuts off a sad looking Leonardo. "Have you forgotten your manners? We must first pray for the joys of this year." He extends a hand to mamà who does the same until we all hold hands.

My dad gives a short prayer and we eat lunch. "that was so good" Montana moans out satisfied. "Yeah" Antonio nods. "Thank you for hosting Christmas at your house Mrs Fallon" Brianna compliments and mamà smiles. "Presents!" Lorenzo yells out excitedly as if he is a little boy.

"Alright, let's go to the lounge." My papà wakes up and we follow him to the lounge. The girls stay in the dining room and help to clear up the table. "So how is work?" The boys and I look to each other and then to him.

We haven't really been focusing on the mafia, there's been so many issues with Thomas and Pietro. My parents didn't come yesterday to the Christmas Eve celebration because they didn't feel up for a big event. They just lost a child, so when they called me to excuse themselves I wasn't upset at all.

"It's been, tiring." My papà nods to Luca and sits in his single seater deep in thought. "alright everyone, we'll start with presents in a moment. Almost done with the dishes" we nod to Brianna who pops her head behind the wall quickly telling us.

About five minutes later the girls come back into the room. "all done" my Principessa tells me and comes to sit on my lap. I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her closer to my body. "Shantel dear, help me with giving out the gifts?" Shantel smiles at my mamà and goes to crouch down next to her by the Christmas tree.

"The first gift goes to, Luca" Shantel hands the gift to him. He unwraps it and smiles happily, it's a gift from Montana. It's an album that opens up a lot of times and has a lot of photos in it. In the middle, is a card that he reads out.

"Thank you for the best year of my life. I told you I didn't need a Christmas present, because you are the greatest gift of all! - xoxo Montana" Luca finishes.

"That's so sweet!" Brianna squeals. Montana gives Luca a peck on the cheek. "The next gift is for Antonio from Luca, and this one is for Brianna from me" Shantel gives a small square wrapped gift to Antonio and a medium sized gift to Brianna.

Antonio gets up after unwrapping it and goes to hug Luca for the new black and Silver Swiss watch. "Oh my god! How did you know!" Brianna holds up a heart shaped pendent and looks to a smiling Shantel. "I saw you liked it when we went to get our dresses for yesterday's party."

"Alright, Dylan honey this is for you from Mateo and this is to you, Marco, from me" I take the gifts from my madre and give one to my papà. I gave Mateo a hug after I unwrapped the gift to see it's pure diamond studs for my ear piercings. My Madre got papà new cufflinks for his suit to which he gave her a peck on the cheek to show his appreciation.

After about 30 minutes we finished distributing the gifts. I got Madelyn a jewelry set. With gold earrings, a gold bracelet, gold rings and a gold chain.

"There's one special gift that hasn't been given yet. Everyone needs to be quiet for this." my Madre says. I look up to her and she nods to Madelyn who gets up and gives me a small red wrapped gift. "This is for you, i-i hope you like it." I eye her confused and go to unwrap the box.