Mariella grew up in the foster care system, abused every day until she found solace in the most unexpected form; Mateo, the son of an Italian mob leader.
Fate brought the two together, but when it tears them apart, how is she supposed to cope? Espe...
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Mateo's POV
The first thing I hear when I wake up is giggling around me. Stretching my arms around, eyes still closed, I catch hold of a tiny foot, one that I'm sure isn't mine.
Opening my eyes, I find my very own daughter staring at me, a wide smile on her face as she continues giggling. Reaching my arms over to her, sure to not disturb Mari, I start to tickle her. This only makes her erupt in more laughter, and I come to the conclusion that I could never get sick of hearing that sound.
Angel is sitting near her with his arms resting on his knees, and his head resting on his arms. He has a small grin on his face as he watches Vivi. Continuing to tickle Vivi with my right hand, I use my left to go after an unsuspecting Angelico. Eventually, I have both of them barely breathing with their uncontrollable laughter, which ends up waking Mariella. I didn't even notice she was awake until I felt her sit up next to me and lean her head on my shoulder as me and the kids continued playing around.
I want this for the rest of my life.
We all sat in the bed for probably half an hour before Mari got up and went to the kitchen, "I'll go make breakfast."
I nodded to her, and then looked back at my babies. I can believe they're a whole six years old. And you missed out on all of that, Mateo.
Shutting out my consciences words, that I knew were true, I get up and grab both Angel and Vivi into my arms, carrying them to their bedroom. When I had a few of my men set this apartment up, I had them get two sperate rooms put together. Although now I can see that they're more comfortable in one room together. They're both dressed in onesie-pajamas, that were quite festively decorated. It was already the end of November, so Christmas was less than a month away. I also had bought a bunch of clothing for them after I had made sure they got home safely the first time I happened to meet them.
I still feel bad about that day, I was such a dick. I was totally unreasonable to even think any of the things that have happened were her fault, and accusing her of being a horrible mother was the cherry on top. Especially when I'm the one who basically abandoned my own kids and the love of my life. If I'm being honest, I don't even know why Mariella hasn't tried to leave yet, because I don't really deserve to be forgiven.
I set the kids down, and they help me choose an outfit for each of them that will suffice for the cold. I see they got a mix of me and Mariella's fashion taste. Walking them back out of the room, their outfits neatly folded in my arms, I lead them to the bathroom near their room.
Filling up the large bathtub with water and bubbles, I make sure the water is warm enough before helping them get undressed. Angel is able to get over the wall of the tub by himself, but I have to lift Vivi into the water.
