THE MAFIA’S HEIR

MANUEL’S POV

After Bianca and Bella left for the hospital, Alexander and I got busy playing snooker. It was funny how two grown up CEOs decided to just stay at home and wait for their wives to return. Midway through our games, a notification popped on my phone and I looked at it to see that it was from Massimo. I quickly opened it, and it read;

‘Good morning Don. This may be a false news, but I think we are being trailed.’

“Fuck!” I gritted out Immediately I read the message. Not again. This had been my fear all along! They weren’t even out for long, yet this was happening.

“What’s the matter?” Alexander quickly asked, making me release a frustrated sigh.

“It’s Massimo.” I informed, dropping the snooker stick I had been holding in annoyance. “He thinks they are being trailed.” Just then, I sent him a message, asking him to share his location.

“What?!” Alexander yelled in shock, dropping his stick as well. Before I could blink, he had pulled out his phone and placed a call to one of our most trusted men. “I’m going crazy!” He yelled out as he paced to and fro. “Leonardo, muster some of our men. As much as you can. You’d head to the location I send to you, under the instructions of Massimo. The Don and I would be without you shortly.”

I dialed Massimo’s line and got answered within the next couple of seconds.

“Massimo, share your location to Leonardo. We just sent some men. We would be with you shortly.”

“I’m not very sure about my observations Don, so I would rather we act dumb. That way, our attackers do not see our defense and counterattack coming. We get to capture them as well.”

“Are my girls safe?” I grunted.

“Yes. They are still in, with the doctor. Once they are done, we would head out.”

“Great. Keep your location on, Alexander and I would be with you and the men shortly.” With that, I hung up the call and gave Alex a knowing look. We went to our rooms and quickly dressed up with the speed of light. I picked up my phone to see that Massimo had dropped some more messages.

‘The men have arrived’. After which he sent another. ‘Just left the hospital’.

I quickly rushed out of my room and met Alexander already waiting for me in the living room.

“Let’s go.” I rushed down the stairs and tugged against Alex’s arm.

“What’s going on?” Mom who had been laying on the sofa the entire morning whispered, sounding very weak. I could see she wasn’t okay, but the situation at hand didn’t give me the liberty to stay and check up on her.

“Bear with me mom, I would be back soon.” I bent to drop a kiss on her cheek, but noticed how much she was burning up. Fuck. Nonetheless, I gave her a kiss and pulled Alexander out with me. We were still walking out when I put a call across to my father. After some rings, he finally picked up.

“Dad, your wife is not fine!” I didn’t mean to yell at him, but I just wasn’t in the right state of mind at that moment. I trusted Massimo to keep the girls safe, but in a world like ours, nothing was ever certain. A hero could fall at any time.

“What do you mean? And haven’t I told you never to rai…”

“I’m sorry Dad.” I rushed out, finally getting to the car. I threw the car keys at Alexander who easily caught them and opened the car. I stepped into the front passenger’s seat, while he got into the driver’s seat. “But mom is seriously ill. Please get home to her immediately.” Just then, a thought crossed my mind and I wondered how I forgot to just do that.

The maids were very much on duty. I should have asked Anna or any other maid to look after her. God! I was extremely disoriented and confused.

“Are you for real?!” Dad asked and I nodded, temporarily forgetting that he couldn’t really see me.

“Yes.” I rushed out. “Please go check up on her. Alexander and I are off to protect our wives. Please ensure that the rest of the family remains alert.”

“Oh God!” He sighed in disbelief. I was tired of the recent constant troubles as well.

“Stay safe.” He said, before I hung up the call. I couldn’t remain on a call with him much longer, knowing that Massimo may probably be trying to reach me.

“I just found their new location.” Alexander muttered after a while of silently driving.

“Where?”

“La Dolce Vita. A few minutes from here.” He supplied. Just then, Massimo’s message came in and I grimaced when I read it.

‘I was right. There is someone tailing us, but he is yet to make a move.’

“He just confirmed it. They are actually being followed.” I informed Alexander who hit the car steering in anger.

“Thought as much.”

A few minutes later, we were driving into the destination to meet quite the scene. A few men were shot dead on the ground, and some of our men were trying to make their way into the chaotic restaurant. Alexander and I quickly got out of our car and made our way towards the wide doors of the restuarant.

“Don!” Leonardo yelled out the moment he spotted I and Alexander. He was on a black mask, but I knew it was him.

“What’s going on here?” I asked, walking closer to the doors.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

“The intruders.” He pointed to the bodies on the ground, then parted a way for us to pass through. They followed behind us as we walked into the restaurant. The next scene that played out was shocking. There, was my pregnant wife, standing with her legs slightly ajar and deeply rooted to the ground, as she shot at a strange man without looking fazed. It just wasn’t the right time for me to start feeling proud, because the scene that just played before my eyes was iconic. When she had told me Nonno got her a professional martial arts tutor, I didn’t realize she was this serious.

I had also expected her to panic after shooting a man, but she didn’t look like she was worried at all. I looked around to be sure there was no other threat around her, before another thought struck me. Where was Bella? Just as the thought crossed my mind, I saw Massimo walking out of what seemed to be the restroom area, with a screaming Bella in his arms. Oh my God! Was that blood on her arm?! I was running towards them, and Alexander was doing the same as well. But I halted my steps the moment I saw a familiar figure being pulled like a sack of potatoes through the floor. Tawan. What the hell?

“Bella!!! Bella!!!” Alexander yelled out in fear the moment he got to her. “Oh God! Who did this to you?” He took hold of her bleeding arm, before he finally noticed Tawan behind Massimo.

“Alex!” She yelled out in obvious pain. “Our baby! Our babyyyy….” She cried out. Oh sweet lord! Now??!!! He looked like he was about to cry, but held himself.

“Please take her to the car.” He rushed out his order to Massimo, who hastened his steps out of the restaurant. I could see Bianca running towards them from my peripheral view. I watched as Alex walked closer to Tawan who had the guts to glare at him. But then, this was really not the time for this. Bella was in labour, and our men had gotten hold of Tawan alre….

“Bastardo!” Alexander yelled out in anger and the next thing I knew, Tawan was falling limply to the floor, blood trailing out of the bullet hole in his head. “I do not have time to waste, my wife needs me. Clean this mess up.” He muttered, before walking away. I followed him behind, still shocked at the turn of events just seconds ago. No, I wasn’t suprised about the fact that Alexander had shot Tawan. I was suprised because I thought Alexander would have rather kept him alive and tortured him for a while, before finally killing him. How could I forget so easily? Alexander could hardly think straight when he was mad. Especially when it had to do with his wife. Alexander had started running off before I could even realize it, making me say a silent prayer for our Bella. The injury on her arm was enough to show that if we hadn’t come earlier, Tawan would have caused more harm to her. Alexander quickly hopped into the car beside Bella, while I joined Bianca and Massimo in the other car. We all made our way to the hospital and the moment we got there, the nurses scampered around as they helped her onto a wheelchair and took her away. Bianca had been following them behind, but I had to pull her back and beg her to remain with me. We had to wait here for the good news. It just had to be good news. Bianca was extremely worried, and it irked me to no end.

*

*

“Oh christ!” Bianca sighed in relief as we stepped out of Bella’s hospital room. “She scared the hell out of me.”

“It’s okay babe.” I rubbed her back soothingly. “More than anything else, we should be thankful that Bella and the baby are fine.”

“Yes.” She looked up at me, a smile making its way to her face. “He’s so beautiful.” She whispered, tears in her eyes. Truly, Alexander and Bella’s son was a very handsome. I felt like my heart was going to combust the minute I laid eyes on his. I knew right at that moment, that he was going to be my favourite nephew. The way his tiny fingers firmly clutched my index finger was so endearing. “I’m in love.” Bianca chuckled, tears still in her eyes.

“So am I.” I nodded in agreement, a huge smile on my face. “We should get going now, you need as much rest as you can get. We would come back to see Bella and the baby tomorrow.”

“Hmmm.” She hummed, snaking her hand around my waist, as mine rested over her shoulders. We were still making our way out when we sighted Massimo standing at the entrance of the unit. “Massimo is still here?” Bianca gasped.

“I’m suprised as well.” I muttered. “Massimo.” I called out. “Still out here?”

“I didn’t feel inclined to leave just yet, Don. I would escort you and miss Bianca home.”

“Thank you Massimo.” Bianca rushed to him and held his hands in hers, making me frown. “God bless you. For today, and every other day. For a moment, I had thought I was the one who notified Manuel about them, but he told me about how you had let him know about the threat, even before we got to the restaurant. Thank you for taking your job of looking after me so seriously.”

“It’s my job ma’am….” He cleared his throat, unable to hold my eyes. Gently, he pulled his hands away from Bianca’s, and managed a small smile. “… and it’s always my pleasure.” Bianca gave him a nod before returning to my side. I couldn’t help but keep glaring at Massimo, until Bianca cleared her throat to grab my attention.

“Shall we?” She asked, and I nodded halfmindedly, unmoving from my spot. “Let’s go, you jealous man.” She whispered, pulling me along with her. So she knew I was jealous. Did she try to make me jealous on purpose, then?

“No. I didn’t try to make you jealous on purpose.” She gave me that knowing look, making me chuckle. We all walked out of the hospital and hopped into the car, before making our way home.

*

*

I woke up with a smile on my face as I felt Bianca’s body snuggly cuddled into mine. She moved against me, making it clear that she was about to wake up as well.

“Good morning my pretty head.” I sniffed her hair which smelled of strawberries, and sighed contentedly.

“Hello my love.” She inhaled and exhaled deeply, before turning to look at me.

“You look particularly beautiful today.”

“Hmmmm.” She gave a lazy smile. “Just like Bella’s son. I dreamt of him the whole night. Now, I cannot help but wonder what our own son is going to look like.”

“He’s definitely going to look like me.” I wiggled my eyebrows in pride, and she gave a loud scoff.

“He would definitely look like me. Bella’s son looks like her.”

“That’s not true.” I frowned in disagreement. “He looks like Alex.”

“No, he looks like…” She was still talking when we heard a knock on our door.

“Who is there?”

“It’s your mom.” The door flung open to reveal mom who was fully dressed. Oh wow. Mom hardly went out, except it was for shopping. What was the occassion?

“Good morning mom.” Bianca greeted and let out a yawn.

“Good morning darling.”

“Mom are you stepping out? What’s the occasion?” I asked.

“Seriously?” She asked, eyeing me squarely. “Your cousin just put to birth. What other occassion is needed? I thought you both agreed to go visit Bella alongside the rest of the family today?” Oh my God! How could I forget that? I definitely remembered I and Bianca were to go see Alex and Bella today, but I totally forgot we were going with family.

“Jeeez! We totally forgot.” Bianca sighed and pulled away from me, as she carefully made her way out of bed. “Is everyone ready?”

“They are all downstairs, waiting.” Mom replied.

“But I thought we agreed to go see them by 12 noon?” I asked.

“And what do you think says the time?” She shot back. My jaw dropped in shock, unable to believe that Bianca and I had slept in that long.

“So sorry mom!” I rushed out. “We would be down in the next twenty minutes. Please spare us a little time.”

“Please hurry up.” She muttered before closing the door shut.

“You think she’s mad?” Bianca asked in worry, and I simply shrugged.

“I doubt. Let’s just go have our bathes already.” We both rushed into the bathroom together and washed each other’s bodies. I was fast getting used to being cleaned up by my wife. It is so funny that for the longest time, I thought that the only form of intimacy between a man and woman was sex. But everyday, I was learning and unlearning. So far, I had explored a whole lot of ways to be intimate with my wife, asides sex. Truly, love was a thing. A real thing. It wasn’t just lust. It was a soul to soul tie and connection with someone. I had that tie with Bianca.

We quickly had our bathes and stepped out of the bathroom. After we dressed up, we made our way downstairs, only to meet a very unwelcoming sight. My entire family were silently seated in the living room, while my mom stared daggers at the unwanted guest. What was Francesca doing here?

“Manuel.” She walked up to me the moment she noticed my presence. What was she wearing now? I could almost see her nipples through the dark net gown. My God.

“Francesca what are you doing here?” I asked, a bit worried about how Bianca was gonna react to her presence in our home. What was this crazy woman doing here again?! I had decided to let her previous stunt slide, but enough was enough now.

“I’m here for you baby.” She grinned devilishly.

“I am not your baby!!” I yelled in her face, making her flinch for a second.

“But you are.” She insisted, trying to maintain eye contact with me, but I wasn’t even having it.

“He is not your baby.” Bianca calmly said, snaking her arm around mine and staking claim on me. It felt good, but it would have been better if Francesca wasn’t in our space.

“And who do you think you are?! Manuel loved me first!”

“Hmmmm…” Bianca sighed. “I’m glad you said he loved you ‘first’. Well, he loves me now, so deal with it.” I love how calm and unbothered Binaca sounded at the moment. “And as for your initial question. You really do not know who I am?” She asked, a small smile on her face. “I would make it easy for you, honey.” She chuckled, making Francesca’s glare become harder. “I am the only lady who can have his head in between her thighs. Now, do you understand?” She asked, making me and the rest of my family chuckle. I never knew Bianca could clapback this hard. Wow! I was proud of her short introduction.

“This Ferrari lady really has no self respect.” Mom whispered and gave a scoff. Francesca was clearly humiliated but instead of leaving, she remained there. Was she being serious right now?

“Don’t you think it’s time you left, Francesca?” Greta asked as she walked towards where we stood. Suddenly, a little smirk appeared on Francesca’s face, and that was when I knew all wasn’t well.

“That is after I say what I actually came to say.”

“Then spit it out already, and leave.” Greta replied sharply, not an atom of amusement on her face. Francesca shrugged her shoulders before looking at me squarely in the eyes.

“Manuel, I’m carrying your child.”