THE MAFIA’S HEIR

BIANCA’S POV

I walked into the bedroom after my bath, and put on my night wear. After that, I walked towards Manuel who was very much awake on the bed.

“Heyyy.” He called out to me the moment I sat on the bed. He held my shoulder and turned me to face him. “You seem sad.”

“I should be the one telling you that. You look much more worried than I am.” I sighed. “I’m so worried for Bella.”

“Same here. I am so worried about Alex. I haven’t been able to reach him ever since he left home this morning. He must be so heartbroken.”

“I know right?” I nodded in agreement.

“Totally.” He sighed. “I have never seen Alexander as in love as he had been with Bella, with another woman. He cherished her. I feel sad that things are taking such an unexpected and scary turn for them. Never in my wildest imaginations would I have thought Bella and Patawan had a sort of thing.”

“But I could totally relate to Bella though. You know, we never know how the shoes of another hurts, until we wear them.”

“I’m not trying to make Bella look like the bad one here, but she shouldn’t have lied to Alexander. Not only did she lie, she deceived him in regards to the emotions and feelings that made him take the significant step to marry her. Ah! He did a whole lot of crazy things just for Bella.”

“How do you mean?” I asked inquisitively. Ever since the last time we talked about his Nonna, I had refrained from enquiring about any more personal family matters. I was very much willing to wait for him to tell them to me himself.

“You remember what I had told you a few days back, about Alexander being the original Don?”

“Yes, I do.” I nodded, giving him all my attention.Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

“Well, he had stepped down from his position as Don, because of Bella.”

“Really? Why?”

“There had been an attack against her.” He sighed. “So, it turns out that Tawan had actually informed Alexander that Bella was his property, and she worked for him. Alexander had willing paid a huge amount of money to offset Bella’s debts to Tawan, before finally tying the knot with her.”

“Wait a minute.” I shook my head in slight confusion. “I thought Bella said Tawan used her to milk Alexander off his money?”

“We were equally suprised to hear that today. Left to us then, we saw Tawan no more than the guy who she owed debts to. It made no one think for a second that she was in a relationship with him.”

“She wasn’t.” I corrected him.

“But she loved him.” He shot back. “And most of all, he seemed to like her as well. That could only explain the reason he tried to kill her then. It’s even now that everything seems a whole lot clearer to us. Then, Patawan had been connected to a group who tried raiding the cocaine factory. Bella had paid a visit to the factory, same day it was raided. She had been shot in the belly and had almost died.”

“Oh my God!” I yelled out in disbelief.

“Her baby had died, but she survived. It had traumatized both she and Alexander for years. Then, Alexander stopped at nothing to find the people who had dared to raid our factory. He found out that somehow, Patawan had been involved in the raid. Alexander had gone as far as killing off a lot of men in rage. That was one of the craziest moments in Russo.” He smiled as he thought back to the time. “When Alexander had informed a recuperating Bella that he had Tawan in his custody and was gonna kill him for trying to hurt her, she pleaded on his behalf and reminded him that he was a major reason why they had both crossed paths in the first place. Alex had ended up sparing his life after taking one of his arms.”

“By ‘take’, you mean?” I asked in confusion, not wanting to believe it was what I was thinking.

“One of his arms was cut off as compensation for the child Bella had lost.”

“No way!” My eyes were the size of saucers.

“Yes way.” He chuckled dryly. “Now it all makes sense. Tawan had purposely tried to hurt Bella out of spite or jealousy. He probably couldn’t believe Bella had let Alexander get her pregnant.”

“Such a psychopath! What was he expecting when he pushed her into a marriage with a man that loved her?”

“A psychopath indeed. Tawan had been banned from setting his foot anywhere close to Italy anymore.”

“So he left?”

“Yes, he did. After that, Alexander decided to step down from the position of Don. According to him, he would only end up incurring more enemies in that position. He was scared they’d come after the lives of his wife and children in the future.”

“Oh myyyyy….” Alexander was a really thoughtful and nice man. Most of all, he truly loved Bella.

“But now, there is information that Tawan is back in the country, being backed up by a certain person we are yet to apprehend.”

“You mean he is here in Italy?! If so, Bella isn’t safe.” I reasoned, and he slowly nodded in agreement.

“We have to ensure she is safe because right now he seems to be back for the wrong reasons. We have to act before he does.”

“True.” I nodded in agreement. “Please you have to find a way to get through to Alex. Bella is going through a lot of pains at the moment. Do you know the courage it would have taken her, to have confessed all these in the presence of everyone? She overlooked the scrutiny and judgemental comments your uncle had made. All she cared about was finally coming out clean to the man she had grown to love. I was much more amazed over that fact.”

“True. We do need to find Alexander. I don’t know why, but I feel the next couple of weeks would be crazy.” He muttered, making me feel chills on my skin. Why did I feel like he was right as well? Little did I know we didn’t have to wait for weeks. A lot of crazy things were about happening real soon. It seemed to be that with the Russos, one was always in for a new suprise everyday. “Come here.” He pulled me to himself as we laid on the bed. He gave me a soft kiss, after which I closed my eyes in total exhaustion from the day. I was about to finally sleep off when a question came to mind.

“Manuel?”

“Pretty head.” He responded.

“Would you give up your position as Don, to ensure that I and the baby are safe?”

“Bianca, family comes first before any other thing.” I liked his answer, but it would have felt better, had it said it another way. It would have felt better if he told me I was more precious to him than a mere position. I guess we still hadn’t gotten to that phase of our relationship yet. I’d be patiently waiting until we get there. Finally, my eyes closed in slumber.

*

*

I woke up quite early the next morning because I was so eager to see Bella. She hadn’t returned home with Alexander’s family yesterday, because the tension between them had just been so much. My mother in law was such a nice woman. When she noticed Bella wasn’t comfortable returning home with them, she insisted Bella stayed back with us, until Alexander came for her. Alexander’s father had huffed in a way that showed he doubted his son was gonna want to have anything to do with Bella anymore. I could tell that it broke her heart. But good enough, she looked better this morning. Not so much though, but better than yesterday. After I stayed to speak with her for a while, I told her I was stepping out and asked if she’d love to join me, but she declined, wanting to just remain in all day. I perfectly understood her mood.

I returned to my bedroom later on, only to find that Manuel was gone already. He had left a small note at least, explaining he had a very important meeting he couldn’t afford to miss. It was even best for me because I was tired of lying to him everyday, when I was about leaving for Nonno’s.

So the things is, the other day, Nonno’s second present to me, had been a professional martial arts teacher. The man was sooo worried that more incidents would come in the future, and he wanted me to be able to protect myself to an extent. Due to the fact that I’m pregnant, my lesson were limited to certain body movements. That was the reason Nonno asked me not to tell Manuel the actual reason why I frequently visited his house these past few days. Manuel wasn’t going to be pleased about the fact that I was doing any strenuous activities in my condition, even though Doctor Luigi had approved that certain exercises were even good for the baby. So also, Manuel’s pride would be hurt. He would feel like I thought he wasn’t capable of protecting me and the baby.

I was happy though. My teacher said I was a fast learner. At least, I knew how to aim and give a clean shot with a gun now. I also knew a few basic karate defense moves. I only knew a few because my condition limited me from doing high impact exercises. But I was most glad because now, I would be able to protect myself and my baby to a certain extent. I wouldn’t just be a push over.

After having my bath and dressing up, Massimo, Miguel, and Andrew accompanied me to Nonno’s penthouse. For days now, I noticed he had this smile and glow on his face all the time. I wanted to really ask how things were going with him, but refrained from doing so. I didn’t want to be intrusive in anyway. We had gotten to Nonno’s penthouse eventually, and I got to work with my martial arts instructor. All the while, Nonno sat in the practice room and watched as I learned. Whenever he thought my instructor was getting too intense, he’d always be quick to call it a wrap. It was so funny.

After I was done at Nonno place, I had a quick shower and changed out of my exercise outfit. Massimo and the others prepared to take me back home, but I had a different plan. I wanted to go see Manuel at his office, so we could have lunch together. Weirdly, I was missing him so much today, and couldn’t wait until evening to see him. I was just a hopeless lover girl, wasn’t I? As per my instructions, Massimo drove to Manuel’s office and I found myself rushing up to see him. I got to his office and Julia was on seat.

“Hello miss Bianca!” She grinned at me, and I gave a wave.

“Hello Julia, how it is going?”

“Very well.” She nodded. “Are you here to see Mr Russo?”

“Ahhhh… yes.”

“So sorry, but he is currently not on seat.” She sighed. “But you could wait for him.”

“Oh? Would he be back soon? What sort of engagement did he have?”

“I’m not so sure, but I think he got a call from miss Ferrari.” She whispered the last part, and my ears stood erect.

“By ‘miss Ferrari’, you mean Francesca?” I asked, and she nodded in affirmation. Why did I feel jealousy tug against my heart? They were done, right? Why did it not seem that way? At least, that was how they were making it to be. Just then, I received a message from Manuel’s number. He was asking to meet him at a particular hotel not far from his office, so we could have lunch together. I felt a small smile make it way to my lips and I looked at Julia.

“Thank you so much Julia. I would be taking me leave now.” With that, I walked out of the office and told Massimo my next location. It wasn’t even up to 10 minutes and we got to the hotel. The ground floor was a restaurant and I went inside, hoping to see him. I was suprised when I didn’t see him anywhere around. Just then, a waiter made his way towards me and Miguel was quick to act out.

After making sure the man wasn’t posing any threats, they let him speak freely with me.

“Hello ma’am. Are you Bianca Russo?” He asked, to which I nodded, unsure where this was going. “Your husband asked that you joined him room 211.”

“Sorry?” I muttered, not catching on.

“He has a suprise planned out for you.” The waiter said, making me narrow my eyes at him. Why did it feek like there was something fishy? I called Massimo’s attention and asked the waiter to repeat his statement, which he did. Massimo suggested there was no harm in going to the room, since his boss had personally texted me to come to the hotel. If it was so, then he could actually been planning some sort of suprise indeed. I decided to quickly text Manuel and see what he says. He indeed confirmed that he was the one who sent the message, and I should come up already. Massimo, Miguel, and Andrew escorted me there. To be very honest, a little part of me had began getting excited. What had he planned?

We had passed a lot of rooms and were finally able to locate room 211. We walked to the door and Massimo stood beside me while I knocked. It wasn’t up to a second later, when the door was flung open and I saw what made my heart stop.

There, was Francesca, stark naked as Manuel was hastily buckling his belt. My eyes locked with his immediately, and he looked so shocked, only proving one thing. They just had sex.

I couldn’t hold back the tears that dropped down my eyes. How I felt? Heartbroken and betrayed. I thought he was beginning to love me. Oh, Bianca. How foolish you were, to be twice bitten.