Between The Flames ⚜️Il Paradosso Book Two⚜️

Chapter twenty-three

Jimmy Oxa was sent by Antonio's late father to ruin my mother's life as an act of pure vengeance but in the process had discovered that she had a living child.

That was me.

And so, in the crosshairs I had been the victim of his revenge, ruthlessly destroyed by the greediness and imperilment of one very cold-hearted man.

But there was still one piece of this unsolved puzzle that was left unturned.

Who was the man that my mother had attempted to reel in but miserably failed to do so? I knew it was wrong to think of her as such but from unfortunate experience, she wasn't a woman of moral values.

Yet, she was the woman that brought me into this world and made no efforts to protect me from the wrongdoing of the people that entered our lives throughout the years.

The mass manipulator. My mother. The queen and Madame of the trafficking line between the Albanian and Italian mafia trade.
And at the end-after threatening to exploit their illegal activities-had been sent to her own untimely death.

Antonio expressed determination to dig into my past and was invested in finding a way to meet him. Although, I wasn't too keen on discovering more details about my mother's affairs.

There was a strong bond between the Italians and Albanians. Therefore, he suspected that she was somehow involved in the ties.
Both were immensely supportive towards the other and the parties had agreed on working together to protect their organizations.

After all, they're businesses and trading went hand-in-hand and there was nothing stronger then a union of over three thousand members put together.

It was mindboggling to know that there were so many souls following these men and vowing to protect them with their lives.

The amount of respect and loyalty the leaders acquired from these fellows was otherworldly and astonishing.

As the next few weeks passed by, the little vacationers inside my belly grew bigger and stronger, kicking my butt through the process.

I was beginning to wonder if these babies were taking boxing lessons inside my uterus the way they were constantly throwing punches.
I wished they would round kick their father right in his perfect face to give him a taste of the good stuff I was receiving, while carrying his offspring.

But I couldn't help imagining what they were going to look like, once they were brought into the world.
A smile spread across my lips at the thought of them having a resemblance of both Antonio and I.
Their cute little faces were the last thing I thought of before I went to sleep every night and was becoming impatient as I watched my belly stretch to accommodate them.

Six months down and only three more to go.

I decided to wait until at least the end of my seventh to start working on the nursery but that flew quickly out the window when I awoke to multiple voices in the hallway.
Upon exiting the bedroom, I came face-to-face with a bunch of strangers that were carrying painting supplies up the stairs.
After passing through them I met a very laid back Antonio in the kitchen in grey sweatpants and t-shirt, propped up on one of the stools and casually eating his breakfast.

"I thought we agreed on waiting another month before we begin with preparations?"

The urge to smack the fork out of his hand was tremendous but avoiding a death sentence in my condition was the best option at the moment.

"No, you agreed to wait."

And that was it. No further explanation to the discussion.

"Are you intentionally trying to get yourself killed?" I huffed, placing my hand on the bulge beneath my breasts.