Mafia's Princess

13

A few days passed so quickly. Victoria had adapted pretty well at the brothers' routine, and they even started babying her more.

She wouldn't admit it, but she actually liked it. Although she sometimes felt impotent about it. Like, she 'wasn't allowed to stay up past 10pm' or 'eat more than a cookie a day' (although she noticed the jar was always full for her, and loved that) or things like that.

But she did like all the attention the Caruso's gave her everyday, and they enjoyed spending time with her too, of course, whenever they weren't busy.

She also liked playing with the dogs, even though she found it weird that the trainer she saw some days ago, suddenly disappeared, but didn't really pay attention to that.

Anyway, today was one of those days, and Victoria wasn't in the mood for anything of that. She just wanted to cry and sleep all day, as usual, and lock herself until it was over.

Marcus, on the other hand, was having a free day while his brothers were outside in meetings or... well, dealing with people. Computers and hacking stuff were fun, but eventually he had to take a break and relax a little.

So, he decided he was gonna spend it with his little girl (as he thought of her, because of how small she was compared to them), and maybe a movie or something would be suitable for the cold weather.

He turned his computer off and went downstairs, where he saw Vicky, completely different, just laying on the couch and staring at the TV. He approached her and she seemed to jump at the sudden face, not hearing him coming.

"Hey bubs, you're okay?"

It was common for them to call her nicknames now, and she didn't mind at that point.

"Uh, yeah" she slowly sat up, covering herself with the blanket.

"Wanna watch some TV?"

Marcus understood she wasn't in the mood, but just hopped Vicky'd change her face as he didn't like seeing her like that. Maybe she just didn't feel like doing anything.

After the girl shook her head, the man had an idea. He went upstairs and got down in less than two minutes, with some coloring books, sheets and colors. It was something Jake thought Vicky would like, so he immediately bought them.

The girl blinked a couple times, not understanding at all why would Marcus bring such kid's things. It's not that she wasn't used to it, but this was another level.

The man didn't mind though, and tried to make her do something else, other than just lay on the couch all day.

"Look" he excidetly said, "wanna color a little?"

Victoria huffed and crossed her arms, looking away from him. Marcus thought she must be the cutest person in the world, part of him found it adorable when she was angry.

"I'm not a baby"

He fakely gasped and she immediately looked back at him, surprised.

"Okay, I guess I'll just have fun myself"

And just like that, he put everything on the coffee table in front of them and took some colors, choosing a random page and (not on purpose) messily started painting a drawing.

Victoria was concentrated on her cramps so didn't pay much attention to him, although she found it weird that he, Marcus Caruso, was painting on some kids book.

She then looked at how he was coloring and slowly went to him, sitting on the carpeted floor.

He mentally smirked because he was expecting that to happen, but ignored the girl instead until she spoke.

"You're doing it wrong" she pouted, "look"

"Hm?"

Marcus gave her the red color and the box, and she started painting everything correctly, not leaving a single blank space. He let her be, watching as she was so concentrated on finishing a small house.

...

Some hours later, she was laughing at everything, completely on a different mood and totally forgetting about her pain. Marcus even gave her some treats, making her promise not to tell Ross about it, and she felt happy.

It had been long since she last felt like that, since she was always either busy or dealing with problems, like her mom.

It was around 4 pm when Marcus and Victoria heard the door open, showing the rest of the Caruso's, Ross entering first with a stern look on his face, which immediately softened when he saw the girl laughing so joyfully.

The three of them were wearing nice expensive coats and accesories, and seemed pretty badass, Vicky thought.

When the girl saw Ross, she went to him (not really wanting to bother since she imagined he might have been tired) and showed him a sheet of paper, a drawing she had colored.

"Hi. Look, Marcus was painting some drawings from a book but he was bad at doing it, so then I started coloring for hours and it was fun, and then we had lunch and kept coloring and-"

"Nice to see you too" Ross chuckled "I wonder how much sugar Marcus gave you" he said, raising an eyebrow at his brother when he looked away.

Victoria suddenly felt embarrassed at how she had reacted, hoping it'd be normal and they wouldn't find it weird. She looked down for a moment and Ross realized that, so, in a fast movement, he picked her up. It was something they were all used to, honestly.

"Did you have fun, sweetie?" Jake said, messing with her hair and she huffed again. 1, she felt weird at the question. 2, she didn't like when her hair was disheveled.

"I'm not a baby"

"Sure" Jeff chuckled.

The girl was about to protest when Ross spoke, alredy heading to the kitchen for her to eat something.

"Alright, stop teasing her. Do you want to eat some snacks now?"

She excitedly nodded when she realized how hungry she was. Playing all day had tired her a lot, and she was even feeling sleepy in his arms. Victoria unconsciously rested her head on his shoulder, hearing his soft breaths.

He found cute how small she was, and took a mental note to cuddle with her later. Also, giving her some fruit or something so that she could have a nap, seeing her eyes start to close.

And that's what he did. Ross gave her some crackers and juice until the girl was full and picked her up again, Vicky giving in and deciding not to say anything and just let him carry her.

"Should we put you to sleep for a while? Hm?" He softly asked, and she nodded although he didn't need an answer as he was alredy going upstairs, everyone being as quiet as possible.

Ross laid her on the middle of the bed, under the blankets, and stroked her hair a couple minutes until she dozed off.