Guns and Numbers

chapter 15

Long ass chapter ahead....

I am dressed in a black off-shoulder long sleeved lace dress that reached my knees and it hugged my body. It had a slit that ended just mid-thigh at the back but only showed when I was walking. I paired it with a pair of red Louboutin stilettos. I had my make up on. I only did my eyebrows, some foundation and a nude lip. I had on some wing eyeliner and mascara.
I had my hair in a puff and my edges gelled. I had on a simple pendant necklace and some gold studs.
I looked good.
I sprayed some sheen on my hair to give it a shine.
I walked out and went down the stairs. I met up with Celeste half way.
He was dressed in black slacks and a dark blue button up shirt and he had it tucked in and he wore a black leather belt and he rolled the sleeves of his shirt. He wore black moccasins. His hair was gelled back.
Italians and their gel.
I internally rolled my eyes.
He wore a silver 8-karat diamond rolex.
“you look beautiful.” He said with a smile.
“you look okay.” I said returning the smile.
I seemed to be smiling genuinely lately.
“lets go bunny.” He said.
I took his hand and we went down the stairs. He got his car keys and we walked to the garage.
We entered his audi r8. It was matte black and it had a leather interior. The seats were black and had a hint of blue. 
It still had the new car smell.
As soon as we drove out I could see the SUV behind us with the security details.
“so like this family dinner.” I said.
“apparently we have guests.” He said.
I hummed.
I have met his parents before but that’s it. His mom is cool and she likes me and so does his dad. Just that his mom is really a quiet character.
She doesn’t say much but his dad is a whole other thing.
I didn’t know he had siblings. I haven’t met them and I didn’t know they existed until I saw that Caleb guy being panelled.
The ride to his parents house was very quiet. I for one was very nervous and he just seemed to be deep in his thoughts.
“uhm bunny.” He said.
“bear.” I said looking at him.
“about last night, I uh.. am sorry you had to see me like that.”  He said.
“its fine. I just don’t understand why you had to beat up your brother like that.” I said
“you are not afraid of me?” he asked.
He looked at me and he looked like my answer meant a whole lot to me.
“no. am not. It was sort of hot.” I said. I blushed.
“was it?” he said.
He looked at with a smile on his face.
“I don’t know what I have gotten myself into.” He said while shaking his head.
“you are in for a long ride.” I said.
We reached the house. The big iron gate was opened and we were greeted by two men carrying big guns. The place was crawling with men carrying guns. Some were simply standing and others were walking around.
“why is there so much security?” I asked.
He shrugged.
He parked his car right next to two land rover defenders. They were both black.
We got out and he looked at the cars for a moment and his face became hard.
Now don’t get me wrong but Celeste having a hard look only means that whatever is on the other side of the door is not good.
He held my hand and we walked towards the front door.
The door opened and the butler was there.
“Celeste.” He said while slightly bowing.
“Charles.” Celeste said.
Typical butler names.
“Aqua.” He said acknowledging me.
I was shocked but I masked it with a simple fake smile.
We entered the house with Charles in front of us. He led us to the living room and if I had known I wouldn’t have agreed to this dinner.
“aqua” celeste’s mom said.
Her name is Giuliana.
“ah Aqua am so glad you could come.” His dad said. His name is Antonio.
They didn’t know that their guests were the people I used to call my family.
Yes you heard right. My father and my step mother and my step siblings sat down and looking like they have seen a ghost.
Well they might have.
“Aqua?” my father finally asked.
Celeste and his parents finally looked at them. They were surprised and they had heard the surprise in his tone.
“you know her?” Celeste asked.
“yes. She is my daughter.” He said.
“was.” I said. My tone came out harsher and cold that I expected.
“what?’ Giuliana asked.
“lets sit down.” Antonio said.
We all sat down. I sat down next to Celeste.
“now tell us from the beginning” Antonio said.
“ that man over there was my father” I said.
“Aqua I still am.” He said.
I laughed humorlessly.
I looked at him dead in the eye.
“you have some nerve to call yourself that. You lost the right when you allowed your wife and children to abuse me all because I was the product of your affair. You lost the right to call me that when your sons would beat me when I complained how I was being treated by my boyfriend. You lost the right when your daughters and their mother would find any reason to verbally insult me every chance they got. I would cook for you all, do your laundry and clean up after you all in the name of proving myself that I am supposed to be in the family. As if that wasn’t enough you would use me as bait for your enemies. You never cared. You threw me in a ditch when you got tired of me. I would have died if it wasn’t for Miss Mary who found me and took me to the hospital.” I said and I didn’t realise I was crying till Celeste wiped my tears.
My family looked ashamed. I don't know who they were fooling but its definitely not me.
I scoffed.
“the nerve you have.” I said.
“we are sorry Aqua.” Rochelle said.
“you are sorry? Sorry? I don’t think so. You were not sorry when your brother raped me and you stood there and didn’t do anything because in your eyes I deserved it. You were not sorry when you locked me in that closet for seven days. You were not sorry when you paid my boyfriend to not let me leave him. You let him keep me for a week. He raped me. He let his friends have their way with me. He tied me to the bed. You were not sorry then and you are not sorry now.” I said.
I felt Celeste tense up and he was trembling with anger.
I felt warm hands envelope me. I knew it was Giuliana.
“my child.” She said.
“how could you do that to an innocent person?” Antonio asked.
“Antonio, she was a product of an affair. Every time I looked at her I just couldn’t handle it.” Rochelle said.
“that doesn’t give you the right to do that to her. She is innocent in all of this. Did she tell Matteo to cheat on you? Did she ask to be born?’ Giuliana asked.
“no I just..” she let out a sigh.
“why are you here?” celeste asked.
His voice was cold.
“we needed your help. We are loosing everything.” He said.
“I will not help you.” Celeste said.
“why? Because of that—“ rochelle started to blow up but she shut up after Celeste looked at her.
“finish that sentence I dare you to. Finish it and  I will rip your tongue out with my  bare hands.” He said.
She gulped.
I have no doubt that he would do that.
“I am the one who stole all your suppliers. You pissed me off Matteo. You had the guts and the nerve to come after my biggest client. You had the nerve to steal my container and you also had the nerve to supply the Cubans who are under me with cocaine that was not even processed properly. You killed five of my clients with that shit of yours.” He said.
“mikeal what did you do?” Matteo looked at Mike.
“I didn’t do it. It was Ryan.” Mike said.
You see the two are sort of idiots. They are smart sure but they are too cocky. Their arrogance is not even sexy at all. Mikeal is the sole heir of the empire but he wants to share with Ryan because they are that close. But Mikael and Ryan are completely immature and the mafia is doomed. They are controlled by their emotions. Theo is a lot better but he cant rule the mafia. He just doesn’t have it in him.
“am sorry my incompetent sons did that. They are still learning.” He said.
“and I learn you abused my woman. You will find yourselves on the streets very soon.” I said.
“Antonio. We have known each other for so long.” He said.
“it seems that I didn’t know you at all. You let your children and wife abuse my daughter-in-law. The future queen to the empire.” He said. He abused me too but I couldn't dare say it out loud.
I was in Giuliana’s embrace and I could finally feel that mother’s love. It felt good and she held me. She let the pain feel less than how it really is.
I have never felt a mother’s love and if it anything like what I feel in her arms then I have been missing out.
“please leave.’ Giuliana said.
“you are kicking us out because a stranger? “ Rochelle said in disbelief.
Rochelle has always had a problem with her mouth. Her brain and mouth are not connected and that leads to a lot of shit to be spewed out. She is beautiful once you get past the nasty attitude and demonic personality. But at least she loves her kids. she is always dressed to kill. she has no job, she is a kept woman and she loves to shop. She made sure that her daughters were raised like that. Now Ronda is jumping from one CEO to another trying to get married to the highest bidder. Tracy at least is a model but she is married to some old guy and she starred in some stupid reality show and clearly everybody knows she is in it for the money. Then there is Theo who is a loner but causes chaos everywhere he goes, from drugs to sexual complaints.
Theo used to feel me up at some point but he never went as far.
“I don’t even get why you are defending that whore. She has been used countless times and I can surely say that her pussy is as big as the Grand Canyon. Come to me and I ca---“ Ronda started but couldn’t finish because Celeste was in front of her in the speed of lightning and he made a deep cut on her face from her forehead down to her chin barely missing her eye.
She let out a loud scream.
“my face! My beautiful face!” she screamed with blood gushing out of the cut.
Rochelle and Tracy screamed as well trying to help the hysterical Ronda.
“we shall leave.” Matteo said.
They started to leave and they dragged the crying Ronda.
“will have to call the dry cleaners tomorrow. I hope it doesn’t stain.” I heard Giuliana say.
“how are you dear?” Antonio asked.
“how can you ask that?” Giuliana scolded him.
I felt the familiar pair of arms wrap around me from behind.
“Aqua, look at me” he said.
He shifted and I hesitated.
“please.” He said.
I removed myself from her embrace and looked at him.
He wiped a tear from my face with the pad of his thumb.
“I don’t see you any different. Wait that’s a lie. I do see you different. You are stronger than I thought. You went past that and made a name for yourself. You are above it all.” He said.
That made me feel better. I felt a little tingly inside.
“you are strong. Never forget that.” Antonio said.
“and you are welcome here anytime.” She said.
I gave them a smile.
“oh my..” Giuliana gasped.
“I told you mom.” He said.
“you should smile a lot more often.” Antonio said
“I have a great reason to.” I said while looking at Celeste.
He gave me a chaste kiss on my lips.
“okay. Lets have some dinner.” She said.
We all stood up and walked to the dining room. The dinning room had that classy but vintage look. It had hard wood dining table that had 18 chairs that complemented it. The set looked antique with the floral carvings it had engraved and the bright vase that sat in the middle of the table with white center decorations that adorned the vase. A huge chandelier hang right above the centre piece and brought a sort of colour to the room. The dining room had a huge mirror with an antique wooden frame that matched the dining set. The table was set with white and grey cutlery and linen.
Celeste pulled my chair and I sat down. The chairs had a dark coloured cushion that made it so comfortable to sit on. He sat right next to me. As soon as we sat down, three maids brought the food and set it down on the table.
The food looked delicious. There was a roasted full chicken with vegetables, some lasagne, mashed potatoes, asparagus sautéed in some crushed onion and garlic and butter. Chicken alfredo and a variety of salads.
They said grace and soon we dug into the food.
Half way through the meal, I felt Celeste’s hand on my thigh. His thumb was gently caressing my thigh.
It wasn’t sexual but it was comforting.
“so Aqua, do you think you could teach me how to throw knives? I saw the video of---” Giuliana started but was rudely interrupted by Antonio.
“no! no way” he exclaimed.
Celeste started to laugh.
“and why the hell not?” she asked her husband with an eyebrow raised.
“because you will kill me” he said.
“maybe if you don’t do anything stupid I wont.” She said as she put a forkful of lasagne in her mouth.
Antonio grumbled.
“I am confused.” I said.
“well, Tonio thought he could have a side bitch and I wouldn’t do shit about it. We had just gotten together and our marriage was arranged you see. So he thought that I was some stupid girl who he could push around.” She said. She paused to take a sip of her wine.
“so I woke up from my nap to sounds of him talking dirty to some cheap slut with no figure whatsoever right next to me.” She said.
“right next to you?” I asked.
“yes. I had slept on the couch and he and his figureless cunt were on the other side of the couch. I shot him right in the shoulder due to my bad aim of course.” She said.
“bad aim? You were not aiming for my shoulder?” Antonio asked bewildered.
I started giggling.
“was aiming for the head.” She mumbled while taking a sip.
“see this is why I don’t let you anywhere near any harmful objects.” Antonio said.
She stuck her tongue out at him, then started laughing.
Its good to see an old couple still in love. They are the big bosses well retired king and queen of the mafia and now they don’t even seem like it. Just an old rich couple that is still in love.
Celeste still had his hand on my thigh.
“celeste put both your hands on the table?” his mom said.
“geez mom cant I feel up my girl?” he said but still put his arm on the table.
“ah I still remember the moments we shared during dinner with your parents love,” Tonio said.
Celeste gagged while his mom giggled and took a sip of her wine.
“TMI” he said.
“dessert?” a woman asked.
“yes please.” Giuliana replied.
“so what did Caleb do this time?” his father asked.
Celeste tensed and you could literally see him get angry. I rubbed his thigh to try to ease his emotional turmoil. He grabbed my hand and I squeezed it a little.
“he just showed up unannounced talking about how he will tell Aqua all about the incident and watch her hate me and he would swoop up and play victim which would make him end up with her in bed.” He said.
What?
His father sighed and his mom just shook her head.
“damn Caleb.” Antonio sighed.
‘well he is still in the hospital. Fighting for his consciousness.” His mom said.
“maybe I should go finish him up.” Celeste said.
“he is still your brother.” She said.
“what is going on?” I asked.
“he didn’t tell you?” she asked.
“tell me what?” I asked.
I looked among them. Celeste avoided my eye contact as he took a sip from his bourbon and his father just looked at Celeste expectantly.
He set the glass down and he cleared his throat.
“Caleb has always been on my ass ever since I was born. He was great at the training and shooting and pretty much everything else, he was the heir to all of this” he waved his hand around. “anyway, when I started training with him, he would always make sure I messed up at some point and he would make me feel like shit. Make me feel worthless and always made it his job to always remind me how much I was a fuck up. I would sit around and just take it. Honestly, I didn’t care if I wasn’t going to be the heir to the mafia or not just that he never believed me. I remember I told him that he was just wasting his time with me because I was just doing the training for the sake of it and not that I wanted to take over one day. He laughed at me for not having any vision. He always bullied me for being the soft one. When I was 12 and he was 16, he came into my room after I had successfully failed to kill a rabbit. Dad said it was fine but he just didn’t get it. He came into my room and continued taunting me for it. I had a pet hamster named Peter.” He smiled while swirling the bourbon in his glass. The ice in the glass was making the clinking sounds and then he took a gulp.
“I was petting Peter and he kept talking. I had learnt how to zone him out when he was talking his bullshit. I ignored him, I guess that made him mad, he slapped Peter out of my hands and Peter hit the wall and fell down. I yelled at him for doing that. I guess he got carried away and he shot Peter. Peter was my best friend. I had zero social skills. And he shot him. I snapped. I tackled him to the ground. I kept punching him. Hitting him. In the end I shot him too. He had broken ribs, fractured arms and his spine took the shot. So, I crippled him.” He said.
I was speechless.
“your brother is a dick. Who kills his brother’s best friend?” I asked.
Celeste looked at me surprised.
“what?” he asked.
“you are the first person to not feel sorry for Caleb.” Antonio said.
I shrugged.
“I don’t feel sorry for that bastard. I don’t even regret crippling him” Celeste said.
“that’s what landed you in the asylum” his mom said.
“always knew you were crazy” I teased him with a smile.
He smiled at me.
Maybe just maybe falling hard for Celeste is not going to be a problem.
Today has been something else that’s for sure.
We finished dinner and said our goodbyes.
“am happy you don’t see me any differently” I said to Celeste as he drove out of the compound.
“so am I. “he said.
I switched on the radio and I was flipping through the channels.
“leave that song” he said.
I looked at him amused. It was power by little mix.
“I heard it the other day and it kinda stuck in my head.” He said.
“right.” I said.
I could hear him quietly sing along. And I bit my lip trying not to laugh.
“you can laugh all you want but these girls are hot.” He said.
“are they now?” I asked with an eyebrow raised.
“hey! You always telling me how cute those Asians guys are.” He said.
“touché” I said.
BTS has very good-looking boys I cant pick one. They are so cute.