BRUTAL

66. Valentina / Fredrico

•A WEEK AND A HALF LATER•

VALENTINA'S POV

"Don't be nervous," Rico mumbles and rubs my back. "I'm not," I reply. "You're shaking. You shake when you're nervous."

I turn around, "Do you think this is the right outfit?"

"Valentina you met them in sweatpants. You'll be fine."

I've been preparing for Jamie, Raylan, and Alaina to come here since yesterday morning.

In the past week and half we've moved into a different penthouse. The one we were in was more of a safe house than a regular place.

Simone also had her baby. She had a boy and named him Mateo. He's the cutest thing ever. His eyes are green and he has the most cutest chubby cheeks i've ever seen.

I smooth out my dress, "I'm just so nervous because my parents are meeting for the first time since my mom got pregnant with me."

I do an extra coat of lipstick. "This can either go really good or very, very bad. It might even be catastrophic."

"What if it's okay?" Rico asks.

I look back at him, "Okay? There's no such thing as just okay."

I smooth out my dress and look at myself in the mirror. "Don't worry Amore," Rico mumbles and hugs me from behind.

He plants a kiss on my neck. "Everything will be fine."

"Right," I mumble and fix my hair. "Everything will be fine," I repeat. I take in a deep breath and let it out.

"Okay, let's go downstairs. They'll be here any moment." Rico follows me downstairs.

"Did I make the dinner reservations last night?" I ask. "Yes. You triple checked it last night," Rico answers.

"Don't be nervous," I hear Lily tell my mother. "I'm not nervous," She replies. "You shake when you're nervous." Lily was here for support.

"Well would you look at that, you two really are alike more than you think," Rico mumbles.

"I should've meditated this morning," I mumble.

I go into the kitchen and kiss Jamila's cheek before taking Leo out her lap. "Hi baby," I whisper and kiss his cheek.

I check my watch, "They should be here any moment."

"We'll have about an hour to spare before going to dinner," I say.

I sit down next to Aaya. She leans in, "I've never seen Mama look so jittery and nervous before," she whispers.

I hum, "Me neither."

"Hopefully no one has a stroke," she whispers.

"How's Simone doing?" I ask, trying to distract Jamila from everything.

"She's doing well," Lily answers. "Her parents and Leo is over there now, helping her and Derek with anything they need. Especially with helping the twins."

"That's good," I reply. "Mateo is so adorable."

Lily gets out her phone, "He is! And he's very very greedy."

"How much did he weigh?" Aaya asks.

"Eight pounds twelve ounces."

My eyes widen, "No wonder Simone's stomach was huge. That's almost nine pounds."

"Rory was like that. She weighed eight pounds fourteen ounces," Lily says and gives me her phone to look at pictures.

"How much did me and Val weigh Mama?" Aaya asks.