Coming Back Home

Who You?

Alessandro POV

I'm sitting in my office at home, looking over the folder of information on my princess Giada's whereabouts. There's nowhere near enough here for my liking. I wish I didn't even need this folder. Then she'd be with me. I sigh and rub my hands down my face. I'm about to get up to grab some whiskey when my phone rings.

I look down and see that it's an unknown number. Not many people know my personal number, so I think I should probably pick this up. "Hello?" I say, deadpanned. "Yes, hello. Is this, uh, Alessandro King?" a nasally voice sounds on the other end of the phone. It doesn't sound familiar to me.

"Who's asking?" I spit. You can't be too careful. I don't want just anyone to have this number. Her voice is a little shakier when she responds. "Oh, uh, um." She clears her throat. "Sir, my name is Mariam Flores. I am a social worker with Bright County. I need to speak with Alessandro King urgently." What the fuck? A social worker? And from Bright County? I don't even know where that is.

"This is Alessandro King. What do you want?" I reply. "Thank you, sir," she answers, relieved. I roll my eyes. "I am calling because I have a Giada Isabella King here. According to her birth certificate, you are her father. Were you aware of this?" My jaw drops. My princess? Is this real?

"Sir? Hello? Are you still there?" I hear the woman call out to me. "Yes, yes. I'm here. Are you certain?" My voice is barely above a whisper. "Yes, sir. When we found her, she was only able to tell us her first name. We couldn't find much information about her, so we performed a DNA test to determine who she is. We were able to connect her DNA to one of your sons, Xander King, from a *ahem* prior incident. From there we connected him to you, which led to Giada's birth certificate. Your signature was on it, but unfortunately, I have had cases in which the signatures were forged. So, I was unsure if you were aware that you had a daughter."

She pauses for a moment, perhaps to give me a chance to respond. But, I can't say a thing. "Right. Anyway, the reason she has come to be here with me is that her mother and step-father were both in an accident earlier this evening. I'm afraid they both died on impact. Now, I'd like to get that poor little girl settled as soon as possible. So, I need to know if you will be taking custody of her or not. If not, I will need you to sign away your rights so that I can get her settled into a lovely family as soon as possible."

"NO! *Ahem* I mean, no. I will be taking custody of her right away. Where can I come to pick her up?" I rush out. "Oh, that is wonderful! We always prefer to place children with their biological families whenever possible. Well, like I said, we are in Bright County. So, you can pick her up at the police station in Milton. How soon can you-"

"I will be there at 8 am tomorrow morning. I expect everything to be ready for me to take her straight away," I demand abruptly. "Oh, uh, yes, of course sir. We will be ready for you tomorrow morning. Thank you. Have a gre-" I hang up the phone and immediately text my sons to meet me in the living room now. I grab my bottle of whiskey and take a shot before rushing off to the living room.

I arrive in the living room to find my twins, Xander and Xavier, and my oldest son, Matteo. "Where are your brothers?" I ask the boys. Xander shrugs with his typical scowl on his face. Fucking hell. "FRANCESCO, RICCARDO. GET YOUR ASSES DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" My voice booms. They will definitely hear that, I smirk to myself. My remaining two sons hurry down the stairs and plop down on the couch. I look at them with my eyebrow raised. They have the decency to look ashamed.

"I just received a very important call." All of my sons except Xander and Matteo look at me curiously. Xander is still scowling, and Matteo's face is blank, as usual. I take a deep breath before continuing. "We found her. We finally found our princess." Xavier jumps up with a huge smile on his face. "Really, dad? She's coming home?" He's nearly crying. I grab his shoulders and smile back at him. "Really, son. She's coming home." I pull him into a hug and feel his shoulders shake as he cries in happiness.