OBSESSION (FULL NOVEL): A Mafia Romance (18+)

46

Paris

It was around two in the morning, and I smiled as I watched my beautiful girl rest on the bed before me.

Riley was under the silk sheets, back drifting up and down slowly with her soft breaths, and her breasts as well as her stomach were uncovered by the bedding, giving me a sight of her slightly budded nipples.

I liked this... Just sitting here and watching her sleep.

It was a creepy thing to do, but I loved how she looked so gentle and innocent under the moonlight.

Like a goddess, honestly.

But I broke myself out of my trance, pulling out my cellphone as I dialed Veo, pressing the phone to my ear seconds later.

"Yes, sir?" he said, sounding slightly exhausted.

"Sorry for waking you," I told him, "but I wanted to ask you if Julie and Claire were doing alright?"

"Yes, sir," Veo responded. "Julie has been sleeping in Claire's bed for a couple nights, and Claire always reads her bedtime stories before she helps her sleep."

"How's the kiddo doing?"

"Julie's alright..." Veo responded. "I really hope so, she has nightmares almost every night and I walk out of my room to find her hiding under the dining table."

"Night terrors," I responded.

"Yeah," Veo said, yawning. "Yeah, but every night I coax her out and carry her back to bed."

I paused at the warm hint to his voice. "You've grown an attachment to her," I said, "haven't you?"

He was silent for a moment. "I know we're not supposed to grow attachments, sir, but...."

"She reminds you of your daughter," I answered. "I understand, Veo."

The one that my father killed.

"Riley hasn't asked about them," I told Veo then. "I honestly wonder why."

"Maybe she trusts you," he told me.

I remembered our conversation earlier:

Do you need me to show you I'm not bad?

N-no. I trust you, Paris.

"Maybe," I said.

We were both silent for a moment.

"Listen, Veo," I said then, "I want you to try something with her. My mother did this with me when I was a kid. Whenever she has nightmares, do what you do, coax her out of her hiding place, and then sit on the couch with her while reading her a bedtime story, and while you're reading, try rubbing her shoulder."

"Do you think that Riley would be okay with that?"

"I think so," I responded, "I honestly think so. I also think that Julie needs a father-figure because both her parents were taken from her, and Riley is too traumatized to care for her the right way, she needs someone older, someone she can trust. You, Veo."

He was silent for a moment. "Thank you, sir. I-I'll spend more time with her. Thank you."

And he hung up.

I smiled down at my phone at his enthusiasm.

Glad I could boost someone's mood.

I stared at Riley's blissful state for another minute before getting up and making my way into the kitchen to get a snack.

I was halfway through making my PPJ sandwich before I heard a, Thump!

My heart stopped and I darted straight into the bedroom, throwing open the door.

When I saw the bed empty, my blood ran cold.

I searched the room for her, the walls, the desks.

When my eyes met the floor, my panic cooled when I saw Riley on the carpet, still asleep and breathing under the freed blanket.

"Did you just fucking fall off the bed?" I asked her in amusement, stepping over to the girl as I lifted her limp body in my arms.

But as I walked back to the bed, I noticed she clung to me slightly, and when I gazed down at her to find her eyes closed, I realized something.

She wanted me to hold her. She felt my presence fade when I went to the kitchen and fell off the bed because she was searching for me.

I then decided to carry her to the couch in my living room, settling down on it with her in my lap as I switched on the TV while draping a blanket over her.

My neighbors had probably seen her naked more than once, but I didn't really care, and eventually, neither did she.

I gaze back down at her when the commercials switched on, and she was still asleep, cuddled in with me.

I ran my fingers through her brown curls. "You're so beautiful," I whispered to her.