Calloused

44

"You make sure to tell your father to call me more. I know you all have a lot of work to do, but he can still make time to call me." Nonna said over the phone. I smiled at how heartwarming it was that my father was still very close to her. 

"Of course, Nonna you have my word. I will."

"Good, good! Okay, I love you, mi amor. I will talk to you soon." I could hear the smile in her voice.

"I love you too Nonna. Talk soon." I smiled, hanging up the phone I placed it in my pants pocket as I walked back to the front of the house. I wore a black button up with a pair of black dress pants. The top three buttons were undone. 

A team of construction workers had started rebuilding our family home about a month ago. The previous one had been burned beyond repair. So, we were starting from scratch. They had just finished building the frame and foundation of the house. We were debating on building a basement but decided against it. 

My father had given H and I a lot of freedom with the design plans. He knew it would be better for us to design it since we would eventually be the primary owners. He was focusing on his retirement house that was less than a minute from the estate. 

"It's looking good." H smiled as he came to stand beside me. He wore the same clothing, although his outfit had a suit jacket. 

"It is. Maybe we can put a barn in and start a garden to grow our own food. Like in Italy." I smiled, showing him the layout of the property. He looked at the sketches I had drawn, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. 

"I think that would be a great idea. Maybe we can have a few cows and some goats." He agreed.

I couldn't contain my excitement as a smile spread over my features. 

"I'm off to meet with Niall to go over our plans for next month. This month's gun shipment came in without any complications. So, we're moving on to spreading our delivers further to the other states." 

"Expanding to our previous territories?" I asked.

"That's the plan. We'll have to retake them. Vincent really made things difficult on us. The other gangs nearby have been trying to keep what was once ours." H sighed.

"With each day that passes, our numbers are growing. We will have more than enough men before next month." I reassured him. Lou has been doing well in bringing in new men. He's reached out to his old connections in the UK. I see why my father often employed people from all over the world. It had come in handy with the rebuilding. 

Liam had been designing the state-of-the-art security systems for the property as well. He's even gone a step further and is designing and electric fence to surround the whole property.

In the next few years, we should be well developed and back on top.

"We will be back to being the most feared and respected." H smirked, as if he read my mind.

"You are correct." I smiled as I leaned up to peck his lips. 

"And that will give us more time to plan our wedding." H said as we watched the construction team work on our dream house. It would have at least twelve bedrooms and ten bathrooms. There would be a library, a few office rooms, a large kitchen, entertainment room and a living room. It would be 3 levels and have a four-car garage. We would replicate the original pool too.

"Also correct." I agreed.

H gave me a kiss before he left to go meet with Niall. I got onto a golf cart and started to drive towards my father's property. He had bought several more acres in addition to the ten we had already owned. We were building a true empire here. We were preparing for the next generations to come. For our children, and their children's children.