My mafia | Daerin

25.

POV: Danielle

"Love."

Haerin said after a long silent drive. Well, it really wasn't that long since we just drove into downtown, but it felt like hours with my thoughts clouding my focus.

I looked up to her gorgeous brown eyes to see a faint hint of worry. "What is it?"

She tucked a few stands of my hair behind my ear before softly asking, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Her face held something deeper. I knew it wasn't just for what I might feel after meeting with Vernon. It seemed almost as if Haerin was afraid of losing me. I don't know why I felt she was feeling that since I was just going to meet my brother and wouldn't think of leaving her, but I've seen that look before. That look Haerin has when she thinks it's a possibility I won't come back.

I gently brought my hand to rest on her cheek. "Why do you look like you're afraid I won't come back?" I whispered.

She sighed and after a moment the corners of her lips turned upward. "You know me too well," she shook her head. "It's just he's been looking for you for ten years. If I had a chance to meet whatever family I have left, I would spend as much time as I could with them. I'm just afraid to wake up to you on a flight to Paris because of him."

I shook my head and leaned in to kiss her. Once we broke the kiss, I said, "How could you even think I would do that?"

"It's hard to believe an amazing girl like you could put up with my lifestyle, even put yourself in danger just to be with me."

"Well, I'm here to stay as long as you'll have me."

Haerin smiled, "Then in that case, you're going to have to stay until I'm not on this earth anymore."

"Gladly," I placed a quick kiss to her lips before looking out the window and seeing the big bold letters Paradiso Ristorante, which just reminded me that my brother is in there.

"How are you feeling?" She squeezed my hand.

I turned back to her and exhaled, "A little nervous I guess. I'm not really sure what to expect."

"I'm sure Felix just wants to get to know you since he's been looking for so long."

"I can't believe he's never found me, I mean, with all the connections."

"I have a suspicion that it might have something to do with your father."

I nodded and looked out the window again. "I guess I should go in,"

"Okay, call me if you need anything,"

"Of course," I replied and kissed her one last time before walking in.

***

"So...why did it take you this long to find me?" I asked after the long awkward silence after we ordered our food.

"It mainly was your father. He wanted to keep me away from his current family and because he and our uncle are so close, he refused to tell me either, so I was going off of nothing while they stopped me at every chance I got to search for you," Felix explained.

"It's hard to find someone who someone else is trying to hide in this world."

"Speaking of which, when did you find out about the mafia anyway?"

"I had my suspicions with my father, but I never confirmed it. But when Haerin and my father talked alone at the hospital, I could see it written all over his face that he knew exactly who Haerin was and there's only one way that could happen."

"I see. You know Haerin knew about me before we met?"

"She told me after that she only found out a week before."

Felix nodded. "You know, I was really surprised to find out you were with her."

I smiled slightly, "Why do you say that?"

"It's just that I heard she's never with any women. I thought Haerin was just too busy or she didn't want to give any information to them. I didn't think it was because she was with you."

I shook my head, "We've only known each other for four months."

"Oh. I just thought with the way she looks at you,..." he trailed off.

"How does she look at me?" I raised my eyebrow.

Felix shook his head, smiling.

"Felix."

"Fine. She looks at you like your her whole world. Like you've been together for a long time and you're all that matters to her. You can tell Haerin loves you," he explained. (n.1 daerin shipper)

"She's never said it," I mumbled.

His eyes got big at that comment. "She probably will soon. It's written all over her face that she loves you more than anything in this world."

My smile only grew at those words.

Noticing this he asked, "You're happy?"

"Of course, I love Haerin."

It was the first time I said it out loud, but my heart has known i have for a long time now. My heart started beating faster and butterflies erupted in my belly just thinking about how the woman I love, loves me back. I'm probably going to faint when she's the one who actually tells me.

"That's good. I honestly thought at first Haerin was forcing you to be with her, but when I saw you two at the ball, I could see I was wrong."

"At first, she didn't want me with her because she thought it was too dangerous, but in the end Haerin was too selfish to let me go. Well, that was after I told her countless times I didn't care if my safety was at risk as long as I was with her."

"I could see where she's coming from," Felix thought about something else for a moment. "Do you want to go back to France with me?"

That caught me by surprise, so I started choking on my water. I coughed a few times before asking, "What?"

"Just to get to know each other better."

"I can't," I replied.

"Haerin won't let you?"

"No, it's nothing like that. I just don't want to leave her. I know you might not like it, but I just can't be away from her even for a few weeks."

Felix smiled to himself. "I knew it was a long shot. I could barely leave my fiancée for a week to come here."

"You have a fiancée?"

"Yeah, I met him two years ago at a club." (can yall guess 🤨)

"A club?" I chuckled.

"I was there because I'm the owner and had to meet with people, and when I saw him alone at a table. I could tell that he didn't want to be there and his friends most likely dragged him here. I just started talking to him about what he didn't like about the club and changed what he didn't. Later, I showed it to him and he loved it. Then I asked him to come with me to the opening after all the renovations and he agreed."

"You made all those changes for him?"

Felix smiled, "Yeah, at the time, I just wanted him to talk to me, but I realized quickly that he was extremely smart. The club was even more popular after, so I asked him to design my clubs, restaurants, and hotels for me. You should visit sometime. He does an amazing job."

"Yeah, Haerin and I could take a vacation."

"I'm glad I finally found you. Family is everything to me."

"I'm glad too."

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