Defiant. Sweet. Alluring.
A business deal gone wrong brought me to her doorstep.
She's everything I shouldn't want; everything I was against after watching my mother's obsession destroy her.
Still, I can't stop myself from craving her.
I should know...
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"Oh, my God. They're so precious. Look how tiny they are!" I gushed, staring at the little rosy chubby cheeks that filled my screen. "And they look so squishy, too. I just want to gobble them up."
Mama burst into laughter, her eyes lighting up with the motion. "I know, right? Niko's genes worked overtime. They look just like him when he was a baby." Her gaze flickered to Niko who stood off camera. "Albeit quieter. This one had a set of lungs on him."
"And now I want to see them in person even more," I pouted. "How could Niko do this to me?"
He'd enforced a strict rule prohibiting visits while Giselle was still at the hospital. She needed the first few days to recover before we bombarded her with visits, he said, and with an extended family as huge as ours with nosy relatives to boot, I understood where he was coming from.
The only reason he'd let Mama visit was because, according to him, she was the only trusted adult whose opinion he needed. Years had passed since his return, but it had done nothing to mend his shaky relationship with the family. Not that he minded in the first place.
"Can I come tomorrow? I promise I won't tell anyone you let me visit. It'll be like our little secret."
"No!" He said adamantly, his tone brokering no room for arguments.
I scoffed, rolling my eyes dramatically, even though he couldn't see me. "You're no fun. You do know I could just ask Elle, right? She'd let me."
Mama panned the camera over to Niko, trying and failing to hide her tiny giggles. The man of the hour was perched on an arm chair next to Giselle's bed, a scowl on his face. My usually put together cousin had his hair sticking out in every direction, from tirelessly running his fingers through the strands, no doubt. His face was almost as pale as his crumpled white shirt, purples smudges taking residence underneath his eyes.
"Wow, you look like you pushed out a few babies yourself. Where are they?" I teased. "Are they as cute as Giselle's?"
He cocked his head to the side condescendingly, the scowl on his face deepening. "Hilarious. Don't you have work to do? If you pay this little attention to your business, you'll be filing for bankruptcy in no time. And I mean it; stay in your own damn house."
"You rude little sh– oh, Elle's waking up! Let me see her, Mama."
"Yes, yes." Mama moved closer to Giselle's bed, holding out the phone to her. "Here you go, Elle. Ari is so excited you'd think these were her babies."
Giselle's sleepy face filled the frame next.
"There's the woman of the hour. You're a freaking superhero, Elle. Three flipping babies?"
A small laugh escaped her lips. "One and done for me. Well, three came in one batch, but right now, I don't think I could go through this again."
"Definitely not," Niko piped in from his seat. "You're not going through that pain again. That was enough to last you a lifetime."
