The Capo and His Queen (Book 2 In PTMM Series)

Chapter: 23

"Sometimes you don't realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weaknesses." 

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Gianna Pov~

"It's a lot of work but thank goodness I don't have to do it all by myself." Ano V said with a lighthearted smile making her wrinkles show her true age. We were watching the vast vineyard in the back as we leaned against the balcony. Ano V was telling me how she used to love to work in her father's vineyard growing up.

"I wish I had this when I was younger." I muttered remembering the days when I would rejoice just to be standing in our Garden when I was with my father. "It was my only time I felt free and complete, like nothing could touch me." I felt a hand grasp mine, I looked up and saw Ano V give me a small but reassuring smile.

I couldn't help but smile back, hers was contagious. "I don't know where I would have ended up without Adriano. He saved me." I whispered feeling the emotions rush through my body. The amount of love I have for this man, the respect and happiness I feel when he's with me and our kids. It's indescribable.

"I believe you saved him figlia." She whispered with her heavy accent showing through, with a crooked smile. Turning her head back out to the field the sun gracing her face perfectly. "When Adriano was a boy him and his father would visit me for a couple months every year. My brother was always difficult, he always wanted the best out of everyone and everything."

"He was always hard on Adriano, rebuking him when he messed up and showing him things no 5 year old boy should see. So when they came to visit, Adriano would be this quiet mouse in the corner. Everyday to get him to eat or change his clothes or shower I would tell him a story to distract him. He would be so engaged in the story he would forget about me actually helping him. He was always the serious one whereas with Matteo he was the free spirited one." She reminisced with a soft sigh. 

"Why was he so quiet?" I asked intrigued. Adriano  was always private about his past, I never got to really hear stories about when he was little. So I wanted to know, I wanted to be selfish just a little for once. And Ano V was the best person to ask. 

She shrugged and glanced at me for a second before turning back to the lush land. "I would say it was because of his father. Growing up, Enzo pushed that poor boy into doing some very gruesome things, Things Enzo liked to call "Mafia Building." If you ask me he just wanted a mini version of himself. I think Adriano was just trying to figure everything out in his little head. You're never born with the instinct to harm people, you're taught that.  That doesn't mean he never struggled with it. 

"Was there a point in his life where he didn't want this life?" I asked curiously. She nodded with a firm face "For sure. Around the age of 14, 15 his guilt got to the point where he ran away for a little bit. Came here all the way to Italy. He wasn't always the all feared Capo di Capi who everyone is scared of. He went through a lot that made him the strong and scary man he is today. There is humanity in him far more than he likes to show. That hard exterior of a husband you have is nothing compared to the man with a full heart underneath." 

I nodded and smiled "I know, that's the man I fell in love with." 

"What made him go back?" I asked. "That is something he will have to tell you himself." She said.