Mafia Betrayal

Chapter Forty Four

Luca

When I woke up the next morning tangled up in Charlotte, I almost felt like I dreamt the night before.

We were married. I had a wife—a wife, and a daughter. It was more than I ever could have imagined. Five months ago, I never thought I would see Charlotte again, and I didn't even know about Layla. Now, I got to see both of them every day for the rest of my life. I took back every bad thing I ever said about Christmas. Christmas was the greatest day in the world.

There was a small creak on the door and I saw Layla peering into our room, trying to determine if we were up. When we made eye contact, I winked at her and she came bounding in to the room.

"Shh, mommy is still sleeping." I cautioned, opening up the covers so she could crawl in with us. Thank God Charlotte had the foresight to make us put pajamas on last night. I don't think either one of us wanted a repeat of the day Layla walked in wondering why we weren't wearing clothes.

"It's Christmas, daddy!" She beamed, snuggling into my chest.

My heart nearly burst as I held her, her mother sleeping soundly next to me. I had no idea a morning could feel this special. That I'd be so moved by this tiny little girl and her crooked smile. That I'd love her and her mother more than life itself, and that the two of them would become my entire world.

"I know!" I grinned, tucking her errant curls behind her ear. "Are you excited to see what Santa brought you?"

She nodded wildly. "Can I wake mommy up?"

"Why don't we go down and get some coffee for mommy and then you can wake her up and we can open all of your presents from Santa?"

"Yes!" she shrieked, causing Charlotte to stir a bit. Layla made the cutest little guilty face and shrugged her shoulders. "Oops."

"Come on, angel." I said, picking her up and tiptoeing out of the room to give Charlotte just a few more minutes of peace. We were up late celebrating and today was going to be a big day.

Our first Christmas together. Our first day as husband and wife. We'd tell everybody at some point and while the idea of that excited me, I was also a little nervous. Like I told Charlotte the other day, when people knew who she and Layla were to me, it put them in danger. I didn't want to think about that now, though. All I wanted to focus on was enjoying the day with my girls and fighting off our enemies could wait.

Layla and I poured two cups of coffee for Charlotte and I and hot chocolate for her. We carefully carried them back upstairs with only minimal spillage, and Layla went to wake Charlotte up while I set them down on the table.

"Momma, it's Christmas, wake up!" Layla cheered, shaking her mother's shoulder violently. "Mooooooooooooooooooooooom."

Charlotte eventually opened her eyes and squinted, trying to take everything in.

"Good morning, baby." She propped herself up in bed.

"I made you coffee!" Layla announced proudly.

"Hey now, don't steal all my thunder." I laughed, walking towards them and sitting on the edge of the bed. "The coffee was my idea."

She scrunched her nose up at me. "But I put the sugar in it."

"Yeah, she can have all the credit for the sugar, because she nearly spilled the whole damn thing in there. It's way sweeter than you usually like it." I chuckled, watching as Layla jumped off the bed and over to the table, picking her hot chocolate up in slow motion. As it sloshed on the sides and down to my white carpet, I was suddenly realizing my house wasn't all that kid friendly.