When The Wrong One Loves You Right 3: Forever And Always

Chapter 4: Friends

Ana's POV

"Poor little orphan Annie has to use her dumb dog Sandy to get her out of yet another mess."
Antonio said sitting next to me on the couch.
"Ha, Ha, Where'd you get that Tony? Off the back of a cereal box your face is plastered on." I mock as I smile and try to contain my laugh.
"I can't believe you would insult me. You do know I'm a cold blooded killer right."
"The only thing cold about you is the milk you poured on the cereal you killed this morning."
He smiles and stays silent for a moment.
"What Tony the Tiger can't come up with any more punny insults? You know your kinda a frosted flake Tony."
"Okay, you win. I've got nothing without getting nasty." He said laughing.
"Yes." I whisper taking my victory then laughing with him.
"It's been a while since I seen you. How you been babes." He asks throwing his arm over my shoulder.
"It's been four days." I smile.
"It's been a sad lonely four days." He said tipping his head against my shoulder dramatically.
"For you Maybe. Did you visit Palm-ala a lot this week?"
"Her name is Susan and she's lived in my sock drawer since I was fifteen."
"Gross." I say scrunching my nose. "No wonder your room always smelled sour."
"How have the last few days been?" He asks chuckling.
"Blah."
"Really? That's exciting." He smiled sarcastically.
"I had to get a hold of a spoon and stir the pot, my life was getting boring." I said.
"Which part has been boring?" He asked.
"The part where I got grounded because I was almost shot."
"You probably saved my life though. So thank you."
"Your Welcome. Too bad I won't be there next time to save the damsel in destress." I say baby talking him.
"What can I say Batman, you swooped in and saved the day." Tony smiles.
"You really are a bitch, comparing me to Batman like Batman is hot shit."
"Batman is awesome."
"No he's a spoiled rich kid with fancy toys. That must be why you like him."
"Did you just call me a spoiled rich kid?" Antonio asks.
"I did." I say in a sing-songy voice.
He gasps. "And to think I was going to ask if I could be Robin."
"No, your to old to be Robin. You'd have to be the butler so I could still order you around."
"If I was your butler I'd have to put antifreeze in your orange juice so I could watch you die a slow painful death one day at a time."
"That's kinda hostile for a kids cereal character to say. They're going to have to send you back to the zoo so everyone can point and laugh at you and your juvenile banter."
"You know tomorrow's only a day away."
"Fuck, shut up." I say pushing his arm off over my shoulder both of us laughing.
"Since when are you too friends?" Adriano asks. "Last time I seen you together you tried to kill each other."
"Since I established dominance and made Tony my bitch." I answer.
"When was that?" Adriano asks.
"When my wife died a few years ago and Ana kept me from joining her." Tony answers, grabbing my hand. "She is the reason I'm siting here today and I will be grateful, the rest of my life."
"If you don't mind my asking, what happened to your wife?" Adriano asks.
"My wife was walking in the park. She was nine months pregnant and she was over it. She'd just had her water break and called to say the baby was coming. While she was on the phone with me the two bodyguards that were with her were shot. She knew she couldn't run. So she described the guy to me and told my where she was. Her last words to me were 'I love you. Keep our baby safe.' I couldn't do anything but listen to my wife die."
"That's fucked." Adriano said sadly.
"Did you know who did it?" Simon asks.
"Not at first. By the time I figured it out I had a three month old baby fresh out of NICU and I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know who to ask. My mom was sick weeks before and none of my sisters or brothers have kids. The only two I could ask were my dad and Dante. Dad was focused on mom, so I didn't want to bug him. So Dante was the one I could ask. When he came to my place the baby was screaming and I was fucking clueless on how to calm him down. Dante got him calmed down and put him to sleep. He's the one who called Ana and asked for her help. He hadn't spoken to her in a few years at that point. He said she asked him to keep his distance and he was respecting her wishes. He sat and had a few drinks with me before he worked himself up enough to make the call. When Ana showed up at my door I was in a bad place. She did her best to teach me what to do for a few weeks but my head wasn't in it. I just wanted the guy that took my wife to be dead. Ana saw me at my worst and help me through it. She stayed with me for a little over a month. While I was working she would take the baby and bring him back fat and happy every night when I got home. If I need her to stay the night she would. If I need her to keep the baby over night she would. She has helped me raise my child."
"Did you ever get the guy?" Giorgio asked sitting on the arm of the couch.
"No. Ana did. About six months after my wife died, I'd pissed the guy off that shot her when I started killing off his family. You all know how a vendetta works. The twenty people closest to him get picked off one by one. The night after I'd killed his wife he came after me. Broke in to my apartment when I wasn't home and he waited. I fought with him for ten minutes before Ana walked in. He had me pinned to the floor with his gun against my head. She shot him in the shoulder just to get his attention. When he saw her he tried to run. He would have been safer if he hadn't moved but it didn't matter. As soon as he took off, she was standing over me in seconds. Ana focused with a gun in her hand was the scariest thing I'd ever seen in my life. She stood over me, guarding me like a bear guarding their cub. She shot the guy twice in the back. He fell head first out of the window he'd broken to get in.
The next thing I remember I woke up here, in a room upstairs. When I went home it was spotless. If you weren't there you'd have never know what happened. It was clean, the window was fixed and the body has never been found."
"And Sandro never heard about it." Sandro said staring at his laptop on the opposite side of the room. "He didn't even know it happened because his wife is stubborn and headstrong. 'Hey Annie do you want to tell your husband you were babysitting Dante's little brother and his kid while he was out of the country?' 'No it'll never come up again and he prefers to hear it from a third party anyway. I have high hopes to him confused so I can send him to a nut house and take his place later. I'm a better Don than he ever was anyway. Besides he'd never want to know that I killed people and bribed his cleaner to keep it quiet. Not to mention the guards that are supposed to report back to him. One of them, his best friend, has apparently sworen allegiance to me over him.' Huh Ana?"
Scattered chuckles fill the room at Sandro's mockery. I can see on Sandro's face that he's pissed. The way he furrows his eyebrows and flares his nostrils shows me how serious he is. I know there will be a discussion later. I also know I'm in trouble with my husband and his joke was not a joke.
"And that's my cue to leave." I sigh.
I let go of Antonio's hand and stand to leave the room. As soon as my back is to everyone and they can no longer see my face silent tears sting my cheeks. Ricco said something in Italian. I'm sure he was scolding his son but I don't take the time to listen.
I half run up the stairs and lean against the wall out of sight on the third landing. I sink to the floor and cry on my knees. Several minutes later I hear someone coming up the stairs. I see his shoes under my arm when he stops.
"Hey." Sandro said resting fingertips rest gently on the top of my head.
I don't look up at him. I can't bring myself to do it. He sits on the top stair and turns to face me. Then he sighs.
"Ann I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be an ass to you down there."
He sets his hand on my calf. I hug my knees tighter to my chest.
"Ana? Are you not going to talk to me?" Sandro asks.
I stay silent.
"Look babe, I really am sorry. How am I supposed to fix it if you won't tell me anything. Every time I turn around I'm hearing another story of you doing something I had no idea you did." Sandro moves his hand to my forearm. "I'm beginning to realize that I have absolutely no idea who I'm married too and what you do all day. You are a badass Ana. You go off and have your own adventures and I never hear about them. When I do it doesn't come from you. Your guards are suppose to email me an itinerary of what you are doing each day and a report of what happened that was unplanned. I thought everything was working just the way I wanted. Apparently not though. How did you spend a month at Antonio's without me knowing?"
Sandro puts his arms around me and hugs me tight.
"Come on baby, please talk to me." He begs.
"It was easy." I say through my tears. "Ryder broke his phone and it took that long to replace it. Then I kept the guards busy running the kids around. They don't communicate well with chaos and screaming babies. They were all so tired that they didn't realize I'd disappeared. When they were awake I'd sleep and they would watch the kids. They'd fall asleep when I would be awake, then I'd leave to help Tony. I'd come home before they woke up so they didn't know either." I look up at him as I stop talking.
"I want you to talk to me Ana. How can I keep you safe if you're off doing your own thing? If you'd been hurt or you went missing and no one knew where you'd gone, I would have lost my mind. You have guards because it's not safe for you to be alone."
"I couldn't take them hounding me. Every time I'd try to do something they would stop me. They wouldn't let me go for a run, or go shopping, or go have lunch with Lexi. I can't do anything with them around. I never get 'me' time and it was making me crazy. I need to be alone sometimes and other times I need people I don't see everyday in places other than home."
"Do I need to change your security or make schedule for them to follow? Do you want more guys to do different things with?"