Painfully Sweet

Chapter 16

Zophisa P.O.V

"I was not expecting to be swarmed by so many paparazzi," I said to Luka. We just got home from our day out. He took me shopping and we went for lunch in a small cafe. After we went grocery shopping, I decided to cook instead of going out again.

"I was one of Italy's most eligible bachelors, I'm not surprised," He said from the kitchen table, where he sat and watched me cook. I wasn't making anything special, just shrimp alfredo.

"Hell, you'd think you were a movie star the way they were hounding us," I said. just as he was about to reply, my phone started to ring. I looked at it and saw it was a FaceTime call from Santiago.
"What's up with you and calling me at night? I could've been having sex with my husband or something," I answered, causing Luka to scoff. I raised my eyebrow, we're definitely talking about that later.

"Thanks for that image mija," he responded, "I'm calling to see if you got the paperwork I faxed over yesterday, I never got a follow up."

"Yes, we did get it Papa, thank you," I said with a smile, "where's Nana?"

"She's downstairs baking cookies with Fefe," He told me.

"Aw, I miss my baby, give her a kiss for me and tell Nana to call me soon," I told Santiago. He nodded and we said our goodbyes before ending the call.

"How well do you know them?" Luka asked me.

I chuckled as I remembered the story of how we met. I picked up the pot of boiling noodles and drained them in the sink before I spoke up, "It's actually funny because I met Nana years before I met Papa. I was at the park when I was thirteen and she was about twenty two. I was selling some weed to one of my friends and her daughter came up to me and asked me to push her on the swing and I said yes. Nana came up to us and told her to leave me alone and I told her it was no problem. She asked me if I wanted to babysit for her because her husband was a very busy businessman and they were always going to meetings and out of town and I said yeah. Then, about two years later, I ran into them both one night after my first underground fight. I got my ass kicked and that's when Nana recognized me and Papi took me under his wing."

"You used to be an underground fighter?" Luka asked, as he set the table.

"Yes, that's why I fight so recklessly," I said, mixing the last of the food together.

"Sit, let me serve you," He ordered, "But you were fighting at fifteen?"

"No, I was getting my ass beat at fifteen" I chuckled, "I was fighting seriously by sixteen."

"Seems like you had an eventful life," He said with a chuckle as he sat two full plates on the table.

"What about you?" I asked, picking up my fork.

"What about me?" He asked, his mouth full of pasta.

"How did the life find you?" I asked, stuffing pasta into my mouth.

"Like you said, my daddy handed it to me," he said with a dry chuckle.

"Did you not want it?" I asked.

"It was either me or one of my brothers. But, my oldest brother, Giovanni, he was married with a child on the way when it came time for my father to step down. He had every intention to take over but he realized it wasn't worth jeopardizing everything he had. And my youngest brother, Marco, was still in school. I wasn't doing anything really, my business was partially developed and with my new found wealth I was able to make it bigger and better than I could've ever dreamed," he explained.

I nodded along as he spoke, "So you didn't have any kind of lead up into it? You just kind of went into it?"

"Oh no, there was plenty of lead up. My father sent us to an intense training school for four years," He answered, stuffing food into his mouth.

"That sounds intense," I said, standing up from the table. I walked over to the cabinet and picked up a wine glass along with a bottle of Cabernet.

"Oh, she drinks," He joked from the table.

"A drink is long overdue," I said with a chuckle, "You want a glass?" He just nodded and I poured it for him.

"A toast," Luka said, raising his glass in the air.

"To getting along," I said with a smirk, raising my glass. We looked at each other in the eyes as we both downed our glasses.

"I hate to break up a great moment," he said as he sat his glass down, "But we need to discuss a little bit of business."

"What's up," I asked, pouring myself another glass.

"I'm worrying about our privacy, the last thing we need is for someone to follow us or get a lead as to where we are. So we need security, I was thinking two for each of us and maybe a security gate around the house," he proposed.

"How long will it take to install the security gate?" I asked.

"A week if we rush it," he said, I just nodded.

"Okay, but it has to be a brick perimeter," I demanded.

"That can be arranged," he said, nodding.

"Speaking of business, what was that little noise you made when I was on the phone earlier?" I asked.

"Oh you heard that?" He asked with a smirk.

"You weren't exactly being discreet about it," I said with a chuckle.

"Just the thought of us ever being intimate is humorous to me," He said, pouring himself another glass of wine.

"We're married aren't we? It's going to happen some time," I said with a shrug.

"Tonight?" He said, collecting the dishes from the table.

"In your dreams, Casanova," I said, getting up from the table. I walked to the back door and slid it open and closed it after me once I was outside. I took a cigarette out of my pocket and lit it, allowing the smoke to fill my lungs. I sat down in the law chair that was placed in front of the door and stared blankly into the night. My phone started to tring, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Hello," I answered.

"Hey baby," my mom said through the phone.

"Hey ma, what's going on?" I asked, taking another drag from my cigarette.

"Nothing, just calling to tell you the exterminator took care of that rat problem," she said, slowly.

I took a deep breath before responding, "Okay, thanks." I heard her utter an 'I love you' before I hung up.
"Fuck," I said outloud, throwing my phone in the chair next to me. My leg started to shake as I finished up the last of the cigarette.