Mia Figlia

Chapter 2 ✔️

PoV Riccardo

Sitting in the park for hours could be a boring task. Unless you had such a lovely view, like I had this afternoon. On a bench close to a children's playground, I watched the kids having fun on the swing, the seesaw or in the sandbox. Particularly one little girl got my attention. She had soft brown hair and brown eyes. Despite her light skin she would pass easily as my daughter. Her laugh was contagious and made me want to hold her in my arms. Her mother on the other hand was nothing special. She had brown hair, brown eyes like her girl, further she had glasses. Those made her look intelligent, but I doubted that a smart woman would be living in this neighborhood. Crime rates were high, houses were shabby, and streets were filled with garbage. Not a place where you wanted to raise a child. In particular not such a sweet innocent little girl.

I considered saving her from these circumstances she was living in. But how? I could not grab her and leave. Her mother would most likely fight me. I could say as many negative things as I wanted about her, but she was surely watching over every step her daughter took. Her gaze roamed ceaselessly, always on guard for potential danger. She would not be able to fight me, since she was as thin and vulnerable as a leaf in the wind. I could take her with me easily as well. My eyes travelled her body. Her boobs were small, her ass not bubbly how I liked it. No, I would break her in two by fucking her. Too delicate for my taste. Shaking my head, I sighed.

Suddenly I felt two eyes burning holes in my skin. I raised my view and was greeted by her fierce stare, which took me by surprise. She must have noticed me looking at her. Her face almost unreadable she tried to figure out my motives. Putting on a smile to assure her that I meant no danger, I kept looking at her. Usually, I could melt women's hearts, but not in this case. I noticed a small shudder, before the brunette grabbed her daughter by the hand, then walked away with my little princess. Leaving me behind disappointed.

"Great," I muttered sardonically. Her fleeing from me ruined my mood. She took my sunshine with her.

Dusk was setting in. Knowing that the human rats would leave their holes soon, I stood up and straightened my suit. The shabby area was almost deserted by now. The place was not much concluded from the surroundings but was observable from three sides. Possibly not the best location to abduct somebody. Why hadn't I noticed this before? Resignedly, I shook my head. How had I let myself get this distracted! Suddenly, I heard a little girl screaming for her mom, a blood curling sound.

"Leave my daughter alone, you son of a bitch!" A woman's voice yelled infuriated.

The noise was coming from the direction where the mother and her sweet little daughter went to merely a few moments before. My stomach sank. Please not her. I grabbed my gun and ran towards the sounds, not happy with what I saw, when I arrived at the scene. One guy was dragging the little girl after him while her mother was trying to fight two guys twice her size. I shot the one abducting the girl, and her mom nailed one of the kidnappers in his balls. He dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. The other guy took advantage of the short moment she was distracted and stabbed her a few times with a knife before I shot him right into the head. Then I put a bullet in the guy on the ground, feeling no remorse in shooting a defenseless person. Finally, my men came rushing over. They would have to clean up after me. Why had it taken this long in the first place? I told myself to have a serious word with them. We could not afford to be careless.

"Take care of the woman and dispose of the bodies," I instructed them. Then I turned towards the fragile innocent girl. She was looking utterly petrified at me, which stung my heart. I squat down in front of her, to sweep her tears away.

"I will always protect you, principessa," I murmured softly, solely for her to hear. Gently I pulled her in my arms, patting her back while she was crying silently.

"Boss, the woman is severely injured but still alive. The ambulance will be here soon. We should leave now." Romano, one of my most loyal men, informed me. I nodded, then stood up with my little girl, holding her close to my chest. Carefully I brought her to my car and sat with her in the back seat. Romano plopped on the passenger seat, while my driver Lucius started the car engine.

Suddenly the little girl cried out loud. "Mommy, mommy! Where is my mommy?" Tears streaming faster down her tiny face.

"Shh, cara, your mother will be brought to the hospital. You cannot stay there with her, for this reason I will watch over you in the meantime." Gently I caressed her small head. Knowing that I would never let her go back to her family. Her father must be a failure and her mother were not strong enough to protect her. They had no right to raise her, unlike me.

We drove to my mansion in silence, solely disturbed by a small sob every now and then, coming from the little girl. I held her tiny hand in my big one, showing her that she was not alone.

"You have nothing to fear from us. We are not the bad guys. We will protect you." I spoke softly towards her, making Romano turn around to look at me with a big grin on his face. Lucius on the other hand was chuckling. Yes, the big bad mafiosi were not the bad guys. Well, my newfound daughter did not have to know about my business. Not until she was old enough to understand. And in the meantime, I would kill everyone who disrupted me in my pursuit of keeping her safe.

Finally, we reached the giant black gate which kept intruders off my property. The guards let us in, and we continued our drive, passing several buildings. The car stopped in front of the mansion. I took the now silent girl in my arms to carry her inside. Her eyes were red from all the crying, but I noticed a spark of curiosity and awe as well when she looked around in the big entrance hall. From the corner of my eyes, I saw that Mario rushed towards me. His face in disbelief because of the fragile body in my arms. Shaking his head, he waited for me to answer his unspoken question. He anticipated an explanation. Someone else was not that patient.

"Cosa hai fatto, idiota?" The deep voice of my father boomed through the hall. Yeah, what had this idiot done? Everyone, literally everyone, stared at me and the trembling little one, who buried her face in my chest.

"Her mother got injured and cannot care for her right now," I told them. After noticing the girl's sad eyes, which looked up at me curiously, I decided to add the next few words in Italian. "Forse non sopravviverà." Maybe she will not survive. My father went a little pale. The info made him uncomfortable. He could not handle injured women or worse, children. I wondered what he was doing here at this moment. As far as I remembered, we did not have a meeting scheduled for today. I hoped that at least my mother did not accompany him. Would not want to have that bloody harpy anywhere near my little girl.

"Well, you should put that sweet angel in bed, then we will talk about the business." My father's eyes went all soft, while looking at her. I knew that he had wished for more children, not only one son, but my mother got injured and could not bear another one. Up to today I thought that it was not an accident, and she hurt herself on purpose. But as long as I could not prove it, I kept my mouth shut.

The little one stifled a yawn. Oh well, it was about time to get the exhausted girl upstairs. Mia figlia. Sì. My daughter. After I brought her to my room and put her on my bed, she refused to let me go at first. Her tiny hands clenched my shirt, crinkling it in the process.

"What is your name, cara?" Gently I brushed her hair out of her eyes.

"Isabella." Her timid voice was almost a whisper.

"That is a beautiful name, Isabella. My name is Riccardo, but you can call me papà." I smiled at her before kissing her forehead and tucking her in.

"Sleep my little darling. I will be back later."

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Well, this is quite an unusual way of adopting a child. What do you think about Riccardo's behavior? He feels quite entitled, doesn't he?