Mia Figlia

Chapter 18 ✔️

PoV Stella

I woke up early in the morning. After two seconds I realized that I was lying now next to Riccardo and that his arms were no longer wrapped around my body. Freedom! Silently I stood up and walked towards the door. I took a quick look into the hall. Nobody was to be seen. I immediately scurried out of the office and ran up the stairs to my room. I reached it unseen and closed the door behind me with relief. That had luckily gone well again. I locked up, grabbed some fresh clothes, and decided to take a shower to quickly get rid of his odor. My braid smelled of him. I sniffed it again. A smiled crept on my face. I shook it off then jumped in the shower.

Half an hour later I walked towards the kitchen when I bumped into someone. My stomach growled at the bad guy who kept me from eating.

"Buongiorno cara." I looked up and was met by some friendly, brown eyes.

"Buongiorno Romano," I responded politely as he had been nothing but courteous towards me since we met for the first time.

"Would you like me to keep you company for breakfast?" He grinned since my stomach growled for a second time.

"Sounds good," I smiled. It was too early to wake up Isabella. Apart from that she was not much of an eater early in the morning, ever since she lived in this mansion. Most likely due to the late Italian dinners, which she genuinely enjoyed. The biggest part of the Italians in this household skipped breakfast and just drank coffee, espresso, or cappuccino, according to Francesca. They ate a few hours later. Except from the boss since he seemed to go without food for a whole day if nobody reminded him to eat. Mario's wife had told me, her eyes hefted on me with a hopeful look. She truly thought I would be their savior. As if that coglione would take me seriously.

Clinking dishes reminded me that I was not alone in the kitchen. I turned around to notice Romano to set the table with boards, cutlery, and cups for solely the two of us. Smiling I grabbed butter, jam and honey from the fridge and cupboard, knowing that this Italian loved sweet stuff as much as I did. The mobster put the bread on the table, and we both sat down. For a couple of minutes, we ate in silence.

"Romano?" Nervously I glanced at him, unsure if he could allow it or not.

"Sì cara?" He looked at me curiously. "What is bothering you?"

"Everything is fine. I just wanted to ask if I could use the gym equipment. My body is still too weak from my hospital stay."

"Of course, you can use it. That is no problem at all." He jumped off his seat. "Come on, I will train you. Your childr..., your child needs a strong mother."

I pretended that I did not hear what he wanted to say first. I had only one child, my daughter. There would never be a second one since I would have to stay on this property for the rest of my life. Marrying a mobster was not an option for me.

We went to the gym on the second floor. Like the library two giant doors marked the entrance. They swung open without issues. We walked in and I was stunned. The room was light flooded. A wide variety of workout devices or machines stood at regular intervals on the bright wooden floor. A couple of them were already occupied by Italian mobsters. One of them swayed at us.

"Look who found his way into the gym for once," Lucius teased Romano then winked at me.

"Hey sweetheart, going to watch while we workout?"

"Actually, I want to train myself." Hesitantly I looked at all the equipment. I had only done some dumbbell workout and yoga before. These machines seemed rather alien.

"Don't worry, we are here to help." Lucius put a hand on my shoulder. "So, what kind of training to you want to do?"

"Maybe we should explain the equipment and its purpose first. Weight training every other day and cardio on the others should be fine for a start." Romero chimed in.

I nodded since I had to start somewhere.

"Great, let's start with the warming-up." The Italian dragged me to a running mill. I noticed two other guys smirking.

"Forget it, I am too slow for this." Anxiously I looked at the machine. I had watched too many funny YouTube videos where people fell off those.

"Just some fast walking. We will add running to your routine on a later stage. Outdoor running, to be precise. The property is big enough to chase you around a bit." Lucius smiled devilishly. His eyes sparkling with mischief.

After my warming-up they introduced me to the different machines until we had a plan containing off ten exercises. When I was finally done, I heard someone enter the room. All mobsters stood up and looked at the newcomer. I refused to turn around, since I got a feeling who I would see.

"What is she doing here?" Riccardo's deep voice boomed through the room. The guys kept quiet. Sighing I turned around to face the nightmare on two legs. His dark eyes ran up and down my body. This cheeky bastard. I hoped he did not know that I spent the night with him on the sofa. That would be too embarrassing. To keep myself from shivering, I crossed my arms in front of my chest. He was still looking at me and waited for an answer.

"I have to become stronger and healthier again to care for Isabella. The weeks at the hospital weakened me." My blood started to boil. Why did I have to justify my actions? I did nothing wrong!

"The guys said that it would not be an issue," I added calmly, despite my deepest wish to lash out to him. It was not smart to piss off a mafia don. Not if you wanted to see your child grow up and if the boss hated your pure existence.

"I see. Just do not keep them from training. I want them focused all the time and not getting disturbed by an useless woman."

"Don't you worry, I just finished my training for today and will not trouble your men any further." I managed to make my voice sound cold and unabashed. Internally fuming I walked towards the door and left the room.

"Was that really necessary, boss?" I heard one of the other guys say. Romano and Lucius, the traitors, kept quiet. Well, I could not blame them since this asshole had quite a short fuse, and I did not want them to get hurt for protecting me.

"And this is the best example why I do not want her near any of you," he barked at his men.

What a son of a bitch. Words could not describe how much I despised Riccardo. Fuck, I needed a cold shower to calm down. Or I would say something which I would regret later. In the case I got a chance to regret it.

After my second shower of this morning, I walked around the mansion to find my daughter. I finally spotted her in the library, together with Chiara and a teacher. Silently I listened how he taught them the first few letters of the alphabet and thereafter the first numbers. That was when I realized that I never had paid attention to the fact that she was old enough to attend school. I gulped. If we would not be staying at this place, I would have had to put her in school. A horrible idea. It was not safe there. Unlike here. I wiped a tear of my face. Despite hating Riccardo, I had to be thankful for his protection. Even it was only for my little one.

"You do realize that you cannot hide from me?" The deep voice right behind me made me jump off the sofa. With a loud thud I landed on my ass on the ground. Stunned I looked around. The kids and the teacher were not in the library anymore. It was solely me and Riccardo.

"I thought you wanted me to stay far away from you. What do you really want?" I tried to calm myself. My heart was racing like crazy.

"We are going to watch a movie tonight. Just the two of us. I expect you in the living room at nine pm." He turned around and left, before I could say anything.

What the actual fuck?

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Movie night with the don? Is that good or bad?