34 - Frustrated

Mia's POV.

When I woke up after the longest nap I'd ever taken, Federico was sitting on the sofa close to the bed, busy working on something on his laptop.

"Feeling better?" He asked me, looking at me when I moved to sit up.

I nodded slowly, touching my swollen cheek gingerly. Whiskers meowed softly from where she was sitting near my feet, making me look at her. The cat tilted its head at me as if to ask if I was okay.

"I'm fine, feeling much better now," I said to both of them. My splitting headache seemed to have decreased to a dull throb now which seemed manageable.

"Here, for your cheek," Federico said, getting up and handing me an ice pack that was kept in an ice bucket on the bedside table.

I nodded my thanks, hissing a little as I gently pressed the item against my swollen cheek. Whiskers meowed again, crawling her way into my lap and rubbing her head against my tummy as if offering comfort.

"Lucky bastard," I heard Rico mutter under his breath, making me smirk to myself.

"I'm fine, Whiskers, it's just a scratch," I said to Whiskers instead.

She looked up at me with all the superiority of a cat, tilting her head to the side as if deciding if I was being honest or not. After a few seconds, seemingly reassured, she meowed again before hopping off the bed and going to the balcony.

I smiled to myself at her behavior. Delilah and I had adopted her when she was a cute, little kitten. Whiskers had comforted me a lot when Delilah had left and I would break down some nights when I missed my sister terribly. Somehow, Whiskers had always made sure I was fine and that made me like the feline just that little bit more.

"That cat is quite fond of you," Rico muttered, looking at Whiskers as she sat on the balcony outside.

"The feeling is mutual," I replied, just as the door to our room burst open and Angela came rushing inside.

"Oh, my God, Mia! What happened to you? Alfonso told me you got hurt but he wouldn't tell me how," she said, walking into the room before letting out a loud gasp when she looked at me. "What happened to your face?" She all but screeched, making me wince.

How to go about this? Should I tell her about Luca or not? I looked at Rico for help but he simply shrugged, telling me the ball was in my court. I could do whatever I saw fit.

Letting out a breath, I said, "I'm fine, Angela, there's nothing to worry about. Just my luck that a mugger attacked me when I was stepping out of the hospital but then I called Rico and he took care of it all."

Angela looked horrified at my words. "Oh, no! I'm so sorry I left you alone like that. I should've waited and come back home with you. If I—"

I grabbed her hands in mine and gave them a squeeze. "It's alright, Angela. You didn't know something like this was going to happen. No one did. I swear I'm fine."

Angela nodded slowly, still looking awfully sad.

"How is Emilia? Is she feeling better now?" I asked her, hoping the question would distract her from me and the injury her husband had caused me.

"Yeah, I've just managed to put her to sleep. The idiot ate a whole tub of ice cream on her own and no one noticed. Of course, she'll fall sick if she does things like that," Angela huffed, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"She's a kid, Angela, she doesn't know any better. I hope she gets well soon, though," I replied truthfully.

Angela nodded. "Me too. She gets super fussy when she's sick."

"Don't we all?" I muttered, remembering Delilah. She used to become such a baby when she used to fall ill, too.

Angela smiled lightly. "Yeah. Anyway, you should rest up, I'll go make some soup for Emilia before she wakes up and starts crying again."

I nodded in understanding before Angela quietly left the room.

"You didn't tell her the truth," Federico stated once his sister was gone.

"I think it'll be better if she finds out about it on her own or through Luca himself. Besides, no matter how idiotic Luca has been, I've seen the way he looks at Angela, like she hung the stars and the moon in his galaxy. I didn't want to be the one to taint their relationship with his lies and deceits," I explained to Rico who had a small smile on his face by the time I was done.

"What about the bullet wound in his arm? How are we going to explain that?"

"First off, we don't. He is the one who has to explain the injury to his wife. Pretty sure it's not that uncommon for him to come home injured like that given his line of work," I said, shrugging a little which caused a bit of pain to shoot through my own injured arm. It didn't hurt nearly as bad as it had hurt when the wound was still fresh, but it still wasn't fully healed yet.

"Speaking of injuries, how's your arm now? What did the doctor say?" Rico asked, looking at said arm.

"Much better. She sent me for a scan to check for recovery. I guess I'll just have to go back tomorrow to find out what she saw on the report. She said she'll continue further treatment accordingly," I answered, recalling Dr Giordiani's words.

Federico shook his head, no. "You're not going out of the house unless it's absolutely necessary. I'll call the doctor home to discuss the reports with you."

I rolled my eyes. There he goes with his overprotective nature. "You can not keep me a prisoner here forever."

"I'm not. It's just for your own safety," Federico said, trying to reason with me.

I huffed. "You can not protect me from every unknown danger out there, Rico."

"I can, and I will. Watch me," he replied with a stubborn tilt of his chin.

I sighed, not saying anything. Men and their larger-than-life egos.

"I've decided I'm going to slowly reduce Luca's responsibilities until he doesn't handle as much of our business here as he does right now," Federico said, a determined look in his eyes.

"Yeah, seems like a good decision. And you also have the perfect excuse to do it now that he's injured."

Federico looked at me then, the sexiest of smirks taking over his features. "Though, I must say, the way you just shot him like that was hot alright. I've never seen a woman shoot like that."

I blushed at his words, his gaze turning hooded as he stared at me. "I try," I said, trying to act casual even though there was a swarm of butterflies wreaking havoc in my stomach at his words. Hearing him compliment me and seeing the effect I had on him sometimes made me feel warm all over.

"Yeah?" He muttered, getting up and moving towards me in slow, measured strides. Bending down so he was only a few inches away from my face, he placed his hand on the part of my cheek that was uninjured. "You drive me fucking crazy sometimes," he whispered, his gaze darting to my lips as he leaned forward.

I closed my eyes, anticipating the kiss.

That was when the door to our room burst open for the second time in less than an hour and his mother came bustling in, making Rico pull back and curse under his breath.

And this time, I was just as frustrated as him for the interruption, if not more.