A ball

After what seemed like forever, The Turéz family arrived Italy. The country did not change so much to Sheila. They got into the white Lexus Jeep that was waiting for them. All through the drive, Daxiane did not talk to Sheila, he kept his eyes on his system.

"Business as usual" Alexia said when she noticed Sheila would not stop looking at her father.

"Oh" was all Sheila could let out.

"Alex is so tired, look at how cute he is while asleep" Alexia cooed at her brother while he slept on Sheila's laps.

"Yes dear" she smiled "he's been up for a week, I think he needs this" she giggled.

"Is this your first time in Italy, mom?" Alexia asked

"Errrr no, I schooled here actually… college. So I know almost all the corners in Italy" Sheila cleared her throat

"Really?" Alexia's eyes sparkled with surprise

and happiness.

"Yes" Sheila giggled seeing her reaction.

"Dad, dad!" Alexia tapped on Daxiane's legs vigorously

"Alexia, I am working. What is it?" He sighed

"Mom schooled here" she said excitedly

"Okay? Good for her" he said, eyes transfixed on the screen of his laptop.

"God! You're so mean!" Alexia scoffed and folded her arms. Just then, Daxiane's cellphone rang, he picked the call immediately when he saw the caller I. D

"Plyvél" he said

"Brother" a female voice sounded over the phone

"Are you fine? It sounds like a market place over there" he said and closed his other ear with his forefinger so that he'd hear her.

"I'm in Singapore, I'm coming home tonight. Word on the street is that you married"

"Words travel fast I see" he sighed.

"Is she beautiful though?"

"Tonight at the ball you'll see her bye" he hung up before she got the chance to talk.

"What ball?" Sheila queried "and who was that?" She arched a brow.

"My mistress and it's an event, we're celebrating the defeat of one of our biggest enemies, Zlacfleck. There I'll introduce you to my family as my wife" He smirked and looked up at her, he liked the look of sadness and anger on her face.

"Your... your Mistress?" She tried to remain calm so that she'd not wake Alex up. "And you're proud to say it?" Her nose flared, her teeth clenched.

"You're beautiful when angry, it's fair. You have a side nigga while I have a mistress. It's a win win" he smirked. She wished she could slap the smug look off his face. 'let me get that woman, she'd wish for death instead. You have not an idea that you are mine I swear Daxiane you are mine' she thought as her angry eyes looked into his dark and mischievous eyes.

"Young is not my Lover, Daxiane" she almost snapped, Alex stirred in his sleep. She patted on his back softly.

"You'll wake Alex up mom" Alexia whispered and laughed

"Plyvél is not dad's mistress, she's my big sister. Dad is just messing with you" she continued laughing "you needed to have seen your face" --Sheila looked outside the window, she was flushed with embarrassment.

"Why did you lie? What was your reason?" She turned to look at him, tears glistened in her eyes. She showed her vulnerable side. When it came to Daxiane, she was vulnerable, weak and helpless.

"How does it feel knowing there's another woman for me as there's another man for you?" He pursed his lips, she wanted to tell him that only he can own her, only he can have her but she sealed her lips when the vehicle came to a stop.

"Boss! We're here" James, the driver announced and killed the engine.

"Okay, James?"

"Yes boss"

"Take Egypt along with you to Ruador. Get the merchandise ready before tonight"

"Létton is proving stubborn, I'm not sure he'll release the merchandise by tonight"

"Have I taught you nothing hmm?" He gritted "kill him if he doesn't cooperate, make his death very painful, slow and miserable" he said sternly and left the vehicle. Alexia and Sheila had a look of horror on their faces.

"Is he always like that?" Sheila had to ask

"Oh Mom, you haven't seen anything, come on. I will carry Alex." --Sheila alighted from the car as Alexia held her little brother. Together they walked abreast, following Daxiane behind. Sheila looked around, the mansion was huge and beautiful like the back in Mexico. The only difference was the paint color, the one in Mexico had a cream color on the exterior part of the mansion while the one here had clean white color. Huge men dressed in black suit walked around the house holding double barrel guns. They looked scary to Sheila.

"Do you guys need much guards?" She whispered to Alexia.

"My daddy is rich, and because of that he gained enemies. Well partly because he's mean" she whispered back, just then Alex woke up. He looked around.

"Mama" he whined and stretched his hands for Sheila to carry him which she did.

"What's it baby?" She wiped the sweat from his forehead. Alex looked at the huge men and his his face in his mother's body.

"The big guys?" She asked, he nodded

"They are here to protect us from the bad guys little brother" Alexia squeezed his cheeks lightly. Daxiane turned around seeing that his son had woken up. He went and scooped him from Sheila's arms. Sheila took in his manly scent and damn! Did she feel like taking him to bed and getting rid of his clothes.

"Champ! You're awake"

"Is this your house daddy?" Alex asked when Daxiane started walking to the house.

"It's our house Son, it has a garden, a pool and even a training ground where I'll train you to be strong like your daddy" --Sheila's eyes bulged open when she heard what Daxiane said. She walked briskly towards the duo and forced Alex out of his arms..

"My son will never be anything like you" she said sternly

"Sheila he's my son and he'll take over my business when he's ready"

"We're going back to Mexico. We had an agreement. You said you wouldn't force the boy to be like you"

"Mummy!" Alex started crying "stop fighting" he closed his ears

"Come on baby we're going home" she said and turned around to leave when four huge men blocked her way, she held Alex close to her and took steps backward.

"Daxiane what are you doing? Tell these men to leave my way"

"Mom please don't this" Alexia begged

"Drop my son Sheila!" Daxiane's angry tone filled the air. Sheila dropped Alex down, he ran to his father and his his face behind Daxiane's leg

"I don't want to leave mama please" Alex's tiny voice rang out. Sheila put her two hands up as a sign of surrender.

"Fine!" She was barely audible.

***Daxiane led them into the house, Alex literally drooled seeing the beauty of the house. It was huge and had pillars around each corner of the house. A huge portrait of Daxiane and Alexia with two Mastiff breed dogs hanged on the wall of the house followed by other portrait of people who were different versions of Daxiane and Alexia. They were all dressed in black. Sheila couldn't help but get a chill when she saw one of the portrait. A very huge guy, he looked familiar but she couldn't place her head where she saw him. But, she took instant dislike to the guy.

"Luda" Daxiane yelled out which brought Sheila out of her reverie. A blond woman came walking briskly to their direction. She was quite tall, not too pretty but her blue eyes did justice to her round face. She wore an apron, from her looks Sheila could tell she was a chef.

"Where were you?" Daxiane's tone was harsh, Sheila was shocked at his tone

"I'm... I'm... I'm.. sorry Mr Turéz.... I was preparing lunch" she stuttered and looked down to the floor, she fidgeted with her hands. Sheila felt sorry for her. 'poor thing's she tut

"Lunch? By this time? What the hell were you doing all this while. It's fifteen minutes past the hour of three. I specifically told you that lunch should be ready before I get to Italy"

"I'm sorry boss" she apologized, her voice was shaken with fear.

"Sheila this is Luda, one of the staff, she'll help you with anything you want" Daxiane turned to Sheila.

"Hey Luda, nice to meet you" Sheila went and gave her a warm hug, Luda's eyes bulged out of their sockets when Sheila hugged her, nobody had ever given her a warm hug before. Daxiane rolled his eyes when Sheila hugged the staff.

"Do not get too comfortable with the staff Red!" He scoffed.

"Can you not see she's shaken with fear, is that how you treat your staff?"

"Luda get the luggages from the car, get John and Oscar to help you" Daxiane said to Luda, avoiding Sheila's question. Luda nodded and scurried off.

"Alexia, take Alex to his room"

"Okay dad" she said "come on brother" she held Alexio's hand

"I will see you later Champ" He stopped to his height and gave him a fist bump.

"Okay Daddy" he kissed Daxiane's forehead

"Bye mama" he waved goodbye to Sheila and went with Alexia. Daxiane made to head upstairs when Sheila's voice rang out

"Where to?" She asked

"Do you want to keep standing here or follow me to our room?" -- she scoffed and motioned for him to lead the way. He led her upstairs, the hallway was large and dark, she found it creepy.

"Why is the hallway dark?" She looked around while she kept walking. She came to a halt when she hit something hard, it was Daxiane.

"Sorry" she whispered and bit her bottom lip.

"We're here" he said and opened a large door.

***The room was unnecessarily large to Sheila, there were three other doors inside the room. It had dark blue painting, even the curtains and the sheets were blue. Her eyes went to the king sized bed and dirty things ran through her mind. She was so much into her dirty thoughts that she didn't hear when Daxiane called her.

"Sheila!" He snapped bringing her out of her dirty thoughts and imagination.

"Yes?" She whispered.

"What you did outside was very stupid" he barked

"Stupid?" She walked up to him and set her hands akimbo. "You want to turn my son to a mafia, he's just five!"

"You keep forgetting you took no part in that boy's life, you didn't birth him. Lénora did so stop referring to him as your son." He said harshly

"Why are you treating me this way? I adopted Alex, I've known him for years. He's part of me so if I see that something is bad for him, I try to prevent it Daxiane"

"So you're saying I mean bad for him?" He scoffed

"That's not.. that's not...."

"Are you fucking saying that I will hurt my own son!" He yelled

"No!" She yelled back "I am saying you're too harsh for him, too violent. See the way you spoke to the help in front of him. What does that teach Alex? Violence." Her voice was softer "all I am saying is that Alex is still young, he doesn't need to experience violence please?" She went to touch him, she placed her hands on his broad chest, loving the rhythm of his heart beat.

"The bathroom is the first door, your closet is the second door while mine is the last door, as you can see, there's a terrace where you can sit and enjoy the view of the garden" he said and removed her hands that were on his chest. He made to walk past her when she asked him a question.

"Why do we have separate closets?"

"Uhmmm. I still have the engineer's contact, I'll ask him, if I'm not satisfied with his answer you can talk to him" his every word was full of sarcasm.

"Daxiane" she laughed

"Any other thing?" He asked

"Are we going to share same bed"

"Definitely! What do you expect? That I stay in another room?" He arched a brow

"No... no I...." She was saying when he cut in

"If that's all, I'm going to take a shower"

"Should I join you?" She teasingly asked, he rolled his eyes and walked past her, he thought she was just trying to annoy him but little did he know that she was not.

***