29 - Broccoli

Federico's POV.

I had gone to sort a few things out with my men back in New York City over a conference call that stretched over three hours. By the time I returned to Mia's room to check up on her, she was busy typing away on her laptop.

I frowned at the sight. This girl did not have a single obedient bone in her body. All I'd asked was that she rest until she was fully healed, but no. The idiot wouldn't listen, would she?

"You're not very obedient, are you?" I said to her as I made my way to where she was sitting on the bed, ready to snatch her laptop away from her.

"Depends on the circumstances," she replied, not looking up from her beloved laptop.

"And what might those circumstances be?" I asked, coming to a stop right in front of her.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," she replied, finally looking up from her laptop and giving me a cheeky grin. "Right now, though, I have some pretty awesome news for you," she said to me before clicking a few keys on the laptop and turning it around with her good hand so I could see the screen.

The screen was divided into two with two pictures on either side. On the left side of the screen was a grainy image of the assassin from the CCTV footage and on the right was the mugshot of a man with a neatly trimmed beard and the darkest set of eyes I'd ever seen.

"I believe this is the assassin we've been looking for," Mia announced, making me do a double take.

"Are you sure he's the one?"

She nodded. "I'm almost 98% positive. I hacked into the police records and ran a self-designed facial recognition software that matched the features of the man in CCTV footage with all the ones available in the database. I thought if he was a renowned assassin, there's got to be something on him in the records and turns out, there is," she explained.

"Whoa," I let out a breath, amazed at all she had gone through to get me the information I required. She was talking about it as if it was something that had taken her mere seconds to do, but I knew without a doubt that it had taken her days and a lot of hard work to get the information she was talking about.

"You're fucking amazing, you know that?" I said to her, unable to take my eyes away from the man's face on the screen.

"I know," Mia beamed at me, making me smile.

"What's his name? Does he work for the Russian mafia?" I asked next, eager to get information about this man so I could start looking for him as soon as possible.

"Well, according to the police records, he is Alejandro, a skilled assassin who is a suspect in the murder of a bunch of some pretty influential people. But he's never once been proven guilty. Any evidence against him seems to disappear into thin air. As for if he works for the Russians or not is a rather tricky question," Mia explained, scrolling down a little so I could read his file.

I nodded, a frown marring my forehead as I looked up at Mia. "Tricky, how?"

"He seems to work independently, having no direct ties with any mafia family including the Russian mafia," she explained. "However, he's the kind of guy who kills people on orders for money, so it's possible that the Russian mafia hired him to kill your father and brother."

I nodded slowly. "Is there any proof that shows that the hit was ordered by the Russian mafia?" I asked, wanting to be sure.

"I've been looking into it, but I haven't been able to come up with anything solid yet. Though, the fact remains that the car that was used to carry out the hit was linked to the Russians so there's that," Mia explained, shrugging a little before wincing in pain, her hand going to her injured arm almost involuntarily.

"Right. Thank you for all the information, but I really think you should rest now," I said, looking at her arm worriedly. The last thing I wanted was for her to over-exert herself and end up getting worse instead of improving as soon as possible.

"I'm fine, Rico. I swear I am," she assured me, quick to dismiss my worries.

I shook my head, taking the laptop away from her and closing it before keeping it on the bedside table despite her protests.

"I know you are, but you've been working for hours already. You need to take a break, baby," I said softly, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear as I looked into her eyes. As happy as I was that we finally had a name, a man to go after, I was also worried about her well-being. I didn't want her to trouble herself or stress about working while she was injured. I wanted her to rest as much as possible so she could heal quickly.

"Look who's talking. I'm pretty sure you've been busy working ever since you've left here," she retorted.

"I'm not the one with a gunshot wound in my arm," I pointed out, making her huff out a breath.

"Besides, it's time for dinner already. Pretty sure my mother would skin me alive if I don't make sure you're eating all your meals on time," I added, making her chuckle.

"I'm tempted to skip a meal just to see you get your ass beaten by your mother," she said, shooting me a smirk.

Before I could reply, the door to the room opened and in walked my mother herself with a maid dragging a trolley of food behind her.

"How's my favorite girl doing, now?" Mama asked, walking towards the two of us.

I rolled my eyes. "Hello to you, too, mama."

She ignored my dryly spoken words, her attention focused solely on Mia. "I'm feeling much better now, thanks. And the soup you sent earlier was divine."

My mother grinned at the compliment. For someone who didn't show much emotion, she sure had been overly expressive around Mia ever since she had gotten injured. I wasn't sure what to make of it. But as long as the two of them seemed to get along with each other, who was I to say anything?

"I'm glad you liked it. I've made the soup again and I've got some other healthy foods for you to eat so you can recover in no time," my mother announced, motioning for the maid who had brought the trolley inside to pick the lid off of the food placed on the trolley.

My brows raised as I took in the soup and various different salads and what looked like boiled vegetables decorating the plate.

Mia made a horrified face at the super healthy food in front of her, making me smirk. Turned out, being my mother's favorite had a few downsides as well. "Wow. Um, thank you so much for all this. I'll, uh, eat it in a while. I'm not... I'm not all that hungry right now."

My mother shook her head, plopping down on the sofa in front of us. "Oh, nonsense. You have to eat if you want to get better soon, Mia. No excuses," she said, thrusting a plate full of boiled vegetables in her direction.

I watched in amusement as Mia grimaced, slowly taking the plate from my mother, my lips turning up into a smirk.

However, my smirk dropped as soon as my mother thrust another plate filled with boiled vegetables in my direction. "Here, have this. Keep Mia company. It'll encourage her to eat all her greens if you're eating with her, too."

I stared at the plate, my lips pulled into a thin line.

"Yeah, Rico, your mama's absolutely right. You should eat, too. It's healthy for you and it'll be so very encouraging for me if you eat the same as me, too," Mia jumped in, grinning from ear to ear as she took in my disgusted expression which I'm sure mirrored hers from moments ago.

Oh, how the tables have turned, I thought to myself as I stabbed a piece of broccoli with more force than was strictly necessary and put it in my mouth.

Who knew my mother loving my pretend girlfriend a little too much would lead to this?