XLVII *NOT EDITED*
Karma
Lucky for me Vincenzo's mother packed me some clothes to get changed into so I'm not in this white and red-stained shirt anymore, Iggy looks out the window as I throw the new clothes on and put the other shirt into a plastic bag just some leggings, underwear and a hoodie nothing special but at least I'm not half-naked anymore, I find a packet of wet wipes too so I clean my face as much as I can and run my fingers through my hair before throwing it up in a messy bun. The ride homes silent, Iggy convinced me to wait until it's night time again before we blow the place to the moon so I can enjoy it properly. I sit in the passenger seat looking out to the dimly lit fields as we drive back towards Vincenzo's parent's house, a large hand caress my thigh rubbing its thumb in a circular motion, I look to the driver's seat and watch Vincenzo as he doesn't take his eyes off the road, he moves his hand and holds mine before moving them to the gear stick to change gears.
"Soooo, who's hungry?" Iggy asks from the back seat I look into the review mirror and see a small smile on his face as he tries to lighten the mood up, "I'm not" I mumble loud enough for him to hear, "Sure you aren't" Iggy smugly replies, I watch out the corner of my eye as Vincenzo laughs and shakes his head "You're eating when we get back, you haven't eaten anything since New York". I snatch my hand out of his and return it to my lap "Oh I wonder why? Maybe because I was unconscious for most of it" I grit through my teeth, he reaches over and takes my hand back in his before taking a long deep breath "Can we not do this now, you have people waiting for you" He replies as he pulls into his parent's driveway.
Great, who the fuck could be waiting for me at 7 in the fucking morning? He stops out the front of the front door, everyone left St. Marys before us, Stefano and Gio took Hades home for a big sleep, so I'm guessing his mother has made something for us to eat after everything that's happened, maybe Nonna and Nonno are here too. Vincenzo and Iggy undo their seat belts and get out of the car, I undo mine and get out as Vincenzo walks towards my door "If you had of waited 3 seconds I would have done that for you" He sighs looking down to me "I'm a grown-ass woman I can open my own door" I smugly reply.
He shuts my car door and wraps his arm around my waist leading me to the front door of the house "I know you're fully capable of it but it's my job to do". Before I can reply the door bursts open and a small figure comes rushing out squealing "KARMA!!" The small voice yells and I drop to my knees and wait for impact "Princess!" I call back with a smile on my face, Arabella comes rushing over almost tripping over her princess dress. Her body crashes into mine and her arms wrap around my neck tight enough to choke me out on the spot, "I've missed you so much" She cries into my neck and my heart shatters.
"I've missed you to princess" I reply while stroking her head, I pull her back and look her up and down with tears in my eyes, "You look gorgeous as always". She smiles and twirls around in her dress while flicking her hair around "I kept the wig so I can be just like you!" She replies with a toothy grin, oh sweet baby you don't want to be anything like me, trust me on that. "Mummy and Daddy told me you're going to become a queen soon! I came to talk to you before but you were sleeping and then you left and I thought you left for good and I wasn't going to see you ever again but you're back!" She smiles looking at Vincenzo and then back to me, I nod my head trying to process everything she just said to me as Vincenzo scoops her up for a hug, I take a deep breath and stand up dusting myself off "I'll never leave you forever darling, I'll always come back to you".
Her eyes light up and she wiggles herself out of Vincenzo's arms, she grabs my hand and begins to drag me inside the house "Come in! Everyone's waiting!". I follow her and look back to Vincenzo and Iggy who are looking at each other like they're reading each other's minds, she drags me through the foyer and into the kitchen as I'm met with a room full of people. I stop in my tracks and my eyes scan the room for familiar faces, I finally spot my Nonno and Nonna sitting down at a dining table. Arabella lets go and runs over to her mum and dad as I make my way to my grandparents, my Nonno stands up and pulls me into his embrace "We will speak later when there are not so many people, but I'm proud of you angel".
I pull back from his embrace and nod before kissing him on the cheek, I move to Nonna and bend over to kiss and hug her too as she sips on her coffee, "My girl you're so strong" She whispers in my ear. I clench my jaw to try and stop any emotion from taking over me right now "I love you Nonna" I croak out, "I love you too my darling". I stand up and look around the room to find Vincenzo's parents, I spot his mother first and walk to her. She's too busy making some type of platter of food to notice me so I tap her on the shoulder to get her attention, she turns around and her eyes fill with tears as she pulls me in for a hug "Don't cry, please don't cry" I say under my breath as her grip only tightens.
"You have no idea how much I needed that, how much we needed that, I'm so glad you're finally home" She hums, I don't think you'll be thinking like that when I beat your son senseless. She lets go and kisses my cheek before turning me around to face Vincenzo's father, oh dear lord, he grabs onto my hand and walks me out of the room, Vincenzo's eyes following our every move as we walk away from everyone, once we're in the hallway out of peoples sight he pulls me in for a hug which catches me off guard completely, I awkwardly hug him back waiting for him to pull back. When he does he's got a smile on his face "I'm uh, sorry for your assistant.. and running rampant in your house.. and disrupting your meeting".
He throws his head back and laughs "Eh, she was a shit assistant anyways, my new ones already much better. And it was entertaining I've never seen a woman stand up to Vincenzo like that, he's got his hands full with you, maybe you can knock some common sense into the kid" He laughs again, oh don't you worry I'm gonna try.
Then he puts his arm over my shoulders and walks us back into the kitchen again "I'm excited to officially have you apart of the family" He smiles once more "You're a valuable member of this family already". Arabella comes running over gripping onto my lower legs like a monkey "So is the princess by the looks for it, now, let's have a lovely breakfast as a family for the first time hmmm?" He says as he removes his arm from my shoulders and walks over to his wife. I look down to Arabella who's still hugging my legs, "And how have you been honey?" I ask looking down at her, her face lights up and she begins speaking a thousand words a minute. I listen closely to try and make sure I don't miss a thing that comes out of her mouth, while I'm distracted with Arabella someone knocks into me, I put my hand out and hold onto the side of a table to stop myself and Arabella from falling over.
I look to the person who bumped into me and see it's one of the families maids, she looks me up and down before setting her eyes on Arabella "You wouldn't have almost fallen over if that thing wasn't attached to your legs distracting you". I bend over to pick up Arabella, she wraps her legs around my waist as the maid stares at us coldly, I don't say anything in reply as Arabella's still telling what she's been up to since I last saw her oblivious to whats going on, I won't drag this child into my bullshit. Vincenzo comes up behind me and kisses the top of my head and I stare at the maid walking off towards Vincenzo's mother.
"Is everything okay leonessa?" He asks looking to where I'm looking, "It's great" I snap back. I pull Arabella off of me and hand her to Vincenzo, he looks at me confused and I shake my head "I need a smoke, I'll be back in a minute" I half-ass smile patting myself down to find my cigarettes, I reach into my hoodie pocket and get on my tiptoes to kiss Vincenzo "Don't you run off on me again" He jokes, "Wouldn't dream of it" I reply as I turn around and head out the front of the house.
I take a deep breath and sit down on the marble steps out the front enjoying the silence before going back in, I look to my hands that have specks of dried blood covering them I probably look like a fucking mess to everyone else, but I guess it's nothing they're not used to I guess. I light up my cigarette and almost inhale the whole thing on the first drag, I hear the door open and close behind me expecting it to be one of the boys or Arabella but I'm thrown off guard when I see it's the maid from earlier who also decided to have a smoke. She lights hers and sits down next to me like before never happened, "God I hate kids" She laughs under her breath, I look at her out the corner of my eye but don't say a word.
"They're like little ankle-biter dogs, just yap yap yap yap yap, they never shut up" She continues, oh girlie I'm the last person you want to be saying this too right now, "She reminds me of a chihuahua, sometimes I just want to kick her down the stairs to shut her up" She speaks again I remain silent holding onto the little paitence I have left, "Are you fucking deaf or something?" She questions and this time I can't stay quiet, I pull out my pocket knife from my hoodie pocket, throw my leg over her, tucking her arms to her side so she can move or fight back and straddle her pinning her to the floor leaving her defenceless "Get off me you psychopath!!" She screams out as her head hits the marble floor with force, I watch her scream and struggle for a few seconds before I laugh at her "No darling, I'm death. You should be careful though chihuahuas can be VERY dangerous animals, you know small but feisty. And she might be a chihuahua, but she's MY chihuahua, and I'll ALWAYS look after that chihuahua. Do you want to know why? Because I'm a fucking Rotweiller, and I will rip you to fucking SHREDS if you even look or breath near that chihuahua again, do you fucking understand me?"
"Get off me you're hurting my chest!" She screams again, " Oh, I've got something for your chest bitch, it's a fucking bullet!" I yell back, I was so caught up in my own world that I didn't notice Vincenzo, his father and Arabella standing in the doorway staring at us I continue to sit on the maid holding the pocket knife to her throat until I spot Arabella and I snap out of my little rage mode, I put the pocket knife back into my hoodie and I smile as I get off the maid laying underneath me "Oh... Hi princess... How long have yous-" I begin but Vincenzo's father cuts me off "Long enough, Marco take her to the pit" He spits out in anger, a guard comes walking over to us and I automatically go into defence mode thinking he's coming for me. I watch closely as he grabs the maid holding onto her tightly before dragging her away as she kicks and screams to try and free herself.
"I'm so sorry" I begin but they all shake their head, Arabella squeezes past and runs to me hugging me tightly "Thank you" She whispers quietly, "There's nothing to thank me for princess, I'll protect you until the day I die, I'm never going to let anyone hurt you or speak down to you". She lets go, kisses my cheek and runs back inside, now I'm left with Vincenzo and his father, "Look-" I begin to speak but Vincenzo's father's voice interrupts me again "We heard everything, there's nothing to explain, you protected family, end of story" He smiles before walking back inside.
I look to the ground and take a deep breath before getting off the floor and standing myself up again, "That was fucking hot" Vincenzo hums to himself "Isn't going to be fucking hot when I'm beating your ass, don't think I've forgotten about you pretty boy" I smirk looking his fine ass up and down... Stop it Karma were supposed to be mad at him.
"Oh trust me, it's still gonna be fucking hot".