213

Damon

Isabella's face was pale when I saw her as she came out of the bathroom. She had a stunned look as though she was trying to remember something. I grabbed her hands and rubbed circles over her knuckles until she smiled at me.

"I am fine," she said with a shaking voice.

"Champagne?" I asked as I handed her a flute. She shook her head. "I can't keep it down," she said, forcing another smile at me.

"Isabella, what is wrong?" I asked with my mouth close to her ear. "I'll tell you when we get home," she said as she squeezed my fingers back.

The rest of the evening couldn't come fast enough as I began to wish time could go faster. Finally, three hours after we arrived at the party, she tugged on my arm, telling me she wanted to go home.

 I bade goodbye to my friends and some others who were desperate to see me for some reason. We decided to take the chopper, being impatient and me wanting to find out what was wrong with my wife.

I helped her out of her dress when we reached our room. She shook herself out of it and ran straight into the bathroom before coming out a few seconds later with her face wiped clean of her makeup.

She suddenly gagged and heaved as she ran back into the bathroom. This time I ran after her and held her hair up as she vomited into the sink. She washed her face again, this time with soap. I pulled her into my arms and led her back to the bed.

"Talk to me," I said to her as I knelt  between her legs.

"I think… I don't know how possible this is, but I think I'm pregnant. I haven't seen my period for such a long time now, especially since the execution. I was supposed to see it a week after that, judging by the accident, but…"

"So we go to the doctor tomorrow," I said.

"Not Daniel. An actual doctor," I added. "We need to make some things sure and some things clear. Besides, Daniel is on a small mission I sent him on. Until then, we have to make do with an actual doctor," I said to her.

 "Shower?" I asked her and pulled her hand from her mouth. She had been biting her fingernails lately, and while it was cute, it was a bad habit.

***

"All right, let's have a look then," the doctor said after he applied a generous amount of clear-looking gel and placed the ultrasound probe on Isabella's belly. Instantly, the sound of thumping filled the room as the black and white picture of her womb came into view.

"There we have it," he said as he pointed to a small, bean-sized blob.

"What is that?" I asked, even though I knew the answer; I just wanted to hear it from him.

"That is your baby. And you can hear the heartbeat. It's still a little too early to tell the gender, but…"

The doctor turned around after turning off the machine. "Would you like to book another appointment? We have an excellent maternity care department," he said with a bright smile. I looked back at Isabella. Her eyes were wide open, and tears had filled them.

 "Give us a moment," I said to the doctor, effectively sending him out of the room. Once he left, I pulled my wife into my arms just as her tears began to fall down her face. After about five minutes of her crying, she pulled back and looked at me with a pink face.

"It's not possible," she said.

 "It can't be possible." "It's not," I said as I felt a smile tug at the corners of my lips.

 "But it is. And that's why you haven't seen it yet, that's why you've been vomiting all over the place. Mia Bella, you have no idea how happy I am," I said as I pulled her into another hug.

"What I don't understand is how it's possible. I lost a baby 2 months ago. I was shot at close range. I'm sure you can see the scars on my belly," Isabella said, and I couldn't disagree more. I didn't see scars; I had told her several times, but she didn't listen.

 "There's a chance that the baby you lost was a twin," the doctor said as he pushed his glasses off his face.

 "A twin," Isabella repeated.

I placed my hand on the table and looked at the doctor dead in the eyes.

"You know who she is, yes?" The doctor smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

 "That's right," I said.

"If you tell anyone what happened, I will find you and I will kill your entire family. Is that clear?"

The doctor's face became a mask of terror as he immediately began to nod his head.

 "Now we just need to figure out what to do about these stupid rumors," I said to her as we entered the helicopter.

"That's not necessary," Isabella said. She turned to look at me with tears still in her eyes. "I know who's spreading the rumors. It's Donatella.”

"Are you sure?" I asked her. Isabella wiped her eyes and looked back at me.

 "Donatella was the only one in the room besides Daniel when he told me there was a chance I wouldn't have children. Andrew was there, but I know he's not the one.

 I told Andrew, but there is no chance that Andrew would tell anyone. The only person I know that has a thing against me is Donatella." Her eyes glazed over as she took a peek into the future.

"I loved watching Isabella look like that," I thought to myself. It seemed like such a special ability, but I knew it was only activated when she knew about something. If she didn't know, she wouldn't see it. It made more sense that way.

I waited for her to finish and come out of her small trance. She turned to me. "Definitely Donatella."

When I told Alessandro that she was pregnant, the man broke out into tears. He smiled as he cried at the same time and suddenly pulled me into a hug.

 "I'm so happy for you, boss," he said as he began to pat my back, making slapping sounds fill the room.

"That's enough," I said, pushing him away.

"Don't tell anyone this except for our closest circle. As soon as she starts to show, I'm thinking of taking her away."

"Why?" he asked.

"The Mask has been whispering to me lately. It tells me that something is coming back. Something we were supposed to have killed. Cassandra?" he asked as he took a seat beside me.

 "I'm guessing it's her," I said. "But the worst part is that I know she's not going to come back unless she had someone she was working with. As it stands…" I told him about what Isabella had told me.

"I always knew I didn't like that woman," Alessandro said with a frown.

 "Though we need to have a plan to bring her down?"

 "For how long?"

 "For as long as possible," I said and stood up to find my wife.

 "We have to give this to ourselves. There's no way we can tell that to anyone," she said to me later on during dinner. We ate alone as she had specifically requested.

 "I'm with you on that," I said as I dropped my cutlery and looked at her.

 "What?" she asked as she looked at me. It was then I realized I had a stupid smile on my face.

 "Can't I smile at my wife?"

 "You can," she said as she pointed her fork at me. "Just not like that."

"I feel so self-conscious. I feel fat," she said, and I rolled my eyes in response.

 "And even if you are fat and ugly, I would still love you as you are. We both know that is a lie. That is a lie from the pit of Hell, and I don't believe that."

"You're right. You caught me. You are beautiful, and that's one of the reasons I love you, but it doesn't change anything. This changes nothing," I said as I met her eyes.

The next few days went blissfully slow for me as I reduced the amount of visitors that called on Isabella.

During the next meeting, the Council of Six had, I proposed when our last meeting would be, and it was agreed upon by all except Donatella. "I still don't agree with this," she said.

"I don't believe we should completely disband and end a tradition that has been with us for hundreds of years. If you disband, who will check the powers of the Mafia King?" I rolled my eyes behind my mask and would have explained for the hundredth time. I waved my hand dismissively, and Andrew took the role.

 "As the Mafia King has described, there will be a senate. The Senate will have equal representation across the board from lower families to more prominent families and possibly some members of the lower City."

Donatella suddenly stood up.

"I will not sit at the same table with lower City scum. I have said this numerous times, and it will be taken seriously," she slammed her small hand on the table as she spoke, throwing her pathetic tantrum.

"That is not for you to decide, Vivaldi," I said as I slowly stood to my feet. The woman instantly sat back down in her chair as she was visibly shaking.

 "Scum… you are scum. In fact, you are the worst I have seen so far as you completely disregard human life. This is one of the reasons I'm disbanding this pathetic charade. Because of people like you.

Because I know for a fact that if this Council sits for the next few generations, it'll be scum like you that will rule the city and run it to the ground again." I ended the meeting with that and walked outside with Isabella's hand intertwined with mine.

"The plan is simple," I told her as we walked to the helicopter.

"Why do we drive today?" she suddenly said, looking up at me with her green eyes.

"If that is what you want," I said as we made a U-turn and headed back to the elevator.

 "You take the throne as soon as we disband the council," I told her.

"Yes, we have discussed this numerous times. That is what is going to happen," she said as she smiled up at me.

 "We also need to have a written signature of every member of the council approving the disbanding of the council and my appointment as queen."

 "Somehow, I feel so nervous."

We reached the ground floor of the hotel, and suddenly my ear picked up on something. "Did you hear? Cassandra was spotted in the lowest City a couple of days ago.”