CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIVE

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIVE
MELO
"Do you think Carina is missing us?" Isabella asks next to me.
We're both slumped on the bed, spent and sweaty. We've just spent the last hour plus, making love.
"Hopefully. " I answer.
She leans into me and puts her head on my chest. "I don't want to leave this bubble."
"We shouldn't," I agree.
"But we have to. We have a child who's going to need her mum soon."
I exhale deeply, sit up and rest my back against the head board. "Let's get cleaned up and go get her. I want to catch up for the months I was away."
She gets off the bed, letting the sheets fall slowly from her back to the floor and I'm instantly hard again. She turns her head and looks at me from the hood of her eyes. She's fucking with me on purpose.
"I'm going to have a shower. Wanna join me?"
"We won't join Carina as soon as we want to if I go in there with you."
"I sure you can manage." She says and struts into the bathroom.
I put my arms under the back of my head and watch the door, debating whether or not I should go in with her. I want to be with her but I also want to catch up on the months of my daughter's life that I missed.
Isabella pokes her head out of the bathroom door and points at me.
"Get in here." She says and disappears into the bathroom.
I'm out of the bed in an instant and I'm running into the bathroom.

"That's her doctor, Dr. Winnie. She's super nice. You'll meet her at her next appointment and you'll see. Carina hates the hospital and the doctors and she's very vocal about it." Bella says.
She's showing me a picture she took on her tablet, of the doctor carrying Carina. I look at my daughter playing on my lap with pride. She's just like me. Before everything went to hell with my parents, my mum said I hated doctors and the hospital.
"She's like me. My mother said my sense of smell was the first thing that developed. I could always smell the hospital and I'd always make a fuss." I say.
Isabella looks shocked and I shake my head. "Don't make it a thing, please. It's a memory that just came to me."
She smiles softly. "You don't talk about your life at all. Please let me make it a thing." She says, pouting while putting her palms together.
I roll my eyes. "Whatever."
"Alright, fine. I'll let it go for now. So that day, I was exhausted. It was the day after the first time you missed your check in and I was going through it. We were at the hospital and she was crying so hard, I thought she'd break her lungs. It was Dr. Winnie's first day and she took her from me. Carina threw the biggest fit at being taken from me but within a few minutes, she was laughing at something Dr. Winnie was doing."
"Wow, she must be magical."
"She is."
Carina starts fussing over a toy and I just watch her in amazement. She was so tiny the last time I saw her. It feels like it was yesterday and the last three months didn't happen. Looking at her, it feels like I left home that night and when I came back the next morning, my daughter grew.
Isabella notices and clears her throat to bring my attention back. She turns to the next picture.
"That's her in the outfit Sarah sent from China. Doesn't she look adorable?"
"She does. Speaking about Sarah, how is she and her husband Luca?"
I've not spoken with anybody in the outside world since I got back. After we got cleaned up, we came out of our room and have been in Carina's playroom since.
Isabella gets a guilty look on her face that makes me suspicious. I try to meet her eyes but she avoids my gaze.
"What happened to them?"
"To them? Nothing. They're actually back. The case against Luca got thrown out."
My eyes narrow in suspicion. This is good news, so why is she acting like this?
"What are you not telling me, Bella?"
She sighs and finally meets my eye. "Promise, you won't get angry."
"Things never go well if the conversation starts like that."
She shakes her head. "Promise or I won't tell you."
"Even if I get mad, that doesn't mean shit to you because I would never hurt you. Tell me what it is, Isabella." I say, getting frustrated now.
"So a month after you left, CeCe started sending flowers to the house. Flowers addressed to you, saying how much she misses you and wishes you were back."
"What? Why didn't you say anything on our calls?" Is this what she thinks I'll get upset over? Why would I be angry with her over this? She shouldn't have had to go through that.
"I get to speak with you for ten minutes, once a week. There was no way in hell I was going to bring her up. Anyway, every attempt to get her to stop failed. Rocco and Marco had to go around the State telling them not to accept any orders that were coming to our house. Somehow, she still found a way."
"That…" I bite down on the cuss word on the tip of my tongue. I don't want to cuss around my little girl. She'll hear enough of it when she's older.
"Anyway, Sarah came and I told her what happened and told her that we couldn't do anything because of how important her father is to your business. She suggested we invite her over and beat her up and I agreed."
I'm shocked silent. That's not what I was expecting to hear. I tilt my head and watch my wife.
"No, don't look at me like that. I didn't do the beating, I couldn't. I just sat on a big chair and ate popcorn."
I laugh at the mental image. "I'm sure Rocco can get me the footage. That's something I don't mind watching."
"So you're not angry?" She asks softly, her voice small.
"What? No. I don't care if they have the power to end my life, nobody gets to frustrate you and you take it quietly because of whatever they're helping me with. Do you understand that, Isabella?"
She nods and I shake my head. "Say it."
"I understand."
"Good. I can't believe Marco let it continue. I'm going to have a long conversation with him about it."
"No need. He really tried his best to get her to stop. He met with her father."
"Not good enough. It's fine. I'm back now and no one will ever mess with you again."
I had planned to rest the whole day, but it seems I have a stop to make before I start setting things in order tomorrow.