THE MAFIA’S HEIR

BIANCA’S POV

We were all silent for the next couple of seconds, everyone looking at each other. What the fuck did we just hear? We heard it all, and I couldn’t for the life of me, understand how one person could be so evil. This was outright wickedness! I looked at Francesca and her face was as blank as sheet. I wasn’t suprised. The poor lady had been suffering in silence all these while. Meanwhile, the same man she called ‘father’, was responsible for her mother’s death. How could a human being even have the heart to do such? To perpetrate such evil?

“There is no time to waste!” Alexander suddenly called our attention. “The men I sent, would have probably gotten to the warehouse already. But as we can all see, there are more people we have to save. Please, we need to get to uncle Dante and his family right now.”

“Call him already.” I rushed out, sweat breaking out on my forehead.

“On it!” We all looked up to see Matteo and Tommaso by the doorstep. Tell me they had been here listening to us all along? Matteo raised up his phone to show that he was calling uncle Dante already. They both looked so worried, and it was understandable. “Hello!” Matteo rushed out immediately the call was answered. “Uncle Dante, you have to leave your house this moment.” Thankfully, the call was on loud speaker, so we could clearly hear uncle Dante’s response.

“Matteo I’m not home, and what is this about? I am out with your father and uncles. We had to get the CCTV footage from the road where….” Oh, those men. We had failed to call and inform then that we had stumbled upon the solution to the issue on ground. We had been so engrossed, trying to connect the dots and solve the problem quickly.

“Uncle Dante!” I cut him short and snatched the phone from Matteo. “This is Bianca speaking. We just stumbled upon the whole truth. Manuel is at the Bari warehouse, under the custody of Francisco Ferrari. We have already sent some men to rescue him, but your family are in danger, because Francisco planted a time bomb around your house. It could blow up any minute from now and…”

“Oh my God!” He yelled out in shock. “Annalise! Annalise is the only one at home.”

“Uncle Dante, where are your children?”

“Oh…. please .. .. Bi.. . . come.” The line went rough for a moment, before eventually going off. What did this mean now?

“I am already calling Dante.” Alexander said, holding his phone in his hand. Dante was supposedly their cousin, and uncle Dante’s first son. We waited for some time, after which he released a sigh. “He isn’t picking up.” He stomped his foot angrily on the floor, causing my breathing to increase. I was so confused and worried. I wasn’t even sure our men had rescued Manuel yet. They have o get to him before Francisco hurts him. Everything was just happening so quickly, because we hadn’t even realized when Tommaso had disappeared from the study.

“Let’s try and be calm.” Massimo muttered. That was the first time he was saying a word since Francesca stepped into the study. They had shared looks of longing between one another, throughout the time we listened to all Francisco had been saying when we hacked the chip. I still couldn’t believe all these was actually happening! “What we are supposed to do, is call their security guards, and make sure to get them all out before….” Massimo was still talking when Tommaso rushed back into the study.

“We just reached out to the security guards and they confirmed no one was home, save for the house staffs, who are currently being evacuated from the building.”

“Really?!” I asked, feeling extremely relieved. “Then where are they then?”

“According to the guards, they are all on their way here.”

“Then that means…..”

“We need to call uncle Dante!” Matteo said. “He is the one who is in danger now.” He tried putting a call across to the man, but it wasn’t connecting. What the hell?!

“We have to go there now! uncle Dante would be in serious trouble if we…” I started, but Alexander cut me off.

“Bianca, we cannot! It is a time bomb and that means once it reaches the set time, it explodes. We could all be in danger as well. And it is worst because we have no idea where it was planted, so we wouldn’t be able to deactivate it on time. All we can do is to keep trying to reach him.”

“Alexander is right.” Dito nodded sadly, and we all looked at each other.

Francesca’s eyes had gone red by now. She had been silently crying all the while, and I could see that Massimo was finding it quite difficult to not walk up to her and hold her. The lady had been so misjudged and was mentally and emotionally tired. Now, I felt sorry for thinking the worst of her all these while. I tried to get Massimo to look at me and when he finally did, I wasted no time in signaling him to go to her. He seemed reluctant for a moment, which made me roll my eyes and walk up to her by myself.

“I’m sooo sorry.” I whispered the moment she looked up at me. Before she could say anything else, I was enveloping her in my warm embrace, my big tummy acting as quite the obstruction from our bodies getting closer. “I really am.” I whispered into her ears as she cried all the more. There was indeed a lot of sides to one story. This was the first time I was seeing her being so vulnerable. She literally held onto me tightly, like she was holding onto dear life. So she had tried to kill herself before?

“We can’t get across to uncle Dante.” Matteo muttered in worry. The next minute, Alexander led us all out of Manuel’s study, to the living room where the rest of the family were.

The entire place was rowdy and Mia, Greta and our other cousins who were there already, tried to know the whole story concerning what was going on. It was indeed a hard pill for them to swallow, and it was harder for us all because we weren’t sure our family members would be rescued alive. I particularly tried to be optimistic, but my energy was slowly dying, and I was only keeping it together because I wanted to be strong for the family, and for Francesca who still held onto me so tightly. Manuel just had to survive. I cannot do life own my own, it’s unimaginable. He has to return to the love of his family. He had to return to see me bear our child. He had to return in order to see that Massimo made it alive. Oh God, please.

“It’s already been eleven minutes.” Alexander updated everyone as he looked at his wristwatch. Just then, aunt Annalise and her children walked in through the doors, looking to be in panic.

“Is it true?” Dante asked, escorting his wife to an empty sofa by the edge of the wall, and gently pushing her down to it. His siblings joined her on the sofa, while he walked towards Alex.

“The security from home just gave a call. Apparently, a bomb had been planted in our home?” He asked in great disbelief.

“Yes.” Alexander nodded, confirming his thoughts. “You guys are safe at least, but your father is not. We called him to let him know the turn of events, and all he did was shout ‘Annalise’, before the call went off. We have been trying to reach him, all to no avail. We tried reaching out to our other uncles who were with him, but weren’t able to either.”

“Oh no!” Dante whispered. “He may have gone back for mom. He knew we were all supposed to be here this morning, to know how the investigation to find Manuel was going. But then, mom was supposed to remain home because she isn’t really feeling too well.” He explained. “It was at the last minute she decided to come home with us. He most certainly went back for her.”

“Have you guys seen Dante?” We all looked up to see my father in law walk in together with Alexander’s father, and another man who was certainly Anthonio’s father.

“What do you mean?” Dante asked immediately.

“Well, we all went to the police station, trying to get the CCTV footage from the road where Manuel had gotten into an accident. Dante had gone to relieve himself at the restroom, but didn’t return. I was scared he may be in danger, that is why I decided we rushed back home to check if anyone had seen him.” Alexander’s father explained.

“But you should have called, Dad.”

“We didn’t want to create tension on top of the already existing one, especially if it ended up being a false call.” He explained.

“Well, my father is not safe. He is on his way home!” Dante yelled in worry.

“You are not making any sense.” Alexander’s father shot back.

“This is crazy!!” Mia yelled out in rage all of a sudden, tears running down her cheeks. Oh God. The men looked at her in confusion, carefully scanning the faces of everyone present in the room.

“Mom, calm down.” I begged, and she swallowed hard, nodding her head in obedience. Alexander seemed to have pulled the men aside, trying to explain what exactly was going on. Better.

“I’m trying.” She sniffled. I didn’t want to leave Francesca who was still holding onto me, so I shared a look with Massimo once more. This time around, he didn’t waste any time to walk up to us. I pulled away from Francesca, and he replaced my position beside her on the sofa. They both looked at each for a moment, before she eventually fell into his embrace, crying all the more.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered into his chest. He blinked furiously, trying to hold his tears for coming out. Bending slightly, he placed a chaste kiss on her forehead, and pulled her closer to himself. Oh God! Everyone was just a mess. I made my way to where Greta and Mia sat, and as if Greta knew what I had come for, shifted away from her mom, so I could sit closer to her. Mia hugged me the moment I sat beside her, and I rubbed her back warmly. Greta took my second hand in hers, and squeezed lightly. I looked at her and we shared a sad smile.

“All will be well.” She muttered, and I nodded in agreement. Most definitely! All had to be well. We were still holding each other’s hand when we heard a loud sound and the building shook furiously. Oh no! It just happened. The bomb just detonated.

“What the hell?” Alexander muttered in shock. It was as if everything seemed more real now. Manuel! What about Manuel? Francesca’s father had said he was going to die the same time as Dante’s family. Had he been rescued already? How about uncle Dante? Did he escape this? Oh lord!

Just then Alexander’s phone rang out loudly, and he pulled it out to look at it, before looking at us all. We knew it was an update on either men. What was it?

*

*

“Bianca please.” Mia begged me, but I shook my head sadness buried deeply in my heart. “You haven’t had anything to eat all day. You should eat something, now that you know he is fine at least.”

“Fine? Did you say fine?” I looked at her in disbelief, before looking back at the unconscious body of my husband. “He has been like this for days now. Not moving, not speaking to me. How do you expect me to feel alright?” Tears fell from my eyes.

“Oh dear.” She hugged me, patting my hair affectionately. “Please dear, you have to look after yourself. How do you think Manuel would feel when he wakes up to see you looking so bad. You have so many dark circles underneath your eyes.”

“And so do you.” I sighed, and looked up at her. The black gown she wore was a huge contrast to her pale and swollen face. These past few days really showed me how much the Russos valued family. The death of one, greatly affected all. “How was the funeral?” I asked, and she released a loud sigh.

“Annalise still blames herself. If he hadn’t thought she was in that house, he wouldn’t have rushed in there for her. All the maids and security guard had run for safety, so there was no one to prevent him from going in. Oh Bianca, it hurts.” Tears clouded her eyes, and she blinked them back quickly. “Annalise said they were just starting to get things right in their marriage. Dante may not have been the perfect husband, but he was a wonderful father and a good man. Genuinely kindhearted. It’s all still like a movie.”

“Indeed.” I nodded in agreement, before sparing Manuel’s unconscious body a glance. “How about Francesca? Have you heard from her?”

“Yes.” Mia nodded. “Today was her father’s funeral as well.” She said, cleaning the dry tears off my face. “I feel sad for the girl. The trauma she’d have to live with for the rest of her life, knowing that her father killed her mother. It’s so sad.”

“I am happy for her actually.” I sighed. “It was more horrible to have him in her life. Who knows what other wrong things he would have done to her in the future? The sadistic man made her suicidal! I cannot even imagine it. More than anything else, I am so glad she has a kind man as Massimo in her life.”

“Yeah.” Mia nodded in agreement.

“What about Nonno?” I asked in worry. I was literally oblivious about a lot that had been happening outside these hospital walls. Ever since Manuel was rushed here after being rescued by his men from Francisco’s warehouse, I have not left his side. I literally bath here, and Greta brings new change of clothes for me every day. This was day 4 already.

“The poor man is heartbroken. He buried his own son who was killed by the same man that killed his wife. It was a hard pill to swallow. He looked so tired and frail, we were so scared he was gonna break down. He is having his rest at home though, and has asked for you a million times already.”

“Ohhh, I truly wish I could be with him right now and console him. But I can’t leave Manuel’s side.”

“That’s understandable. The rest of the family were supposed to be here, but the past few days have been really stressful. And after the funeral, they were all so emotionally drained. They’d most certainly stop by tomorrow.”

“I totally understand.” I nodded. We both talked for a while, and she filled me in on other stuffs. When it had gotten so late at night, she made her way back home. I made myself comfortable on the couch beside Manuel’s bed, and ate the meal she had prepared and insisted I ate. After that, I fell deeply asleep on the couch.

When I opened my eyes, it was morning, and I was suprised when I realized I was laying on a bed. But….

“It seems she is awake.” I heard someone whisper, and I looked up immediately to see 5 different faces looking down at me. My parents, Nonno, Mia, and…. Manuel?

“Manuel!” I called out in shock, quickly standing up from where I realized was the hospital bed. The others gave us space as we ran into each other’s embrace. “You’re fine.” I found myself crying, and he literally had to carry me and sit on the bed, making me comfortable atop his thighs.

“Shhh… I’m sorry for making you worry so much.” He whispered. Just then, our family members walked out of the room, giving us the space we clearly needed.

“When did you…. when…”

“I woke up last night, and saw you asleep on that uncomfortable couch.” He tone held a sound of chastisement to it, making me feel like a little baby who was being subtly scolded.

“I am sorry.” I muttered, even though I knew I wasn’t.

“I’m sorry as well.” He sighed, before leaning closer and pulling my lips into his for a deep kiss. My hands quickly ran through his hair, missing the way it felt between my fingers.

“Please, don’t ever do that to me again.” I pleaded, and he nodded vigorously.

“Never.” He muttered. “Never again.” He sighed, a small smile claiming his lips. “I am sooo proud of you. The entire family is. They haven’t stopped talking about how you took the reins of authority and tried to organize things in my absence, regardless of how hurt and disturbed you must have felt. You are such a blessing to me.” He took my hands in his and placed chaste kisses on my knuckles. “And I would never trade you for anything or anyone else in this world.”

“I love you.” I blinked back my tears, closing the space between us and giving him a sound kiss. “Hope you feel better now?” I asked, the moment I pulled away from him

“I feel like nothing happened to me. As good as new.” He grinned, making me smile. “And I love you sooo sooo much more.” He sighed, a small smile of appreciation on his face. “These past weeks have been extremely rough for everyone. For us, most especially.”

“Very.” I nodded in agreement.

“We would leave for Moscow next week. After the dust from this terrible experience has somewhat settled.”

“Why are we going to Moscow?” I asked, truly at loss.

“To have an actual honeymoon. That was the place, where this love between us was kindled. There would be no better place to fall in love more and more with each other. To get to know each other much better, and to bond with each other. We would stay there for as long as possible.”

“Oh my goodness.” I teared up at how sweet this man could be.

“You like that?” He asked, caressing my cheeks.

“That sounds very nice.” I nodded in agreement. “But what about the company and every other thing you have to oversee here in Italy?”

“What else are my family there for? They would take care of things in our absence. I need to pamper my wife and get lost in love with her.” He grinned, before pulling me closer for a passionate kiss.