CHIARA
I sat up groggily and yawned. My feet touched the ground. "Good morning, Madam." Marina's cheerful voice came. She was stepping out of the bathroom. "Morning," I looked around. Where did this man go this early? "Your special hot bubble bath is ready. I'll go and serve your breakfast. Come down soon. Oh, and my boss left you that." She pointed to the nightstand. I waved her off with a blowing kiss, "You're a hero, Marina." She giggled on her way out.
My fingers picked and turned the card. "Good morning, my love. Hope you had a good sleep. For obvious reasons, I didn't. And if you need me, I'll be at the Conti home. Have your breakfast. Love you. Oh, and last night you were magical, tesoro." I flipped around the paper. As if doing so would stop my face from heating or my mouth from grinning.
No, last night was a fucking blockbuster. I sauntered to the bathroom. I'd offered him something in return but he refused. He said he did that because he wanted to and didn't need anything in return.
I'd given him an earful afterwards about leaving without saying a word to me. Hence, the card today. What was I going to do with this man?
I roamed around the house after breakfast. It's wild that it has been three months and weeks since I was here. And still, there were places that I haven't stepped a foot in. Marina showed me the theater room, the basketball room, the gym room, table pool room, and finally to the gallery room. They were all on different sides across the hall at the lower part of the mansion.
In the gallery room though, that's where I'd fallen more in love with him. He bought half of the items from my exhibition. He didn't even tell me about it. Where I was raised, we were rich. But these people, they were insanely rich. I had yet to finish the entire estate or had a real tour at the Conti home.
When Marina was about to leave, I tagged along. I didn't feel like working, swimming or paying Queen a visit today. I just wanted to set my eyes on a particular handsome being. Yeah, I completely lost it.
In a few minutes, Black brought us to Conti mansion. I left Marina to argue with her big brother and went ahead to the lawn. What welcomed me had my eyes wide and my heart slamming against my rib cage. Carmelo was below, while his father was on top of him. Punching the hell out of him while he covered his face with both of his hands. And a big crowd of their guards cheered around them.
I frowned hard and my feet moved on their own accord. But I was yanked back before I could take another step. My glare dropped to the tight grip around my wrist and then up to the person who dared to stop me. "Do you wish to die?" I asked him.
Junior smiled, "Jeez, your eyes are scary as fuck. And nope, I do not." He didn't let go though. "Why aren't you stopping them?" I stared at him. "Because I have no right to. Just like how you don't." I turned to see Carmelo pushing his lower half up and tossed his father ahead, then he flipped around, maneuvered himself on his waist and bent both of the old man's legs backwards, in a death grip. The man screamed.
"They're going to hurt each other. Let go of me." Why wasn't he concerned? "They're not. And if you calm down I'll tell you what is going on." he uttered. I turned to the punches flying around, the grunting and cursing.
"How could I calm down?" Carmelo gave his father a flying kick and tossed him across the ground. "Right. You can't. Listen to me carefully then. They are fighting because of you." My head snapped back to him. "Me?" My frown deepened. "Yeah. Well, now that you are about to become a Conti, prepare yourself for the craziest customs and cultures." A familiar grunt came, I turned to find my man's face pressed to the ground by his father's knee. That man looked old but he was a menace. What the hell was going on?
"What kind of culture involves a father and son fighting each other like the world was ending?" It just didn't make sense to me. "In our family, when a man wants to marry, they should first be successful with enough fortune to guarantee that he'll be capable enough to start and look after his family." I blinked at him in confusion. Heh?
"It's insane right? That's not even half of it. Once you have the fortune and before you take a wife, you are supposed to fight with the current head of the family as a way of showing strength to lead one. Be it a grandfather, father, brother, whoever was currently in line." I looked at him awed, trying to ignore the grunts, cheers and screams in the background. What the hell was going on in this family?
"My grandfather used to say 'Every man should look after their families or I'll send you to jail.' And did, in his reign. And we followed in his steps. In the Conti Empire, la famiglia is everything. Family always comes first. And that's why my brother is now fighting to prove that he is worthy of you. We're sick, huh?" I shook my head, "So fucking sick." He laughed. I didn't know how to process all that information. "Welcome to the family, Chiara. And sorry about that." He let go of my wrist.
I rubbed the part where he gripped earlier. Now I understood why he held me back. I was about to join the fight head first for my man. Because who dared to batter my man like that while I was around? Hold up! My man?
Marcello had his son on a chokehold. Carmelo elbowed him, his eyes becoming red. I only had one wish; interfering. "Where is your Mama and Celia?" I asked because they were not around. "Oh, they're out shopping. The two couldn't watch this." I turned to face him, "And you are here because you are the cruelest amongst them?"
He chuckled, least offended. "You could say that I'm the black sheep of the family." I smiled, returning my gaze to the fight. "At least we have that in common." Carmelo's eyes landed on me, he smirked. As if he was saying 'This one's for you, love.' Call me insane but I could hear his voice saying those exact words in my mind. "Look at him, so eager to impress you." Junior teased me.
He hit his father with both of his elbows on his ribs, hard. The man's grip around his neck loosened. He grabbed his middle and back flipped him across. He then went down on him, pinning him with his whole weight. His father thrashed but Carmelo had him on a deadlock. So he finally tapped the ground. Carmelo let go of him and rolled to the side, gasping. A wide grin broke on his face as the guards cheered for him.
I haven't met their grandfather, but from what I heard he was one hell of a man. And the old man had my respect. For creating a good foundation of this family. For nurturing such beautiful people with open minds, kindness and a flicker of danger to them. Late old Conti was in fact… a man.
I walked up to them. I first gave his father a hand and helped him up. "Thank you, child." He managed. "I told you, you couldn't beat me. You are too old for this." Carmelo sat up, pointing to his body. His father burst out laughing. "You moron. I'm not offended because in a few years, Junior is going to whoop your ass too." Said their father.
"That I will, Papa. Better prepare your old ass then bro." He handed bottles of water to both of them. Carmelo sneered, "Find yourself a woman first." He chugged down the water and splashed some on his face and head.
I crouched down, assessing the damages. "Hey," he smiled and hissed, touching the corner of his lips. Apart from a split lip and a black eyes, I couldn't get any other bruises on the view. His father on the other hand had a bleeding nose and was limping. No wonder Celia and Francesca couldn't watch this. The fight was intense and real.
"Chiara." Their father called. I stood up to find him standing with arms open wide, "I know I stink right now, but welcome to the family. You are one of us now, child." The genuine smile on his face made me walk in the hug with a squeezed heart. And when his arms held me, I couldn't help but start to sob. "Oh no, stop crying my beloved. Did I say anything wrong?" He patted my back. I shook my head and pulled back. "I'm just happy." What I wanted to say was that I never had a father for a long, long time.
The last time I had a father figure was when I was eight, and I had to witness him getting killed before my eyes. Since then, this embrace of his was what I had been missing my entire life. The old man brushed my cheeks with his fingers, "That's okay, but crying is not allowed. And, remember to come to me if you need anything. I'm your father now and I'm thrilled to add another daughter to the family." I'm your father now. The words, his tone, shattered me and then mended something utterly broken inside me.
More tears streamed out. And now all three of them started coaxing me to stop crying with their utterly concerned faces. At that moment… I felt cared for, seen, loved, and most importantly… I felt like I belonged somewhere.