"What?!" Adriano had asked. Angela had just told him about Alessandro and he didn't know whether he was hearing her right. "That little shit. I'll kill him for every putting his hands on you."

"Adriano calm down."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me Angela?" he raised his voice again to which she furrowed her brows and gave him a weak look. Was he annoyed at her?

"Why are you shouting?" she winced.

"Because I'm fucking pissed that's why!" tears began to form in her eyes but he hadn't noticed yet. He was too busy trying to figure out what he was going to do to Alessandro when he got his hands on him. "You should've told me sooner Angie god damn it."

"Are you mad at me?" it was only now that he looked at her face and saw she was beginning to become upset. He sighed loudly now and moved closer to wrap his arms around her.

"No, of course not. I'm just angry at Alessandro." He reassured her. "I want you to tell me next time if anything like this happens again. I don't want anyone to hurt you." He spoke soothingly now, dragging his hand loosely up her arm to her shoulder and back down.

"He told me if I did I-"

"Alessandro needs to know his place, because he will do nothing to you."

"He was there when I was taken to Adamo's. He was at the club that night." The penny had finally dropped in Adriano's head, the conversation he had with his father was coming back to him.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner Adriano."

"Shh, It's okay." Angela heard him say gently. He began playing with her hair, he noticed she was beginning to drift off to sleep after silence fell upon them. "I think we should go to sleep now. Shh."

"Mmm." She mumbled. The last thing she remembered was his lips on her forehead before all her senses faded out and she fell into a deep sleep.

When she woke up he was gone. His dirty clothes were gone and his side of the bed had been made up. Angela wondered where he had gone. It had been just a little after ten and so she could only assume he was going to work today. She felt a little disappointed; she wanted to spend more time with him but knew that work was obviously important to him too.

She let out a shaky breath and her mind wondered around the fact that she had told him all about Alessandro last night. What would Adriano do to him? What would happen? Would she regret telling Adriano just like Alessandro had told her that night at Christmas? She hoped not.

Angela made herself some breakfast and between sips of her coffee, she could hear the faint sound of her cell phone ringing. She wondered whether it would be Adriano and rushed around the apartment, trying to remember where she had put the damn thing in the first place. Once she found it between the cushions on the sofa, she quickly answered.

"Hi Angela." She heard a voice say on the other end of the line. It was familiar but it wasn't Adriano.

"Hi there."

"It's Maria by the way, I don't think you have my number saved."

"Oh... Hey Maria."

"I was just wondering if you wanted to come over today, it's getting warmer so I thought I might bring the kids out to the park too."

"Sure, that'd be great. What time?"

"Maybe around noon, do you want me to come and pick you up?"

"I'm sure the guards can drop me to your place, just to save you any hassle with Michael and Amelia."

"Thanks, I'll see you then."

"Bye." Angela said before hanging up the phone and heading into the kitchen again to clean up.

Once she was done she took her time getting ready. The guards were waiting outside for her and she asked them to take her somewhere. Soon enough she was on her way to Franco and Maria's house.

"Angela!" Amelia exclaimed as soon as she saw her coming through the door.

"Hey there." Angela replied as she kneeled down to give Amelia a hug. "Well I haven't seen you in a while have I?" she laughed lightly before letting go and standing up again to turn to Maria who was holding out her arms for a hug too.

"So how have you been?" Maria asked, Angela had been there a couple of minutes now and Maria had made them both a cup of coffee.

"Everything's been good yeah." A smile tugged onto her lips when she thought about Adriano and how understanding he had been about everything she had told him about her past. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Maria said but Angela could tell her words were laced with something else. She gave her a knowing look to which Maria added "Franco's been a little busy with work lately. I know that it won't last too long you know? He's usually busy and stressed for a couple days. Sometimes he'll come in and barely say anything and then he's fine again- I shouldn't be complaining, this is what I signed up for after all." She sighed.

"Hey, it's okay to say how you feel about it. I'm sure it won't be long until he's gone back to normal." Angela gave the other woman a small smile. Just then, the two women both heard the loud cry of Michael from the next room.

"I guess Michael's awake." Maria raised her eyebrows and stood up, coming back just a couple of seconds later holding a sleepy-eyed Michael in her arms.

"Hey." Angela spoke gently to Michael who's hair was messed up, he was rubbing his eyes and she laughed at his appearance.

"I guess it's time for the park. Amelia let's get ready."

"Do you want me to take him while you help Amelia?" Angela's arms were already outstretched, ready to take Michael.

"Thanks Angela." Maria handed him over, got Amelia's jacket and helped her put it on.

The walk to the park was short, Angela pushed the stroller with Michael in it while Amelia yapped on to her mother and Angela. They weren't alone, both Maria's and Angela's guards had tagged along very subtly as to make sure they were okay.

"You know he still hasn't walked yet." Maria said once they were sat on a bench. Amelia had run to the swing set and Angela was holding Michael up making faces at him to make him laugh.

"I'm sure he will soon. Won't you Michael? I can tell by those big strong legs of yours." Her voice made both Michael and his mother laugh.

"You're good with kids you know. Would you say you'll ever have any yourself?" Maria asked.

"Well, maybe not just yet." Angela laughed a little before adding, "I'm still a little young right now."

"How old are you anyway?" Maria seemed interested.

"Twenty three- almost twenty four. Just a couple more days to go."

"Only a couple days? I didn't know it was your birthday soon, we'll have to organise something."

"I'm not so sure, I never really do much on birthdays anymore."

The two women sat on the bench, looking out at Amelia and chatting to each other until the sound of Maria's phone cut into their conversation.

"Hello." Angela could faintly hear the person on the other end of the phone but couldn't make out what they were saying. What she did notice was how Maria's face had instantly dropped after a couple of seconds of conversation

"Okay, I'm leaving now." Maria's voice was panicked and she quickly hung up. She took Michael and put him in the stroller, looking around her. Angela didn't understand what was happening.

"What's going on? Who was on the phone?"

"Franco, he told me it's not safe to be out. We need to get home now- Amelia!" Maria called her daughter who was in the middle of climbing up to get to a slide.

"I'll go get her." Angela said as Maria made sure Michael was comfortable in his stroller.

"Hey Amelia, we have to go now." Angela broke the news to her. And once they got back with Maria, who was just short of scrambling back to her apartment, she told Angela it would be better if she got home too and apologised.

"What's going on Maria?" Angela asked. She stopped at the door before she left.

"There's been a bit of trouble in work, Franco told me not to ask." Maria said in a more hushed tone as she held her son on her hip.

"Oh, I see." Angela's voice trailed off as she spoke. "Well, I'll see you soon Maria." Her voice raised slightly, as if it was a question and Maria picked up quickly on this.

"Of course you will. Goodbye." She gave the other woman a big hug before she left with the guards and returned home.

*****

"Lock the door Giovanni." Adriano grumbled. He then turned around and put both his hands on the table in front of him, a dozen faces from the familia looking back at him.

Two pairs caught his eye: Alessandro's and his father's. Adriano could sense the fear in the young man's gaze, it was tense and he was trying to slyly look around the room at how everyone else was reacting. Lucio was almost smirking, cruelly looking around the table at these men, knowing what was about to happen next. He had told Adriano to do all of the talking this time because soon, all of the responsibilities would be passed on to him, whether he liked it or not. Adriano's eyes locked with his father for a short moment before he spoke again, forcing out the words.

"We have a rat. It's someone sitting right here in this room and we aren't leaving until we find out who it is." But Adriano didn't have to figure out who it was, he knew exactly who had betrayed the family and who would do it again in a heartbeat. It was Alessandro.

*****

Adriano returned home a couple of minutes after Angela. She was already getting undressed for her shower when he heard the water turning on. He was tense and furious, today had been a very stressful day at work. He took off his suit jacket and tie before letting out a heavy breath.

He couldn't believe he had let Alessandro get away. He, Lucio and Giovanni chased him but he had gotten away too quickly, even after they had shot at his tires from their car. He was frustrated with himself and angry at what had happened that day, that he had been too preoccupied to notice a rat in his very own Familia and that his father had blamed Adriano's work performance on Angela.

Lucio, had told him many times before that Angela needed to go but Adriano had only realised the affect she had on him fully now. He had turned into the person he used to be, the person he couldn't be in a life like this and that wasn't acceptable, not for his father anyway. You needed to have no morals, you needed to be hard and tough and Adriano was not any of those things any more. People had noticed his cool exterior had changed and weren't taking him seriously but he would show them. And although all of these things annoyed him, he still didn't want to ever get rid of Angela. He really liked her, he liked how she had changed him but it was unacceptable according to his father.

Adriano heard her humming as he got closer to the door and opened it to find her pulling her t-shirt over her head, leaving her in her underwear.

"Adriano?" she said in surprise before covering her exposed body. He had this look in his eye, full of lust and hunger mixed into one. He didn't speak, but didn't take his eyes off of her as he stepped closer and closer, walking her backward into the shower. Within a second his lips were crashing onto hers, his hands roaming around her body as she willingly allowed him to do whatever he wanted to her.

He unhooked her bra and helped her out of her underwear before his lips were on her neck, leaving a trail of hot kisses on her collar bone and shoulder. She hands were around his back and through his hair. She was getting everything and still wanted more.

"Adriano you're still in your clothes?" she giggled now, feeling his now soaking shirt over his tensed and muscular back. Adriano still hadn't spoken, just began to unbuckle his pants as she unbuttoned his see-through shirt from the water cascading on the pair now.

He slammed his hands on the tiles behind her on either side of her head. Adriano leaned down once more to kiss her before lifting her up and pushing her against the wall, the cold tiles pressing against her bare back. Angela hadn't noticed until afterward how different he had been that night. He was fast, aggressive and although she had liked it, he had yet to say a word to her.

"How was your day?" she asked once they were lying in bed together. She stretched out, feeling her aching muscles before snuggling in closer to an unresponsive Adriano. She rested her head on his chest, waiting for him to answer but he said nothing, he didn't even move underneath her. "Adriano?" she asked before lifting her head and looking at him. He was staring at the ceiling, an unreadable expression on his face. He could see she was waiting for an answer from him from the corner of his eye.

"Good." He said in a short, clipped tone. Angela was left wondering what she could say next, although he didn't really seem like he was in the mood to talk, she would try one more time.

"Anything interesting happen?"

"No." he said quickly, just short of a second after she finished speaking.

"Oh." Her voice trailed off leading into a long silence. She didn't want to ask about what happened in work yet, maybe she would tomorrow. She put her head back down on his chest, trying to not allow her thoughts to creep in and make her over think the situation and his mood. Had she done something wrong?