Katerina De Luca

"We're...we're having a baby girl? My babygirl?" Arosio finally lifted his dark gaze up to meet mine but this time, I almost fell back in shock. His hand slowly reached out to caress my growing bump before a beautiful smile lit up on his handsome face.

I had predicted almost all of his reactions but I never thought he would cry. Never in a million years did I picture this monster crying over this fake gift I made him. I will never give my innocent baby his name but I had to come up with something convincing to get his mind away from thoughts of me running away.

"Um...yes... we are having a girl," I smiled at him sweetly and yelped in surprise when Arosio suddenly cheered loudly before lifting me up into his arms and twirling us around.

"YES! YES! YES! WE ARE HAVING A GIRL, MY PRINCESS AND MY QUEEN! GRAZIE DIO!" Arosio continued to cheer happily as I held onto him tightly and couldn't stop the giggles from escaping my lips. Arosio slowly placed me back down onto my own two feet before pulling me into a long, passionate kiss. (Thank you God)

For some reason, I didn't want to push him away this time. I had initially predicted his reaction as being mediocre. I never expected him to be this happy over such a small gift from me. I could feel my heart slowly melting before I quickly shook my head and reminded myself that he is a monster.

"Thank you so much tesoro, this is the best birthday gift I have ever received in my whole life. Thank you for completing our family and thank you for loving us. I promise to take care of you, our little prince Eli and our little princess Ariana for the rest of eternity," Arosio promised as his hand rested on my protruding stomach before I nodded at him with a beaming smile.

"But please keep this a secret! I planned to reveal this to everyone in Italy tomorrow but since I won't be flying with you all, I will have to reveal it in Italy the day after tomorrow! You need to pretend not to know anything when you fly with everyone tonight, promise?" I ordered playfully and internally sighed when Arosio stiffened again since I mentioned him flying without me.

"I really don't want to leave you and our principessa alone, cucciola" Arosio stated dejectedly before I held his face in my hands and kissed him once more.

"I know, Arosio but they need you in Italy and I don't want anyone blaming me nor our baby for you not being there and helping them. I will fly with Nonno in the morning, okay?" I whispered and held my breath as Arosio remained perfectly silent before slowly nodding his head in agreement.

Grazie Dio! (Thank you God!)

***

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop the tears from flowing down my cheeks. I had said goodbye to everyone and they left to the airport where the De Luca private jet is, except for little Eli and Arosio who wanted to spend a bit more time with me before leaving.

Arosio is currently downstairs with all of the staff and Nonno, probably threatening them to take extra care of me for tonight. But that's not why I am crying, the reason is because just like every good story, I coincidentally left the hardest goodbye for last.

"My little prince, come here please," I whispered through tears after closing the bedroom door and held my hands out to Elijah. He quickly ran towards me and outstretched his tiny arms around my stomach.

"My Eli, do you remember when mommy told you that she will need to leave soon?" I whispered before quickly wiping my tears and bent down so that I was eye level with Elijah.

"Yes, I remember mommy said that she needs to leave with princess soon and that you love me and will come back as soon as you can," Elijah repeated cheerfully but his emerald green eyes began to water, making my heart instantly shatter.

"Yes, you're right, my smart little boy. Mommy loves you so much and I promise, Mommy will come see you as soon as I can, I promise," my shaky hand lifted up to hold my pinky out towards Elijah who kissed my finger before hooking his pinky onto it.

"And here, take these. Mommy has written a letter for you to open every birthday but keep this a secret, okay my little prince?" I instructed softly before holding out the birthday letters I wrote for Elijah until his 21st birthday. The stack was tied together with a red ribbon and I placed them into Elijah's small hands.

"Mommy won't be back before my birthday?" Elijah questioned through tears before I pulled him into my arms and rubbed his small back up and down.

God I wish it didn't have to be like this, I wish I could take my little prince with me.

I truly wish.

"Mommy is so sorry, I promise I will try my best to see you as soon as I can. Always remember that mommy and princess loves you, okay? Now go hide those letters into your desk drawer, alright?" I whispered back softly before quickly standing up and wiping my eyes when I heard the door suddenly open.

"There you are, I was looking everywhere for you tesoro," Arosio stated as I quickly blocked his view of Elijah and took a hold of his outstretched hand.

"Let's go, the car is ready. I'll take your bag Eli," Arosio stepped around me and took Elijah's small carry-on bag that I packed with toys so that he wouldn't get bored during the 14 hour flight.

We made our way downstairs and I quietly greeted Nonno who came to stay in Arosio's personal mansion for tonight so that we could fly to Italy tomorrow. I held onto little Eli's hand tightly as we walked towards Arosio's Range Rover parked out in the front before I helped fix him into his small car seat and kissed his cheeks, forehead and nose.

"Mommy loves you, my little prince. You made mommy so happy in these past few months, mommy will always love you," I whispered through tears before kissing his cheeks again and slowly closing the backseat door.

Quickly wiping my tears away, I jumped slightly when a familiar pair of strong arms wrapped around my stomach as he buried his face into the crook of my neck. His familiar addicting scent filled my every sense before I slowly turned around and hugged him back.

"Call me if anything happens, okay tesoro? I love you and I will be waiting for you in Italy, I have a little surprise of my own waiting for you as well," Arosio whispered with a cheeky smile as I gave him a small smile before kissing his lips and hugging him tighter. I could tell that he was surprised at me taking the initiative to hold onto him longer but he leaned into my touch anyway.

What is this feeling...

I thought little Eli would be the hardest goodbye but why...

Why is every part of me screaming to hold onto Arosio and never let him go?

This thought alone was enough to scare me and had all the color draining from my face. Clearing my throat, I lightly pushed Arosio away and took a step back with my eyes lowered to the ground.

"Okay, I will, take care! Goodbye, Arosio," I stated sweetly and waved him off as he got into the car and finally drove off.

Goodbye, forever Arosio De Luca.

***

Arosio De Luca

From the moment I stepped into my family's private jet, I felt like a piece of me was missing. I wanted Katerina to be here with me and never thought that I would have to leave ahead of her. I know it is only one day but I can't stop myself from worrying about her and our princess.

Our princess...

Just the thought brought a bright smile onto my otherwise cold face as I quietly took the gift out of my carry-on luggage and caressed the soft material.

Ariana De Luca.

My princess that came from the love of my beautiful wife and I. I will always protect and cherish my precious girls and little boy forever.

"Oh cos'è questo, fratello?" Alanzo suddenly appeared behind me before taking the pink onesie from my hand and showing it to my parents, Adriano and Elijah. (Oh what's this, brother?)

"Oh mio Dio, è una ragazza? Sì, finalmente una nipote!" Mother screamed in excitement while shaking poor fathers hand back and forth as Adriano smiled and Alanzo began to cheer loudly. (Oh my god, it's a girl? Yes a granddaughter finally!)

I turned my gaze to little Elijah who had been silently sitting in the back near my parents for the past two hours of this flight without moving from his position. His carry-on luggage was open beside him so I assumed that he was playing with his toys but from this angle, I could make out what looks like a rectangular paper.

"Oh, quindi è per questo che vuoi lasciare la mafia? Non posso dire di essere d'accordo con te, ma come padre, capisco e sono orgoglioso di te figlio," Father stated with a small smile as I nodded my head and ignored Mother and my brothers shocked expressions at his words. (Oh so this is why you want to quit the mafia? I can't say I agree with you but as a father, I understand and I am proud of you son)

I let Father explain the situation to everyone and instead focused on making my way over to Elijah whose little back was facing everyone since the moment we got into the flight. I could hear Alanzo repeatedly questioning if what Father said was true since I had always said that I would never leave our Mafia.

"Si è vero. Arosio ha in programma di chiedere a Saverio di gestire sia la mafia italiana che la nostra mafia qui in America. Probabilmente vuole farlo per Katerina e la loro bambina," Father explained as my family turned to look at me in shock but I ignored them and bent down eye level to Elijah who I only noticed now is crying. (Yes, it's true. Arosio plans to ask Saverio to manage both the Italian mafia and our mafia here in America. He probably wants to do this for Katerina and their baby girl)

"Eli cosa c'è che non va? Perché stai piangendo?" I questioned before noticing a stack of envelopes in his tiny hands. He quickly tried to hide them but I grabbed them before he could and looked through them. They were birthday letters for Elijah and I could recognize Katerina's handwriting on the envelopes. (Eli what is wrong? Why are you crying?)

"Elijah, what is this?" my voice came out harder than I intended to but I couldn't help it. My instincts were telling me that something was wrong, very wrong. And my instincts have never been wrong before.

"Mommy...gone...mommy," Elijah bursted into tears after mumbling those few words that had me frozen in shock. Mother quickly ran over to console Elijah before sending me a confused look.

I quickly took my phone out of my pocket and saw two messages that instantly had me crumbling to the floor in pure shock and pain.

Doctor Santiago: Congratulations, Mr. De Luca. The blood test results came back showing that Mrs. De Luca is pregnant with twins!

Nonno: Te l'ho detto prima, non ho nipote. Lei se n'è andata. Mi dispiace. (I told you before, didn't I grandson. She left. I'm sorry.)

How...how could you...Katerina?

***

Hello Lovely Readers!

Thank you for your patience! I finally finished my summer course and thank God I ended it with an A!!!

Wow a double update to celebrate!

I hope you all enjoyed this update and as always please leave your comments, I try to reply to all of them and I do read all of them!

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