'So now that we have dealt with the little things, tell me why you wanted to meet us.' Leon says as he moves the papers toward me.

I glance at it, before looking back at my phone. Still nothing.

'I was wondering when you were going to ask me about my request.' Julian says, probably smiling to himself. I couldn't care less about whatever it is he has to say right now.

I didn't even want to be here. I was forced to go to this stupid meeting.

Simply because I haven't shown my face in a few weeks. I don't need people searching for me.

'I have a client that has a very expensive shipment that needs to be moved out of France.' I can see Leon leaning forward in his chair.

I want to look at him, but notice a message pop up on my phone and look who it is.

Marco...

𝚆𝚎'𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚘

I don't give a fuck you- 'I need you to be more specific, Julian.'

The man across from us moves to the edge of his seat as well, trying to intrigue Leonardo even more.

'It's confidential.' I almost roll my eyes and quickly look at Leon. He's smiling proudly, shaking his head as he leans back in his chair.

'If you want our help, we need to know what we're getting ourselves into.'

Some of Julian's men chuckle and I want to blow their heads off.

We're wasting my time by having small talk about some stupid deal.

'Typical Curzio's.' He chimes as he snaps his fingers.

A few seconds later, he shoves a piece of paper to Leonardo, who takes a look at the photo he's showing.

I can vaguely see a diamond necklace in the photo.

'It's-' 'Marie Antionette's bracelet.' Leon finishes and I can't help but contain a little smile.

He has always been interested in jewelry, that's why he's perfect for that segment of our empire.

'How did you get this?' He asks curiously.

'My client got it from an old friend.' Marie Antionette... She was royalty... 'She wants it moved and I told her I would make sure it would get from A to B without any complications.'

Leon snorts and places the photo back on the table.

A bracelet of three rows of small diamonds.

'There will always be complications with the transport of goods. I mean, we're talking about a ten-million-dollar relic that was owned by one of the most known French royals.' Leon says clearly amused by all of this while I couldn't care less.

They signed the papers, we got our payments, and made sure they wouldn't go rogue, yet were still here.

'Yes, but I know you guys have the best transport available for a piece this good.'

As much as I hate his flattery, he's right.

Not everything goes as planned, but we get our clients what they signed up for.

If they want stuff transported from A to B, we'll make sure it gets there no matter what.

That doesn't mean we'll do it for free though.

'How much will it get us?' I ask, feeling their eyes on me as I watch my phone, waiting for another picture or text to come through.

I can hear some men muttering, and wait for Julian to answer.

His father should be here to talk to us, but instead, we got him. Julian Beaumont.

He is the son of Maurice Beaumont, one of the richest men in France.

'My client is willing to pay me ten million dollars to take it from her house to London within the next month.' Fail number two...

His first mistake was bringing those other idiots to a meeting where he only had to sign some papers.

His second mistake is saying exactly how much his client is willing to pay for the transport of the bracelets.

'And how much were you going to pay us?' Leon asks, leaning forward again.

'Around two million.' Mistake number three... I almost want to laugh in his face for even bringing this up to us.

He could easily get someone else to do this for him. The bracelets might not get there as quickly or in one piece, but I bet some idiots would take the deal.

'So you want us to risk our lives for a mere two million?'

'Two million is more than I was going to pay the others.' Others...

So he did go to other associates to try and make them take this deal.

'How about you give me the information of your client and we'll talk to her ourselves?'

Julian chuckles at Leon's suggestion, but he might as well take it. It's the best thing for both of us since he'll make a fool out of himself if he doesn't get the jewel moved by professionals and we're not taking the deal for just two million.

'I will not sell out my client.' Julian states, his tone a bit harder than before.

'Julian, listen,' Leon starts, 'We all know that two million for a job like this is like coming home to an empty bed. Useless and not worth it. So I suggest you just give me the name of your client because it won't take us that much to find out who she is.'

'You wouldn't know where to start.'

I raise a brow and almost open my mouth, but decide to let Leon deal with it, 'She has jewelry of royalty, she must have a lot of money, and she knows and trusts you because otherwise, she wouldn't have gone to you with something this big.'

Julian stays silent and without looking at any of them, I can feel the tension rise to the roof, 'There are only three women who trust you and have a lot of money, and only one who has some royalty in her, so tell me, Julian... Are you willing to risk it?'

I forgot how good Leon can be in this shit. Mostly because we never do stuff like this together anymore.

'How about we give you half of what we earn?' I look at Leon, who also turns to me, and shake my head.

'Since we'll be risking more, we deserve to get the bigger cut, don't you think?' I can hear a few men grunt across from us and wait for Julian to say something.

'It's only fair.' Mistake number four... Never give in this quickly.

I nod and nod at my guy at the door, watching as he quickly opens it so that all these assholes can leave and we can go back home.

'Do you agree to our terms?' I ask, keeping my eyes on my phone just in case any notifications appear.

She said she would keep me updated...

'Yes, we'll send you the papers later, but it's a deal.' Julian says as he gets up and keeps his eyes on me.

'Do you have somewhere to go, Rafael?' The hint of curiosity in Julian's voice doesn't go unnoticed.

'It doesn't concern you.' I can hear some of Julian's men shuffle in the room and look at one of my guys who's waiting by the door.

Should I just make him shoot everyone in the room and go?

'Quelqu'un doit les suivre.' A man to his right whispers, thinking that I won't hear. I think his name was Émile Theroux, Julian's future right-hand man.

They met each other a few years ago when the Beaumonts went on a trip to Southern France.

Leon sighs deeply and turns to me, fully knowing that I'm at my last straw with these idiots.

'Fais ça,' I say, straightening as I turn my full attention to them for the first time during this meeting, 'et ça sera la dernière chose que tu vas faire.'

I can see Leon grinning in the corner of my eye, but keep my eyes on Julian, 'Make sure your men know how things work in this system, Julian. We don't want any mistakes.'

'It won't happen again.' He says as fear fills his eyes, but his voice is as confident as ever.

He's learning already.

'We'll send you the papers,' He repeats as he turns to the door, dragging Émile with him like a little kid, 'Goodbye Rafael.'

I wait for the door to close before I turn back to my phone, while Leon rambles about the importance of the bracelet.

I couldn't care less about that stupid bracelet, but now that we're done here, we can finally go back home.

'We're leaving.' I state as I get up and head for the door as well. Leon, who just grabbed everything, follows after me and greets everyone we pass.

I wait for him to unlock the car and get in, noticing someone staring at us across the road.

It's a teenage girl with auburn hair and a bright yellow backpack. She's talking on the phone.

I've never been good at reading lips, but something about her just seems off. As soon as she realizes I notice her staring at us, she turns towards one of the shops and acts like she needs to be in there.

Maybe she does need to be in there? No. There's no way.

She's trying to glance our way through the windows of the shop and I reach for Leon's shoulder.

'We have eyes on us.' He chuckles and looks around, ending on the girl whose eyes widen when she notices us both looking at her, before starting the car. 'I thought you wanted to leave?'

'We can't have someone following us.' I need to get back to the island, but we can't have people knowing about the island already.

'She's not going to, she's just a kid.' He drives off and decides to take a detour to the airport just in case.

Or so I thought because when Leon parks the car, we're nowhere near an airport.

'What the fuck are you doing?' I ask as he takes the key out of the engine and reaches for his door.

'I have to get a ring.' I roll my eyes and try to take the key from his hands, but he quickly pulls it away. 'You already have a ring, we need to get going.'

'It's not good enough, they have a better one here.' He chimes as he opens the door. I almost wrap my arms around his neck to pull him back but he's faster and quickly gets out of the car.

'Leon, if you don't-' He slams the door shut, making me sigh as I open my door and get out, 'If you don't get your ass back to this car right now, I swear to god-'

'You love me, Adriano!' He shouts as he crosses the road towards a jewelry shop.

'I'm leaving without you.' He stops in front of the door and slowly turns around to face me. 'Everything is fine, they're all safe and we'll see them soon. Just give me a few minutes.'

'I'm going to kill you if you don't come back right now.' He shakes his head with a smile on his face, yet he doesn't move, 'Leonardo, you have two minutes.'

'Call them, I'll be right back!' He rushes inside and I get back in the car as I reach for my phone.

I dial Valentina's number and listen as it rings a few times. She doesn't pick up and my heart starts racing instantly. Something's wrong...

I knew it. I knew she would've called me already, I knew we had to be faster with all of this bullshit, and I knew it was a bad idea to leave.

I stare at the door of the jewelry store Leonardo disappeared in and wait for him to get out again, debating if I should empty my gun into the glass doors.

I decide to call North and wait for her to pick up. Just as I'm about to give up and explode, she picks up the phone.

Babies are crying in the background and I can't tell whose baby it is. 'Rio?'

'Where is Valentina?' I ask, not wanting to waste time on small talk. 'What did you say?'

'Where is my wife?' I almost shout through the phone, wanting to somehow strangle her through this small screen. 'I-'

The crying gets louder and my heart rate picks up even more, 'I'll call you back, give me one second.'

And just like that, she hangs up the phone. I will kill her...

People are walking up and down the street to get to where they need to be as I sit in this stupid car, waiting for my cousin to get his stupid girlfriend the so-called perfect engagement ring even though we both know she would say yes if he got her one of those candy rings.

My eyes land on the same auburn hair from earlier and then land on the bright yellow bag.

She's here...

And it's no coincidence.

She's looking at me again, still talking on the phone as our eyes lock again. She takes a step back, bumping into someone that was walking behind her, and almost drops her phone.

I get out of the car and cross the road, following her as she hurries to a random bar.

I follow her through the bar and wonder why none of the staff members stop her when she bursts through all the doors, leading to a back alley.

She tries to run again but falls over some glass bottles left next to the door leading out.

'You're watching us.' I state as I get closer, noticing her ripped jeans.

She's bleeding. It's barely a scratch, but she's still bleeding.

'Please...' I never liked killing children because they don't know much. They're mostly innocent. And I say mostly because some kids are just trained to be cruel to get shit done.

She doesn't seem like she's one of them, but I don't think she's as innocent as she could be.

I quickly look at her hands, those hands look like they've committed a few crimes.

'Who sent you?' She tries to scramble away, but I pick her up and push her back against the wall behind her, 'Answer the question.'

'Please...' She begs again as tears roll down her cheeks, 'I just did what I was told to do!'

'By who?' I ask and I watch as she trembles because of my voice.

Yet I can tell she has seen worse.

I can hear footsteps coming from the bar we just ran through, but keep my eyes on the girl across from me.

'Adriano?! What are you doing?' The girl dashes to the right and tries to escape back to the main road.

I roll my eyes and run after her, trying to catch her, but she knows these streets better than I do.

Just as she's about to turn another right, just a few more steps to the main road, I pull on her backpack and shove her against the wall.

In less than two seconds, I have my knife against her throat.

'I'm only going to ask you this one more time,' She tries to fight back even though her head is spinning, 'Who sent you?'

'Adriano!' I can hear Leon in the distance but keep my eyes on the girl in front of me, this time not letting him distract me.

'Theroux.' She whimpers as I slightly press my knife into her skin.

Dear lord, forgive me for what I'm about to do...

I slit her throat and watch as her eyes widen and her hands reach for the cut. Her blood flows out like water, staining her hands a dark red as she stumbles to the side.

'Are you crazy!?' Leon asks, rushing over to us as the girl drops to her knees.

I watch her eyes slowly lose their fight and wipe my hands on her clothes, before looking back up at Leon. 'We need to go to Beaumont's place, leave a message.'

'What do you-' 'Theroux sent her.' His eyes widen and he has this sorry look on his face as he looks at the girl one more time.

'I leave you for two minutes and you go after a teenager!' He mutters as he shoves a small velvet box into his pocket.

'Go get the car.' I say as I kneel back down to reach for the girl's face. I close her eyes and wipe her face, trying to make her look as peaceful as possible.

This is someone's daughter... What if she would've been mine?

When Leon arrives with the car, I lift up her body and place her in the trunk, before getting in the passenger seat.

'Drive.' I feel sick for what I did, but I had to do it to protect my family.

Everyone would've known about our location. Or at least some of it. I can't let that happen. Not right now.

Not while we're still dealing with Martin.

'Are you sure we should be doing this?' Leon asks as he stops across a huge mansion. I stay silent as I get out of the car and open up the trunk.

'We have to set an example.' I say as my stomach turns.

I quickly pick up her body and carry her to the front gate, just to drop her down in the middle of the road.

I quickly reach for her ring and necklace, before placing them right in front of the gate.

Leon frowns and chuckles as I walk back to the car, not saying another word about it as he starts driving to the airport.

The plane is waiting and we leave within five minutes.

As soon as we land near the haven, we get on the speedboat and make our way to the island.

I almost jump into the ocean to swim the last part, simply because she didn't pick up or texted me yet.

Just as we get to shore, everyone stays on the beach to greet us.

Emiliano and Domenico almost make North fall over because of how much they want to hug their father, and I quickly let Celine hug me, before looking for my wife.

'Where are they?' They all ignore me since they have a lot to catch up on apparently.

I shove past them all, hearing North shout my name as I rush up the stairs toward the main house. 'She's sleeping!'

Sleeping... So she's okay... I allow myself to breathe and turn around to face North, 'Where is she?'

'They're sleeping in your studio.' My studio... Did I take the bed out? No. 'We moved some stuff around so that they could sleep there.'

I rush up the stairs and almost run toward my studio, wanting to see my family more than ever before.

Barely a week has passed, but it feels like months- no years.

I stop myself from slamming open the door, just in case they're already sleeping, and quickly make my way to the big open space meant for me to calm down.

The bed is still in the middle of the second room but now there's a crib there as well.

It was in the other room before, but they moved it over here so that it would be closer to the bed.

Valentina is laying on the bed with a baby on her chest, making me search for the other one.

The closer I get, the more I realize that she's holding little Adriano. Where's Celestina?

I turn to the cooing coming from the crib and let relief wash over me as our daughter rolls over in her crib.

'You're back?' Valentina's voice soothes my nerves and I slowly turn around to face her.

She tries to sit up as much as she can, without waking up our son. 'Why are you up here?'

I don't know if this space is warm enough for all of them and I don't want any of them to get sick.

'You spoiled them too much and now they don't want to be anywhere else.' She whispers as she lies back down.

My skin tingles as I walk over to her and I climb on the bed, looking at my wife and our son, while our daughter keeps making sounds from the crib.

'They have barely been sleeping and I think it's because they ate something bad.' She mumbles as she yawns and hands me our son, 'And this one will only sleep for five minutes and wake up crying if I'm not holding him.'

I look down at Adriano and grab his tiny hand as he reaches out to me, still afraid that I'll break him if I hold him too tight.

'He definitely got that from you.' Valentina jokes as she rolls over and closes her eyes for a few seconds.

'I'll fly in a new chef.' Her eyes widen a bit. 'Why?'

'I can't have my kids getting sick because of the food, Valentina.' She chuckles and rolls her eyes, before watching me as I hold our son.

She's exhausted. Too exhausted to argue about this with me.

I wait for Adriano to fall asleep, before placing him in the crib, right next to his sister.

When I get back to bed I lock eyes with my wife and frown when she smiles. 'What?'

'To think that you didn't want them at first.' She mutters as I climb next to her again.

I pull her in my arms and let my fingers graze her skin, hoping that she'll get some more sleep now that I'm back.

'How did the meetings go?' I shake my head and place a kiss on her head, taking in the way she feels in my arms and the way she smells as if I'm falling in love all over again.

'I don't want to talk about the meetings, you should sleep.' She tries to move out of my arms as much as she can and pushes herself up to look at me.

'Why not?' She asks as she brushes some loose strands of hair out of her face, 'Did something go wrong?'

I brush away her hair and give her a gentle kiss, 'Everything is fine.'

We might have someone else coming after us... But we're fine...

'Rafael?' I sigh deeply and flip us over, pinning her down to the bed as I hover over her, 'Everything is fine.'

She looks into my eyes, probably waiting for me to tell her more about our trip, but I know she needs to rest.

'How have you been doing?' I ask as I slowly lean in to place kisses on her neck.

Her breathing staggers, 'Good. The twins are just a lot to handle on my own, but Veah has been helping me a lot.'

'I told you guys it would've been a bad idea if I left-' 'You needed to show your face and we managed to get through this, it's fine.' She mumbles half asleep.

'Get some rest.' I place one last kiss on her collarbone and lean away to let her sleep, but she pulls me back and kisses me deeply.

Her arms wrap around my neck and I lose my balance at the sudden change, making me drop on top of her.

She wraps her legs around me, caging me as she rolls her hips against my waist. 'Valentina-'

'They're asleep for now and I missed you.' She replies, her hands going towards my belt as if they're searching for some kind of treasure.

'You need to rest.' I figure she barely slept the past few days because of the twins and I want her to stay healthy.

'I'll rest after this.' She unclasps my belt and just as she's about to slide her hand into my trousers, Adriano starts crying.

She sighs deeply and drops flat onto the bed, my body running cold at the sudden loss of eagerness.

I get off the bed and head to the crib, watching as Adriano turned as red as a tomato before lifting him up.

'Can you bring him to me?' I carry him to Valentina and watch as she places him on her chest and tries to stop him from crying.

Within two seconds, he's silent again, slowly dozing off to sleep as Valentina holds him.

I pick up Celestina and walk over to the bed as well, making sure her head is comfortably resting on my chest.

'I'm telling you, you spoil them too much.' She whispers as she almost dozes off to sleep as well. 'Who's the one who brought them up here, huh?'

She looks me dead in the eyes, making me wonder what she would've done if we weren't holding our babies, 'They wouldn't fall asleep otherwise.'

'Get some sleep, Valentina.' She rolls her eyes, but closes them, and slowly dozes off just like our kids.

And I almost don't blink because I'm watching her. I'm watching them all.

I'm watching her chest rise and fall, I'm watching our son's face pressed against her chest with a slightly opened mouth, I'm watching our daughter do the same on my chest, I'm watching my family rest again.

I feel like I could die peacefully now. Like I have everything I want.

After what feels like seconds but what might've actually been hours, Valentina wakes up again.

'Did you watch me sleep the entire time?' She asks in her cute sleepy voice.

I nod and feel Celestina wiggle on my chest.

Her tiny hands reach for my neck and I feel her fingers dig into my skin. Right on my tattoos.

'She likes them.' Valentina says as she tries to move without waking Adriano up. 'She got that from her mom.' I joke, lifting her up to hear her lovely giggles again.

I could listen to her all day simply because she's adorable.

'Be careful before she throws up again.' I stop moving, keeping her up as I stare at her.

She smiles at me and wiggles her legs around, telling me that she wants to go again. But I'm frozen, scared that she'll throw up in my face.

And not because it's absolutely disgusting, but because I don't want her to go through that.

Valentina starts laughing and carries Adriano back to the crib, before stretching her arms out and groaning.

'What time is it?' She asks, turning back to the bed.

I lower Celestina back onto my chest and shrug, not caring about the time right now.

'We have that dinner tonight, so what time is it?' She walks over to the bed and reaches for my phone to look at the time since it's probably the only clock in this room.

'Shit-' She rushes to the small bathroom in here and starts to rumble through some drawers, 'We have thirty minutes.'

'So?' It's just going to be the family, it's nothing special. 'I look like shit and the twins aren't dressed!'

'Say you look like shit again, and see what happens. And the twins are sleepy, let them sleep.'

She peaks her head around the corner and frowns at me, 'Rio, I can't go out there looking like this.'

'You look amazing and if they have something to say about your look, I'll-''Do not finish that sentence and just help me get the twins ready.' She rushes back into the room and picks up Adriano, before heading for the door.

'Your mom can be a little all over the place.' I whisper to Celestina, who giggles as I get up and almost run after Valentina.

She walks back to the main house as if she has done this a billion times before, making my heart race as she skips a few steps down all while holding our son.

When we get to the house, she rushes to our room and starts to get ready.

I put the twins into their clothes, picked out by Brandon, or at least try to, because Celestina is moving too much and Adriano is already crying because Valentina is taking too long.

When she returns to the bedroom, I'm struggling to get Adriano into his little cardigan.

'Here.' Valentina, who's wearing an elegant black dress, takes him into her arms and swiftly puts his clothes on the right way, making me sigh deeply.

I've been doing this for a while now, but it feels like I'll never get any better at it.

'Come on, we're late.' She heads for the door and I follow with Celestina in my arms.

We make our way to the dining room, where everyone is already seated, and they all go silent.

The table is filled with a bunch of different food and it all looks delicious.

'Look at him!' Brandon chimes as he stares at Adriano in awe, 'I told you that cardigan would look adorable on him!'

'The little man looks adorable,' Leon chimes as he heads over to Valentina, 'Hello, little one.'

She gives him a hug and heads over to the chairs left for us, 'How was your trip.'

'Boring as always, I heard you guys managed things well here.'

I watch as she talks to my cousin for a while, making me smile as she rambles about the twins and how they've been a little hard to manage while we were gone.

I didn't like them being friends at first, because I knew Leon. I know he would rat me out about a lot of shit I did in the past, and he sure did, but that didn't change the way she looked at me.

At least not the way I thought it would.

'Celestina!' I turn to Leroy who almost falls out of his chair as he points at my baby. Since when-

'He has been saying it ever since he could say her name properly.' Cel says as she smiles at me.

'Be careful, Curzio. My son might marry your daughter one day.' Kai jokes.

I almost pull my gun out and shoot him on the spot.

If only I wasn't holding my daughter right now, I might've.

'Let's not talk about marriage yet.' Marco warns, giving Kai a warning smile.

I nod and turn back to my wife, who's smiling proudly at me.

'Thank you all for coming together again.'

'It's not like we had any other places to go.' Brandon jokes, making me roll my eyes, but I can't contain my smile.

'Still, you probably had better things to do.' He returns my smile and pours some champagne into a few glasses.

'I'll leave the talking to Valentina.' She rolls her eyes and turns to North, who's smiling widely.

'And?' She asks as she moves to the edge of her seat.

Neveah nods and lifts her hand up in the air, showing everyone the diamond ring on her finger.

'Of course, I said yes!'

Everyone seems surprised, but I already knew she was going to say yes. Why wouldn't she?

'Congratulations.' She thanks everyone and turns back to Valentina, who looks at the ring in awe. 'It's gorgeous.'

'Enough about me, I'm hungry.' North jokes, making everyone turn back to me.

I take a deep breath and look at Valentina again. She's waiting for me to say it, since we practiced this shit a million times before.

It just feels stupid to do it now.

'I wanted to thank you all for sticking by my side.' I mumble, the nerves getting to me even though I have no fucking reason to be this nervous, 'It has been a rough ride so far and I know for a fact that it won't get easier.'

'Great.' Brandon chimes jokingly, making some laugh, 'Sounds very encouraging.'

'You're allowed to leave any second, Barsetti.'

Valentina kicks me underneath the table and I sigh deeply, before smiling at Brandon.

'You would miss me too much.' He says proudly, making me roll my eyes.

But as much as I hate to admit it, I would.

I would miss every single person at his table if they left. Even North.

Jesus even Norman would be missed. Simply because Marco wouldn't shut the fuck up about her.

'My point is,' I say when I feel Valentina's eyes burn into me, 'I wanted to thank you for your loyalty because I know I sometimes ask too much of you.'

'A little too much sometimes.' Celine jokes and again, some laugh.

'Yet you all stay.' Valentina kicks me again, this time a bit harder just to make it hurt more.

'Because you need us.' She replies and I stay silent.

I do need them.

Without them, this system is ruined and they know it too.

I don't want to tell them it's true, but I know I have to give them some kind of validation.

They're my family after all.

'We're stronger together.' I state, hating how vulnerable I'm being right now.

They all frown as they let my words sink in, probably wondering what the fuck I'm talking about. Maybe they want to laugh at me for being so emotional right now and perhaps I will kill them for it-

'That's rich coming from you.' North says, her voice as annoying as ever. 'I could shoot you right now?'

Despite my threat, she smiles at me. And I can't help but smile back at her.

'You just said we were stronger together, yet here you are talking about killing her?' Leon says, shaking his head with a smile on his face as well.

'No one is killing anyone, we're just going to enjoy this dinner as one big family.' Valentina chimes as she lifts her glass of champagne and everyone else follows.

'To family.' I say as I lift mine.

Everyone takes a sip and starts diving into the food as if they've been waiting on us for hours.

'You didn't drink your champagne.' Norman says, nudging her head towards North.

She has been very silent during all of this so far.

'That's because I can't.' North mumbles, seeming somewhat ashamed to have to say it out loud, 'I mean, I can. But I shouldn't?'

We all frown at her, until Celine drops her fork onto her plate, 'You're pregnant?'

She nods and turns to Leonardo, who proudly smiles at everyone else.

'Again?' I joke, unable to keep a smirk from my face, 'I mean, I knew you two were going at it like rabbits, but already?'

'Shut up.' Leon throws a napkin my way and grabs North's hand, before bringing it to his lips.

Everyone starts bombing them with questions and I watch as everyone enjoys their meal.

Enjoying this moment of peace while it lasts, fully knowing that we'll have a lot to deal with in the future.

But for now, this is it.

This is my family and I'll enjoy it for as long as I can.

----

A/N: This might as well have been another chapter because it's hella long, which was not what I wanted... But I couldn't help it, okay!

The last part of their story guys... What do you think?

ALSO HAPPY NEW YEAR WTF?!

I hope you guys have an amazingly blessed 2023 and if it's already 2023 or you're reading this in 2024(which somehow would be wild to me and I have no fucking clue why) I hope you have a blessed life <3

I want to thank everyone for the millionth time for helping me write this story and making sure that the story got so much attention by commenting and voting, I really appreciate it!

I will take a break from writing, but I will be back with other stories (I think). I just have to focus on school and figure out what I want to write about next since my mind is a literal mess right now.

I hope you all liked the last part of Rafael and Cataleya's story and I hope you guys know that I love you SOOOOO FUCKING MUCH <3

Have a blessed day/night my loves and maybe we'll meet again <33333