Isaac's POV

A soft knock on the door is quickly pulling my attention away from the iPad in front of me. "Come in."

I watch the door slowly crack open and my father's peeking his head in. "You alone?" He says softly.

I nod and wave him in.

My dad steps into the room about a second later shutting the door behind him and is quietly making his way over, taking a seat on the small couch next to me.

"How's mom?" I asked, putting the iPad down.

My mom ended up slapping the shit out of Cris' mom last night while we were all here together, apparently she had some built up frustrations that she could no longer keep at bay, not that I blame her; The Matteo's are notoriously known for 'their' temper, we 'tend' to just blow up on people.

Leave it to my mom though to be entirely mad at my dad and still try and defend his honor.

Pops actually ended up calming my mom down almost instantly after the slap, ma even apologized to Mrs. Roxwell for being insensitive to the situation we were in and agreed to hear Cris' mother out and let her explain herself.

Unfortunately for her just because my mother was a lot calmer than my father, than I, it didn't exactly mean that our anger, our temper, didn't rub off on her and the more and more my mother listened to Cris mom talk, the more and more my mom grew with frustration, anger.

Apparently Mrs. Roxwell's secret runs a lot deeper than what we expected, than what she wrote down in the letter to my father. I guess Cathalina has always doubted Cris' father from the get go, since he was a kid actually. She's even gone as far as getting her own paternity test done when Cris was only about four but couldn't work up the nerve to read the results and burned the entire envelope before her husband could get home that day and that's what my mom has an issue with.

Sure, she's pissed that my dad has a kid with a whole ass different woman, but she's more furious at the fact that Cathalina never said anything, that she never grew a pair to face her consequences, meaning her husband at the time, that she willingly kept my dad from his son.

Should my father have known that he was Cris' biological father ahead of time, Pops would have eliminated any threats to him and his family, he would've made everyone's life easier, Cathalina's life easier, put her at ease from her abusive husband a lot sooner.

"Hot headed still," he answers with a smile. "But she's fine now, she's just- adjusting still."

"We all are."

Pops nods, "Cathalina?"

"She's fine. She stayed a couple more hours after Leo examined her, she was drifting on and off so I told her to go home and rest, I would stay behind with her son."

"Where's Hailey?"

"Sacramento took her to her dads last night."

"Her dads? Isaac-"

I quickly talked over him. "She didn't want to be too far away from me, Pops, the hospital chairs are uncomfortable for her. The safe house is way up in the suburbs, she's fine with David and Sacramento, they're safe, she's safe, your grandbaby is safe."

He inhales a deep breath hesitantly nodding his head, "you get any rest at all?"

I shrug my shoulders, "here and there. My head is killing me right now, I couldn't stay asleep for too long."

"Go to your wife, son, get some rest, I'll stay until Cathy comes back."

I shake my head, "Ric should be bringing me a redbull soon. He starting his route in an hour."

"You let him take the 1000cc last night?"

I nod, "yeah why?"

"He check it back in yet?" I shake my head no. "Make sure he checks it back in after he's done doing your delivery, with his adrenaline he'll kill himself on that bike."

I slightly frown and nod.

"I need you to get educated on bikes, son, especially with Patricio, that kid has a death wish on those things. Have Ian teach you the basics at least."

"I know I read the notes on his file."

"Then you seen that he can hit over 100mph just in the first gear with his 1000cc. You've seen all my notes on him being reckless when he goes on rides. You see how many bikes he can go through in a short period of time. What I didn't see was his last login from his last therapy session."

"Therapy?" I frown and pick up the iPad again.

Pops nods. "The same rules that apply to babycakes, apply to Ric and Aj. They aren't as stubborn as Ian from the look of his file; he's still refusing to go to a session. It's a privilege to be able to ride those bikes and all three know it. A privilege that can quickly be taken away so if Ric misses one more session you take all the bikes away, work and personal."

I nod.

"I know it's tough keeping track of everything, son, especially with so much going on, but Ric and Ian are someone who closely needs to be monitored these days. If you can't tab in, appoint someone else."

"Ric seems to be doing better these days, even more now that Paola's back."

"You interviewed her yet?"

I shake my head, "Dee's bringing her in this afternoon."

"Have him go to her instead, especially with Val on the loose. Let her feel the comfort of her own home, let Amatto attend to keep them both at ease."

I nod and pull my phone out, shooting Dion a quick message.

Cris begins to cough softly in his sleep a few seconds later and I'm instantly shoving my phone away, about to shoot off of the couch when my dads hand is flying out in front of me.

He places his hand on my chest, pushing me back down onto the couch, "he's fine," he points over to Cris who has settled back into his sleep.

"He'll be fine," he comments a second later, patting his hand on my chest. "He'll pull through. You always did. He's exactly like you, he's a fighter."

I nod my heart rate going back down as I look back over in Cris' direction.

He woke up a couple times last night after his mother and Hailey left, when it was only him and I, complaining about how much pain he was in and no matter what the nurses gave him for the pain it never helped.

Turns out he had a really bad infection in his wound area and his fever was so high that his body was burning through any of the medicine they were giving him.

I should've called his mom, I should've called my dad, I should've told them what was going on, but after everything I knew just how mentally exhausted they both were and deserved a few hours of decent rest before worrying them some more.

Thankfully the fever broke early this morning and a nurse was just in here about an hour ago giving him more medicine for the pain. This way Cris could rest a little more comfortably now that the infection was under control. He's been out ever since, snoring softly, peacefully even.

"You guys are gonna be okay," pops sighed from beside me.

I glance over at him to find him focusing all of his attention on Cris infront of us now. From the sound of it, it sounds like he's trying to convince himself that we're okay more than he's trying to reassure me not that I need it; he genuinely still looks worried, exhausted.

"He's gonna pull through, dad. I'll have some of Sacramento's men stay back and keep an eye on him until we can transfer him somewhere more safe," I try to reassure him as much as I can.

He nods. "It's crazy," he mumbles.

I frown confused, looking in his direction.

"How one small sentence can change your life, your entire perspective of someone.. " I stay silent, not entirely sure how to comfort him. "I forgot just how ugly it feels having to wait around and see if you're gonna be okay."

"You hoping he'll wanna stay now that he means something to you?" I asked genuinely, not sarcastically. I know that sometimes my voice can sound pretty nonchalant and monotone.

Pops shrugs his shoulders, "I wouldn't want to lose him, but I definitely wouldn't hold him back." He turns to look at me. "I'd give him his way out, just like I tried giving you yours multiple times last year when we were here."

"Didn't need it then, I don't need it now."

"You can always change your mind at any second, I hope you know that son. It doesn't have to fall on you if you don't want it too."

"But I'm so good at it," I smirk.

"That you are," he smiles back. "I know I probably don't deserve your forgiveness, Isaac, but I'm genuinely sorry for everything son."

"Pops-"

"Don't interrupt me," he snarls quietly. "I know I've apologized for certain things here and there, but I spent plenty of time by myself these past few months, alone, in my head, to really dwell on shit and think about things, see them from different perspectives and I'm so fucking sorry for the man you had to grow up with son."

"You know- I told Cris last night before we parted that I hate that he doesn't have to learn how to forgive you, that he'll immediately get the softer, better version of you."

"This version of me is just as fucked up as the man you grew up with, if anything he's worse."

I shake my head, "he may be a lot more broken, but you're definitely not the same man from before. This Carmelo is less arrogant, less selfish, still stubborn as fuck, but he's a lot softer, more vulnerable."

"I despise that fucking word."

I snort softly and nod my head in agreement because so did I, thanks to him of course.

Fuck Vulnerability.

"I don't want this with Isaiah, I don't want this for Isaiah," I admit. Pops frowns. "I don't want vulnerability to be foreign to him. I want him to be in touch with his senses, I want him to be in control of his emotions, his actions, I want him to be better than us, than me."

"And he will be. He's gonna have one hell of a father raising him.. Learn from my mistakes, it's not too late for you, son."

"I forgive you..." I mumble under my breath.

My dad quickly begins to shake his head as he reaches for the iPad in between us. "Don't say it if you don't mean it. Take your time, do what you gotta do, heal first. I can wait for your forgiveness."

I inhale a deep breath, quickly looking in Cris' direction, in my brother's direction.

I turned back to my dad. "I can't heal, I can't move on, I can't build any type of relationship with that idiot," I incline my head towards Cris and then turn to my father again, "if I'm hanging onto old anger, if I'm hanging onto any bitterness... my emotions will no longer control me.. therefore- I forgive you."

Pops inhales a deep breath. He nods his head, patting his hand on my lap, "thank you."

I nod back silently, the tight feeling in my chest suddenly feeling a little bit lighter, my lungs suddenly a little clearer as I inhale and exhale my own deep breath.

We sit in silence for a few minutes until my work phone is vibrating in my jacket and I'm pulling it out checking my messages.

It's baby cakes with an update on Ayra. My chest immediately gets tight again as I click out of the thread and shove my phone back into my jacket.

"What was it?"

I turn to look at my father. He puts the iPad down and points in my direction. "You immediately tensed up at whatever update you just got."

I shake my head, "I have a situation.."

"No shit," he retorts. "Lay it on me."

"I'll send you the file," I pull my phone back out and airdrop him the notes on Ayra.

I watch him accept the file and pull up a picture of the little girl we just found last night. There's multiple photos of her in her file. A couple from when MK and the guys first found her in that dirty ragged room, still chained up to the wall, tears welled in her eyes.

A couple more are of them with her in my arms with the bandana over her eyes as we made our way out of the house, my back clearly towards MK who was taking the photos. Multiple pictures of her bruises and cuts and then lastly a picture of her dressed and clean in one of the spare bedrooms at the warehouse, a very sad broken look on her face still.

"Ayra. She's six," I point out. "Just turned six actually, while in the hands of Deroma. She's been missing for about three months now. Parents were DOA the second my team tried to make contact and place her back home."

"Mother fuckers," Pops grumbles under his breath, his whole attention on the file in front of him. He shakes his head, "they weren't gonna give her back if they killed off all loose ends to her, she was going on the black market."

I nod, "MK ran her through the database, she doesn't exist thankfully, they never had the chance to upload her. Her parents were undocumented, she has no other family here, I don't know what to do with her, Pops."

"I wouldn't expect you to son," he turns to look at me, a small smile on his face. "It's not easy deciding an innocent child's faith. Shit I still remember the very first time I came across some kid one of the families tried to use as bait."

"Bait?" I frown.

He nods, "bait," he repeats himself. "It's not always easy being in charge- having to make all the final decisions, having to deal with your own conscience at the end of the day whether you made the right decision or not is it."

"You made it look so easy.. I don't know what I'm doing half the time."

Pops chuckles softly, "from the looks of it you're doing alright, kid. Your empire hasn't gone up in flames.. yet. I'll take care of her, you worry about everything else."

Something tugs in my chest at hearing my father refer to his empire as mine.

"Life is always full of surprises, Isaac, uncertainties, especially in this life, but I raised you better than this, than to get lost in your own head," he pokes at my temple. "I raised my son to keep pushing, to keep fighting, to be stronger than this. You're allowed to fall down, son, things will get hard, they'll tear you down, you'll want to give up; Lord knows I wanted to countless times and almost did. You gotta find that balance threshold, something that'll keep you rooted and push through all the bullshit."

"What was yours?"

"Who," he corrects with a smile. "Who kept me rooted, who helped me push through."

"Mom?"

He shakes his head and points at me.

"Me?" I frown.

He nods looking away, staring in Cris' direction.

"Your mom was always there to pick me up, to hold me up when I wanted to give up, but I wanted to be someone my son can look up to. I didn't ever want him to have any doubts that his dad wouldn't do anything for him, that he knew his dad would protect him no matter what life threw at him." He turns to look at me. "I didn't want you to hate me just like I hated my dad. I would be better than him, I would give you a better life than he ever did, but I ended up being exactly like him and that's what eats me up at night."

I inhale a deep breath and shake my head, "I highly doubt you could be anything like he ever was, Pops. I know you tried your best, and it's fine, I forgive you like I said. I'm sorry it's taken me this long to see everything you've done for me, for mom, for this family, your family."

He snorts softly and shakes his head, "old habits die hard.. My intentions, they were never to hurt you son. I was never allowed to ask for any help. I was never allowed to let anyone in. I was taught that being vulnerable made you weak, less of a man. My father treated my mom like fucking trash, I couldn't rely on him for anything so when the time comes it's genuinely hard for me to swallow my pride these days and ask for help. It's not that I'm trying to be arrogant or an alpha dog," he air quotes. "I truly don't know how to lean on others, I didn't know how to ask for help. I was scared shitless and any time I came close to opening up to Dom, you, or even your mother, it fucking terrified me, I physically could not get the words out. I even tried getting shit faced to see if it came out easier and it just wouldn't. Communication is and will always be my biggest fucking flaw."

I feel my lips slowly tug to the side and softly snort, "says the man that just poured his soul out not just once but twice, dad."

He smiles and his attention is instantly averting in Cris' direction a second later as Cris begins to cough softly in his sleep again.

I get up from the couch and walk in his direction when I see the coughing hasn't settled down and walk up to the bed.

"Hey," I place my hand on his shoulder blade, nudging him awake.

It takes a couple seconds for his coughing to die down. "Can you both please shut the fuck up already," he groans.

I laugh softly, shaking my head, "dick."

Cris slowly starts to smile, widely might I add, and is opening his eyes about a second later. "Thought you were gonna be an only child again huh?"

"Fuck you," I chortle.

He laughs softly and is immediately reaching for his side as his discomfort kicks in, "don't make me laugh," he mumbles through his pain.

"You did that idiot."

"How you feeling?" Pops asked. He's no longer sitting on the couch anymore, he's standing directly behind me.

"I'm okay," he answers gruffly, averting his attention back to me. "Uziel?"

"Alive," I tell him. "Fighting for his life down the hall, but he's alive."

He nods silently.

"We have three of the four that got away. I can end it now or leave it for when you're ready to come back to make your opening statement."

He shakes his head inclining it forward, "that's all you. Your men, your problem."

"I'm sorry, Cris, had I known that I was gonna happen, I wouldn't have-"

"I know," he quickly says over me. "I'm not blaming you, you're fine, we're fine." He looks back and forth from my dad and I. "What happens now?"

"We finish what the fuck they started," I say.

"You decide where you wanna go from here," my father talks over me, looking over at his other son. "Thanks to Uziel- for hiding you, Valentine thinks you're dead. He doesn't know that we're onto him."

He frowns, looking back in my direction. I nod my head confirming what Pops just said. "Two of the three idiots are sticking to the same story that Val fed them, Robsciotti ambushed you guys."

"And the third?"

My lips tug to the side, "he has a family he's worried about, he was a lot easier to break.. Apparently Val was tipped off by The Robsciotti's that you were still siding with them and convinced the team that they had to take you out before you hit us. Being Carmelo's son was just a decoy to get close to him and end him."

Cris snorts, attempting to sit up straight, "I haven't spoken to Robsciotti in weeks."

"We know," my dads says. "I believe you son."

"I don't want an out," Cris blurts out. "I want to stay, I wanna try and be a family."

"Don't be an idiot, get the fuck out of here, we can still be a family from different states," I place a hand on his shoulder.

Cris shakes his head, "can't form any type of relationship with my baby bro from a different state, I'm staying."

"Cris-"

He turns to our father, "Carmelo."

He turns to look at me, "it's his decision whether he wants to stay or go, just like it was your decision to stay."

"I want to stay, Isaac, don't push me away please. I only wanted to leave because I didn't have anything left here.."

"I don't control your life, Cristofer, you can do what the fuck you want, you're not one of my men where you have to begged me to stay."

"I want to stay but I don't want to stay in.. I don't want to be in control anymore, I want my 'out' but I want to stay. I just want to live my life, I want to be here with my family, I don't care if I'm your first born," he turns to Pops. "We both know he'll make a far better leader than I ever could."

Pops inhales a deep breath, "you are my son, you are both equally great."

"I'll get it started, your transition out," I say looking back and forth from Pops and I. "Let me take care of my two roaches and then we'll get situated."

He nods, "which one you going after first?"

"Val."

"You got any leads on him?"

"He's supposedly in New Jersey."

"Jersey?" Cris frowns. "Idiots still in the state?"

I nod again, "apparently. I'm working on getting you transferred out of here and then I'm heading out with Sacramento before he manages to get away again."

"I'm coming with you," Pops says beside me.

"No you're not."

"The hell I ain't. Look at what the fuck happened the last time you made me stay!" He waves a hand towards Cris.

"All the more reason for you to stay!" I raise my voice. "I need someone to stay behind to look after him, after the girls, Pops!"

"Isaac-"

"Dad please. I can't leave knowing Hailey's here alone, you staying makes me feel a lot more comfortable."

"That's why she has her own team son, to look after her for when you're not around, a team that you and her personally picked out, Isaac. I will not have two sons in the fucking hospital. I'm going with you and that's the end of this discussion. I let you hold me back yesterday and that's a mistake that I won't let happen again."

I hold his stare for a couple seconds knowing damn well this man isn't gonna break and tear my attention away from him and down at Cris who has a half ass smile on his face.

"This is fun," he waves a lazily finger back and forth from my dad and I. "Watching you go back and forth. You can smell the testosterone in the room."

I smack the back of my hand on the side of his arm, "shut the fuck up before I have a nurse put you in a medically induce coma."

Cris immediately winced at the contact and Pops is instantly smacking the back of his hand on my stomach, "stop smacking him around, Antonio."

"Yeah, Antonio, stop smacking me around, I almost just died, geez."

"You shut the fuck up, and dont say stupid shit like that," my dad grumbles.

Cris stays quiet nodding his head as he looks in Pops direction.

"The words you're looking for are 'sorry dad, he started it'," I tease.

"Smettila," Pops warns.

I roll my eyes mentally, "he knows I'm playing around, Pops."

"I'm sorry- maybe with time.."

Pops shakes his head, "it's fine," he pats a hand on his leg, "Ima go get you some water, I'll be right back," he says before walking away.

"Pops!"

Cris frowns as he watches our dad leave the room and is turning back to me, "what just happened?"

"I'm an asshole, that's what happened," I mutter under my breath. His frown deepens. "He has this thing about being called dad."

"What do you mean?"

"I rarely ever refer to him as dad, I only ever call him Pops, so when I do call him dad it genuinely makes him happy."

"Oh.. maybe you should go apologize."

"I didn't do that shit intentionally."

"Maybe not, but after your earlier conversation on the couch maybe you should go clarify things, keep things in a good grace."

I cross my arms along my chest, a small smile on my face, "how much of it did you hear?"

"Enough," he smiles back. "You want your son to be better than you guys, then you have to better yourself man. You have put yourself in vulnerable situations if you're gonna show him that vulnerability isn't a bad thing. Regardless of how strain your relationship is with him, he's still your dad, you still look up to him. Isaiah's going to be the same way, he's going to watch you as he grows up, he's gonna be hungry for knowledge, he's going to look up to you, be that better version you want him to grow up to be."

I inhale a deep breath and roll my eyes, "I liked you better when we weren't related."

He laughs softly, "thank you." I frown, confused. "For staying with me last night. I woke up a couple times and saw you knocked out on the couch."

"It was nothing man."

He shakes his head, "I've never had anyone genuinely be there for me, so I appreciate it."

I smile and place a hand on his shoulder blade, patting it, "get some more rest." I inhale a deep breath, "I gotta go check on our dad, apologize, make sure I didn't damage his ego."

Cris snorted softly, "you're gonna make things so much worse."

I shrug my shoulders, a smile on my face as I walk away from the bed, "I'm a Matteo, it's what we do."

*** Happy Easter to anyone who celebrates 😘 Yes I'm still alive, no I don't have a valid excuse for why this chapter took me so long, other than my life is just messy lmao all I can say is that I'm sorry and I make no promises of it happening again 😭

To anyone that still doesn't have me on Snapchat, the end of book three is coming soon, we have about a handful of chapters left so let's mentally start preparing for that 😭

K❤️