Rome's POV -

"Where's the princess? Normally she's with you all the time." James asks me and I roll my eyes.

"With her parents."

"Damn, surprised you didn't stay with her."

"She wanted to spend some time with them alone." I respond flatly.

It was the weekend now and I had comforted Arya for the past few days after her and Izzy's 'talk'.

Now she seemed to be doing a bit better. However my baby is still upset so hopefully her parents can take her mind off of the subject for a little while.

Right now I'm at my office trying to figure out how many more of these Russians we have to deal with.

"How many Russians have we taken out?" I ask James and he scrunches his nose up.

"You think I know?"

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sigh. Of course he fucking doesn't.

"Does Elijah know?"

James stares at me like I just asked him a ridiculous question.

"What?"

"Does Elijah know the number?" I ask slowly so it can process through his brain.

"I don't know."

My hands clench. I want to strangle him.

"Well then get out if you have nothing else to say."

He rolls his eyes and takes a seat at one of the chairs in front of my desk. A smile spreads across his face and I grow uneasy at the look he's making. I glance back down at the documents I was working on.

"Elijah hugged her." James blurts and I freeze, trailing my eyes back up to his.

"Hugged her?" I scowl, placing down the paper.

"A few days ago when he heard her crying in her room because of the Izzy situation."

Running a hand across my jaw I take in his words.

"I think she's finally growing on him." James jokes and I look at him blankly.

"Right," I finally say. "Is that all?"

"Yes, capo." He salutes and I grit my teeth.

"Find out if Elijah or Grant know the number. If not then all three of you are useless."

"That's rude." He says pointedly, getting up from the chair. "But I'll be sure to ask."

Once he's closed the door behind him I lean back in my chair, running a hand through my hair.

Looking at the clock I see that It's almost 3 PM. I dropped Arya off at around 12.

As if on cue I get a notification from my phone. Seeing my girls name has a smile threatening to appear on my face.

Mi amore: My parents got me a gift for my bday! A pretty necklace and a gift card for shopping! Now we're about to go to the store cause I want clothes.

Chuckling I type out a reply. She's so fucking cute.

Me: Oh really? That's good, baby. What time do you want me to pick you up?

Mi amore: 6 or 7, you can pick!

6 it is since I want to hold her.

Me: I'll get you at 6, have fun shopping sweetheart.

Mi amore: I love youuu!

Me: I love you more.

Scrolling through my contacts I press on my cousin's name. We'll be visiting them once we're in Italy.

"Ciao cugino. Come stai?"

(Hello, cousin. How are you?)

"Sto bene, io e la mia ragazza verremo in Italia a dicembre se ci sei tu."

(I'm doing well, my girlfriend and I will be coming to Italy in December if you're around.)

"You've got a girlfriend now? Since when?"

"Since a while Matteo."

"I can't wait to meet her then. My wife has been driving me insane." He responds and I smirk.

"Cazzo! Riesco a sentirti, sei un fottuto-" A woman screams in the background who I'm guessing is Giana, Matteo's wife.

(You dick! I can hear you, you're a fucking-)

"Now now, I was just kidding honey." Matteo says while I continue to listen to their argument.

"Oh don't give me that you idiota. Rome, knock some sense into your cousin before I hit him." Giana scoffs and I can hear loud footsteps which indicates she left.

(Idiot.)

Matteo mutters something I can't hear before sighing. "Anyways, yeah we'll be here. Do you need a place to stay?"

"No, we'll be staying in a hotel. I'll also be bringing Elijah and James but I'm not sure where they're staying."

"They won't stay at the hotel?"

"They might but I don't know the whole plan yet, we've got a few weeks."

"How's the Russian situation?" He asks after a few beats of silence. Well that's a long story since Matteo doesn't know everything that happened.

Tilting my head I look down at the piles of documents at my desk before deciding that's the last thing I want to be working on.

"Well,"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arya's POV -

"Thank you for taking me shopping mama." I say, gesturing to the multiple bags filled with clothes in my hands.

"We haven't done something together in a while." She gives me a kiss on the head and I smile.

Papa unfortunately had some work to do so mama and I went shopping since I was excited about the gift card. Once the card ran out mama had offered to pay for the rest. I tried to decline but she insisted.

My fingers latch onto the new silver necklace around my neck. Luckily It's silver so it goes with the ring Rome got me.

Mama and I make our way back inside the house and I place the bags on the counter.

"How has it been with Rome? He's taking you to Italy still, correct?" Mama asks and I nod.

"Over Christmas break."

She hums and moves over to the cabinets. "What time is he coming to get you?"

"Around 6," I say, looking at the time to see It's almost 5.

"Want to bake some cookies then? You can give some to Rome."

"Yes!" I say excitedly, helping her grab the ingredients and utensils and then turning on the oven.

Soon she's mixing the batter and I spray the pan so the cookies don't get stuck to the bottom.

I was a little nervous to ask my next question but I decided to go for it.

"So how's therapy been?" I question, watching her start to pour the batter in different areas around the pan.

She tenses a little and I regret asking but then she sighs and puts the now empty bowl next to her.

She lifts the spoon and collects the leftover batter from the bowl, holding it in my direction. I take it happily and start to lick it off. Yummy.

"It's been really good honey. It's made me realize how awful I've been to you in the past years."

Her confession has my eyes widening and I place the spoon in the bowl, peering up at her.

"I know I've made so many mistakes, Arya. Ever since you were a child. I just want to be better for you now."

"You have been." I reply, smiling and lifting the pan in my hands, placing it inside the oven and starting the timer.

The two of us take a seat at the table while waiting but I notice mama looks nervous, her face scrunching up slightly and I frown a bit.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just wondering what your plan for college is? I'll support you with whatever school you decide."

"I think I want to stay here, I want to be near Rome."

She smiles, "Rome is really that special to you?"

"Yes, I love him. I can't imagine my life without him."

"Ah yes I can practically see the love you have for him in your eyes." My cheeks flame up at that.

"He was always there when-" I cut myself off but she nods in understanding.

"I know and I'll forever be grateful for how he's helped you."

Glancing at my phone that lit up, I lift it into my hands and check the text from Cassidy.

Cassidy: Since you said you were free tomorrow wanna come to my house? We can just hang out and do whatever.

Me: Sure! What time?

Cassidy: Any time after 8 cause that's when my parents leave for work and take my little brother to school.

Me: Aw, you have a little brother?

Cassidy: Ugh yes, he's 7. Drives me insane.

I giggle at her text and mama looks at me curiously.

"Whose that?"

"My new friend Cassidy."

"Oh that's good. Speaking of friends, how's Izzy been?" I momentarily freeze at the mention of her name.

"We're actually not um...not on speaking terms right now."

"What? Did you argue or something?"

"Yeah, something like that. I don't really want to talk about it." I admit softly and she looks at me pitifully.

"Well whatever it is I hope you two make up." She says and then stands as the timer goes off for the cookies.

"Are those cookies I smell? Cause I'm starving." Papa emerges from the stairs and I laugh.

"Yes it is, for Arya and I." Mama says, turning and placing her hands on her hips.

"What?! Why not me?"

"Because you didn't help make them."

A small frown tugs Papa's lips and I giggle at the both of them, finally happy we're coming together as a family.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"How was it?" Rome asks once I get inside the car, his eyes quickly looking down at the covered plate of cookies on my lap then back to me.

"Really good." I tell him and then lift the plate. "We made cookies and I got to bring them home!"

Shaking his head and smirking he begins driving back to the house.

"It felt so good to hang out with them again. Not one argument occurred."

"That's good to hear, darling."

"Oh! Can I hang out with Cassidy tomorrow? At her house?"

He groans a bit and mutters something I can't understand before nodding.

"Sure you can. Anche se ti volevo tutta per me per la giornata."

(Even though I wanted you all to myself for the day.)

"Look at the necklace they got me!" I lift the necklace and he glances at it before looking back at the road.

"Looks pretty on you."

"Thank you," I blush, placing my hands on the plate of cookies.

"After I hang out with Cassidy tomorrow I need to start preparing more for finals. December 1st is this Thursday and I need to study."

"You'll do amazing on those exams either way, pretty girl." His green eyes meet mine briefly and I bite my lip.

"I hope so."

Soon we're walking up to the house and Rome opens the door for me, gesturing to let me go first.

Once I've stepped foot inside I'm picked up in his arms. I squeal and wrap my arms around Rome's neck and legs around his waist.

"What-" He cuts me off by smashing his lips against mine, releasing a small groan from the back of his throat.

I tighten my legs around his waist and his fingers increase their grip on my thighs.

"Fuck, I missed you." He mumbles against my lips and I giggle.

"I wasn't gone that long."

"Doesn't matter." He shakes his head, pressing small kisses to my neck and jaw before carrying me into the kitchen.

"Did you eat dinner with your parents?" He asks, setting me down on one of the stools.

"No, we just had cookies and some snacks."

"Alright I'll make you-"

"I'm cooking tonight!" I hear James scream from somewhere upstairs and Rome's once content face turns annoyed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why have we never hung out before when we've been in the same class for months?" Cassidy dramatically says, dragging me inside of her house but then she freezes when she sees the black lambo parked on the curb.

"Is that your car?" Her eyes almost pop out of her sockets and I find it very hard not to laugh.

"No It's my boyfriends."

"Holy cow he must be stacked."

Now I can't help but cackle at that statement.

"He's taking me to Italy over Christmas break."

Her jaw drops, "No fucking way. Italy?"

Waving at Rome once more even though the windows are up, Cassidy closes the door and pulls me to the couch.

"Italy??" She repeats in awe and I grin sheepishly. "Yeah, I told him a long time ago I've always wanted to go and he remembered. So now he's taking me."

"Wow, never let that man go."

Smiling, I shake my head. "I won't."