"Dalia!" Faye shouted happily as she opened her door. She moved forward to hug me and iI wrapped my hands around her too.

"What happened?" the older woman asked, looking at that bandage on my head and the one on my hand.

"I chased down some assassin and he picked up a good fight," I said and she sighed, waving me inside.

"I hate that you get hurt on these things," she said settling down on one of her couches and pushing me to sit with her. "You shouldn't be out there at all."

"Yes I should. I'm useful," I simply said making Faye sigh.

"Well did you at least learn something?" she asked and I shook my head.

"Vittore didn't get the answers he wanted but I think he found a loop hole around it, he hasn't told me his plan yet."

"Oh ok. I guess that's good enough," Faye murmured running her hands over the green sun dress she was wearing.

"Where are you off to?" I asked then noticing how she had on make up and everything. I was in some simple black jeans and a light grey long sleeved shirt, sporting white Jordans.

"I was just going to take a walk around the recreational part of this building," Faye answered standing up.

"This building has a recreational area?" I asked confused.

"Yes. Many in-fact. I'll take you to my favourite one. Come on," the older woman persuaded and I stood up, following her to the door because I had nothing better to do anyways.

We got in the elevator and she set it to the top floor.

"Matteo inherited this building from his father and reinvented it a bit," Faye started and the elevators opened to the roof. I stepped out and I was in slight awe. "This, of all the things he did was my favourite."

The place looked like a park. Cobblestone pathways cut through neatly cut grass and flower bushes to different gazebos or just chilling areas. There were people around, talking and laughing, some looking over the rail at the impressive view down below. The sun was high in the sky, casting its rays down and heating the place up but in a good way.

"Woah," I said under my breath.

"I know," Faye said with a smirk. "There's more."

I followed Faye down the cobblestone path, people waving and greeting her with smiles. It was like walking next to Princess Diana or something.

Faye stopped at one gazebo that actually resembled some kind of mini bar. There was a guy with dirty blond hair working there and when we sat down on the high stools under the shade of its simple roof, he turned around, a smile gracing his face.

"Faye! I haven't seen you in a long time," the blond said in a strong Australian accent.

"Joey," Faye greeted with a smile. "Its nice to see you again."

Joey chuckled and his honey brown eyes moved over to me. "Who' the beauty?" he asked giving me a warm smile that I retuned.

"Oh this is Dalia. Hopefully my future daughter-in-law."

"What?" I asked Faye, not hearing what she'd said after my name because she had whispered it under my breath.

"Oh nothing dear. Joey, do you mind getting us two orange juices," Faye asked and Joey nodded, turning away from us. "I did some reading about iron deficiency anaemia while you were gone and how to help as much as I can."

I looked at Faye who had such determination in her voice. "You did?"

"Yep and don't worry. I was making a whole meal diet for you to get back on track with things," she added not knowing how my heart was squeezing at the gesture.

"Uh... thank you," I mumbled and shook my head, changing the subject. "Tell me more about this place."

"Well, I'm glad you asked," Faye happily begun, not noticing the change. "This place is great. You should really come here at night. The paths are lit, the trees have fairy lights in them and when it rains, a button is pressed and a glass cover encompasses the place in a dome. When Vittore was younger, he used to love coming out here..."

I slightly zoned out when Faye mentioned her son. To imagine Mr. big bad and scary over here, enjoying the sun and running about was something odd to me. All I saw was the intimidating Italian who made my brain turn to mush and my legs weaken at the knees. He was so dark... so sinful... so tempting and I-

"Dalia?"

"Huh?" I asked loudly looking at Faye who shook her head.

"Have something on your mind? You seem distracted," she noted as Joey put our drinks next to us, Faye saying a quick thank you to him while I tried not to internally die.

I was having very inappropriate thoughts about her son while she was across from me. Oh Lord.

"Oh uh... it's nothing," I tried to play it off.

"Its my son isn't it?" she asked with a raised brow and I tried not to show my shock or my cringe. She knew? "You must be worried about the marriage contract right?"

I laughed nervously. "Yeah the marriage contract. It's kind of got me distracted."

Oh thank God. She didn't know.

"There's nothing to worry about. He's a good boy trust me. He wasn't always but I guess growing up straightened him out a bit," she said sadness in her tone.

"Enough about me or Vittore. You were telling me about this place," I said, trying to pic up the earlier conversation.

"Ah yes. You see there?" Faye asked pointing behind me. I turned to see a large spot of grass, not really having anyone at all. "That was kind of a fault in the plan for this roof and I wanted Matteo to put a statue of an elephant there."

"A statue of an elephant?" I asked confused.

"Yeah like those metallic things that people make all the time," the older woman stated.

"Why?"

"Well, elephants have the most protective moms on the planet. Herds of females and children usually travel together in a circle with the youngest member on the inside, protected from predators. If one child becomes an orphan, the rest of the herd will adopt him and I guess that's what I wanted to represent here," Faye stated and I frowned, not knowing how that would apply. Seeing my look, Faye sighed.

"Its the women of this mafia Dalia. The women who have never been appreciated, cast and thrown out like some sort of breeding machines. I guess I just wanted for every woman who joined and felt... unimportant or useless. I wanted them to know that somewhere, somehow in a small way, they made a difference. They are the females that protect the young in the herd from predators or in my case, me protecting my son from his father. I didn't do much of a good job I mean, look at Vittore. That kind of emotionless nature doesn't come from anywhere and I wish I'd done better. For him and his brother."

"Vittore has a brother?" I asked surprised, my mind still turning from the deep words Faye just said.

"Step brother but yes. His mother was killed by Matteo so I tried to adopt him but-"

I gasped, standing up as a red cold liquid spilled down my shirt. I looked up at Maddox who had a wince on his face.

"Maddox!" I snapped and a blush rose on the red head's cheeks.

"I'm so sorry. I saw the two of you up here and just wanted to say hi but..."

"Great," I huffed, shaking out my top that now was stained red. What juice was this anyway. "I'll catch you later Faye. I'm just going to change."

"I'll wait for you dear," she said to me and I turned away.

"Now Maddox, you don't just go around, walking all willy nilly. See what you did to Dalia," I heard the older woman scold as I walked further away.

"I'm sorry Faye. I really am I didn't mean to."

That was the last I heard before I pressed the button of the elevator. The doors open a few seconds later, people filtering out as I got in, pressing on Vittore's floor. I was alone in the elevator so I slipped off my shirt that had started to stick disgustingly on my skin, leaving me in a black lacy bralette that was now wet too.

"Just bloody great," I grumbled wiping my belly with the shirt I just removed. "Fucking Maddox."

The elevator opened and I walked inside the living room, heading straight for the stairs.

"Well this is a sight."