"I need to talk to you." I told Rico, who was looking at his son crack eggs while sitting cross-legged on the kitchen counter.

"Why?" He asked, his voice laced with concern. "What happened?"

"It's about Nic." I I glanced at the little boy, playing with my fingers.

"Oh, alright. What's wrong?" He questioned.

"Um, last night, while I was going back to my room after drinking a glass of water, I heard Nic crying in his room. I went in and comforted him, asking him what was wrong." I explained.

He nodded, in a way of telling me to continue. So I did.

"He said that there is boy in his school named Kace who bullies him by saying that he doesn't have a mother now and that she left him because he wasn't a good boy." I finished.

Once I did, Rico's whole expression changed from worry to anger. It felt as though he was going to turn into The Hulk if he didn't calm down in the next few seconds.

"Rico?" I whispered, placing my hand on his shoulder.

"That explains why he slept along with you last night." He muttered, but it sounded like he was talking to himself than to me. I nodded.

"I'll talk to his teacher and the principal and to the parents of that Kace kid." He said, anger evident in his eyes.

I've always wondered how the characters in Wattpad stories know the emotion of the other person by just looking into their eyes but I kinda get it now. It's like you can feel their emotion in the aura that they create around you.

Or maybe I'm just overthinking...

"You could start by talking to Nico first." I smiled.

He nodded, "Yeah, that first."

He walked over to Nic whose hands were sticky with egg yolk but I stood where I was, wanting to let them have their own personal space to talk.

I gazed at both of them; how Rico took his son's hands in his and washed them, dried his hands and held his hands in his, making him understand that he should tell someone when things like this happen.

The little boy agreed, hugging his father. Nic happened to glance at me and while he wrapped his arms around his father. He lifted one hand and stretched it out towards me, telling me to come too.

I made my way over to the Ramirezes and gave both of them a hug. I felt an arm wind around the curve of my waist, letting the palm rest on the side of my hip. Rico.

I slowly moved my hand and smacked the back of his head. That'll teach him to keep his hands where they belong. All he did was rub his head and grin at me.

I swear, he acts just like his son sometimes.

"I want french toast." Nico said out of nowhere.

That boy is hungry at any time of the day. Eh, basically like me.

"May I help too?" Rico asked, now that we had all pulled away from the hug.

"No, you may not." I answered.

"What? But Nico is allowed to help? How is that fair?" He pouted.

I took a step closer to him, our chests almost touching. He took in a sharp breath and I leaned in closer, whispering into his ear, "He didn't try to do what you just did. Also, don't try that again if you like all ten of your fingers."

"Make me." He replied back, slightly touching his stubbly jaw against my soft cheekbone which sent a shiver down my spine.

"Dadda! Let Xia cook!" The four year old hangry boy exclaimed.

"Okay, okay." Rico sighed, raising his hands up in surrender. He walked a little further and took a seat on one of the couches, glancing towards us from time to time.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, waiting for a reply. Right now, it was around 6:00 AM and I was in bed, talking to someone who I hadn't for a long while.

"Everything is alright now." Came back Adrian's reply from over the phone. "The funeral went as planned and everybody is settled now. We've accepted it."

"I really wish that I was with you right now. If you ever need me to be there, tell me, alright? I'll always be here for you. Don't you ever forget that." I replied.

At this point, I didn't mind travelling across the world to comfort my best friend even though I'm in danger. He did it more than just once when I was in the same situation and I'll help him a million times more.

"Anyway, forget about me. How are you? Everything alright at the bakery?" He questioned, one question after another.

I really did want to tell him all about Nico and my life in this mansion but I stopped myself due to two main reasons. One, if I tell him, he is going to worry about me even though there are like, at least twenty guards around this house. Two, telling him over the phone is a horrible idea in itself. I mean, seriously, I can't tell him that Rico is a Don of a freaking mafia.

"It's alright." I lie through my teeth. "I do have to tell you a lot but it'll be better if I explain when you come back. Don't worry about it."

"Oh, okay." He replied, sounding a little confused.

"How is Layla doing? Watson?" I asked him, referring to his sister who had recently got married and her husband.

"I know what you're doing, Cheesestick." He sighed. "You're trying to change the subject so that you don't have to tell me probably because you did something you don't want me to know."

Damn it. This guy knows me too well.

ABORT MISSION!My conscience screamed.

"You're lucky that I'm in a whole different country. Anyway, you'll tell me soon enough." He stated, confidently.

"Yeah, yeah." I said, dismissively.

I heard him yawn on the other line and felt my eyes droop with sleepiness too. I had been calling him everyday for almost a week and he always disconnected the call and sent me a text saying that he was busy.

From nowhere, he called me a while back, saying that he wanted to talk to me. It's 6:13 AM here, which meant that it had to be 12:13 AM in New York.

"Um, I didn't call to just catch up, Xia. I called to tell you something about Mom. Something that the doctors found out." His voice held uncertainty.

"What's wrong?" I worriedly inquired, heedless of the fact that I would more than appalled by his next sentence.

"Initially, all of us thought that Mom had the symptoms of the heart attack and took her to the doctors but what we didn't know was that when she reached there, her pulse was faint, but it was still there.

An illegal drug was injected into her bloodstream which forced her body to shut down. There was weird symbol that was burnt into her skin too." He explained, in a soft and shaky voice.

I froze, not being able to move at what I had just been told. My heart thumped faster against my chest as I tried to process his words. I felt a sudden sense of coldness taking over me, tears welling up in my eyes.

"She didn't die of a normal heart attack, Xia. Someone killed her." He stated, emotion void of his voice.

And that's when my heart dropped.

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