"I wanna go to the trampoline park." Nico stated as he ate the last bite of eggs in his plate while we were eating breakfast. 

"Okay, we'll go. But only for a few hours." Rico replied, taking a bite of the buttery toast.

"Really?! I don't have to go to schoooool!" The little boy exclaimed, jumping in his seat.

"Woah. Hold up. I meant, yes, we can go...in the evening. After school." He corrected. 

"Wha-noooo..." He whined. "Can I stay home today? Pleaaasee?"

"Like I always say, Nico, you have to attend school." He stated.

"But pleaaase?"

"Okay, fine. One day." He gave in.

"Pleeasse? Just one day. I promise tha-" He paused. "Wait. You allowed meee!"

Excitedly, he stood up from his seat at the dining table and ran towards his father, giving him a hug. "Thank youuuu, Dadda!"

He came over to me, taking my hands in his and started jumping with joy. I smiled at the sight in front of me.

It had been two days since Adrian told what had actually happened to his mother. Two days since I had been in a bad mood. Two days since I couldn't focus on anything.

I've been acting normal in front of everyone in the house; Rico, Nic and even Antonio.

I haven't told anybody about what Adrian said to me last night because I mean even if I do tell them, what are they going to do about it?

Yesterday when Antonio visited, he asked about Adrian, wondering where he was.

I told him that his mother passed away and that he was living with his family for now. He didn't question any further, which I really appreciated. 

"I want Xia to come with us too!" He said, looking at his father.

"Okay, sure." He smiled. "But ask her first."

"Can you come with us to the trampoline park, Xia?" He asked me, pouting his lips.

"Of course." I said, making sure to smile so that he doesn't suspect a thing.

"Yes! I'm going to go get dressed up." He announced, running into his bedroom.

Standing up from my chair, I reached out for Nic's empty plate but Rico beat me to it, getting a hold of it first. I let him be and turned around to walk to the kitchen with my plate.

While I did, I could feel that he was walking behind me and ignored it. Once I washed my plate, I tried taking the plates that were in his hands but he pulled it towards him, stopping me from doing so.

"I'll do them. Don't worry about it." He said.

I shrugged and wiped the water that dripped off my palms on my pants. I was about to leave the kitchen but he spoke up,

"Wait."

I huffed, turning around. "What's wrong?"

He gently placed the plates on the counter and came closer, "You tell me."

"I'm fine." I dismissed.

"I never said anything about you not being fine." He smiled.

"I know that something's wrong. Talk to me. You've been acting...different lately. You can talk to me, Xia." He said, cupping my cheeks in the palms of his hands.

"It's nothing really." I said, looking up into his alluring brown eyes. Like I've said before, I never liked crying, especially in front of other people but I just couldn't control myself now.

These weren't tears of fear, sadness or even pain but rather tears of frustration. I had been bottling up my emotions way too much nowadays.

I felt my eyes water but didn't do anything to stop it; I let the warm tears flow down my cheeks.

"Hey, hey. It's okay." Rico whispered, pulling me against his against his chest. "Just let it all out." 

I wrapped my arms around him, sobbing onto his chest. He did the same, soothingly running his hands through my hair at the same time.

He kept whispering foreign Spanish words in my ear, and although I didn't know what half of them meant, it somehow calmed me down.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, just after kissing the crown of the head. 

I didn't exactly want to tell him because it wasn't my place to do so but I wanted to make sure that it couldn't have been Devon or even Lorenzo who caused this.

And due to the fact that he has much more knowledge than I do with all this mafia stuff, he would know much more than me.

I nodded, my head still buried in his chest. We stood there, in each others arms for what felt like hours. The tears eventually slowed down and soon, it stopped.

"It's about Adrian. His mother passed away a few weeks back and now the doctors found out that it wasn't a normal case of a heart attack." I said briefly. "Someone injected a drug into her blood, which caused the heart attack."

I felt him take a sharp breath. He rested his head on mine, not saying a word before it was another few moments. He lifted his head and I looked up, meeting his eyes.

"Did she have a symbol seared onto her skin?" He asked, almost immediately.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"It's Lorenzo." He stated simply. "That's the signature that he leaves on his victims. It's the symbol of death in the philosophy of Alchemy."

"Are you sure?" I asked, not wanting to believe that her death was my fault due to the fact that he was associated with me. What if he killed her to scare me?

He nodded, not saying anything after that. 

"What happened? Why is....why is Xia crying?" Nic's voice asked. I turned around, still in Rico's arms and saw him standing there, with a pair of shoes in his hands. He had changed into a red t-shirt that read 'My Dad is the best!' and a pair of jeans.

I smiled and tried letting myself free from Rico's hold but he held onto my waist even tighter. I glanced at him, giving him 'the look' that I always do when he's annoying. He huffed and removed his arms that were wound around me. 

I walked to the little boy and carried him. "I'm alright, jellybean. Just feeling a little...emotional."

"Well, don't be. We should go soon, you'll be much happier." He said, slightly pulling my cheeks to make me smile.

"Okay, let's go." I said. After we got ready to leave, the three of us walked to one of the many cars that Rico owned.

Rico opened the door to the backseat of the car and buckled the little boy in the car seat while I sat in the passenger seat.

An hour later, we were at the trampoline park, being given those special socks to wear by an employee at the entrance.

"Close the place down. Nobody is allowed to enter in here as long as we're here, at least not without my permission. Understood?" Rico said in an authoritative tone. The guy agreed, mumbling a 'Yes, Boss.'

Oh. He's the owner of this place; I should have known.

"Come on, Xia!" Nico exclaimed, pulling along with him.

Well, then. Let's see how my first time at a trampoline park goes. I'm not going to lie, I am a little excited.

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