"Alright, now pour in the vanilla essence." I guided Nico as he helped me bake.

"Okay." He said, following my instructions.

"Now, we have to mix all the ingredients well..." I mixed the everything in the bowl with the help of a whisk.

I noticed that Nico had been frequently glancing at me while I was whisking all the ingredients, like he had been thinking of something deeply.

He had been doing this since we entered the bakery this morning.

Yes, we're the bakery. For the past year, I had been spending most of my time here. My business was back up and running; every one of my customers returned saying that they missed their favorite bakery.

Some of them questioned about Adrian's absence to which I replied by saying that he had gone back to his hometown. I mean, I couldn't exactly tell them what really happened, could I?

But, now that everything was settled, it was quite safe for Nico and I to roam around but that didn't stop Rico from appointing three bodyguards with us at all times.

After Nico comes back from school, we bake cookies, cakes, pies...basically almost everything together at the bakery. And today, we were making cake pops.

I got worried, "What's wrong, jellybean? You look a little sad today."

"Momma, you will always love me, right? No matter what?" He asked, concern laced in his voice.

"Nico, I will always love you. Nothing can stop me from loving you, no matter what." I kissed his forehead. "I love you."

He nodded his head and smiled. "You know what happened at school today? Kace fell down and got hurt on his knee. His mother came and picked him up early."

Yeah, he's talking about Kace, his best friend. Even though he used to tease Nico a little more than a year ago, it didn't stop them from being the closest of friends now. After Kace apologized, they started playing with each other and now, his mother, named Ellie, and I are friends now.

"Oh, really? I hope he gets well soon." I thought of how Kace must have been doing. "Do you want to go their house later in the afternoon?"

"No!" He exclaimed almost immediately. "No, I mean, I think he'll be fine."

I was confused for two reasons; firstly, Nico never denied when I asked him whether he wanted to go his best friend's house. In fact, he pleads to go there every day. Secondly, he seemed different. I don't know what it was, but there was something off about his behavior today.

"Oh, okay then." I agreed, making a mental note myself to call Ellie and ask if Kace was doing alright. Rico wasn't too happy with Kace and Nico being friends but because Nico really liked Kace's company, he didn't say much.

Speaking of Rico, well, what do I say? I fucking love that man. Being the Donna of the Mexican mafia isn't as much of a job as I thought of it to be. All I have to do is a little from time to time and attend annual mafia balls along with him.

Nothing much has changed, to be honest. We tease each other like we always did, took care of each other and cheered the other one up during tough times.

His presence makes me happier, his touch still gives me butterflies, and most of all, he is my rock, the love of my life, my best friend, my everything.

I've been living with the Ramirezes and let's just say that I've been living my life to it's fullest. I got to do everything that I wanted. I visited my parents every few months and spoke to them almost every week.

I visited Damon and his family occasionally mainly because there were two more toddlers now, twins actually, whose names are Hazel and Maeve.

Going to the Ramirez family, Antonio has a new-born daughter, yes a daughter, as well a fiancé now. I wasn't expecting Nio to settle down before Callum did, who doesn't want a relationship at the moment, only because he was always the one who preferred enjoying life and free from responsibilities.

His soon-to-be-wife's name is Arabella. She is a fashion designer by profession and the only person who understands the difficulties living with a mafia man, like when both of them get protective over a cashier smiling at us when we go Target.

Toni's daughter, Valentina, is not more than a few months old who she looks like a carbon copy of her mother; leaving Toni for wanting a son who would look exactly like him.

Poor child...

Arabella is like a sister to me, we go on outings every few weeks with each other and leave Rico and Toni at home to take care of the children.

"Are you hungry?" I asked him, thinking that maybe hunger was the reason he had acting differently. I mean, this boy is hungry almost every hour of the day.

He grinned a little, which revealed his adorable dimples, and put a chocolate chip in his mouth. "No, Momma."

"Okay." I let out, tasting the cake batter. "Tell me if you are."

He nodded and just as I was about to pout the batter into a pan, my phone rang. Dusting my hands onto the apron I had been wearing over my olive green jumpsuit, I walked over to my purse which had been placed on the other end of the kitchen.

I fished out my phone and glanced at the caller ID. Arabella. Well, you know what they say: speak of the devil, and she shall appear.

"Heyy!" I greeted after accepting the call and putting it to my ear. "How iz ma favorite hooman?"

Yes, I become a whole different person when I talk to her.

"I'm fine." She replied. "Listen, normally, I would reply like the weirdo of a person I am, but Tonio is getting on my nerves and I really need some backup."

"Oh." I was taken aback. "Okay, so you want me to bring the axe or the chainsaw?"

"Bahahahahahaha!" Bella laughed out loud. "Love, I appreciate that, but I meant advice."

"Oops, my bad."

"I'm waiting in your room. Come soon." She stated. "Bye!"

Before I could even ask her why she was in my room out of all the places we could talk, she hung up. That crazy ass woman...well, I'm one too.

Knowing that the bakery would not be too busy at this time of the evening, I walked back to where Nico had been sitting and told him that we would be going home. Normally, he gets sad because he likes going back home from here but today, he jumped in joy.

Okay, weird...again.

I stored the batter and closed up everything in the bakery, walking out with Nico by my side. One of the bodyguards assigned to both of us stood outside near the car, ready for us to enter.

We got in and after not more than fifteen minutes or so, Nico and I stood outside. Once I opened the door, I expected to see the normal-looking house that I had been living for a little more than a year but instead I was met with a dim-lit living room.

The place seemed eerily quiet; something that was never found if Arabella was in the house. Ever. And to say that I was confused would be an understatement.

I heard heels clicking against the marble floor and then Bella's voice, "I know you're probably confused, but trust me."

She placed a blindfold on my eyes and lead me towards wherever she was taking me. "Bella, you were annoying at your fiancé not more than an hour ago and now you're not letting me see where you're taking me. I'm pretty sure that I have every right to be worried."

She chuckled, "Just trust me."

"Well, the last time you said that, I got pie smashed onto my face." I stated.

"Oh, yeah. That happened, didn't it? But don't worry, you're going to love this."

"Okaayy..." I was confused as to where she was taking me.

"Alright. You can remove the blindfold now." She said, detaching her hands from my shoulders.

I took off the blindfold and saw the huge window of Rico's room in front of me; it gave the most beautiful view of Spain from here. The room was dim-lit so I couldn't see much, just the silhouettes of everything around me.

"Why did you bring me her-" I stopped mid-sentence in awe just as I turned around.

With the light now turned on, I noticed that Bella was nowhere in sight but what I saw in front of me, made a gasp escape my mouth.

The entire marble floor below me was covered in rose petals and lit candles. The room was decorated with balloons and flowers but the thing that stood out the most were the large LED letter lights that read 'MARRY ME?'

Rico appeared from the corner of the room, dressed up in a crisp jet black suit. He looked as handsome as the first day I met him with his curly dark brown hair neatly styled and his slight stubble looking as attractive as ever.

He walked over and knelt before me on the ground, pulling out a small black velvet box from the pocket of his pants. He popped open the box and I gasped after seeing the the beautiful silver band that coiled around the shining pearl.

He smiled, looking up at me, "You're my favorite. My favorite pair of eyes to look into. My favorite name to see appear on my phone. My favorite way to spend time on an afternoon. You're my favorite everything."

My eyes teared up with every word he spoke, emotions taking over me.

"I want to be your last goodnight and your first good day for the rest of my life. I can't imagine my life without you...without the love of my life. What I'm asking you is, Xia Rae Knight, will you marry me?"

I didn't skip a beat in replying to him. "Yes!"

A bright smile spread across his handsome face as he slid the ring onto my finger and stood up. I was carried by him in the air almost immediately, receiving a long intense kiss from him which managed to give me a electrifying tingle to spread across my body every single time.

"You just made me the happiest man on planet earth, Soon-to-be Mrs. Ramirez." He grinned.

"And you just made the happiest woman on earth, Mr. Soon-to-be husband." I replied, earning a chaste kiss from him.

After he put me down, Nico entered the room, or rather jumped into the room with a t-shirt that made me happier than I already was. The shirt read, 'Momma and Dadda are getting married!'

I picked up Nico and showed him the ring.

"It looks beautiful, Momma." Nico paused. "Just like you."

My smile became wider at his compliment, I couldn't handle all of these emotions at once. Just then, every single person I knew entered the room one by one.

Bella entered first, screaming in happiness as she took a look at the ring on my finger. Then Toni, followed by Callum, Damon and his family, Mom, Dad, Julian, Isla, Devon, and lastly Ellie along with her family.

I hugged all of them one after the other, tears of immense happiness streaming down my face.

"Okay, okay. Maybe we should let Rico and Xi have their alone time together." Toni announced, winking when he said the word 'alone'.

Once all of them left, Rico and I faced each other, content in each other's arms.

"Te amo, mi reina ." He beamed, resting his forehead on mine.

Understanding his sentence, I replied, "Y te amo, mi rey."

Mi Reina...(My Queen...)

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