Knowing that it wasn't such a great idea last time, I left the room myself, without the person Angelo said he would send up. It didn't matter anyway though because unlike last time, the person who was supposed to be waiting for me, was right outside the door.

It was a girl, a very blonde girl. Her hair was long and in very loose, and still super bouncy curls. She was shorter than me, but it didn't matter because her curves could beat mine any day. I felt a little...ugly. I guess I always felt like that though when I came in contact with any girl associated with the mafia.

She offered a smile, almost fake, as if she was being paid just to smile at me, "You must be Chloe. I'm Clementine, but you can call me Minty, everyone else does," she made a motion with her hand and turned her back to me, slowly proceeding to walk down the hallway. "So Tony says that you're going to be staying with us for quite some time. What's a femmina (girl) like yourself doing with the mafia? You know there's rumors..." She glanced over her shoulder at me briefly before turning back, and walking down the stairs. "Rumors about you and Angelo being, you know, sposato...married. And now I see that."

I followed her eyes down to my hand, the one being weighed down by the large, extravagant ring I had woken up with in the hospital, and I slowly nodded.

"Ooh la la, welcome to the mafia house Mrs. D'Amico," she squealed. "I never thought Angelo would find himself a girl. One that seems ok at least."

I just gave her a weird look, "What exactly is it that you do?"

"I'm not supposed to talk about it, but I can tell you that if you see other women walking around, they probably do the same thing as me."

So...what? Like a stripper? I wouldn't be surprised.

I made an 'O' with my mouth and nodded slowly, to show that I sort of understood her. "So where are we going?" I asked as she slid open a glass door, that led to yet another part of the mansion.

"Angelo's busy at the moment...supposedly, but I was told to bring you to the conference room. I think Tony's there waiting."

"Well is Angelo going to be there soon?" I didn't like the idea of being alone in a room with Tony. My one past experience with him wasn't the best, and last time Angelo was there to stop him. Now who's to say when he would show up?

"Yeah, he shouldn't be long," Clementine, or Minty shrugged. We came to a stop in front of two large, smooth wooden doors. Clementine stopped, turned to me, and rested her hand on my shoulder, "Tony's a man whore, I get that, but I know Angelo and he wouldn't leave him in there with you if rules weren't set in place and someone else was watching his every move."

So she knows Angelo.

Ok.

That's the only thing my jealous self could get out of what she said. I pushed the door open and let myself inside. Tony was already sitting at the end of the long table. I decided that being close to him was not on my to-do list, so I walked the mile to the other end and popped a squat in the leather chair.

"So nice of you to finally join me," I was surprised at how well his voice traveled through the room. "Angelo should be here shortly but we'll just get started now."

I was about to ask why him of all people had to go over the mafia house rules with me, but then I remembered something. He was the stupid underboss, the second in command. I guess it was his job to do what Angelo couldn't.

I was slowly starting to put the puzzle pieces together. Angelo, and just about everyone else in the mafia, didn't consider Mr. D'Amico the Boss anymore. Angelo was at it yet again, so everyone else got their spots back as well.

"Why so far away, fiore?" He teased, "Come closer. There are papers with rules you must look at."

"Yeah, no freaking thank you, Mr. Creepy Noodle!" I snapped. "

He stood up immediately, clearly offended by my outburst, and slapped his hand down hard onto the table, "Listen here, sweetheart, you may be the new Mrs. D'Amico, but don't you dare think, even for a second, that you're anything other than that. You're not a princess and you sure as hell can't tell me no. So if I tell you to fucking come closer, you're going to fucking come closer."

I let my mouth hang open in shock. I didn't appreciate his attitude one bit and I'll be damned if I sit there and take that from him, "No, you listen to me, you jackass. If I say no to you, you're going to respect that. Ya know why?" I stood up and slowly approached Tony. "Because I am a fucking princess!" I seriously had to fight the urge to not bitch slap him right across the face with my ring hand.

"You better shut your mouth before I-"

Tony and I both turned our attention to the set of double doors that had been pushed open rather roughly, causing them to crash against the wall fiercely. Angelo came in and he was more of a mess than I've ever seen him before. He never stopped his fast almost jog like walk, and once he reached me, he grabbed my arm and pulled me to a chair far enough away from Tony so that I couldn't do anything that could get me in trouble later.

"I leave you two alone for a minute and you're already at each others throats. Is it really so hard to get along with anybody?" Angelo's question was directed at Tony.

"You know as well as I do, that she's a very hard person to get along with. She's just using your name for security, boss. Do you not see that?"

"And she has that right, after everything that's happened to her that wasn't supposed to."

"When the hell did you go soft, Angelo?! Please do answer that. Why are we protecting her? She's done nothing for us and honestly, I don't think she ever will. Why can't we just whack her already?"

"It's a little late for that I'm afraid."

"Why? 'Cause you're supposedly married to the annoying little thing now? That hasn't stopped mafia men before. Do you remember my last three wives? No. Ya know why? 'Cause they all got whacked for being useless."

"Get out, Tony."

"You're losing your goddamn mind, Angelo!" Tony shouted before leaving the room.

Silence fell upon us for a moment before Angelo sighed loudly, "I'm sorry about that, amore mia."

I shrugged and smiled so fake, that it would have put Kim Kardashian to shame, "I'll be ok. I'm a big girl."

He rolled his chair over so that he was extremely close to me, and pressed his forehead against mine, "Tell me what had you so upset earlier," he gently placed his hand on my stomach as if he knew.

"Angelo."

"Yes, amore mia?"

I paused and looked down at his hand on my unkept secret,"How did you know?"

He pushed his chair back a little bit, but remained close, "I'm not an idiot, Chloe. I'm not deaf either. You whisper like a megaphone. I heard you talking to Alessandra on the plane earlier and I must say, I'm quite offended. A little upset too," he paused just to take in a deep breath, "My question for you is; why would you try to keep something like that from me? That's very important information."

"I needed time to process it. I was shocked and scared, and people told me stuff. Stuff I didn't want to hear," the empty feeling inside of me came back and tears swelled in my eyes. I still don't know how to process this and now the whole mafia house is going to know. Who's to say they didn't already?

He furrowed his dark eyebrows, seeming truly curious, "What kind of stuff, criceta?"

"I don't know," I shrugged, not wanting to get anyone in trouble, "You wouldn't like this, you'd hate me, you might even get rid of me," I repeated the words like a robot.

"Who the hell would tell you that?"

"No one. I promised I wouldn't say anything."

He surprisingly gave up and left it at that and instead of the angry scowl that was on his face seconds ago, a genuine, gleeful smile now replaced it, "Well whoever it was, they were wrong. I'm here for you, criceta mia, and this...bambino."

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