I had to fast walk/jog to keep up with Angelo's long strides. Not only was his pace too ungodly fast right now, but I had to dodge people coming at me on the sidewalk, and I was trying to zip up my jacket. Well, it wasn't mine. I accidentally grabbed Angelo's as I was being pushed out the door and now I had a dress jacket to go with my leggings.

I was warm.

Luca came and got Alessio and Sophia a couple minutes ago, he was going to take them to Alessandra where they would probably spend the rest of the night. We were going to go to the mafia house, where Mr. D'Amico called for a meeting.

I don't know why I was invited. Moral support probably.

Angelo stopped too soon for me to realize and I collided with his rock-hard back, causing a small yelp to leave my mouth. He grabbed my hand and pulled me forward, "I didn't know you were still there. You're so quiet. Is that my jacket?"

"Yeah, it looked like mine so I grabbed it. It wasn't mine though. Where are we going? The car was back that way."

"There's a car up the street a bit."

"Ok." It was cold outside, so I wondered the rest of the walk how Angelo could bare this weather with no jacket on. He got partially dressed in the time it took him to collect himself and for Luca to get to the apartment. Where he would normally have a fancy dress shirt and maybe a vest or suit jacket, he only had the plain white tee shirt that would be underneath it and black slacks. He still looked good, but it was hard to get past the fact that that he was probably freezing.

"Here," Angelo walked ahead a bit and opened the backdoor of the black Cadillac. I got inside, fully expecting it to be just me and Angelo in the back, but no, fucking Tony was there too. I was smushed in between Angelo and Tony as the car sped away from the sidewalk.

The four Italian mobsters all started a conversation in their native language and I couldn't help but cringe. It was loud and seemed unfriendly, but I didn't care too much just as long as we didn't get into a car crash.

"Hey fiore," Tony snapped, "Would you kindly slide yourself more to Angelo's side? I don't need one sharp turn sending me six feet under."

"I don't have any room to scoot over so suck it up, buttercup. Why are you even here?"

"Family meeting, fiore. Whether you like it or not, I'm part of the family." I rolled my eyes and looked out Angelo's window. "Why are you here?"

"Why are you two talking to each other?" Angelo interrupted. "This always happens. When do you think you'll learn?"

I crossed my arms over my chest and remained silent the rest of the way there.

____________________

There were a million people here. Cars lined the driveway, and people were piled inside the house that now seemed so small. The conference room wasn't nearly big enough for everyone, so people were setting up a camera in every room so that Mr. D'Amico could be heard all throughout the house.

I was one of the very few wives who actually got her own chair, and I was kind of proud of that. Lilly sat on Dom's lap in the chair to my right, and Angelo was seated at my left. Mr. D'Amico was at the very head of the table, looking as frightening as ever. He was silent, waiting for the rest of us to do exactly that.

"Did you leave SoSo and Alessio with Alessandra too?" Lilly asked quietly.

I nodded, fearing that Mr. D'Amico would call me out over everyone else because I was talking.

Lilly and Dom had a son 5 or 6 months after Alessio was born, his name was Enzo and they claimed he was more than enough for them. The next generation of the D'Amico Family mobsters would have to be produced elsewhere. Luca and Alessandra had a girl around the same time too, whom they named Abree.

And...

Get this.

Alessandra was pregnant yet again. With another girl.

Mr. D'Amico finally stood up, and looked either at me or Angelo. I had a strong feeling he was looking right at me though, "Where's my grandson? Alessio? He might as well be here. The boy is going to be in charge of you all one day anyway. Where is he? Who has him?"

"Luca's wife," Angelo said.

"Well call her, tell her to have him ready. Dom will be there to get him ASAP."

Both Angelo and Dom sighed heavily.

_____________________

We were waiting a good half hour before the conference room doors opened and Dom and Alessio walked in. He was wearing his little Spider-Man pajamas and white converse. Just by looking at him right this moment, you wouldn't have been able to tell that he was going to someday inherit everything and everyone in this room.

He ran over to me and climbed into my lap before turning and giving Angelo the biggest excited smile he had. A normal kid would be fast asleep right now, but not this kid, this kid was about to listen to some crazy shit and he couldn't be more thrilled about it.

"We'll have to work on your wardrobe when in the presence of company, Alessio," Mr. D'Amico said and almost everyone laughed. "Spider-Man isn't exactly appropriate for this kind of meeting."

Alessio's smile slowly faded and nothing could have made me angrier. Why did crushing a three year old's dreams make everyone laugh?

It looked like he wanted to say something mean to them, but he held himself back. I'm sure he had learned a few angry words from Angelo over the years, and I don't know if I would have even been angry if he used them right now.

"Anyway, before we get into the problem with the Rossi's, I'd like to talk about the situation with our own Family. I'm very unhappy with whose in what spot right now, so I've made a few changes that I think will suit us better," he looked right at Tony who was right next to him at the head of the table, "Tony's going to be my underboss instead of Angelo."

What?

"Why?" Alessio asked, voicing exactly what everyone else wanted to know.

No one liked Tony, so giving him this much power with an asshole in charge was probably one of the worst ideas we've ever heard.

"Why?" Mr. D'Amico repeated back, "Because I fucking said so?" He made it sound like a question, but it wasn't good enough for Alessio and he was about to say that.

"That's not an answer. Perché?" Alessio growled. He wasn't a little baby anymore, he was an angry little devil.

He ignored Alessio altogether and started talking about something else, but I didn't care about that, I was more concerned about the temper tantrum brewing on my lap.

I looked to my side to see how Angelo was, but much to my surprise, he was not there anymore.

What the hell? How did I miss that?

I didn't know if I should stay or go. Part of me thought it was best to leave, but the other part worried about what Mr. D'Amico would possibly do if he saw me get up and leave. He seemed pretty intent on having Sio here.

So I stayed.

"Italia Rossi and Vincenzo Bellini have taken Dominica and Gianna," Mr. D'Amico said, "I have no plan to get them back at the moment because they aren't a priority."

It was no secret that Angelo's parents weren't together anymore. Sure they were still bound together by law, but what did that matter when she was already in another stable relationship and he was seen with a new woman everyday? I never could understand a word she said but she has never given me a reason to hate her unlike someone else.

Hearing that her life was literally in a monsters hand was terrifying because he wasn't going to do anything to save her. His own daughter he said wasn't even a priority.

"The Russians are what we should actually be worried about..."

Seriously?

Sio tilted his head up to look at me, "We need to help gramma and zietta (auntie), mama."

I nodded and gave the weakest smile possible. Getting them away from the Rossi's would be hard, especially since Angelo wasn't a valuable player in the mafia family anymore. He had become exactly what he always took for granted. "We will. Don't worry."

______________________

After a thorough rundown of the house, Dom, Lilly, Alessio and I all decided that Angelo was not on the property anymore. A quick peek at the monitor in the surveillance room also confirmed our theory.

"Where would he go?" I asked, panicked.

"I have a couple ideas," Dom said. "Lils, take Sio back to Alessandra's and wait there," he ushered Alessio towards Lilly and handed her the set of car keys that were in his pocket.

Lilly nodded, grabbed Sio's hand and left the house with him.

"Does he drink when he's around you guys?" I asked Dom as we too left the house, "He won't touch anything when he's around us, not even a harmless glass of wine. Is he different when he's not around us?"

"Just the occasional glass of whatever. Its nothing special," he unlocked the car doors and we both got in, "He never told you, did he?"

"About what?"

"Never mind. It's not my story to tell."

"Where are we going?"

"His favorite fucking place on earth when he's hungry."

"Ah, that pizza place?"

"You betcha."

It was a thirty minute car ride to the place with all of the traffic. We drove slowly, barely coming to a stop in front before driving away again. "What are you doing? Why aren't we going in?"

"Have you ever gone here with Angelo?"

I nodded. All the fucking time. It was like Dom said, it was his favorite place on earth when he was hungry.

"Well then you should know as well as I do that he always sits in the same spot. Right in front of the window. He's not here."

I stayed silent because he was right.

Not even a second later, Dom's phone started to blare some song I've never heard before. It was obviously metal though. He grabbed it and pressed it to his ear before looking at the caller ID, "Hello, my love....Ah, I see....Yes, just bring him with you and meet us there," he hung up and put the phone back down. "Found him."

"Where?"

"You'll see."

_____________________

Dom and I walked into the apartment, immediately being welcomed by silence, "Well, you can definitely tell that a three year old and his sister live here," Dom walked around the various toy cars and Legos scattered on the floor. "I'll let you take care of this," he pointed to my bedroom door, "I'll wait here for Sio and Lilly."

I nodded and then walked into my room, a wave of relief washing over me. Sophia was sitting on the edge of the bed to be closer to whatever was playing on tv, whereas Angelo was laying there watching it from a distance.

They both looked at me.

"Ah, so you're a detective now?" Angelo mused. "How'd you find me?"

"Hi, mama," Soph said before looking back the tv. I gave her a smile.

"You're not very sneaky. Alessandra said you picked Sophia up and left. The only other place you'd go, we already checked."

"Fair enough. Where's Alessio?"

"Lilly's bringing him."

"Is Dom here?" Sophia slid off the bed and left the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

"Why'd you leave?" I asked while sitting down next to him on the bed.

"I thought I might have to shoot myself if I had to listen to another word come out of his traitorous mouth, so I left because I don't wanna die."

"I'm sorry."

"About what?"

"Your dad. He's an asshole in every sense of the word."

He shrugged, "I'll get him back."

"How?"

"Kill him. Obviously," he answered so simply. Was killing his dad not even a slightly hard thought to stomach?

"Sio thinks you should just start your own Family. He's got a lot of ideas and you missed them all because you left. He said he'd be your underboss and he would help you take out all the bad guys."

He smiled, "He's funny."

"He wants to help you."