Chapter 12: Chapter 12

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"Boss, he's in here." I nodded at one of my men who directed me through the halls towards one of the rooms. I opened the door and instantly the metallic smell of blood hit me causing a sadistic smirk to stretch across my face. I took off my suit jacket to stop it getting dirty and handed it to Angel0 who was already inside.

"Quindi sei il coraggioso bastardo che ha cercato di rubarmi?" (So you are the brave bastard that tried to steal from me?) The eyes of the man strapped to a chair in the middle of the room were half open, almost closing from the bruising he had suffered.

"Thiago per favore, mi dispiace. Lo farò per te, qualunque cosa tu voglia, lo farò." (Thiago please, I am sorry. I will make it up to you, whatever you want I will do it)

I let out a small chuckle and nodded mockingly. "Certo che ti dispiace ora. 4 settimane dopo, ho sentito che hai speso 3 milioni di euro, i miei fottuti soldi. Non ti dispiace, vero?" (Of course you are sorry now. 4 weeks later, I heard you've spent 3 million euros, my fucking money. You weren't sorry then were you?)

Before he could answer I took out my gun and pointed it in his direction. His eyes filled with tears causing my smirk to widen, I've learned to live and thrive off the fear of people like him. Their fear is like my fuel, it makes me work harder and pushes me further.

I shot him in the knee caps, he let out a cry of agony as I stepped towards him. I held the gun against his shoulder and gave him my coldest glare. "Nessuno mi ruba e se la cava. Sei fortunato che tu abbia potuto goderti le ultime 4 settimane con i miei soldi, ma ora pagherai." (No one steals from me and gets away with it. You're lucky you got to enjoy the last 4 weeks with my money, but now you're going to pay.),I shot him once in each shoulder and left him writhing in pain, I turned towards Angelo who was watching the scene unfold in front of him with a glare on his face. "Uccidilo." (Kill him.) His glare turned into a ice cold smirk as he stepped towards the man who had tears running down his face. Neither of us felt any remorse, this is what we do.

I grabbed my jacket and left the room, the sounds of the screams fading as I went back to my office upstairs. I felt my phone ring in my pocket as I got inside, I pulled it out to see that my mom was calling, I hadn't seen anyone from my family except Matteo since the wedding. My sisters had been busy doing their usual stuff and my parents went back to Sicily straight away.

"Ciao?" (Hello?) I sat down at my desk whilst I spoke. "Thiago, stavo solo chiamando per verificare che tu stia ancora venendo qui per il compleanno di tuo padre questo fine settimana?" (Thiago, I was just calling to check that you're still coming here for your father's birthday this weekend?)

I held back a curse, I had completely forgotten about it. I tried to play it cool knowing my mom would kill me for forgetting it, even if she was in Sicily. "Eh certo che lo sono, perché non dovrei essere? (Um yeah of course I am, why wouldn't I be?) She sighed but didn't say anything, it was completely obvious I had forgotten.

"E Sophie?" (And Sophie?) I bit my lip, there's no way she's going to go, she hates me too much to go for me. But my mom doesn't know that. "Certamente mamma, è tutto ciò di cui ha parlato nelle ultime settimane. Lei è così eccitata" (Of course mom, that's all she's been talking about for the last few weeks. She's so excited.) I tried to make it sound as convincing as I could but my mom has this way of knowing straight away if any of her kids are lying to her

"Thiagoo. Faresti meglio ad essere lì e portare tua moglie. Non mentirmi di nuovo."

(Thiago. You better be there, and bring your wife. Don't lie to me again.) I cringed at the anger in her voice and nodded.

"Ok mi dispiace" (Okay sorry.) There's only one woman in this world that scares the hell out of me, and it's my mom. She hung up without saying anything else and I threw my phone down on my desk letting out a deep breath. Now all I have to do is find a way to convince Sophie, who hates me, to come to my fathers birthday party.

I held the heavy box in my hand as I walked into our room, Sophie was laying on the bed watching TV, she completely ignored me when I walked in, which I expected. I sat next to her and put the huge white box down infront of her. "Open it." She looked at me in confusion and paused whatever she was watching on Netflix. "What is it?" I gave her a small smile and gestured towards the box, I leaned back against the headboard after taking off my suit jacket and loosening my neck tie.

"Thiago just tell me what it is." I shook my head causing her to roll her eyes. She untied the ribbon and pulled off the lid of the box, she moved the white tissue paper out of the way, first she was confused but then a smile took over her face. I held back my own smile as I watched her look through all the clothes, shoes and accessories that I got her, finally she smiled again for the first time in a month, well the first time in front of me anyway.

"You didn't have to get me all this Thiago, this is too much." I shrugged and looked at her. " It doesn't matter. At least now you can still dress how you used to but this time in better clothes." She rolled her eyes before leaning over and kissing my cheek catching me by surprise. "Thank you.",She was busy looking through all the things in the box when I decided to ask her about coming to my dads birthday party. "Sophie." She hummed in response waiting for me to talk. "You know where you could wear some of those clothes..?" She turned to me and rose an eyebrow causing me to give her a nervous grin. "Sicily?" It came out more like a question since I tried to ask her as carefully as I could hoping she wouldn't get angry. Sophie frowned in confusion and leaned back against the cushions she had propped up against the headboard.

"Why Sicily?" I nervously chuckled and rubbed the back of my head, something I always do when I'm nervous or feel awkward. "It's my father's birthday this weekend and my mom has invited us to their house." She went quiet, thinking over what I just told her then a small grin broke out on her face.

"So you're trying to tell me you brought all these clothes for me so that I would come to Sicily with you is that it?"

"Sort of...maybe. I need you to come with me Sophie." She nodded and looked back at the box of clothes before sighing. "I would have come with you even if you didn't buy the clothes Thiago, all you had to do was ask nicely and not do what you always do." Her last words caused me to frown at her. "What do I always do?"

"You always say I have no choice, you tell me not to piss you off and just to listen to what you say. You know the usual crap you come out with." She was in an unusually good mood because when she said this she was smiling. I feel like I'm missing something here; last night she didn't even say thank you for the water I got her.

"Sophie is everything okay?" Now it was her turn to frown. "Of course it is? Why wouldn't it be?"

"You're just surprisingly chilled out about all this, I thought you would have kicked off about going to Sicily." She shook her head at my assumption and started looking through the clothes again. There were a lot to look through.

"I'm fine with it Thiago, I haven't met your dad properly, I only saw him at the wedding so even though it's terrifying since he was be leader before you, it'll be nice to meet him properly. I also haven't seen your mom and Mia since the wedding either, they were really nice." I nodded as she spoke and stood up to go over to the closet to change.

I left Sophie to look through all her new clothes as I slipped off the slightly blood stained shirt and my suit pants leaving me in just my boxers. I grabbed a towel and went back into the bedroom. "What designer is this?" Sophie held up the black handbag as I sat down next to her, her eyes went over my body but she tried to look away before I caught her staring, which I did straight away. "Versace." She nodded and put it down next to her. "Now I can be like you." I chuckled at her comment as she started admiring the Louboutins in the box.

"Did you get to speak to Carlotta at the wedding?" Sophie let out a scoff, her eyes still down on the pair of shoes. "I spoke, she glared. I swear Thiago you only have one nice sibling."

"Yeah..Carlotta isn't really the nicest person. Obviously I love her, but she's difficult to say the least." Sophie glanced over at me sending me a teasing grin. "You just described yourself Thiago."

I rolled my eyes but still a small smile made its way onto my face.

"When are we going to your parents house then?" I had to think about it before I answered her, I hadn't actually made any plans since I didn't think she would say yes. "Erm, Friday. We'll have to stay till maybe Tuesday since I haven't seen them for quite a while." Sophie nodded in agreement. "No that's fine you should spend some more time with them."

"We'll leave Friday morning then. The flight is around two hours so we should get there by the afternoon." At least that gave me tomorrow to sort everything out with Angelo so that he knew he had to look after all the business whilst I was gone. "This one?" She held up the denim shorts. "Gucci." Her eyes widened and she looked back at the shorts. "Gucci shorts? Thiago I would have been happy with a pair from forever 21. How much were they?" I shook my head and got off the bed, I noticed her eyes fall to my abs and v line causing me to smirk slightly.

"Don't worry about the price, if it's for you I don't worry about it either." I turned around towards the bathroom but stopped in my tracks when I felt a swat on my ass. I turned back around to see Sophie smirking at me holding my towel. "You forgot this." I glared at her grabbing my towel from her grip and lightly swatted her back with it. "You're lucky you're hurt Sophie." She just laughed as I made my way towards the bathroom. That girl is something else.

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