Chapter 29: Chapter 29

Sophie's POV ~

I watched Thiago leave our room without even looking at me once this morning. I can't lie and say his sudden cold attitude didn't hurt because that would be an obvious lie. It was hurting more than it should, and he didn't seem to care one bit.

I took a deep breath before getting out of bed and checking on Leo who was fast asleep. I took the rare opportunity to take a quick shower before getting dressed in some comfy leggings and a sweatshirt. It's not like I was going anywhere after what my body had just been through over the last week. I've been gaining my strength back quickly but I still need help most of the time doing strenuous things, I can just about carry Leo properly now around the house and I can move around a lot more on my own now which I'm thankful for, I hate relying on people - especially Thiago when he's in his moods like today.

I kissed Leo's forehead, who was still fast asleep since he was up most of the night - with me of course, I didn't want to sleep while he was just lying awake. I turned the baby monitor on and took the receiver with me before I made my way downstairs to the kitchen to make some breakfast, when I walked into the kitchen Thiago didn't even look up once at me causing me to sigh. I put the baby monitor down and got on with whatever I needed to while Thiago sat and drank his coffee looking at something on his phone.

I ate a piece of toast while making some green tea, it was disgusting but it helped with all my internal issues after having a baby. I took a seat infront of my husband who was still acting like I wasn't even there.

"What's your problem Thiago?" I was sipping on my green tea waiting for him to respond to me when he glanced up from his phone for a second before moving his eyes back down. "Shouldn't you be with our son?" I rolled my eyes at his dig and leaned backwards in my chair. "I've got the baby monitor. Now tell me what the problem is. When you left you were fine and now you can't even look at me."

He didn't respond to me and instead just stared at his phone as if I wasn't even there which just pissed me off even more - my raging hormones after giving birth didn't help my mood either. "Thiago!" He finally looked at me properly for this first time today with a glare on his face.

"When did you ever get the idea that it was okay to shout at me?" I rolled my eyes at his question, of course I was going to shout at him - he was acting like a child. "You've been ignoring me, what else did you want me to do? Tell me what's wrong." Thiago sighed and locked his phone screen before looking at me. "I don't know Sophie. My head is just a bit of a mess right now, I need to figure some stuff out."

"Like what?" He gave me a look of frustration and went quiet for a moment thinking of what to say. "Us." I rose an eyebrow at him a little surprised and confused by his answer - not knowing what he meant. "Us? What do you mean? Did I do something to upset you?" He shook his head quickly and stood up from his chair. "No Sophie. I don't know, I just need some time to figure out how I feel about...you."

"What the hell are you talking about? What happened while you were in Milan that made you change how you felt about me?" Thiago tried to avoid my glare as he moved around the kitchen tidying away some random things. "Nothing happened, I just don't know if I still love you - or if I ever did." Once again I felt that permanent crack in my heart get bigger, I wiped away the unshed tears from eyes and glared at Thiago who was refusing to look at me.

"So you just randomly decided you don't love me? Is that it?" He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, I could tell he didn't want to have this conversation with me but I wasn't going to let him off easily.

"No Sophie, I jus-" I cut him off, my anger seemed be taking over the hurt I was feeling. "You can't just decide you don't love me. It doesn't work like that, you're hiding something Thiago." He wouldn't tell me what really happened but I knew something did. Thiago was fine before he left and since the first time he said it, he's always told me he loved me and he never did anything to make me think otherwise."I don't know what happened. I think I just need to start focusing on other things more, like the mafia. I've let my authority and control slip since we moved here." I rolled my eyes and stood up, I leaned against the counter near Thiago fiddling with the baby monitor in my hands. "What do you mean by that? Thiago just tell me straight, you're not being clear." He sighed once again and turned towards me properly.

"Fine. We're moving back to Milan. Happy now?" My eyes instantly met his emotionless ones, shock covered my face as I stared at him while we just stood there, Thiago's words lingered in the silence for a few minutes. "I'm not moving back to Milan. No way."

"You don't have a choice. You do what I tell you to do Sophie." He spat the words at me with irritation laced in his voice. "You don't care about Leo at all do you? You want to take him back to a city where people would do anything to hurt him."

"Oh shut up. I love him you know that, but I'm not putting feelings first anymore. I did while you were pregnant and all it's done is cause me problems."

"You think putting our baby first is causing you problems? Would you rather deal with this or let Leo get hurt?" He glared at me with his jaw clenched but said nothing. "Please just listen to me. It's not safe for us to go back. Thiago please.."

"Don't do anything stupid and you'll be fine. Every time you've found yourself in danger it's because of your actions, not mine. I'll do what I can to look after the two of you but I can't control the shit that you do." He completely ignored my pleading and made his way towards the door but I managed to catch up to him before he could. I grabbed his hand to stop him from leaving causing him to turn around to face me, anger evident on his face. He pulled his hand out of my grip as quickly as he could like it was poison and I couldn't stop the hurt making its way onto my face at his actions, but he didn't care.

"Thiago..." He stepped towards me threateningly, this time I couldn't find it in me to argue back with him because I knew something had seriously changed inside him. This wasn't the man I had fallen in love with. This is the monster who drove me to almost killing myself all those months ago.

"Toccami di nuovo e ti farò rimpiangere. Capire?" (Touch me again and I'll make you regret it. Understand?) I nodded quickly causing him to step away from me, I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. He rose an eyebrow at me amusedly waiting for me to speak but I couldn't bring myself to say anything, I thought this side of him was long gone. But I was wrong.

A small cry coming from the baby monitor in my hand caught my attention. "Go on." I looked at Thiago who was glaring at me with so much hatred and disgust. I quickly walked past him and out the kitchen trying to keep my emotions in check as I made my way upstairs to Leo who was crying like crazy.

Once I made it into our room I picked him up in my arms and walked around trying to get him to calm down but the pain in my heart and the tears streaming down my own cheeks made me the worst source of comfort for a new born baby. He continued to scream at the top of his lungs while I held him in my arms, but eventually someone took him out of my arms. I turned towards Carlotta who was trying to soothe Leo whilst glaring at me. I walked over to the bed and sat down the tears steaming down my face uncontrollably.

Carlotta roamed around the room with Leo in her arms whispering things to him to stop him from crying, it took quite a while for him to calm down before she sat down next to me. We sat in silence together, the only sounds that could be heard were Leo's small coos or sniffles.

"What happened?" I chuckled quietly and turned towards her. "I don't even know Carlotta. It's like he went to Milan and came back the same person he was when I first met him." She sighed next to me when Leo started crying again, I looked down at my baby who seemed just as upset as I was. "He's probably hungry, I'll feed him." I sat back against the pillows and lifted my shirt before taking Leo from her. "Can you go? I just want to be alone for a bit." I could tell she didn't want to leave me alone but she reluctantly did. I held Leo against me while he fed but every few minutes he would fuss about something and try to push me away. "What's wrong with you today?" I stroked the back of his head while he drank, eventually he finished and I pulled my shirt down again. I smiled down at Leo who was staring at with me with his big brown eyes which resembled Thiago's completely bringing my thoughts back to our earlier conversation."Your father is annoying." He just gurgled in response and I kissed his forehead. "If you have any advice let me know. I need it." I sat with Leo for a while until he eventually fell asleep. I decided to let him sleep for a bit before I gave him a bath later since he cried a lot last time when I did and I'd rather he be full of energy this time, maybe he won't be as cranky when I bathe him.

I lay down on the bed and sighed, at least I was no longer crying thanks to Leo. He's the perfect thing to cheer me up when I'm feeling like this. My eyes were drooping from the lack of sleep I had last night just as someone knocked rather loudly on my bedroom door.

"Come in." I frowned when Matteo and Angelo came inside, they both took a seat next to me on the bed while I just sat there awkwardly. "I thought you hated each other?" Matteo shook his head but his eyes remained on Leo who was sleeping in the crib. "We made up yesterday." I nodded and sent Angelo a small smile knowing he was really upset when he wasn't speaking to Thiago and Matteo.

"I'm sorry about dragging you back to Milan. It's important for us to go back but I know you don't want to. I promise you'll be protected though, Thiago would never let either of you get hurt." I scoffed and shook my head. "I doubt that." They both frowned in confusion clearly unaware of the argument we had earlier.

"Hasn't he told you what he said to me?" They both shook their heads in response to my question causing me to roll my eyes. "Well he's back to his old ways. He basically told me he doesn't love me anymore." I looked down at Leo who was moving slightly in his sleep, I ran my thumb over his small chubby cheek to comfort him.

"He said that?" I looked over at Matteo who seemed a lot angrier than I thought he would have been. "Yeah. He's started threatening me again...and he blamed me for everything bad that happened in Milan." Matteo shook his head and stood up, he began pacing around the room with anger clearly evident on his face. "Matteo?"

"Where did he go?" I shook my head and stood up stepping towards him. "I don't know, I left him downstairs ages ago." Matteo quickly left the room much to my confusion, causing Angelo to quickly follow him out. I shook my head at the two of them and sat down on the bed next to Leo's crib, I stroked his head softly smiling at his peaceful face.

All of a sudden a loud bang followed by shouts caused Leo to wake up, I quickly picked him up knowing he was going to start crying. Which he did - very loudly. I rocked him in my arms as I made my way towards the door, the sounds of arguing travelling upstairs. I sighed and glanced over at the crib thinking if I should I put Leo back down but decided against it. I couldn't leave him on his own especially in the state he was in now.

I shook my head in anger at the sounds of Angelo shouting, they knew Leo was asleep and still caused a loud enough noise to wake him up. I slowly and carefully carried Leo downstairs whispering soothing things to him to calm his crying which wasn't working. I made my way into the living room where Thiago and Matteo were pushing and shoving each other, Angelo was in the middle with a busted lip trying to stop the two from throwing punches at each other.

I looked around for a way to stop them but nothing was working, I couldn't shout with an agitated Leo in my arms, it would just make him even more upset. "Guys." I sighed when my voice was drowned out by the loud shouting in Italian. My eyes landed on the couch and I walked over to it placing Leo down. I put a few cushions next to him to stop him from falling although I was sure he wouldn't, the couch was huge, he wouldn't be able to roll that far - not at less than a week old anyway, maybe in a few months he could.

I quickly made my over to the three angry mafia men and pushed Angelo out of my way. Usually I wouldn't be able to but I was furious with all three of them and my angry maternal instincts were kicking in. As soon as Thiago's eyes landed on me he stopped pushing Matteo and stepped away from his brother but turned towards me instead."Who the fuck do you think you are?" I rolled my eyes at his aggressive tone and stance and made my way over to Leo to pick him up again now that they had stopped fighting. "Shut up Thiago, I could ask you the same question. You just woke your son up by the way." Thiago shook his head and came over to me clearly not giving up on whatever his aim was.

"Why did you tell them what I said?" I frowned and turned towards him but kept my eyes on my baby in my arms who seemed to have calmed down - he was still sniffling and making weird noises but he wasn't crying like he was before. "I thought they would have known but they didn't. Anyway, if you meant what you said then why would it be a problem if they knew?"

"You don't know what I feel Sophie that's why. And you can't just say to them that I wouldn't protect you. You're my wife and the mother of my child of course I would." I glared at him and stepped away from him, I took a seat on the couch and continued to rock Leo in my arms.

"Don't swear Thiago, I mean it. We may share Leo but that clearly doesn't change what you feel towards me does it? You wouldn't have said all of that earlier if it did and you wouldn't have threatened me once again if you wanted to protect me or if you cared about me in any way." Thiago just sighed once again frustrated by this whole situation, his eyes landed on Leo in my arms who was already slightly turning his neck to look at his dad with curiosity . I held back a smile at his cuteness and glanced at Thiago again who's eyes were fixed on his one week old son.

"Here." I stood up and stepped towards Thiago, holding Leo out to him, he quickly took him from my arms, a ghost of a smile appeared on his lips as he stared down at his son. It went quiet for a moment before he turned towards Matteo who was still glaring at him. Matteo's eyes softened when Thiago handed Leo to him. "Take him upstairs, I need to talk to Sophie."

"I think you've said enough to her Thiago. She's just had a baby, everything you say to her is going to hurt her more than it usually would because her hormones are all out of whack - it's called the baby blues period." I rose my eyebrow in surprise at Matteo who spoke all matter of factly - I wasn't the only one surprised by his knowledge. "Uh...how did you know that Matteo?"

"You read it to me from one of your books a few months ago." I nodded slowly remembering how I used to read a lot to him from my pregnancy books because Thiago wouldn't listen to me. Matteo was the next best thing. Thiago rolled his eyes at his brother. "Just go idiot."

The two of them left the room taking Leo upstairs leaving me with Thiago. I sat down on the couch and rose an eyebrow at him. "What do you want then? I need to give Leo a bath since you decided to wake him up." I sent him a glare when I said the last part but he didn't acknowledge that and instead just repeated the same thing he said earlier but this time with more certainty.

"I don't love you Sophie." I stared at him a little surprised by his blunt statement, I felt tears well up in my eyes but I blinked them away quickly. "I don't think I ever did, I must have just got carried away with the fact you were pregnant with Leo. I don't fall in love Sophie. I can't fall in love." Although his face was void of any sort of emotion I could tell from his voice that he really didn't know what was going on. He didn't know and he was trying to convince himself that he didn't love me - that's what I wanted to believe anyway. "Okay." He frowned as he watched me stand up. "Okay?" I nodded and stepped towards him with a small sad smile on my face.

"I can't force you to love me Thiago. You either do or you don't. It doesn't change how I feel about you though, it can't because every single time I look at Leo I see you in him. We made him together and for that I'll always love you. But if you don't love me then it is what it is."

"That's it?" I scoffed in disbelief and stepped towards the door. "What did you expect me to do? Cry? Of course I'm going to do that - I've already done it. But it doesn't change the truth." I made my way towards the door but stopped and turned towards a confused and dumbfounded Thiago. "When we go back to Milan, since you're forcing me, I want a new house far away from where Dante found us. I want double the security aswell and I'll sleep in a separate room with Leo."