THE MAFIA’S HEIR

LAURA’S POV

The moment I was done dressing up, I waved at Madame Beatriz and was about to leave when she held my hand. “Are you sure?” She mouthed, looking worried. I forced a smile and nodded, before turning and walking out of my room.

I had gotten to Ricardo’s apartment about 20 minutes later, and was about pressing the door bell for the fifth time. Just before I could press on it, the door opened and I saw him standing so unsteadily. He looked pale and dazed. Seeing him in that moment, all my anger flew out the window. I was instantly worried for him.

“Ricardo!” I quickly walked inside and closed the door behind me. Before I could reach out and hold his arm, he had fallen into one of the sofas in the living room. I walked closer to hold his hand, but was shocked at how high his temperature was. “Christ! Ricardo!” I quickly flung my handbag to another sofa and tried to assist him up. “Hold on to me.” I ordered, and he lifted his arms with so much unease. He was really sick. How could Madame Beatriz think it was okay to leave him on his own? I felt tears clouding my eyes and cursed myself for being so soft. When he was steadily holding on to me, I made my way out of the living room, towards where the bedrooms seemed to be located.

“Easy.” I muttered, when he had almost fallen off me. He couldn’t even say a word back to me. He was that weak.

It was already close to evening and I had successfully dabbed his body with some cold towel to regulate his hot temperature. I also went to a nearby pharmaceutical store to get drugs for him. Atleast, now he seemed to be slightly better than when I had come. I walked into his room with the warm soup I had just prepared, in a tray. He was still sleeping, so I quietly dropped it on his table, before stepping out of the room. I went back to the living room and picked up my phone from where it laid on one of the couches, only to see a couple of missed calls from Madame Beatriz. I quickly called her and waited for her to pick up.

“Laura, I’ve been calling. Are you fine? Did anything happen there?” She sounded so worried.

“Calm down, I’m fine.” I sighed. “I’ve just been busy taking care of him, and my phone has been far from me. He is extremely ill.” I muttered the last part. She was silent for a while, before asking.

“How sick?”

“He couldn’t even stand steadily or speak to me when I came.” She went silent once more and it made me feel bad. She was probably feeling so horrible for neglecting her son.

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine.” She interjected.

“He has improved now. Atleast, he’s temperature has dropped since he took the drugs from…..”

“You got him drugs?”

“Yes, I did.” I replied, wondering why she sounded quite worried.

“There is a particular brand he….”

“I know.” I found myself smiling. “I definitely didn’t buy the brand he reacts to.” She went silent for a moment, before responding.

“Thank you for being with him. Would you be able to return tonight?”

“I doubt.” I replied. “He needs to be closely observed. He’s improving, but not strong yet.”

“That’s fine. I should come around tomorrow with some change of clothing for you.”

“That would be nice.”

We spoke for a few more minutes and I hung up. It was as if the stress of the day just began to weigh on me, and I found myself falling into deep slumber. Just before I could give in, I walked to Riccardo’s room and laid on the long sofa there. Eventually, I slept off there. Some minutes later, I felt a warm hand tapping me, and I immediately opened my eyes.

“You should come sleep on the bed.” I looked up to see Ricardo. He seemed much better now, though his eyes were a bit swollen.

“No, I am just fine here.”

“Are you sure? You’ve been in this position for hours now.” What? Hours?

“Hours? What’s the time?”

“Some minutes to 9pm.” He replied and my eyes widened. I stood from the sofa and my back ached badly. Fuck!

“Can I use your spare room?” I asked, not sparing him a glance.

“It’s in a bad shape. It’s not been arranged since I moved in. I haven’t really had the time, and I hardly entertain visitors that spend the night.” It was then that I took note of how he spoke to me. He couldn’t hold my eyes.

“So where do I stay?”

“Y.. you could u.. use my bed?” He stuttered, making me look up at him in suprise, our eyes locking. We stared at each for a while, his beautiful grey eyes cowering before mine that looked deeply into his. I felt his hand on mine, before he opened his lips and whispered. “I’m sorry.” I was angry at myself for being so weak in that moment. I couldn’t even say a word as my lips quivered. I guess that was probably because it was the first time Ricardo was cowering before me. Or maybe it was because of how warm his hand felt against mine. Whichever it is, my heart certainly wasn’t able to take it.

“Ricardo.” I managed to say, my lips twitching at the corner.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Is it possible that you’d ever forgive me?” He rushed out, his voice still low.

“Ricardo, I…”

“Please tell me that it’s possible.” He pleaded, tears clouding his eye, shocking me all the more.

“Ricardo please I don’t want to talk about this now.”

“Sorry.” His eyes dropped in sadness. “I thought you wanted to…”

“I do want to, but not right now.” I tried explaining to him. All of a sudden, I felt annoyed for speaking so casually with him. We weren’t on talking terms! “I’m only speaking so nicely to you, because you happen go be ill.” I clarified, making his face drop. He slowly nodded and let go off my hand, before shifting to the far end of the bed. I knew that his gesture was for me to lay at the closer corner of the bed. On a normal day, I would have declined but today, I was too tired to think of declining. I hopped onto the bed and laid down. I didn’t move to the extreme end of my side because I didn’t want the whole thing to start seeming childish. We stayed silent on the bed and after a while, I started feeling drowsy. But that was until I felt Ricardo inching towards me. My brain went into full action at once. And…. so did my body. Soon, he was close enough to me, but we weren’t touching each other.

“Federico.” He whispered, making me turn to him with a questioning look. “Have you both….?” He trailed off, not completing his question. I was still trying to grasp what he meant, when he covered the space between our faces and kissed me. I wanted to push him away. That was the valid and reasonable thing to do. But somehow, I couldn’t get my limbs to work. Before I knew it, he disconnected our lips. “Have you?” He asked.

“I don’t think that is any business of yours. And you don’t have the right to kiss me when you feel like it!” I replied sternly. “Whether we kiss or make love, that’s not your business.” I added. I watched in shock as tears clouded his eyes once more, and he slowly moved away from me. Before he could move farther, I held his arm and he looked at me. He had this glimmer of hope in his eyes, and it made me wonder if Bianca was right after all. Did Ricardo really love me? I really didn’t know why, but the thought that he did, made my belly twist in excitement. Weird excitement. Was I the sick one here? I looked into his beautiful gray eyes again, and I whispered the next words.

“Kiss me again.”

“Huh?” His eyes widened slightly in what seemed to be disbelief. Already feeling stupid due to the request I just asked of him, I turned my back to him as I bit my lip painfully. Why did I have to ask something so stupid? I had just told him a few seconds back, that he had no rights kissing me. Now, I was bestowing that right upon him. I was still silently berating myself when I felt his hands on my arms. This time, he held the chin of my face and turned me to himself. Not allowing me to say another word, he leaned down and took my lips with his. I let out a tired sigh as he plunged his tongue into my mouth, quickly taking all liberties he could get. I slowly began to respond to his hot kisses, but he still dominated me effortlessly. He wasn’t kissing me, he was ravaging my lips. He moved closer and closer, until he was finally on top of me. This was going too far already. But I wasn’t willing to stop him because I was enjoying it. His kisses, his attention, the way he gingerly caressed my skin with his semi rough palms. I liked it all. My hands made their way to his hair and grabbed a handful of it in between my slender fingers. He let out a grunt and pulled his lips away from my mouth. He began licking the sides of my mouth as his hands made their way underneath my short sun dress.

It was all cool until his thumb brushed across my vulva, underneath the lace panties I wore. I gasped reflexly and he stilled every action, including his kisses. We both panted against each other’s lips and he whispered. “Do you trust me?”

“No.” I replied without even thinking twice. And I honestly didn’t feel bad about my reply. That was the truth. I didn’t trust Ricardo. I was slowly realizing that I knew nothing about him, knew less about his intentions towards me, and hadn’t an idea if I was already getting over all his wrongs against me.

“I understand.” He nodded sincerely, and was getting off my body when I frowned.

“Where are you going?”

“I.. I… We…” I knew he was going to keep stuttering, so I helped him.

“I don’t trust you, but I like your kisses. Don’t stop.” I looked at him with desire filled eyes and his hands quickly went underneath my dress again, finding its way in between my thighs. I had wanted to tell him that wasn’t part of a kiss, but damn the sensations his fingers made me feel. We weren’t kissing, but just looking at each other as his hand shifted my panties asides, and a finger slide in. It was uncomfortable at first, until he slowly started moving inside me.

“Haahhh…” I sighed, loving the feeling. His thumb found my clitoris and began rubbing against it as his middle finger continued fucking me. I felt like I was going to explode the next minute, my mouth opened as Iet out pleasure filled gasps.

He kept his eyes fixed on mine as he administered all these actions. All of a sudden, he retrieved his hand from my cunt and moved his body down to my private area. The next thing I knew, his head was diving in between my thighs and his mouth was eating me up. That was when I eventually started letting out screams. If he had neighbors, they would have probably called 911 for reports of domestic violence. Yes, I had been that loud.

All I remembered was arching my back so deeply when the clouds were finally within my reach, and falling back on the bed in exhaustion. After that, I could feel the bed dip beside me, indicating that Ricardo was laying by me. I felt his fingers trailing lines on my arm, before I eventually slept off.

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BIANCA’S POV

I looked at Laura in total amusement as she gave me the gist of what had gone down between Ricardo and herself last night. God! This girl definitely loved it all, but was trying to force herself not to.

“Laura, let go.” I smiled. “You enjoyed it, and so did he. You had that discussion with him this morning, before leaving his place. Now you know everything, and you know he loves you. You have already tortured the poor guy for more than a month now, making the rest of his family do the same. You have tortured yourself too. It’s time to embrace the opportunity you have at love.”

“But how can I love Ricardo?” She wailed.

“You can. Except you don’t want to, it’s your choice. You have to understand that love takes time to grow.”

“That’s not it.” She muttered, looking away in embarrassment. It took a few more seconds to finally understand what she meant when she asked ‘how she could love him’. She wasn’t trying to, she already already did. And now she was questioning herself because it didn’t feel right.

“Oh my goodness, Laura!”

“Pipe down! Your Papa can step in here at any moment.” She whispered, making me chuckle.

“Laura you love him!”

“I said ‘pipe down’! And love is such a strong word to describe the way I feel.”

“And how do you feel?” I asked and she sighed, readjusting herself on my bed.

“I actually do not like the feel of Federico, when he is in a closely intimate range with me. But when it’s Ricardo, I’d want him tangled with me all day, if possible.” She looked down at her hands with a small smile on her face. I was happy for Laura truly. She deserves every happiness she can get. “And despite how much he’s made me cry in the past, I hate to see even an unshed tear in his eyes. It bothers me so much, even more when I’m the cause of his tears.”

“Lauraaaa, you’re so kind.” I muttered in all honesty. “You deserved to be treated with so much love. I know you are not there yet, but with the look of things, you’re heading there. Let Ricardo love you. From what I know, he’s willing to be patient with you. He’d give you as much time you need to heal and begin to love him like he loves you. But for that to happen, you should definitely give him a chance. Giving him a chance doesn’t mean you should go on and accept his relationship proposal. Giving a chance is simply letting him into your life. Giving him a chance is making him believe you trust in his capabilities to become better. Giving him a chance is giving him hope for a future between you both.”

“I have heard you my friend.” Laura smiled in appreciation. “Just like you suggested, it was best I spoke with him and….” She was still speaking when the knock on my door interrupted her.

“Bianca?!” That was papa.

“Yes Papa!”

“You have a visitor.” Came his voice from the other side of the door.

“I do? Who is it?” I quickly hopped down the bed and walked to the door and opened it. “Papa, who is it?”

“It’s our friend.” He grinned. I had never seen my father so ecstatic before. What was it now?

“Our friend? Who is our friend?”

“It’s Anthonio.” He whispered, his brows dancing up and down, making me laugh.

“Papa, he’s MY friend.” I cleared his notion and he scoffed.

“He is in the living room, you should go see him now.” He demanded, and I nodded in obedience. I mouthed an ‘I’ll be right back’ to Laura, before closing the door and jogging down the stairs to see him. I was quite excited to see him, as we hadn’t been able to see each other yesterday. When I got to the living room and saw him sitting down, I broke into a smile. Immediately, papa and mama excused us both, making me wonder why. That was unusual.

“Anthonio?” I called out to him, and that was when he looked up at me. He seemed to be worried about something. “Are you okay?” I asked and he nodded. He stood from the sofa he had been sitting on, and walked towards me.

“Bianca.” He called, looking down into my eyes, holding my hand in his. I was more worried, until he said the next words. “I know this is weird. I had planned spending the weekend with my family but when I thought about you…. I couldn’t help but rush down here to see you.”

“Awwwnnn.” I smiled, removing my hands from his, and wrapping them around his torso as I hugged him. He gently pulled away, making me frown.

“That’s not it.” He sighed. “I want to be close to you more than before. More and more as the day goes by.”

“Anthonio.” I muttered with a small smile on my face.

“Bianca…. please would you make me so happy by accepting to be my woman?” He asked. His hands that were holding my arms were shaking in anxiety, and it only made me smile. He was the sweetest man I knew presently, so why not?

“Yes, I will.” I smiled shyly and he grinned widely.

“For real?” He asked.

“For real.” I answered, before he cupped me cheeks and gave me a sound kiss. That was our first kiss and it wasn’t bad. It was part of the things Iiked about Anthonio. He was a perfect gentleman and very patient with me. He never tried to pressure me into being intimate with him in anyway. He moved at a steady pace, which I really needed since I was on my way to completely getting over another. We pulled apart after kissing, then fell into each other’s embrace.

“Thank you. Thank you so much my love.” He whispered into my ears, making me sigh in contentment. Atleast, my life was headed somewhere beautiful now. I was happy.

Little did I know that the next couple of months were gonna be shocking and crazy. I was literally going to go insane with the decisions I would have to make.