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"I will not repeat myself again," he said crassly. He stood straight now and peered towards the ground at a petrified Artemis. This time, instead of trying to lift her, he simply bent to her and looked straight at her.
"She has my eyes. That's the deadest giveaway," he said. "No one has these eyes naturally occurring in the criminal underworld but me. Not even my father. Stroke of luck she took it." He raised his hand to stroke her, making her flinch, but she relaxed when she understood that he meant no harm. He held her hair in his hands. "Like my Mama's."
"She's uncomfortable," I pleaded with him.
"She'll get used to it. I'm her father," he retorted. He then gave her a smile and offered her his palm which she of course rejected.
"Heh,piccolo, I have something for you," he told her and stood up shortly, reaching into his pocket and pulling something out before stooping back down. He presented her with a small parcel, like a jewelry box. Helping her to further open it, he unveiled his gift - a small toy-like device held by a thread. He showed her how to work the fidget spinner and handed it over to her when she seemed interested enough.
"Now, you spin it yourself." He gave her the toy and after a few tries, she got the hang of it. "Bravo!" he cheered and stretched his knuckles for a fist pump which he received with Artemis' enthusiasm at having mastered the toy.
"Now," he took the toy from her, which she handed to him without argument, since she was still wary of him. "You can carry this..." He undid the strings that were wound around a section of the spinner and brought it around her neck as anecklace. "...anywhere you want." He leaned back and admired his work.
"Mtchwwwa!" he blew a kiss in the air at her new look, making her blush a little. He stretched his hands out for a high five and a tiny hand slapped his gigantic ones.
Children and their dangerous levels of trust.
Standing up, he was directly facing me. "See, I said she'd get used to me. You didn't think it'd be this fast, did you?" he smirked.
I couldn't even answer. All I did was nod. I had something more important to worry about now.
Alessandro was a Mafia Don.
Chapter 16
"I'll show you around," he offered when tension had now fully died down. Even though I still couldn't get over the fact that the father of my child was one of the most feared men in the east coast and had an equal wanted rating, I simultaneously couldn't bring myself to completely dread him. In fact, I loathed him more than I dreaded him, and that hatred was what prompted me to speak up.
"I'm tired, Alessandro. I'm sure Artemis is too. Just tell your men to get us back home. We'll figure this out tomorrow. I'm off duty," I tried to reason logically, hoping it'll work.
"No need to take you back. You have a room here," Alessandro answered. "If I was going to have you go back, I wouldn't have brought you here the way I brought you."
I heaved a deep sigh, "We don't have change of clothes. How do you want to cater for that?"
"You still wear size forty-two, right?"
I nodded, confused. How did he know I wore size forty-two...ever?
"Good. Baby shopping is easy. If you wake up late enough, everything will be ready before then," he dismissed. "I'll show you to your room now." He held out his hand and I just stared blankly at it. Did he really expect me to take it?
After fully comprehending my rejection, he lowered it to Artemis, who decided to stay faithful to me and reject him too. With a shrug, he said, "Follow me." And started off in the direction of the house.
Okay. This wasn't a house. This was a mansion. A really big estate-like mansion. Completely nothing like the luxury suite he had in the Upper East side.The one where we had our fond memories.Where Artemis was created.I digress.
This building was humbling. I wondered how angry I must have been to not notice its magnificence immediately after I stepped out of the car. The building had a somewhat archaic design, almost like a seventies stately home, but the way it glowed even in the dark said something about how well maintained it was. The painting was fresh. The places that had bricks in them, had the bricks polished and I could see all these clearly thanks to the array of lights outside the house that illuminated not just thehouse but the surrounding environment, like the ridiculously unnecessary fountain in the middle of the driveway in front of the house and a pool that looked still and comfy, making me wish I could disturb the water with myself plopping heavily into it.
It took us forever to reach the front door. One thing with sizes like this is that it is grotesquely difficult to estimate the actual size of the actual thing in relation with other measurements. The building was so big, it made an eternal journey seem like a stone's throw until we began to undertake it. I even had to carry my poor daughter in pity after she had tripped multiple times...a telltale sign of her exhaustion, even if she was too stubborn to admit it.
"Welcome to the Ricci house. Been here since...well, not long actually. I didn't even grow up here." He announced like we'd care to know. I actually did listen.
"The entire structure is immensely confusing so try as much as possible to get yourself lost. It's a fun way to pass time."
"It's very..." I tried to place the word.
"Not what you expected, especially since you only saw the outside. Yes. There have been a lot of renovations done to it."
"I'm not talking to you," I mumbled. I didn't even want to hear his voice if it was possible. "Can I have someone else show me to my room?" I requested politely, but with an obvious icy coat to it.
He hesitated for a while as we walked, then he increased his pace, making me increase mine reflexively, so I didn’t lose him. Literally.
