Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
Elijah lifted his eyes to his, curious to know what he had to say about him.
“You never had the chance to lose. No, you don’t know what it’s like to lose.” He corrected himself, “Father and our brothers built this safe paradise for you so you don’t get to experience the same hardship we did. Your future was handed on a platter of gold and that was our mistake, giving you an easy life. You didn’t have the chance to sacrifice anything and I pray that one day you would lose something that matters so much to you. Only then, would you understand? “
And with those words being said, he got into the car and stirred the engine to life. The car roared with power and with no care about how he intended to get home tonight, Ezra drove off. He couldn’t be around the little fucker without beating him to death.
Elijah stood outside the hospital, looking like a lost person. But his head was filled with thoughts instead, mostly regrets as he went over the events of the past weeks. His brother Ezra might be right on many other things except one. He already lost something that mattered to him.
Adele.
He has tried to forget her, after all, if it was easy to get over Rhea, her case wouldn’t be difficult either. But he was wrong, because the memories of their time together haunted his sleep morning and night. Keeping himself busy and helping Eric with his wedding preparation had seemed like a distraction. But it never lasted.
At the end of the day, he was back to dealing with the demons at night that never stopped tormenting him. Elijah couldn’t help but wonder how Adele was living right now. Was she still hurt by his betrayal or had she moved on already?
The thought of Adele moving on with another man made his heart throb. He hadn’t gotten the chance to ask Mimi about Adele because he had been wary of her – he doesn’t want her pulling his hair again.
Hence, Elijah decided to take the matters into his hands. He was going to call Adele. He would have gone directly to her place but he couldn’t risk losing his head on his shoulder and starting a war after his brother’s effort for peace.
Heart pounding in his throat, Elijah dialed her number with a different number. After his identity was revealed, he left everything that belonged to the Luciano family behind. But then, he never forgot her number, it was ingrained in his head.
Her line was ringing and he waited patiently for her to answer. However, when the phone rang for a while and no one responded to it, Daniel was about to hang up only for the call to be picked up at the last minute.
“Hello?” He heard her familiar mellow voice and he became nervous. From her relaxed tone, It was obvious that Adele had not expected him when she answered the call. However, when he didn’t say a word, she became suspicious and asked.
“Who is this?”
And yet Elijah found himself unable to answer. However, unknown to him, the wheels were turning in Adele’s head and she called,
“Elijah?”
With lightning speed, he ended the call and turned, clutching his pounding heart. For the first time in his life, Elijah realized with shame what he had lost and he released an anguished roar in the air.
An Unlikely Alliance
Adele loathed her biological mother, yet she found herself standing at the front door of her house and ringing the bell.
She waited.
The woman named Angelica had never been a mother to her, however, if there was anybody that would understand what she was going through right now, it had to be her.
Yeah, an unlikely alliance.
After her birth, her mother had given her away to Benjamin’s wife to be raised as her daughter even though the woman never failed to remind her every day of her life that she was an illegitimate spawn.
Most Mafia families were patriarchal and traditional, meaning that their men could keep other mistresses aside from their wives. As far as they were concerned their legitimate wife was the Madam of the house and boss lady.
There were no rules against having illegitimate kids from their mistresses, however, to keep the peace in the family and avoid complications in the future, the men are advised not to have children with their lovers. It was a proven theory that most illegitimate children are known to perform better than legitimate ones because of their hungry drive to improve their status and achieve recognition. So yeah, it tends to become a problem especially when it’s a male child.
Unfortunately, Adele is a female and was not perceived to be a threat since they knew she would marry off and end up in her husband’s house. Well, that was until she became the underboss to Lukas. As a girl, Adele was not recognized as a threat by her stepmother and while her real mother could have fought for her custody, she did not.
…..
Benjamin was a cowardly man, so when his wife found out that he fathered a child with his mistress, the woman threatened fire and brimstone. To save his family plus the fact that Adele was half-Luciano, Benjamin convinced her biological mother to give her up, plus the fact she would have a more comfortable life with her siblings and the rest was history.
Her mother was nothing but a struggling model when she met her father Benjamin and the both of them fell in love, or so she claimed. To Adele, Benjamin was a selfish bastard and was incapable of loving.
While other mistresses eventually moved on with their life and started a family with their new partners, a few fools like her mother stayed behind for a dream that would never be fulfilled. Angelica believed that Benjamin would come back to his senses and realize that she is the one that he wants, but Adele didn’t know how to break it to her. It was never happening.
Hoping for a coward is a very poor and terrible investment. You can’t save someone that doesn’t want to be saved. From the years that Adele has lived with the man called her father, she knew he would never leave his wife for her mother. No, not while the woman held him in an iron grip. Angelica was having a piper’s dream.
But it was not over because Adele had a feeling that the both of them were still seeing each other and the thought of them having sex made her want to throw up. God swears she was going to murder them if they dare birth another sibling for her. Not that it was going to happen since her mother should be in her menopause already. But then miracles do happen.
Her mother must have seen her through the peephole because there was no questioning before the door was thrown open. And behold, standing in front of her was a flawlessly beautiful woman that could turn heads even at her age. No wonder, Benjamin couldn’t let her go. Too cold for him to keep her, too hot for him to leave her. What a selfish bastard.
“Well, well, look what the cat dragged in?” Angelica drawled and Adele could sense the ridicule in her tone. She went on to say, “How long has it been? Ten? Seven? Five years?”
Adele stared at the woman, she was a replica of her mother except that while her hair was longer, Adele wore her dark hair in a bob. Her mother was slim, and dainty, looking like a model on a runway even on a casual day. Angelica was a natural at pulling off such finesse
While she was the opposite.
Adele’s body was built from her regular workout routines, and looked polished yet rugged. She was like a harmless cat who would charm and play around for its host until she strikes with her claws. Adele wondered who she inherited that ferocity from because it was definitely not from her charming and weak mother or her ambitious yet cowardly father, Benjamin. She was twice the man that he was and would ever be.
Adele opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out as she realized that none of her excuses would make up for not visiting her mother over the years. So she went straight to the point.
“I’m pregnant.”
The expression on her mother’s face fell at once and she moved out of the way, saying to her hurriedly,
“Come inside,”
Adele did as she was told and came inside the living room that was smaller than her place yet warm and comfortable for a woman her age living on her own.
“Alright, tell me, is this a joke or what?!” She heard Angelica’s interrogating voice from behind.
Adele turned, taking note of her father’s pictures hanging on the wall before facing her mother and asked her in a grim voice,
“Have you ever seen me come all the way to your place to joke?”
“Oh my God,” It finally dawned on the woman and she went pale in the face.
Angelica walked over to the table where her ashtray was resting and picked a cigarette from its pack, litting it in a hurry. She took a long smoke before throwing her head back and puffing it out.
“You do know smoking kills?” Adele reminded her. Not to mention secondhand smoke. It was not safe for her either.
“Well, it would not kill me as fast as my daughter who fucking got pregnant?!” She shouted at her angrily, “What the hell were you thinking?!”
Can I trust You Enough
“Drawing inspiration from you?” Adele sassed at her without holding back her anger. She said to her, “It’s just like the kettle calling the pot black, that’s quite rich coming from your mouth, mother.” Her tone held a note of finality that sliced through the air around them.