Saving the Mafia Princess

What's his name?

Luca's POV

I woke to the sound of my daughter screeching at my bedroom door. Ugh, what the f**k? I stirred around, realizing Marabella was moving me off of her chest to go to the door. I heard the fury in Mara's movements as she yanked the bedroom door open and stepped out into the hall. She tried to pull the door closed quietly behind her, but at this point I was already hyper aware of the situation.

"Your father is asleep, Miriam Nicolette. Keep your voice down", I heard Mara reprimand her. "Why did you lock my phone, mother? I can't talk to any of my friends now", Miriam said, exasperated. "Yes you can. You can talk to the ones that matter. This isn't the time or place for this discussion", Mara said, holding her ground.

"I didn't do anything wrong!", Miriam yelled. At this point, I was up and moving towards the door, because that may be her mother, but no one yells at my wife. What Mara said next had me ripping the door open with pure unadulterated rage. "You don't think sending pictures of yourself in your underwear to people you don't know, isn't wrong?", Mara asked credulously.

When the door yanked opened under my force, both of my girls jumped, startled. However, only one of them looked like a dear caught in headlights. "Miriam Nicolette Barello, your mother better be f*****g lying", I seethed. Mara looked up and down the hall, noticing the small audience of children that we had managed to summon.

"In the room", Mara instructed. "Pa, I, uh", Miriam stuttered, as she tried to find the words to lie to me. I know her mother isn't lying. This isn't something to ever joke about, and Mara is not the type of person to get a rise out of me. At least not this way. "What's his name?", I asked, trying to hold my temper together. "Pa, I, I don't want you to hurt him. I can't tell you", Miriam confessed. "You might as well tell him. The name he gave you is probably fake anyway", Mara chimed in.

My head snapped towards my wife, "Did you know about this?", I asked. Mara shook her head, "Not until earlier. The boys were a bit suspicious of her phone activity. So, I had Trey look into it", she answered me. "And that's the message you got from him earlier?", I asked. Mara nodded her head.

Okay, she didn't immediately come to me, because she didn't want to approach me with suspicions, only facts. I can understand that. I look back at my fifteen-year-old daughter. And what I really see is my five-year-old little girl, in her princess dress, running around the villa, playing hide and seek with her brother.

"I can explain", Miriam whispered. She seemed so innocent, that my heart cracked in two. "It better be a damn good one", I said. "I love him", she answered. My blood immediately hit the ceiling. I felt Mara's hand on my shoulder, bringing my mind back down to level. She stepped in front of me and spoke so clearly to our daughter, with pure love.

"What's his birthday?", Mara asked. "Uh", Miriam stuttered. "Where was he born?", Mara questioned again. Miriam looked at her mother blankly. I can see where this is going. Mara knows the details that I do not. So it is just best that I sit back and listen. "What about where he lives? Do you know that?", Mara asked. She was trying her hardest to sound gentle. But I know the true fire that is burning inside of her right now.

Miriam couldn't answer her once again. Marabella shook her head with a sigh. "You don't know anything about him, Miriam. You don't know how old he is, or what he does for a living. But you are talking to a grown man", Mara said, her voice shaking, as she began to break down her own barriers.

"Please understand that. I can tell from the messages between the two of you. He is a predator. And you are in danger. You don't understand what it means to be a female Barello. An heir to a thrown. You are constantly in danger and have to pay attention to your surroundings. You can not be naive", Marabella said, throwing her hands in the air.

"What if I don't want to be stuck in the light of the Barello family? What if I just want to live a normal life? He understands that! He says all the time that you shouldn't put so much pressure on me", Miriam snapped at her mother. "I know what he has said, Miriam! He is grooming you!", Mara snapped back. Her full-blown attitude coming to the surface. Wooh, Miriam is in for a surprise.

"What does that even mean?", Miriam screamed. Marabella grabbed hold of Miriam's face and made her look at her. "A predator will groom a child, and manipulate them into believing that you two are in love. But that is not the case at all. He does not love you. He wants to hurt you in ways that you could never imagine. Please, please, hear me, Miriam", Mara pleaded.

Miriam seemed to hang her head in shame. "He contacted me through email. You didn't block that", Miriam admitted. Marabella groaned, "What did he say?", I asked. "He just wanted to make sure I was alright since he didn't hear from me", Miriam answered shakily. "He's keeping tabs on you", I muttered, going into protective mode.

"You need to stay close to the house. Don't stray too far from your brother", I instructed her. "Pa, it's not that serious", she tried to play it off. "Miriam Nicolette, you are a mafia princess. Anyone can do a little bit of research on you and figure that out. You have to be safe at all times", I growled.

She's too f*****g naive for her own good. Miriam's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Yes sir", she muttered, headed for the door. "I'm serious, Miriam. Stay close to the house", I said, my eyebrows creasing with concern. "I will", she nodded, stopping by the door. "May I be excused now?", she uttered. "I suppose", I answered her.

I took a seat on the sofa and looked at Marabella. "Block her email too", I told her. Mara nodded and sat next to me. She showed me how she went into her phone and put restrictions on Miriam's. She showed me that I was able to do it as well. "That's cool", I said, looking over the different options.

"Trey showed me how to do it", Marabella chuckled. "Of course he did. That kid is always growing with the times. What are we going to do with her, Marabella?", I sighed. "She's our baby girl. We can't let her fall victim to a predator", I uttered, looking over at my wife.

"I know. And we won't. Well, we won't let it go any further", she muttered. "I have Trey doing some reverse research on the name Jacob Wilson", Mara said gently, looking up at me. "I'm sorry I did not tell you right away. I had to dig deeper and make sure it was, what it was before I brought it to your attention. I honestly wanted to wait a little longer until Trey got back to me, but Miriam put a hitch in that plan. I know that you already have a lot on your plate", Mara whispered, looking down in shame.

"It's okay, piccola. I know you didn't mean any harm. And you only found out today, so that's not too bad in my book", I shrugged. I can't stay mad at this woman. She has done so much to make this family nourish and flourish that I wouldn't question her intuition on when to tell me something important.

"You aren't upset with me?", Mara whispered, slightly surprised. "No, baby girl. Never", I muttered, grabbing the back of her neck and pulling her in for a kiss.