Hidden Away [Mafioso Book#2]

Chapter VII: You are Loved

Salvatore's sling was off.

To say he was overjoyed was an understatement. He was euphoric.

The day he had returned with Arcangelo without that torturous device restricting his movements, he had resembled a child on Christmas morning. He had been so ecstatic that he was smiling all day and dancing to soundless music with his arms thrown up; an action which wasn't a very wise decision given that his recently healed arm began to ache too badly for him.

Now, Salvatore gobbled up whatever he could eat and was hardly found in his room. For four whole weeks, he had been restricted from any type of physical exertion and was now in his battle mode. He had been spending so man hours in the gym that their mother had to intervene a hand full of times. Paolo was with him through most of the training but decided to leave him alone after an hour or two of fighting him.

Paolo was still will them.

After Serafina made everything clear to him, he had apologized for the way he had acted and admitted to the fact of not realizing that he scared her. But after having spent some time talking about it, they decided to give their relationship a chance, granted that Serafina would set the pace.

On a different note, the twin's grounding was ending today.

In less than an hour's time, Salvatore and Serafina would be officially home free.

He would get back all his electronics and driving privileges, while Serafina would be getting her independence back as well as her own guards. They had endured this torture for a whole month, and to say they had learned their lesson was a weak argument. They knew never to steal their father's guns and to always put the safety in place once they were done using the weapon.

Currently, the twins sat on the wooden flooring of their parent's walk-in closet, their hands stuffed in their father's secret stash of imported Belgium chocolate with Paolo across from them, playing a game on his phone.

They weren't too worried about their parents walking in on them given that it was a weekday and they both were busy working. That is until they heard their mother's voice through the closed doors of the closet.

"This is exactly why I didn't tell you!" Rosalie exclaimed as the bedroom door burst open. "I knew you'd create a huge scene about it!"

"Huge scene?" Arcangelo rebuffed in disbelief and slammed the door shut, the three teenagers holding their breath knowing they had no way of getting out and that they shouldn't be in here, especially not with Paolo. "Rosalie that man touched you! He harassed you! I saw it happen and you expect me to stay quiet about the whole thing?"

"I can deal with it." Their mother grumbled, Salvatore and Serafina giving each other worried glances to see Paolo listening into the conversation. "I don't need you coming to protect me. My problems are my problems and I don't want to burden you with them."

"f**k, you sound just like Vincent." He chuckled humourlessly. "Rosalie, I chose you over 7 billion people. I chose to spend the rest of my life with you, and I chose you to love and protect. You are not in any way a burden to me, you are my wife. And as my wife, you are supposed to tell me when some dickhead is making you uncomfortable."

Serafina could imagine her father standing before Rosalie, cupping her cheeks into his hands and giving her a soft look.

"No, you don't get it!" Rosalie exclaimed, her voice thick, knowing she would have pulled away in agitation. "You would have created a huge scene - like you just did, and he'd report me to HR!"

"Let him report you to HR and we'll see just what I'll do to him-"

"-No! You're not listening to me!" Their mother shrieked in frustration, her voice sounding like she was trying hard to keep from crying. "I did not accept this job because we need the money or something; I accepted this job because I need it!

"You fight him and he reports me to HR and I get fired! I get fired and I lose this job! I won't be a consulting doctor anymore! It was f*****g hard to get this job and that also with sheer luck because no hospital in their right mind wants to hire a Mafia Boss's f*****g wife! Do you think they want to take that chance?"

"I spent a large portion of my life working my bones raw for this I was the Valedictorian, and even then I don't get to reap the benefits of all my effort? That's f*****g unfair and you know it!"

"I don't have this job and I stay home wallowing in pity!" Rosalie spoke through broken sobs. "You're busy throughout the day and don't need me to be around you. Arsenio is living his own life, he doesn't need me, Salvatore and Serafina hate me, have you seen the way they look at me? Marco can handle himself and doesn't need me to coddle him and I would hate myself if I let this job slip from my fingers, Arcangelo!"

The twins wincing at their mention as they noticed Paolo looking at them with lips pressed into a thin line.

"When you married me, you knew very well that I wouldn't sit at home like some domesticated housewife waiting for your every beck and call. On our honeymoon, you said you loved me because I didn't try to be like anyone else and was just me and this is me. Before you proposed to me, you told me you wanted me to graduate and be self-sufficient because you wanted me to be independent and I have been trying so f*****g hard to be an independent person, but the fact that I'm married to a Mafia Boss makes it all ten times harder! And I don't want to be one of those people who ask you to pull a few strings for me because that's unfair on the other candidates and I would have been chosen because you said it, not because of the years I spent studying and my abilities."

"Arcangelo, you might have chosen me over 7 billion people but I chose you over my entire universe. I made you the center of my world and I will do whatever it takes to be beside you, but honey, I can't sit at home and let all my effort to be in vain. I can't do that." She sobbed. "Please don't ask me to do that. I beg you; please don't make me do that."

"Princess..." Arcangelo trailed in a pained voice, pulling his wife in for a hug. "I wouldn't ask you to do that for me, you know that, but-"

The sound of the door opening had him stop mid-sentence, the three in the closet looked at each other in confusion, wondering who came in without knocking.

"I'm so sorry." Marco's voice spoke up. "Is everything okay, mom?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

"I'm sorry to disturb, but the guards can't find the twins and Paolo." He informed and instantly all three of them tensed, looking at one another in uncertainty.

"Did they check in all the rooms?" Arcangelo asked, confusion evident in his voice

"Yeah,"

"Hold on,"

Just then Paolo's ringtone started to blare through the closet, showing their father to be calling him.

Their eyes widened as they looked at one another, knowing they were in serious trouble. The doors slid open to show Arcangelo standing to his towering height in black slacks with suspender over a white button up, paired with a black and gold tie around his neck.

Looking up at his looming figure, the twins swallowed thickly at the dark look in his eyes which swirled like storm clouds, his rage tangible.

"Out." He snapped harshly, forcing them to wince at his tone.

"Dad-" Salvatore began to explain the situation.

"I don't want to f*****g hear anything from any one of you," He growled. "Get out. Now."

"Yes, sir," The three teenaged muttered under their breath before walking out the closer and out the room, the door slamming shut behind them followed by the locks clicking into place.

Glancing up, they all winced at the looks their guards were giving them, all of them wondering how they had the audacity to sit through that.

"What were you guys doing in there?" Marco questioned gently.

"Eating Belgium chocolate," The twins spoke in sync.

"Oh, boy," The youngest Regnante sighed. "You all are screwed."

They spent the rest of the day hiding in Marco's room and trying to get their minds off the inevitable, failing miserably. Lunch and dinner had come and gone and now the three lay across Marco's bed, blubbering with guilt and anxiety.

It wasn't until a knock sounded on the door did they all look up in panic, their fear heightening when Major stepped in.

"Come on," He c****d his head. "Your dad wants to see you guys,"

Instantly the three began to get up from the bed, the guard's next words having them freeze.

"Just family, kid," Major directed his words to Paolo, the boy wincing at the reminder that he wasn't a Regnante.

"Does he want me too?" Marco inquired from his study table.

"Yup, all three of you rascals,"

Nodding, they made their way out the room, silently stepping into their parents' bedroom to see the lights dimmed and their mother sleeping, Major pointing to the open balcony doors as they walked across the wooden flooring with light feet.

"You wanted to see us?" Marco spoke as they stepped onto the balcony, seeing their father leaning against the railing and looking up at the stars.

"Do you guys know what your mom is going through at this point?" He asked them, still looking at the cloudless sky.

"No-not really..." Salvatore trailed uncertainly.

"What you overheard in the closet is just one aspect of what's stressing her," Arcangelo informed, the three looking at him in confusion. "She's going through a lot and wants to confide in me because I'm her husband; I made an oath to her that I would be there for her through everything life throws in her way."

"So just tell me one thing: how can my wife confide in me, when she feels like her confidentiality and privacy is compromised even in her own bedroom?"

"What you three did back there was a clear violation of privacy. My privacy, your mom's privacy, but most of all, you violated her sense of security. You took that little safety away from her, her safe haven and you three took it with your recklessness."

His words stung and had the twins wince as Marco nodded to his words in understanding, seeing his point while the older two could only see the guilt of their actions.

"But what upsets me the most, is not the fact that my wife doesn't feel secure in our bedroom any longer, but the fact that you two had the f*****g audacity to involve an outsider in your games," He stated calmly. "If it were just you two, I would have told you to forget that you heard her say that and leave it at that, but you involved someone outside of the family in this and forced your mom to feel violated."

"She is the love of my life and despite being the ages you guys are, can't bloody see that your actions not only affect her but me as well. My wife feels like she can't talk to me because she never knows when someone might be listening into her confiding in me with her secrets. Not only did you hurt her, you hurt me as well."

"Your mom loves you, four siblings, equally, but she feels that two of you don't need her to be motherly and she feels like her twins hate her." He sighed walking towards them. "I try telling her otherwise, but you all are teenagers now, and I know how teenagers are like: 'I hate my parents, they don't understand me, and no one gives a s**t about me'."

"I hate to burst your bubble, kid, but there are people who care about you, there are people who give a s**t about you, there are people who want to listen. You are loved. In more than a million ways, in more words that can be said, and in more feelings that can be felt. I know you like you think no-one cares, but really they do. They really f*****g do." Arcangelo sighed, all three of them looking at the ground in shame. "And your mom is at the forefront of the list."

"Basically, what I'm trying to say is that your mom is going through a tough time at this point in her life, both emotionally and mentally, and I would really like it if you siblings could just cut her some slack. Allow her to get her bearings and get back on her feet because she needs it, she really does and it tears me apart to see her like this. If it helped her, I would demolish this Mafia without a second thought, but there is nothing I can do because the pressure isn't coming from me, it's coming from you three growing up too fast. And that's obviously not your fault, just..." He trailed with a sigh, peering into the room and giving Rosalie's sleeping figure a soft smile.

"Just let her know you guys love her, okay?" He spoke so softly they could have passed it off as the wind whistling if it weren't for them being so near him. "Just let her know that she's loved because she needs to see that her children need her just as much as she needs them."

"That's all I ask."