Hidden Away [Mafioso Book#2]

Chapter X: What is Love?

A year had passed since Ricardo's passing, and things were settling down now. However, Paolo was expected to take over his Mafia soon, but he ordered his father's second-in-command to handle it until he finished his education – granted that nothing was to happen without his approval.

Serafina had been sitting at her desk, trying to get her homework done, but instead was daydreaming of how her boyfriend would be like as a Mafia Boss. Handsome, no doubt. Firm and determined like a Mafia Boss should be. She wouldn't mind if he was a little intimidating, granted he wouldn't scare her given she was the daughter of the world's most honored Mafia Boss.

She was brought out of her thoughts by a knock sounding on her door before it burst open to see Arsenio peak his head in with a grin and a wink in her direction.

"Arsenio!" She exclaimed in indignation, having gotten startled by the suddenness.

"Get dressed, baby sis, we're going out for lunch," He stated before leaving the room.

Shaking her head, Serafina packed away all her things and got changed into a pair of denim jeans with a black high necked shirt and a fluffy jacket with her favorite long boots. Stepping out of her room, she found Salvatore getting out of his bedroom as well, dressed in black jeans and a navy blue sweatshirt beneath a charcoal grey overcoat, his gloves, and scarf in hand. Both of them glanced up at one another, looking at their attires before meeting the other's gaze.

"Arsenio?" Her twin questioned knowingly.

"Arsenio," She confirmed with a shrug.

Both of them walked into their parent's bedroom, knocking before entering and were greeted by the sight of Arsenio and Marco seated on the sofa, their mother and father cocooned in the blankets and cuddled for warmth.

"Everyone ready?" Arsenio questioned, looking up from his phone and springing to his feet in grey slacks and a white button-up beneath a black overcoat. Marco followed his movement in faded blue jeans and an olive green sweater under his snow jacket, his hands stuffed into his pockets. "Let's go?"

"Sure," The twins spoke in sync.

They all bid farewell to their parents who told them to enjoy and for Salvatore to have his inhaler on him as he took a shot and nodded, his breathing difficult in the cold winter. Settling in Arsenio's Audi, they set off to their destination.

"Say, Arsenio?" Marco called from the back. "Why the sudden plan for lunch?"

"Well, I had the day off, and Angelica was busy overseeing the work at a construction site. I got bored and decided to take my baby siblings out for lunch,"

"And that's it?" The younger boy asked skeptically.

"What other reason would I have?" Arsenio laughed at his uncertainty. "You guys are my bros....and sister. It's not a crime to go out for lunch every once in a while,"

"I hope it's not another occurrence like last time," Serafina piped in, recalling all the out-worldly places their brother has found. Last time they had all gone out, they ended walking into a gang headquartered in the middle of a feud, having mistaken it for an abandoned diner. They were held captives until their father was called for ransom, who showed up with a unit of armed sentries and held everyone at gunpoint, negotiated his children's release while playing candy crush as if though it were an everyday occurrence. And with Arsenio, it always was.

"Don't worry, it's an actual restaurant, I checked this time."

"Thank God!" The three younger Regnante's groaned in relief as the eldest look affronted by their response.

When they arrived at their destination, they all headed inside and into the crispy warmth of the interior, settling at a table for 4 by the window, all of them chatting animatedly as they discussed the options on the menu. Placing their order, their conversations shifted to fond old memories, and once the food arrived, they all dug in, enjoying the taste.

"Hey guys," Arsenio spoke up halfway through the meal, his 3 siblings looking up at him. "What's your dream girl or guy like?"

"Huh..." Salvatore pondered, momentarily leaning back in his seat. "Okay...promise not to judge me," He looked at all three of them pointedly.

"Promise," They all said in sync, curious as to how he would respond.

"Okay...well, I think my dream girl would be someone who scares me." Salvatore stated slowly, his words having Serafina choke back a laugh as he gave her a glare before continuing. "Someone who makes me fear her love, so that when she lets me be a part of it, I won't take it lightly. She should remind me of the power beauty brings, that storms reside in her veins, and that she still wants me in the middle of it all."

"I wouldn't want to take her soul for granted, for she would be fierce, and she would be capable of taking me places that I never thought I could go; but she'd still be loving in the midst of it all, like the calm rain after a storm, she would bring life. I would like to learn her, and cherish her, respect her, and love her, because she would be so much more than a pretty face, she would be a soul on fire."

At the end of his words, the three looked at him in shock, never having expected something like that from him.

"What..." Arsenio trailed at a loss of words. "What about you Marco?"

"Well, my dream girl would be someone who makes me think about how much I love talking to her, how good she looks when she smiles; how much I love her laugh. Someone who makes me daydream about her off and on, replaying out conversations; laughing at funny things she said or did." Marco spoke quietly, a little flustered as he played with his food.

"Someone whose face I've not only memorized but also the way that she looks at me. Someone who makes me catch myself smiling again at what I imagined. Someone who makes me wonder what would happen the next time we're together and even though neither of us knows what the future holds, I would want to be assured of the fact that she's the best thing that has ever happened to me."

"And you Serafina?" Arsenio turned towards his sister.

"Well..." She trailed. "I guess loving my dream guy would be like being ten years old again, scaling a tree with my eyes bright and skywards, wanting only to get higher and higher, without a thought of how I would get back down. I guess, I want my dream guy to make me feel giddy like a child again, someone, with whom I spend a moment and consider it precious. Someone, who understands me, and can figure out what I might need or what I should need just by looking at me,"

"Someone...who knows I'm not perfect and never would be, but who still loves me the same, because let's be honest, none of us would be easy to love. But I would like my dream guy to hold me when I cry, soothe me sometimes, cry with me on others, or just stay quiet to let me work it out. Someone, who despite knowing how difficult I can be, would still insist on making it work. Someone, who doesn't lose hope in me, in us. Someone like that would be my dream guy."

A silence lulled over the table as they all looked away in embarrassment, the sound of Arsenio letting out a whoosh of air having them all look up at him, seeing him holding his head in his hands and looking at his siblings incredulously.

"Damn..." He spoke quietly. "You guys are deep,"

A wave of laughter washed over them, dispersing the discomfort over them as they finished their food.

"Although, Arsenio," Salvatore swallowed his food. "What do you imagine your dream girl to be like?"

"I don't need to imagine her," Their brother grinned and took a sip of his drink. "I've already found her,"

The three of them looked at him in surprise, not having expected to hear that from him yet.

"And..." Arsenio trailed deviously, reaching into his coat pocket to take out a small velvet box, all three of them holding their breath as he opened the lid to show a platinum solitaire diamond ring resting snugly in the cushion. "I'm going to propose, tonight,"

All three of them started squealing in excitement and made various dying animal noises, scaring all the customers as they stood from their seat and staring at their brother in shock, a wide grinning splitting across his face and nodding to their reactions, confirming the unspoken question. No soon had they found their breath, they tackled him in a hug, sending his chair toppling down along with all the four Regnantes', their shrieks of fright and excitement emitting from their mouths as the staff came running forward to hold them, ensuring that everyone was alright.

Once they had all regained their bearings, the three teenagers tackled Arsenio in a hug, and this time, none of them fell or hurt themselves, all of them laughing as he enveloped them in his arms.

"It's unbelievable," Serafina spoke in a daze, her breath fogging up in the cold air, Paolo lying beside her on the blanket, both of them staring up at the ink black sky dotted with silver. "Arsenio is out there, proposing to Angelica, and he's going to get married,"

"People eventual do get married, Reena," He chuckled beside her, wrapped up in his jacket to save himself from the cold.

"Not all people," She rebuffed to his statement. "Uncle Vincent didn't get married after Aunt Alyna,"

"What's that story about?" Paolo leaned onto his elbows looking down at her as she shrugged. "Your dad's best friend married his sister and ended up divorced and no one talks about it, they treat it like its taboo,"

"Well..." Serafina sat up on the blanket stretching her arms before her. "Aunt Alyna isn't actually my aunt. She's dad's half-sister. Their dad was the same but not their mom. From what I heard, grandpa had an affair behind grandma's back when dad was about 6-7 and had Alyna from that affair, but his mistress died in childbirth. And Grandma Helen took her in as her own and didn't treat any less of her own daughter, but dad hated her, always did always had. Uncle Onofrio was pretty indifferent to her existence, but he idealized his father since he was meant to be the heir."

"Uncle Vincent had been dad's best friend since, what, birth? And they spent literal 24 hours with each other, and somewhere along the lines, Uncle Vincent fell in love with Aunt Alyna despite knowing that she was the result of wedlock. Dad says Alyna just married Vincent to spite him, to show him that despite him having been against it, Vincent married her."

"Long story short, they were happy initially, had my cousin Claudia who now lives in Canada with her husband and her son, Vince. But after her birth, things began to go downhill for them," Serafina sighed, pulling her knees to her chest. "Uncle Vincent felt it when she began having an affair, he realized that she hardly took note of him and they hadn't been happy for almost a year and just kept fighting so much that it was all too much to tolerate, I guess that's when she began seeing the other guys."

"Other guys?" Paolo echoed incredulously. "As in, more than one?"

"5 from what I heard,"

"Whoa,"

"Yup," She popped the p. "They had Alberto then."

"And he's Vincent's?"

"Yeah, DNA test proved it," Serafina nodded. "But by then, Uncle Vincent's and dad's relationship had become strained and things were really bad for him, and then when he found out for certain that his wife was having an affair he just...broke..."

"Dad says he found him contemplating suicide and had to convince him out of it because, in the end, Uncle Vincent had loved her with all he had." She shook her head. "Dad was so mad, I heard mom say that once, he was so mad that he nearly shot Aunt Alyna the moment he saw her. He yelled, Paolo, and dad doesn't normally yell unless he's super pissed and mom remembers having been terrified of it. Dad took both Claudia and Alberto and told her to go to hell since that's where she deserved to be and I guess all that years' worth of pent-up anger released itself because he said quite a few harsh things to the extent where he had left her crying,"

"Ouch,"

"Uncle Vincent filed for a divorce and was able to provide enough evidence to deem Alyna as an unsafe parent and got sole custody of their two kids, didn't have to pay alimony, and she wasn't allowed to visit them at all." Serafina lay back on the blanket, staring at the black sky, suddenly finding it much colder than a few minutes ago. "Some say she found another guy and ran away with him, some say she couldn't take the guilt of her actions and disappeared, while others say that she killed herself. But whatever the case, she hasn't been seen or heard from."

"Uncle Vincent raised Claudia and Alberto on his own and didn't marry again, and is still working with dad. They sorted through their differences, and besides Uncle Vincent is in his debt since dad provided him all the evidence that he needed against Aunt Alyna and helped him with his kids, raised them beside Arsenio and us given that Claudia is 2 years younger than Arsenio and Alberto is 3 years older than us. But yeah...that's what happened,"

Paolo sat in silence, mulling the words over in his head as he sat with his knees pulled up to his chest, his arms encircling his legs as he watched his breath fog up in the cold.

"Must be hard for your uncle Vincent," He spoke finally.

"Dad says he's become more quiet and somber than what he used to be before all this,"

"I have no doubt why he would end up somber after everything, I'm pretty sure I'd be the same if I had to go through that,"

"If," Serafina emphasized sitting up beside him placing a kiss on his cheek. "But I don't plan on cheating on you anytime soon,"

A smirk formed across his lips as he looked at her from over his shoulder, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I wouldn't give you a reason to," He turned around to be facing her, leaning down as she wrapped her arms around his neck and lowered herself onto the blanket. "I would never give you a reason to,"

Serafina grinned at him before connecting their lips together, both of them kissing under the moonlight sky, the cold being warded away from them as the blanket beneath them prevented the tiles of the roof from digging into their back, a smile on their faces when they pulled away from one another.