Chapter Forty-Two
Althea's soft laugh warms my muscles as she listens to Vincent's stories from this past week without her.
I take in the sight of my little family and my chest hurts in the most beautiful way. Vincent is in lap and he talks about how he took care of Althea's dogs and how mature he got since he thought he'll be alone, but he doesn't say that he slept in my bed every night. And Althea listens with the most beautiful smile I've ever seen.
She is still weak, her body trying to recover at a normal phase. And by trying, I mean that Althea doesn't want to accept that she needs rest. She wasn't even awake by ten minutes and I already had to force her to stay in bed and not go home.
Her stubbornness is still beyond me and if Vincent will turn out like her in ten years, I will be in my grave much sooner than I planned.
And despite all these things, Althea looks like the happiest person in the world. Her eyes have a powerful sparkle that makes her look like a teenager, her mouth is always in a smile, letting her face relax and enjoy the feeling of peace. She took thirteen days to come
back, but it seems that everything was worth it.
Althea explained to me how she talked with Keres in this fake heavenly purgatory about every single trauma they've been through. To how Keres fell in love with Ivan in the little walks she went in the mornings, to the jealousy Ivan had because she was promised to be my wife. And the child that had to suffer because of his father's wrath.
Althea Seraphina Moretti, my wife, the love of my life, came back to life because she couldn't live in a world where I wasn't. Just like I can't live in a world where she isn't holding my heart in her hands.
Yesterday, when she woke up, I didn't let anyone see her. Not Vincent(sorry not sorry, bug), not Venus, who almost killed me, and not Gianna.
When I saw her in the hospital room, claiming to see her daughter, I taught I was dreaming. For six years, Gianna haven't step in the outside world. For the underworld, she was a ghost of Famiglia's. Her cries were desperate for her daughter, who almost left her alone like Keres once did. Gianna Rossi showed that even though she hurt her daughter by ignoring her, she loves her more than anything in this world.
What was more shocking was the person who showed up when she came here.
The person that almost made me punch him so hard until not even his men wouldn't recognize him.
All these people who came to see her, but I didn't give a flying fuck. I had to live for thirteen days in fear and agony because I taught my heart would leave me. I had to force myself to wake up every day and go to her hospital bed and beg her to wake up. I was a living ghost until she made my heart beat again when her
body started to respond to our voices. Until she made me shed tears, I never knew I had.
Althea Moretti came back for me and I won't let her go even when death comes for both of us.
"And then I helped Dad wash his favorite car." Vincent blurs out, making me focus again on them.
I freeze when Vincent calls me Dad. My heart warms at the trust he has in me, but I didn't tell Althea yet about this. I know she won't be mad, especially because Hanibal never behaved like a father, but I wanted to be the one who tells her about this damn milestone.
Althea's eyes are round, eyeing me to make sure I won't react badly, but she doesn't know that I was the one who was desperate to call him son. Her brown eyes are soft and tears are filling her eyes, but she doesn't let them fall.
"Yeah? Did you do all the job?" Her voice is much better than yesterday, a sign that she's getting better and better. And I can't wait to finally have her home with me.
I try to keep my smile in check when I see that she accepted immediately my new role.
My smile falls when I realize it.
I'm a fucking father.
I have a child who depends on me and I'm starting to freak out just now.
"Of course I did." Vincent murmurs, even though he remembers how the power of the water jet from the hose knocked him to the ground and he cried for half an hour that his ass hurt.
"That's my boy." Althea smiles again and my fucking body melts.
It's feels like the greatest gift seeing her so happy.
"Now, do you mind telling me what was in your head when you ran into Everette's car two weeks ago? Actually, you're not minding because I'm forcing you to tell me, young man." This time, I let my laugh come out.
Fuck, she is so sexy when she is in this mom mode.
Vincent looks up to me and I shrug, letting him explain. I also want to know what made him do such reckless thing. Just the thought of losing both Althea and Vincent makes me angry.
"I thought you were gonna leave me again with the maids while you left." Vincent lowers his head and plays with his fingers.
I haven't been his dad for a whole month and I'm already failing at it.
I look at Althea and see her torment eyes. I wish I could take it away from her, but I feel the same amount of shame and failure like her. After the fiasco with Althea's abusers, things changed drastically. I was focused on killing and making my wife free from all the demons that I neglect the most important boy in my life.
Althea raises her left hand where a gill makes sure she stays hydrated. She pats Vincent's leg, her hand trembling.
"I'm sorry, bug. I never wanted to make you feel like you were forgotten when all we did was to make sure you are safe. Once I get out of here, I promise I'll make it up to you." Her whisper makes Vincent lift his head.
"It's okay. Dad will take care of us." This boy is trying to make me cry for the second time in not even forty-eight hours.
Althea doesn't say anything, but she nods with a little sad smile. I would do anything to know what's going on in that pretty little head of hers.
I put my hands under Vincent's armpits and put him down on the floor. "Why don't you go and challenge Venus to a duel?" I ask and his face lit up. I already know that I'm going to have a hard time with him when he becomes a Made Man.
He bolts out of the room, screaming in the hospital halls for Venus.
I look at Althea and like a damn pussy, I start talking like an ADHD person.
"I didn't force him to call me that. I mean, I admit that I wanted him to see me like a father, but he was the one who suggest-"
"Everette," Althea laughs and puts her hands on my knees, stopping my apology. "I'm not mad, my beast. I'm actually glad he can finally have a dad that will take care of him."
Swallowing the gulp from my throat that formed because of the nickname she gave me, I whisper. "I love him, baby. Like a father should love his son."
I lean over her when her hands are looking for my face. I let her touch calm my body and I see her face getting closer to mine.
"I love you." She whispers and my throat tightens.
My forehead falls on her forehead and I put my hands over her little ones that are holding my face.
"I love you, il mio amore in ogni universo." Her surprised face makes me smirk.
I had to practice my Italian now that Vincent talks in two languages.
Althea's lips are touching mine and when I want to slam her to me, the door opens.
Is it so hard to knock?
I groan and I look back, seeing Gianna eyeing me
with a raised brow and the man beside her watching Althea longingly.
Watching his daughter with regret.
Althea
If that stupid monitor would've still be attached to my chest, it would've exploded at how fast my heart beats at the sight of my mother, in the hospital room that I can't escape from.
Everette moves out of the way, letting me stare at the person whom I thought loved me the most. Mamma's eyes are red and her face looks haunted. She shivers while looking at my moving chest, taking little steps toward me, letting the man behind her.
My father looks at me with his usual tight face and broad body. He always looked at me with a relaxed face, but this time I see the emotions that could kill a man like him.
I may seem like I don't care about the world around me, like I ignore all the problems and hide from the ugliness of my life, but it's opposite. I know everything about the life who was forced in me when Mamma decided to claim me as Hanibal's heir, ignoring my biological one.
I started having doubts about Hanibal being my father when he started to beat me like it was his hobby. I never tried to demonstrate to myself that he isn't my blood because my life wouldn't have changed. I lived in 'what if' and 'maybe' until the day Hanibal admitted to my face that Mamma had an affair.
Then everything clicked.
But again, I didn't do anything about it. Hanibal
wanted me dead, my Mamma didn't want to be in my life, or so I thought before Everette told me the truth. Why would my biological father want me?
"Il mio fiore," Mamma whispers and lowers on the chair Everette was in.
My eyes wander all over her face and an urge to cry takes control of my body. For six years I begged my Mamma to see me, to recognize me. She and Keres were
the only people that gave a damn about me and she left me into the unknown, suffering and tearing me apart.
"Forgive me, my flower. All I ever wanted was for you to be strong without me."
I look over at my father, making sure that what I'm about to say isn't new to him.
"To become the Empress? Since you know, Keres died." I focus on her again.
Since I got married, I couldn't take her place occasionally because I was watched 24/7. The only time I dressed myself in her clothes and mask in this two month of marriage was when Everette told me he was going to tear down apart my rapists.
And while I love the power I feel when I'm the Empress, I hate the fact that I can put Vincent in danger.
"Your sister was never supposed to take the throne. You two were so different, it still amazes me. You were always honest and powerful, but now?" Mamma murmurs and takes my hand in hers.
I look in the other direction at Everette, desperate for his touch. He caresses my leg, but his eyes are hardening at the sight of the man in front of him.
"Now, you grew into this unstoppable, fearless woman who would die for the ones you love. I never
wanted to take that from you; I thought I would hold you back."
"It was the opposite." I finally say, making my parents look at me with surprise. "Every time you tore up my heart, I had to come back in the hope you'll remember me at some point because I though what kind of mother can forget about her daughters? How can my mother look me dead in the eyes and say that I was never her daughter. You crushed me at every meeting, every contact until I had to live with the fact that you will never be the same.
"And I was okay with it as long as you were by my side. I was okay telling you stories about me and the new family I have, until you ruined that part too."
Throughout my speech, I felt my throat closing in a tight fist, but I didn't stop. I don't know when I will have a chance to tell her all these things, so I rather do it now.
Her tears are affecting me too, but I don't tell her that. I don't tell her how much I hate myself for forgiving her even when I want to be selfish and make her feel a small piece of the pain that I felt when she rejected me. I don't hate her for forcing me live with Hanibal, when she could've giving me to my father. He doesn't show emotions beside that twisted, evil smile, but he would've never done the things Hanibal did to me.
I don't tell her anything about how my body is tired of living in the past. I consumed myself my whole life for things that happened. I just want to forget everything and be happy with my boys.
I promised Keres I would live my life the way I deserve.
"What do you mean by Keres never had the throne?
For years, the first-born daughter is the rightful heir of the legacy." I need to know this before I let everything in the past.
Mamma raises her head and I see another apology coming. "She was my first born with Hanibal, and you," She sighs. "You are my first born with-"
"Me." Makhim speaks for the first time in his thick Russian accent.
I feel Everette's hand squeezing my leg, his growl making Makhim take his eyes off me.
The two alpha males stare at each other, almost ripping themself in pieces.
"Enough." I say and they both stop.
Makhim, my father, comes near my mother and looks at me with his brown eyes. He seems stressed, like he wants to say something but he can't.
Beside the eyes, I can see my nose and lips on his face. His face has a frown that makes me think I'm looking at a man version of me.
Makhim Romanov is my father, and I am his only daughter.
"Did you know?" My question doesn't surprise him.
"Since I found out she is pregnant."
"And you just left me there with him? With the man you hated your entire life?"
"Althea," Mamma tries to talk, but Makhim puts his hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
"I kidnapped you four times." It's all he says.
Me and Everette look at him with wide eyes, letting him explain himself.
"Once when you were two months old, and the other three times for your three first birthdays. On papers, you were his, and as much as I fucking wanted to keep you and start a war with him, I couldn't risk my son."
Fucking great.
Another brother.
One that no one knows how he looks.
"I was ready to share you as long as I had a place in your life. I will regret until the day I die that I never fought for you and left you in there."
I nod, feeling a headache forming. When I realized he could be my father, I never actually thought we will discuss this.
"I don't know how much you'll believe me, but I'm sorry for letting you there. I'm sorry that I didn't fight for you when everything I wanted was for you to be safe."
I feel so tired, all I want to do is sleep and get out of this room.
Everette sees my change of spirit and respectfully, thank God, tells my parents to let me rest. Mamma nods and lowers her head to kiss my forehead.
"Ti amo." She whispers and lets Makhim to lead her outside.
My body softens when the door shuts. I just need a few days off from this mess. I didn't come back to put myself in much stress than I was before.
I turn my head and look at Everette who is still caressing my leg. His head lowers and I part my lips when he closes the distance between us. He kisses me slowly, but in a desperate way.
Be still my beating heart.
I move my lips away from his, whispering lowly. "I can't stay here anymore, Everest."
He pecks my lips again, my chest hurting when I see the softens of his green eyes.
"Then let's go home, baby."