Bride Of Hades

Both Nicholas and Aurora were teary-eyed by the time he completed his story. 

"All this time, I thought my parents had abandoned me. I thought they just didn't want me, that's why they left me at the orphanage," she sobbed.

"It was never like that. There was never a day that we don't remember you and wished for your return," he said, trying to console her.

"So mom and dad, they are still both alive? Are they well?" she asked.

"They will feel better once they see you," he looked at her with tenderness in his gaze, "It will be the happiest day of their lives once you come home."

It was too much to take in for one day. She went from a regular wife to the wife of the Mafia leader, then from orphan to having a family. And it was not an ordinary family at that, they were the family from their rival group. It seemed like it didn't matter what life she chose, she would still be connected to the mafia family, either by blood or by marriage.

Nicholas wanted to spend more time with Aurora, but he could see that waiting the past two days for the result and the big news he gave her made her look tired. She probably cried more in the past week than she did in her lifetime, and he was responsible for most of it.

"I…," Dimitri pulled her into his arms when he saw she was struggling, "It's okay sweetie, it's a lot to take in. Nicholas, I think I will take Aurora home and let her rest. We will schedule a meeting with your parents as soon as she is ready."

Dimitri's concern for his wife touched Nicholas. His sister was in good hands, he was so excited that he forgot about her feelings, that this may be too much for her to bear. 

Husband and wife stood up at the same time and were on their way out when Nicholas called Aurora to wait. He hugged her, but Dimitri was on him right away, peeling his hands away.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?" Dimitri barked.

"She's my sister," Nicholas replied nonchalantly, like being her brother was enough to erase all the wrongs he had done.

"She is my wife, and I don't like you. I still haven't forgotten what you did to her," Dimitri replied possessively.

"Who cares about you," Nicholas swatted Dimitri's hands away. "I've been wanting to hug you ever since I learned the good news," he cupped her face, "My sister," he said lovingly.

Aurora was embarrassed by his display of affection. He had totally done a one-eighty on her, up until two days ago, he was the bad guy trying to take her husband down, and yet today, he was so caring, that it made her feel awkward.

He acted like they had always been together and had this wonderful, loving relationship. He was not shy to show her how happy he was that he had found her.

True, that because of the test they were now siblings, but it would still take time for her to warm up to him. He kidnapped her, and one of his guards hit her in the head with his gun, that was not easy to forget.

"Don't forget to come to visit us soon. We'll be waiting for you," he said very enthusiastically.

"I will," she nodded as Dimitri tucked her beside him, and they walked out of there with his arms protectively around her.

-=-

In their youth Mr. Russo was a very handsome and smart young man, he was predicted to surpass all his seniors with the smart and efficient way he was handling business, Mrs. Russo, on the other hand, had a very gentle, pleasing personality that made everyone like her instantly, on top of that she was also very beautiful, but she was very humble and nice. 

Theirs was a traditional arranged marriage, both from mafia families that wanted to merge their business and make them more successful. And since neither of them had anybody in their hearts, it was easy for them to get attracted and fall in love with each other. 

Shortly after they were married, they had their first kid, and they were both happy that it was a boy, Nicholas they named him, only because the mafia gave more preference to male heirs.

When his empire started growing and he was starting to gain followers, people around him started getting envious, he started getting enemies, and all of them had one goal. To bring him down, and the only way to do that was to bring his family down as well.

He was very cautious and calculating which is why he had succeeded so far, and he applied that principle when it came to his family's safety as well. The initial threats had made him amp up his security around them, but then, when he learned that his wife was pregnant again after 10 years he started focusing on her and his son. Thinking that since his business was flourishing, he could just take a step back and guide his subordinates from the background.

But his enemies took that chance to infiltrate his tightly knit community. They took one of his subordinates' family and told them to spy on Mr. Russo or else they won't see their kids again.

When his wife gave birth to a baby girl, he held a party a few weeks later, to commemorate her arrival and show her off. The enemies took this opportunity to map out his house and find the weak points and pinpoint specific locations on where they should attack.

So on that fateful night they attacked, everything went smoothly. They planned to take Nicholas first and kill him, but that night Mr. Russo was reading him a book before bed, so he was there to fight off the attackers. He was heavily wounded, but he knew that he had to take his family to safety as soon as possible. 

He knew his wife was in the nursery, so he headed there but saw that his daughter was missing. Mrs. Russo had already been asleep when the assassin came to take the baby, so she did not even know what was happening until the baby had disappeared.