Infatuation Of Darkness

Consciousness came a little to her and she was grateful that the curtains were still down. They had toured Tuscany for ten to twelve hours straight for two days and now she was dead tired and overstuffed from eating delicious food to which no one could say no.

"Are you awake?" Angelo asked, still lying beside her. His voice didn't sound like he was tired at all. Peeking up at him she saw him holding his head up by his hand.

"No," she whispered, "I am sleeping." She cuddled more into the bedding eventually falling asleep.

"Hey, I want to talk." He nudged her shoulder making her groan.

"But I want to sleep."

Angelo looked at his wife's sleeping form with a sly smile. "Are you not suppose to get up when your husband says?"

Her eyes flew open and turned in the direction of her husband. He felt success as he saw her blazing eyes. "How dare you! Those times are over and they should not have been there, to begin with! What man in today' world would even think of tha—" she closed her mouth shut as the realisation hit.

Turning to her husband she narrowed her eyes at him. "Why?" She whispered at his smiling face. "And for God's sake stop smiling!"

Angelo laughed, "Took you a moment there to realise it." He pointed out.

"Yes but it worked, did it not?" She sassed. "Now I am awake because His Highness wants to talk."

"Happy to realise that, " he said only to be smacked in return. "I wanted to share something with you."

"Go on, " she assumed it was something serious. Because otherwise, it could have waited.

"When we go back, I will have a lot of work to keep up with I will overlook your needs at the time but I won't forget you. By overlooking, I mean I will trust you to take care of yourself and come to me when you feel like you need me."

"I wanted to say that I will make the best efforts to keep you happy and feel wanted but sometimes you will have to understand that I can not make it. I do not want you to feel embarrassed but to understand why I could not follow through the commitment."

"Hey, " she touched his shoulder. "It's okay, I understand where you are coming from."

"No you don't, " he denied. "I saw my mother left alone as my father expanded our reach. I have given you some share of the rok because I want you to be busy and feel involved in the work instead of just listening to what is happening. Ma understood because that was something she saw from her birth but you are my wife and I want us to work together." 

She smiled as he talked. It only grew until she had started to hurt her muscles. "I am so happy that you think so." She placed her hand on his cheek and kissed him. "I understand what you mean and I will remember it. Now let's go to sleep." She kissed him again. 

Scoffing loudly at the words, in the end, he hugged her from behind. Sleep came to both of them on its own.

********

"I still want to sleep more," she groaned as she slipped on a shirt. They were supposed to have much with the family.

"You have taken a sleep of good eight to nine hours," he looked tired as well. "Come on, we have to go down." He sighed.

"Fine," making a little face, she moved after him and entered the dining room.

"Ah! The sleeping couple is here!" Silvano yelled as he went ahead to serve himself food.

"So did you two enjoy?" Isabelle asked as she served food to Gabrielle who was busy reading the newspaper.

"Yes," Alexis replied. "Everything was so mesmerising!" She replied happily.

"Well that's good," Gabriele cut it short. "Now, let's talk about business."

"Angelo your uncle had sent a proposal,"

Angelo immediately cut in between, "Whatever it is, if I don't get fifty per cent of the profit, reject it."

"He sent it through your grandmother." His grim expression made it clear that it was serious. "He has made sure that you have to accept it by sending it through her."

"Why so?" Alexis bravely whispered. Maybe, she was the only one who didn't understand.

Gabrielle didn't wait to explain, he even seemed sincere. "My mother tends to, even if for the show, make sure that the family supports each other. She makes a whole ruckus if you deny anything and Marcus has done just that." He sipped his water. "Now, Angelo can't refuse his deal."

"But he can negotiate," she countered.

"Why would I do that? I don't want to take this deal, to begin with." Angelo replied after chewing a bite.

"You do it for both the parties. Your grandmother can not say anything because she came with the proposal on his behalf but accepting it is your decision." She explained shrinking a bit.

Gabriele looked relieved. "That is true. But it's also simple."

"Because sometimes the solution is simple," Nikita commented.

"True," Isabelle said, smiling at the family that now felt complete. They were discussing business in the presence of Alexis and she was participating too.

"Still, " Gabrielle spoke, "I want you to be prepared. I don't want you to come in any deal with that son of a bitch."

"Isn't that woman your woman too?" Silvano winced at the crudeness of the situation.

Instead of answering immediately, Gabrielle got up and buttoned his coat. "She is. But the way she lives, she turned out to be a bitch instead of mother." Turning around he left.

Everyone was aware that that was a sensitive topic.

Collecting the plates, the women moved to the kitchen. They were talking there whilst cleaning up as well. Alexis was washing the utensils, Nikita was drying them and placing them at their places and Isabelle was tiding the shelves.

"Why aren't any servants in here today?" Alexis whispered as it was too quiet in the kitchen.

"I wanted it to intimate. Only family tonight." Isabelle answered as she sat down on the bar stools.

She nodded. Even though Isabelle couldn't see her reaction, she didn't care to give a verbal one. The silence was golden at the moment and it was one of the main reasons why Alexis liked to live alone instead of applying for a roommate.

"Marcus is intelligent but also petty," Isabelle said as Nikita poured some hot milk with cardamon for them. "Involving mother like that." She tsked. Discussing this with her daughters-in-law was necessary. She wanted them to be clever as well. One day she won't be here and she had to make sure that her proteges were on the right path.

"He has no courage to face his own family for help. Pride should never be filled that much within a person." Nikita added her two cents as well.

"It's kind of intelligent on his part though. He chose a method where he knew he wasn't going to be denied." Alexis giggled a bit and was joined in by Nikita as well.

Isabella then noticed What her husband had told her. Instead of gossiping and taking her family's side blindly, which Alexis did, she also appreciated and observed the game of enemy. Even Isabelle didn't do that in the beginning.

This made her ansty. If Alexis knew this then she also knew how to play which was nice but to some extend. Alexis wasn't born into this life hence she didn't know many basics and that somewhere was going to cause her troubles.

There were things that Isabelle had learned and many of them were to observe a situation and act accordingly. She had learned that there was a time to be brave and step forward and there was a time when you stayed silent.

"Anyway," Nikita beamed with excitement. "Do you remember Nadia, my younger sister?" She asked.

Alexis vaguely remembered her from the wedding and Isabelle knew the girl by heart. "What about her?" She asked.

"She's getting engaged!" She excited told them. "She's 20 so just engaged as the capo asked for her hand. Marriage will happen when she's ready for residency. She wants to work for the Don in the States."

"That's great!" Isabelle joined in with a huge smile. "She took a liking to the medical field? That's difficult, I hope she does well and makes a name for herself." Isabelle wished the girl well. It was amazing that she wanted to take up such a great career option.

"That's great!" Alexis joined in as well. She didn't know her so her enthusiasm did not match the level of the two ladies. "When is it, though?"

"My family wanted the Don to attend it in Italy and since he's here, preferably it would be the day after tomorrow. It's a small ceremony but the wedding would be grand!" Nikita seemed happy. Alexis didn't particularly feel happy about any of this but she smiled for a very happy Nikita.

"That's amazing!" She beamed in happiness.. "I can't wait to attend."