I have The Girl on Wattpad, since I'm being active on Prose, I would like to have it on here too. I'm currently working on chapter seven at the moment.

I hope you enjoy Angela and Luca's journey

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"Boss." Luca Accardi looked up from his laptop screen to see his second-in-command Alessio standing at the door.

"What is it, Alessio?" Luca motioned Alessio to come in. Alessio walked up to Luca's desk and grimaced.

"Francis sawyer, the one who owes us one million dollars. " Alessio gritted his teeth and Luca steeled his face, it must be big for Alessio to react like that. Nearly nothing fazed Alessio, "he has a nineteen year old girl in his basement."

"Merde!" Luca ran his hand through his hair. At twenty-six, he was the youngest don in his family. Taking over at twenty when papá retired due to medical reasons. He had never lifted a hand to women or children, due to his upbringing he always protected them. Now there was a girl who was being held captive by a man who owed them money. He knew what to do without a doubt. "Get Elia and Lauro. We're going to collect our debt." Luca stood up from his desk.

"Yes Boss. We'll wait at the door for you." Alessio nodded his head and exited the study. Luca opened his desk drawer and grabbed his gun. He made sure it was loaded and put it in the waistband by his back. He left his study and grabbed a blanket from his bedroom for his mystery girl.  His? Since when was the girl his? Luca thought as he looked at the blanket on his way to the front door. He knew nothing about this girl, but he did know that she needed his help.

Elia parked the black Suburban in front of Sawyer's house and looked back at the don. "How do you want to do this, Boss?"

Luca pulled out his gun and put on his cold face, "Quickly. Elia and Lauro, you take care of Sawyer. Alessio, you help me with the girl." They all nodded and got out of the car. Alessio kicked open the door and marched in.

"Hey! What the hell!" A voice called out as they heard footsteps thundering to where they stood and abruptly stopped, "D-D-Don A-Accardi..." Without another word, Elia and Lauro made their way to Sawyer and took him to another room. Luca grinned maliciously for a moment before his face returned to one of cold, they would torture him before killing him.

Alessio and Luca found the door to the basement as Alessio kicked it open, they heard a muffled scream. They walked down the stairs and Luca's face turned to one of horror. There was a metal cage that was five feet in height and width sitting in the middle of the floor. In the cage sat a thin young girl who was so dirty that Luca couldn't see her skin. Her wrists were chained to a post outside the cage, the same post that her collar and ankle chains were connected to. She looked up at him with fear in her eyes and he saw that there was duct tape covering her mouth.

Luca crouched down to her level and smiled gently, "I'm here to get you out." The girl nodded. He handed his gun to Alessio and took out his lock picking tools and opened the cage door within a minute. Alessio shot at the three chains so that Luca could bring her out of the cage. Luca slowly and gently wrapped his arms around her and pulled her out, she was so lightly, that she was most likely starved. He sat flat on the ground and set her on his lap. He did her ankles, her wrists, and then her neck. Under the shackles, he could wounds that would scar due to the metal shackles stratching at her skin. Gently, he pulled off the duct tape and she whimpered.

"What is your name? I'm Luca Accardi."

"Angela Kavanaugh." She spoke so soft that he could barely hear her.

"I'll take care of you from now on." Luca smiled gently as he put her arms around his neck and clasped her hands together before holding onto her and standing.

"I'm Alessio, I'm sorry for what you have gone through." Alessio looked at her with sad eyes. Luca carried Angela back to the car with Alessio behind them. After he settled her on his lap again, he wrapped the blanket that he brought around her and Alessio got in on the other side.

"Thank you." Angela laid her head against Luca's chest.

"You're welcome, tesoro"

"Teh-soro?"

"Yes, it means darling. Go ahead and sleep, I know you need it. I'll keep you safe." Angela smiled softly and sucumbed to the warmth of his body and fell asleep.

A short while later, Elia and Lauro returned to the car.

"Sawyer has been taken care of Boss." Lauro said as Elia and Lauro looked at the sleeping girl in Luca's arms.

"Name?" Elia asked.

"Angela Kavanaugh." Luca replied and Elia nodded.

"We can look her up and see what we get."

"Are you going to bathe her before or after she wakes up?" Alessio looked to Luca, "I know you won't let anyone touch her except perhaps your sister, Abelia." Luca sighed.

"She has had enough bad enounters with a man, I'll ask my sister to bathe her when she wakes up." The side of Alessio's lips twitched, the closest to a smile he's done.

"She is going to stay with us, isn't she? You already got it figured out." Alessio and Luca shared a knowing look.

"It'd be nice to have another woman around the house." Lauro smiled.

"Ha." Elia chuckled, "Enough chitchat Lauro, we heading home, Boss?" Alessio and Luca laughed.

"Yes, let's go home."

Angela woke up startled as she looked around the room she was in. She had no clue where she was, but she was chained in the cage anymore. She was also clean which made her feel good, she hated being that dirty. Angela looked down and saw that she was wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants, she glanced at her wrists and rubbed them. She could almost still feel the pain, then she remembered what happened. A man named Luca Accardi saved her, she fell asleep in his car. She must be in his house then, she heard a knock and looked up.

"Can I come in?" A male voice called through the door.

"Yes, come in." The door opened and someone entered, she then saw that is was Luca.

"How are you feeling Angela?" He smiled softly and came to sit at the foot of the bed.

"So much better, thank you so much Luca." Angela smiled brightly and pulled her knees to her chest.

"I'm glad. When I brought you here yesterday, I asked my sister, Abelia, to give you a bath. You can come meet her and the guys downstairs when you come eat, if you like." She nodded her head and was slightly grateful he hadn't seen her naked. Even though she was covered in filth and scars, the scars would definitely make her feel more self conscious.

"How did you find me?" She had been there for six months and no one had found her, but then again who was suspect the person who held her captive. How did she keep track of how long he held her captive? The man kept reminding her because he hoped to break her. As time went by her hope for rescue dwindled. Her captor looked like an ordinary Joe and there was no reason to suspect him.

"Sawyer owed us money, and he let it slip to his buddies that he had a nienteen-year-old locked in his basement for entertainment. His friends were more than forthcoming when I came to talk to them." Angela saw that cold look in his eyes when he talked about her captor, but when he turned his attention to her. His eyes softened and he smiled softly.

"Owed you money? Are you the mafia?" Luca laughed heartily and ran a hand through his hair, Angela didn't know what to make of his reaction.

"Yes, I am Angela. I'm the boss, and the guys you saw yesterday were my men." Angela nodded and let that sink in, she almost couldn't believe that someone from the mafia saved her. She had always heard awful stories about them. "It's okay, I and men won't harm you. You are safe while you stay." He placed a hand gently on her knee and smiled kindly at her.

"Thank you Luca." Angela's eyes became distant as she thought about the torture she suffered through.

"Do you want to talk about it? It'll help you get past it." Angela blinked and looked at him.

"Are you sure? I don't want to burden you."

"Burden me all you want, it is no problem. I want to help you. I'm just a little surprised on how well you are holding up especially after I told you I was mafia." Angela curled her legs under her and placed her hands in her lap. Luca placed the hand that was on her knee, on her hands and squeezed softly to assure her.

"I'm a college student at Crestview University and six months ago I was kidnapped on my way back to my dorm. He was disguised at as a Public Safety officer and when I realized that he wasn't actually an officer, it was too late." Angela squeezed Luca's hand tightly as tears began to well up in her eyes. Luca moved up her bed so he was sitting next to her and wrapped his other arm around her and the dam was broken. Angela turned and sobbed in his arms as she clutched him tightly.

"It's okay, sweetheart. You're not there anymore, if it is too much you don't have to tell me." His heart broke when she started crying, and he felt so useless because he couldn't do much to help her. Luca stroked her hair and just held her.

"No it's not! I need to get this out. Someone needs to know....He kept me locked in that cage for six months..." Angela paused and sniffled as she laid her head on his chest, "He tortured me for six months. I'm damaged and broken now because of him."

"You are not damaged. Those scars are proof that you are a survivor. You are so strong, and you made it. You may be a little broken, but I'm here to help you. I will be here so that in time, you will be able to see the strong, beautiful girl in front of me." Angela turned her head up at him and let out a weak smile. Luca kissed her forehead, "Now you must be hungry. After not having enough to eat in six months, you could use some comfort food. And we'll slowly rebuild your stomach's tolerance for more food." Angela nodded.

"Yes please." Luca stood up and gently pulled Angela up and kept a loose grip on her hand.

Luca led Angela out of the room and downstairs to the game room where Elia and Lauro were playing Destiny. Alessio was sitting in an armchair watching the two yell out commands to each other.

"Guys," Luca paused and the guys looked at him, "this is Angela."

"Pleasure to formally meet you Angela, I'm Alessio." Alessio came up and gave her a gentle hug, she was a bit shocked, but returned his embrace. He pulled away with a nod. Elia and Lauro put down their controllers and came over.

"Nice to meet you Angela. It'd be nice to have another girl in the house, I'm Elia." Elia joked and kissed her hand. Angela giggled and blushed at the gesture.

"Why I am last? Anyway, these goons don't get it." Lauro whisper-yelled at Angela with a smile, "I'm Lauro, pleased to meetcha." Luca shook his head in laughter.

"Laura's the joker, Elia's the flirt, and Alessio is the big brother type." Luca explained and Angela nodded, but she kind of felt nervous become the center of attention. Luca detected this and looked at the guys, "Back to your game, guys. You're making her nervous with all the attention. I'm going to get her something to eat." Elia and Lauro nodded and smiled at Angela before sitting back down to continue their game.

"I'll with you, I could use a snack." Alessio said and walked with Angela and Luca to the kitchen. Angela sat at the breakfast as she watched Luca go to the refrigerator then stopped and turned to face her.

"What would you like? We have makings for a sandwich, soup, pasta, and other stuff." Angela looked down at her hands and then up at him.

"I'm not fussy. Anything is good."

"Anything isn't a food, Angie." Alessio chuckled looking at her. Angela looked at him with confusion.

"Angie?"Alessio and Luca smiled.

"Yeah, you're going to be staying here for a while and seeing as I am," Alessio looked at Luca and rolled his eyes, "the big brother figure, I might as well. So why not call you by a nickname Miss Kavanaugh?" Angela flushed in embarrassment, she opened her mouth to say something and then closed it. "As I said, anything isn't a food. What do you want, it's been six months. Surely you have a favourite food."

"Spaghetti..." Angela whispered.

"What was that, Angie?" Alessio held his hand up to his ear.

"I want spaghetti." She said louder looking at Luca and he smiled at her.

"And she shall have spaghetti. It will just take a little while, so snack on this for a while." Luca handed her an apple from the basket on the counter.

"Thank you." Angela bit into the apple as Alessio sat down on the chair next to her, "You said you had a sister. Where is she?"

"Oh yeah, she's out buying you clothes because you are a different size from her."

"She didn't have to do that." Luca and Alessio laughed at her comment, "What?" She looked at them strangely.

"Abelia isn't doing because she has to, she is doing it because she loves shopping." Alessio smiles fondly. "You'll like her Angie, you're around her age." Angela nodded and thought about Abelia, it'll be nice to have a female friend while she stays here.

"Luca!" A female voice shouted from the entryway.

Luca shook his laughing as he looked towards the entryway.

"And that will be my sister." Angela giggled as she followed Luca and Alessio to the entryway. Angela saw a girl standing in the entryway with a bunch of bags at her feet. The girl caught her gaze and smiled waving her closer.

"You must be Angela, it's nice to meet you. I'm Abelia," Abelia smiled and hugged Angela.

"Nice to meet you Abelia," Angela smiled and pulled away.

"Alessio, I'm home." Abelia blushed and looked at Alessio who smiled and pulled her into his arms.

"Welcome back Beli." Alessio kissed her cheek and Abelia returned his embrace. Angela looked at the two somewhat confused. Luca chuckled and came to stand next to her.

"They are a couple. A very cute one, they have these special rituals, that they do for when either of them leaves, comes back, and the such." Angela smiled and Luca touched her wrist. Angela jerked away with frightened eyes, until she realized that it was Luca. She looked down at her feet embarrassed.

"Sorry, that wasn't me...I mean-"

"It's okay Angela, I know what you meant, I know why that happened. It's that bastard's fault, don't apologize." He rubbed her back and smiled softly when there was no reaction. "It may be because I touched your wrist, where he had those shackles. Because I held you earlier and you were okay with me touching you." Angela nodded a little and looked at him.

"Alright, thanks Luca." Luca grinned and ruffled her hair, and she slapped his hand away. "Hey, don't mess with my hair." She scrunched up her face at him and he laughed as she fixed her hair.

"I'm gonna steal Angela for a little while so she can try on clothes, you can hang with the guys." Abelia pointed her fingers towards the game room.

"Haha, okay. I'll see you in a bit, Angel. Have fun," Luca winked at Angela and she blushed. Abelia then turned to face Angela.

"Now, let's go have fun with clothes." Abelia picked up some bags and Angela picked up the others and followed Abelia upstairs.

Angela and Abelia set down the bags by Angela's bed and Abelia sat on the bed. Angela stood by the bed as Abelia picked up a bag and took out the clothes that were in it.

"These are dresses and you are going to try these on." Abelia handed a mid thigh champagne colour dress with spaghetti straps, "This is super cute." Angela smiled and grabbed the dress and headed into the bathroom.

A couple minutes later, Angela came out with the dress on and blushed when Abelia smiled brightly at her.

"You look sooo cute! Twirl for me." Abelia gushed and gestured for her to twirl. Angela giggled as she twirled in her dress.

"I love this dress, it feels so light and pretty. I've never had nice things," Angela wrings her hands nervously. Abelia got up and gently hugged her.

"Well, now that you're here. Luca is going to spoil you a lot, he told me a little about you. I'll be your older sister." Angela smiled and returned her embrace slowly.

"Thanks, Abelia. Earlier Luca had said that Alessio was the big brother type and Alessio went along with it saying that he'll be the big brother figure in my life." Abelia smiled.

"Of course he would say that, that is the type of person he is. He looks after the people that he cares about and now you are included in his group." Angela smiled, she liked the feeling of belonging and right now with Luca and everyone else, they gave her that feeling. Then Angela's stomach growled, she looked down and blushed in embarrassment.

"You hungry?" Abelia laughed a little.

"Yeah, Luca was going to make me spaghetti when you came." Angela teased looking at Abelia who casually brushed her hair behind her ear.

"Haha...ha, yeah that." Abelia changed the subject, "Let's go see if Luca is cooking."

Luca is boiling the spaghetti noodles while making the sauce with Alessio taking care of the garlic bread.

"Angela?" Alessio closes the oven with the garlic bread inside.

"She is a sweet girl that was dealt a bad hand because she had to be stuck with Sawyer for six months. I like her and I want to help her." Luca smiled softly thinking of Angela.

"Yeah, Abelia will be get to be an older sister to Angela. She never liked being the youngest," Alessio chuckled.

"Definitely true. Angela most definitely will have a positive impact on all of us."

"Luca," A voice called and Luca turned around to see Angela in a spaghetti strapped champagne dress that went mid thigh, and he was awestruck. Angela was so beautiful, he was speechless. "What do you think?" Angela asked and twirled for him.

"Simply beautiful." Luca smiled at her as he walked over to her, "Stunning. You took my breath away." He whispered in her ear and she shivered from mouth close to her ears and she blushed.

"Really? You think I'm beautiful." Angela said with a hopeful voice and Luca shook his head.

"Of course I do, you are very beautiful. It is hard to keep my hands off you and I don't want to push you and I know that you need to heal. So I'm being a perfect gentleman." Luca bowed in front of her, "My lady." He grabbed her hand kissed the top of it and Angela blushed looking at Abelia who just grinned and Alessio just standing there with his arms crossed and a faint smile.

"We're gonna head out and you two have a nice dinner together," Alessio grabbed Abelia's hand and started walking out of the kitchen.

"We are?" Abelia questioned.

"Yes, we are." Alessio looked at Ableia with a look and jerked his head a little towards Luca and Angela.

"We are, see you guys later." Abelia smiled and walked out with Alessio. A few moments later, the front door shut.

"Boss, we're heading out to a bar. Have fun!" Lauro and Elia called and the front door opened and shut a second time. Luca was standing up and looked at Angela with a weird look.

"What happened?" Angela asked as Luca went back to tend to the sauce.

"I think they left to give us time to ourselves, even though this is a mansion and not an apartment." Luca chuckled and Angela nodded her head processing what he said. "After we eat, I have to do some work in my study. Is that okay?" She looked up shocked.

"Of course, it's okay. This is your house, I'm not going to say that it isn't okay. Plus, I might take a nap during that. I had fun today, but I just feel exhausted." Angela sat on one of the bar stools, laced her arms together, and laid her head on them.

"Heh, it is understandable that you would be tired. You most likely haven't gotten a good night's sleep in at least six months, you can take a nap right now if you want and I'll wake you when food is ready." Luca offered and looked at her with concern in his eyes.

"Thanks, but no. If I eat, and then sleep I'll gain more weight. We both know that I need it. Thanks though." Angela smiled softly.

About half an hour later, Luca had finished dinner and Angela helped set the table. There was the spaghetti noodles, the sauce, and garlic bread. Luca pulled back Angela's chair and pushed it in when she sat down, and then sat down himself next to her at the head of the table.

"Thank you Luca for the food. It looks amazing, a sight for sore eyes." Angela whispered and heard a hiss. She looked at Luca and saw his eyebrows draw together and his eyes dark, "Sorry, low blow...too soon." She fiddled with her hands in her lap and Luca placed his hand on top of hers.

"It's okay, don't apologize. It is not your fault." Luca squeezed her hands and she looked up to see him smile faintly at her, "Dig in." Angela nodded as Luca's hand returned to his side and she picked up the fork to begin eating.

"Wow..." Angela moaned softly, "This is amazing, so good."

"Thank you, I'm glad that you think so. Sometimes I cook, but most of the times it is acutally Elia or Lauro who cooks." She looked at him with disbelief, "They look like slackers, don't they?" Angela nodded. "Well, they grew up hard. They don't let the past get to them now and just live."

"I want to do that, just live. I feel like...I don't what it is, I just feel wrong. Today has been amazing, but it feels like a dream. Too good to be tru-" Luca cut Angela off by grabbing her hand and held it.

"I can assure you, I am very real." Luca winked and Angela let out a soft giggle, "It takes time, and soon that period of time will be but a distant memory. I will help you live, Angel." He released her hand and smiled warmly at her, "Now finish eating, you haven't had nearly enough food." Luca knew that it would take a long time for Angela to be full of life and not trying to hold a facade of happines. Shortly later, Angela finshed her food and brought it to the kitchen and went to bring Luca's plate as well until he stopped her.

"What?" Angela looked up at him.

"Go take your nap, I can take care of this no problem. I know you are exhausted, so go ahead." Angela opened her mouth to protest when she yawned and he chuckled.

"Okay Luca, thank you." Angela smiled and headed to her new room.

Angela grabbed a tee and a short pajama outfit and changed into it. She put her dress in the hamper although she only wore it for a few hours. She scratched her head and climbed into the comfy looking queen size bed and snuggled under the covers. It didn't take long until Angela fell asleep, she felt so warm.

An hour later, Luca was in his office working and the others hadn't returned. Knowing them, unless there was something big going on they wouln't get home until late. Luca poured himself a glass of scotch from his collection and sat back down at his desk chair, he took a sip as he thought about Angela. She hadn't mentioned anything about her life before she was taken by Sawyer, he knew that she had family because he had ran her name. She was the youngest of three and her parents were divorced and living on opposites sides of the country. Luca didn't know about her brothers, it listed information about them, but nothing useful. As Luca put down his drink, he heard something that turned his blood cold. Angela was screaming, it was a heartwrenching and an agonizing scream of horror and pain. Luca shot out of his chair, yanked open his door, and ran through the mansion to get to Angela.

"It's time to wake up little girl, there is more fun to be had."

Angela's blood went cold, she recognized that voice, but it didn't make sense. Luca had saved her and said that Elia and Lauro took care of her captor. So then why was she here with him instead of with Luca? She opened her eyes and she was back in the cage with Sawyer looking at her.

"Luca..." Angela whimpered and felt tears come to her face.

"Luca is gone, he decided that he didn't want you anymore. I found you wandering a park," Sawyer said and bent over to unlock the cage door. He opened it and yanked the chain that was connected to Angela's collar causing her to be dragged out.

Angela let out a cry of pain and tried to get away from him, Luca couldn't have possibly abandoned her. He said that he would fix her and Abelia would have spoiled her because she would give Angela the sibling affection she had craved from her brothers.

"They killed you!" Angela yelled desperately as she tried to make sense of what was happening.

"No, little girl. I played dead, Elia and Lauro were very thorough in torturing me. So much so, that I am going to hurt you very badly and you'll feel what I went through. Hopefully this will make you a good girl and not disobey me." Sawyer crouched down and lifted her chin to meet his eyes, "We shall start with your favourite, the Wooden Horse."

"Nooo!" Angela thrashed and yanked the chain her direction.

"Angela! Wake up, it's a bad dream. Please wake up."

Angela blinked her eyes and she was sitting in a bed and not in the basement with Sawyer. She looked up and saw Luca looking at her with sadness in his eyes, he was holding her so tightly.

"Luca!" Angela clutched him tightly and sobbed loudly in his chest..

"It's okay Angela, I'm here." Luca kissed the top of her head.

"H-he fou-found me again, he sa-said that you go-got tired of me." Angela sniffled.

"He is dead. He is never coming back, and I will never leave you. You are stuck with me forever and I could never tire of you sweet girl." Luca pulled away just enough to see her face, "Look at me."

"Never?" Angela asked with a hopeful expression.

"Never, and I mean it. You are stuck with me." Luca kissed her nose and she giggled.

"Thank you Luca, that means so much." Angela laid her head on his chest and smiled softly.

"Do you want to get more sleep or do you want to cuddle and watch TV?" Luca stroked her hair lovingly.

"Cuddle and watch TV, I don't want more sleep."

"Alright, sounds good. Let's go." Luca smiled and gently picked Angela up and carried her to the living room where he sat on the couch with her on his lap.

"Why did you carry me?"

"Because I wanted to and you deserve to be spoiled." Luca kissed the top of her head and reached for the TV remote.

About half an hour later, the front door opened and Lauro and Elia walked in. They came and sat next to Luca and Angela who were watching the first Fast and Furious movie.

"Hey Boss, howsa doin'?" Lauro slurred with a goofy smile.

Elia laughed. "Ignore him, he's drunk and stupid."

"I issss not stuuupid."

Angela laughed at him and smiled. "Yeah, you are Lauro."

"Ella...leave wit meh and we travel da world." Lauro looked at Angela flirtatiously.

Luca shook his head with a grin on his face. "That's my girl buddy, find your own." Luca kissed her forehead.

"Anyway." Elia looked from Lauro to the TV to Angela. "You guys watching Fast and Furious? What movie?"

"Luca says it's the first movie. Vin Diesel is soo awesome!" Angela gushed.

"So you like Vin Diesel?"

"Yeah, I really like him as an actor. My brothers loved the Riddick Chronicles so we had watched that a lot, the only part I ever liked was watching Vin Diesel." Angela said with a dazed look on her face.

Luca looked at Angela and then at Elia with comprehension.

"Your brothers?"

Angela's eyes widened in shock.

"Did I say my brothers?"

"Yeah, you did Ange." Luca patted her leg.

"Well then, they don't matter."

"Why not?"

"Because they didn't try to find me, or rather they disappeared a week before my kidnap. Not that I would expect them to, they didn't like me."

"Why didn't they like you?"

Angela pushed Luca's hands away from her and stood up. "Stop interrogating me! If you care so much, why don't you find them and ask them yourselves?!" She looked at them with derision before running upstairs to her room.

Angela sat in the corner of her room, she didn't know why she yelled like that. She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them resting her head on them as she thought. Perhaps, she acted out because she didn't want to talk about her family or because she was feeling stressed. She just didn't know and she didn't like that.

The bedroom door opened and Luca walked over to Angela and crouched down in front of her.

"I don't want to talk." Angela mumbled.

"I didn't say anything. I want to be here for you." Luca moved so that he was sitting next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I will stay here and be your shoulder to cry on if you want or just be your comfort. You can tell me whenever you want. Today, tomorrow, next week. Hell, even next year is fine." Luca turned his head and kissed the top of her head.

"Thanks."

Then there was a knock on her door and Elia's head peeked through and Angela looked up.

"Hi Angela, sorry about Lauro. He's in bed now, I just want to see how you were doing."

"Thanks Elia, I'm doing better. Do you want to come in?"

"Nah, I'm good. I'll probably have a drink and hit the sack as well. Good night Angela." Elia smiled.

"Good night Elia." The door shut and Angela lowered her head back down to her knees, but turned so she could look at Luca.

"You already looked me up didn't you? You are mafia."

"Yeah, I did. I wanted to see who or where you family were so I could help you."

"Alright, but I'm not going to talk about them. We weren't really all that close."

"It's okay Angela. Just rest and recover, you've been through a lot. And I know you are trying to be strong with this facade of yours. You don't need to try to be happy all the time." Luca stood up and smiled at her. "It's late, get some sleep. Good night Ange."

Angela smiled softly. "Thanks. Good night Luca." Angela stood up as Luca left her room and closed the door behind him.

She took off her dress and put on the pajama top and shorts she got when shopping with Abelia. She placed the dress in the hamper and turned off the light. Angela let out a small sigh as she climbed into the soft and comfy bed.

Tomorrow will be a new day. With that thought, Angela closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Angela woke up sluggishly. The bed was very comfortable, but it took getting used to it. She had slept on the floor of a cold metal cage for six months. And tossed and turned all throughout the night trying to sleep, and when she did finally fall asleep. She had nightmares of him, she rolled onto her stomach and nuzzled her face into her pillow and groaned.

She turned her head to face the door when she heard a knock.

"It's Abelia, can I come in?"

"Of course, Abelia."

Angela re positioned herself so that she was sitting up and yawned.

"Morning Angela." Abelia smiled and closed the door behind her and came to sit on the bed in front of Angela.

"Morning Abelia."

"How are you doing?"

"It's hard getting used to this comfortable bed. I-" Angela stopped when she felt Abelia's place her hand on her leg.

"We'll get through this together. You've got five people who care about you now. Well, sometimes Lauro only cares about himself, but you get what I mean. You are not alone anymore."

Angela smiled softly and she felt a little better. She actually had people who did care for her, even though she hadn't known her long. They already shown her more affection and kindness in couple of days than her family had in years. Maybe, just maybe she could be happy here.

"Thank you Abelia. That means a lot, and it makes me happy."

"Good, I'm glad. Now, Luca is downstairs making breakfast, waffles." Abelia said as she stood up.

"Alright, I'll be down in a few minutes."

"Got it." Abelia left and closed the door behind her.

Angela sighed as she looked at the scars on her wrists, it would take a long time for her to get past these demons that now nested in her head and the physical proof of what happened. She got up from the bed and walked to her closet. She chose a dark green sweater, grey sweats, and black socks.

As she donned her clothes, she smiled weakly when the sweater covered her wrists and the socks hiding the scars on her ankles. Yesterday, she felt so much better. She was wear a short sleeve dress and sandals and now, she was covering up. She felt like she took a step back.

She felt miserable and began to lose herself as she stared at herself in the mirror. After just two showers, her hair looked somewhat healthy again, but her skin was deathly pale and her eyes were void of life. Her eyes showed life sometimes, but that would be because of the facade she would put up.

Angela hated this feeling, she could feel it begin to take all of her. She heard dark voices in her mind, but really it was just her. She looked down at her right wrist and pulled up her sleeve a little bit and felt a pull.

She looked in the shower and found her razor, she rinsed it just in case and then slowly pressed it against the scars on her wrist and pulled. She felt her shoulders slump in relief as her blood flowed. She rinsed her razor and her wrist.

Someone knocked. Her eyes widened in panic as she quickly turned off the faucet and put her razor back.

"Angela?" it was Alessio.

"Just washing my hands, be right there." Angela ran a brush through her hair and pulled her sleeve back down. Then went to answer her door.

"Hey, just seeing how you doing? Abelia went to get you about ten minutes ago and we waited for you."

"Sorry about that. I'm ready now." Angela forced a smile, Alessio's concern for her touched her, but she couldn't let it show.

"Alright. Let's go." Alessio motioned for her to walk in front of hm and he watched her expression. She seemed more guarded now, yesterday she looked carefree. He was going to have to talk about this with Luca.

They got downstairs and saw that Luca was making waffles in the kitchen.

"Good morning Angela. How are you doing tesoro?" Angela looked up at him and saw nothing, but kindness and affection for her.

"Morning. What does that mean?" She asked as she sat at the bar and watched him.

"It means darling." Luca smiled as he watched Angela's cheeks flush a bit.

Angela looked down and played with her hands. She could guard her expressions, but she couldn't stop herself from blushing. Luca had given her a term of endearment and she liked it.

"Here, eat up." Luca chuckled and Angela saw that he set a plate of a waffle in front of her with some strawberries and whipped cream on them.

"Thanks." Angela picked up her fork and began to cut the waffle.

"So what's on the agenda today?" Abelia asked.

"Well, I don't know about them, but you're spending the day with me Beli." Alessio winked at her and she blushed.

Luca chuckled. "I've got some work to do, not much so I should be done by lunch." Luca turned to face Angela. "What do you want to do?"

Angela put her fork down and thought honestly, I want to be alone. "I'll check out the library you have."

Luca nodded his head. "Alright, I'll show you my office just so you know where it is."

A little while later, Angela was sitting in a microfiber armchair in the library with a romance book sitting on her lap. She had zoned out and was in deep thought. She said earlier that she just wanted to be alone, but now she felt alone. As if there there was no one who could help her, even though she had people around her. She wrapped her around around herself and let out a soft sob.

Angela shot her head up when she heard a knock, she turned around and saw Elia stadning against the doorway.

"What are you thinkning so hard about?" Elia asked as he came closer to her.

"I-I..." Angela whimpered and looked away.

Elia crouched down and gently grabbed her chin and turned her face to look at him. "Don't keep those things bottled up inside, it will eat you up. You can tell me and I will listen, I won't say anything."

"You won't say anything if I talk or you won't say anything to everyone?"

"Both. If you decide to trust in me to talk to me, I won't betray that trust." He let go of her chin and pounded his fist against his heart. "Honour and family. That is what us mafia men are about."

Angela let a small smile show. "I'm adopted. I was five years old when I came to live with the Kavanaughs." 

"Adopted?"

"Yeah, I had a family, but there was an accident. I was the only survivor and my parents were only children. I had no living relatives. I was put into foster care with the Kavanaughs, when I was little I didn't know any better. My new dad liked me enough and my new mom wanted a daughter because she only had sons. So they adopted me. I went from being Angela Thomason to being Angela Kavanaugh. My brothers paid some attention to me, but they were like my parents, they didn't love me. They saw me as someone as an outsider, that while I had their name and lived with them, I would never truly be one of them. But as I got older, I wanted to do my own thing and my mom didn't like that. She wanted me to do the things that she wanted. My brothers didn't care about me at all after I grew up. Then my parents were fighting all the time and got a divorce, that was when I was fourteen. My father moved away, saying that he couldn't tolerate being near his ex-wife and me, other than that, we all stayed in the state.  At that point, my brothers were already adults and had jobs.

"I was never truly happy growing up. I have very faint memories of my real parents, but I remember being happy. Everything has felt so fake until that man took me. This is not a case where I can say that I took everything for granted because I lost my family, but I don't care..." Angela looked away.

"Angela, just know that now we are your family, we will care for you. I'm sure that Luca will hunt your brothers down and talk to them, but that is because he cares for you and he wants to know why they disappeared right before you got kidnapped." Elia said with a gentle voice.

"It will take some time, you won't get better overnight no matter how much you wish it. You are human and you are a survivor."

"I don't like how I feel. I want to be alone, but I also don't want to be alone and want to be comforted."

"Luca is here for you, he clearly wants you as his own. He is willing to help you become the happy girl, you once were. He will be with you every step of the way."

"I know that and everyone is so helpful and nice, but I feel like it's a bit too much after being alone for so long with only him there occasionally. I've never really been introverted, but..." Angela trailed off.

"I know what you mean, I've never been in a situation even close to you, but as a child, I always followed Luca and Alessio around, I was like a lost puppy. They tolerated it because they found it interesting that no matter what, I followed them around. They began to see me as a little brother that needed guidance. I didn't have a mother or a father, what I had was an uncle that was too busy working and staying out nights to care for me. I knew then that when they were older, Luca and Alessio would have big positions to fill because Luca's father was the don and Alessio's father was his right hand man. I admired them because while kids, they were so responsible and I wanted to stay with them." Elia had this faraway look in his eyes as he remembered his childhood.

"How did you know Luca and Alessio?" Angela wondered.

"We went to the same elementary school, but more importantly, we lived in the same neighborhood. They would also walk around on the weekdays after school without a care. It was because they always had bodyguards watching them, but later I found out they would walk because it let them feel free and without any responsibility. These were nine and ten year olds, but they had a family obligation to fulfill. One day, I just started walking with them. They ignored me for two years, but always managed to tell me what they were doing so I could join. It wasn't until middle school that they accepted me as a friend." Elia shook his head chuckling.

"That's funny, but it seems like a such a fond memory." Angela giggled.

"It is. I'm glad for what happened, I wouldn't have it any other way. I won't tell their story or Lauro's, but just know. We all have our own stories, and while we may not be able to relate with you, we will do our best to help you get through this tough period. You don't have to do it alone."

"Thank you Elia. That means a lot." Angela smiled gently. She felt a little better, there was still this big and heavy weight, but it lessened just a small bit.

"Do you want to talk more or are you done sharing for now?" Elia inquired.

"I want at least one person to know, so I shouldn't stop now. The only reason I know that my brothers disappeared a week before I was taken was because my mom had mandated a family dinner every Sunday, no matter what. It wasn't an option, it had started after Lex, my eldest brother, graduated high school and was getting ready to go to college. When I went to Crestview University, I decided to stay on campus because I couldn't stay living in that house anymore. I had to go back each Sunday though. The Sunday before I was taken, none of my brothers showed up and it made my mom livid. She had called their cellphones, their girlfriends, and workplaces. No one knew where they were. Do you think that Luca would be able to find them?"

"Perhaps. Although, it may be better for you to ask him because if I do, he'll want me to tell him why I brought them up and to tell him what I know. Then he'll get mad that I won't tell him cause I promised you that I wouldn't tell anyone. So there's that." Elia let out an exasperated sigh and chuckled.

"Alright...I'll go ask him." Angela put down the book and stood up from her seat and made her way to the door of the library and then turned to face Elia again, "Thank you for this talk, I really appreciated it."

"Of course Angela. I may not have known you long, but you're family now. I take care of family, I want you to know that." Elia sincerely said with a soft smile.

Angela turned the knob of the door and opened and closed it behind her. She leaned against the door and let out a big sigh. With Luca, Alessio, Elia, Lauro, and Abelia, Angela had a chance to finally be part of a loving family again. One that would not love her conditionally or tell her what to do. A family with resources at ready to find out why her brothers disappeared before she was kidnapped and why no one looked for her.

She stood up and slowly made her way to Luca's office.

Sorry for the long delay, I had a few things come up that I had to take care of.

_____________________________

Luca was sitting at his desk working on paperwork with Lauro sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"You did a background check on Angela, did you look further into her family? Her biological parents?" Luca asked Lauro without looking up.

"I did investigate further in order to provide you with more information. Sarah and Douglas Thomason. Sarah seemed like the standard housewife and Douglas was an senior associate at Alocer and Wilkes  Attorneys At Law." Luca stopped writing and looked up at Lauro.

"Say that again."

"Alocer and Wilkes Attorneys At Law. It is the crooked law firm that is in the pocket of the Russians."

"Thomason must've known, he was a senior associate. There is a possibility he didn't know. In the public eye, that law firm doesn't seem any different from all the others." Luca put down his pen and leaned back in his chair. "Was there any evidence that the car accident wasn't an accident?"

"No. Either it was actually an accident or Thomason found out about something that he shouldn't have while he was working there and the Russians took care of it. If it wasn't an accident, whoever orchestrated it, covered their tracks very well." Lauro said calmly.

"I want you to send that to Emiliano, I would like him to use his skills. What about the Kavanaughs?"

"Will do Boss. Delia and Trevor Kavanaugh, Delia was a trophy wife. She is the daughter of Alexander Townsend who is the CEO of Townsend Technologies, she grew up entitled and privileged and was arranged to marry Trevor Kavanaugh when she was expelled from New York University due to inappropriate affairs with a professor. Her father married her off to save his image. Since that expulsion, Delia did not pursue any further education as she was able to spend Kavanaugh's money. She was only able to have sons and opened her home to foster kids in hope of adopting a girl and-"

"That's where Angela came into the picture." Luca interrupted him.

"Yes, exactly. It was six months after the car accident that claimed her parents' lives. Angela was with the Kavanaughs for one year and then they adopted her and changed her name." Lauro stated.

"What about the sons?" Luca inquired getting out of his chair and stood up and looked out the window behind him.

"Silas is the youngest, he is twenty two and has a bachelor's in business. He graduated from New York University shortly before Angela was kidnapped. Travis is the middle brother and is twenty-four years old. He has a law degree from Stanford and was working on his master's in forensic science, he hasn't shown up to any of his lectures, but hasn't been dropped. I'll get Emiliano to find out more. Then there is the eldest, Alexis, who is twenty-six. He has a bachelor's in Applied Science majoring in criminal justice. He is a police officer with the forty-third precinct." Lauro flipped the page in his folder of papers.

"Is? Not was?" Luca turned around and furrowed his brows at Lauro.

"Yes, is. He still shows up to work, everyday."

"And the other two?" Luca crossed his arms and leaned against the window.

"Silas had received many job offers and he hasn't accepted any of them. While the youngest, he was going to succeed his father. Travis, while not attending lectures is still in good academic standing. I didn't look further, Emiliano said that he would get more than just the basic information on all of them." Lauro closed the folder and stood up.

"Alright, thanks Lauro. You may go." Luca dismissed him.

"Of course Boss, I'll see you later." Lauro walked to the door and opened and closed the door on his way out. While walking down the hallway, he saw Angela and waved at her.

"Hi Lauro." Angela greeted him with a small smile.

"Greetings little lady. Where are you heading?" Lauro returned the smile.

"I'm going to see Luca, I need to ask him something." Angela fidgeted with her fingers.

"Well then, I won't keep you any further. He'll be happy to see you. Catch you later" Lauro let out a soft chuckle and continued walking.

______________________________________________

Angela knocked on the door to the study and waited for permission to go in.

"Come in." Luca's voice from inside in the study called. Angela opened the door and closed it behind her. "Angela, nice to see you. Please sit down." Luca gestured to the seats in front of him. "Is there something you would like to talk to me about?"

"Yes, could you use your resources to look into my brothers? I want to know why they disappeared before I was taken." Angela fidgeted a little bit, wringing her fingers.

"I will be up front about this. Because of who I am, I have already done a background check on you and a simple check on your biological and adoptive family. I have asked for Emiliano to dig deeper to find the cause and more about your brothers. So, I'm already ahead of you on that." Luca said sitting down on his chair.

"I guess, I should've expected that." Angela chuckled nervously.

"I'll let you what Emiliano find out about them. Do you mind if I talk to you about your father?" Luca clasped his hands together and set them on the desk, "Your biological father, I mean." He clarified.

"I don't mind, but I don't remember much about him." Angela said looking up at him.

"Do you remember what his job was?"

"I think he was a lawyer, but I don't know what type or where he worked." Angela stopped wringing her fingers and just set them in her lap.

"He was a lawyer at Alocer and Wilkes Attorneys At Law." Luca said coldly. "The reason that I want to talk to you about this is because, that law firm is controlled by Russian mafia. It was something that only the higher ups at Alocer and Wilkes knew. The reason I know is because I'm the Don of the Italian mafia. There is a possibility your father, Douglas, may have known this."

"What?!" Angela's eyes were wide as she expressed her shock. "My dad worked with the law firm that the Russians controlled? I don't believe it."

"I'm having Emiliano look into the car accident that killed your parents. It might've not been an accident. " Luca stood up from his chair and walked around his desk to crouch in front of Angela.

"Luca..." Angela dug her fingers into her palms as she tried to process the information that Luca had just told her.

Luca gently placed his hands on her to get her to stop and clasped her hands with his. He rubbed his thumbs against her hands to calm her down. He looked at her and saw her chest heaving from her breathing fast and her eyes in a blank stare.

"Angela. I told you this because I think you should this, I did not tell you this with the intent to upset you." Luca calmly said to her.

"I...I...I know that, but it is shocking nonetheless. There was something that I had always disregarded." Angela slowed her breathing and met his eyes.

"And what is that, tesoro?" Luca gazed into Angela's grey eyes.

"Alexis knows Russian. He learned it in high school, but when I started high school, I realized that it wasn't at high school that he learned Russian. You should look at his academic records, I know he took at least one class relating to Russian studies." Angela looked down at their joined hands and then back at his face.

"Thank you for telling. I'll let Emiliano know." Luca smiled at her before disengaging his hands from hers and standing up. "Now it is late in the afternoon. Are you up for sitting on the couch in the living room and relaxing with me?" He held out his hand to her.

"That sounds good. I could use some relaxation." Angela smiled sweetly at Luca and placed her hand in his as he pulled her to her feet.

After pulling Angela to her feet, Luca let go of her hand and led her out of his study and closed the door behind them. They walked across the manor to the living room where Lauro and Elia were playing a chess match off to the side.

"Hey Boss."

Luca heard a familiar voice behind him and turned around to address them.

"Hey Boss."

Luca heard a familiar voice and turned around to address them.

"Hey Emiliano, you need something?" Luca asked looking at Emiliano.

Angela looked at this person named Emiliano and saw a man that was about five feet six, a few inches shorter than Luca and with the same skin colour as Luca. He had blue eyes and a scar that covered his right cheek and had brown hair in a short ponytail. He was also a bit lanky. She looked back at Luca smirking at her and she flushed a bit.

"Go sit on the couch and choose something to watch, I'll be there soon." Luca crooked his head towards the couch and patted her back.

"Okay." Angela agreed and walked over to the black leather sectional. She grabbed the remote and sat in the middle of the couch and turned on the TV. They had a rather big smart TV that took up a lot of space on the wall. There was a big manor and lots of nice furniture, it had to be expected of people in the mafia would have a lot of money. After scrolling through Netflicks, she found a dramatic comedy that seemed interesting and chose to watch it.

Luca watched Angela and let out a chuckle and then looked back at Emiliano and gestured for him to talk.

"Lauro just told me a few minutes ago what to dig deeper on and I being the smart person to anticipate stuff like this, already dug deeper into the car accidents and one of the brothers. I was about to continue my research of the other brothers when Lauro contacted me. I figured I should come and tell you what I found." Emiliano said with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face.

"That's definitely good. I knew that I could also count on you, Emiliano. I'll seek you out later for your full report, right now I am taking a break and seeing to Angela's care." Luca clasped Emiliano's shoulder and squeezed.

"Sounds good Boss." Emiliano returned the gesture and then walked back down the hallway to his computer lab to finish up his research.

Luca walked over to the couch and sat down next to Angela and saw that she didn't notice him because she was watching the movie so intently. That made him chuckle a bit as he settled on the couch and then watched the movie with her.

The movie ended an hour and a half later with Angela sleeping on his lap and him watching her fondly. Neither of them caught the end of the movie, Luca was too busy watching her sleep. He softly stroked her hair, enjoying the feel of her hair in his hand. She looked so sweet and innocent when she was sleeping and he wanted to preserve that. She had enough hardship in her life, he would see to it that she enjoyed life now and had a family that she could count on to support her and be there for her.

Was he in love with her? No, he wasn't, at least not at that moment. He just felt an obligation to protect her and keep her safe. Could he love her? Possibly, but he did have a lot of skeletons in his closet and he wanted to protect her from those skeletons as well.

He needed to find out who caused the car accident that killed her parents, if her father knew who he was really working for, why she was kidnapped, and what the deal was with the Kavanaugh brothers. He planned to find out at least one of those things tonight.

"Go to bed Beli, I'll be up in a little while." Luca heard Alessio say behind him. Presumably the footsteps he heard retreating were Abelia's and Alessio was coming to talk to him.

Alessio walked into the living and sat on the big wooden chest that they used as a coffee table.

"Hi Alessio." Luca deadpanned and shook his head with a laugh.

"Well hello there Luca, fancy meeting you here." Alessio smirked.

"What do you want, Alessio..." Luca sighed.

"Well since you're asking..." Alessio trailed off and had that go lucky grin on his face and then it faded just as soon as Luca saw it, and it was replaced with serious eyes and a clenched jaw. Alessio was serious now, so that the matter that he was about to talk about must be important. "I swung by Emiliano's on the way here and he told me to relay some information to you. Without a doubt, the car accident was no accident and it was caused by the Russians. They must have more than just one cop on their payroll like we do, the report written for the accident was fake. Emiliano was able to find that out, he is currently looking for the real report before it was altered. Knowing him, he'll be able to find it pretty fast. He has more to tell you, but he figured that I would relay the first part and that he'll tell you the rest when you go see him."

"Thank you Alessio." Luca continued stroking Angela's hair and watching her. "I want her to know a life with no hardships, I want her to trust people, I want her to know that there are people that do care about her. I want her to stay here, she can thrive here. Unlike that so-called home of hers." Luca sighed.

"Here. Let me take her to bed and you go see Emiliano." Alessio smiled fondly at her. "She'll find happiness here."

"What would I do without you Alessio?" Luca chuckled and shook his head. Alessio was more than just his right hand man and his childhood friend. He was his brother, even though they weren't related, they might as well be. They were two sides of the same coin, what they had was a lifetime bond. It was like they were two halves of the same soul, they always knew what the only was thinking or feeling, they didn't always need to communicate in words. Without Alessio, Luca felt empty and not himself.

"Nothing. Well, you would do some things, but probably half-heartedly." Alessio shrugged his shoulders. He stood up and then bent down and gently picked Angela up in his arms, trying not to wake her. She stirred a bit, but remained asleep. Then without another word, he walked out of the room and down the hallway to the stairs that led to her bedroom.

Luca looked down at his lap, he could still feel the warmth that she left and he smiled a bit. He made his way to his feet and then to Emiliano's lab which was a few doors from his office. He opened the door without knocking, Luca never knocked. Why would he? This was his place and he was the boss.

In Emiliano's lab, in the middle was Emiliano sitting in a gaming chair in front of nine monitors in a 3x3 grid on a big desk. Those nine monitors were connected to one computer. Off to both sides of him were separate computers. The one on the left was an Mac Pro that looked like a cheese grater. The one on the right was a gaming windows computer. Emiliano's main computer, the one in the middle was a high grade gaming computer that he had made a bunch of modifications to.

On the right side of the room was filing cabinets that held records and electronics. On the left side of the room was a door that led to his bedroom and a table that was covered with a bunch of electronics and a see through mini fridge packed with water and energy drinks. Next to the mini fridge was floor to ceiling cabinet filled with snacks ranging from protein bars, to gummy candy to chips, etc. Emiliano spent his time either in this room or sleeping, he used to sleep in his gaming chair a lot because his bedroom used to be on the second floor with the rest of the bedrooms and it was too far to walk when he was exhausted. Luca allowed him to take the room next door as his bedroom and put in a door connecting the two rooms so that Emiliano would get some proper sleep, which Emiliano did get now.

Luca walked in, leaving the door open and leaned against the doorway with his arms crossed. Emiliano had turned around when he heard the door open.

"What you got for me, Emiliano?" Luca jerked his chin towards Emiliano.

___________________________________

I have realized that I haven't done much description of surroundings so I'm changing that, starting with Emiliano's computer lab.

So sorry for the long 2 month delay. Things have been crazy with work, school, and my personal life. To make up for it, here are two chapters :)

__________________________________________

"What you got for me, Emiliano?" Luca jerked his chin towards Emiliano.

"'Ey Boss." Emiliano smiled as spun back to face his desk and continued typing. Emiliano communicated best when he was already doing something. People say that multitasking was hard or impossible, but for Emiliano it was second nature. "I'm sure Alessio told you, the car accident that killed Angela's parents was in fact caused by the Russians. The accident report was written and submitted. The original report was correct, then it got altered by someone else in the department, probably a detective. Officers don't have that access. I found the original report, took a lot of digging. Who ever changed it really did not want it found." A few clicks of his mouse and the original report was the middle right screen.

Luca straightened himself from leaning against the doorway, and walked towards the desk to look at the screen. He leaned against the left hand side of the desk that had the Mac Pro on it to look at the report on the right middle screen.

"Looking at the report, it is obvious that it wasn't an accident. The brake lines were cut, and the gas tank was filled with hydrogen peroxide. This person really did not want the Kavanaughs to live. They didn't account for Angela to survive that. She went into the foster system directly following her parents' funeral, but the Russians wouldn't have any problem finding her. Why didn't they finish the job? Maybe they didn't care either way, she was too young to know anything." Luca scanned the report with his arms crossed and his left index finger tapping on his right arm.

"Yes. The officer who wrote this did his job, but I do wonder who he went to regarding this report. Did he go to a detective or the Lieutenant? We know the Lieutenant isn't under anyone's thumb, but tolerates all of us. If Lieutenant knew, there wouldn't be a fake report to cover this up. The detective that the Russians have on their payroll would had to doctor this report, and suppress what actually happened and give the press a different story." Emiliano pushed back from his desk and got up. He walked to his mini fridge and grabbed a Red Null.

"E, its almost eleven P.M., don't crack that open. As much I admire your work ethic and your laser focus, you need to rest. Haven't you already been up for twenty hours?" Luca looked at Emiliano with concern in his eyes. It was very rare that Luca called any of his men by nicknames, but he did it rare enough that whenever he did, they all knew of Luca's concern and stopped whatever they were doing.

"Boss..." Emiliano looked at the Red Null in his hands and put it back and grabbed an New Mexico Tea instead. "You took Angela in. I haven't personally met her myself yet. She has been here for no more than a couple days, but many of the guys changed. Alessio is truly treating her as a younger sister, Elia has little chats with her, Lauro is being a jokester more than usual, and Abelia has a another girl to talk to. You, don't seem as haunted anymore. Angela being here is a blessing." Emiliano walked back to his desk, set the can of tea on a coaster and sat back down and faced Luca. "I want to find out what happened to her parents. Why they were involved with the Russians. If her adoptive brothers were and why they skipped town. About Sawyer....why he took her." He placed his hands on his knees and sighed. "There is so much to find out..."

"Emiliano, it isn't often that you bare your soul to someone, much less me." Luca walked over to Emiliano's side and grasped his shoulder in a firm grip. "I appreciate having such a hardworking man such as you by my side. But I cannot have you collapsing from exhaustion. Go to bed, this will still be here tomorrow. Come back, rested and fresh eyes."

"Ugh. Fine, you win. I'll go to my fucking bed and sleep." Emiliano chuckled shaking his head.

"You knew I would though. Introduce yourself to Angela tomorrow, she hasn't meet a geek yet." Luca teased and gave Emiliano's another squeeze and then let go. Luca picked up the can of tea and placed it back into the mini fridge and gestured for Emiliano to go to his room and sleep, before he left the lab.

Luca walked down the hall to the stairs, he hesitated before climbing them because he was trying to decide whether or not to check on Angela before he went to his room and slept as well. 

I would be able to make sure she is sleeping soundly and not having a nightmare, but what if I wake her up while checking on her? What excuse would I come up with? Or rather, why would I have to make up an excuse, this is my manor. But I don't want to intrude on her privacy, while she is here, that room is hers and she had every right to privacy within that room.

Luca was pacing back and forth by the stairs when someone called out to him and interrupted his thoughts.

"Hey Boss, whatcha doing pacing by the stairs?" Lauro asked watching Luca.

"How long have you been standing there?" Luca stopped pacing and stared at Lauro with his arms crossed.

"No need to get so defensive Boss, it was an innocent question. Just about a minute or two, or maybe three." Lauro scratched the back of his head nervously.

"And you said nothing. You just stood there and watched?" Luca inquired as his eyes narrowed.

"Yeah. That is exactly what I did." Lauro said, "But, I've been worried about you Boss."

"Pray tell, why would you be worried about me, of all people Laurenzio?" Luca smirked. While he did rarely call people by nicknames, no one had ever called Lauro by his full name, he had always been Lauro since Luca met him in high school. Only a few people knew that Lauro was a nickname and Luca was one of those few.

Lauro shoulders slumped and he sighed. "Luca. Really, with the full name?" He shook his head while looking at him. "I am worried cause I think Angela can help you and I don't know if you'll let her. In the short time she had been here, she has been accepted and treated as family now. Are you going to let her stay here or send her away when you decide that she is better?"

"I don't know. I'm not going to make her stay here if she doesn't want to. But here, she'll have the family that she's has wanted since her parent died." Luca said dispassionately and ran a hand through his hair. "It is far too late to talking about this, I'm going to bed."

Without another word, Luca walked up the stairs and out of sight. Leaving Lauro at the bottom of the stairs by himself. Angela's room was on the opposite side of the hallway from Luca's room, but it couldn't hurt to check in on her. He wouldn't do anything, just open the door and check to see that she is sleeping well and then he would go to his room. Luca walked to her room and slowly twisted the doorknob and opened her door. He let a small sliver of light to enter the room as he looked inside and saw Angela sleeping on her bed, nestled under the covers. He smiled and just as slowly closed the door.

Luca went to his bedroom, turned on the light, and closed the door behind him. He stripped off his clothes down to his boxers and discarded his clothes in his hamper. He took off his watch and placed it on his bedside table along with his silver rings. He turned off the light and got into his bed and drifted off to sleep.

Tomorrow would be a good day.

Angela woke up in the morning after having a fitful sleep. She kept tossing and turning, and waking up and going back to sleep. She didn't feel rested at all. She felt like she didn't get any sleep and when she did fall asleep, she had nightmares. Angela did not feel like getting out of bed at all, perhaps she could rest without falling asleep and she would feel better.

She rolled over and cuddled one of the many pillows on the bed close to her body and shut her eyes again. Before she was taken, when she lived with her adoptive family, she had always dreamed of her real family and that they didn't die. Before, whenever she fell asleep, it was like she was waking up to that life and she lived with them and nothing bad happened. She lost those dreams when she was kidnapped and it was like she lost her family all over again. All that was left now were nightmares of that man and she felt like a shell.

She didn't want to feel the anguish that came from the nightmares, the painful memories from the scars on her body, the desire not to feel anything, the needing of a family that truly loved her. Tears flowed from her eyes onto the pillow and it didn't stop, she was crying for the loss of her happiness that soaked the pillow she was tightly holding to have at least some comfort.

There was a knock on Angela's door, but she didn't hear it due to her sobs. The door opened and Abelia walked in.

"Angela." Abelia said softly in a heartbreaking manner as she took in the picture in front of her.

Angela turned her head to her door and saw Abelia standing there with a sad face. She didn't say or hide anything, her face was streaked with tears, her eyes and nose were a puffy red, and her mouth was quivering.

"Will you let me hold you? Allow me to give you some comfort?" Abelia said gently as she stayed where she was because she didn't want to do anything that Angela didn't want.

Angela didn't respond, but she gave the smallest nod in response to Abelia's questions and Abelia, ever the observer saw the small motion, and walked over to the bed. Abelia was on the opposite where Angela was facing and slowly climbed onto the bed and gently, but firmly removed the pillow from Angela's grasp which didn't offer any resistance. Abelia leaned against the cushioned headboard and gathered Angela into her arms and held her just the way she needed.

Angela let out louder sobs as she held onto Abelia tightly because there was someone holding her and comforting her. That was exactly what she needed at that moment. Abelia stroked Angela's hair and soothed her.

"You probably know this now from the other guys, but Alessio and Luca have been together since they were toddlers. I knew Alessio as long as Luca has, but that's because I was his younger sister. Alessio's family had always been the loyal servants of the Don, the head of their family was always the Don's right hand man. It was only fitting to have Alessio with Luca because one day when Luca became the Don, Alessio would be his second-in-command. Our parents thought it would be a good union to marry me to Alessio, it would join the two families in marriage." Abelia smiled fondly at the thought of her childhood.

Angela was quiet now, having exhausted her energy from crying. She listened intently to Abelia, she loved the sound of her voice. Angela also loved the sisterly feeling, she had always wanted a sister and now she had an older sister.

"Ever since I could remember, I was told that I would marry Alessio when I became an adult. When I turned sixteen, Alessio gave me a promise ring and said that when I was eighteen, he would replace with a wedding ring." Abelia giggled, "He was so serious, he hasn't changed from then, he still is. Alessio is Luca's age, he is three years older, but that didn't matter to us. I spent my whole childhood with him as his fiancee, and now I'll spend the rest of my life as his wife."

"That is so romantic Abelia, I'm so happy for you." Angela smiled as she lifted her head up from Abelia's chest to look at her dark blue eyes. "I wanna see your ring."

"Alright." Abelia moved her left hand from Angela's head so she could look at the ring. "It is a cushion cut Aquamarine stone with celtic knots embracing the small diamonds, there is scrollwork on the tops, sides, and bottom of the platinum band. Directly underneath the wedding ring is the engagement ring that has the same scroll work. They are a set."

"That is gorgeous." Angela admired the rings and smiled softly. "Did it take him long to choose?"

Abelia let out a long laugh, "It took him forever. He started looking after he gave me the small and modest promise ring because he wanted it to be special. He told me at the reception that the ring wasn't ready until the morning of the wedding. He had found the perfect one a couple days before and there was so many customizations he wanted done. I almost didn't get my ring in time." She shook her head, he was kind of a mess for those two years. He did manage to focus on work, but whenever he wasn't at work he was looking at wedding rings."

"He had two years of notice and he didn't find it until a couple days before the wedding. That's unbelievable." Angela smiled.

"I still bring it up to give him crap for it and every time, he apologizes so profusely. I never let him live it down. But one thing to note, if I didn't love Alessio, my parents wouldn't have made me marry him. Our parents married for love and they want the same for their children. They are waiting for Luca to find his special someone to continue the bloodline. I can see from how Luca is behaving that he wants that to be you. I have never him behave this way before. He was never a romantic and he didn't really care for women except for those of his family. He has changed since he found out about you. Don't tell Luca that I told you, he still thinks its a secret that only he knows." Abelia snickered and brought her hand back to stroke Angela's hair.

"I won't, don't worry." Angela said quietly as her face turned scarlet red and she laid her hair back on Abelia's chest, "I'll keep it a secret between us girls. I like this, I was an only child before I was adopted by the Kavanaughs and then I had three older brothers. I had always wanted a sister and now, that is possible."

"Oh sweetheart, I know how you feel. After I was born, our mother couldn't conceive another child so I was her last. I was always surrounded by so many boys and I only had my mom, my aunt, and an older cousin. I will definitely treat you like my younger sister and spoil you too. You deserve it." Abelia hugged Angela's small frame tightly and kissed the top of her head. "Now even though, it is morning, you have to be exhausted. Go ahead and take a nap, I'll keep holding you."

"Thank you Abelia." Angela let out a breath and closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.