His Little Flower (Felix and Flora)

My brother had texted me in the morning to come eat lunch with him and Remy Ajax. It had been a while since I had seen Remy, and it would be nice to catch up. He had been a constant presence in my life when I used to live with my family, but since moving out, I saw him less and less.

I agreed, and Gabriel asked me to come to the Central to hang out I texted Julian about the same, who thought it was a good idea. He told me he would pick me up from there after I was done, and then we could spend some time together. Julian and I hadn’t met in three days because he was busy building a cradle with his own hands. Was there a need for it? Absolutely not. But I guess it gave him a way to spend time, plus a way to get actively involved in fatherhood.

I drove to the Central and parked my car a little away from the building, walking the rest of the way. It had been quite a while since I’d been here. In fact, the last time I came here, it was when Julian had proposed to Nus and I had been witness to that. All that felt like a lifetime ago. Julian and I were in such a good place now that all that seemed

like a distant, hazy memory.

I shouldn’t even think of all this. Way to jinx things, Ginevr

As I made my way upstairs, I heard a scuffle going on downstairs, towards the kitchen. Curious, I went over there. Two or three people were standing, surrounding an ongoing brawl. A fight? That was strange. There were rarely ever any fights between soldiers in the mata. They were trained too well and too loyal for that.

I ventured out to check what was happening.

I joined that circle of bystanders, and in the middle were two young men fighting. One of them I recognized. He was Dom, a soldier I knew cause I had tattooed him once. I had done his whole sleeve. The other person I didn’t recognize. In fact, he didn’t even look Italian. Or part of our mafia. And not be elitist, but he looked too rich to be a soldier

And he was huge. So huge.

And he had…Nua with him? Not even with him, he had a death grip on her arm and was shielding her from the other guy.

No, he wasn’t shielding her. He was holding her hostage. And Dom was trying to get her away from him. Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

“Nus!” I yelled. She whipped her bead to meet my eyes. Her own were tearful

I looked around at the bystanders. What the fuck?

“Did any one of you call Nico?” I yelled, scrambling for my phone in my bag. “Don? Consigliere? Anyune at all?”

I dialed up Nico, but h

he didn’t answer. I tried again. The ringing sounds added to my anxiety

The fight was getting worse. It wasn’t even a fight anymore. The outsider who was holding Nua hostage had fished out a gun, and I don’t think Dom had one. God, this man was intelligent. He had chosen a time when not many people were in the Central to attack. A slow weekday, with everyone out or at home. Lunch time. And only these amateur soldiers were here.

As I tried to dial Nico, I watched as the man’s grip on Nua loosened for a second, and she tried to break free, making a run for it, she was successful freeing her arm from his tight grasp. The man

knocked Dom out with a punch, and then grabbed Nua again.

Nico answered

“Nico!” I gasped, “Its Nua, come East

My phone was knocked out from my hand. This one single man had a lot of tricks up his sleeve. I was heavily pregnant. I shouldn’t be here. But Nua-

“Don’t call that fucking pussy,” the man grinned a sinister smile, “Someone else wants Nun. I’m going to take her from here. Just as soon as I do some damage. Where’s your

Capo?”

Hemy Ajax

Heally where was he? And Gabriel? They invited me here and were nowhere to be seen?

“Wh–what do you want?”

He pointed the gun at me. At us- the people surrounding me as well. They all began to step back. I gulped. I should too. But I couldn’t let him hurt. Nus, or worse, kill her. I needed my phone. I needed to call Julian.

“The princess.” He smiled crookedly. “Nothing else. She comes with me, I kill one or two of you, and its all good.” He sneered, “Now get the fuck away from me, lady, I don’t wanna hurt someone knocked up.”

I didn’t get away from him.

I tried to crouch down to get my phone, but he kicked it away from me. I couldn’t even bend properly. Or run, or move fastly to get to it. Things were fucked, but there was a strange rush of adrenaline in me.

1 took a step back, raising my hands. I just had to stall him, till someone showed up. Nico. Or Remy Ajax. Or Don. Someone.

The man’s expressions suddenly changed.

“Oh hey, this is that whore Dante Rivera left you for.” He looked down at Nua, grinning, “She’s still protecting you. How fucking cute. So the child is a Rivera then, huh?” His eyes zeroed in on my belly. “That’s good news. I’m taking back that last sentence about not wanting to hurt you.”

Oh holy hell.