Nikolai Dimitri Leonov

Livia was asleep.

I was honestly surprised it had taken her this long to pass out. She has been on the verge of falling asleep all day but like most things, she fights it until she cannot take it anymore.

It was one of the things I admired about her, she never stopped fighting, her strength far succeeded anyone else I had ever met in my entire life. And maybe that's always why I fought with her, I loved to see the fire grow in her that I knew would burn anyone that got too close. I was almost immune to her fire but if she wanted to torch me to ashes I would happily take it.

I glance at the time on my phone, I knew we needed to leave now if we wanted to be back in time for dinner but we still had almost an hour's drive until we reached her place. I could leave her to sleep longer in the car but once she woke up I doubted she would go back asleep but if I picked her up then it would be likely that she would castrate me.

I run through the pros and cons list in my head before acting on impulse and slipping my arms under her legs and picking her up. I go down the elevator to the garage I knew would be deserted, if there was the possibility of being seen I would have never done this, that would have guaranteed me a spot in a grave.

But Liv needed sleep, she was far less terrifying once she had a couple of hours in her.

Carefully I maneuver to open the door and set her down in the passenger seat, trying my best to be gentle, she was a ridiculously light sleeper and it wouldn't take much to get her up. I wasn't surprised she hadn't woken up already proving she was far more tired than she let on.

The car ride was noiseless. I wasn't taking my chances and putting on any music, instead, Livia's soft breathing filled the small space. Half an hour into the drive I see her start to shift, and then she sits up taller, looking around. Her hand rises to rub her eyes but I stop her. "That's bad for your eyes."

"What am I doing here, Leonov." her voice is raspy, I pass her the water bottle I had taken from her office and she takes it without question. I wait until she has taken a couple of sips before answering.

"What does it look like?" I tease. "We're heading back."

"And why didn't you wake me up?"

"Well you're very scary when you're tired and an even scarier person to wake up, so I picked the obvious answer."

"Of course." She mutters sarcastically. The two of us sit in utter silence for a little more, we were minutes away from her estate before Livia broke it. "Can you stop thinking so loud?"

"How does someone think loud?" I ask incredulously I turn to face her since we were at a traffic light.

"I don't know but somehow you've managed it." She mutters, releasing a sigh that blows the strands of hair that had fallen into her face before they settle back where they had lifted from. I take my eyes off her and focus back on the road in front of me. "What are you even thinking about."

"Wouldn't you like to know, Princess?"

"Yes, yes I would. That's why I asked."

"Well, I'm not going to tell you." There was no way I was letting her know what was currently running through my head. Her phone starts pinging multiple times in a row. "Will you answer that, please? I thought you turned it off?"

"I turned my work number off, I still have my personal line on." I feel her freeze next to me.

"What's wrong?"

"Well as you know my mother is currently on my property," I affirm her statement wondering where she was going with this. "And so is your mother."

Now that causes my blood to run cold, my body freezing like Livia's had done seconds earlier. Now my mother never had a problem with many individuals. People had always wondered why she had ended up with a mafia don, she is a sweetheart. But if there was one person that my mother despised it was Delia Castillo. From what I knew they were best friends and she was heartbroken when she left but that she could have got over, what truly disgusted my mother was Delia leaving her baby. I think it broke my mother's heart even more since I was just about the same age as Liv and she couldn't have ever imagined doing that to me.

The difference between them is that my mother isn't selfish like Delia.

My mother stepped up for Livia though, resulting in us spending far too much time together in our younger years while our dads were working. And I think that's ultimately where our feuds started. We had nothing better to do than rile each other up and we found enjoyment in it so it has lasted, far longer than our parents thought it would.

We didn't hate each other, or a least I didn't hate her. But I did love the outlet fighting with her gave me.

When I stopped the car in front of her house, Livia doesn't jump out straight away. Instead, she opens the glove compartment and pulls out a hair tie and some of the red lipstick she always wore to try and make herself even more presentable. She looked fine, just sleepy.

"Geraldo," Livia calls one of the guards who was on duty.

"Si Signora Di Vittorio?" He nods his head in respect. Good, she deserves it. Livia had to fight harder to get the respect she merited than I had to, it was the way the world worked but I knew that she earned it more than I had, she was a far better boss than I was, or ever will be.

"Where is my father?"

"In the offices, Signora. With Don Leonov."

"Grazie." Livia thanks him, the two of us don't rush heading up to the house's doors either. We knew there was probably an issue going on and delaying our entry gave us time to mentally prepare for it. I catch movement out of the corner of my eyes.

"Livia." Even though there wasn't anybody in earshot I still lowered my voice and gestured at what I saw. A frown forms on her face as she analyses the situation. I could see the gears turning as she was trying to fit this into the complex equation we were trying to build and solve. "They're not supposed to be there, hm?"

She shakes her head confirming what I already knew. We would have to keep our eyes on that one.

We search the house for my mother, eventually finding her sitting on the main balcony having lunch with Carina and Allegra.

"Niko." I smile and hug Allie back, she had always been the little sister I had wanted.

"Hey Alls." She grubs widely at me before sitting back in her seat, she was the most innocent and the sweetest out of the Di Vittorio siblings.

"Come sit and have some lunch you two," Carina calls us over.

"I don't know mama," Livia replies unsurely. "We have to go and meet dad."

"Eat something first, goodness knows the two of you don't take care of your well-being enough." My mom sighs. "Taking after your fathers isn't always a good thing you know."

I glance at Livia and all she does is shrug, we didn't have a choice. So we sit in and dig into the snacks that had been prepared. Liv and I try to not interact with one another, knowing it would most likely end in an argument and around our families we try, the key word being try, to tone it down.

"Thank you for lunch." I nod in thanks to Carina as I stand up, I grab Livia's empty plate and stack it on top of mine for easy cleaning.

"Where are the two of you going now?" Mom questions.

"Right now we're heading to dad's office but after that, I don't know. We are probably going to have a meeting with everyone either today or on Monday."

"It will probably be on Monday," I inform Liv knowing her family didn't like their members working on weekends and would prefer them to spend it with their families.

"Unless something new comes up, and at this point, I wouldn't even be surprised if it did."

"Don't jinx it." I groan.

Livia presents me with the biggest, cheekiest grin she could muster. "Never."

Happy new years!!!

Is anyone else just totally looking forward to this new year, like i have so much planned and I can't wait.

Next chapter should be up on Thursday if I can finish it by then. Please vote and comment and I will see you then.

Happy reading

Ara <3