Page 24 of The Mafia Man's Baby Deal
“Yeah, you can stay.”
And she threw her arms around Mateo, hugging him tightly.
Chapter Nine
Mateo had never decorateda room in his life.He had never gone furniture shopping.There were people he paid to handle that kind of business.Yet, when it came to Terry’s room, he didn’t want anyone else handling it.
So, he and Ella, along with Terry, painted the room in three different colors.At first, Terry was insistent she wanted a blue room.So, she chose the color, and they started painting.Two walls in, she whispered to Ella that she didn’t like it.So, it was changed to pink.This time, they were only a single wall in, and she hated it.It was settled on yellow.A sunshine, happy yellow.They painted the whole room yellow, and Mateo kept expecting her to say she hated it, and she never did.Terry loved the yellow.She also opted for yellow blankets on her bed.
Ella picked out the furniture, which was a lovely white.Mateo understood it.The room Terry had been forced to stay in had been dark.This hadn’t even been the closet, but he inspected the whole house.The walls had been painted black.The furniture had been a dark brown.There had been no true light.Nothing to make a little girl feel happy.
Terry didn’t want darkness.She wanted it to be light and happy and free.He created a room just for her.
Mateo also noticed that Terry rarely ate anything.She was terrified of asking for food.Even if she was starving.So, he made sure to load up her plate.It didn’t take a genius to work out that she would get punished for asking for food.In his home, there was food readily available to her.All she had to do was take.He made sure every room had a jar of chocolate, cookies, or snacks.Anyone could help themselves, and yes, he had seen guards sneaking a cookie or two.The truth was, he didn’t give a fuck.
The first month Terry was home with them, she woke every night, screaming.He and Ella worked tirelessly to take care of her.She would fall asleep in his or Ella’s arms.
They also knew they had to get her into school.Instead, he opted for a tutor.He had no problem finding one who was more than willing to come to his home to teach Terry.Ella was always there, keeping an eye on things, making sure Terry was taken care of.
His home life was a crazy, happy mess, with a child he was taking care of.He also handled the latest problem within the Bratva.
When it came closer to home, Luca had sworn his loyalty to him, and he didn’t want to sever ties.He was also told that the other capos were the same way.They didn’t necessarily like the way he did things, but they were not going to get in the way of him doing what he needed to do.
Mateo and Ella had been married over three months, and he knew she was not menstruating.After one of his meetings with Eric, he stopped at the pharmacy and picked up a pregnancy test.Ella had also started to wake up in the mornings feeling a little sick.At first, he put it down to the stress of dealing with Terry.Now, he had to wonder if it was due to pregnancy.
Just as he was about to climb into his car and head home, his cell phone rang.He saw it was Luca calling, and he didn’t want to answer it.He wanted to just go home and spend time with his girls.Mateo paused.Every evening, after dinner, they would go into the cinema room and watch an animated movie with Terry.He’d make sure there was popcorn, candy, and soda.Ella called him a bad influence, but the truth was, he just like to make Terry happy.Also, he enjoyed sitting down with his family and watching movies.He had never done it, not even with his mom.All his life, he had been so focused on his training, he hadn’t even taken time to enjoy the little things in life.He got to do that now.He knew that taking this call meant he might not get his movie.
Everything in his gut was telling him to ignore that call, but he clicked “accept.”After all, Luca had been the one to vote for him.He wanted him as head of the mafia, and Mateo was starting to like the idea of it finally being called the Cole Mafia.
“What is it?”he asked.
Luca sighed.“I’ve just killed Mario.”
This got his attention.“Do you want to tell me why?”
“Look, Mario had been acting strangely for the past few weeks.He was talking about overthrowing you.At the time, I figured he just had too much to drink, but then I just, I got curious, and I followed him.He was meeting up with Hans.”
