Old Habits Die Hard

As I lay in my bubble bath I picture what Capri might look like. The furthest I've ever been from New York is Jersey and that was to visit Ryan's family. Always dreadful, if pompous had a picture, his family would be it. Partly why Ryan was the way he was, old habits die hard I guess.

I fully indulge myself with the homemade truffles Sofia made, a hot bubble bath and chocolate what more could a girl want. I lay in the tub for the next hour before hearing Dom come in the room. As he walks into the bathroom he pauses, staring at me with beautiful honey eyes.

"I've got everything in order, we'll be leaving the day after tomorrow. Can you be packed by then Amorè?" He asks me. I nod in response, he grabs the towel and I stand as he wraps it around me, then the thick robe. Grabbing my hand he walks me to the settee and sits me down before saying "Since I promised no business on this trip I've got a busy day, I want you to come with me later. I want you to see.... How far I'll go to protect you..."

He pulls my sleeve up to see the now purplish bruise around my wrist, Ryan held so tight you can almost actually make out his finger marks on the bruise. I watch as his eyes go dark with fury before he continues "Coraline this happened because I wasn't there to protect you... and one thing us Camorra's are good for is vengeance. And it's vengeance I'll be serving!"

I look down at my wrist, I've had worse, that's probably why Dom is more pissed than I am. I place my palm along his face and say "I'll follow you to hell and back but..." the feeling is back again, 'oh shit' I think to myself. My stomach tightens and my mouth salvitates and I run to the porcelain throne, and there goes the half digested truffles.

I clean myself up as Dom stands there watching me with concern. "Amorè you sure you're okay?" He asks me. I tell him I'm just hungover, I shouldn't had mixed so many liquors the night before. He shakes his head as he grabs my hand and pulls me downstairs into the kitchen. Telling Sofia I just got sick and needed her to whip up some soup for me. He sets me at the island on the stool before kissing my forehead and telling me he'll see me in a few hours before turning on his heel and disappears.

Sofia gathers everything to start the soup, I get up to help but Sofia rushes to sit me back down and tells me to stay put. "Sofia I'm fine, just hungover. I can help!" I say. She looks at me before saying "I got you something else... I'm old, call it a hunch, call it experience, Whatever it is I've never been wrong!" She places a brown paper sack in front of me.

I feel my brows furrow as I look down at the sack, Sofia goes back to the stove without another word. I look inside and my heart drops. It's a pregnancy test! "Sofia..." is all I can muster out. There's no way it's only been about three weeks, I was with Ryan a decade and never once fell pregnant, we did use protection a lot but not always. Dom never used one though.

"I can't be... Sofia this is impossible. There hasn't been enough time..." I say softly. She chuckles before saying "Honey, all it takes is one time, I know you've had at least that! Trust me, take the test, if I'm wrong then I'm wrong!" I internally panic what if she wasn't though... I look up at Sofia again and say "Please don't tell Dom about this, about you getting the test or that I'm actually taking one!"

Sofia nods as she stirs the soup. I grab the brown sack and go to the bedroom, I pace with it on my hand for awhile trying my best to not have a meltdown. Not about if I was, I've always wanted to be a mother, I wanted that with Ryan as fucked up as that is. But how will Domenico react, I don't think a baby is or was in his game plan.

I could just not tell him.. Our deal ends soon, how would he ever know? My mind just races with more scenarios I care to admit. Finally I just stop and decide to take the test. I head to the bathroom and carefully remove the packaging on the box and look at the instructions. It says early results, I unwrap the foil and sit on the toilet, I remove the pretty translucent pink lid and pee on it.

I put the lid back on and set it on the counter, I pace around the bedroom a few times and go back to take a peak. My heart flutters and my stomach drops.

Two pink lines!

I feel the tears pour from eyes both happy and sad. Happy I'll finally get the one thing I've always wanted, sad because of how I think Dom will react. I quickly grab the test and take one more look at it before going to grab my suitcase and throwing it on the bed. I shove the test in one of the tiny hidden area's deep inside of it. I grab some of my favorite dresses and outfits and neatly fold them into the open suitcase.

I am brought back to reality when Sofia comes in with a tray with soup, crackers and tea on it. My eyes are a bit red, she could see I've been crying. She places the tray on the bed and says "My lips are sealed.. for now honey, but don't wait too long before telling Domenico. He has a right to know dear!" I nod before saying I will I just need a few days to figure out how to tell him. She nods before heading back out, I didn't lie but I have to figure out what and how this is going to go.

It's no matter right now though, right now I need to eat, get dressed and ready Dom will be here in a few hours. I sit down and eat the soup, it's absolutely delicious. I take my time eating hoping to not upset my stomach. I eventually get up and grab a pair of black leggings and an old graphic tee of mine, I slowly get dressed. The next two hours are a drag, I'm lost in thoughts and I'm terrible at hiding stuff. Especially with Dom, somehow he always knows.

Before I know it I hear the front door open and footsteps coming up the steps. I hid everything so he'll never see a scrap of the test. He opens the door and greets me with a kiss. "You ready little dove?" He asks he pulls back giving me a second look, furrowing his brows but not asking. I tell him I just have to grab my purse, then we're on our way.

We walk arm in arm to the car, I try to act like I'm okay but internally I'm panicking. He opens the door and let's me in before getting in himself. He tells Vinny to head to warehouse. Confused I ask him what the warehouse was. He let's out that it's where they do business. It takes nearly an hour to get there. The mood is cold and tense by the time we get there.

Before getting out Dom turns and looks at me and says "What you're about to see is going to be rough but you're going to have to get used to it... You wanted revenge I'm giving it to you on a silver platter!"

The knot in my stomach grows, he opens the door and we head to an old building that looks like it hasn't been used in a lifetime. I gulp as we near the door and I hear weak screams and shouting. When the door is opened and we walk inside I see Leo, Gio, Enzo and Vinny. I'm so nervous as I step forward, there's a chair that's bolted to the flooring and there's a bloodied man barely breathing.

I gasp as I get closer, I don't know this man but he's hurt bad and I just don't know how to feel. Domenico leaves me where I'm at and takes a few steps closer to the man, before telling the man something in Italian, something I can't understand. The man spits blood at Domenico and I watch as his eyes turn so dark they almost blend with his pupils. I'm scared!