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It’s a part of human nature to have secrets. To hold information dear to someone close to the chest. The secrets are vast- they are different for everyone, and the secrets they hold dear might change with age. Some secrets are shared, like hidden weaknesses with someone you inexplicably trust. Other secrets lie in wait, exposable no matter how much someone might try to internalize. Of course, there are less severe secrets like crushes, hidden talents, and white lies, but if one tries to hide the truth, it will always come to light.
Every member of la familiga has secrets. Even as a new member, Davina holds her secrets close to her chest as she looks for evidence of her parent's demise. If she had paid more attention to some of her charge habits, she might have noticed even he had a secret.
Mikey was no ordinary child, having lost his mother at only three, being a baby mafioso, son to an underboss, and heir to their family’s syndicate. He has grown fast not only to protect himself but to serve as a shield to his father. He missed his mama, but he didn’t remember her very well outside of her insistence he explore other avenues of life. So, Mikey doesn't tell anyone that the person in his nightmares has changed; he is scared it will offend Papa and worry Davina. It's not his mama that gets hurt anymore. It's Davina.
So he doesn't explain sometimes; his mama morphs into Davina, bleeding from her chest. Other times, Mikey is an unwilling witness as he watches his Papa trying to protect him and Davina while they run, but they are caught, and he’s taken away from them both. Once, it was Davina and his mama who tried to protect him. On one memorable occasion, it was his mama Davina had to protect him from, but Davina failed. She always did in his nightmares.
When he wakes up, his papa and Davina greet him. More often than not, when he first opens his eyes, it's Davina’s green he looks into rather than the blue shared by both his papa and late mother. The sight shocked him at first, not frightened, but shocked because no matter the difference in shade, Davina’s eyes held a similar sheen of love and a conviction to protect him as his parents did. The shine in her eyes never dims, her desire and determination to defend him continuing, if not growing, with each dangerous altercation.
The dreams come nightly, different but with the same message. A message that Mikey takes care to decode in between his busy schedule. After all, Davina had taught him what a ‘moral of a story’ was for a reason; he must look at the events of the dream to find what lesson he needs to learn. (Davina and Papa don't call him a genius for anything!) He doesn’t want to remember, but if stories could teach you something, so could dreams, right? It doesn’t take long for him to realize Davina needs protection, continuously getting injured even if nothing is happening by going the extra mile. So Mikey resolves to protect her just as she protects him.
Still, it doesn't take long for his papa to grow concerned with the way Mikey begins to trail after Davina. However, it is only after Mikey kicked up a fuss about Davina going to an “unsecured” and “unattended” bathroom by herself that a confrontation is to be had.
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“I will be back in a moment, Mikey. Do you want another chocolate milk?” Davina asks as she stands, placing her napkin on her chair and waiting for Mikey’s approval (because, let's be honest, when would he deny a refill of his favorite drink?). Gabriele says nothing, simply eying the area for threats, a small smile tugging at his cheeks.
“Yes, that would be —Wait.” Mikey's cheerful, or more accurately, not sullen, figure tenses. Davina chuckles at the formal reply, throwing her napkin on the table, only pausing as his tone loses its smugness as he demands her delayed departure. Gabriele, himself, was amused at the formal address before tensing at the tone of voice while demanding Davina’s presence—the same tone of voice he uses as Agent Milkman.
“Mikey,” Gabe speaks, his tone a mix of scolding and disappointment. Davina, though slightly annoyed at being interrupted but unbearably curious, stays silent and in the dark for the reason of their quiet conversation. Davina’s questioning gaze paces between the Angelini’s. Each looks tense. If you hadn't been able to tell from looks, one might be able to recognize a relation through their body language. Both Angelini’s tense in their seats, hands clutching their utensils fiercely, and a lethal (cute in Mikey’s case) gazes, but for reasons unknown to her. Gabriele only looks long enough away from his staring competition to wave her off, that is to say, plenty of time for Mikey to rush to her side, little hands grabbing at her uniform in a way he usually would have deemed too childish and undignified.
“What’s up, kiddo,” Davina questions, her concern growing, turning back to Gabe for any assistance or indication he knows what brought this on. The man in question has already made his way from his seat, now hovering over the woman and his son, but he stays silent as he is also clueless about the circumstances. Davina cannot help the blush spreading across her face like wildfire at the proximity. Luckily, little hands are quick to distract and relieve her of any discomfort at the underboss's proximity.
“We aren't monitoring the bathroom; what if it isn't safe?” Mikey exclaims, his voice cracking under the pressure of his fear. His father says his name, full of warnings not to push, but it's Davina, and even if his papa won't admit it, he's a little worried, too. Davina interrupts his papa, though, protecting him from a scolding the same way she protects him from bad guys.
“Are you doubting your nanny?” Davina questions, raising a brow inquisitively rather than asking the obvious: why do you think I'm in danger? Mikey jumps up, shaking his head vigorously.
“N-No, but…” Mikey stumbles over his words. Little hands wringing her skirt material between them in nerves. Manicured nails lift his chin to meet pretty green eyes, holding no judgment and being willing to wait no matter how long his answer takes. Mikey is able to keep his fears to himself for approximately one second before the words escape from his lips. “What if someone hurts you?”
“Ah… I won’t leave you. Not without telling you first. I can't promise we won't ever be separated or even that I won't get hurt. Still, I can promise that I won't let anything from this world get in the way of making my way back to you if that day comes,” Davina murmurs, so only the two Angelini’s are able to hear her words. The words startle Gabe, but they are more than enough for Mikey to throw himself into her arms. It only takes a few moments for her to calm him down enough to place him back in his seat, the hug serving more as a signature on a contract before disappearing around the corner to the bathroom.
“Mikey, have you been having nightmares?” Gabe asks that night next to Mikey in bed, having sent Davina to get some downtime herself. She had left the penthouse not long after the dismissal, but he had been dealing with a tearful and overly tired Mikey since.
“Is someone with ‘vina?‘Mikey asks instead, his hands clenched in his sheets, big blue eyes looking at him imploringly. Gabe clenches his own hands, dipping his head, ashamed because, yes, he does. As much as he trusts her, he cannot trust anyone around him, not entirely, at least. The problem is he hasn't been open about the tails for her safety.
“Yes…” Gabe admits, dropping a kiss onto Mikey's forehead. His son’s blue eyes widen with shock but droop with relief just as quickly. The underboss is barely able to contain his chuckle, and it seems Davina’s safety has taken priority in Mikey's young brain. “Now, will you be honest with me? Have you been having nightmares?”
“Mama… hurt ‘vina. You… gone… couldn’t help,” Mikey admits, sleep slowly but undoubtedly taking hold of the boy. His words freeze the man perched on his bedside. After losing his home, it was only natural to have a recurrence of nightmares, especially after Davina and his admittance to l'hopital. To this extent, however, might be something that needs to be checked on, Gabe notes to himself.
Gabe simply sits on the edge of the bed, gazing at Mikey, feeling at peace for the first time in a while. Even with things in the chaotic state that they are spending time with, his son is a cure to any of Gabe’s ailments, but especially stress. There was a time when all of the tension would leak from his muscles when he saw Mikey like this. So innocently wrapped up in his blankets, ducky safely nestled in his arms, oblivious to the dangers lurking around him. But tension lingers even in Gabriele’s peace that he remains unable to decipher.
The question of his lingering tension is answered with the arrival of a text. Gabe is in the kitchen, absently reading information on child psychologists. However, the ever-persistent nagging feeling itself was causing Gabe some agitation, leaving him unfocused. He rarely had the privilege of a quiet night, and when he did, it was consistently encroached upon as if it were protected by the thinnest weakest of glasses. Mikey is safely asleep. He knows, the room is secure. Both himand Davina checked it before setting Mikey to sleep, but the sensation lingers. The man has mentally checked through his list multiple times, checking off boxes as he does so, but Mikey is safe, and everything else has been either handled by himself or passed on to one of his subordinates. The arrival of a notification interrupts Gabe’s musings, and within seconds, the tentative peace in his world shatters into a million glass pieces. It doesn’t click until later that Davina’s absence coincides with his inability to achieve complete peace that night.
‘Sorry, boss, we know you said stay out of sight, but someone tried to nab her.’ Gabriele stares down at the message in shock, his heart pounding out of his chest. His mind races just as fast, if not quicker, than his heart, searching for answers to questions he can't even determine.
Seconds turn to minutes and minutes to hours while Gabe awaits further news or for Davina herself to come through the mahogany doors of the penthouse suite. Gabe passes the time, pacing trying to determine how to explain the tails. He should tell her he knows exactly who she is, but that would shatter her trust in him, and he’s not entirely sure he can deal with the consequences of his actions.
“You placed a tail on me?” Davina demands, whirling into the room. Disheveled and furious, the sight might have made Gabe weak in the knees if he hadn't spied blood trickling down her neck. The woman looks stunning even in the shorts and sweatshirt she had thrown on to explore the surroundings, and since she hadn't been anticipating a fight, her hair flows freely behind her. The sight threatens to distract Gabriel, but even his lust can't overcome the weight of his worry.
“For fucks sake, what happened,” Gabriele exclaims as opposed to answering her, rushing to her side. Taking her face in his hands, he roughly turns it back and forth, looking for any additional injuries. Her split lip is as much damage as is visible on her face, an inconsequential injury but one which causes Gabe to become irrationally angry.
“Enough!” Davina exclaims, roughly shoving Gabriele's hands away from her. The mafioso's eyes continue to linger on her injuries, and she only looks into Davina's eyes when she steps away from him. Increasing the distance, Gabriele hadn't processed he’d closed. Davina glared at him warily, a gaze that Gabe had come to hate more than anything, even if this was the second exposure. “You have tails on me.”
“I do.” The underboss confirms, brushing his fingers roughly through his hair as he growls in frustration. Davina freezes at the confirmation, digging her nails into her forearms slightly to ensure she stays present and focused on Gabe. She is worried because this could mean he has suspicions about her, and she can feel the telltale signs of an adrenaline crash. The man doesn’t say anything for a few moments, preferring to observe the ground rather than meet her anxious and disappointed expression. “They’re for your protection. Or were. Useless fools, the lot of them.”
“You're… firing them?” Davina asks, diverting from the conversation just slightly. The underboss chuckles, but it's not the same warm laugh that makes her feel warm inside— but a cold, chilling laugh that threatens to freeze the blood in her veins.
“If they aren’t already gone… they will be,” Gabe admits, pushing her to sit on one of the couches in the main living space. Davina wants to protest his methods, but he’s already disappearing around the corner. When he comes out, she can't even get in a word because he’s already begun talking again, “it was for your protection. The incompetent fools had a single job to follow you, stay out of sight, and neutralize any threats before they made it to you. I won’t kill them, but they will be disappearing.”
“Gabriele…” Davina begins, only to be interrupted before she can voice her protests. With this incident, any guilt or remorse Gabe feels for placing the tails on her has wholly disappeared. The cut and split lip were more than enough to ignite Mikey’s worries, which provided his papa the opportunity or excuse, depending on the way one looks at it, to raise the security around both of them.
“How did this happen?” Gabe questions angrily instead, stepping in front of her once more. This time, a medkit is in hand so he can sterilize and bandage the little cut. “I won’t apologize for placing a tail on you if that’s what you're waiting for. Whether you want to believe it or not, it is for your protection, and it has paid off. Mikey has grown too fond of you. I do not think he would ever forgive me if you were seriously injured.”
“Fine... For Mikey,” Davina sighs, looking into his eyes with defeat rather than anger. In some ways, the loyalty Mikey has inspired in her amuses, but it also terrifies him. Already, Davina has sustained two minor gunshot wounds. She would put down her life for Mikey’s without a second thought; that much is clear. It is what she was hired for but the thought of Davina sustaining any injury hurts him in a way that is not appropriate for the professional relationship they have. Even looking at her now with injuries that will repair themselves in days with proper care hurts because he brought her back to this life.
“Stay still,” Gabe demands, one hand maneuvering her jaw to access the cut. Davina bites back the urge to let loose a sarcastic remark or something stupid like, “You said your men had one task, but there were many more, so can you not count?”
“I was just walking back from la supermarche mais, and I noticed a couple of des hommes walking in a group, continually glancing at me. I was under the impression they were harmless and just looking at me when two broke off to walk ahead of me and another two behind. Deux others seemed to be on standby, either waiting to call someone or observing an initiation. That was quand toi hommes intervened. Next time just tell moi you have people on me j’ai peut take them out of commission.” Davina amits finally as Gabe places a bandage over her cleaned wound. A smile threatens to break as he listens to her report, which is intermingling French and English.
“Thank you, and I will be sure to give you a heads up,” Gabriele chuckles from where he kneels at her feet in front of the couch. The woman in question merely eyes him warily, a light blush coating her cheeks at the proximity and the suggestive nature of the position. A blush he had unconsciously been looking for. Satisfied, the underboss pulls away to observe her for any other injuries.
That night, after Gabe sends Davina to bed, he sends a message to Nico to meet on the rooftop. He does not even bother to wait for a reply before he makes his way there. They were seventeen when Nico lost his family, and the man had not been the same since. What had been one knife quickly multiplied. They're scattered in easy-to-reach locations but are invisible to the average citizen. Davina is much the same. In fact, every time he meets her, he wishes to ask where all her weapons are hidden, but he knows that it is a fruitless endeavor.
“You wanted to see me, boss?” Nico asks, looking more distant than usual. Perhaps it was one of those nights when no one under his command gets the rest they need.
“Someone is after Davina…” The white-haired man admits, watching as the other man becomes completely rigid about the information.
“What are you talking about?” Nico asks, looking away so Gabe won't see his apparent loss of composure.
“Tonight, I sent Davina out. She only went to the store but attracted enough attention that there were three intercepted attacks before the last actually made it to her,” Gabriele explains, a pit forming in his stomach as he voices aloud how much danger she was in.
“Why?” Nico asks rather than focus on the other million questions running through his mind. Gabe can even choose what he answers; it doesn't matter. Any explanation is enough to drag an innocent person into this life.
“We were engaged,” Gabe admits, the words spoken so softly the wind is forced to carry them to the intended recipient. Nico’s eyes widen as he glances at Gabriele. “A fire of mass destruction, all to destroy a childhood engagement she wasn't even aware had been formed yet. I don't know what happened that night, but after that, I couldn't stop looking for her.”
“You put her in danger,” Nico reminds him, turning to face the other man fully. Gabe can only shake his head. The two men stand in silence, Nico glaring at Gabe, who does nothing more than observe the horizon turned away from the redhead, refusing to face him wholly. Whether Gabriele wants to admit it or not, he likely put Davina directly in harm's way for the sake of keeping her close and having her again, Nico knows, but says nothing more on the matter, waiting for an excuse.
“She already was. At least I can protect her this way,” Gabe murmurs. Nico resists the urge to remind him of how he had failed to protect his wife. There is a significant difference in skill set between the two women. Davina is trained to be a skilled fighter, not just an educator. She will be far more prepared for any attack than the former Miss Underboss (a title he had developed). It wouldn't be fair to compare the two. However, Gabe's declaration of protection begged the question of whether her presence would have elicited enough danger to involve them had she not been brought back to this life. Considering her official title of ex-fiancee to the Angelini Underboss and second heir of the Diavolo family syndicate… it was a possibility.
“She always was. There was no change of that, Gabe, but she could’ve led a normal life even as an elite nanny. There was always a chance she could have kept out of it,” Nico replies, patting him on the shoulder. It was the truth; after all, she was in too deep now, and maybe she always was. A death, in the eyes of the law, did not necessarily equate to a death, and the results of the corner were made public. Vittoria and Riccardo Diavolo both identified through their teeth due to the states in which their bodies were extracted. Their daughter was never identified but presumed dead. “You're right, though. We can at least protect her now. I will rendezvous with some old associates to see if I can find anything.”
“Thank you, Nico,” Gabe replies, clapping Nico on the shoulder and slowly making his way downstairs. He contacted Nico for a reason. Val was discreet, but he didn't need to be discreet. What he needed was for any of those who came for Davina to pay the consequences and make sure it was clear what happened to those who went after her. Gabe knew Nico would be able to accomplish finding names without asking much, but also an inkling of what is to come when Gabe goes searching for vengeance. Besides, he was aware Nico had a network he did not dare mention in Angelini territory.
Val has a secret. A critical one that she has to hide no matter what because surely Nico will continue to monitor her suspicions of Davina. That secret is that she is not worried about Davina’s background but what her arrival means for all of them. If Val looks into Davina’s background, perhaps she will find out what about Davina, who has mesmerized Gabriele so much that he can set aside her suspicious routes. Gabe was growing blind; even if Davina wasn’t the threat, there was no indication someone could not have been a threat to her, and there was no information on her parent's death.
“Gabe, I need to talk to you,” Val announces the second she enters the penthouse suite. It is only Davina present, though, the redhead glancing up in shock and banging her head on the stove hood. Val winces as Davina lets out a string of English profanities. “Shit, are you okay?”
“Oh, yeah, I’m good. I got a head of steel!” Davina exclaims, flinching away as Val reaches to check for bruising. Val pauses, instead waiting for Davina to allow her to check the offended area. Davina is quick on the uptake, only glancing between her hand and face once to make the connection. “Sorry, I’m still not really used to having people in my face.”
“Sorry… wasn’t that normal where you grew up? I grew up with little space ever given to anyone.” Val’s apology comes quickly after Davina voices her discomfort. However, the other woman merely laughs it off. Val watches her, feeling a mixture of shock and confusion at such a reaction. She could imagine it was a painful topic.
“I know you're looking into me, so you probably figured I was in an orphanage, right? I was… left alone by everyone. I wasn’t exactly the best person to be around after my parents. I don’t have a lot of fond memories back then. I didn’t even have friends to fall back on because of the whole orphanage deal,” Davina explains, a small mournful smile forming at the memories. Val watches the redhead carefully. This is the most she’d ever heard of Davina's life, prior to her training at the very least, but if it were half as lonely as it seemed, it would have made sense for the other woman not to speak much about the topic.
“I didn’t mean to pry. I’m sorry,” Val apologizes again, putting her hands up in defense. Davina gives her a pointed look that makes her snort, and soon, the two are falling into the pits of laughter. “It makes sense, though, if I think about it. For the record, it’s not necessarily you that I am worried about. I can see how much you care for Mikey, and I can even see you looking out for us when you can… so thank you. Just don’t tell the boys it’s more fun this way. I like watching them squirm when we snipe at each other.”
“Why do they do that, though? It’s not like they don’t know that I know that you are investigating me,” Davina asks, turning back to the sandwich she was preparing as Val leans against the opposite cabinet. The more the black woman thinks about it, the more she realizes how right Davina is about how strange the two men have been acting during their interactions.
“Maybe they’re worried we’ll kiss,” Val shrugs, a smile tugging at her cheeks in amusement. Davina snorts at the concept as the doors to the main room open. The women turn to each other, nodding. Val disappears around the corner to greet the men. Val doesn’t know what secret Davina is hiding, but she is sure there is one, and she can only pray it doesn’t get them all killed.