Chapter 310 - Three Hundred And Ten.

It was a partly sunny day.

One would say that it was perfect for going out on a picnic so that's what they were having.

The entire family for one were together and were having breakfast outside in the gardens peacefully. 

The children were out playing and their laughter could be heard very well. 

"You do know that just because you are in a wheelchair does not give you an easy way out of work." Angelo pointed at his brother. "since you won't be getting out much, you would have to take care of a lot more paperwork." He said with a blunt attitude.

His mother would have glared at him. 

Silvano was uncomfortable with the topic. He had not yet made peace with the disability. He was not ready for the gunshot and he was not ready to have his grandmother shoot at him but it was real and it happened in a matter of seconds.

His hopes were therapy and treatments. 

"I understand." He said and Nikita tapped his thigh. 

He saw it so he smiled at her but the truth was he could not even feel her doing it. He could not feel his wife comforting him yet it was the smile she had that was keeping him going. Her support mattered the most. 

Silvano knew it was going to take a heavy toll on him eventually. 

"Anyway, moving forward." Gabrielle cleared his throat and had everyone's attention. "With my wife, I had decided that we will finally go forward to our world tour but since she is no longer there, I had no idea what to do." He then pointed towards Alexis with a small smile, "Alexis here gave me an idea. Since all of the grandchildren are of the age of training I was hoping that you would have no problem with me taking over that role." 

Angelo was stunned to silence a moment. To be honest he knew that his mother's death had affected his father gravely and he had been thinking of what to do to make his father feel more at home But this was epic. This was the solution to all his problems. 

"Sure." He answered immediately. At a few things he had to agree that his father was better than him. Especially given at his fucked mind, filled with darkness for his grandfather's thoughts, he knew that if his children were raised by his father it would be the best thing ever.

The darkness he had in his mind along with the voice that always told him to remain on the top would be inside him and just stay and die with him. 

It won't pass on to Lucas and Salvatore and that would be for the very best. 

"I guess it's good for me too." Silvano nodded along with Nikita. "I was hoping to talk about that to Angelo but you would be a better choice than both of us." 

A smile stretched on Gabriele's face. These are given him a new purpose to live. Something for the family and something for his Isabelle. 

*******

Silvano and Nikita had gone to their own homes and it was just Angelo and Alexis along with their children that were outside as Gabrielle had too, decided to hit the bed. The man had begun taking naps.

They were sitting on the grass as the children played amongst them and they watched. Both of them were in a similar position and were supported by one hand as they leaned on it. 

He glanced at her hand that was next to his. It was her left hand and it still has the sapphire ring on it. 

"When do you plan on wearing the ring?" He asked. 

He still did not know and she never intended to tell him. With leverage, she now had Alexis had realised that she was never going to reveal to him that she knew everything of the past. 

Rather she was going to use it bit by bit to her satisfaction. 

She was still going to drop hints. 

She sighed and pulled her hand back to the front and stared at the ring. "I don't know," she shrugged. "I have no desire to wear that ring any more." 

He shifted and his hand no longer supported his weight. "I finished the love you had for me, didn't I?"

She shook her head and smiled at him. It was sad but what she was going to say was sadder.

She cupped his cheek and said, "You have given me much-needed revenge on people and I appreciate that. You have given me the power to do that." She moved her thumb on his lips as she thought about it. "But I have to admit that I don't think I can ever love you." 

"What?" He muttered and the ever-so emotional man displayed numerous of them that she had not even seen in the 6-year course of their marriage. 

She nodded and took her hand off his cheek. "I'm sorry. But I don't know what you feel for me is what, either obsession or love, I truly don't know." She shook her head and as the conversation continued she felt her eyes getting teary. "But with the time I have spent with you, I can only say that I. I am attached to you."

"Attachment is love." He stressed. "You have attachment with the things you love!" 

She shook her head again without a smile on her face. "You are habit to me now Angelo. A habit that every other day. . . that sometimes you are so good to me that I want you so bad and sometimes you are so toxic that I want to walk away." She held his cheek again. "I don't think I can ever love you because of what you've done to me and I know I cannot leave you because that would kill me, if not by you then by the other families who would make me the target." She pinched his cheek slightly and patted it as she forced a smile on her face. "So here I am," she sighed turning to her children. "Like you once said in a chapter of life that this would be like an arranged marriage. What I forgot was it isn't necessarily for love to happen between two. They just grow on each other."

"Grow on each other?" He repeated visibly disturbed by the fact.

She nodded. "Grow on each other enough to depend on each other, to be attracted to each other but not to love." A sad smile came to her face and she sniffed.

"One day, I'll make you love me." He took her hand in his. "One day you would change this ring for the emerald one on your very own."

I hope so too, but she didn't voice it out.

They watched their children. The only thing commonly loved by them.

"Madam! Master!" Agatha came running out yelling at the top of her lungs with Mariam with her. "The CIA is here! They say that master's warrant is out."