Chapter 1 Prologue

Luigi Santoro stared at the stone cold bodies of Lukas and Anita, rage and grief struggling for dominance on his perfect features, his fist clenched tightly and his knuckles, a pale shade of white from the blood loss.

They definitely had not been the best of siblings. Yet, Lukas had been the best there could be for him. Despite his love for painting and art, he had sacrificed that passion to become the next capo after his father because he knew his little brother, Luigi, had wanted no part in it.

"Master, the investigation and forensic teams are here, I can stay with them while they do the proper analysis." A man cloaked in an all dark outfit entered the room with a slight bow, his words left hanging in the air as Luigi made no show of hearing. Until ten minutes later.

"This is murder, Kale, and I would get to the end of it no matter what the forensic and investigation brings here." He said sternly before leaving the room. Lukas would never commit suicide. Not with his twins being not more than two years and some months.

From the cut and scene, he could tell this had been made to look like suicide, but working in the mafia meant your heart was already made of steel. Lukas was too tough to commit suicide with Anita.

Luigi was the younger son of Leonard, the late man had been the head of all the mafia syndicates home and abroad and his death had been a rebellious act of some of his strong subordinates. Lukas had done right by sharing the power while still retaining enough authority to not be disregarded.

Yet, he was laying there with his wife in his own blood. Luigi sighed as he left the room passing by the team of doctors and investigators that he could already guess what they were going to say.

He was going upstairs to take a shower when the heart wrenching cry of Gia reached his ears. Having spent so much time with them, he could tell which of the twins were crying without being close.

The reality that he had just become the guardian of two kids without a wife dawned on him as he raced back downstairs to console the little princess.

"Mama...." She called out as she sobbed while her brother, Santi, was holding her hand. His face was sober and glum and Luigi looked around vigilantly as he wondered if anyone had informed them about the unfortunate incident. "Why are you crying principessa?" He asked as he bent down and cradled her small body in his arms.

Her cries dwindled as her small hand clutched at his shirt tightly as if afraid that he would go. "Mamaa....papa...." Another bout of tears interrupted her words while Luigi waited patiently, his breath caught in a hike as he waited to hear her words.

"Gone." she completed and her large blue irises, similar to the ones that stared back at her, were fixed on Luigi, watching his every reaction to see what he would say.

As much as he wanted to deny and tell her it was a lie so the fear in their eyes could disappear. He couldn't do it. He couldn't lie and say they were still here when they clearly weren't and so instead of saying anything, he pulled Santi into his arms also, allowing the both of them to feel the safety of his strong arms around them.

"Uncle is here." He muttered softly. Perhaps the children could see that he was in as much grief as them as Gia stopped crying and Santi burrowed into Luigi's embrace even more. From now on, he will be their father. And perhaps, their mother too.