Hiding With Her Twin Babies
Chapter 57

Gabriella walks into the house. She had been so unhappy in this house for the last few years. The first thing she notices is the photos on the walls. Mary’s photographs have been removed and replaced with pictures of her and Riccardo’s marriage. He must have done it before he left to find her. The staff is looking at Gabby differently. They usually talk to her and treat her like she is one of them, but they heard what happened to the plane’s stewardess, and they are all afraid to say something wrong. They all greet her with respect and address her as Donna Marino. They do not know what happened to their Godfather and Don Marino. There is a lot of gossip going around, and some say Gabriella went to a gipsy to put a love spell on the Don.

Gabriella does not know how to greet the servants as they continually ignore her instructions and only listen to what Riccardo tells them to do. They all thought she was his servant and was surprised when Don Riccardo Marino ordered them to remove all the pictures of his beloved Mary and replace them with the photo of his wedding and his bride. They know Gabriella left him and went to America, and some of the younger women in his company and the staff were hopeful he would notice them, but now this woman is back, and it looks like Don Marino will not allow anyone to mistreat her. They are not home five minutes before Jackie, Mary’s sister, and Riccardo’s secretary, walks into the house. She has a lot of documents in her hands for him to sign, but Jackie is only there to see Riccardo and see if the rumours are true that he went to fetch Gabriella. She is angry when she looks around and sees all the photos of her sister are gone and replaced by the wedding photos of Gabriella and Riccardo. For years Jackie has played on Riccardo’s feelings and made him hate his wife for what her family did to Mary. She wanted to take Mary’s place in his heart.

Riccardo and Gabriella sit down to eat as they are tired of the flight. Riccardo wanted to rest for a day or two, and he looked irritated when Jackie showed up unannounced. Riccardo looks at Jackie. She looks a lot like Mary, and he does not know what he ever saw in Mary. Jackie looks and dresses like a woman of the night. Gabriella’s eyes grow dark as she sees Jackie. She hates Jackie as Jackie likes to tell her how much Riccardo misses Mary and that she, Jackie, would one day take Mary’s Place in Riccardo’s heart as she looks like her sister. Jackie even slapped herself in the face when she and Gabby had words and told Riccardo Gabby hit her. Riccardo made Gabby apologise, and when Gabby refused, he was so mad at Gabby that he did not come home for months. Riccardo later found out the truth when Pablo, his head of security, showed him the security camera footage.

“What are you doing here, Miss Smith?” Riccardo asks. Both Gabby and Jackie look at Riccardo in surprise. Usually, he will greet Jackie with respect and call her by her name. Riccardo has found out from Pablo about the abuse his wife went through from the staff and that Jackie was the one that stirred them on. He also found out that Jackie thought she would become his wife once Gabriella and he got a divorce. At the moment, Riccardo is not happy with Jackie Smith at all.

“Riccardo, you are not happy to see me?” Jackie asks and puts a sad puppy dog face on.

“I will go to my room and leave the two of you alone,” Gabby says, but Riccardo holds her arm and makes her sit at the table.

“No, honey, no one is going anywhere until I say so,” Riccardo says. He is not hurting Gabby. Instead, he gently holds her arm and lets her sit next to him at the table.

“Now, Miss Smith, I want you to tell Gabby in front of me how you are going to take her place soon,” Riccardo asks, and Pablo is standing in the corner and smiles. He has been waiting for this day for a long time. He is an older gentleman, and he always felt sorry for Gabby and all the abuse she had to endure because of this Jackie b***h and her dead sister. Pablo loves Gabby. Even when she was verbally abused by Jackie and the staff in the house, she always treated them fairly and never told Riccardo about how they treated her. Someone had to stand up for Gabby, and Pablo was the one who took the task upon him. Not all the staff mistreated Gabby, and the older women loved Gabby as she always helped them with their tasks in the house. Gabby was always friendly, even when some were plain rude to her. Pablo got a list of names, and those people will regret the day they treated the Donna like she was not even worthy of their respect.

“Riccardo! I thought you would have missed me! You were so long away from home because of this woman making trouble again. I don’t know what she told you, but she is a liar!” Jackie says. She does not know that it is not Gabby who told on her and that Pablo showed Riccardo all the security footage of the past few years he saved on his laptop. Pablo and Riccardo talked a lot when Riccardo was in LA and had the whole day to himself. Pablo goes everywhere Riccardo goes, and he and Riccardo’s men were in LA with Riccardo staying close by in a hotel if Riccardo needed them.

“You will address me as Don Marino and my wife as Donna Marino. You only work for me and have no right to talk to me or my wife familiarly. Pablo, call all the staff. We might as well get this whole thing sorted out since Miss Smith is here,” Riccardo says. The staff is shivering. What is happening? What is going on with Don Marino? Why are they all called in? The whole time Gabriella is looking on in amusement. She has never seen Jackie so quiet. Usually, Jackie will order her to bring coffee to the study so she and Riccardo can talk.

“I don’t know what this woman told you, but her family killed my sister, and I will not let it go. If you think for one minute I will so her respect, Riccardo, you are making a big mistake! She and her family tricked you into marrying her, and if it were not for this w***e, my sister would still be alive today,” Jackie screams at Riccardo. Finally, Gabriella had enough of Jackie. She gets up and walks straight to Jackie.

“For one, my family did not kill your sister, Riccardo’s father did it, and I am a lady, not a w***e. Look in the mirror, Jackie Smith and see what a w***e looks like. You not only dress the part, but you also act the part. You are trying to seduce my husband, a married man, and you call me a w***e?” Gabby uses all her strength and slaps Jackie. Jackie did not expect that Gabby would hit her in front of Riccardo. Jackie looks at Riccardo, smiling and looking at his wife with admiration in his eyes.

“You are going to allow her to slap me?” Jackie asks, bursting into tears.

“Yes, you deserve it,” Riccardo says.

“She accused your father of killing my sister and let him take the blame for her family! What is wrong with you, Riccardo?” Jackie asks. She is now openly crying.

“My father did kill your sister, Miss Smith. I am sorry for your parents’ loss, but if you go on like you are now, they will lose another daughter,” Riccardo says as he walks over to Gabriella and puts his arm protectively around her waist.

“You b***h! I don’t know what you have done with my Riccardo, but I will not let you brainwash him!” Jackie shouts again. The staff gather in the dining room and look on in horror as Riccardo grabs Jackie by her throat and starts choking her. Gabby touches Riccardo’s arm, and he calms down immediately. He let go of Jackie, and she falls to the ground holding her neck. She is crying like a baby now. She never thought Riccardo would ever find out the truth about her sister’s death. She also never thought Riccardo loved Gabriella. Pablo tells the security guards to take away Jackie to the secret room. Jackie does not know what that means. The guards always protected Gabriella where they could. They always respected her as they all knew what was going on in the house. The guards, like Pablo, have waited a long time for this day. They smile at the staff. At last, they will avenge their Donna. Pablo walks forward.

“If I call out your name, step forward. If your name is not called out, go back to doing your chores,” Pablo says. He looks at his list and calls those out who mistreated Gabby one by one. His men are going to have fun tonight. Those that stand before Pablo are trembling in fear. They know what they did, and like Jackie, they know they will not live to see the sun showing his head tomorrow.

“Don please, we beg of you to spare us,” One of the servants begs.

“You ask me to spare you when you showed no respect to the Godfather’s wife? You know the rules. You will die,” Riccardo says. Gabriella looks at the people begging for their lives, and she feels sorry for them, but they did make her life a living hell over the past few years. So when they turn to her to beg her for mercy, Gabby turns her back on them. She walks up the stairs to her room. She is tired from the long flight and all the drama. Gabby had seen the love in Riccardo’s eyes before she walked away. She saw the loneliness in his eyes and that he longed to be with her. In her room, Gabby calls Jennie and tells her what happened. On the plane, when they got home and how Riccardo is openly showing his love for her.

“Gabby, if you love your husband, don’t make him wait too long. You have been married for a few years now, and he told you how he had to fight his feelings. You know what they say, if your husband does not get satisfaction at home, he will look for it elsewhere,” Jennie says. Jennie knows Gabby wants to be with her husband.

“So, what should I do?” Gabby asks.

“Go downstairs and ask him if he is not going to come to bed tonight,” Jennie says, laughing.

“You mean I should invite him to my room?” Gabby asks, shocked.

“Yes, you made him promise that he would not touch you unless you allow him to,” Jennie says.

“But …” Gabby says.

“No buts, honey, go get your husband and show him some love tonight. You can do it and put on some sexy lingerie,” Jennie says. Gabby blushes a bit but goes to take a shower and put on sexy lingerie and a robe. She walks downstairs and sees Riccardo still talking to Pablo and the guards.

“Aren’t you coming to bed?” Gabby asks, interrupting Riccardo. Riccardo is not sure he heard right, but when he sees the big smiles on Pablo and the guards’ faces, he tells them to do what they need to do and walks to the stairs looking up at his wife standing there waiting for him. She has a seductive look, and Riccardo runs up the stairs two at a time. Finally, he grabs his wife and carries her bridal style to his bedroom.

“Are you sure, Gabby?” Riccardo asks to make sure he did not read the situation wrong.

“I am sure,” Gabby says, and she k****s Riccardo.

Although they are tired from the long flight, they make love for most of the night. At last, they are too tired to continue and fall asleep in each other’s arms. The following noon, they wake up. No one bothered them and let them sleep in, knowing the two would be exhausted.

“Gabby?” Riccardo asks when he feels her move.

“Hmm,” She answers lazily.

“Will you marry me again? I want us to have a real wedding and a honeymoon,” Riccardo asks her. Gabby sits up, her eyes wide open now.

“Yes, I will marry you a hundred times if you ask me a hundred times,” Gabby says.

“I love you, Gabriella Marino,” Riccardo says.

“I love you, Riccardo,” Gabby answers. He pulls her back into bed, and they do not come down from their room until dinner time.