Wine

"My darling, you will never be unloved by me, you are too well tangled in my soul"

• Vincent •

What the fuck was that?
She... she kissed me.
She touched me and acted like... mine.
The thought almost made me smile until I thought about it properly.
She acted like mine. But she's not.

"Cute little one that is" Carlino mumbled, watching her leave
"That is my wife" I said sternly, snapping his eyes back to mine
"Hey" he chuckled, holding his hands up
"Take it as a compliment" he said.

"I won't take anything from anyone about my wife" I said simply, it sounded like a warning, and it was meant to
She's my wife, and I won't have anyone talking about her like she's an object
"What did I miss?" I heard Rocco ask, wandering in with a piece of cake in his hands.

"Not much, solo un ragazzo fuori dalla sua profondità" Carlino's right hand muttered
Just a boy out of his depth
Arlo leaned over, mumbling what he said in my ear
I wasn't the best at Italian but I knew whatever he had said wasn't going to be good.

I looked at him, then Carlino
"Let's reconvene tomorrow, I'm done for today" I said, standing up, he was 'family' so to speak. I couldn't just shoot the fucker for a comment
"Now now, we can continue can't we? I'm rather having fun" Carlino smiled.

I stared him down for a moment
"If we continue, I do assure you I'll slit his throat..." I promised, giving a fleeting glance to the prick next to him before simply walking out.

I've had to put up with comments about Baby for years
From people who said I'd never get her
People who were determined to have her for themselves
Or idiots making comments about her.

Everyone knew the Garcia's. Especially Baby
She's a bombshell with amazing skills
Everyone wants her
But I've needed her ever since we were kids.

• Baby •

I stood motionless, just... staring.
Staring at all the flowers across the gardens
It was nice to just... think for a bit
It felt weird being here without my family
I'd never been here without them. That was the point.

It was two families joining, not one being left abandoned with the other
Part of me stands here and hates my parents
Hates them for leaving me. For making me marry a man I barely knew.

But then the other part doesn't. Because they only want the best
Because dads...
Then the hate comes back tenfold
Hate for myself for being lenient just because he's sick
Hate for myself for hating him in the first place when he is sick.

It's confusing. And painful
I just wanted to be at home. Proper home
To think amongst my own space
The Romano house was beautiful
And they were lovely, but it wasn't my home.

It wasn't my garden. My roses
My piano... my own room
Cooking with my mother
Reading with my father
Helping Knox with business or doing Lia's hair for her.

"Hey" I felt like someone had dumped cold water on me when Vincent's arms found their way round my waist
His chin resting atop my shoulder as he stood pressed behind me
"Good evening" I said back, keeping my focus on the garden.

He was silent for a moment, before I felt his lips ghost my shoulder, a feathery kiss being planted against it
"Thank you" he all but whispered
"For what?" I asked, I wasn't an idiot
I knew for what. It was for helping him to not look like an idiot in front of Carlino.

He planted another kiss against my shoulder, and then another just under my ear
"I love you" he said, making me noticeably stiffen
"I'm sorry" he sighed, his entire presence moving away from me, before he appeared beside me, leaning on the balcony and looking out at the flowers.

"I never wanted to do it like this you know" he spoke up, making me look at him
"I wanted you to come back, to actually like me... for me. I wanted to wine and dine you and show you how much you should be appreciated" he chuckled, looking down for a moment.

"And I fucked it up, I know that" he said, clasping his hands together as his elbows leant on the railing
His rings clashing together in the dying sun
"I can't change what's happened but I love you baby, I really do. More than I've ever felt for anyone in my entire life" he confessed.

The more and more we talk. I've come to realise that he's quite emotional. To me anyway
I don't see him express even a sliver of emotion around others
But when it's just us, or when he's really pushed to it. He's a damn open book.

He bared his soul time and time again
Just not the time it would have counted
"You're right. We can't change what's happened" I said, gaining his attention
"So all we can try and do is move forward. Together" I said.

He smiled slightly, a soft subtle smile. Like a boy that just got forgiven after breaking a toy or being naughty
"Can I take you to dinner. A proper dinner, in the city?" He asked
I nodded slowly, we did need to start trying.

We could keep up all the pretences we wanted. But if we were going to try with each other, we needed to put the effort in.
"Great, tonight? Now?" He asked, standing to his full height with a smile.

I stood back slightly and looked down at myself
"I uh, I need to get changed" I said
He looked down at me with a confused look, his eyes raking over my body like he couldn't figure out why I had to change.

"Okay, I'll change too then, I'll see you downstairs" he said, his calloused hand swiftly sliding under my hair and grasping the back of my neck, pulling me in to drop a kiss to the top of my head.

"Okay" I said

•

"You look fucking gorgeous" Vincent mumbled, his hand against the small of my back as he led me into the restaurant
"Vincent..." I sighed
"What?" He asked, his hand sliding down my arm and entwining with mine
"You've said that seven times already" I chuckled.

• Baby's POV •

He shrugged, his emotionless mask as prominent as ever as we sat down
The restaurant was... fancy to say the least
It was all rich businessmen, their side pieces or wives... whichever they fancied for the night
And the 'dodgy elite' as I liked to call them.

They could more than afford to eat here, but their hands were definitely dirtied with blood, drugs and money
"I don't want to alarm you..." he said
"But?" I asked, looking at the wine menu
He leant back in his chair, looking behind me somewhere...

"Your brother is here" he said simply
"What?" I asked, looking behind me
And there he was. Sat in a round booth with Andre, Connor and a bunch of girls
He had his arm round a blonde, whilst Connor was laughing and telling him something, but his gaze was firmly fixed on Vincent in a glare.
Fuck sake.

I turned back around
"So... wine?" I asked, looking back at the menu
"We can go somewhere else if you want" he offered, I shook my head
"No, he's not ruining our night" I said simply.

I get he was annoyed. I didn't expect him to just be alright with it all
I just... needed him for support right now
I didn't need him against me too

• Vincent •

"I was in Russia around that time too" She laughed, placing her wine down.
"Really?" I asked, already knowing she was
She nodded, a beaming smile on her face
I don't know whether it was the wine or that tonight had actually gone smoothly... but she was happy.

And I was determined to keep her happy.

"Dad sent me there for a job" she said
"A 'man of importance' is all he told me back then" she laughed, leaning forward, folding her arms against the table
"Really?" I asked intrigued, happy just watching her and listening to her talk.

She's so fucking perfect
"Yeah, so I went, I killed him, then he was all over the newspapers the week after, he was a fucking royalist" she laughed, making me smile slightly at her
I didn't care if people saw me look at her the way I did. She was everything.

"I remember reading about that" I said, and I did. A royal consort killed in a bar in Moscow
All they had was a 'pretty blonde female, early 20s' seen talking to him beforehand
But my baby was smart. Skillful
Fuck... a wig and a bit of poison and those stupid fuckers still don't know who did it.

"I can't believe we were in the same hotel though" she smiled, like she really thought it was a coincidence. Which must be thanks to the wine.
"I know, must be fate" I chuckled. It wasn't

It was me. Flying all the way out there and following her around for a week to make sure she would be okay
It was one of her first few 'jobs' Lorenzo sent her on.

And I wanted to make sure she would be safe
But she never needed me
She was a professional from day one.

She was about to speak when a bottle hit the table loudly
We both looked up to see Knox had been the one to place it down
He looked quite drunk too, with a blonde girl under his arm and the others stood behind me with their own companions.

"For the happy couple" he said bitterly
"Oh... fuck off Knox" Baby drawled out, rolling her eyes
"What? Can't I congratulate you?" He asked
"Yeah, you could have done that by turning up to the wedding" she said.

"Baby" I said simply, I didn't want her to say anything she'd regret. He's still her brother
"What? Surprised you're congratulating us at all. Thought you'd just walk out of here and abandon me again eh... you're good at that" she said, drinking more wine.

"I think you've had enough baby" I said, taking hold of her hand and lowering the glass back down
"How would you know what's enough for me?" She asked, crossing her arms.

Okay I'll admit. That hurt
But I knew it was just because she was drunk. And upset about her brother
I stood up, helping her from her chair
"I'm fine" she said, swatting my hands away and grabbing her fur coat to put back around her shoulders.

"Yeah. Married life really seems to suit you" Knox scoffed
"As fucking around seems to suit you, where'd you find this one? I hear there's a nice whorehouse down the street" she said.

"Shut up. You're embarrassing yourself" he said, she smiled
"Watch it" I warned him
"It's not your problem anymore, remember? You fucked off before so fuck off now, yeah?" She said.

He glared at her
"Stop being dramatic, non è colpa mia se hai sposato il caso del trauma ambulante, you chose this so deal with it" he said, turning to walk away
It's not my fault you married the walking trauma case

"Non parlare di lui in quel modo" she shouted back, walking after him
'Don't talk about him like that'
"Or what? Go on, stick up for him!" He shouted, abandoning the blonde and turning back to us
For him? They were talking about me?

"Why shouldn't I?" She said, chuckling bitterly
"This was the point Baby! He's taking you away from us! You're sticking up for a fucking monster! At least we had integrity!" He shouted
She scoffed
"The only integrity you've ever had is calling girls a cab in the morning" she said.

He shook his head
"We'll talk when you're sober" he said
"Says you" she scoffed
"Yes. Says me!" He shouted
"Don't fucking shout at her" I said calmly.

He looked at me, before he sighed and turned around, walking away
"Get her home. Put her to bed. She likes cranberry juice when she's fucked out of her head" he said, gesturing to the side of his head as he left, before his arm wound back round the blonde, pulling her off with him.

"Dick!" She shouted after him
"Baby" I said, helping her stand still
"I want to go home" she said
"Yeah, we're going home Baby" I said, helping her walk.

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