11

Walking out of the school, Ares walked to his car while I followed him. He unlocked the door and I opened it before sliding in the passenger's seat.

Ares opened his own door and slid into the driver's seat before he stared at me questioningly.

"What?"

"Don't you have your own car?" He asked, his hands on the steering wheel. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing his veiny tattooed arms—hot.

"Are you going to die if I come with you?" .

"I don't know," he shrugged, his eyes on me with a smirk tugging at his lip, "you tell me, tesoro. Will I die?"

"You're annoying," I groaned, "the car in which I came is trash—as you know, 'Diana' isn't supposed to be rich."

"Let's go somewhere," he suggested making me raise my brows at him in curiosity, "Where?"

"Where do you want to go?"

"Ice cream," I replied with a grin, "I want to eat an ice cream."

He nodded, "ice cream, it is then." Ares then started the car and began driving while I stared out of the window, thinking of what my father expected me to do. Would I be able to do it? I've always succeeded in every mission he sent me to do then why couldn't I complete this own? Why did Ares has to be so fucking nice, hot and desirable? It seemed impossible to hate him.

After a few minutes, Ares pulled the car to a stop and stepped out. I glanced outside to see that we've reached an ice cream parlour. Opening my own door, I stepped out and looked at Ares who was now standing beside me.

Ignoring the eyes on us, I leaned in to Ares, mumbling, "nenavizhu byt' v tsentre vnimaniya."[I hate being the center of attention]

"Ya dumal, ty k etomu privyk." Ares replied, keeping his voice low as me.  [I thought you were used to it.]

"Ya dumal, ty ne govorish' po-russki." I stared at him in confusion and curiosity as well. [I thought you didn't speak Russian.]

"Just like I thought that you don't speak Italian." He responded as we made our way inside the place. My eyes scanned around the room, looking for a table. I pointed to the one in the corner of the place

"What flavor do you want?" He asked, nodding at the table I pointed at.

"Chocolate," I replied to which he nodded before walking away. I walked towards the table and sat down on the chair, keeping my eyes on Ares who was now buying our ice creams. Ares moved his eyes away from the man to me as he waited for the guy to prepare his order. He flashed me a small smile which I returned.

Damn, that man was fine as hell. I wanted to do nothing more than to run my fingers through his black hair and trail my lips down his sharp jaw—what the fuck is wrong with you? Snap out of it, already.

"Alexia?" I heard the familiar voice call out making me advert my eyes from Ares to the woman in front of me.

My eyes automatically widened when I saw my mother standing there, looking at stunning as always. A part of me disliked my mother for leaving me alone with my father in the past but a part of me also understood why she did what she did. My mother was not tall, she was actually short—around 5'1. Her hair was brown like mine. She was wearing a dress which reached just above her knees and had high heels on which made her a few inches tall. She had a black bag in her hands and glasses rested on her head. She was looking gorgeous, like always.

"Mom," I stood up, approaching her before wrapping my arms around her.

"Dorogoya!" She exclaimed, hugging me back tightly, "how are you? I missed you so much."

"Lex!" Another familiar voice shouted which I was sure grabbed the attention of everyone in the place. I broke the hug and smiled brightly when I saw the little guy. My half-brother, Ben.

I bent down and lifted him, holding him in my arms as he wrapped his small arms around me, placing a kiss on my right cheek which made my smile widen.

"I missed you so fu—" I cleared my throat, "—much." He grinned at my words before letting out a chuckle, " I missed you so fu— much too!"

My eyes flickered to my mother who was glaring at me. I shot her an apologetic smile in response which she returned by shaking her head with a sigh.

"How have you been little bro?" I asked Ben who replied, as he played with my hair, "good. My birthday is in a week. You'll come right?"

"Of course. I wouldn't miss it for the world." I replied earning a big smile from him.

My eyes fell on Ares who was walking towards me, holding two ice creams in his hands. I placed Ben back down before taking my ice cream from Ares who had a questioning look on his face.

"Thanks."

"May I know who this gentlemen is?" My mother asked, nudging my arm lightly making me look at her to see a smirk on her face.

"Ares Salvatore," Ares introduced himself before I could.

"I'm Scarlett Petrov," mom gave him a warming smile, pointing to me, "Lex's mother."

"Pleasure to meet you," Ares gave her a curt nod. Scarlett smiled at Ares before asking, "Are you two together?"

"Ice cream!" Ben interrupted before either Ares or I could reply. I looked at Ben to see he was pointing, looking as adorable as ever.

I chuckled at his behaviour along with Ares—who I wasn't expecting would do so.

"Don't give him any ice cream. He already had his part." Mom said, giving Ben a warning look.

"But I have a big belly!" Ben patted his stomach, "one little cup isn't enough for this big belly boy."

"Come on, I'll give you ice cream." Ares said to Ben who asked with a huge grin, "Really?"

"Really. Come on." Ares nodded, as he held his hand and they went to buy the ice cream. I didn't know he liked kids, damn.

"What flavor do you want?" Ares asked Ben who gave him puppy eyes before saying, "All of them."

Ares chuckled and shook his head, "only one."

Ben groaned, throwing his head back dramatically, "Fine! I want Chocolate!"

"He's handsome, hot, nice..." Mom spoke up as I stared at Ares who was buying Ice cream for my mother.

"Why are you assuming things, mom?" I adverted my eyes from them to my mother, "we're just hanging out. We're not even friends, you know?"

"Then why are you two hanging out?" She asked, raising her brows.

"We were on a mission together."

"He's in the mafia too," she stated to which I nodded, unsure of what else to do. I thought she would have already figured out the moment Ares introduced himself.

"He leads the Italian Mafia," I said and watched as her eyes widened dramatically, "what?"

I nodded which made her let out a  sigh, "Be careful."

Ares's POV

"So your Lex's husband?" Ben asked as I placed him on the table, standing in front of him.

"No. We're...partners." I replied, eating my own ice cream.

"You mean life partners." Ben said with a smirk.

"How old are you, kid?" I asked, furrowing my brows at the buy who shrugged, "A hundred and fifty."

"You're definitely Alexia's brother."

"Of course I am her brother," he rolled his eyes, "You know? My birthday is next week. Will you come to my birthday party? I'm four years old and I will turn five next week."

"Now that you've invited me, of course I'll come."

"You're even better than that worthless piece of shit!" Ben said as he ate his ice cream.

"What did you just say?" I asked, raising his brows at Ben. Who? And what kind of words was that kid using? Wasn't he too young for that?

"Lex taught me those words. I am innocent..." he mumbled innocently.

"If she taught you that...what will she teach our kids?" I asked then my eyes widened as I realized what I said. Dude what?

"Probably words like fuck? I don't know," he shrugged, "we'll see though."

"By the way, I'm better than who?"

"Mich—" Ben was cut off by Scarlett who called him, "Ben! Come here."

"See you later bro." He said before jumping off the table without giving me the chance to say anything else.

Who was he talking about?

"Daddy!" Ben shouted excitedly as he ran to the arms of an unfamiliar man.

"Hey," the man picked him up, hugging him.

"Hey Carl," Alexia greeted the man who smiled warmly at her, "Lex. I missed you, Berry."

"Missed you too." Alexia replied making me internally snort.

"Berry," I mocked as I stood next to Alexia, "Who's this?"

"Carl, Ares," she introduced, "Ares,  Carl."

I shook hands with Carl who gave me a smile, "I'm Ben's dad and Scarlett's Husband, Alexia's step dad but I treat her like my own so I wouldn't say step. Alexia and I are close, so—"

I cut him off, taking my hands from his, "You talk a lot." 

He nodded "I know."

"We are leaving. Actually, Carl had to meet someone for work so he dropped us here as we were bored at home. Now that he is here, we're leaving," she looked at me, flashing me a smile, "It was nice meeting you, Ares."

I glanced at Alexia who had her brows knitted together.

"Carl, where are the bodyguards?" Alexia asked Carl who shot her an apologetic look before replying, "I'm sorry. Your mother is refusing to have people following her everywhere."

"Are you fucking serious?" Alexia almost shouted at Scarlett. She then grabbed her mom's hand and led her outside, ignoring mine's and Carl's voices telling her to stop. What the fuck was going on?