Adele was sitting quietly on the car seat next to Francesco looking outside with sadness. They had just left the theatre and Francesco's words about dreaming of his sons achieving what he couldn't in life of crime was fresh in Adele's mind. She didn't want to say it out loud what his words had reminded her of in that moment. She couldn't bring herself to say to Francesco that she was reminded of Paulo Rosario and how he had a clear vision about what he wanted his sons to become. Francesco was becoming his father. Adele had no doubt about this at all.

Francesco spoke with disapproval " Adele. Why are you so quiet. What's the matter sweetheart. Didn't you like the play we just watched or was it the ice cream that wasn't to your taste?"

Adele turned to Francesco " The play was fine. I enjoyed the gelato very much too." She then gave him a forced smile.

Francesco narrowed his eyes " Then why are you so thoughtful? I want to hear your voice sweetheart. Something is bothering you. Tell me now."

Adele bit her lip and looked away and whispered " Nothing. It's nothing."

Francesco gently reached his hand over to Adele's chin and tilted her head towards himself. He spoke with seriousness in his voice " Adele. Tell me what is the matter?" He then let go of her chin while looking at Adele expecting an answer.

Adele took a deep breath and spoke " I didn't want to argue with you back there at the theatre so I remained silent. But now that you want to know why I am upset, I tell you. Back at the theatre you told me that you want our sons to expand your areas under your control and boost your contacts in police. That really got to me."

Francesco seemed calm. He nodded "I understand sweetheart. But your concerns are void because I will be the one to take responsibility for the upbringing of our sons. I would raise them to be enduring and strong so no one can hurt them. You can have responsibility of our daughters and raise them as you wish. But leave our sons to me." He then leaned close and kissed Adele's cheek and spoke " I like how you think about our children from now. It's so adorable. But sweetheart I don't want this conversation to continue. I don't want to hear any more. It stops now. Because then it may lead to us discussing my business and I don't want that."

Adele decided to drop the subject for now. She didn't want to push her luck, But that conversation wasn't over.

As the car stopped in front of a luxurious hotel Francesco spoke "Here we are. The hotel where we will be staying at tonight and where the Hollywood ball is held in an hour."

Francesco got off and held the door open for Adele to get off. The guards where surrounding Francesco and Adele as they walked into the hotel lobby.

Within seconds of their arrival, a hotel employee walked to Francesco and kissed his hand and spoke " Thank you for gracing our hotel with your presence. Your employees dropped off your suite cases a few hours ago in your room. All is ready for you to reside at our luxurious hotel for the night. I hope you have a pleasant stay. Please, follow me. "

Francesco lead Adele behind him as they followed the man and when they got to the room, Francesco gestured for Adele to enter first. Adele complied and she gasped as she entered. The room was decorated with buckets of roses and lit candles everywhere. There were bottles of champagne on ice and a tray of cheese and grapes on a side table next to a king size bed that was covered in rose petals.

Francesco closed the door behind him and walked to Adele. He started kissing up and down Adele's neck as he held Adele's jacket sleeves and whispered " It's quite hot in our room. Don't you think sweetheart." He then gently pulled off her coat and also took off his own coat too and put it on a sofa.

Adele wasn't sure what Francesco had in mind. She was getting nervous by the romantic setting in the room. She slowly turned around and looked at Francesco who was pouring champagne into two glasses a few steps away from her. She whispered " Francesco..... What is all this for? You didn't have to do all this for our night here."

Francesco walked to Adele. He handed her a glass of champagne and held his own glass up and spoke " But I did have to do this. This is for you sweetheart. Isn't it obvious? Now... Lets do a toast to our relationship."

Adele touched her glass to Francesco's glass and had a sip of champagne. She then spoke " We are already invited to a party. We can't start drinking champagne now."

Francesco drank his champagne and stared into Adele's eyes deeply " The real party for me is here ... with you. Mingling with the elite and the Hollywood big shots mean nothing to me. But being with you in this room means everything to me." He then took Adele's glass from her hand and put it down on the side table alongside his glass. He then straightened up and looked into Adele's eyes with a more intense piercing gaze that made Adele look away.

Francesco walked closer to Adele and wrapped his arms around her waist. He whispered " Look at me Adele. Why do you deny me the right to see your gorgeous eyes.?"

Adele turned around and looked into Francesco's eyes. She bit her lip " Francesco.... We should stop. We should get ready and join the ball. You said they start playing card games and watching entertainment earlier in the evening. We would miss it if we don't start getting changed."

Francesco spoke " Don't give me excuses sweetheart for us to leave the room. I know it makes you nervous. It's obvious. But you have to get used to us. You have to get used to my touch." He then without warning lifted Adele up. Adele complained " Put me down. I can walk."

He whispered " Baby. I know you can walk but I like to carry you."

Francesco carried her to the bed and laid her down. He then climbed on top of her and covered her body with his but he kept his weight of her by putting his hands at her sides. He looked deep into Adele's eyes as he spoke " You are so beautiful. I can't wait to make you mine. I know this is as close as we can get for now but I cherish it." He then slowly planted kisses on Adele's jawline and cheek. He then moved to her lips and kissed her gently. He paused and then slowly moved his lips against Adele's. He paused again.

Adele knew he was waiting for her to kiss back. She did reach her hand up and touched his chest as she responded to his kisses...... But that made Francesco go crazy. He put more force behind his kisses and this made it hard for Adele to keep up. Finally he even Lost his balance and fell on top of Adele. That brought him out of his daze and he pulled his weight off her and pulled away.

Adele was breathing heavily. She closed her eyes " That was ..... too ..... close."

Francesco spoke " But I liked it. You didn't because you can't breath. I know. I can hold my breath longer." He then chuckled " You are blushing sweetheart. We will be doing this all night when on the night we get married and much more. You must get used to us. You are too innocent...."

Adele shook her head as she opened her eyes " Francesco .... you must stop talking about us getting married.... It hasn't happened yet."

Francesco shrugged " I told you from the beginning, if you don't believe in marriage then we can call it off when the time comes that we are ready to ..... you know .... take the next step. We don't have to seal our love by getting married if you don't want to but .... we will be together and we will have children. I talk about marriage and weddings because ..... I would like to see you in that white dress and more importantly ... I want to tell the whole world in front of an audience that you are mine. Getting married will make it official that you are Mrs Rosario. Even though you are already my woman, our society wants more than that. But if you don't want to, we won't get married. We just can be together. We don't need a marriage contract to make our bond official. We don't need a piece of paper to make us be bound to some woes. I know all I want in my life is to honour and cherish you. All I want is to spend the rest of my life with you. All I want is to hold you in my arms when you are sick and take care of you. All I want is to spend every waking moment with you and try to make you happy. All I want is to prove to you that I am a loyal man and would never cheat on you. I would cut out my own heart if I ever lay eyes on another woman and feel anything for her that I feel for you. You are the only woman for me. Always have been and always will be. Now tell me sweetheart. What do you want?"

Adele took a deep breath and looked away. She was finding it hard and nerve wracking to look into Francesco's eyes and to feel his closeness if she was to answer him. But Francesco was having none of that . He reached his hand and grabbed her chin gently and turned her facing him. He looked into her eyes " Go on. Answer me sweetheart. Tell me what you really want. But you must look at me or I would not be happy. I want to see your beautiful eyes. Why do you keep looking away?"

Adele didn't know how to tell him that she feared seeing his reaction as reason for looking away. She also felt overwhelmed with emotion being so close to him. But she tried hard to focus and not stutter as she spoke even though she was trembling from being nervous " Francesco ..... firstly .... I like weddings. So lets be clear on that."

Francesco spoke " I like weddings too." He then pulled his hand away from her chin and started kissing her collar bone and her neck. He had chosen so many strapless long dresses for her for a reason. He whispered " I heard what I wanted to hear. Go on sweetheart. You were saying." He then carried on planning kisses on her collarbone up to her neck.

Adele sighed. At least his penetrating stare wasn't haunting her. It made it easier for her to speak. She took deep breaths and spoke " Where was I? Yes. I like weddings. I don't mind that. But what I do mind is what happens after that. I want a life with the man i love that is peaceful. I want peace. I don't want to be surrounded by armed men. I don't want to be the wife who every time I go out with my husband, I fear getting shot. I want peace and more importantly I want peace for ...... my children if I have any."

That stopped Francesco from kissing her. He pulled away and to say that the expression on Francesco's face was intimidating was an understatement. He looked like he was in his business mode " Let me correct you sweetheart. That's our children and we will have children. There are no ifs. I need heirs Adele. Sweetheart. You also now live in my world or rather underworld. I am a crime boss. There is never no danger but i wont let any danger to cone to you pr our children. I promise you. Don't I look strong enough to protect you? Answer me."

Adele remained silent. She didn't want to make things worse. But she panicked as he raised his voice. " I asked you a question Adele. Don't keep me waiting. Do I look weak to you that you doubt that I provide a peaceful life for you?"

She shook her head " I didn't say that. I said that I want peace. I didn't say you can't give me peace. I meant that I want you to quit being a criminal so we can have peace."

Francesco's reaction surprised Adele. He laughed. He laughed hard and his expression came back to his usual self from the business mode he reserved for when speaking to others. He sighed and spoke " For a second I thought you meant I am too weak to protect my family. That hurt my ego and made me want to prove to you I am not weak. So now that's resolved. Lets make out. This time. Kiss me back."

Adele spoke " Wait .... What about what I said about wanting you to quit."

Francesco spoke " I was pretending that I didn't hear that. I know you don't like this criminal life. It's not news to me. But you have always known this. I told you when I met you that I aspire to be a mob boss like my father and my uncle. Do you remember?"

Adele nodded " Yes I do."

Francesco spoke " Good. If you remember that then you must remember me saying to you also why I want to be a mob boss."

Adele knew where this was going " Yes I do remember that. You said you wanted this so you could protect me and your family. But what you do as profession makes enemies and they would want revenge. Other criminals would never leave our family be."

Francesco smiled " But they will .... Because I never leave any enemies alive unless they are underage of course. I normally put them under surveillance and then strike if they do anything that could imply they are after revenge. So that argument is off the table. Any thing else?"

Adele pushed on his hard rock chest and spoke " Actually there is. What about your soul."

Francesco sighed " Adele. I don't even know what you are talking about."

Adele spoke " Stop killing people. You lose your humanity when you kill people? Don't you see? That would be affecting our family.

Francesco stated simply " No. I don't see. That's my business. Don't talk about it. Or I may get angry sweetheart. But lets get to the point. I love how you said " Our family"." He then leaned over and kissed Adele's forehead.

Adele spoke " Francesco. We need to talk about important things? Our family ....."

Francesco chuckled " You said it again. I love you. Since you want to talk about our family why not discuss what we will name our children?"

Adele spoke " Francesco .... I really don't know what to say now...."

Francesco spoke " I like the sound of that .... Francesco. We can name our first born son " Francesco Junior." What do you think?"

Adele spoke " Francesco..."

Francesco spoke " Since you are warming up to us, maybe this is the best time to do this. I wanted to do this later but seems like you are ready." He then got up and walked to the sofa to his coat to Adele's confusion.

As Francesco picked up his coat and reached into his pocket, the was a knock on the door. Francesco gave out a frustrated sigh and shouted " Who is it. This is a freaking bad time to interrupt me."

It was Antonio's voice " Apologies. This is very urgent."

Francesco rolled his eyes and turned to Adele " I am sorry sweetheart." He then walked to the door and opened the door. He spoke firmly " Come inside and Speak."

Antonio spoke " I don't think it's best to talk about this in front of your lady. Trust me boss. Can I talk to you in my room or Costanzo's room."

Francesco shook his head and turned to Adele " I will be back baby." He then left with Antonio without another word.

Adele sighed deeply and glanced around the room. She was curious about what was in Francesco's pocket. So she walked to the sofa and picked up the coat and looked through its pockets. She gasped as she pulled our a velvet box. Her eyes widened and put it back in his coat quickly.

Adele took stepped backwards and sat on the bed. She knew it. She just knew it. Francesco was running out of patience. They had hardly been together for a few days and he had bought a ring already. She had no idea what she was going to say if he popped the question that day. She really didn't know. She knew one thing. She had to start thinking fast about an answer because the question was coming soon.