Page 20 of They Found Us (Found #5)

It’s great that I can check on everyone else, but I must remember to turn the one off in our room when we have mummy-and-daddy time.

“It’s wonderful, thank you, Alga. You have thought of everything.”

Alga’s face is filled with emotion. She looks like she is about to cry.

I stand from my stool while still feeding Zander and move next to her, nudging her gently. “Hey, what’s wrong?” As soon as the words leave my lips, her tears begin to flow.

“Ah Alga.” Sergio groans and hands her a tissue. “I’m sorry about Alga.” He apologises. “We are just so grateful you are back.”

Alga sobs into her tissue. “I’m sorry.” She leaves the room.

Sergio continues. “When you… died, it broke Alga’s heart. I told her that it couldn’t be true and that you would be living a wonderful life somewhere. She didn’t believe it, and to be honest, neither did I. I just said that to console her.”

“I’m so sorry, Sergio. We had no other option.

It breaks my heart thinking about what we put everyone through.

” My thoughts go to my parents, who as far as I know still are unaware of our return.

Leo wants to wait until everything is sorted with the Martelé, as they will want to see us as soon as they find out.

“Alga hasn’t been well since you’ve been gone. But after Marco told us you are alive, have two little boys, and planned on coming home, it’s like she has a new lease of life.”

Alga returns. “I am okay now.”

I pass Zander to Sergio and wrap my arms around Alga. “Missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

We stand for a moment in an embrace. I let her let go first.

“Come on, that’s enough now,” Sergio tells us. “You’re upsetting the baby.”

We aren’t, but Sergio hands Zander back to me, looking relieved not to be holding a baby. The monitor alerts us to movement in Mark’s room. On the cameras, I see him starting to stir.

“It looks like your big brother is waking up,” I say to Zander.

“May I?” Alga asks, already making her way towards the door.

“Of course.” I gesture for her to continue out of the room.

With Mark only having met Alga last night, I’m unsure of how he will react when he wakes in a strange room after only half the amount of sleep he usually does.

But I shouldn’t have worried. I watch the camera as Alga enters, a beaming smile on her face as she sings an Italian good morning song.

Mark stands in his bed and dances along with her.

He happily takes her hand and jumps down from his bed.

They’re soon downstairs, laughing together.

We have a lovely morning start around the kitchen island, eating breakfast, catching up on all that’s happened since we left, and listening to Mark happily talk about himself. It’s almost 11:00 a.m. when Leo enters the kitchen, fully dressed in his crisp white shirt and tailored suit.

“Papa! Look outside! There’s a swimming pool!”

“Wow, look at that,” Leo says as he kisses his cheek, and then he does the same to Zander, who is sleeping in my arms.

Alga has an emotional smile on her face as she watches his gestures.

“Will you play with me in the water?” Mark asks.

“Not today, son. But soon. Mummy will, though, won’t you Mummy?”

Hearing Leo call me Mummy while dressed in full Guerra boss attire has me giggling. “Yes, Mummy will play with you. And maybe we could take Zander for his first swim too?”

“Oh yes! Yes!” Mark gives Zander a pat on his head and starts talking to him about swimming.

“Alga, would you watch them for a few minutes?”

Leaving the boys in the kitchen, I beckon Leo into his office and close the door behind us.

“So? What’s happening? Do my parents know we are back?”

“Not yet. Let me get the surprise with Alex and the Martelé over with first, and then we will fly your parents over.”

“When are you seeing the Martelé?”

“This evening. Alex and Vanna will arrive this afternoon. We will finalise negotiations first, and then the meeting will take place.”

The worry has me taking a deep breath.

“Do not worry. Everything is in hand.” Leo puts his hands on my folded arms. “Marco is on his way with Mia and Larisa. So be nice.”

His remark makes me laugh. “I’m always nice.”

When I first met Mia, I wasn’t over keen. But once I realised it was Marco she wanted to get her claws into, I calmed down. From what I heard from Leo, Mia and Marco have had a really hard time. I now realise why Leo had to come back. He had no option.

“I better go and get dressed, then,” I say.

Marco, Mia and Larisa arrive just as the boys and I are ready.

Marco is dressed in this three-piece suit looking his usual evil, grumpy self, but as soon as the petit dark-haired baby in his huge arms touches his face, his eyes light up and the dark expression cracks, revealing a loving father.

It’s a very surreal sight but one that melts my heart.

Mia looks as stunning as always in a bright red dress and gold-heeled sandals. “Katie, it’s so good to see you.”

And she genuinely looks pleased to see me, which makes me relax.

She takes my hand and gives it squeeze, but I pull her in for a hug.

She smells amazing, and her makeup is perfect.

I do notice some scars on one side of her face.

They must be from the car accident. They don’t, however, effect how beautiful she is.

A boy’s voice interrupts our greetings before a head pops around from Marco’s back. “Hello.”

“Alfie? Is that you?”

“Yep.”

“Wow. Come here. Let me see you.”

Alfie comes to stand in front of me, and he is almost as tall as I am.

“You got so big!”

“Emmaline had some errands to run, but she will be along shortly, so we brought Alfie,” Mia explains. “I hope that’s okay?”

“Of course. Come on in and let’s go outside. Mark is dying to get in the swimming pool.”

Everyone other than Marco follows me outside. He goes into the office to join Leo.

Alfie is a very welcome distraction for Mark. They play together in the pool, which leaves me to catch up with Mia. Both Zander and Larisa are asleep in their prams in the shade when Emmaline arrives. I’m not sure how I expected Emmaline to be when I first saw her, but it wasn’t like this.

Emmaline was my best and only friend when I lived in Italy.

I met her on the beach one day soon after I arrived.

She was with Alfie and her dog Macy, and we connected straight away.

Emmaline kept me sane. I don’t know what I would have done without her.

Mia and I are mid-conversation when Alga shows Emmaline where we are sat.

“Hi,” Emmaline says as she sits in a chair opposite me, next to Mia.

“Hello,” I reply, sitting back down, as it looks like I’m not getting a hug.

Mia looks at me with sympathy and takes a big sip of her drink.

Alga interrupts the silence by bringing another jug of cocktails and a glass for Emmaline.

They make small talk about Alfie and how much he has grown.

Once it’s just the three of us again, I have to break the ice, it’s breaking my heart to look at Emmaline.

She must be so angry with me. So hurt. I’m not sure how to approach it, so I go with my gut.

“Emmaline, are you okay?” I ask as sincerely as I can.

At first, she doesn’t reply, just takes a sip of her drink and a deep breath. Although she is wearing sunglasses, I can tell by the cheeks around her eyes that she has been crying.

“Emmaline is struggling to deal with the news,” Mia explains. “It was very hard for her when you passed away . Especially in the circumstances. Alfie didn’t deal with it well either. It’s taken a long time for both of them to come to terms with what happened.”

A sob comes from Emmaline, and she takes a larger sip of her cocktail.

“Oh, Emmaline, I am so sorry.” My heart hurts and tears fill my eyes. I can’t help but go to her and wrap my arms around her. We both cry and squeeze each other tightly.

“Mum, are you okay?” Alfie shouts from the pool, noticing his mum upset.

“She’s fine. Just happy. You carry on playing,” Mia shouts back. “Right, come on you two. You’re upsetting the children.

“Katie. What happened was fucked up. You broke everyone’s hearts and left people with anxiety and depression.

But if you hadn’t killed yourselves, the Martelé would have done it anyway.

Emmaline, you’ve got your friend back, for now anyway, and we all die at some point.

So come on. Let’s make the most of it and get pissed.

” Mia’s bluntness makes us both laugh. And with what Mia and Marco have been through, I’m not surprised by her outlook on life.

We soon fall back into our comfortable friendly ways.

We even have a swim in the pool. Then the babies decide they have had enough of the water, so Mia and I exit first, leaving Emmaline playing with the boys.

The day has been full of laughter, and I have had the best time I’ve had in years.

It’s so nice to be around friends. I’ve really missed this.

When Emmaline does decide to get out of the pool, Alfie has other ideas.

He grabs her by the arm and pulls her back in.

Emmaline screams, trying to fight him off, but ends up in the pool again.

Out of nowhere a large, suited man comes jumping into the pool.

He grabs Emmaline and lifts her onto the side.

Our laughter stops at this point, all in shock at what is going on.

“For god’s sake,” Mia shouts as she runs to the pool and grabs the collar of the man, who still hasn’t resurfaced. From the edge, she pulls him to the steps. A very wet, fully suited Van emerges from the water, a little breathless.

“What the fuck is going on?” Leo booms, storming out of the house in our direction.

“I heard Emmaline screaming,” Van splutters. “I jumped in to save her.”

“But you can’t fucking swim!” Mia slaps her brother on his arm.

“I don’t think she needed saving, Van.” Leo is cross.