Pretending to Be an Untouchable Crime Boss

After Finn's little warm story about how he became what he is today, there was just outright silence in the car as Dirsan just tried to make sense of all of it. He didn't speak, didn't glance at the mirror… he just tried to process all of it… that simply Finn had murdered his whole family.

Like it was clear to everyone that the Bellini family has many people from many backgrounds with traumas and things that are just dark… but this one was the top of all of it… the darkest of all the stories he heard so far… and he knew he would never forget it and the second he could never look at Finn with the same eyes as he did before.

Though Finn himself didn't really seem to care about it, he was just relaxing with his eyes closed as they were making their way to another meeting where he could finally buy the white magic and the greenweed.

On the other hand, back with James and Charlotte, the atmosphere was still warm, still lovely, and just outright cute… yeah, it was a whole different situation than what Finn and Dirsan were in.

Charlotte just could not let go of James. She was hugging him tight, like she wanted to be his anchor, like she didn't want to lose her grip on him again, to be with him forever… though she knew what was going to happen, and once again he was going to leave her behind, and it was clear to James too as Charlotte went from sobbing to crying and just gripping him even more and more.

"Don't cry, darling, I'm here and that's what matters now."

"But you're going to leave me again." She said outright, as she looked up with her big eyes at James. "Right?"

Yeah, the truth she knew, the truth that James couldn't even lie about. He was not going to be with her too much… not now, and maybe, not ever in his life, just like Lucian.

The cruelty of the underworld, of being who he is… and the reality of why big names prefer not to have any relationships, any children, or loved ones… because they just can't spend time with them, and moreover, they pose the biggest danger.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I don't love you, Charlotte." He reached out gently, swiping off her tears. "You are my daughter, after all, right? You're always going to be here." He tapped over his heart. "And me in there." Then at her heart. That's what family means, we're never truly apart as long as our love keeps us close."

For a moment, Charlotte said nothing, just sobbing as she continued to stare at him with her blue eyes, while he tried to understand what James had said to her… yet there was something inside her, a thorn.

"But… you don't love me." She meant it… her body tensed, her hand clenched into a fist, as she looked down onto the ground, and her cheeks again became wet from her tears, which were all that was needed to let James know she truly meant it.

But why would she say something like this?

That was his first thought… though he quickly realized there was a simple answer to it, the answer he already knew. She was abandoned almost her whole life by his father, mother, and was grown up surrounded by strangers… and the first man she could truly look up to as a father, as a dad, who she could love, left her again, even though James promised that she would be with him and never abandon her.

Yeah, Charlotte is grown up for her age, but she's still a child, a broken child, who can't really understand the whole meaning of why James did what he did. In her mind, she just wanted to be with him all the time, all day… and even when things had happened, when she saw how hurt James was when Rafael died.

She loves him so much that she completely forgot what he is about and who he is.

A Don… yeah without even realizing it Charlotte from this little arrogant girl, turned into a girl who forgot that she is still in a mafia family… though with it, it was clear that she truly felt love and warmth, that she could look at them as… a real family.

"Don't say something that's not true, Charlotte. I love—"

"I'm not your daughter." She interrupted him, and again her fist was clenched. "Is that why you don't love me… because I am not your real daughter?"

Now that was another hit for James.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, confused and well surprised that she would come up with this.

"You don't love me, because I'm not your daughter." She looked up again, tears filling her eyes. "I-I may not be your real daughter, but… I want to be loved… I want to be your daughter."

He didn't know what to say, because it just didn't make any sense to him, how he even got into this situation, how even Charlotte herself ended up saying something like that to him, when she was the one who called him dad and daddy and joked with it all the time… and now saying this.

So he did what was the most simple thing to do. He grabbed her arm, pulling her into a tight hug… a hug that was warmer than the one before it.

"I am your father, Charlotte, and will be the one, so don't say things like this because it hurts more than anything else." He pulled back as he looked into her eyes. "I love you. I might not be the one who made you, but I am the one who cares for you, who does everything for you, and will be the one you can trust, can count on. So don't question who I am for you, nor question who you are for me." He patted her head. "You are my cute little daughter, the one who will be my shining star, the Bellinis' shining star… Charlotte Bellini, right?"

In that moment her eyes just opened wide, it was exactly what she needed and what she wanted to hear for him.

"I love you, Dad." She whispered as she lunged at him, tightly hugging James.

"I love you too."

Their moment together was something else, it truly felt like a family, a daughter and father relationship, one that finally happened, finally spoken with words. From that point on, James planted that thing inside Charlotte's mind, the thing that they are not strangers, not just someone who wants to look like a family… that Charlotte is not just a weight that was put on him by Lucian, but a daughter who loved.

Maybe it was a stupid decision by him, maybe it would have been much better if he never let her get too close, but now he can do nothing else but be a father… a good father.

Though their moment was interrupted.

"Grandma... is running toward us." She suddenly whispered into James's ear, and as he turned, there she was… Erika, sprinting full speed toward him, looking like she wasn't going to stop.

And she truly didn't stop, as she just jumped at James, knocking him on the ground.