Page 17 of Mafia Darling

Fausto

I watched her pretend to sleep next to me on the plane. Did she think I wouldn’t notice the pulse racing at the base of her throat? Clearly she was awake, but I let her have this. She was pissed enough. It would take time to win her over once again.

But I would. What she and I had together was too strong, too wild to deny.

Had Enzo hurt her? I had no idea how she’d suffered at my enemy’s hands, except for the photo of her on her knees, a goddamn gun in her mouth. D’Agostino would pay for that a thousand-fold before I was done with him. Was there anything else? I needed to find out what happened during her captivity—not only to exact retribution on Enzo, but to offer her support and comfort.

I examined her as best I could, but saw no bruises or cuts. No welts or broken bones. Perhaps the damage is where I cannot see. My blood ran cold at the thought. Had Enzo raped her? Or harmed my child in some way?

“Stop staring at me,” she muttered. “It’s creepy. And stop fidgeting. I’m trying to sleep.”

“Cazzata. You cannot sleep any easier than I can.” My adrenaline was still high from the attack, and worries over her clouded my brain. “Besides, the flight is only a little over an hour. By the time you fall asleep I will need to force you awake.”

“God, I hate you.”

I smothered a smile. If she hated me, she still felt something and I could work with that. Before then, there were practicalities to be dealt with, like the man who had dared to take her from me. “Did Enzo hurt you?”

“Worried that your toy is broken?”

“Francesca,” I snapped. “This is serious. Did he touch you or hurt you? Or hurt our child in any way?”

“Other than brushing a hand over my boob, he didn’t touch me. No, don’t worry. He didn’t hurt me nearly as badly as you did.”

I winced, unable to help myself. I didn’t like the idea of hurting her. I hadn’t cared about a mantenuta’s feelings before, but for some reason Francesca’s mattered to me. It was strange.

When Lucia and I were married, I hadn’t cared much for her feelings, either. She was there to oversee my home and care for my children, a part she had been raised to perform. There hadn’t been any discord or arguments. She wouldn’t have dared. My wife had bowed to my every whim, my every demand. The news about her death hadn’t sent me into a tailspin.

So why had Francesca’s kidnapping affected me so dramatically?

I didn’t want to think about it. I had her back and that was what mattered. She would forgive me and everything would return to the way it was before, with fucking and laughter and our naughty games.

I cleared my throat. “Still, I will have the doctor examine you when we return home.”

“Home,” she sneered. “It’s not my home.”

“Lamborghini and Vincenzo have missed you. Zia, Giulio. Even Marco.”

“Now I know you are lying. Marco hates me.”

My cousin did not like Francesca, true. He thought she made me vulnerable. That she distracted me from ’ndrina business. Perhaps it was the case, which was why I needed our relationship to return to what it had been before as quickly as possible. “I missed you.”

That got her to open her eyes, but there was no fire in them. No spark, just flat loathing. Even when I kidnapped her in Toronto there had been a flash in her gaze, a heat between us. “You missed a warm hole to shove your cock into.”

I heard murmuring, which reminded me we weren’t alone on the plane. A dozen or so soldiers were on board for protection. “Lower your voice,” I told her.

“Why? I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of. I’m not the one who knocked up his mistress, then sent her away and put her under house arrest, alone. You didn’t give a shit about what happened to me or our child.”

“Is that what you think? I had guards and cameras on you every second. My son brought you food and gave you books to read. Ginger candies for nausea.”

Her brows shot up. “You spied on me.”

“My men sent me reports each day. I knew exactly what you were doing at every second.”

“Except for when I was being kidnapped.”

I ground my back teeth together. “Yes, that unfortunate oversight has been dealt with.”

“Unfortunate oversight.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re an asshole.”

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