Page 81 of Mafia Darling

This was ridiculous. “Giulio can take me today if you’re busy.”

“It has nothing to do with whether I am busy or not. I don’t want you off the estate. Not now, maybe not ever!”

His voice rose steadily to a roar but I held my ground. “Have you lost your mind? I can’t be a prisoner here.”

“You will, if I ask it of you.”

The conversation had taken a drastic turn, one I definitely didn’t like. “Are we compromising? Because it doesn’t feel like it right now.”

He stared intently at my face, the bright blue depths swirling with emotion. I knew he was coming from a place of love, that he was worried about me and our bambino, but I didn’t like starting off this marriage as a dictatorship. He needed to learn to work with me, to respect my feelings. To confide in and trust me. I asked, “Is there something you aren’t telling me?”

“No.”

“Then I’m keeping my appointment. I’ll talk to her about moving them here for the future and ask for a list of equipment to buy, but I want to make sure everything is okay with the baby.”

He straightened off the counter, his body instantly taut. “Have you been feeling any pain? Any discomfort?”

“You mean after you fucked the shit out of me last night?”

“I’m serious, monella.”

“No pain, no twinges. But I am sore everywhere. We haven’t exactly been, like, gentle.”

He grimaced, almost as if he felt guilty. “Fine, I’ll take you. We’ll put your mind at ease about the baby.”

Warmth spread through me. He was learning.

I drifted over to where he stood and wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing close. He dropped his hands onto my hips. “Baby,” I whispered, nuzzling into his scratchy jaw. He hadn’t shaved this morning and I loved the feel of his scruff on my skin. “Did we just have our first fight as a married couple?”

He put his face in my hair and inhaled as his hands swept up my back. “I like when you are sweet with me. My little kitten.”

“Then I promise to be very sweet to you later, after my doctor’s appointment.”

He grunted. “I worry that something will happen to you. That something will happen to the baby.”

“You can keep us safe, paparino. There’s no one more capable than you and your men.”

He dipped his head and kissed behind my ear, then moved along my throat, his lips soft and adoring. “You are going drive me crazy for the rest of my life, aren’t you?”

“That is the plan, amore.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Enzo

I had no idea how long I had been imprisoned in the Ravazzani dungeon. Days? Weeks? Time had no meaning anymore as I drifted in and out of consciousness.

My entire body screamed in pain. I was fairly certain my left lung was punctured, which could happen when one’s ribs were broken like mine. I couldn’t hold my head up without getting dizzy. My right shoulder was dislocated, as was my left knee. Every breath was agony.

But I never broke.

Somehow I had endured Fausto’s cruelty. I thought of my wife and children, my family. I thought of the beach in Napoli, my home there that I loved so much. I thought of my favorite places, my favorite meals—anything that allowed me to escape this nightmare, if only in my own mind.

I just had to keep my mouth shut and survive.

Fausto still didn’t have what he wanted—access to my empire. I would die before signing it over to anyone. It had taken me years to establish the computer fraud scheme, and the other bosses ridiculed me along the way. Then, when I started making piles of Euros, they all wanted to reap the benefits. Fuck them.

And fuck Fausto. He’d maintained a stranglehold on the European drug market for years, never sharing with the rest of us. And if anyone else tried smuggling, he reacted with swift retribution, like a bully in primary school.

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