Page 87 of Down the Aisle
The sound of his laughter triggered a rush of anger, causing me to snap. "Shut up!" Whirling around, I glared at James so hard that my eyes strained in my skull. "You shut the fuck up." Something took over my body, and my feet moved over to James until I stood over him menacingly. "I don't want to hear any more shit from your mouth! I've listened to you and your stupid voice and words for ten fucking years too many."
To be looking down at James after all these years felt surreal, and maybe I let the feeling get to my head a little because the crazed laugh that left me scared the shit out of me. "Doesn't feel fun being on the other end, does it, James? Being the onebeneath someone's feet, being the one bleeding and pleading," I spat at him with so much venom in my voice that it burned my throat and tongue coming out.
In a split second, I spun around on my heels to face Adam when I felt his presence come up behind me. "And you!" Jabbing a finger right into his chest, I made him stumble back a step. "Talk. Now!" I demanded. "I want the truth. All of it. And if you leave so much as a single word out." I shut my mouth and wretch the promise ring off my finger. "I will throw this overboard along with our future," I threatened, holding my hand back as if I was ready to chuck the ring.
At least all of that seemed to kick Adam's ass in the right direction because his lips started moving like a dancer in the moment. "It's true. I am involved in the mafia… I uhh… I'm the boss here in Oregon and South Washington. I have been for years. I got involved late in college when I was close to finishing my degree. The old boss saw something in me gave me a taste of life. And at that time, I just wanted to be successful, so I took it."
Looking like a kicked puppy, Adam slowly reached out for my outstretched hand, closing his around mine and lowering it. "I'm not going to lie. It's a violent and bloody business, and illegal, but I run it as cleanly as possible. Things aren't how they were back then, and it's not all guns and turf wars like movies make things out to be, promise. I'm mostly hands-off at this point, just running things from the background while my lieutenants handle a bulk of everything."
His regretful and apologetic eyes looked deep into mine as he kissed my hand. "I've done a lot of things, and I won't deny any of it. I regret some, but not all, because I did what I had to do in order to provide and care for my family and future." Carefully, he pried my hand open until the ring was out in the open in my palm. "But there's nothing I regret more than keeping this from you. I have no excuse for my cowardice in keeping my secretfrom you. I was afraid of losing you, but that's no valid excuse in my book. I kept telling myself I'd tell you, but I kept chickening out and coming up with lame excuses for myself…"
Shoving the ring into his hand, I pushed them away. "Were you ever going to tell me, then? Or would it have been one of those next time moments that never come?" I couldn't bring myself to keep looking at him in the eyes, afraid that my wall would crumble if I did.
Too bad Adam wasn't having any of it. He grabbed my face and forced me to look up at him. "Yes, I swear, I was going to tell you. It wouldn't have become one of those things that slip into nothing. I just really couldn't find a good spot to tell you all of this." Sucking in a sharp breath, he leaned his forehead down against mine and chuckled pathetically. "I wanted to wait until you were stronger to tell you to minimize the risk of you running away from me."
Licking my drying lips, I let out a trembling breath. "What if I ran away no matter what?" No matter how in love with this man I was, a secret like this could've broken it no matter how far along we were in the relationship.
"No." Adam lightly shook his head with another chuckle. "If you couldn't accept me after I told you, then I had a plan to lock you in the basement until you came around." His grip on me tightened, and his trembling lips brushed against mine. "I love you too much to let you go, and I know you love me too. I would've kept you locked away until you learned to love me again because that's how crazy I am when it comes to you."
"You're insane," I gasped, shivering from the sudden chill of fear that cut through me.
He sounded so far out when he laughed in response. "For you, yes. Nothing makes sense when it comes to you. You give me the craziest thoughts and feelings, ones I only ever read about in books and seen in movies. You light up my world likeno other. Give it that breath of fresh air and life. You are my everything, Eliza, and I am never letting you go." His eyes were so full of passion and craze that it gave me whiplash.
Fact is, I should be running for the next country over, put as much distance between me and Adam as possible. Yet the need to run staled out.
"Have you ever wanted to lock any other woman in your basement like that?" I don't know what came over me to ask that asinine question, but I had to know. "Am I special, bub? Am I really your girl? Is there anyone else? Has there been anyone else?"
God, maybe I'm the crazy one between the two of us.
Adam's expression softened lovingly as he shushed me soothingly. "Oh, darling, no, no, no." His words danced across my lips. "There is no other woman, never has been, never will be. I am loyal to you and only you. I have never felt alive with anyone else before, only you. You are the only woman who I would ever go to such lengths to keep because you are just that special to me and only me. Everything that I have done for you and Asher has been to take care of you both and keep you safe. It is never my intention to harm you guys in any way, shape, or form."
"Oh my God, are you hearing him!? He's fucking crazy!" James interrupted our sweet moment with his spiteful words.
Annoyed with him, I kicked my foot back right into his face. Turning my head back, I glared down at him briefly. "And I told you to shut the fuck up."
"Cazzo, sei così sexy, tutta arrabbiata e sicura di te." Adam's chuckling words made me turn my head back at him. "There's my little rose with her thorns." His words muffled out with the kiss he pressed against my lips. "I swear, I'll do whatever you want and whatever it takes to make it all up to you. Just please,don't make me lock you in the basement." He murmured against my lips.
God, am I really doing this? Am I really considering forgiving him just like that?
Sighing heavily, I stepped away from Adam and walked a few steps toward the door to the lower deck.
Stopping after a few, I turned my head back to look at Adam with my lips pressed in a thin line. There was a moment of tense silence that suffocated the air before my defeated voice simmered it. "Don't make me wait too long, and don't give me that ring again unless you can promise me without a doubt that you will keep this away from home, away from me, and away from our children. Because like hell am I going to walk into a bloody mess in our living room or have Asher encounter that shit show, nor do I want you to handle our baby with bloody hands. All your mafia business stays away from the family and home."
Closing my eyes, I took in a long and deep breath, holding it in for a few seconds to calm myself a little. Opening my eyes, I looked at Adam sternly. "That is my condition, or I walk."
If I was sane, then I'd call it all off right now and jump overboard.
But the thought of a life without Adam, no matter how dark and dirty he was on the other side, was heart-achingly painful. Thinking about moving on somewhere else made me feel so cold and dead inside.
I love Adam, and there was no changing that.
Our souls have found each other, and we were locked in for life.
Chapter 33
Eliza
Last night felt likesome fever dream. If I had woken up to the warm sunlight in Adam's arms to Asher jumping on both of us rather than a rocking boat with my MAFIA boyfriend—or soon-to-be ex-mafia-boyfriend—then I would've chalked it up to some whackass nightmare.
