Page 22 of Trick or Threat
“You almost sound worried for me.” I snark.
“Just for my job, which right now is you.” Right.
I should have known.
“If I’m the job, that also means you are currently working for me. So what I say goes until Alfie says otherwise. So get the fuck out and don’t come back.” He curses and takes out a gun, laying it on the kitchen counter by the pizza he threw.
“Either of us knows how to use this?”
“Yes,” both Val and I say in unison.
“Good. Don’t fucking die.” Then he’s out the door.
“Wow, I think that’s the closest thing to I love you that he’s ever said to me.” I pick up the pistol and check the chamber before taking it into my bedroom.
“Is Uncle Al gonna be pissed?” Val asks two seconds before my phone starts ringing.
I sigh when I see his name on the screen.
“Let’s find out.” I accept the call and put it on speaker.
“Hello,” the line is staticky like he’s in a wind tunnel.
“Chikita, must you be so difficult?” He sounds so disappointed in me.
“I don’t mean to be, but he brings out the worst in me.” He chuckles over the line, and my spirits lift slightly.
“I call with bad news.” And there goes my chest going tight again.
“What?” I sit down and bite my lip, waiting.
“Carmine has had an untimely accident.” Fuck.
That’s mafia talk for he got whacked. Which means the arrangement we previously had is no longer an option.
“No,” I whisper, and I feel his sigh run through my body to my soul.
“My trip did not get the results I was expecting. Unfortunately, your marriage is now our first priority. I will try to deal with it as much as possible so you may finish your studies; however, it will happen sooner rather than later, and a male child is required within the first eighteen months. I have managed to secure you a well-mannered groom who I’m told is pleasing to the eye, so perhaps it will not be too much of a hardship.” He clears his throat as my tears start to fall.
“I need to ask if…Have you?” He leaves the question open, not wanting to ask but needing the answer all the same.
“No, I’m still a virgin.” I’ll keep the birth control to myself for now.
Let them think I’m baren. I will not become a baby incubator.
I’d die first.
“Very well. It is settled then. You are required for dinner tomorrow night.” He hangs up, knowing I would never disobey and that I know the time like the back of my hand.
Dinner, six pm as always.
“I’m so sorry, Gen,” Val says, coming to hug me.
I finally let myself break down in her arms. Tomorrow I’ll return to my old life after I’ve cried myself to sleep tonight. It’ll be like none of this week has happened. I’ll be safe behind the security gates and the small army of Alfie employees.
No stalker, no freedom, no chance at a real love. Just like it was always supposed to be.
Exactly how Marco wanted it.
