Page 42 of The Don's Prisoner

But I actually wanted her to be here. I missed her.

“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered and headed up the stairs to my bedroom to get dressed. I went for casual and threw on a pair of jeans and a simple black T-shirt. Then I slicked back my hair and placed a baseball cap on my head backwards. Why was I moping around the house thinking about my girl when I had an asshole to track down and skin for scaring her?

I headed out of the house and drove to Club Figa.

I knew Seth was going to be there; he was always there. If there was one person more focused on their job than Victoria, it was Seth. He even lived across the street from the place just so he would be close in case something happened. Once, he had a break-in, but he was living across town at the time. The junkie who was looking to rob the place killed three of the women who were hanging out in the back room after closing as well as the bouncer and the closing manager before Seth could get there. Ever since then, he refused to live very far away.

Seth was a great guy, but he took that night to heart. It was one of the many reasons why he only laundered money for the Mafia rather than doing anything harder. It was easy for him to justify helping us out when he didn’t have to get his hands bloody, which I completely understood, as did my father.

People of all talents were needed to keep the business running. I had learned that from my father at a very young age.

I walked through the front door of the club and headed to the bar where I saw Seth pouring shots for a trio of men sitting at the counter, looking over their shoulders at the girl on stage. It was still early, and the place had just opened, so there weren’t very many people there. But there were more customers than usual for that time of day, which was great news for business.

I sat down at the bar a few chairs over from where the three men were sitting, and Seth nodded. I nodded back in greeting and waited for him to collect their pay and give them change. When he was done, he headed over to me and leaned on the bar counter.

“Hey, Gio. What’s up? Haven't seen you in a while,” he commented, then looked at his watch. “You are here pretty early, even for you.”

“Yeah, well… it’s been…” I hesitated, not knowing how to tell him what was going on. He looked at me with concern written all over his face. Out of all the guys, Seth was the one who had the most empathy—something most other people, including myself, lacked. Figuring if anyone would understand me it would be Seth, I blurted out what I was thinking. “I met her, Vito’s sister, and I convinced her to marry me so my family wouldn’t disown me, and we had sex last night, at my place, and it was fucking amazing, and now I can’t get her out of my mind. I mean, I couldn’t get her out of my mind before, but now that she's been in my home, and I've been inside her… I’m going crazy not having her there because she’s out dress shopping with my sister. I’m insane, right? I’m going insane?”

Seth watched me speak with an increasingly shocked expression on his face. His eyes were wide, watching me, and his mouth hung open just a little. I kind of wanted to smack the expression off his face, but if I had been telling this story to myself even two months ago, I would have had the same expression on my face. It was unbelievable.

When I was done babbling, Seth cleared his throat.

“Wait, so let me get this straight… You actually got together with Vito’s sister? How does Vito feel about this?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I haven't spoken to him. I don’t think Victoria has either, so I don’t even think he knows.”

“Okay,” Seth nodded. “And she agreed to marry you? Just like that?”

“Well… I may have told her that if she didn’t, I would murder Vito, who happens to be her twin. Then I may have implied that I would take care of her as well because she would be a witness.”

Seth stared at me for a long moment and ran his hand through his hair then down his face from his forehead, slowly.

“You blackmailed her into marrying you?” he asked, and I nodded. He let out a deep breath. “Okay. And you had sex? Was she…. willing?”

“Yes!” I exploded, my stress coating my words. “Of course, she was fucking willing! I wouldn’t rape her, Seth. For fuck’s sake, who the hell do you think I am?”

“Ok, I'm sorry, I just had to ask. This whole thing seems so… unreal,” he said, putting his hands up in defense. “I know you aren't like that. But man, you’ve never had any woman over your house before other than your mother and your sister. You’ve never been this hung up over a woman either, so I just have to cover all my bases.”

I nodded, taking some deep breaths. That was fair, but it didn’t mean that I was okay with the fact that he had asked that. I didn’t feel I was the kind of guy who needed to be asked such a question, but then again, I never thought I was a guy who would threaten a woman’s brother just to get her to marry him either.

Seth seemed to think about everything for a few moments before he stood up, grabbed two glasses, and filled them both with whiskey from a bottle under the bar. He passed one to me and sipped from the other one, glancing over his shoulder at the girl on stage. She was completely nude now, but neither of us was paying any attention. The security guys stationed at all entrances and exits would handle it if someone got out of control, but no one ever did in Seth’s establishment, especially not this early in the day.

“So, you and Victoria… you’re getting along, and you find yourself liking it. Isn’t that a good thing? I mean… if she’s going to marry you.”

“Yes, it’s a good thing.” I sipped my drink and looked down at the scratched wooden countertop. “I just didn’t expect to actually like her is all.

“Funny how stuff like that happens,” Seth pointed out. “But hey, you are going to be stuck with her for the foreseeable future, so might as well make the best of it. Enjoy the togetherness, have sex like bunnies, and then get married. No big deal. She won’t go anywhere for certain then.”

“If only it were that simple. Actually, it’s the other part of it that I came here to talk to you about,” I said. Seth raised his eyebrows and set his drink down, leaning on his elbows and folding his arms so each hand was cupping one of his elbows.

“Out with it then.”

“Her ex, the guy I made her leave for me… his name is Rex McMillon.”

Seth stood up and put a hand on his head, gripping the hair on top as if he were trying to hold his head on straight.

I sighed and sipped my drink, letting the alcohol burn all the way down.

---