The Mafia Contract Series

It’s only when we reach the safety of the car that Angelo expels a huge sigh of relief. “Thank fuck for that. One more minute in his company and I was liable to snap.”

“I would never have known.” I look at him in concern. “What’s going on?”

He sighs as he leans back, pulling me with him and as I snuggle into his side, I’m grateful for the physical contact.

“We arranged everything to protect you and Daphne. It was necessary for us to be at the restaurant to hear the news in front of witnesses. Giovanni arranged for your sister, and everyone involved, to be absent from the mansion when the Torinos came calling. They were taken to a safe place to wait as we set up the rival family to take the fall. When the Torinos arrived and discovered your parent’s bodies, the cops were alerted to a shooting and when they made to leave, they were surrounded and are currently dealing with a shit load of red tape to keep this from becoming public knowledge.”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

I don’t believe what I’m hearing. “You planned this?”

“Yes. I called in the clean-up crew. It’s what they do. Direct the heat away from us onto somebody else, and this was the perfect situation. I couldn’t have planned it better myself, and the fact we were sitting at a table with Delauren when he learned of it provides us with an alibi.”

“But the security cameras at the house would have recorded everything.”

“Giovanni would have erased them and all they would register is twenty-four hours earlier, before we arrived. Then they were set to record again after we left. A cunning trick that has served my family well over the years.”

I fall silent because I can’t believe all of this has happened today. Angelo tightens his grip on me as I say softly, “Thank you.”

“None needed.”

He closes his eyes, almost as if he is shutting the world out, and I think back to his sister. So beautiful but locked in a madness that I can’t begin to imagine the horror of.

“Your sister is lovely.” I’m keen to discover what Angelo thinks about the situation and he says with just a hint of a break in his voice, “She is, but the person you met isn’t my sister.”

“What do you mean?” I’m confused because it sure looked like her.

“No.” He says emphatically. “That was the shell of the person she once was. She was vibrant and full of life. Kind, generous and loving. It’s as if she’s been stripped of all emotion and now operates on automation and I am struggling to find a way to bring her back to me.”

“Massimo.” I say the word and Angelo growls, “That bastard is mentally stripping my sister of every trace of humanity she has and I will kill him as soon as I get the chance.”

“But not now?” I’m a little confused at that because if that had been Daphne siting there, I would have lunged at him in a blind frenzy of emotional rage.

“I am making sure there will be no opportunity for him to escape his fate. This control he has over the world we live in ends with him. He is currently too powerful, untouchable even, and there would be devastating consequences if I took him out now. We need to be prepared for that.”

“Is that why you married me? To build your own army?”

The tears burn as I sense my involvement in his master plan and only the tightening of his fingers around my shoulder tells me he feels something, but all he says is, “Yes. I told you it was a business deal.”

Shrugging out of his arms, I set myself on the edge of the seat and rest my head against the cool glass, staring out at the darkness that reflects my lonely figure in the window.

“I see.”

The cold bastard doesn’t even try to reassure me and as we make the short distance in silence, I begin the process of hardening my heart – forever.

WE TAKE the journey in silence and as soon as we step inside, I head to the stairs to create distance between us. All I want it to strip off these clothes and lock myself away in my suite of rooms to deal with what today has brought.

“Jasmine!” His sharp voice stops me in my tracks, and he barks, “Where are you going?”

“To bed.” I blink in surprise, and he says in a dark voice that causes my skin to prickle, “You will meet me as arranged.”

“But.”

“Wait for me.”

He sounds so emotionless, as if he’s commanding one of his soldiers and it strikes me that I probably am. His sex soldier and if this wasn’t such a horrific situation, I would laugh about that and as he speaks in hushed whispers to Roberto, I turn and head to the sex room, fighting back the tears.

He won’t even give me space to grieve. He wants his pound of flesh and I’m the fool who lets him.

As I sit on the bed in the darkened room, I take deep breaths and try to shake away the images of the most turbulent day of my life. It’s too much to absorb in one hit and trying to focus on another person’s problems instead of my own has always worked well for me.

Angelo’s sister is lost. She’s struggling and my heart weeps for her. Married to a man old enough to be her father makes me feel physically sick, especially the way he claimed her so publicly in a twisted show of affection. I wasn’t fooled by that, and neither was Angelo. Why are mafia Don’s such bastards? Do they teach them that from the crib? Do they mold them into an unfeeling machine like Massimo is trying to do to Winter? I know why Angelo is so cold now. He’s fighting not just for his life but for his sister’s too. I am just one of the weapons he will use, and I should accept that and get on with my life, grateful for any attention the great man will bestow on me. But when I think of Daphne and Eddie, the tears burn.

Love.

How I wish Angelo looked at me as if the world begins and ends with me. As if I’m the most important person in his life and he would do anything for me. Daphne has that. She’s the lucky one. It could have ended so differently for her and Eddie, and now they have a shot at happiness-together. I should be happy about that. Ecstatic even because at least one of us gets to live the fairy tale and if I could choose between us, it would be my sister every time.

“You’re not naked.”

I jerk my head up in shock as Angelo leans against the doorjamb looking weary but so hot, I immediately feel a burst of longing.

“Was I supposed to be?”

“What do you think?”

His eyes drag the length of me, and I sigh, before standing and ripping my clothes off in a petulant act of anger. He laughs softly as I stand before him, cocking one hip to the side and saying sarcastically, “Better, master?”

He pushes off and removes his own clothes, coolly and slowly, holding my attention with his compelling eyes and then, as he stops before me, he reaches out and pulls me close to him and wraps his arms around me and exhales deeply.

“This is what I need.”

“What?” My voice is low because this is unexpected and he nuzzles my hair and whispers, “From the moment I left you this morning I have been aching to be here with you like this. Nothing between us but skin and after the fucking day we’ve both had, this is what makes it all worthwhile.”

My heart quickens as something lets a little light in. A chink in the armor, a gentle breeze blowing the closed curtain from the window and a ray of warm sunshine lighting up the dampest corner of my soul.

“I told you we need to talk, but I need to hold you for that.”

He rubs circles on my back, and I hold my breath because something is happening. Unexpected, possibly life changing and dare I believe, something that will make me happier than I ever thought possible.

“I married you for business, you know that.”

My heart sinks. “Yes. I do.”

He tightens his hold and whispers huskily, “Then everything changed.”

I daren’t move a muscle as he says softly, “Something changed in how I looked at you. My first impression was of a brave rebellious girl who was also a fool.” He chuckles. “She provoked a reaction and yet took the consequences of that with a bravery that impressed me.”

He carries on rubbing and it feels strange but so delicious at the same time.

“I told myself you reminded me of my sister and me to a degree. Both of us struggling to exist in a world none of us make the rules for. Molded into the people our parents wanted us to be and struggling with that. Your bravery impressed me, and it caught my attention. Then I brought you home and you never once complained. Everything I asked, you did, despite how scared you must have been.

You never argued, never questioned, and yet held yourself with a quiet confidence that impressed me.

No drama, just a need to learn and play your part.”

He pulls back and stares into my eyes and what I see in them causes my breath to hitch, as he whispers, “I don’t want to love. I never have and I do everything in my power to keep it away, telling myself there is no place for it in my life. I was a fool.”

He strokes my face gently and whispers, “I ignored the reason for living. I stupidly thought I could control every aspect of my life, but I couldn’t control my feelings for you.”

He kisses me softly on the lips and says huskily, “It’s why I brought you here tonight. Stripped naked and bare, there is nothing to hide behind. I want to be closer to you than I have ever wanted anyone, and it’s not a desire, it’s an aching need. You are my center and I need you to keep me grounded. To give me a reason to survive. When I saw you protect your sister with the fiercest kind of love, I recognized that same desire in me. I would kill for my sister, and you share that with me. Your own sister killed to protect you and it showed me the power of love and family.”

He hisses, “When I thought your father had killed you, my world ended. In that split second, if I could have turned back time, it would be me with the knife in my heart because without you in my world, I have no use for mine. Then I saw your frightened face that glowed with achievement. Your victory was painted across your face, mirroring years of pain and torture at the monster’s hands. You had slain your demons and set yourself free and I saw that same expression on your sister’s face. You are both invincible now because nothing can ever drag you back to be the frightened girls you once were. Now you are strong, brave women who control their lives and that is why I wanted to bring you here tonight, before events catch up with us. I want to declare my devotion to you. To my wife my world and the woman I…” He pulls back and stares deeply into my eyes and I see the emotion in his that causes me to break apart inside as he whispers, “Love. You have achieved the impossible, Jasmine Sontauro. You have taught me how to love and this is no longer a business deal. It’s a promise that I will love and protect you to the death.”

The tears spill down my face like a dam has been blasted apart. A barrier containing the emotions behind the strongest defenses. Hearing Angelo declare his love for me is both surprising and yet life changing.

He smiles with a gentleness I’m not used to seeing and as our lips come together, so do our hearts.