Arranged Mafia Marriage

Elsa

“What?” I gape at him. “I think I heard you incorrectly.”

“You heard me right.” He looks back at me placidly. “Marry me.”

I burst out laughing, and Avery turns to stare at me. I reach over, pick up half a grape, and hold it to her mouth. She flicks her tongue around it, then closes her lips around my fingers, and begins to chew on it. I pull my hand back, and she proceeds to smash her fist into the tray next to her food bowl.

“And I thought I was the one to take a blow to the head,” I mutter under my breath.

Anger radiates off of him, and I can’t stop myself from glancing at him. His features are set in uncompromising lines, his lips firm. He glares at me and my insides flip-flop. “Whoever chased you yesterday is not going to stop until he gets to you.” He jerks his chin in Avery’s direction. ” What happens to her then? Have you thought of that?”

“I’m a mother. What do you think?” I snap at him.

“So, then you know what I’m offering you will help you take care of all of your problems in one stroke.”

“You’re joking, right?” I half laugh.

His face grows even more stormy and a nerve throbs at his temple. He seems to be barely controlling himself, if that set jaw of his is any indication.

“Anger leads to high blood pressure, which leads to all sorts of other problems,” I murmur.

“Excuse me?” He frowns.

“You’re perpetually frowning. It’s also bad for your skin. Not that the lines don’t look good on you… They do add a certain distinguished air… But still, when you smile, the whole world smiles, you know?”

His scowl deepens. “Don’t change the topic of discussion.”

“I wasn’t aware we were having a discussion.”

He pulls something out of his pocket, and places it on the table between us.

“What the hell-?” I gape at the blue diamond surrounded by golden-yellow sapphires in an intricate setting. The ring is not store-bought. Everything about the piece points to it being a family heirloom. This was not a spur of the moment decision.

“What… what is that?” I finally mange to force the words out through a throat gone dry.

“It belonged to Nonna.” He glances at the ring, then at me. “I want you to have it. I want you to be my wife.”

“W-wife?” I shake my head. “I barely know you.”

“You don’t need to know me to marry me.”

“Oh yeah?” I reach for a glass of water, take a sip, then choke on it and place it back on the table. I cough so much that tears run down my cheek.

He jumps up, grabs a napkin, and hands it to me.

“Thanks.” I nod to him as I dry my eyes.

At which point, Avery begins to cry.

“Sorry, honey, I didn’t mean to scare you.” I scoop her up from the highchair and cuddle her. She instantly subsides and begins to play with my hair.

“So, what do you say?” he persists.

“About what?”

“You, me, getting married.” He jerks his chin in Avery’s direction. “You do realize it’s the best way to get full custody of her, right?”

“What, by getting married to you?” I frown at him. “I’m really confused by this conversation.”

“The Cosa Nostra is more powerful than the police, more pervasive than the government.” He drums his fingers on the table.

“You mean, you would kill him?”

“Only if you want me to.”

“No,” I burst out, “he’s her father, I… I wouldn’t want that.”

“As you wish.” He tilts his head.

“My ex has enough money to afford the best legal help.”

“I have more money than him,” he drawls.

My head begins to spin. “Are you saying that if I marry you, you’ll help me get full custody of my daughter?”

“If you want, I’ll make sure your ex never looks at either of you again. Also,” he flattens his hand on the table, “you don’t have to worry about anyone coming after you. As the wife of the Capo of the Cosa Nostra, you and your daughter would receive round-the-clock protection.”

I rock Avery, who wriggles against me. I place her down, and she waddles over to Seb and throws her arms around his leg.

“Up.” She looks up at him expectantly.

“Oh, you don’t have to…” Before I can complete the sentence, he lifts her up in his arms.

“Hi, beautiful,” he murmurs.

“Play.” She grabs at his hair and tugs. “Play,” she says more insistently.

Even though Fabio speaks to her in Italian, I speak to Avery in English, and when she’s with me she tends to use more English words.

“You want to play?” he asks her in a serious voice.

She nods. “Play, Scooty, play,” Avery chants.

“Scooty; that’s the name of her toy bunny. Guess she wants you to play with him,” I murmur.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Where’s this Scooty then?” He turns that brilliantly golden gaze in my direction.

I hesitate.

“She wants me to play with Scooty. I think you should take me to him.” He arches an eyebrow at me.

“Fine, fine.” I blow out a breath, then turn in the direction of her room. He’s on my heels as I reach the cordoned-off play area in her room.

“There,” I point to the raggedy toy.

He carefully lowers her to the floor, and Avery pounces on the bunny and begins to chew on its ears. She drags it out of her mouth and offers it to Seb, who accepts the toy.

“Thank you,” he says.

She purses her lips together and makes a kissing noise.

“You want me to kiss Scooty?” Seb asks.

When she nods, he does just that, then offers the toy back to her. Avery takes it from him, then grabs another, a toy airplane, and begins to make a humming sound as she weaves it through the air.

“That should keep her busy for a while. I hope.”

“Good.” He turns to me. “I’m still waiting for an answer.”

“And I’m not ready to give you one.”

“I’m not leaving you alone until you do.” Those golden-brown eyes of his hold mine. Heat from his body surrounds me and sinks into my blood. My heart rate ratchets up and my pulse skitters. I lick my lips and his gaze falls to my mouth. His nostrils flare and I wonder if he’s thinking of kissing me.

He weaves his fingers through mine and guides me out of the room.

“Wait.” I grab the baby monitor on the way out.

He leaves the door to her bedroom open, then leads me into the living room. Once there, he takes the baby monitor from me and places it on the coffee table. I tug on my hand, and he releases it. Thank god.

It had felt so right to have my hand in his, to follow him, to not have to think, or make decisions, or do anything but allow him to direct my actions. I shake my head. What the hell is wrong with me? I’ve come so far. I have a steady job, friends who have my back, and I’m doing everything possible to get more time with my daughter. And how is that going for you? Fabio will never allow me more time with Avery. He’s convinced that I’m a bad mother. He has the money and the influence in this city, and access to the best legal help. Also, he’s Italian and I’m English, which means the courts in this country will always favor him. I’m fighting a losing battle and I know it.

“What do you get out of it?” I tip up my chin. “You could marry anyone you want. Why me?”

“Nonna was very clear that I should get married within the coming month. As you know, it was her… dying wish.” He pushes out the last couple of words, and I swear, I hear his voice crack. He glances away, then drags his thumb under his eye.

Was that a tear he wiped away? Or is he doing it just to get my sympathy? But there was that change in his voice, and he was genuinely shattered when he heard the news from the doctor at the hospital, wasn’t he?

He turns back to me. “As to why you?” He raises a shoulder. “You’re as good as anyone else. Only, you need this marriage more than I do.”

“And you want to marry someone who is beholden to you? Someone who would be dependent on you so you could control her?”

“Someone who would benefit greatly from this arrangement, too,” he points out.

But it’s only an arrangement; this is not a real marriage, is it? “And what about…” I shuffle my feet. “You know what I mean.”

He frowns. “Afraid I have no idea what you’re referring to.”

“We’ll have different rooms, won’t we?”

He still seems puzzled.

“You know, bedrooms, sleeping at night-”

“We’ll be sharing the same bed.”

“Excuse me?” My cheeks heat. “The same bed?”

“Once we’re married, yes.”

“B-but…”

He arches an eyebrow.

“I don’t know you at all,” I burst out.

“I don’t need to know you to fuck you.”

I firm my lips. “If you think this is going to convince me to marry you-”

The doorbell rings. I scowl at him, then at the door. “I wasn’t expecting anyone.”

The doorbell rings again and again.

“Coming,” I call out as I head toward the door with him right behind me.

I wrench it open, to find a guy standing there, holding out a packet. I sign for it, and he leaves. I close the door, lock it, turn, and once more, crash head-first into that wide chest. The dark male scent of him fills my lungs, and I’m ashamed to say that I take in big gulps of it.

“Did you just smell me?” He sounds amused.

“What?” I pull back. “Of course not.” I march around him, head for the living room, where I grab the letter opener from the side table. I slide it under the flap of the envelope and open it, then take in the official looking sheets of paper. My heart begins to race and my throat closes. I sit down on the settee and pull out the documents. I scan through them and anger squeezes my lungs.

“Goddamn it!” I throw them down on the table and jump to my feet. “You knew that this was going to happen. You knew my ex was going to file for full rights to her. You knew it, and you manipulated things so I would have no option but to marry you, you-”

“Hold on,” he snaps, “don’t go shooting your mouth off without any evidence, woman.”

“The evidence is that I was served with papers immediately after you told me you’d make sure I get custody.” I grab the papers off of the table, then walk around it until I reach him, and slap them against his chest. The papers slide down to the floor around him, and he makes no move to pick them up. He also doesn’t seem too upset by my outburst. That entire attempt at not allowing my temper to get away from me? I failed in spectacular fashion.

He folds his arms across his chest and taps his foot against the floor. “Are you done?”

I pivot and walk around the sofa, so I can put some distance between us.

“My inquiries showed it was just a matter of time before your ex filed to strip you of your parental rights. It’s why I came here today. We both stand to gain if we go through with this marriage as quickly as possible.”

“You mean, you get what you want, without any delays.”

“And you.” He steps over the papers, then closes the distance to stand on the other side of the sofa. “The sooner we marry, the sooner I can put pressure on my contacts to have him retract his actions.”

I grip the back of the sofa. I don’t want to marry him, especially not when I’m so attracted to him. The last time I thought I liked a man, see what happened? He not only slept around, but also turned out to be the kind of bastard who won’t rest until he’s taken everything from me. And now, I’m considering walking straight into another marriage… In order to redress the consequences from the previous one. If that isn’t a recipe for disaster, I don’t know what is.

“I cannot… Will not let anyone take my daughter from me. She is my top priority. She is my heart. I cannot separate me from her.” I tip up my chin. “I’d fight anyone and anything for her. If I lose her, I won’t survive.”

“And I’ll make sure that never happens. We’ll make sure no one dares take her away from you. That no one dares harm either of you.”

We. He said ‘we.’ When did I last feel like I was part of a unit? Maybe with Theresa and her friends, who had taken me under their wing when I’d moved here from England. But this is different. This would mean being part of a team… A family… My family. My unit. I’d never thought I could have that again. Never thought I’d marry again. Definitely not to a Mafioso.

“Well?” He tilts his head. “What do you say?”

“I’ll marry you,” I tilt my head up, “on one condition.”

“Oh?”

“No sex.”