Married to the Mafia Boss

Dominic

I wake up, and my head is less sore than it felt yesterday, but my body is still in pain. I’ll adapt, though, because I’m used to pain.

I eat the stupid hospital breakfast they bring me only because they won’t let me go if I don’t. Once I choke it down, they give me another once over before the doctor declares I can be discharged.

The nurse brings the paperwork to me to fill out, and I think about Sofia. I wonder if she has missed me at all. She hasn’t called to check on me or come to visit, but I hope she’s happy to see me when I get home.

“Hello, big brother,” I look up at Arianna’s smiling face.

“Ari,” I say. “What are you doing here?”

“Picking you up.” She sits on the side of my bed. “Wanted to make sure you were okay.”

I snort. “You know this isn’t the worst I’ve been.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t worry,” she singsongs. She looks around the room and then at me. “So, did you and Sofia talk?”

“About what?” I ask curiously. “The last time I spoke to Sofia was yesterday morning.”

Arianna frowns. “She said she was coming to see you last night.”

“Maybe she fell asleep,” I say. “Or changed her mind.” My sister looks away, and I frown. “Arianna Amelia Sorvino, what did you do?”

She grins. “Don’t say my full name. It’s bad luck.”

I raise an eyebrow, which hurts. “What did you do?”

“I went to see her,” she says, drawing a lazy circle in the bedspread. “And I chatted to her about how she might feel about you.”

I balk. “Arianna, that is none of your business.”

She looks up at me. “Well, someone has to intervene between you two. It’s like watching two ships pass in the night, except the lighthouse is on and shining at both of you.”

We fall silent, and I look out the window at the buildings across the road. “What did she say?” I ask quietly.

“I think it’s best she speaks to you. I just made it clear she needs to make up her mind and that you’re more than what you appear to be.” Arianna stands up. “Are you coming or what?”

“I’m a killer, Arianna, nothing more than that. You shouldn’t put ideas in her head.” I stand up and wince, holding my ribs.

Arianna observes me for a moment before saying, “You’re more than what you think you are, brother, and the ideas were already there. I was just watering the seeds.”

“Well, don’t, please. This doesn’t need to be more complicated than it already is.” I walk with her out of the room, and the guards follow us as we exit the hospital.

I see Carmine waiting for us at the elevator and look at Arianna. “Is there something I should know?”

“Yes, that you’re full of shit, and I’m glad you’re okay.” She touches my shoulder gently, so I lean down. She kisses my cheek and grins. “I’m not going to drive with you home after all. I think it’s better you two have some alone time. Ciao.”

She walks off with Carmine toward the stairs, and I roll my eyes. She knows I can’t keep up with her in my current shape. I take the elevator down to the ground floor and get to the car, sitting back and relaxing in the back seat.

I close my eyes as we drive. Traffic is shit at this time, so I know I can doze off for a while, at least. I think about what Arianna said about Sofia having a choice to make. What if she chooses me? I don’t know what I would do with that.

Do I return her feelings? Alessandro might not like that, although he said he would simply change my role in the family. Do I want to change my position?

I try and clear my mind. This stress is making my headache come back quickly.

“Boss,” I hear my driver say as we slow down.

I open my eyes and lean forward. The gates to the estate are wide open. There is no one to be seen.

“Get to the house,” I say, realizing Sofia might be in danger.

“It could be a trap,” Carlos, my guard, says.

I glare at him. “Shoot any motherfucker that doesn’t belong to us.”

My driver pulls up to the house, and we exit quickly. Moving fast is painful, so I let my guards go first. I see three dead bodies near the front door.

My men.

I don’t know where the others are, but I know they’re probably dead. I walk into the house without a qualm. “Sofia!” I yell. “Sofia, answer me!”

The house has been turned upside down, and everything that could be destroyed has been destroyed-shards of glass and pottery and pieces of torn artwork litter the floor. Cushions have been ripped and strewn about.

I look at the top of the stairs to see a graffiti tag emblazoned on the wall.

The Catalan tag.

This is what their soldiers use to deliver warnings to other families. They’ve taken Sofia, and they’re basically saying I’m not getting her back, and I’ll die if I try to.

I take my cell phone out as my men sweep the house and dial Alessandro. “You home?”

“They’ve taken Sofia,” I say immediately.

Alessandro goes quiet for a moment. “Do you need help?”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“I just need your permission to do what I must to get her back, regardless of the consequences,” I say.

“You do this. There is no going back,” Alessandro says, then, after a pause, “I would do the same thing for Katya. I have done the same thing for her. Go, do what you need to do.”

I hang up and hobble out to the side of the house, where there’s a large shed. Carlos follows me, and I say, “Get a few men ready, as much ammo as they can get. I will ping her cell phone to see where last it went off. We must do this carefully, or they will take us out at the knees.”

“How carefully?”

“By carefully, I mean not one of those motherfuckers comes out alive, do you understand?”

“I’ll get Carmine,” Carlos says, walking away.

I enter the shed that remained untouched due to the security locks and switch on the light. Weapons of all kinds line the walls and the table in the center. I look around and nod, “This will do,” I say to myself.

I carefully change into a bulletproof vest, as painful as it is. I know I could send my men on their own, especially since Carmine is an amazing mercenary. Second only to me.

Once I’ve finished strapping as many weapons to myself as I can manage without being weighed down, I grab one set of keys from the many hanging in a box to the left of the door.

I walk into the large garage at the side of the house and hit the button, unlocking the armored vehicle sitting to the right.

I climb in, start the car and rev it.

I’m getting my Sofia back, she’s my princess, and no one touches my things. Least of all some filthy mug like Jose Catalan.

He has declared war, not only on my family but on me personally, and war is what I’m best at.