Married to the Mafia Boss

Carmine

I can’t fucking believe that she doesn’t take this as seriously as we do. I know she’s been raised in a bubble, but she’s not naive, and I know that. We both know that.

My anger is beyond anything I’ve ever felt. I’m not Dominic. He thinks he controls everything, but the man has temper issues. I’ve always been calm and calculated. Plan the move, execute, and resolve the problem.

How do I resolve Arianna?

Not only do I want to ravage her, but I also want to keep her safe. I’d spank her, but that might seriously give off the wrong idea.

As I leave my room this morning, I don’t even want to speak to her. It’s too much. She placed herself in such unnecessary harm. She could have been taken or, worse, killed. And even then, we know that in the underworld, there are things worse than death that many families are willing to do to get what they want.

I sit at the kitchen table, and she follows in a little later. She looks at me, then at her brothers, and greets them. I don’t say anything, and Dominic glances at me. Shit, I don’t want him suspecting anything has happened between us.

I start to dish some fresh bread onto my plate with homemade jam. Mom’s clearly been busy.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

The rest of the family speaks amicably as Arianna and I eat in silence. Dominic is now concentrating on his food, thank God, and has stopped giving me weird looks.

We disperse afterward, and I follow Arianna to the garage. She puts on some overalls and opens the hood of her car. She glances at me. “I’m not going to run off.”

Her voice is cold, and mine matches her, “If I didn’t have to watch you, I wouldn’t be here. I’m just doing my job.”

I stand to the side, out of her way, my arms crossed in front of me. I’m sure I see a flicker of something in her eyes. Is it hurt? I don’t know, but I can’t let my feelings cloud my judgment now.

She gets in her car and turns the radio on, blasting music as she works. She wouldn’t hear me even if I did speak to her. I watch her in disbelief. She doesn’t look at me at all while she fixes her car.

I’m about to tell her to get some lunch when an explosion rocks the house. She glances up at me in panic, and I draw my gun. “Stay behind me.”

She reaches under her workbench and withdraws a gun as well. “Okay.”

I nod and lead her toward the garage door. It bangs open, and three men I don’t recognize come storming in, guns in their hands. We both stop and start to shoot at them. We hit one immediately but the other two duck down behind one of the cars. I push Arianna behind one of Dominic’s cars just as they rise and start shooting at us.

“Are your keys in the ignition?” I ask.

“Yes,” she says breathlessly. “What about my family?”

“My job is to get you out of here, Arianna. You need to do as I say.” I hear the firing stop and assume they’ve gone to reload. I stand, and a bullet barely misses my face. I aim and shoot a guy through the head before I duck down again.

“Get to the car, start the engine. I’ll get in and go with you.”

“Where are we going?” she asks desperately.

“Get in. I’ll direct you once we’re on the road. We need to get out of the estate. I can smell smoke. Something’s on fire.” I nudge her and peek over the car. The third man has made his way back to the garage door and calls through it.

I get up quickly. “Go now!” I fire at the man who dives through the door, although I’m sure I got him in the leg as he lets out a desperate cry of pain.

We rush to the Impala, and I click the button for the garage to open as I pass it.

Arianna starts the car, and I stand guard while the door slides open, watching for more men. When it’s almost entirely open, I slide into the passenger side. “Go! Go! Go!”

She reverses out of the garage like a bat out of hell, and I hold onto the window frame as she spins around and drives toward the wide-open gate, dead men lying on the floor-my men.

She swerves into traffic amidst a lot of honking and brakes squealing, and she takes off.

“Where to?” she asks. “What about my family?”

“They will each have their own means to get out. They have their own guards,” I explain, reloading my gun with my last rounds.

“Will they meet us wherever we’re going?” she asks.

“Go toward West Hampton. There are numerous safe houses there.” I move, and my neck stings. I check in the rearview mirror. I’ve got a cut, maybe from the bullet I thought had missed me, and it’s bleeding.

I take out my phone. “I’ll direct you once you get there.” I dial Dominic’s number first. Alessandro will be busy.

“Did you get out?” I ask as soon as he answers. “Is everyone okay?”

“I don’t know about anyone else. I was with Sofia when it happened,” he says. “But we’re out and on our way home. Have you spoken to anyone else? Is Arianna okay?”

“Shook up but okay.” I glance at her. Her hands aren’t trembling, which surprises me. “Mostly taken by surprise. Your parents?”

“They were with Alessandro. I will try them again shortly. I’ve spoken to Frankie to let him know what’s happened ’cause he’s going to see it on the news and panic.” Dominic sounds so tired.

“I’m taking Arianna to a West Hampton safe house. I’ll let you know which one when we arrive. I’ll give Alessandro a moment and call him, see if everyone got out okay.” I sigh. “Dominic, they better have gotten out or else.”

“I know,” Dominic says seriously. “They won’t get away with this, even if everyone is okay.”

“Agreed, talk later.” I hang up and turn to Arianna. “Dominic is fine, and so is Sofia.”

“My parents, though? Did he say anything about them?” she asks, her eyes wide.

“No, he doesn’t know any more than we do. We’ll get to the safe house, and then I’ll call Alessandro to get an update.”

She nods, and I plug the address into her GPS. I look out at the passing traffic. When we arrive, I’ll make sure she has some sweet coffee to calm her nerves and maybe a shower to relax her.

“That was good shooting,” I comment. “I didn’t know you had a gun in there.”

“I don’t. Alessandro does,” she comments. “But I’m not an idiot. I know how to shoot.”

“Clearly,” I offer her a smile. “Try not to stress, I’m sure everyone is fine, or we would have heard something.”

“Why hasn’t Alessandro called?” she asks. “Why hasn’t he checked on me?”

“He will,” I promise. “He’s probably doing disaster management right now. There are things at the house the cops can’t find,” I point out. “He’ll be taking care of that and any of the attackers that remained behind before the cops pull in.”

She nods numbly.

I wish I could make her feel better, so I squeeze her leg. “They’re all….” My phone goes off, and I read the text aloud. “Everyone okay. Are you all safe? Get to safe houses. Further instructions later.”

I smile at her. “See, that’s from Alessandro.”

She looks visibly relieved, and I feel the same.