Page 44 of Mafia Star

“Does this mean we’re in a committed relationship? I want to see you as my future, too?”

“I think we have been since the beginning. Neither of us wanted to fuck anyone else. It just took us a little while to admit it.”

I cup her cheek, and she leans into it. Her eyes close, and she sighs before leaning her head against my chest.

“Can we just stay like this for a moment? I just want to feel you inside me. I want to hold you too.”

“I don’t need to get off right now.”

I lift her off the table and settle back in the chair. This is a connection unlike anything else. Our bodies are one, but that just feels like it’s a demonstration of something way deeper. How is that possible? We haven’t spent that much time together. We haven’t gone out on dates and chatted into the wee hours of the morning. We’ve talked about things from our childhood, college, our careers, and we’ve talked about our family histories. But not a ton more than that.

I just know it in an elemental way. Something she radiates. Something about how she carries herself and the way she says things. It draws me, and I just know. My intuition keeps me alive nearly every day. Something will make my back tense, or some invisible thing presses against me. A nudge. Something will pulsate in my ear that my body absorbs. I don’t know how to describe the intangible, but I just know in moments of danger that it’s coming. It puts me on alert.

I don’t have the sense of imminent danger with Beth. Just the opposite. It’s all those sensations, but I feel at peace when it’s her.

“Beth, will you stay with me tonight, please? I’d feel a lot better if you were within reach.”

She sits up so she can see me.

“I’d prefer that too. Why would anyone take an interest in me? Did they see us getting the food yesterday and assume we were already a couple?”

“It could have been then. It could have been when we left Ivy together.”

“It wouldn’t be the Kutsenkos, would it?”

“No. If they had men following you, it would be for your safety. They would never let their men touch you. And they definitely wouldn’t let their men intimidate you. They’d go after me instead.”

“Would the O’Rourkes be pissed that another woman in my family is with another man in yours?”

“I don’t think so. Your grandfather made their family swear to watch over yours. It was a condition of him getting out and agreeing to take the fall if he was ever busted.”

“What?”

I can only sigh. She’s about to get a lot of lessons in syndicate life.

“Every organization has the same principles. Our oaths might be called something different, but they boil down to the same thing. The organization comes before the individual. Always.”

She stares at me for a moment before she nods. It’s slow as though she’s trying to wrap her head around it.

“For those of us in our leaders’ inner circles, family comes before all else. Without us, the people who depend upon us are in danger. They’re left vulnerable. The Mancinellis will always put the Mancinellis first. The O’Rourkes will always put the O’Rourkes first. Same with the Diazes and the Kutsenkos— plus their cousins’ family.”

Sergei and Misha are related to the Kutsenko brothers through their mothers, who are sisters. The only difference between the Andreyevs and the Kutsenkos— plus Pasha and Anton who are cousins through their dads —is the blond hair.

“If someone is arrested and convicted, they take our secrets to the grave. You never break your fealty.”

“So, if they'd sent my grandfather to prison for a crime he didn’t commit, he wouldn’t have fought it.”

“Yes.”

“Does that mean you could wind up like that too?”

“It’s a possibility. Beth, I can promise you I will always do everything in my power to come home to you. I can promise you I will always be faithful to you and that I want a long life together. But I can’t guarantee anything other than my fidelity.”

“You want a long life together?”

“I wouldn’t let you anywhere near any of this if I didn’t want to make a go of it like Enzo and Chelle. I’m certain he had a conversation very similar to this with your sister.”

She takes a deep inhale before sighing.

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