Page 18 of Mafia King's Surprise Baby

“Padre, I—”

His hand tightens on my shoulder. “We can’t have you among all this debauchery.”

What will the Abrashi family think? Your virtue is important, Bianca.

He left the words unsaid, but I hear them nevertheless. He’s drilled them into me often enough.

“Ardian will take you home.”

As if conjured by a malevolent spell, the man appears next to my father. The eyes are assessing this time. I know not to rock the boat. Still, doesn’t mean I have to become a compliant doormat. The ride to my father’s house takes place in silence, and I slip out of the car the second it stops, before Ardian can even cut the engine.

“Bianca?” he calls.

The hairs on my entire body bristle. I turn around to face him.

“Next wedding is ours.”

I swallow the dread rocketing inside.

Marriage. Wedding night. Sleeping with my husband… I can’t imagine his cold hands on me, his wet mouth anywhere near mine, his cock taking me — It feels like a violation already when I imagine it.

I nod and rush inside, shutting the door and pressing my back to it.

No one can know what happened between me and Leo. Albanians are a traditional lot; I can’t help but imagine Ardian’s mother coming to check the sheets the day after the wedding, to confirm my virtue.

I grab my phone.

Me:Leo, about today…

Three dots start dancing.

Leo:What about today?

Me:What happened…

Leo:Nothing happened. Exactly as today as was supposed to go.

A lump lodges itself in my throat. So that’s how he’ll play it. At the same time, I know my secret’s safe with him. He stands to lose as much as I do if it came to be known we slept together.

Best we stay away from each other.

Away from temptation.

Chapter 5

Leo

The plane lands right on time. I’d promised Mattia I’d come pick him and Hana up from the private airfield upon their return from Nassau. And here I am, though it’s the last place I want to be.

I don’t know how I’ll look Mattia in the face again, after what happened with Bianca on his wedding day.

The one thing that should never have happened, under any circumstance. If anyone got wind of this, I’ll be dead, and we’ll have a war on our hands. The Albanians will be able to march right onto our territory, and we’d be powerless to stop them if we didn’t want blood—our blood—to spill. Honor bade we surrender because some asshole couldn’t keep his dick in his pants and fucked the one forbidden woman who was to bring peace between our rival factions.

Except, for me, it wasn’t just a mere fuck. I’ve had time to think of our encounter in that bridal suite, and though I can’t say I made love to her—it was lust, not really feelings—it also wasn’t just a small-time fuck, over and done with in a huff of groaning breaths and sweating, heaving bodies.

What it had been? For me, magical. I know it makes me sound like a wuss, like a green teenager with stars in his eyes before the world bitch-slaps a heavy dose of reality in him and then a girlbreaks his heart and rids him of this bright-eyed outlook, filling him with bitterness and hardening his soul.

But it had been. The moment we’d spent looking into each other’s eyes, my hand on her jaw, it had built a bridge between us. A whole world of understanding and longing, of mutual desire. It was the moment when you’re with a woman and suddenly, it just clicks. You know you’re going to kiss her, take her home, have sex with her, and still want to wake up next to her the following morning to have breakfast together.

---