Page 16 of The Virgin and the Mob Boss

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” I say against her lips before I place a soft kiss on them. “I told you to be careful what you asked for.”

I keep my eyes on hers, and I don’t miss the way she blushes and bites her bottom lip shyly.

“Enough!” I hear shouted from the other end of the table, and to my surprise, it’s not Eduardo. Instead, the protest is from Renzo, Pru’s father. His face is bright red with anger as he slams his fist on the table. “This is an insult!”

I can feel Luca move behind me as some of the other guards circle the table waiting to see what I’m going to do. “Gianna,” I say to my cousin. “Will you take Pru and the other wives into the salon, please?”

“Of course,” Gianna says brightly as she grabs her glass of wine. “Follow me, ladies. I believe the desserts have been left unattended in the salon, and there’s no rule saying we can’t eat that first.”

“Vitaly,” Pru says as the women begin to file out.

I bring her hand to my mouth and kiss the diamond I just placed on it. “Do what I say, little one. I don’t want you here when I cut out his tongue.” After I release her, I nod to the bosses around the table and remove my jacket. “Who has a knife?”

“I do,” someone says as the men on either side of Renzo grab him.

“Wait, wait, wait,” he begins to plead.

But it’s already too late.

Chapter Eleven

PRU

The ring is heavy on my finger, and I’m still in shock that Vitaly announced to everyone that we are getting married. Everything happened so fast.

“Come on, let’s go,” Gianna says and ushers me out of the room.

I glance over my shoulder, catching one last glimpse at Vitaly. His eyes are on me while someone hands him a knife. Is he really going to cut out my father’s tongue?

“Don’t worry about that. Leave the business to the men,” Vitaly’s cousin says to get my attention away from what is happening. “Now let me see this ring.”

The doors to the dining room lock, and the rest of the women are already in the salon like this is totally normal. I pause right outside of it with Gianna.

“Oh my, no one is going to miss this iceberg,” Gianna laughs while holding my hand up to the light to inspect the giant diamond. She's right; it’s massive.

Vitaly was so sweet when he gave it to me. It confused me because I’ve only gotten a glimpse of this side of him. Most of the time, he’s like the guy in the dining room that’s about to cut someone's tongue out. Should I fear him? I guess first I need to know what his intentions are for me.

“He turned me down when I proposed,” I remind Gianna. She saw it happen. What has changed over the last twenty-four hours? Yesterday I didn’t think he cared for the sight of me. Now he wants to marry me? He’s standing against my father, and I wonder if there’s something I’m missing.

“I think my dear cousin was shocked more than anything, but I knew you had his attention.”

Can anyone really shock Vitaly Parlov? “How do you know that?”

Her words give me a ray of hope that this could be something more. It’s a silly thought because we all know what marriage means in our world. There are no fairy tales. The best you can hope is that your husband isn’t cruel and offers you some line of respect.

“Because he took you.” Her smile is so bright as she says it, and she seems truly happy. From what Vitaly said about her, I think he might see her more as a sister than a cousin.

“He took me because of my father,” I correct her. He didn’t see me and fall madly in love. “If not for my last name, I would have been tossed out on my ass.”

Gianna rolls her eyes. “If that was the case, he would have sent you with one of his men. They would have put you up somewhere to hide you. But he didn’t do that.” She gives me a knowing smirk. “From what I heard, he brought you into his home.”

“Is that a big deal?” I know I’m fishing for information, but I can’t help it. He’s going to be my husband, so I want to know why I’m different.

“Of course it is. Men like him don’t take random women to their home.”

Right, they take them to a secret apartment or hotel. My father always had mistresses, even before my mother passed. I can recall them fighting about it when I was little.

I’ve only got a few memories of my mother because I was so young when she died. I hate that the ones I have are of their fights. She would cry over him, and I never understood why. There’s nothing to love about my father, and I don’t think he’s capable of loving someone besides himself. That’s the only person he truly cares about. Women are nothing more than objects to be used.

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