Page 16 of Bound to the Mafia King

I simply nodded and got up from my seat to make my way out of the study.

When the door had shut behind me, I let go of the breath I had no idea I had been holding. I allowed my heart to settle a fraction before I continued my walk to the stairs.

His plan was good, efficient, and well thought out. The only problem was that he wanted to protect my innocence, which had long been given to a man who I thought I had once loved.

I had no idea what I would do when the time came and I needed to sleep with my betrothed. There was no other way out besides death, and I’d been trying to make peace with it for the last seven months.

I walked out of the cabin and made my way to the back lake. The cabin was not much. My father had left it to us, and it had been one of the few properties that we got to keep.

The ‘dismantling’ had cost our family dearly. This world was truly unforgiving.

I placed my earphones in my ears and walked to the bank of the water. I pressed play on my rain sounds and came to sit by the large oak that stood guard by the bank.

I remembered watching this big oak tree grow as the years ticked away in my life. It was where Mama and I had spent ourtime while Danill and Papa were busy with his education and training.

Those were the days I cherished the most. We got to walk away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Even as I child, I knew that Chicago had a toxic air to it. My brother, on the other hand, thrived in the city. He said he felt most at home in the concrete confines of Chicago. But that was simply because he was set to be second to what would have been the most powerful man in our world.

I braced my back against the oak tree and allowed the back of my head to rest on the thick bark.

The breeze picked up and I closed my eyes, allowing the cool air to kiss my skin.

I was being treated like a child.

You will stay in her ward.

I was a grown woman. Why would ever want to be under another woman’s care like I could not take care of myself? I hated how incapable they made me feel. I was not some damsel in distress that needed to be saved. I loved my brother, but it was in moments like this that I genuinely believed he didn’t see me as his sister but rather a commodity to be traded. I may as well have been a piece of land or a piece of jewelry.

If only I could be free.

I was like a princess trapped in a castle, but I didn’t want to wait for a prince to save me. I wanted to save myself. All men had ever done in my life was betray my trust and hurt me.

My mind flashed back to two years ago. It was the one time I had been brave. The one time I had said, ‘Fuck it, I’m just going to do this for me.’

But truth be told, I wasn’t just doing it for myself. I had a reason for leaving New York. I had a reason for running away from Syracuse.

My heart clenched thinking back to a time I would have much rather forgotten about.

‘… God knows what is hiding in those weak and drunken hearts…’

Birdy’s voice ran in my ears as I opened my eyes to tears streaming down my face. I hadn’t even known I was crying until I felt the moisture hit my chin.

It had been two years, but the loss still felt fresh. It was like the blood had hit the floor for the very first time.

Bright crimson death. The blood had been so vibrant against the white tiled floors. The pain that had radiated all throughout my body.

I was told that the body sometimes held onto undealt trauma, and that it would manifest itself as a disease or pain. I wondered if the trauma could mar a soul. My soul, my spirit, felt like it carried scars from that day that simply refused to fade, and now seeing him again was like seeing a piece of the past that I had so desperately wanted to leave behind.

I clutched the heart pendant on my necklace and allowed it to ground me so the storm in my mind didn’t take over.

“I miss you…” I whispered into the loneliness.

The wind carried my words and lifted them into the sky to meet with the clouds. Maybe she would hear them.

The air suddenly dropped in temperature and the wind blew even stronger. Something shifted in the atmosphere around me. The hairs on the back of my head raised, and my heart lurched in the middle of my chest.

I paused the music and removed the earbuds. I removed my back from the thick bark and looked to my left and then to my right.

I thought that maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, until my eyes connected with a pair of blue-grey eyes.

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