Page 14 of Convenient Mafia Vows

By six a.m. I’m showered and dressed in a dark-gray suit teemed with a pale-pink shirt and violet-colored tie. I stare at my reflection in the mirror. I’d enjoyed the jet-black Danny Zuko look, felt comfortable in the white T-shirt and leather jacket, had even practiced my ‘Grease Lightning’ moves before heading out on New Year’s five years ago, incognito.

Just for one night, I’d wanted to ditch the Murray mask and trappings and live a little. It was my brother Kyle’s idea. “Let’s experience life from the other side of the table,” he’d said. “Let our hair down without Lauren breathing down our necks.”

It was so out-of-character for Kyle that I couldn’t refuse. He was a year out of a serious relationship with a woman who broke his heart by cheating on him with a cop, and in that basement nightclub, I saw him smile again for the first time in what felt like forever. He went all out, dyed his hair a couple of shades darker blonde and donned turn-up jeans, a black leather bomber jacket and black shades. He danced like I’d never seen him dance before.

And then our lives changed in the blink of an eye…

The restaurant manager brings breakfast to my office. I don’t know why, but I’m disappointed to find that it isn’t Victoria wearing that little black dress that revealed nothing and yet promised everything.

My cock twitches in my pants and I inadvertently glance at Denise as she reaches the door. She hesitates. Turns around to face me, a question mark hanging over her.

“What is it, Denise?”

“The temp Exec Concierge…” She chews her bottom lip. “I apologize for whatever she did wrong yesterday, but would you reconsider letting her go?”

When it comes to managing the restaurants, I trust Denise to run them to the standards I demand, but in fifteen years of working for the family, this is the first time she has ever questioned a decision. Why? Or is she simply a sucker for a sob story?

I’m still waiting for Victoria to agree to the fake marriage proposal, but I have no doubts that she will. In which case, she no longer needs the job.

“No.”

I see the flicker of frustration in her eyes before Denise thanks me and closes the door behind her as she leaves. I see it, and I do nothing about it. I have more pressing concerns right now, like what to do about the Dragonetti family.

Kyle’s office is on the same level of the Wraith as mine, a mirror version of my own office with a mahogany desk instead of the black and chrome desk of my choice. The remnants of a bowl of oatmeal and fruit remain on the coffee table, and I’m greeted by the aroma of freshly brewed coffee from the machine on the counter against the wall.

“The marriage certificate is already drawn up,” Kyle says from behind his desk.

“More coffee?” I go straight to the coffee machine.

This is my third cup of the day, and it’s barely cutting through the fuzziness in my head. It’s doing nothing for the throbbing ache inside my pants either.

“Sure.” Kyle slides his cup across his desk. He waits for me to return with two steaming espressos before sitting back in his seat and watching me with hazel eyes that are not quite as green as Sandy’s were. “So, Don Dragonetti…”

I smile. “…Wanted me to marry Olivia as a condition of the alliance.”

Kyle immediately sits forward. “He knows she’s a liability and wants someone to take her off his hands.”

“Not someone.Me.”

He sips his coffee and grimaces. I gave up years ago asking him why he insists on drinking coffee when he can’t stand the taste of it, and his response was that drinking soda in board meetings undermined his status and gave clients the wrong impression of him.

“How did he take it?” he asks.

“As expected. Olivia, on the other hand…” I shrug.

“So, you handled the situation by telling them that you were already married.”

He isn’t judging me. Okay, maybe he is judging me a little, but Kyle knows me better than anyone else, including our mother,which means that he will understand that I had my reasons. Namely, Olivia Dragonetti.

“I couldn’t think of another reason to not marry his daughter that Don Dragonetti wouldn’t magic away with the snap of his fingers.”

Kyle’s nose twitches from side to side while he considers this. “You don’t think that he’ll pay your ‘wife’ to disappear?”

“I don’t doubt that he’ll try. We just need to give her a reason to stay.”

“We?” Kyle’s eyebrows slide into his hairline.

I smile. “Fair enough.Ineed to give her a reason to stay.”

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