Page 68 of Convenient Mafia Vows

We ordered pizza for dinner from the restaurant downstairs which was delivered to the penthouse and received by Martin at the elevator—seems I’m not allowed to speak to the servers either now— in case Olivia has somehow gotten to them first. For dessert, I requested ice cream to be brought up along with a couple of sodas, and Abigail and I made our favorite: ice cream sodas. We mixed the bubbly liquid and a couple of scoops of ice cream in tall sundae dishes and scooped it out with long-handled spoons on the decking with the stars twinkling overhead.

It's magical up here. The entire rooftop is strung with fairy lights, the pool alive and shimmering with golden ripples. Caleb must’ve designed the space with relaxation in mind, but I wonder how often he uses it. I get the feeling he has gotten himself into a rut of working all day, and staying in the casino all night, and has forgotten how to switch off.

Now, I peer down at Abigail, the glow of the fairy lights casting a gentle sheen across her cheeks. If this feels magical to me, I can’t even begin to imagine how special it must feel to her. She will never ever forget this period in her life when she was thrown into a world that exists only in movies and fairy tales, and I wish that I could tell her that this is real.

“I’m sad because Daddy and Sienna are not here.” There’s no point lying to her, she can see right through me. “When will they be back?”

“Soon.” I hope. “Caleb is trying his best to find them.”

Abigail nods and rests her head on my shoulder. I stroke her hair. The weight of her small body against me is the most special feeling in the world. A reminder of how precious life is.

“Will I have to go home with Daddy when he comes back?”

It’s like a stab straight through my heart. Our future isn’t here. Our future isn’t with Caleb Murray, living in the penthouse apartment of the Wraith and spending cool spring evenings on the rooftop under fluffy blankets with the lights sparkling all around us.

“We both will, sweetie.”

“Why can’t we stay here with Caleb?”

I squeeze my eyes shut and feel the tears collecting in the corners. “Because Caleb has been very kind allowing us to stay, but … well … think of this as a vacation.”

It seems to satisfy her because she doesn’t ask any more questions, and within minutes, her breathing slows, and her limbs grow limp.

And I’m left alone with my thoughts.

I meant what I said to Abigail—we’ll both go back to our previous life eventually, only I can’t imagine being anywhere else without Caleb, and he belongs here. Without us.

I tuck the blanket around Abigail and lean my head back against the outdoor sofa. The sky is velvet-black, the stars merging into a mysterious silver glow when I allow my eyelids to droop. The vastness of space is overwhelming. I’m just a tiny speck on a rooftop in a universe that is too huge to even comprehend, and it makes all our lives seem so inconsequential.

Olivia Dragonetti might be dangerous, but even she is only a speck in the universe. She isn’t all-powerful. She isn’t an omnipresence, a mystical being with powers beyond comprehension. She isn’t immortal as she seems to believe she is with the power to mess with other people’s lives. She’s just a spoiled princess with mafia roots.

And I’m fucked if I’m going to sit back and let her hurt my brother and Sienna.

I must doze because I’m woken by the warmth of Caleb’s fingers on my cheek. Startled, I open my eyes and blink away the remnants of sleep, to find his face so close to mine I can feel his breath on my lips.

“Sorry. I didn’t want to wake you. You looked so peaceful.”

I smile sleepily. My left arm has gone numb with Abigail’s weight on me, and I wince as I try to flex my rubbery fingers.

“Here, let me.” Caleb doesn’t wait around for my permission. He slides one arm underneath Abigail’s legs, his other arm wrapping around her and stroking my breast beneath the blanket at the same time.

My skin tingles with his touch, my nipples instantly erect. If he notices, he doesn’t say anything.

I go to stand up, but he tells me to stay where I am. “I can put her in her bed. I’m not completely useless, you know.”

I smile at his receding back, the scent of vanilla lingering in his wake. He carries Abigail as if she were no heavier than a sack of feathers, his back muscles rippling beneath his shirt. My pussy responds of its own free will, tightening and tingling, and I reflexively chew my bottom lip. I don’t know how many times Ican do this when I still don’t know what ‘this’ even is, but I also know that if he comes back to the rooftop and orders me to lie down and open my legs, that’s exactly what I’ll do.

I can’t help smiling when Caleb returns a short while later having swapped his shirt and suit pants for jeans and a jersey sweater that defines every muscle of his upper body. He’s holding a bottle of champagne and two crystal flutes.

“What are we celebrating?”

“Do we need a reason to drink champagne?” He sets the glasses down on the table and pops the cork, the bubbles froth over his wrist before they settle. He fills a glass and hands it to me.

I’ve only tried champagne a handful of times, and it always goes straight to my head, so I sip it slowly, the liquid fizzing behind my top teeth.

Caleb fills his own glass and sits beside me, his thigh pressed up against mine, his warmth transferring to me through our clothes. Whenever I’m in the apartment, I change into my own clothes—I don’t want to get comfortable wearing the outfits Caleb bought for me or it will be even harder to hand them back when it’s time for me to leave.

My heart is thumping. I wonder if it would always be this way if we were to stay together or if this physical attraction would become muted over time. Would his presence eventually produce a warm glow inside me instead of this red-hot passion? Would I be disappointed when this happened, or would it be such a gradual thing that neither of us would even notice?

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