Page 19 of Married to the Mafia

Course that was long ago. Everything he does now happens behind closed doors. Until the bodies started washing up with bite marks in them. Back to his old tricks.

I still can’t get over how it made me feel to see him cutting her out of her clothes. She belongs to me. He will pay for what he did soon enough.

Marriage first though. Do things the proper way. Stake my claim.

I keep thinking about her back down in the basement. She’s probably trying to escape. She’ll give up soon enough.

I’ve walked around and around that basement, seeing it from a prisoner’s point of view, looking for the weak points. There’s none left. She’s not going anywhere until she agrees to marry me. She’ll say yes, eventually. I’ll make sure of it.

First, I’ve got some planning to do.

When I walk upstairs, I find Corrado looking out the window in my study. He turns when he hears me coming in. “It worked, then?” he asks as the bookcase slides back into place.

“She’s downstairs right now.”

“It could have gone wrong,” he tells me.

“Could but didn’t.” I take a seat at my desk and pull out a notepad, scrawling a couple of things on it. I tear the sheet out and pass it to him. “Get that done,” I say.

He nods and heads out of the room. That’s why he’s my consigliere. He doesn’t mess about. If something needs doing, he organizes it. If he thinks I’m in over my head, he says so. He’s been with the family since before I was born, consigliere to my father before me.

When I told him the plan, he wasn’t sure, but it worked. He’s a cautious man, that’s to be expected. If I had more time, we could have hashed something out together, but time is of the essence. The chip had activated. I needed to move fast.

Corrado is right. It could have gone wrong. Almost did. They found out where it was and where she was. Ricardo himself came along to claim her.

I don’t think what would have happened if I’d taken any longer. Besides, it doesn’t matter. Nothing happened. She’s safe in the basement. There’re clothes down there for her to choose from. Variety of sizes. She’ll find something.

Tomorrow she’ll have a wedding dress and after that, we’ll go shopping, get her whatever she wants.

She should be in the right frame of mind for the marriage. Change her mind from no to yes. I rescued her from the arms of Ricardo. She’s safe if she marries me. I might be an asshole at times, but I’m better than that piece of shit.

While Corrado’s getting the church and the priest organized, I return a few calls and then decide it’s been long enough.

I’m calmer. I’m not going to walk in there and fuck her. Once she’s my wife, she’ll give me what I want when I want it. That’s a husband’s right. I’ll keep her safe in return. Until I’m Capo dei Capi. Then I can get rid of her. She’ll only be a complication once I’m in charge of everything.

I look down at my notepad. There’s a question I’ve written while I’m thinking. The next Capo dei Capi must marry the current one’s daughter. You identify the daughter by the chip she holds.

That makes it easy to know it’s Rose I need to marry. But how will the Capo dei Capi know I’ve married her? It’s not like I can invite a ghost to the wedding.

No one has ever seen him. He’s always in the shadows, only ever sending messages out, never taking them. I’ve not met him in person. I doubt anyone has.

I tap the question. How will he know we’re married?

I tear up the paper and toss it into the wastebasket. He’s got eyes everywhere. It’s unlikely he would be unaware that his daughter got married.

Better me than Ricardo, that’s for sure. I think for a moment of him as Capo dei Capi. Don of Dons. He’d be a nightmare. Right now, he thinks he can do whatever hewants and that’s with his father trying to control him. Imagine him as the boss of bosses. No one to tell him no.

If the rumors are true that he’s a taste for flesh, I don’t like to think of how much feasting he’d do.

I have another reason for wanting him dead. He’s the reason my dog got killed.

I get up and head out of the office. It’s time to tell Rose what’s going to happen tomorrow.

I walk through the house and pull on the bookcase, opening the door down to the basement. As soon as the door swings open, she’s there, trying to sprint past me.

I grab hold of her easy enough. She’s scratching and yelling, hissing like a cat, but she’s a lot smaller than me. I pick her up under my arm and march down the stairs.

Her head scrapes the wall as she continues to scream at me to let her go. She’s still in her bra and panties. Hasn’t even put any of the clothes on. Dumb broad.

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