Page 33 of Married to the Mafia

The voices are getting louder. I fire back at the stairwell and that startles her into moving. She sprints forward and jumps. I can tell at once she will not make it. She stumbles at the last second.

She screams, getting her hands onto the next building but only by the tips of her fingers. I fire once more and then run for it, leaping over and rolling as I land.

I turn at once and get her by the elbows, yanking her upward. “Come on,” I say, grunting as I lift her onto the roof. “We’re leaving.”

She gets to her feet, but she’s staggering. I take her hand and lead her fast over to the elevator. Shots fire after us as the doors shut, but then it’s over. We’re safe.

I sigh and lean back against the wall. “Did he hurt you?” I ask.

She bursts into tears, throwing herself into my arms. “He was going to eat me,” she says through her sobs. “He said he was going to chop me up and eat me.”

“I’ll kill him,” I growl, putting my arms around her. She lapses into silence, her tears the only noise apart from my breathing. I look down at her, and my heart aches. I will never let her out of my sight again. She is mine now.

“Marry me and I will protect you from him,” I say as she continues to cry. I’m stroking her hair and I’m not even sure when I started doing that.

She’s there in a filthy wedding dress ripped to shreds, her tits out, her skin black from the dirt on the roof, and in that moment I realize something I never would have thought.

I’m falling for her.

“All right,” she breathes. “I’ll do it.” She looks up at me with glistening eyes, and I want to kiss her more than anything. “Just promise me one thing,” she says, managing a weak smile.

“Anything.”

“I get a new dress first.”

I can’t help but smile back at her. After all that’s happened to her today, she can still talk like that. It shows she’s got a spark to her that hasn’t been put out by Ricardo. That’s a good sign.

“Agreed,” I say, kissing her forehead. She puts herself into my arms again and starts crying for a second time. I hold on to her until the elevator doors open.

I wrap my jacket around her to protect her modesty and lead her out the back door to where I left the van. The Beluccis will swarm the front, but we’re already gone, driving back to my territory.

One thing is on my mind as I make my way through the traffic. No, two things.

One, I like the way she’s got her hand on my leg for comfort, like she doesn’t want to let go of me.

Two, I’m going to kill Ricardo Belucci.

13

Rose

Rose

I’m a married woman. At eighteen, I’ve signed the paperwork that proves it. I’m Dino Gianni’s wife.

What choice did I have? It was that or Ricardo. Not a tough decision. A coldhearted bastard or an actual cannibal. I went with the stone-cold killer.

I know he’s a killer. He’s told me all about him. Now that the ceremony is over, he’s explained exactly what kind of man he is.

I’m sitting in his car and he’s driving us back to his house. I left my heart back in the church. Left it there alongside any hope I had of returning to a normal life.

When he rescued me, I was so grateful I would have done anything. Before I knew what was happening, I’d showered, dressed, and gone back to the church.

This time I didn’t run. This time Dino had more men on the doors. Everywhere I looked there were men in suits, all of them unsmiling. Guns were everywhere, too. I felt like a prisoner.

That’s what I am. A prisoner. His prisoner. Not his wife. No wife should feel like I do.

As soon as I signed the wedding contract, I knew I’d made a mistake. I should have refused. I know he told me I only had a choice between him and Ricardo, but there is still a third option. Go to the authorities.

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