Page 46 of Runaway in the Mafia
I’d made plans with Lia and Romeo to go out to their grandparents’ cabin weeks ago. No man was going to get me to change my mind about it. Especially not one who was so sure I would follow him. He oozed confidence. I itched to shatter it.Not only was I going to disobey him, I was going to shove his face in it at every turn.
I was so done with men treating me like I was an idiot. An object to be shifted from room to room or kicked to the dark corner. And telling me what to do made my stomach churn worse than any bout of food poisoning. I had a damn Master’s. Just because I didn’t have a stick in my pants didn’t mean I couldn’t run an empire if I wanted to. I worked just as hard or even harder than any of them.
I found Lia and Romeo in the kitchen when I walked in. Grey smoke with a mellow scent followed me. When he smoked, it was easier to catch the drift of his cigars before he rounded the next corner. Excitement flared in my ribcage. The win a sure thing. So I walked into the kitchen and called out merrily,“Buon giorno, mia ammaliatrice.”
I had no idea what it meant. Couldn’t figure out the spelling to Google it. But I knew one thing. It wasn’t meant to be used with a friend, unless you were that kind of friend.
Lia burst into a giggle. I took my time pouring the English Breakfast Tea into my mug and turned around to find two pairs of eyes fixed on me. The problem was that I was only aware of the third one in my peripheral vision. The thunderstorm hovering in the open archway between the kitchen and the living room.
“What?” I asked Lia innocently.
“Who’s theammaliatrice?”Romeo asked sheepishly.
I shrugged. “You, of course.” The growl coming from the doorway was murderous. Worthy of my attention. I turned to address him. “Oh no, my bad. I keep on forgetting this male, female thing. It’smio ammaliatrice,isn’t it?”
His gaze barked. Romeo was full of cockiness behind me. “You can call me whatever you want,mia ammaliatrice.”
I turned and giggled. “You’re the best,mia ammaliatrice.”Romeo’s grin was wide, and Lia doubled over in laughter. But I didn’t feel the moodiness blocking the doorway, and a thrill ran through my body. This was addictive. A high I could easily get used to. One for Ahana and zero for the arrogant jackass.
Never underestimate your enemy.
I realised too late when I rounded the corner of the kitchen with a fresh mug of tea. A hand on my wrist and hot tea burned around my knuckles on the way to the floor. I hit the floral wallpaper on my back. Darkness loomed in front of me. I was caged. With a look that drilled through to my core, he grabbed the mug from my hand and finished the rest in one gulp. I didn’t miss the thin gold chain wrapped around his wrist. The heart-shaped locket resting cosily right next to his black rosary beads.Shit.Was this why Maa told me I wouldn’t be able to stand up to a man?
A twinge of fear filled me. Letting me know I was yet again at a disadvantage with a man. But my stubbornness to win overpowered it. I opened my mouth to spit something out, anything really, but he got to me before I could.
“I’d be careful with what comes out of your pretty mouth, if I were you.”
I gritted my teeth and decided against it. “You can’t—”
“More words, the deeper the hole you keep digging for yourself. You know…” he leaned to drop the mug on the console next to us, and the way his shirt brushed my chest, you’d think we were naked. Skin to skin. Alone in a room. This was so overrated. No man was that appealing. “I know someone who’s interested in this locket. He wants to get it for his future wife.”
“Bullshit.” It was a pretty little thing. I’d give it that. But of value only to me. Even if it was twenty-four-carat gold and the heart was edged in tiny diamonds.
“Want to bet on it?”
His gaze was pure evil. The glint in his eyes full of ill intentions. He’d probably do it just to piss me off.
His knuckles rubbed on my collarbone, the locket tracing against my skin, temptingly close to where it should have rightfully been. “But I’ll give it back to you. All you have to do is agree with me. Yes, Vitale, I belong to you. I will cancel the weekend with another man.”
You are mine, Ahana.
My eyes closed painfully to a tone from the past.
I was no one's.
“I don’t think so.” I shoved off the wall.
An eyebrow hiked up. “Yeah?”
“No. I won’t do anything you demand.”
“I bet you’ll obey me.”
“No, I won’t.”
“Prove it.”
“I am pro—”
