Page 46 of Unwilling Vow (Mafia Marriages 4)

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Jace

I want to punch something.

Someone.

Mainly that asshole Don Caruso. He deserves a beat down. But I can’t just walk up to his compound and knock on the front door.

It’s more complicated than that, but if he’s been watching Olivia, maybe it doesn’t have to be.

“How has he been contacting you?” I ask. I need to know everything about their relationship. I wince, praying it is in no way intimate.

Olivia did sign a contract to abstain from relations with any other men while trying to get pregnant with my child.

Her head is bent down, her gaze on her feet.

“He called my phone, had a package delivered to the office, and threatened me earlier today on my way to lunch.”

I bunch my hands into fists at my side. Why couldn’t she have accompanied me to lunch when I invited her? At least that scumbag wouldn’t have approached her if I had been with her.

“You need a bodyguard.”

It’s the first order of business tomorrow morning. One of my men will accompany her anywhere she goes that I’m not with her. Whether it’s doctor appointments or out to lunch, I won’t let Caruso get to her again.

“Is that necessary?” Olivia asks.

“Absolutely!” Her protection and safety are of the utmost importance. Doesn’t she realize that, if not for her sake, then for the baby that she’s carrying? “You’re pregnant with my child. That makes you a target.”

She glances up at me with her bright blue eyes and expels a soft puff of air. “Okay.” She doesn’t fight me.

I’m not sure why I expect she would, maybe because she doesn’t seem like the type of girl to give in. She’s always been opinionated, at least since I’ve gotten the opportunity to know her.

“Tell me about this package that he had delivered to the office.” I reach for her elbow and guide her to walk with me to the living room to have a seat. This conversation isn’t about to wind down, and I’m not letting her sneak off to bed without answering.

I deserve that much, considering her betrayal.

Anyone else, and they’d have been killed.

She doesn’t put up a fight in the slightest. Olivia accompanies me to the living room and sinks into the plush sofa.

I sit beside her, leaving ample space between us. I glance at the kitchen. I could use a drink, something stiff to help settle my insides down. Adrenaline pounds through me, causing my heart to slam against my ribcage. It takes everything inside of me to sit as if I were calm.

I’m not feeling the least bit calm or settled, but I don’t indicate to Olivia otherwise. I have to be cool and collected. It’s part of being don, not letting my men or my enemies see fear or uncertainty.

“There wasn’t much. A note threatening that I need to answer my phone, which I left at your house on purpose. He’s been texting me, bothering me, nonstop,” Olivia says.

She appears genuine, and her demeanor doesn’t show me that she’s hiding anything. I’ve seen squirrelly men glancing away, avoiding my stare. Her shoulders are slumped, a sign of defeat, not defiance.

“Anything else?” I ask.

“The flash drive,” she says and points at the device in my palm. “I don’t know what he expected me to do with it, and I didn’t plan on doing anything. But then he threatened you.”

“Me?” I laugh at the absurdity of the threat. Wasn’t she doing this to protect her ass? That had been my expectation. I wouldn’t fault her for saving herself. It’s not as though she knows how to deal with men like Luka.

Olivia slowly glances up to meet my stare. “Yes, he thought we were sleeping together since I live here.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. At least he didn’t manage to hack my lawyer and discover the paper trail between Olivia and me or find any records with my information from the surrogate agency who I had previously contacted.

“I see,” I say. He should believe we’re an item. Then he won’t be surprised by a visit when I show up and threaten his ass for bothering my girlfriend. “I’ll deal with Caruso. He won’t bother you again.”

Besides, I still need to deal with the capo, Andrea, who has been taken. It’s one crisis after another.

Her voice is timid, fearful. “How?”

Is she worried that something will happen to me? She doesn’t know I run the mafia, that the Caruso’s are a rival family, and this gives me an excuse to slaughter their men. They took one of my own. They threatened the woman carrying my child. It’s time for retaliation.

Anything less, and I’ll appear weak.

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