Page 90 of Mafia and Captive

He might be a Made Man, but I had seen a softer side to him, a side that didn’t live in the darkness of our world. He cared for his family with a protective fierceness. And I could see that he did care for me in his own way, although I knew he would never love me after everything that had happened.

After dressing, I made my way down to breakfast. I hardly ate anything yesterday and I was ravenous.

As I made my way down the stairs, I couldn’t stop thinking about my relationship with Marco.

He was possessive—maybe too possessive—but he had been trying to protect me from my family.

How could I not love a man who was devoted to his family and tried to protect me from mine? Who wanted to look after me and stop me from getting hurt?

He wanted to give me a life away from my dysfunctional family, a family who had shot my own sister and put me in harm’s way. I knew Marco was different: he would never harm his family, and he would never hurt me. But more importantly, this was a man who made my whole being burn with desire and my heart beat much too fast.

When I reached the kitchen, I saw that Danio and Debi were not down for breakfast yet and Mr. Fluffy wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“Danio, bring that damn dog down here before Alessio finds out you let it sleep in your room,” Marco hollered up the stairs.

I felt like pointing out that Alessio probably heard Marco yelling, as had most of the neighborhood, but thought it wise to keep my remarks to myself given the mood Marco was in.

A minute later, Danio and Debi came downstairs with Mr. F tucked up in Debi’s arms. When I saw Debi, I couldn’t help it and burst into tears. “I’m so sorry, Debi. I shouldn’t have done what I did yesterday to you. Can you ever forgive me?”

I was crying because I was sorry that I hurt Debi, and I was crying because I couldn’t help Jessica yesterday. Debi was also my little sister now, just like Jessica.

Debi came toward me and gave me that sweet smile of hers. “Don’t cry, Juliana. We weren’t locked in the room for long before Alessio came home. Of course I forgive you. I know that you had to see your sister. Was she alright when you saw her yesterday?”

“I’m not sure,” I sniffed. “But I really needed to see her. I’ll have to apologize to Palmina too and deal with getting her car back and getting her a new cell phone. I hope she’ll forgive me, but I’ll understand if she can’t.”

“Can I take Mr. Fluffy for a walk before breakfast?” asked Debi shyly, as she smiled at me.

“Of course. I can see that he’s getting quite attached to you now,” I said with a wobbly smile back at her.

MARCO

We carried on like this for the next few days.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t understand Juliana. She had fought me since she had set foot in this house and then she had run off back to L.A. I didn’t know what I was supposed to think anymore.

I virtually ignored her, except for at mealtimes and at night when I would seek out her body and she would respond willingly.

One morning I was in our gym room training with Alessio and getting my ass kicked by him. “What’s wrong? You haven’t been yourself since we returned from L.A.”

“I’m fine,” I said tersely.

“We got her back. That’s all that matters,” Alessio drawled.

I paused, not sure how to explain. “She said she loves me.”

Alessio raised an eyebrow. “Juliana? Is that why you’ve been in such a foul mood for the last few days?”

“I’m always in a fucking foul mood in case you haven’t noticed.”

“You know what I mean,” replied Alessio. He looked at me carefully. “So, what’s the problem? You know after everything that’s happened, this could only turn out in one of two ways—love or hate.”

When I didn’t respond, Alessio probed further. “What did you say to her?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t say anything?”

“I don’t know if I believe her. She said that’s why she came back with me and that she always planned to come back to Chicago after seeing her sister.”

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