Page 92 of Owned By the Italian Mafia Don

“We’ll see about that,” I state.

“What?” Rosie turns to me and grabs my bicep, digging her hold in so deep, it almost hurts. “No. What are you doing? You aren’t going down there.”

“Yes, I am. I have to.” I kiss her forehead. “I have to get every detail I can so I can protect you. Tomorrow is the end of Bianchi’s deadline. I don’t know what he has planned. I need to be prepared. I’ll be back. Okay? I want you to go to the room, turn on the TV, and lock the door. I’ll come for you when I’m done.”

“Ari, don’t do this. Don’t go there,” she begs, her eyes watering as they become so big, I can see the whites of them. “I don’t want you to do this. Have one of them do it.”

“No. This is personal for me. I’ll bleed every drop out of every person who dares withhold any information that can hurt you or threatens to physically harm you. I will enjoy the torment I bring upon men who hold you over me.” My fingers pinch her chin. “No one will take you from me, Rosie. In order to do that, I have to become the man you hate.”

“I never hated that man,” she admits, a tear rolling down her cheek. “I didn’t understand him. I do now.” She stands, wiping her cheeks and snagging her drink to prepare to go to the room. “Please be careful…I—”

I hold my breath, waiting for her to finish her sentence. I know my mind is playing tricks on me. There’s no way she almost said those words. She can’t.

“—I’m going to worry,” she says instead. She stands on her tiptoes and kisses me gently.

“I promise. I’ll be safe. Nothing will keep me from you, Tesoro. No one can. Make sure you take some snacks. I know how hungry you’ll get,” I tease which makes her smile.

“Okay.”

“I’ll make sure she’s settled before I join you down there,” Gianni offers. “We’ll make sure she’s set in the bedroom for a while.”

“Thank you, Gianni. Matias. Lead the way, please.”

Time seems to slow as I walk away from my wife. Her hand doesn’t leave my arm and the further I walk away; her hand loses its grip, and it slides down until all that’s touching is our fingers. I don’t let go and neither does she until we both take our final steps away from one another.

And then her touch is gone and the speed of time returns.

I can’t look back. I won’t. If I do, I’m worried I’ll disappear into the bedroom with her and never leave. If I’m not careful, I could see myself giving up everything if it meant vanishing into a private world with her.

“Are you okay?” Matias asks me, gripping my shoulder. “You don’t have to do this. I’m happy to - I just thought you’d want to.”

“I do. No, I’m fine. I’m just… “ I rub my chest, a heavy ache weighing me down and everything inside me is telling me to turn around, but I can’t.

“You’re falling in love with her, aren’t you?”

“I am and I’m not ashamed of that.”

“I’ve always been envious of how easily you feel things. I’m numb to that, I think. After…everything we’ve been through.”

“You aren’t numb, brother. It’s just been a long time since you’ve felt alive.”

“I’m good with how I am. It’s easier that way.”

I don’t say anything in return to that because nothing I say will change his mind. I’m worried about him. He deserves everything good in this world and I’ll make sure I do what I can to make that happen.

Stopping at the end of the hall, I stare down the dark corridor and the man I am with Rosie disappears somewhere inside me and the man Carmine prepared me to be, emerges. My footsteps are heavy down the hall, echoing with determination and the promise to kill.

I kick the door open, and it slams against the wall. The overhead light above Bianchi’s man reminds me of an interrogation room. He’s tied to a metal chair that’s sitting over a large drain.

Things can get…messy.

“I’m not telling you shit,” he spits, a wad of blood and saliva almost touching my loafers. Greasy dark hair hangs in his face, covering one of his eyes. They are voided of any type of emotion. He’s a pit of nothingness, destined to die for nothing because the man he serves is nothing.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” I say, bending down to cage him in with my arms. “You don’t realize that this room is where my expertise was born.” This room is part of the basement Matias and I found ourselves trapped in. “You are going to scream, and no one is going to care. No one is going to come for you. No one is going to save you. You will either die quickly or slowly. The choice is yours.”

He laughs, a manic, malevolent husk that reminds me of what a true villain sounds like. He’s got no soul, no heart, and his mind has been poisoned by the way of life Bianchi makes him lead.

“Cut me into pieces and feed me to the fish. I don’t fucking care. I’m not telling you shit.”

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