Page 71 of Mafia Boss

Not only had they all known about this, not only had they let it happen, not only had they encouraged it, but they had also recorded a fucking video of a helpless child and sent it out on the dark web for all the creeps and pedophiles to see.

I balled my hand into a fist under the table, my nails slicing into my palm, and held back a piercing scream.

Why the fuck would they have done that to me, their only daughter? How could my parents, my family, the only people who were supposed to love me, have done that to me? That was beyond fucked up.

Cristian went to pull the phone away, but I needed to see it all. So, I grabbed his wrist, pulled the phone out of his hand, and stared at it through tear-filled eyes. My lips trembled, blood seeped from my palm and onto my thigh. I couldn’t think straight.

“Why did they do this to me?” I whispered once the video ended. “I was just a child.”

After successfully pulling his phone away from me this time, Cristian took another sip of his drink. “People are fucked up, Roxie. You’re going to see some shitty things in this family. Shit you’d never imagine could happen does.” He deposited his phone into his jacket pocket. “But I’m going to take care of this for you.”

Unable to hold myself back, I shook my head. “No. I’m going to take care of this.”

“You need to relax after what you did.”

“No, I don’t. This is my family, Cristian. This happened tome,” I said through gritted teeth.

Rage pumped through my veins at the mere thought that this probably hadn’t happened just once or twice and just to me. It probably happened dozens of times to dozens of kids. My family had ruined one too many lives, and I couldn’t let it happen again.

All my life, my parents told me that the Ricci family had ruined their lives. Now, I knew why. The Ricci family might’ve been an organized crime family that laundered money, sold shipments of illegal drugs, and killed people, but they didn’t stand for child trafficking or sex abuse. But my shitty family had.

I’d be the one to stop them this time.

I’d be the one to ruin their lives.

I’d be the Ricci that killed them all.

“This is going to sound crazy,” I started, leaning across the table.

Hell, I felt fucking insane after tonight. Nothing felt real, everything so distant yet so close at the same time. I didn’t understand it, but I wasn’t going to back down now. I was in too deep, and I didn’t want to come back out.

“What?” Cristian asked, brow furrowed.

“My family has always despised the Riccis, and I want to give them another reason to hate them.” I swallowed hard, not sure how Cristian would take this and definitely not sure if this was the craziest thing I had ever asked or if it was just the wine talking in my ear. Either way, I grabbed his hands. “Me.”

“You? You’re not officially a Ricci yet.”

“Not yet.”

Cristian’s intense gaze met mine, his breath catching in his throat. “You’re fucking serious? Don’t fuck around with me right now, Roxie. That’s not funny because you know that I’ll make sure you’re minetonight.”

Butterflies fluttered around in my stomach at the mere thought of marrying Cristiantonight. Yeah, I knew that it was fucked up, but Cristian had said that he wanted to marry me, and I wasn’t going anywhere now. I had a family to fuck over and a dead woman on my conscience. Why not pile on something else?

“Or … I could always ask Marco to marry me. I’d be a Ricci then, right?”

Cristian yanked me forward, snaked his hand around my throat, and caught my bottom lip between his teeth. “Marco is not going to fucking touch you,principessa. You’re mine. And if you want to be a Ricci, then you’re going to be a fucking Ricci.”

“Tonight?”

He stood, picked me up right out of my chair in the middle of the damn restaurant, and carried me out into the chilly NYC streets, pressing a fat, wet kiss on my lips.

“You’ll be mine tonight,Mrs. Ricci.”

60

roxie

“We’re goingto have a real wedding one day,” Cristian said to me. “Invite all the family, rent out a beautiful dining hall for the reception, get you a ring as big as your finger, and go on a fucking amazing honeymoon, but tonight, it’ll be quick and intimate.”

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