Page 79 of Mafia And Taken

After that day, Alessio insisted that we go for a run together every morning. He wouldn’t leave me alone until I got up and joined him, so I had no choice but to go with him.

One afternoon, as I lay out in the sun, Juliana came and joined me, stretching out on the sun lounger next to me.

“It’s so beautiful here,” sighed Juliana. “You’re lucky. I didn’t get a honeymoon—I just got kidnapped.”

I’d heard what had happened to her, and I didn’t really understand her relationship with Marco. I wondered how well she and the Capo got on. She seemed good with him, and they were having a baby together, but maybe it was just Stockholm Syndrome on her part?

Was this what was happening between Alessio and me? Was I developing feelings for him in the same way? Maybe I had to get away from him before he made me pregnant too?

The thought of having children with him, however, didn’t entirely repel me.

Trying to take my mind off Alessio, I asked her, “How are things with your family now?”

Juliana’s face fell. “The most difficult thing is that my relationship with my younger sister has really suffered. She’s only a year younger than me and we’ve always been super close. Something’s not right with her, but she won’t confide in me anymore. I can’t stand to see her hurting.”

“I’m really sorry to hear that,” I said sincerely while hoping that my relationship with Nonna wouldn’t change now that I was married.

Juliana looked across at me. “It’s nice having another girl to talk to. You know, just being in this family and being a Marchiano wife means that we probably need therapy. I reckon there should be something like Mandatory Mafia Therapy which all couples have to attend.”

I grinned, thinking that I was going to get on with this girl. “That sounds good, although I don’t think the guys would ever agree to that.”

“Yeah, it’s a bit hard to do couples therapy when your other half won’t attend. You know what Made Men are like—all alpha and macho and unable to talk about emotions.”

I flushed, thinking that my problem was that Alessio wanted to talk about emotions too much. He wanted to get into my mind and kept confusing me by saying he loved me.

I looked across at Juliana. “I don’t think Marco likes me.” I was pretty wary around the Capo, and he definitely didn’t give off the friendliest vibe—which I guess was understandable given what my father had done.

“Oh, don’t worry about him. He’s always moody. He’s worried about the whole FBI situation, and in particular about Danio and Debi being left behind in the States.”

As I looked at Juliana, I thought that she really was stunning. Her startling blue eyes were particularly mesmerizing, and I could see why the Capo had fallen for her.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” said Juliana, her face lighting up. “Instead of couples therapy, we can go to sisters-in-law therapy.”

I thought about that for a few seconds. “Um…I don’t see how that would work. We don’t have any issues with one another, do we?”

“That doesn’t matter.” She spoke quickly, obviously excited about her idea. “You can talk about your issues, and I can pretend to be Alessio.”

“Um, I don’t understand how that would work…”

“You’ll say something like ‘I’m unhappy because I don’t like living with Mr. Fluffy.’ Then I’ll be Alessio and say, ‘Don’t worry, Cate, I’ll protect you from the big bad doggy.’” Juliana had put on an over-the-top gruff voice as she pretended to be Alessio. She was on a roll now. “Then I’ll talk about my issues with Marco. And you’ll just have to act all moody and too-cool-for-school and cuss a lot—and you’ll be Marco to a tee.”

I frowned. “I don’t think Marco would like me trying to imitate him—”

“Of course I wouldn’t,” I heard growled into my ear, making me jump out of my skin and give a little scream. “Which is why you’re not going to do it,” said Marco darkly as he looked down at me.

“You shouldn’t creep up on people like that,” I said, my voice shaking as I shifted my body away from him.

Juliana rolled her eyes. “Ignore him—he just likes to scare people.”

“Well, he’s pretty good at it,” I muttered, putting my hand on my chest, trying to calm down my galloping heart rate.

***

A week later, while Alessio swam in the pool, I unpacked and set up the art supplies he had bought for me. They had remained untouched since the day he had purchased them, and this was the only time I had felt interested enough to get them out.

I sat for a long while just looking around myself, at the villa and the views. Normally I would happily draw anything, but lately I hadn’t felt in the mood for it and nothing inspired me, not even our gorgeous surroundings.

Eventually I started to draw Mr. Fluffy, who had yet again snuck onto Alessio’s sun lounger and was lying fast asleep on it, snoring away. Once I started, I quickly became engrossed, and without realizing it, a relaxing sensation came over me as I allowed my art to consume me.

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