Page 31 of Marrying the Underboss

A few moments go by and Jennifer stops. “Kane–”

“Jennifer, no. I told you ten minutes. Don’t give me any shit about what I just did. Don’t ask me not to protect you because I always will, even if you don’t like how I go about it.”

“I wasn’t going to say that. God, you’re infuriating!” She yells, throwing her hands up in the air.

I take a deep breath to control my anger. “What were you going to say then?”

Jennifer glares at me and crosses her arms across her chest. “I was going to say thank you.”

Thank you? Fuck me, I messed up. “Shit. Sorry Angel. I might have gone overboard there. I saw him cornering you and I saw red.”

“It’s fine. I’m glad you were there. I’m not really used to this scene,” She says, gesturing around the club. “I honestly didn’t think anyone would come up to me.”

I wrap my arm around her waist and guide her back to our table. As soon as we get there, Perrelli is standing in front of our table shaking his head at us. I guess I could have caused less of a scene. The next thing I know, he nods at someone across the club. A second later the music turns off and Perrelli puts two fingers to his lips and whistles loudly. Everyone stops to look at him. “I’m proud to announce that my daughter, Jennifer, and Kane, who’s always been like a son to me, have gotten married. Please join me in a toast, congratulating them on their marriage.”

A loud round of applause rings out around the club. Jennifer’s cheeks burn red so I go for broke and pull her in, and kiss her long and deep. By the time I pull away, the crowd is hooting and whistling for us, and Jennifer is no longer self-conscious, she’s horny as hell.

All the waitresses are walking around handing out glasses of champagne to the people in the club. Several people come by our table for the next fifteen minutes and congratulate us on our marriage. We quickly finish our champagne and make our excuses. I need to get my wife home and naked in our bed, except for the heels, she’s going to keep those on for me.

Chapter Seventeen

JENNIFER

We’ve been homefor over a month and nothing out of the ordinary has happened to throw up any red flags. Kane has even started to loosen his grip on my safety and allows me to travel around town alone as long as I let him know where I’m going, and my location sharing is on.

Some people might think that’s too much, but I love that he needs to know where I am every second of the day.

After discussing it with Kane, we decided it was best that I didn’t go back to teaching this school year. With everything that’s going on, I didn’t want to put the school and, more importantly, the students at risk if Jacob reappeared and did something drastic. I couldn’t live with it if anything happened to them.

I met with my principal a few days after Kane and I returned to town. I did my best to explain the situation about my ex-fiance’ and the danger he posed to my family and I. We’d always had a great relationship over the four years I’d worked for her and she truly seemed concerned and understanding. She promised me there’d always be a job waiting for me when I was ready to come back. I don’t think I ever will.

Since then, I’ve been living my best life as a stay-at-home wife. I’m still in the kitchen daily, cooking and baking for Kane. Friday night dinners are now at our house instead of Dad’s, and Uncle Johnny usually joins us.

It’s Friday night, and I’m experimenting with a new recipe. Realizing I don’t have all the ingredients I need I leave for the grocery store to pick them up. The store is only ten minutes away, but for some reason, an uneasy feeling starts to grow in the pit of my stomach, like someone is watching me. I’m probably just imagining it. Jacob has been gone for months now. The very idea of him coming back at this point seems ridiculous. Pushing that thought out of my head, I walk into the store.

After grabbing the items I need, I go down the toiletry aisle to grab some body wash since I’m almost out. As I walk away, I spot the tampons and pause.When was the last time I had my period?It’s been a while, definitely not since we’ve been back in Jersey. I have been feeling worn down lately, but I thought it was because Kane and I couldn’t keep our hands to ourselves. I grab a pregnancy test and toss it in my cart. My heart races, thinking about what this could mean for Kane and me. I know he wants to be a father someday, but does he want that right now? We just got married. What if he wants to wait a few years?You’re getting ahead of yourself, Jennifer. You don’t even know if you’re pregnant yet.

When I get home, I leave the groceries on the counter and rush to the bathroom to take the test. As soon as I grabbed the test in the store, it’s the only thing I’ve been able to think about. I read the directions quickly and then pee on the stick. I set the timer on my phone and leave it on the counter with the test as I walk back into the kitchen to start putting the groceries away.

When I walk into the kitchen, I see the front door is open slightly. That’s weird. Surely I closed the door in my haste to get in and take the test. I wasn’t that irresponsible, was I? Going tothe front door I close it and am about to lock it when someone comes up behind me and presses a blade to my throat.

“Hey Baby, have you missed me?”

“Jacob?”

“So you didn’t forget me after all. I thought you might have since you’ve been living withthe monster. You know that’s what everyone calls him, right?”

“What are you talking about, Jacob?”

“You want to know why they call him a monster?”

“He’s not a monster,” I snap. As soon as I do, he digs the blade in harder, nicking my skin.

“The fuck he isn’t. He’s killed more men than women I’ve slept with. I have to tell you, Baby, I’ve had my fair share over the years.”

I knew he cheated on me, but now he’s admitted to it. “I don’t care.”

Jacob laughs joylessly. “Of course you care, you slut. I know what you let him do to you. Everyone knows. He stole you away, and you developed Stockholm syndrome. You let him rape you, and you fell for your kidnapper. How stupid can you be?”

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