Arranged Mafia Marriage

Axel

“Theresa, baby,” I catch her as she slumps against me. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I hold her close, peer into her features. “Open your eyes, Sunshine.” My heart is racing so hard, I’m sure it’s going to jump out of my ribcage. My stomach ties itself in knots. Why did she collapse? Is she hurt? I rake my gaze across her face but can’t find any injury. “Goddamit.” I scoop her up in my arms, then walk over to the settee and lower her to it.

Water, I need water. I glance around, spot a bottle of water on the table and leap toward it. I snatch up the bottle, race back to her, and splash some of the water on her face. She moans, then her eyelids flicker.

“Bloody hell.” I haul her to my chest and hold her and rock her. My heart beat refuses to slow down and my stomach is still tied up in knots. “You scared me baby, you fucking made me die a thousand deaths in those few minutes.”

“S…sorry,” she coughs. “I think everything just finally got to me.” She shudders, “Is he gone?”

“I think the others are still in pursuit, but,” I squeeze my arms about her, “I need to go after him and-”

“And what, kill him?” She peers up at me, “Is that what you are going to do?”

“You know the kind of life I live, Sunshine. Death and I are not strangers by any stretch of imagination.”

“I won’t let you go after him.” She grips the front of my shirt. “If something were to happen to you, I wouldn’t be able to survive it.”

I hold her gaze, then bend and brush my lips over hers. “Nothing is going to happen to me. You, on the other hand,” I cup her cheek, “you’re fragile, and so vulnerable. It’s because of me that he came after you. I put you in danger.”

“No,” I shake my head, “you know better than that. When you live in the world of the Mafia, you have to be prepared for something like this happening.”

“And yet, you were safe until I came along.”

“You don’t believe that,” she argues.

“I do,” I nod. The band around my chest is so tight that I can’t breathe. “You sure you’re okay?” I search her features. “You sure you haven’t been hurt?”

“I am fine,” she whispers.

I place my palm over hers, wanting to hold her close. Wanting to reassure her and tell her that I’ll never leave her side again. That we’ll always be together. That I’ll always be there to take care of her.

Lies. All lies. It’s because of me, that bastard Freddie got to her. It’s because I married her, she came to his attention. It’s because I brought her here, I put her squarely on the radar of every criminal who holds a grudge against me.

I drop my hand from hers and try to rise, but she doesn’t let go of me.

“Don’t,” she begs, “please, don’t leave me.”

I glance down at where she clutches the front of my shirt, then back at her face. I gently try to unhook her fingers from my shirt, but she holds on.

“Axel, don’t do it,” a tear slides down her cheek, “please Axel, please don’t.”

“You don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“Don’t I?” She swallows, “You’re blaming yourself right now for what happened. You think I’ll be safer if I’m away from you. You think if you’re not with me, I’ll be safe.”

“It’s true,” I glance away, “I can’t protect you, my own wife.” I squeeze my eyes shut. “I promised that you were not in any danger, that I’d make sure nothing happened to you. I failed.”

“You shot him.” She grips my cheek and tries to turn me to face her. “It’s because of you that he’s gone.”

“It’s because of me that he decided to use you as a way to get to me.”

“But you saved me.”

“I almost got you killed.”

“I am here. So are you. We are both fine. That’s all that matters.”

“Is it, though?” I turn to meet her gaze, “What about the next time it happens? And the time after that? What if I am not there to save you the next time?”

“You’ll always be there for me.” She swallows.

“Not anymore.” I tug her fingers from the front of my shirt, then hold her palms between my own for just a second. Her soft skin, the scent of orange blossoms, the feel of her curves against mine… I commit it all to memory before I release her fingers and rise to my feet.

“Axel,” she sits up, “where are you going?”

“Away from you.”

“I am your wife,” she jumps up to her feet, “my place is with you.”

“Not if I divorce you.”

“What?” Her voice trembles, “what do you mean?”

I glance at her over my shoulder, “I should have never married you in the first place. It was all a sham you know that, right? A way to get close to the Sovranos.”

“You don’t mean it,” she cries. “I know you love me. You told me so.”

“It’s amazing how good pussy can make a man lose his head and say things in the heat of the moment. I-”

She raises her hand and her palm connects with my face. Pain lances across my nerve-endings, but that’s nothing compared to the agony that squeezes my chest.

“What’s happening here?” Seb’s voice sounds from the direction to the doorway. I turn to find him prowling in.

“Are you okay, Theresa?” He scowls.

“I am now,” she says in a toneless voice.

“He knocked out the security guards on his way in,” Massimo says in a disgusted voice as he reenters the room.

I glance at my phone and notice the notification on my security app. “I missed the warning that he breached my security measures,” I growl.This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

“And he gave us the slip, cazzo!” Massimo rakes his fingers through his hair. “Who is he? If he was our father’s partner, then why haven’t we ever heard about him?”

“Who the fuck knows?” I raise a shoulder, “And are you actually surprised your father kept secrets from you?”

“What’s your connection to this Freddie character?” Luca steps inside and shuts the door behind him. “You’d better come clean, stronzo. It’s time for you to stop with the lies.”

I glance from him to Massimo, who stares at me with a quizzical look on his face, to Seb, who surveys me with a shrewd gaze.

“I don’t believe I owe you an explanation.”

“Oh, you are hardly in a position to refuse,” Luca laughs.

“Oh, but I think I am,” I drawl.

Luca scowls and Massimo’s gaze narrows.

Behind me, I sense her drawing in a breath, but she doesn’t say anything. I dare not glance over my shoulder at her. If I do, I’ll weaken and I can’t afford that. All I have to do is make sure that she is safe… Focus, focus on that.

“Is that right?” Seb says in a soft voice.

“Indeed,” I step away, creating distance from all of them, “you see, I think I hold all of the cards here.” I glance at each of them in turn, then fold my arms over my chest, “I’m a cop.”