Arranged Mafia Marriage

Karma

“What do you mean, you chipped me?” I rub Andy’s head. He’s stopped feeding and proceeds to curl himself in my arms. Aww, sooo cute. A melting sensation coils in my chest. Just a few hours after I told him that I wanted a cat, he got me one. Not to mention, that Andy Warhol book, which was, like, totally unexpected. Okay, so he has more money and power than anyone else I’ve met in my life, but still… It means something that he noticed my tastes enough to actually buy me things which reflect who I am. No one else has done that before. Maybe Summer… I suppose, but she is my sister. She is supposed to know these things. This man, however, is practically a complete stranger, and in a few weeks, he has really gotten to know me well on so many levels, he- hangonabloodysecond. I whip my head around to face him. “You chipped me, chipped me?”

He nods.

“You…” I bite the inside of my cheek, “you put a GPS tracker in me?”

He nods again.

“Holy shit.” I glance around the kitchen, find a basket that, no doubt, the faithful Cassandra must have organized for the kitten. I walk over and place him in the bedding which is of the softest cotton, by the way. Nothing but the best for the pet of… His pet, huh?Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

I straighten, then turn to face him. “That’s what all that activity earlier was about, huh? I thought maybe I’d dreamed it, but I didn’t.”

He simply holds my gaze.

I slide a finger behind my ear, feel the slight bump. “Holy hell,” I burst out. “It’s true; you actually put a tracker in me.”

“Told you I did.”

Anger surges through my veins. My heart slams against my rib cage. “Why would you do that?” I cry. “And you didn’t even ask my permission to do so, you asshole!”

“I don’t need your permission. Have you forgotten?” He looks me up and down. “You are my property-mine.”

“I am my own person. I don’t belong to anyone else, least of all, you.”

“Then why did you come back?”

“That was only to make sure that you were actually dead…you… you bastard.”

He laughs, “That’s a lie and you can do better than that insult, Beauty.”

“Don’t call me that,” I snarl. ” I should have known there’s an ulterior motive behind everything you do. The studio, the books, the kitten… It was all so… what? So you could distract me? Or maybe, you thought that you could buy me off with expensive gifts?”

“Maybe, it’s because I want you to be happy?”

“How can I be happy when you chipped me like…. I am an animal?”

“Did it ever occur to you that I did it because I don’t want to lose you again?” The skin around his eyes tightens. For a second, I am sure he’s afraid… Of what? He’s the bloody Capo of the Cosa Nostra. What could he possibly be afraid of, eh?

“You could have told me that’s what you intended to do,” I snap.

“You wouldn’t have agreed.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Would you have?”

I look at him, then away.

“That’s what I thought.” He pushes back his chair, then rises to his feet. He prowls over to me, pauses when he’s right in front of me. “Look at me, Beauty.”

I scoff.

He notches his knuckles under my chin and raises my head, so I have no choice but to meet his gaze. “Maybe I put a tracker in you because you are what’s most precious to me.”

“Maybe I don’t care why you did it,” I try to pull away from him, but he tightens his grip.

“Maybe you need to care more. Maybe you need to come clean about the fact that whatever is between us is not going away any time soon.”

I stare into those blue eyes of his. He holds my gaze, and in them I see…the same helplessness that I feel.

“You know, I returned because I couldn’t believe that I had killed you. I prayed that you were still alive, that there had been a mistake. I had hoped that if you were… Perhaps, we could find a way to be together. But all you were interested in was revenge. Then, when I was taken from you, I guess you had a change of heart or something. And just when I think that perhaps I can find a way of being with you, after all… You do this.” I wave a hand in the air, “You chip me, without batting an eyelid, like I’m your pet. This is not normal behavior, Michael.”

He opens his mouth, but I shake my head. “No, don’t give me your bullshit about me not being normal. I know I am not. It’s why, all my life, I’ve hoped to find someone who could give me the kind of normalcy that I have missed all my life.”

“You don’t mean it,” he growls.

“Oh, but I do.” I swallow. “All this time we were together, not once, did you ask me what I wanted.”

“I didn’t need to,” he jerks his chin toward where Andy is sleeping in his basket, “I know exactly what you need.”

“Maybe that is the case,” I murmur and he glares at me. “Fine, fine,” I pull away from him, and this time, he releases me. “I don’t deny that everything you did…from refurbishing the studio, to the books to the kitten, was spot on. It’s what I’d have chosen for myself… Still, it’s just politeness to ask me what I want.”

“You don’t want me to be polite.”

“See?” I turn on him, “This…this is what I am talking about. You assuming you know my mind.”

“I do.”

“You don’t.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Argh,” I dig my fingers in my hair and tug, “this is going nowhere.”

“It can go exactly where you want it to.”

“Where I want it to go is…” I tip up my chin, “far away from you.”

“Don’t lie to me.” He scowls.

“I am not.” My heart hammers in my chest. My pulse rate spikes. I square my shoulders, hold his gaze. “If you think I can forgive what you did to me, then you have another think coming. I may have been able to look past the kidnapping, even, but this…this. What you did… It’s… I can’t even pretend to understand it. It’s the worst kind of violation, ever.”

His jaw tics. A dense cloud of anger spools off of him and smashes into my chest. I gasp, take a step back.

“If you think I am letting you leave, you have another think coming,” he growls.

“Fine,” I snap.

“Fine.”