Revenge Vows: A Forced Marriage Mafia Romance (Ruthless Mafia Sinners)
Chapter 18

As I walk into the bar, I’m greeted by bemused stares. It has truly been ages since I was here. When I walk to the bar and settle down, I hear Gracie gasp.

“No fucking way, do my eyes deceive me?” she cries.

I smirk. “Do you have to be such a drama queen?” I ask as she comes over to me.

“Yes! Yes, I have to be, especially in a situation like this that calls for all the drama. Where on earth have you been?” she asks.

The question is barely out of her mouth when her eyes fall on the ring on my finger, and she gasps so loudly that everyone in the club turns in our direction.

“You’re married?” she whispers. I smile.

Truth be told, I have no idea why I wore this ring today. Maybe it’s my emotions taking over. It’s at this club that I first met her, after all.

I smile and look down. “Yes, I am.”

She leans in and whispers. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but no one thought you and Vivian would work.”

I chuckle. “I am not married to Vivian,” I reply.

She sighs in relief. “Good for you, sir, because everyone in the club hates her. She made me peel shrimp the last time she was here,” she says with resentment shining in her eyes.

“I apologize for her,” I say.

Gracie waves her hands. “All that jazz doesn’t matter. I am dying to know who this woman is,” she says.

I chuckle. “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me,” I say.

She shakes up my drink, pours it into a glass, and hands it to me. I take a quick gulp and sigh.

She looks at me with knowing eyes. “Ah, I see, marriage problems already?” she asks.

I nod. “Something like that,” I say.

She chuckles. “I heard from Donatello that you have ten minutes before your meeting, so hit me,” she says.

“I shouldn’t have married her,” I say, for the first time, saying my regrets out loud.

“Aww, is it that bad already?” she cries.

“Not with her,” I sigh, “I am the problem. I just—I just keep hurting her, and no matter how much I try to make up for my mistakes, I just end up making it worse.”

She looks at me and nods. “Have you tried apologizing?” she asks.

How do I say I am sorry for taking her from your family, locking her up like an animal, forcing her into marrying me, and now keeping her away from her friends?

I shrug at Gracie. “I don’t think saying sorry can fix my wrongs. I messed up badly, Gracie,” I say, sipping my drink.

She tsks. “You have really messed up then. I don’t know, have you tried eating her pussy?” she asks.

I nearly spit out my drink as I nod and she laughs at me. “Damn, she’s lucky. I can take her place if she is ever not in the mood,” she says.

I laugh. “What? A girl can dream, can’t she, Viper?”

My guard approaches and whispers to me that it’s time for my meeting. I nod and turn to Gracie.

“It’s nice to see you as always,” I say.

She smiles and nods. “Hey,” she says. I stop and turn to her.

“I don’t know what wrongs you’ve done to the Mrs., but if you decided to marry her, then it’s not too late to try to right your wrongs,” she says.

I nod and smile, muttering a thank you to her before I leave.

My guard walks behind me as I glide down the staircase. The place, usually flooded with light, is pitch black, and I stop in my tracks. I turn to the guard.

“Isn’t Donatello supposed to be down here waiting for me?” I ask.

“He is, sir,” the guard replies.

I look around. Nothing looks amiss, yet something doesn’t feel right. I take my gun from my coat and cock it. My guard follows suit.

“Who’s there?” I call into the darkness as I walk down the stairs.

“I can feel you here—show your face, you coward. I’ll fire a warning shot in one…two…”

The light flickers on, and beneath us, under the stairs, the room is filled with men, and in the middle of them is Giovanni. Donatello is on the couch, tied hand and foot, and his mouth taped shut. One of Giovanni’s men has a gun pointed at his head.

“I told you imbeciles not to breathe too loudly. He has the hearing of a predator,” Giovanni spits at his men as I walk down the stairs.

“How did you get in here?” I ask, pointing my gun at him.

All of his men turn their guns and point them at me.

“Gentlemen, what happened to a civil conversation?” he says to his men. He turns to me. “And you, old friend. Acting like this wasn’t our hideout,” he says, looking around. “Remember the good old days when nothing else mattered?”

“What do you want?” I ask again.

He groans. “I know things are horrible between us, but you won’t even give me a hello?”

His eyes fall on my ring, and he claps.

“Forgive my manners. Congratulations on your wedding. Thank you for sending us that special video,” he says, causing sniggers from his men.

He looks at me and lowers his voice. “It—it’s a special video, right? Not everyone has it, just me,” he asks. “It would be awkward to replace out that I am special only in my own head,” he says.

I lower my gun, and he signals his men to lower theirs. “Why are you here, Giovanni? I’m getting tired of asking,” I say.

He smiles. “Maybe this is why our friendship ended so poorly. You’ve always been so impatient with me,” he says.

“If you hurt even one hair on my brother’s head—”

“Tello?” he cuts in, “Now I am offended that you think so little of me. I used to push his stroller around as a baby. He used to be my little brother. Then Bunny came along, and I adopted him, too. We were one big happy family,” he says.

I close my eyes and inhale.

“Fine, I see you’re getting bored of me going down memory lane. I’m just a sensitive guy, but I’ll get straight to business,” he says. “You took something that belongs to me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say.

He grins. “Let’s not play these games, brother. The girl was supposed to be mine,” he says. Then he waves his hands. “We used to be brothers, so I don’t mind sharing, but I want something in return,” he says.

I fold my arms to hear out this lunatic.

“I want half of your territory signed over to me,” he says.

I laugh, and he smiles.

“It’s a genius idea, right? You take the other half. I get half of your territory. Tit for tat. It’s a fair exchange with no robbery involved. All is well, and all is forgiven,” he says.

I smile at him. “You’ve really lost your damn mind,” I say.

He looks at his men with an exaggerated expression of hurt on his face. He loves theatrics, and that has always been his weakness. He hasn’t noticed that the guard behind me has moved away to gather backup, and his men are so invested in his mocking words and jabs that they don’t notice either.

“I thought it was a fair deal, but I guess we don’t think the same way,” he says.

Suddenly, my guard reappears with backup, and men line up on the stairs armed with guns, clubs, and knives.

Giovanni looks up, and he claps. “You are a pro at this game, brother,” he says.

I walk toward him, pushing the men standing between us away. “The next time you show your face in my club, I’ll kill you myself,” I hiss, facing him.

He grins. “I’ll take you up on that offer,” he says. He snaps, and his men retreat. I signal my men to let them pass.

“Watch them until they leave the club, every single one of them,” I order my guards.

They leave the room, and when it’s just Donatello, I rip away the duct tape, and he cries in pain.

“A little warning next time!” he cries.

“Shut up,” I say, producing a pen knife from my pocket and cutting the ropes that bind him.

“I swear, I don’t know how they got in,” he says.

I do. Giovanni and I made the plan for this room. He knows every hidden corner and every hidden crevice, even the ones I’ve never told Donatello about.

Getting in would be a piece of cake for him. The more important question is, why? I haven’t seen Giovanni in years. If all he wanted to do was present this ridiculous deal, he could have called or sent his men. He came here himself. There has to be something else cooking.

As Donatello rubs his sore wrists, my phone rings loudly as I get a call. It’s Bunny. “Bunny?”

“The police, they’re in the mansion!” he cries, out of breath.

I inhale sharply. “Where are you now?” I ask.

“I’m in the basement with the men who are hiding the stash. No one is in the house right now. You have to come quickly,” he says.

“On it,” I reply. I end the call and turn to a quizzical Donatello. I was right; Giovanni had only been here to stall us.

I take the wheel for the first time in three years as I drive home in a rampage like a devil himself is chasing me.

“Jesus Christ, at this rate, we might be in heaven before we go to jail,” Donatello snaps as we hit the second curb.

We pull up to the gates, and the turnaround is empty as we drive in. All the guards must be down with Bunny in the basement. There are three police vans parked on the side of the house as we pull up.

“Fuck this,” Donatello mutters as we both step down from the car and race into the empty house.

I fling the door open to replace the police sitting in my living room.

“We are so fucked,” Donatello whispers because the cops are circling around Alyssa, speaking to her.

I inhale, and I walk up to them with Donatello behind me. My eyes meet hers as I approach, and suddenly, she smiles.

“Would you look at that, officer? My husband and brother-in-law are finally here,” she says excitedly.

I stand still in confusion as she runs into my arms and plants a kiss on my lips. She turns to Donatello. “I told you to bring him back in time for brunch,” she purrs.

He recovers quicker than I do, because he smiles.

“You’ll have to pardon me, Alyssa. Things got a bit busy at work today,” he says.

She turns to the officers, clinging to me. “I told you, sir, it’s nonsense to say that my husband is a mob boss. I know the man I married like the back of my hand, and he is just such an angel,” she croons, turning to me. “Isn’t that right, baby?” she asks, turning to me.

I finally recover enough to join the act and feign shock.

“Mob boss? Officer, you must be mistaken,” I reply.