Married to the Mafia Boss

Carmine

She’s everywhere I go.

Everywhere.

She’s like a drug I’m addicted to that I can’t shake. A high that I’m chasing, and like with drugs, it’s a dangerous game I’m playing. I’m playing with my life because the Sorvinos will murder me if they discover what I want to do to Arianna, their precious Cup Cake. Only I know she isn’t an angel. I’ve felt her dance against me. She’s seducing me, and she knows it, and I don’t know how to stop myself.

It’s driving me mad.

I’m distracted, and I need to get out of the house. I see Dominic heading for the front door, and I follow. “Dom! Dom, wait up. Where are you off to?”

“Check out some of the warehouses Alessandro wants to buy,” he says. “You want to come with me?”

“Yeah, I got nothing better to do,” I tell him, acting as though I’m being offhand. I’m grateful for the distraction.

We take my car, a gift from Alessandro for my hard work. It may not be a Ferrari, but the truck is a beautiful piece of machinery.

I drive, pulling out of the estate. “Which ones are we headed to?”

He gives me the address, and I punch it into my GPS when we stop at the traffic light.

“You need directions?” he asks.

I grin. “I like using the car to its fullest.” I turn the radio up. It’s on a country station, and I know Dom is partial to country music. He says it has soul.

We drive, singing softly to the tunes that flow from my car radio. When I find parking, Dom hops out and immediately draws a gun as a man approaches him from the side. “What the fuck you want, buddy?”

“Woah! Woah!” the stranger says. “You Dominic Sorvino?”

“Who’s asking?” I have my gun drawn and move up behind the guy. “Spread your legs. I want to check for weapons.”

He keeps his hands up and faces the car, spreading his legs. I search him quickly while Dominic keeps his piece aimed at him.

“He’s clean,” I say, backing up. Dominic holsters his gun. I do not.

“What do you want?” Dominic asks. “I could have blown your head off, buddy, just coming up to me like that.”

“Paranoid, aren’t you?” the man all but sneers, and Dominic grits his teeth.

“Tell me what you want, or I’ll reconsider doing it,” he growls.

I shift my weight, and the man notes that my gun is still aimed at his head. He nods. “I’m just here for some money.”

Dominic snorts. “I’m not Santa Clause, buddy, and I am not a charity. Get the fuck out of here.”

“Of course,” the guy continues, “I’ll gladly accept the money in exchange for information.”

Dominic is half-turning when he stops. “What information?”

“On the attack on one of your vehicles this week,” he says. “I believe there were three women, thankfully unharmed.”

Dominic steps toward him. “Depending on what information you give, yeah, I’d be willing to pay. First, you spill the beans, and then I’ll decide what it’s worth to my family. I’ll compensate you, either with money or your life or maybe if I’m feeling generous with both.”

The guy swallows visibly and nods. “Okay, okay. Apparently, a Russian mobster has taken exception to Don Sorvino. Something about killing his cousin. He is hell-bent on revenge, not only trying to get your territories but to get to your family members too.”

“Did he say he’s targeting all family members?” Dominic asks, stepping closer.

“I don’t know that. I just figured that you’d want to know about this.”

Dominic looks at me. “You got more information, you call me,” he takes out a business card and hands it to him, “and I’ll take care of you.” Dominic then takes out his wallet, pulls out five hundred dollars, and gives it to the guy.

“What’s your name?” I ask.Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

The guy looks at me curiously, and Dominic asks, “What’s your name?”

The man shakes his head. “Call me Buddy. That’s fine.”

“Get out of here, Buddy. We have business to attend to,” I say, holstering my gun at last.

The guy doesn’t need telling twice and quickly leaves, going to an empty car on the opposite side of the lot. He gets in and drives away. Dominic climbs back into the car, saying, “We have to speak to Alessandro.”

We rush back to the estate, and Dominic knocks on Alessandro’s door.

“Come in,” he calls.

We both walk in. Alessandro’s sitting playing chess with Romero. I guess it must be nice being the boss, though I know how ruthless he is and what he’s done to protect the family, so maybe not always so nice.

“Dad, give us the room,” Alessandro says.

Romero gets up and takes one of Alessandro’s cigars. “I’ll be in the garden if you need me.”

“Dad should stay,” Dominic says. “Some Russian family has beef with you, something about you killing their cousin. They want to move in on our territories, and they were the ones who orchestrated the attack on the girls.”

Alessandro sits back while Romero sits down. Alessandro scratches the stubble on his face. “This information good?”

“Don’t know, a guy approached me, but he seemed pretty legit.” Dominic sighs. “I’ll obviously check it out, but if they’re targeting our family as this guy says, the girls should be placed under immediate protection.”

“That’s easy for your Ma, Katya, and Sofia, but you try and get Arianna protected.”

“Carmine will do it,” Alessandro says slowly, looking at me. My face must have shown him I think he’s crazy because he continues, “She trusts you. She likes you. She’s known you since she was eight. Tell her I’ve assigned you to assist with assembling her team. Let’s keep this as quiet as possible.”

Dominic nods and looks at me. I try to shrug nonchalantly. “She’ll see right through me but okay, when do I start?”

“Right away. You’ll stay at the house for now.” Alessandro stands. “Dominic, arrange the best guys we have for the others.”

“Where is she?” I ask Romero.

He smiles. “She’s in her room, studying up on the car she wants to race.”

I nod. “I’ll take my leave then.”

I give another curt nod and leave the room. Dammit, twenty-four hours a day with Arianna will drive me to drink-day drink! I go upstairs and knock on her door softly. “Ari?”

She opens the door and looks up at me curiously. “What’s up?”

“I’ve come to help,” I don’t like lying to her. “Alessandro said I could take some time off and help you assemble your team.”

“Why you?” She places her hands on her hips, so I know she doesn’t believe me. “What do you know about assembling a pit team?”

I shrug. “I know how to vet guys that aren’t going to hurt you.”

“Like the guys who caused our crash?” She raises an eyebrow. “You have two seconds to tell me what’s going on, or I’m going to be seriously pissed.”

I look around. “You’re going to get me into shit for doing this, but if you really must know, I’ve been assigned to protect you because some Russian family has a grudge against Alessandro.”

She looks at me, shuts her door behind her, and before I can stop her, she’s marching downstairs. “Alessandro,” she calls, marching into his room.

“You didn’t even last ten minutes,” Dominic says quietly to me. “You can’t let her scare you.”

“Alessandro, I’m not going to be babysat every night and day. I have things to do.”

“You wanna do those things, you stick with Carmine; otherwise, you can forget about your little racing car,” Alessandro says seriously. “For fucks sake, Arianna, it’s a genuine threat. You can get fucking killed.”

“Then give me my own gun,” she growls.

“Stick with Carmine, or it’s a no-go with anything,” Alessandro counters.

I touch her shoulder. “Come on, Arianna, you know I’ll go anywhere with you.”

Dominic gives me a strange look as Arianna shakes her head and turns to leave. I follow, glancing back at Dominic.