Married to the Mafia Boss

Ivan

Sweeping around the dance floor with Tori, watching her infectious laughter fill the room, and her intellect challenge others made me fall even harder for her. I’m head over heels, and I cannot deny it anymore.

It’s as though I can feel love again, like a piece of me that died with Mila has been resurrected. I feel as though Mila has given her blessing for me to move on, to start again, to love again, and feel warmth and happiness.

Tori is so much more than her shyness. Behind her shy smile and demeanor is a brilliant young woman who has ambition and can go far in life. She is not only intelligent but strong, and I know she is the perfect queen to rule by my side for the rest of our lives.

While I’m sitting outside sipping on my afternoon coffee, I toy with the idea of having more children. Am I too old? I imagine any children Tori and I make would be absolutely gorgeous, like Anastasia. I seem to pick women with good genes. I think about what I would do if I had a son, someone to inherit the family. Someone who would take over when I’m done. Someone who will be brilliant, well-read, and fun.

I hear footsteps and glance to my left. I see Leonid approaching and set my coffee down.

“Why are you so happy?” he asks curiously as he sits to my left.

I shake my head. “Just planning the future, and it looks good, my brother.”

“I wouldn’t get too excited about the future just yet,” Leonid says with a sigh. “You were right. There is a faction of men within the family that want to overthrow you.”

“Evgeni has planned to overthrow me?” I ask, feeling a heavy disappointment settle in my stomach. “My own cousin?”

“The only one I can think of at this point.” Leonid looks at me sadly. “But I can handle it. I will make our little problem go away.”

I shake my head. “No, I want to deal with this directly myself.”

“Ivan, you are the head of the family, you delegate. Don’t get your hands dirty over a traitor,” Leonid insists, but I shake my head again.

“I’ll ask Evgeni to come to speak to me. I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

Leonid sighs again, so I ask, “What?”

“He’s gone to arrange another trade with a family and will be out of state for two weeks,” he shrugs. “That’s why I say I could just send someone to handle him, and poof, our problem is gone.”

“No, I want him to admit it to me before I put a bullet between his eyes for betraying me.” I stand up. “Thanks, Leonid. Just keep this between the two of us for now. I don’t want Evgeni to get wind and make a run for it.”

“Of course. Is there anything else I can help with?” he offers.

“No, nothing for now. Go to your family and enjoy your day,” I say, turning to go inside. I wander around for a moment, musing over the betrayal. I find Tori in the office, and I sit down heavily. She turns to face me.

“What’s wrong?” she asks gently, scooting over to me.

I take her hand in mine. “Evgeni is the one who tried to have me killed. He’s betrayed the family.”

Tori looks distressed, and I give her hand a squeeze. “It’s always harder when it’s someone we’re close to.”

“I’m so sorry, Ivan,” she pulls my hand to her lips and kisses my fingers the way I do to hers.

“I always try to do right by my family. I always try to make sure everyone is taken care of, but there’s always one ungrateful miscreant that has to betray me,” I say with a heavy sigh.

“You’ll figure this out. Speak to him and ask him for reasons,” she says. “There must be a reason. He seems to adore you so much.”

She swings around, pulls papers from her desk, and hands them to me. “I’m finished with the contracts,” she says. “You’re getting an excellent deal out of my family.”

I take the paper from her and start to rifle through them, reading her notes. “Your family isn’t getting anything too bad from me either,” I point out. “In fact, a few of these assets are really nice.”

“A mutual exchange,” she says quietly.

“Seems good to me,” I say, setting the paperwork down on the desk and pulling her off her chair and into my lap. “Now that you’re finished working like a slave, why don’t we curl up on the sofa and read.”

She smiles down at me and kisses my mouth softly. “That sounds like an amazing idea.”

I kiss her back, and for a moment, we simply sit there, kissing each other over and over again. I touch her breast, and she moans loudly, and I raise an eyebrow. “Horny much?” I tease.

She blushes and climbs off my lap. “Let’s go read before you get other ideas of what we should be doing.”

“But those ideas could be fun,” I point out as I let her drag me to the library. We both have books we’re busy with, and there’s a large sofa in here we both curl up on. She leans against me slightly as she reads. I love watching her read. She concentrates so hard as though she could telepathically transfer the information into her brain forever.

I’m reading a horror novel at the moment, but my heart isn’t into it after learning about Evgeni. I keep thinking that he, or whoever decided to go rogue, also was behind the missing money from my account and the situation with the contracts.NôvelDrama.Org content rights.

I decide to put an arm around Tori and lean back, closing my eyes and relaxing. “Read to me.”

“It’s psychological stuff. It’s boring,” she murmurs.

“Read to me anyway,” I comment.

She shifts around and starts to read. Her voice is so pleasant to listen to, and it turns out that the stuff she’s reading about actually isn’t that boring. I listen intently at first, then a little less so. I’m tired, so I shift and lie down with her lying between my legs, her head on my chest. I get comfy and close my eyes. She stops reading after a moment, and I nudge her. “Carry on, or I won’t fall asleep.”

She giggles and carries on reading, and I slowly close my eyes.