Owning the Mafia Don

Proserpina

I stood staring after Lucien as the cars pulled away from the drive that afternoon. it was warm but a chill was setting in. I knew winter was approaching. Somehow, my heart felt leaden. I had not wanted to let him go and had clung to him, silently, trying not to cry.

Finally, his face in my hair, he had said in a tormented growl.

“Woman, I need to go.”

He held me at arm’s length, looking into my face, his grey eyes hot with fury.

“You know it, woman. I have to kill that bas*ard. After all that he did to you…” and he had pulled me to him, crushing me to his length, and then, with a harsh kiss, he had thrust me away and strode out to the waiting cars.

With my fist in my mouth to prevent myself from sobbing out loud, I looked at the large black car as it drew away speedily and was lost in a cloud of dust as the other four cars along with it revved past.

“Come back to me, please. Come back safely.” I prayed.

My legs felt as though they would give way, and I turned blindly to go back into the house. Ria was beside me in a minute, her arms clasped around my knees.

“Mumma, don’t cry, Mumma, please,” she insisted, her own face round and puffy with tears.

She hated it when I was upset, and I clung to her small body, lifting her in my arms as I walked into the cool interiors of the house.

***

Lucien

He sat, his hand clenched. It had left him feeling strange, like a weight on his chest as he had looked into his young wife’s lovely face, her eyes brown pools of misery, and plump lips parted in a mute appeal as she held his arms tightly.

He had never in his life regretted his choice of following a life of crime; for the first time, he wished he had the luxury of being with his wife, and with his children like ordinary people. He smote his thigh and met the eyes of the driver, a new man, Carlos. He had been vetted by Beston but Lucien frowned as the man’s eyes slid away on meeting his gaze.

He had taken the decision to leave his trusted men back home with Proserpina and the children. But when she insisted, he had taken along two of his trusted, most loyal men who were also riding with him now, Tony Rhyme, tall, dark, and lean, and Joe Belair.

Both men had been with him for years now and he knew they would die for him if need be,

The aircraft would be at the field, ready for take-off. In a few hours, a maximum of twelve, he should be with his Second in Command, Schwartz.

And he would end the reign of Dmitri Rudenko as well.

He settled back, eyes on the passing scenery, his thoughts with his family, brooding.

***

Proserpina

I went through the motions of cooking, taking care of the children, and generally being a mother and the lady of the house. Beatrice and Camille and all the staff were extremely careful and excessively pleasant around me, hushing my triplets when they attempted to bawl.

I was too heart sore to think straight, but I knew I would rather have a normal household around me. This was like being in a house where death hovered in the shadows.

But when the darkness set in, my heart plummeted. I could not sleep alone in that large bed, thinking of my lover, missing his hard, demanding body curled around mine.

Ria and Piers solved that matter for me. They turned up in their pajamas, with Claude sleepily tailing behind them, clutching his favourite teddy.

He threw his arms around me, and I buried my face, inhaling the baby smell of the lotion.

“We are going to sleep with you Mumma,” announced Ria and Piers nodded firmly.

I smiled tremulously and Piers sighed while Ria snorted in exasperation as he said,

“Mumma’s crying again!”

I had to smile, as bravely as I could. Piers hated to see me weep too.

Clutching Claude to me, I nodded my head, and immediately, the bed was full of three little giggling kids. We laughed, and the kids kept talking till they dozed off. They insisted on listening to a ghost story and came up with horror stories that made my skin crawl, a fact that seemed to tickle them pink.

Finally, one by one, they slept, and silence reigned in my large bedroom.

At last, I fell asleep, with Claude gripping a fistful of my hair in his small paw.

My last thoughts were of my love, Lucien Delano.

***

Lucien

The plane landed in Slovakia at a nondescript airstrip, a little after mid-morning, and the cold hit him squarely in the face as he stepped onto the tarmac of the private airstrip owned and operated by an old friend. The place was deserted and covered in a sheet of glistening white that seemed to hurt his eyes.

He was met by Schwartz’s man, Ngoc, a keen-faced Vietnamese war veteran, who shook hands with him solemnly and swiftly led him to the car that was waiting for him.

As soon as they were inside, Lucien barked,

“Details.”

He listened in silence as the younger man spoke, efficient and precise, filling him in on the details of where Dmitri Rudenko was holed up.Content held by NôvelDrama.Org.

Schwartz, apparently, had a plan, and he was waiting for the Boss to ratify it. Obviously, it had been put together with the help of Schwartz’s erstwhile girlfriend, thought Lucien wryly, for it was a fool proof one.

But a niggling sense of things happening too easily, troubled him as they drove up to the small apartment that his two friends were occupying.

He stepped out and looked across at the snow-covered mountains, cold, white and forbidding. Somewhere on those snow-covered heights, was Dmitri’s hiding place.

I am coming to get you, thought Lucien grimly as he strode into the warm interior of the house.

And this time, I will kill you.