The Mafia’s Forbidden Desire

ANTONIO.

Without hesitation, I parked my car and scrammed out of it. Lorenzo’s gaze was on me as I trudged towards them in long strides with a frown masking my features.

“We have a company now.” Lorenzo grinned as I approached them. I disliked him. He had an off-putting aura about him that I couldn’t quite place.

“What are you doing?” I quickly asked.

“Getting answers.” He simply replied, and I blew out a sharp breath, shaking my head.

Did he really intend to kill them just to feed his curiosity?

“Aren’t you curious to know who these people are?” He continued.

I pressed my lips tightly together. “Do you want to start a feud?”

“A feud?” He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “These people aren’t precious enough to make Roberto retaliate if I kill them. He would be pissed, but not enough to start a feud. And by the way, I don’t have to kill them. They were about to talk.” He flicked his gaze at them. “Right?”

“Right?” He asked again with a firmer voice, pressing the cold metal against the woman’s temple when he didn’t get a response.

“Ye-yes.” They both stammered in unison with terrified voices.

Lorenzo flicked his gaze between the two of them before settling his gaze on the man. “Start talking, or else your woman will be gone in seconds.”

The horror on their faces intensified upon hearing that, and I really wanted to stop Lorenzo because I hated violence against women. But I couldn’t. As much as it irked me to see him hurt an innocent woman, I wanted answers too.

So, turning a blind eye to the way he was hurting the woman, I stepped aside and waited for Lorenzo to make them talk.

“Why haven’t you started talking yet?” Lorenzo asked as he pressed the gun further into her head. “Your woman would die if-”

“I would talk.” The man cut him off breathlessly. “I would talk. Please don’t kill her.”

Lorenzo cocked his head to the side, a smirk playing at his lips. “Okay, start then.”

The man let out a small cough before he started spilling. “Two years ago, Mr. Moretti came to us and asked us to be his grandchild’s foster parents for a fee. He paid us monthly and asked us never to tell anyone about it. He said Carlo was a disgrace, and he didn’t want to keep him around. My wife and I were excited to take him in since we didn’t have a child of ours. But my wife conceived last year and gave birth three months ago. Since we now have ours, we decided to return Carlo to his original family under the pretence that we wanted to travel. And-”

“His grandchild?” I cut him off. I wasn’t interested in his stories. I only wanted to know one thing. “Who is his mother?” I quickly asked.

“Uhm… I don’t know.” The man said as he scratched the back of his neck. It was obvious that he lied.

“Oh really? Then I would have to pull this trigger if-” Lorenzo pressed the cold metal against the woman’s head.

“I would talk.” The man quickly said.

Lorenzo nodded. “Ok.”

“It’s-” He scratched the back of his neck, looking really frustrated.

“Are you hesitating?” Lorenzo asked as he pressed the gun against the woman’s head again, causing her to wince in pain.

“No. No. No.” He quickly said as he continued scratching the back of his neck. “It’s the lady Carlo ran to.”

Oh no. The lady Carlo ran to. Was his mother really-

“Rosalinda?” I asked to confirm, and he nodded.

A pang of hurt clawed at my chest upon realising that the woman I was attracted to had a child with another man. Fuck, I wasn’t supposed to feel this way about it, but I was really hurt. And angry.

Everything began to make sense to me. So that was why Roberto said Rosalinda wasn’t fit for the agreement. Because she had a child.

Who was the father?

I swear, I was going to kill the person who got her pregnant. The person who blocked my chance of having her as mine.

As the multitude of thoughts kept roaming through my head, I turned around and trudged to my car in long strides with intense rage burning within me.

…

ROSALINDA.

He was a disgrace. I was a slut. There was no derogatory name Papà didn’t call me when I had him. I knew I messed up, and I regretted the action I took that led to his birth, but I still loved him.

When Papà said he wanted to give him up for foster care, I almost went crazy. I begged and pleaded to keep him, but to no avail. I just had to accept faith and let him take him away from me. But not anymore. Now that my son was here with me, I would fight with everything in me to keep him with me. My heart had never felt this much love for anyone. A love so pure, so divine.

The whole family was gathered in the living room, and everyone had a gloomy face on as if we were all gathered for a funeral.

“We have to look for another foster parents for him and find a way to convince Lorenzo and Antonio that he isn’t someone important.” Papà groaned before flicking his gaze at Carlo, who was in my arms. “If he hadn’t called her mommy, it would have been so much easier to do that.”

“But she my mommy.” Carlo said innocently, and the frown on Papa’s face deepened.

“Shup up.” He barked, causing Carlo to shriek as he wrapped his little arms tightly around me.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“Roberto!” Mama scolded as her face contorted into a scowl. “He’s just a child!”

“A disgrace.” Papà mumbled under his breath.

I hated my life at that moment. I wished I could just pack my bags and run away with Carlo, but I couldn’t. Papà would find me wherever I went, and my actions might put Carlo in trouble. So, to protect myself and my son, I just had to bottle up the insults and act oblivious to them.

“And you.” He continued, pointing his index finger at me. “You still won’t tell us who the father is, right?”

“What?” We suddenly heard a familiar voice say, and we all turned our attention to the source of the voice. I gasped in shock when I saw him standing there, and the rage burning within him was evidenced by the way his veins bulged on his neck. “You don’t know who the father is?”

Why did he look so angry? And for how long has he been standing there?

Antonio.