I clear my throat and turn to look at him all while trying to pretend nothing is the matter. “Yes, thank you.” I pause for a moment. “I just thought–––”
Lorenzo is peering around my head, eyes narrowed and face tight. “Get in the car Mrs. Ricci and Ms. Gianna.” We both do as we are told and file inside.
I can feel my heart racing a mile a minute, and taking in some deep breaths is not helping at all until I feel Gianna’s hand on top of mine.
“In one, two, three.” Her voice is soft and gentle. “Out, four, five, six,” I listen to her repeating the mantra until my heart starts to slow down. My body starts to relax a little. “You’re okay, Isabella. Did you see something when we were leaving the store?”
I take in another deep breath and spill everything on how the past few months, it’s felt as if someone is watching me and following me. It’s not every single day, but my body goes rigid when this thing of person is near. But after the wedding, Ian getting shot and how a war basically has broken out has me a little panicked that it’s serious.
Lorenzo is back in the car, sitting at the driver’s seat with his phone up to his ear speaking in hush tones.
Gianna squeezes my hand with my eyes glued onto Lorenzo. I track his movement. His gaze is a laser on mine through the rearview mirror as the person on the other line appears to be giving orders. In one swift motion, he tucks his phone away and announces we are returning home.
Suddenly, all of the tension I coursing through my body has lifted at the thought of returning to my new home. A place that 48 hours ago felt like a new prison, but in this moment it feels safe. I hope.
“What do you mean there was an issue at the dock warehouse?” I sneer at Angelo in my office, my voice booming off the walls. A few of my other men stand there with their faces staring straight ahead without even blinking. “We have been tracking every single message that came from Di Marco’s rat.”
“Enzo, it doesn’t make any sense. The messages were clear as fucking day on what the Di Marco’s were planning. Then it changed directions and were not prepared for empty shipping containers.” Angelo narrows his eyes with a sneer on his face. “Something seems off. It’s a fucking game what it feels like.”
I run my hand through my hair, pulling at the ends to feel the pain at my scalp as I try to rationalize murdering the whole fucking dock with my shipments being messed with.
“I want to–” Angelo’s phone vibrates making me narrow my eyes at his pocket.
“What?” he snaps into the phone and his face tightens at whoever is speaking on the other line. I can see the veins in his neck strain with each moment he is on the phone. “Bring them both home and make sure that there is no sign of a threat. We will access when you are back on the grounds.” He presses end and slides it back into his pocket.
His face is blank when he says calmly, “They are fine and were in no danger.” He pauses. “When they were leaving the store, Isabella had a panic attack. She thought someone was following her.”
All I can think about is something happening to Isabella, and I am not there to protect her. She may not trust me or feel safe around me just yet and I know that time will come. But something or someone making her feel anxious to the point where she scared that someone was following her, and it does not sit well with me. I will rip whoever this is limb from limb, slowly, and in the most painful way possible.
My mask slips back on when I try to calm my breathing, tame the beast that is rattling against its cage when I narrow my eyes at my men and Angelo. “Increase security around the grounds.” I meet Angelo’s gaze when I growl out, “We are going to change up the crew at the dock’s to weasel out whoever the fuck is messing with my product, my money and my fucking business. And when I find out who is after my wife.” A smirk crosses my lips, “where my wife is involved, there will be no God to save them. I will send them straight to hell.”
All my men nod their head, and Angelo smirks back at me knowing damn well that he and I will enjoy this more than anything. I watch as all leave the room, and Angelo nods his head before he follows. I hear the loudest of my office door shutting, I bring my palms to my eyes to rub them and drag my hands down the front of my face. The anger starts to rise in the bottom of my stomach and rises my chest, burning my insides, and I bang my fists against my desk as I shout, “Fuck!”
My world has revolved around my wife the moment I laid eyes on her sweet, innocent face. Some would say that I am obsessed with her. I would call it complete and utter desire and need for her. There has not been a single second that I haven’t thought about her, watched her, studied her favorite things and her mannerisms. Hell, I even concocted a plan to have her father agree for our families to merge with her becoming my wife. There is nothing I would not do for this woman, and she willlearn to understand that in time. Forty-eight hours is not enough time for my wife to realize I am her everything.
I grab the phone out of my pocket and click on the app to listen to her voice to settle my racing mind.
“I don’t understand or how to explain it, honestly. But for a few months, whenever I would leave my house, I would have this feeling that someone was watching me,” says to Gianna.She’s not wrong because I was watching, listening and observing her every single move. But whoever this person is taking my place on my favorite pasttime is not sitting well.“I know it sounds incredibly crazy.” She pauses and her voice is a little shaky. “It’s just that today it felt different than all the other times. Today made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and my body was tense. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.”
“Aw, Isabella, I’m so sorry,” Gianna reassures her. “I know your life has been flipped in the past two days and I wish I could say that I understand.” She pauses. “But you’re safe here. It may not seem like it now or seem like my brother is not some scary man who ambushed your wedding. Please hear me when I say this, he is not all that bad. He really is a big teddy bear underneath his hardened exterior. Plus, I don’t want to lose my new sister and new best friend.”
Lorenzo’s voice echoes through the speaker. “We are back on the grounds, Mrs. Ricci and Miss. Ricci.”
I exit the app, stand up, slide my phone back into my pocket, and button my black suit jacket as I make my way out of my office to see my wife.
Gianna held my hand the whole way home, squeezing it to let me know that she’s there. The moment I met her, I felt an instant connection that we both knew where we stood in the world that we were born into. Once my heart rate had slowed down, my breathing regulated, the anxiousness floated away. Gianna could have just rolled her eyes at my outburst and chalked it up to another mafia princess tantrum, but instead, she helped me through the whole thing. It meant the world to me.
My feet carry me inside and my mind is a jumble mess. Normally, I’m not this easy spoke or on high alert. But since the wedding, Ian getting killed and being forced to marry another dangerous man, has had me on edge. Gianna probably thinks I’m crazy.
“Gianna, I’m so sorry for earlier while leaving the store. Ever since the wedding, I have been jittery. And I promise that I’m not insane.” I try to laugh at the end to make it seem light and carefree.
Gianna reaches for my hand. Her voice is soft as she says, “Isabella, I know this is not what you had envisioned for yourself, well forced into.” Her face is sympathetic as she continues, “My big brother may seem rough around the edges, but I know he will do everything in his power to keep you safe.” She squeezes my hand once more before pulling hers away, “We all will. You’re family now.”
I watch her step off the stair next to me, walk down the hallway to the side of the entry stairs with her words swimming aroundin my head. I turn and make the trek up the stairs. One by one I climb, reaching the top turning left down the long corridor to my room.
“Seems that I have to hear through one of my trusted men that my wife had a feeling someone was following her while out shopping with my sister.” His voice is rough and dark. “I would like to think that my own wife would call me where I could do something about it.” My mouth is dry taking in the sight of him. The perfectly fitted black Armani dress pants hug his large muscular thighs. My body hums at the memory of feeling them against mine. I trail my gaze to his matching dress shirt and jacket. Both black. His arms are crossed, making his large biceps pop.
“You seem mad?”
