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“Okay, but maybe I should go with you—”
“—No!” I shout a little loud, hoping I don’t wake anyone. “I mean, no,” I clear my throat. “I need to do this on my own.”
“He hasn’t told you, has he? Or you wouldn’t be so confident going out at three in the morning.”
“Told me what?”
“What we do? I mean, it’s been a month, I would have thought…” he rubs a hand over his mouth and sighs. “I can’t tell you if he hasn’t.”
“I mean, I know it’s dangerous. He had to marry me due to a rule to be head of the family business; he won’t tell me anything else. It’s like he doesn’t want to give something away.”
“I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell him, you know.”
I take a step forward and nod too eagerly. “I swear. I won’t say a word.”
He leans in and whispers. “We’re mafia. One of the most dangerous in Italy. We have one rule when the patriarch passes down the torch to the next in line. They have to marry because we do so many terrible things that having a wife takes some of the burdens away.”
I wait for the punch line, the joke, but he doesn’t laugh. He continues to eat his damn cereal.
“The mafia?” My heart thumps in my chest, wild, with a bit of fear yet a little excitement because I’m obviously married to a powerful man.
“Yep. Why do you think I’m so good at kidnapping?” he snorts. “It wasn’t like it was my first time.”
I blink at him, not knowing what to say. I’m not sure how to feel. I feel…brainwashed in a sense. My fear isn’t what it used to be. I’ve become complacent in my dream to escape, and now I don’t want to.
My fear has been buried somewhere. Dri must have taken it from me and placed it somewhere inside himself so I never needed to feel it again.
Even now, while I’m trying to convince myself I should be afraid, all I can think of is how Otello kidnapped me because Adrian has always wanted me. I’ve found a sick, twisted, irrational sweetness in that.
“Now you know. So you need to understand that you might become a target if you go out alone. Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”
“I have a feeling Adrian would be furious if you didn’t.”
“I can handle Adrian. I know what it’s like to need to do things on your own. I’m not him, but I like you, and I’d hate to have anything happen to my favorite sister-in-law. I’ll drive.” He dumps the milk into the sink and then holds out his palm. “Come on. Hand them over.”
“Do you have a gun on you? Is it really needed?”
“I have three guns on me at all times. Yes, they are needed. Let’s take the Mercedes, so we don’t have to open the garage.”
“Do you have any money I can borrow?” I ask as I follow him outside, the chilly air wrapping around me.
“He hasn’t given you a credit card?”
“He has. It’s in the room where he is, and I don’t want to wake him.”
“I feel like we are on a mission. I like it. Top secret.”
We climb into the car, the memory of my kidnapping faded just like my fear.
He cranks the car, the engine is quiet as we pull out of the driveway, and Otello turns on the headlights. “So, what are we getting? Knives? Bullets? Are you secretly trying to kill my brother? That’s not cool. I wouldn’t like that.”
I roll my eyes as I clip on my seatbelt. “No. I love him. I wouldn’t hurt him.”
He blows out a breath and nods his head. “That’s good.”
“If I tell you, you can’t tell him. I need to tell him.”
“Okay…” he says, confused.
