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I chose my brother-in-law, and I don’t regret it. I never will. After waking up in the hospital, I learn my husband has twisted everything to make Theo look like the villain... when it was him all along. Theo rescues me soon after, moving me in with his two gorgeous best friends and starting up a new mafia family to fight the Emmericos.
One where I’m no longer the trophy wife of Lucas Emmerico, but something far more dangerous...
I’m Vivian Emmerico, and I won’t stop until we are all safe from my husband.
This is an arranged marriage, mafia, steamy romance with possessive males who won’t give up their girl. Recommended for mature readers only. This is a trilogy and book two.
ChapterSixteen
My breath comes in fits and starts, and my heart hammers in my ears like a thundering drumbeat. A cold sweat blankets my skin, but a horrible heat spreads through me all the same. Adrenaline makes my body tingle, my muscles trembling and my eyes widening in terror. Panic has taken hold of me, but as I stare at the man on the other side of the room—trim, proper, and handsome, but with an expression of unflinching hatred on his face—I realize I can’t move. I’m frozen with fear, all my attention on the gun he’s holding in his hand... and it’s trained directly on me.
Run, I tell myself, but my legs are like jelly.
Get out of here. Warn Theo!
That’s what finally breaks through. I have to get ahead of this somehow, even if it means running headlong into the arms of the most dangerous man I’ve ever known.
I lurch backward, groping for the phone on the bedside table, but it slips from my grasp, falling to the tile floor with a damning thud. No, no, no. Time is moving in slow motion, every second stretching into an eternity under the cold, hard gaze of the man who’s standing in the doorway. I open my mouth to scream, but all that comes out is a strangled croak. His finger is on the trigger, squeezing harder, harder—I have to run, and to hell with calling for help.
Finding my footing, I break left, but it’s too late. Pain blossoms in my chest, so excruciating that it takes my breath away, and when I look down, I see a crimson stain spreading through my white t-shirt. I drop to my knees, scrambling to get out of the way as the man advances on me with nothing but hatred in his black eyes. The pain is horrific, and the blood is pouring out of me, but still all I can think about is finding a way to warn the man I love, giving him a chance to get away from this madness—
My attacker stops in front of me, and I have to crane my neck to look up at him, tears streaming from my eyes. “Please,” I manage, “Please, don’t. Just let me go. I promise you’ll never hear from me again.”
But there’s no mercy in his expression, and as he lowers the gun to my forehead, I know it’s over. Not just for me, but for everyone: my parents, my sister, our families, everyone.
“It’s too late for that, Vivian,” Lucas says, and then he pulls the trigger.
I shoot upright in bed,gasping for breath as my chest protests in pain. The EKG monitor is beeping a mile a minute, and the sheets of the hospital bed are drenched in sweat. My chestnut hair is plastered to my face, and as I grip my chest, my hands moving over my body in a blind, half-asleep panic, the orderly who was checking my vitals puts a hand on my shoulder. “Hey, hey, hey. It’s all right. You’re all right.”
“He...” I manage. “He—”
“You’re safe,” she reassures, gently guiding me back down onto the bed. “It was just a dream, Mrs. Emmerico.”
I exhale a shuddering breath as I settle back into the pillows, but the terror of the nightmare is still fresh in my mind, and so is the faint throbbing pain in my torso where the bullet—the real one—hit me six weeks ago.
“Another one,” I mutter, rubbing my forehead. “I’m sorry. I thought I’d be over this by now.”
“I’m not surprised you aren’t,” she replies as she examines my chart. “You’ve had a traumatic experience, Mrs. Emmerico. You’re doing remarkably well, given all that’s happened. Cut yourself some slack.”
I give her a dry smile. “I appreciate it, but it’s my fault this happened. I was an idiot, and now it’s all falling apart.” I sigh as I sit upright. “Maybe karma’s finally biting me in the ass for all those years being the irresponsible daughter.”
The orderly titters. “What matters most is that you’re safe now, and that the awful man who shot you can’t hurt anyone else.”
“He’s not an awful man, and he didn’t shoot me,” I reply, but I know better than to claim my brother-in-law hasn’t hurt anyone. He may have his own code of ethics, but he’s still a mobster, and that makes him dangerous. The fact that Lucas, my husband, seems to have everyone convinced he’s guilty is proof enough of that. But the question that remains, the one that’s been eating me alive ever since I came to…
“Have you heard anything?” I ask the orderly.
“About Theo Emmerico?” she asks, her eyes narrowing.
Theo Emmerico. The name sends a pang of longing and worry through me. Most people would condemn sleeping with your brother-in-law, but I’m beyond thinking about the moral implications of our relationship. Since when have I ever made the right choices, anyway? My whole life has been nothing but bad decisions. “Nobody will tell me what’s happened to him,” I reply. “I don’t know where he is, or even if he’s…” The words catch in my throat before I can finish. It’s too horrible to think about.
The orderly sighs. “I really don’t know, Mrs. Emmerico. I’m just here to make sure you get well.”
“Right,” I mutter, turning away with a sigh. “Figures.”
At that moment, the door to the hospital room swings open, and it’s like the scene from my nightmare all over again. Standing in the doorway is my husband, Lucas Emmerico, heir apparent to the Emmerico-Dalton crime syndicate, looking as smug and cold-hearted as ever. He smiles when he sees me. “Darling,” he says, making me shiver as he strides into the room.
“Mr. Emmerico.” The orderly blinks, glancing at her chart. “I don’t have you down as a visitor—”
