AllFreeNovel
Share Us
MARIANA
‘Are you okay?’ I asked Jason.
He nodded, looking jumpy as always. His eyes travelled around the large sitting room that had been dressed up and filled with party guests. I opened my mouth to ask him why he had a black eye and a cut on his lip when I felt a cold hand on the back of my neck. I jumped, expecting to see Dornan. Instead, when I turned around Emilio stared back at me with his beady black eyes, bringing one hand to my cheek.
‘You look so pretty, Mariana,’ he said, using a single finger to pull my scarf down enough to expose the bruises on my throat. The sight of them made him smile, a grotesque expression that made him look like he was about to eat me.
‘Thank you,’ I replied, swallowing my discomfort as best I could.
‘It looks like my son got a little excited,’ he said, dropping his eyes to my throat again. ‘He gets that from me, you know.’
‘I can only imagine,’ I said.
‘You ever pull a stunt like that again,’ he said quietly, tucking a stray hair behind my ear, ‘and I’ll take you down to Budget Funerals and put you in the oven myself. Alive. Do you understand?’
Budget Funerals.He’d mentioned the place by name. Had it been on the box of ashes that I’d dumped on his desk? I couldn’t remember. The hairs on the back of my neck started to prickle uncomfortably as my heart raced to a gallop.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Jason and Juliette were taking this entire conversation in, their eyes like saucers, their mouths slack with shock. I moved ever so slightly, making sure they weren’t in Emilio’s line of sight, and nodded. ‘I understand.’
‘Nobody is irreplaceable, darling,’ he said with a grin. He still had his hand on the side of my head, just above my ear. I wanted him to stop touching me, but what was I going to do? I was in a room full of his family and his people. He could literally have murdered me where I stood and nobody would have dared to stop him. Well, except John, but he was MIA, along with Dornan and half the Gypsy Brothers.
‘You might think you’ve got power now that you’re married to my son, but he’s been married before. You replaced Celia. I won’t have a problem finding somebody to replace you.’
I nodded, trying to stay outwardly calm. I wanted to lean over and throw up all over Emilio’s expensive Italian loafers, but he’d probably make me lick them clean as punishment. Instead I stood there, frozen, until a warm hand snaked around my waist and squeezed. Jase flinched as he made eye contact with whoever it was hugging me to their side.
I smelled John, but that couldn’t be right. I whipped myhead to the left, confused. Dornan was beside me, but he was wearing John’s jacket. My heart rate rose to fever pitch as I stepped back, almost ending up in Juliette’s lap as I tried to understand what was going on.
‘What are you wearing?’ I asked Dornan, frowning in confusion as I re-read the patch above his heart that clearly said PRESIDENT. ‘Why are you wearing John’s jacket?’Did you kill John?I mean, why else would he have his jacket?
Dornan grinned. ‘We just voted. You’re looking at the new president of the Gypsy Brothers.’
I opened my mouth to ask where John was, but then I saw him in the corner, talking to Viper but casting glances our way. He was okay. He was not the president anymore, but he was okay. Thank God.
I looked back to Jason, and my heart broke. He’d flinched when he saw his father, I realised. He was that terrified of Dornan that he couldn’t even be near him. I heard Lindsay’s words replay in my mind. Soon. I’d get away sooner. Me and John and Juliette and Jason. I would insist, and John would do it because he loved me. Because it was the right thing to do.
I heard the sound of cutlery clinking on glass. Emilio had disappeared, making his way to the centre of the large room.
‘A toast to the lovely bride and groom,’ he called out, a hush settling over the crowd as Dornan took hold of my arm and dragged me towards his father. His fingers hurt as they dug into my arm. There’d be more bruises tomorrow to add to my collection.
‘My dear friends and family,’ Emilio said, ‘let’s give a warm welcome to my son’s new wife, and my new daughter. I give you Mariana Ross.’
There were claps and cheers, and hugs from Emilio. First he embraced his son, something I’d never seen him do in ten years, and then he hugged me, almost crushing me in his arms. He might’ve been old, but the man was strong. Just as I thought he was letting go, he leaned in and gave me a wet kiss, right on my mouth. I almost jerked my head back, stopping myself just in time. If I made him angry he’d kill me, and then there wouldn’t be any escaping for a new life and a chance to finally be reunited with Luis.
‘We’re a very affectionate family,’ Emilio whispered in my ear. ‘We share . . .everything.’
I gritted my teeth and kept my fake smile plastered on. Beside me, Dornan was oblivious, his friends and fellow club members congratulating him in a steady procession. Me, I was just there to look good. None of them gave me so much as a sideways glance. Then again, maybe they were too scared of Dornan yanking their eyeballs out for daring to look at his property.
As Emilio was finally disentangling himself from me, there was a scuffle and yelling from the edge of the room. A female voice.Juliette. I batted Emilio’s hands out of my path, rushing to where I’d been standing in front of Jason and Juliette only moments earlier. Jason was on the ground, curled into the foetal position, his older brothers standing around him but nobody paying him any regard. Only Juliette was helping him, on her knees beside Jason, her hands pulling his shirt up to look at the damage.
John appeared by my right side, and Dornan soon joined him on my left. Oh, the irony of being flanked by your husband and your lover as you look at the son one of them hid away from the other.
‘What happened?’ I asked, acutely aware that the entire room seemed to have eyeballs on us. Juliette looked up, her eyes wet with tears, and that’s when I noticed the blood on her hands.
I fell to my knees next to Juliette, searching for the source of the blood. Juliette lifted Jase’s shirt, and I saw a long red line across his stomach, one that was seeping blood at an alarming rate.
‘What happened?’ Dornan asked, his voice deathly calm.
The boys started to fidget. I mean, they were hardly boys. All six of Dornan’s older sons were patch-wearing Gypsy Brothers, ranging in age from Chad, the oldest at twenty-four, to Ant, the youngest at seventeen. Ant was only a few months older than Jase, but the difference in the two boys was stark. Ant was already a tattooed, drinking, drug-taking little smart ass, whereas Jason – apart from the tattoos he’d been forced to have inked upon his flesh – was relatively unmarked by the life.
