AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I grabbed the slice of orange from the top of my cocktail and threw it at him. He caught it in his mouth and started chewing wildly with a cheeky grin that just made my vagina flutter. Suddenly, a singer started to set up on the stage and I clapped my hands. I loved listening to live music. Oh! Number 3 on my list! At any opportunity, anywhere, dance!
“Hey!” I snapped my head to him. “You never told me the rest of your list!”
He bobbed his head in agreement as he finished the mouthful of orange, throwing the skin down on the table.
“How about we keep them a surprise until the moment presents itself?” he teased, just as the singer took her place on the stool and introduced herself on the microphone.
“Fine. But you better prepare me if you are going to make me do something crazy,” I warned. I turned my attention to the stage as the woman started singing to a beautiful, romantic melody.
“Crazy like this?” he whispered across the table before he stood up, grabbed the single red rose that was in the vase on the table and put it between his teeth. I stared up at him in disbelief as he held out his hand to me. I broke into a grin when I realised he had remembered my number 3. I placed my hand in his and stood up. He wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me into his chest as he held my other hand, the rose still between his teeth. I giggled as he started weaving us between the tables of couples who were trying to enjoy the song.
“You look ridiculous,” I laughed as he spun me in a circle and dipped me.
He started to glide us towards the stage, knocking into tables clumsily because his body was too large to fit through. He muttered apologies through his teeth as I roared with laughter, completely embarrassed and deliriously happy at the same time. I looked up at the singer, about to mouth an apology, but she was smiling at us as she sang and my chest swelled.
I buried my face into his neck as he changed from messing around to a slow sway to the music, holding me against him and placing the rose in my hand. I closed my eyes and listened to the lyrics, enjoying the feel of his body against mine and the safety of his arms around me. His vanilla and musky scent mixed with his woody aftershave was so soothing and intoxicating, that for a moment, I forgot everything. My mind went blank and I just enjoyed the intimate moment. When the song finished, couples started clapping and I opened my eyes to see that two other couples had joined us in dancing too.
I peered up at him as he stared down at me, his face serious and in those sparkling blue eyes I saw it all. Everything I had ever wanted. He swallowed as he held my gaze, his Adam’s apple moving with the motion.
“I lied to you, Elle.”
My eyes darted between his as my heart started thundering in my chest.
“I told you that night our kiss wasn’t special. I made you think you weren’t special.”
I held my breath as I waited for him to continue.
“I lied,” he whispered.
I leaned up and grabbed his face in my hands, smashing my lips against his as I poured everything into that kiss. He wasn’t the only one who had been lying. I had been lying to myself for years too. Pretending that he wasn’t the kind of man I ever wanted to end up with, when in reality, he was the only man I had ever wanted. Nothing scared me more than him. Because I knew as soon as I stopped pretending and opened my heart to this man, he would have the power to destroy it. But it was a risk that, right now, I was willing to take.
Family Meeting
Cecilia
How dare they? How fucking dare they?
Five days! It took them five days to tell me my daughter had been kidnapped and was being held hostage by the most ruthless mafia family in Italy! Five fucking days! I was seething. I haven’t always agreed with my son’s decisions, but I have always stood by him through thick and thin. But this? This was unforgivable!
Marco reached across and squeezed my knee to stop the incessant tapping it was doing as we drove home from the airport. I glanced over at him and sighed before he gave me a supportive nod. When Giovanni had called me yesterday to finally tell me that my daughter’s life had been on the line for the last five days, I don’t think he was expecting the reaction he got. They all expected me to fall apart. Be hysterical. Wallow in grief and depression. They underestimated me.
My children forget that I had witnessed and been a part of this life a lot longer than they had. I had far more experience when it came to mafia politics and negotiations than even my son. Yet, they all decided keeping this from me was the best way to deal with it. Who does that to a mother?
“I just-I still can’t believe this, Marco. Have I failed? Have I failed so badly as a mamma that my own children believe that I can’t handle one of them being in trouble? That I can’t put my own issues aside and be there for them?” I rubbed my forehead as I stared out the window but placed my hand on top of his.
“They were just trying to protect you, Cece. It was wrong, but I can see why they did it. Giovanni obviously believed he could deal with this himself and get Elle back quickly. He wouldn’t have wanted to worry you if he didn’t feel it was necessary,” Marco tried to calm me with his soothing voice and wise words, but nothing would calm me at this point.
“Necessary? My own daughter was brutally kidnapped at gunpoint, taken to the South by our biggest rivals and is being used as bait against my son! And they didn’t think it was necessary to tell me?” I snapped in a harsh tone.
“Is Elle going to be okay, mamma?” Sani looked up from his iPad at the back of the car and I turned to give him a reassuring smile.
“Of course she is. She will be home before you know it,” I replied, shifting my gaze to Marco as he looked ahead at the road, his jaw tight with tension.
If the last five days had taught me anything, it was that this man was an angel sent from above. Each day we had grown closer by spending more time opening up to each other. I was slowly lowering my walls and allowing him in. And the most wonderful thing about him was how much he loved my children. He had immediately leaped into action after Gio had called and contacted his old buddy from his private investigator days to get discreet information on Alessio Babrieri’s properties in the South.
“You have every right to be angry. But being angry with Giovanni and Olivia will not help get her back. You have to unite as a family right now,” Marco said carefully and I rubbed my eyes. He was right. My god, I was angry and they would know about it, but right now, getting my little bird back was the most important thing.
Marco’s phone started ringing as we pulled up to the private gates of my home and he pressed handsfree, his old friend’s voice filling the car.
