AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Giovanni
“And where do you think you are going, Bambola?” I growled as I dived forward and wrapped one arm around Liv’s naked waist, yanking her back into the bed. She laughed loudly, squirming under my body as I peppered her throat with kisses.
“I was just going to get another bottle of champagne! We are empty!”
“Oh, in that case…” I let her go and she sat up with a beaming grin, her brown curls in a matted, tousled mess. We had hardly left the grand master bedroom on my yacht in the last two days. For a few hours a day, we would emerge from our bubble to swim in the sea or take a trip to the mainland for dinner but other than that this was all I wanted. My wife. My bed. Champagne. Perfetto!
I stretched my legs out in the bed and placed my hands behind my head in a relaxed pose, feeling on top of the fucking world. Not only was I married to the most gorgeous and incredible woman, but I was able to switch off completely from the stress of running a mafia empire and pretend like nothing else in the world mattered except this. Being here, right now.
“Awww,” Liv cooed as she read a note attached to the neck of an expensive bottle of Boërl & Kroff Brut she had pulled out of the mini fridge in our room. “To my stronzo fratello and his bellissima wife, enjoy your honeymoon, love Elle.”
I rolled my eyes at my sister’s foul mouth and love for insulting me but always complimenting Liv. They had ganged up on me from the start, always taking each other’s sides. Elenora was a clever girl who had quickly worked out that Liv was my only weakness in life and had firmly made my wife one of her biggest supporters.
I took the bottle from Liv and popped open the cork before refilling both of our glasses.
“I was thinking…” Liv started and I paused, narrowing my brown eyes as I passed her the glass.
“Whenever you start a sentence like that, I know I am going to hate what comes next…” I sat up against the soft headboard and Liv nestled between my legs, leaning her back against my chest.
“Of setting Elle up on a dating app.”
Fucking knew it. I scoffed loudly, shaking my head as I took a long gulp of the fizzy drink. Liv quickly swerved to look up at me, frowning deeply. I waited for the dramatic rant.
“Gio, you have to give her a chance to find someone. You are already making her move back home, limiting the places she can go and what she can do. She deserves to date. To try and find love. She is twenty-five for goodness’ sake!”
“She is fine, Liv. She has only just moved back from uni. It will take a while for her to readjust to life in Verona again but she will. And I never said she couldn’t date.”
She raised one eyebrow up at me in a suggestive manner and I tried to hide my smirk.
“So you will let me sign her up to a dating app?”
“No.”
She groaned, moving to face me properly and I couldn’t help but smile now at her cross little frown line between her eyebrows.
“You are impossible!”
“I said, if I approve of a man and he is someone I think would be good for Elle, I will allow them to date. I let her date Luca, didn’t I?”
She tilted her head to the side and hit the mattress with her hand dramatically. “Only because you knew it wouldn’t last! And because you scared him half to death! Why do you think he called it off with her after a few dates?”
“No idea,” I shrugged, feigning innocence. Liv was of course right. Both her and Elle had been pestering me to let Elle date and Luca seemed like a harmless experiment. Not only was he so terrified of me that he would never dare hurt her or treat her badly, but I knew he couldn’t handle the pressure that came with dating my sorella. No matter how charming and beautiful she was, once reality sunk in, he ran for the hills. Just like they all would. I was only protecting her from heartbreak.
“Don’t give me that, Giovanni!” Liv pointed her finger into my chest which made me want to grab it and suck it into my mouth. I loved an angry Liv. “So, what is the plan? Never let Elle fall in love?”
“You know, Elle is lucky. Most mafia princesses are traded to other families in exchange for alliances or power. I have kept Elle so well protected that most mafiosi who are looking for a wife, have never even seen Elle because I don’t allow it. Look at Cami! She was raised to be a trophy prize all her life by her own father. Do you know how many capos and underbosses have asked to marry Elle in exchange for good fucking deals that would benefit our family?”
Liv blinked up at me, looking mortified as she shook her head.
“Too many to name. Elle is my responsibility, Liv. Since my papi died, I have always had to look out for her and Sani and Raya. She thinks she is trapped. But what she doesn’t realise is, I am protecting her freedom. If Sal was still Boss, she would have been married off to the highest bidder and treated like fucking shit by a man who didn’t love her. She loves to constantly remind us that she doesn’t want to be a part of this mafia world but by keeping her safe in ours, I am trying to respect her wishes.”
“I - I didn’t realise,” Liv said, leaning back into my chest as I played with her hair between my fingers. “Have you told her that?”
“What?”
“That you have refused to marry her to other mafia leaders?”
“Not to that extent. She was raised in this, Liv. She knows how it normally works. But she also knows I wouldn’t allow it unless it was something she wanted. So, she fights me for more freedom. She wants to have a normal boyfriend and live a normal life, but she isn’t normal, Liv. She carries the Buccini name and that means she will forever be in danger. She needs to be with someone who can protect her.”
