Revenge Vows: A Forced Marriage Mafia Romance (Ruthless Mafia Sinners)
Chapter 16

“Shooting the guard was taking it a bit too far, don’t you think?” Donatello says as we watch the men move the documents into the vault.

“He was trying to kill her,” I say absentmindedly.

He sighs. “The other guards confirmed that he tried to wrench open the door. What was she doing in there, by the way?” he asks.

“I sent her down to get me a drink. She probably lost her way or something,” I say.

He sighs. “Even you know that’s bullshit,” he says. “You know she can’t be trusted either. That’s why you’re moving the documents to the vault, isn’t it?”

“I am not in the mood to argue, Donatello. Give me the rundown,” I say.

“We hit two million dollars’ worth of profit this week, and from the looks of it, that’ll double by the end of the month,” he replies.

“We usually average twenty monthly, at least five a week. Why is it going so slowly?” I ask.

I see him bite down on his tongue, holding back his sharp retort.

“Maybe if you would visit the club and stop spending so much time doing heaven knows what—” he catches himself and smiles.

“We will do better,” he says.

“And how is Bunny handling patrol?” I ask.

He sighs. “You’ll have to ask him yourself. I heard from the men that he hasn’t been showing up.”

“Why haven’t you addressed that problem?” I ask.

“You know how Bunny gets. He’ll come around soon,” he says.

I turn to him. “Bunny disobeyed a direct order. I stated the consequences for that disobedience,” I say, stepping up to Donatello. “If he doesn’t show up to patrol tonight, tell him that I’ll lock him down in the basement myself.”

Donatello nods. I turn to the men moving the documents, and I hear him sigh.

“You’ve changed a lot since that woman came into your life. I’m trying to think nothing of it, but it’s starting to get a bit too glaring to be ignored,” he says.

I lock the vault and turn to him. I walk up to the safe and key in the combination as Donatello watches.

I turn to him. “I won’t be showing up to the club tonight,” I say to him.

“What a shocker. I didn’t see that coming,” he says dryly.

“Relay my message to Bunny,” I say, dismissing him.

I take one last look at the safe in my study and leave the room with the guards following behind me.

I open the door to her room and walk inside. I half expect to see her at the windows waiting for me, wearing something outrageously scandalous.

Instead, she is tucked under the sheets, and the maid is sticking a thermometer under her tongue.

“How is she, Mary?” I ask the maid.

The maid nods. “She will be fine by evening. She was just shocked, that’s all,” she says.

She lifts a damp towel and presses it over Alyssa’s head. Her lips are dry and chapped, and her face is deadly white.

“Take good care of her, then,” I say, tearing my gaze from her and leaving the room.

My guards follow behind me as I walk down the stairs, outside the mansion, and get inside my car. As I get in, a guard hands me a file.

I flip it open, and my eyes scan the pages.

“Are you sure about this?” I ask.

The man nods. “Positive. Those are her only living relatives. A sister and a mother,” he says.

I flip to the page for the older woman, and I scan her profile. Then I flip to the profile of the younger woman who should be her younger sister.

Their physical features, eyes, nose, and hair color all match.

I close the file and recline in my seat. “We are going to pay them a visit. There is something that I need to see for myself,” I say.

He nods and rolls up the windows. I tap my fingers on the windowsill to gather my thoughts as they race through my head.

No matter how hard I think about it, I just can’t understand why she was in my study that day. Any excuse I bring up in my head doesn’t hold water. What alarms me most is my lack of anger about the situation. Yes, I was enraged at first, but not by her supposedly snooping around in my study.

I was more irritated by the man who tried to squeeze the life out of her—so enraged that it felt like nothing putting a bullet into his head.

My brothers have been right to worry that I’m changing. I have truly become a man who is cautious in my ways and dedicated to my duty. I am now a man who enjoys lying in the bed of a woman who attends to all my needs and makes me hunger for more.

Days where I would have stayed in my study poring over files and documents have been replaced by meals with her and times when I watch her brush her hair and get dressed, only for me to take all her clothes off again.

I sigh as I realize that I have genuinely fallen under her spell.

“We are here, sir,” he says. I notice the engine has stopped purring, and we are parked in front of a run-down apartment.

“Apartment 315?” I ask to confirm, and my driver nods.

I get out of the car, and a guard follows behind.

The apartment complex is covered with mildew, and half the roof seems to be sagging. I kick the squeaking rats out of the way as I stride down the hallway.

I finally get to apartment 315, and I search for a doorbell. There is none, so I knock. For the first few times, there is no answer. When a face finally pokes through the door, it’s the face of a tall, thin man.

He scans my face, and I read his. There is no mention of any man in the file except a dead father.

“What do you want?” the man finally spits out.

“I want to speak to Laura and Barbara,” I say.

“They are busy,” he spits, and he is about to close the door when I wedge my foot between the door and the frame to stop the movement.

“I am certain they’ll be interested in talking to me,” I say.

He peers at my face and then looks behind me to see my guard.

“Who the hell did you say you were again?” he asks.

“You didn’t let me introduce myself,” I say. I look at my guard and nod.

He steps back and kicks the door. At the second kick, the door flies open.

A young girl’s face appears.

“Ray, who the hell is that—” her voice dies away when she sees me. I recognize her; she is the younger girl from the picture, and that means she must be Laura.

She looks at Ray.

“Go back to your room. Stay with your mother,” he begins, but my guard holds him back, and I walk up to the girl whose feet seem rooted to the floor.

“Hi,” I say, bringing down my voice to its softest octave.

“Who—who are you?” she stutters.

I inhale. “I am your sister’s friend,” I say.

“Don’t listen to him, Laura. Run, damn it,” the man cries as my guard restrains him.

“You don’t have to run. I won’t hurt you, I promise,” I say.

“I don’t know you. I haven’t seen you before,” she says.

“That’s because I am a new friend,” I say.

She isn’t convinced, but for what it’s worth, she relaxes.

“How is Alyssa? Do you know if she’s okay? When was the last time you saw her?” she says, all in one breath.

I nod. “She’s all right, and she misses you and your mother so much. That’s why she sent me.”

Laura sighs, and a tear slips from her eye.

“Why doesn’t she come herself? Mama misses her so much that she’s sick,” she says.

Guilt grips my heart, and I give a tiny smile.

“She’ll come back soon, but in the meantime, can I see your mom?” I ask.

She looks over at Ray, who the guard is holding, and I smile to divert her attention.

“He doesn’t like me, but I am a bit desperate to deliver Alyssa’s love to you and your mother. Can you give us a minute to talk?” I ask her.

She looks at him and then me uncertainly, but she finally turns and leaves us.

I walk to Ray and signal for my guard to let him go.

“I know you,” he says as he pulls away from the guard.

“If you do, then you’ll know why I am here,” I say.

He scoffs. “Don’t tell me he owes you too?”

I raise my brows. “Alyssa’s father?” he says as if trying to jog my memory. “Only heaven knows why he decided to go to people like you for money.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

He scans my face. “I refuse to believe you’re clueless. Aren’t you here to get your money back like Giovanni and his rotten men?”

“His money back,” I mutter under my breath.

“Yes! Alyssa’s father owed Giovanni a lot of money, that’s why he took her as collateral. You’re here to do the same, aren’t you? Honestly, the family has nothing—”

His voice trails away, and my senses sharpen.

Alyssa wasn’t working for Giovanni; she was going to him, probably against her will. She isn’t his girl. She never was.

I look at Ray. “Who are you?” I ask.

“Alyssa asked me to look after her family when she was gone. She paid a decent sum, but with the amount of medication I get for her mother, I’ll be penniless soon,” he says, then he stops as if in self-reflection.

“Wait, why do you care? Aren’t you here to get your money?” he asks.

“I’m here to make sure my wife’s family is okay,” I say.

He looks at me wide-eyed, and then he chuckles.

“Are you like those gangsters with a weird sense of humor? What do you mean by wife?” he asks.

I sigh, “Alyssa must trust you, so I think I can trust you too. I’ll wire you two thousand dollars. Get them out of this house into a decent place. I’ll speak to you from there.”

I turn to my guard. “Send his details to me, and you stay put here until he receives the money and takes them to the new place.”

Ray gulps and looks at me in disbelief.

I see Laura’s head poking into the kitchen. I don’t have the heart to go in and see their mother. My guilt won’t let me. Instead, I wave at her, and she slowly waves back.

I walk outside, through the corridor swarming with vermin, and get into the car.

“Home, sir?” my driver asks, and I nod.

When I get home, I spend the rest of the day locked in my study, struggling with my thoughts and guilt.

My guard finally enters the study in the evening to give his report.

“He received the wire transfer, and he has relocated them,” he says.

I nod. “Look into new houses. I want them in a safe part of the city. If it’s closer to the hospital, that’s better,” I say.

“Yes, sir. One more thing. The mother has been admitted to the hospital. Her condition is severe,” he says.

“Visit the hospital tomorrow and get back to me about the bills,” I say.

He bows, turns to leave, and opens the door to see Alyssa standing there, as pale as a ghost.

He looks back at me, and I signal that it’s okay to go.

“Are you talking about my mother?” she says, standing at the door.

I sigh and get up. “Maybe letting you walk around the house was a mistake.”

She grabs my shirt. “My mother—what’s—what’s wrong with her?”

My guilt hits full force as I realize that all I have done is take away an innocent woman from her family.