Revenge Vows: A Forced Marriage Mafia Romance (Ruthless Mafia Sinners)
Chapter 17

I wake up to Mary pressing a cold towel to my head. As my eyes flutter open, I see her make the sign of the cross and mutter a quick thank you.

I pull my body upright, or at least I try to. She keeps me lying down in bed. “You’ll get yourself killed, you foolish girl,” she scolds gently.

My head feels like a log of wood, and I can barely keep my eyes open.

“What happened?” I ask her. She pinches my arm firmly, and my eyes fly open at the sharp pain.

“What was that for?” I cry.

“Why did you go snooping in the study? That guard almost killed you!” she cries back.

The recollection of the event makes my eyes fly open. I look at my body and examine my hands, and I look up at Mary, who is watching me.

“Antonio didn’t shoot me?” I ask.

She sighs. “You’re not the only one who is surprised. He usually takes snooping very seriously,” she says.

“I was just curious,” I say.

At that, she pinches me harder. “Does this place seem like an amusement park or something? Curiosity isn’t accepted here. Silly child,” she says, wiping my head. “Thank heavens you are awake now,” she says.

She’s still scolding me, but I am lost in thought. If Antonio figured out I was snooping, why hasn’t he hurt me yet, and why isn’t he here?

“He came to check on you hours ago,” she says as she reads my mind in the middle of her babble. I look up in interest.

“Did he? What did he say when he got here?” I ask.

She shrugs, “Nothing much. He seemed to be going off right away to somewhere else,” she replies.

For some reason, this makes my heart skip a beat. Immediately after Mary leaves, I reach for the phone tucked into the bed, and I whip it out to call Giovanni, but then I stop.

A person like Giovanni can’t be bothered by my predicament. If he learns I can’t serve his interests, he’ll dump me without a second thought. I can’t let that happen. As much as I hate to admit it, I need him to leave this place. I return the flip phone to its hiding place.

“How do I fix this?” I mutter to myself.

I pace the room, worrying over the options and possibilities until I hear a car pull up in the driveway.

I dash to the window, and I lift the blinds just in time to see him get out of the car. I try to read his face. He doesn’t look enraged, which means that he doesn’t think I am trying to betray him.

The way out of this is a simple apology, I tell myself. It takes me hours to devise a proper apology: a truth and a lie.

I walked into your study because I was curious, but I was only looking through some books. I love books. I didn’t think it would be a problem.

I practice my speech and my broad smile. Before I go, I mess up my hair, roughing it up a bit so he sees that I am still quite sick, and so he won’t go so hard on me. I inhale, tell myself that I can do it, and begin to walk to his study.

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

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

Everything falls apart as I hear my mother’s name. I stand at his study door, sapped of my strength and willpower.

“Are you talking about my mother?” I say.

He sees me and sighs.

“Maybe letting you walk around the house was a mistake,” he says.

I grab his shirt. “What’s—what’s wrong with my mother?” I ask again.

He pulls my hands away. “There is nothing to worry about. Go back to your room, Alyssa.”

“I—I—I heard the guard,” I say, pointing to the man who had just left. “He said something about someone’s mother. Did you discuss my mother?”

My words are so jumbled that they make no sense. He shakes his head and looks at me.

“I told you that I’ll handle it,” he says.

I fall on my knees at his feet and clutch his legs. Tears run down my face, blinding me.

“Antonio, my mother—Laura, they are all I have, please. Please let me see my mother,” I beg.

He sighs audibly. “You weren’t supposed to replace out about it, but I guess you just can’t stop yourself from snooping around,” he says.

I look up at him, sobbing, and I shake my head. “I just came to speak to you. I swear that I wasn’t snooping. Yesterday, I—I came to look at the books in your study, I swear. Please let me see my mother just once,” I say.

He looks down at me as I sob, then he lowers his hands to my face. He strokes my chin to wipe the tears as I cry. “Go back upstairs and get some rest,” he says.

He shakes out of my grip, and I fall to the cold marble floor, still sobbing as he walks away.

I go upstairs and lie on my bed, the tears drying on my face. Every few seconds, my brain comes up with some new torture my mother and Laura must be enduring. I wonder if Ray had kept his word and has had his eyes on them. I wonder how Antonio found out about my daily life and what he plans to do with them.

There is a knock on my door, and I let out a curse.

“For fuck’s sake, Mary, I do not want to eat!” I scream, tossing the pillow across the room.

The door opens slowly, and Antonio walks into the room just in time for the pillow to land at his feet. He picks the pillow from the floor, walks back to me, and tosses it back on the bed. I turn away as he comes closer.

He clears his throat. “I heard from the maids that you’ve refused every meal, including dinner.”

I don’t answer. I press down on the sheets, wishing I was squeezing his neck or punching his stupid face.

“I had dinner specially prepared for you. Come down, or I’ll bring you down myself,” he says.

I get up without a word, and he sighs as he sees my face.

“You’re so pale. Splash some water on your face before you come down for dinner,” he says, walking off.

I don’t wash my face or splash water on it. I go down to dinner bare-faced. The table is covered with food, but I don’t take a bite of anything at the table or on my plate. There is no room inside me for anything but anger and pain.

“Why aren’t you eating?” he asks after about five minutes of me sitting motionless at the table.

I turn to him. “You don’t even know how cruel you are,” I say.

He sighs. “Alyssa, your mother is fine. I took care of it.”

“How can I believe that?” I cry.

He takes a napkin and wipes his mouth. “Because you have no choice but to take my word for it. I am not letting you out of this mansion.”

My grip around my spoon tightens. I have never even thought for a moment about going back on Giovanni’s plan to end his life. But today seals the deal for me. If the only way that I can return to my family is by his death, then I have no problem at all with that.

“Thank you for making it so much easier for me,” I mumble.

At my words, he gets up and flings his chair aside, and the clatter as it falls echoes through the empty halls. “You don’t want to eat?” he says. “Fine.”

He sweeps the table clean, pushing the plates, cups, and trays to the end of the table. He pulls me off my chair and places me on the table.

“You belong to me, and I decide where you go? Do you get that?” he says.

I gather saliva in my mouth, and I spit in his face. Gasps from the staff echo in the hall as he stares down at me.

“Go to hell,” I say.

He laughs as he wipes his face. “I haven’t disciplined you in so long that you’re beginning to forget, is that it?” he asks.

He grabs the collar of my shirt and rips it from the neck down, exposing my bare skin.

“Don’t move,” he says to the guards, who are slowly moving away from the dining room. “Maybe if they watch your punishment, it’ll stick longer this time,” he says.

“Do your fucking worst,” I say.

He grins and snaps his fingers, sending them all skittering away. Predictable. His ego won’t let him make others watch him take me. He pushes me further onto the table, and then he scans my body.

“If you won’t eat dinner, I’ll replace other ways to get you full,” he says.

He pushes my legs apart, and he pulls my panties off.

I lean back on the table for support as he lowers his face into my legs, and I feel the rough sensation of his teeth on my pussy.

I clench my fist in resolve, not to show any emotions, as his tongue licks the folds of my skin and flicks over my clit. I hold in the moans as he tongues down on my clit and focuses on it.

I can’t let him win. But he has learned how to break me because I can’t remain silent when he begins to thrust his tongue in and out of me aggressively.

A cry escapes my lips as his intensity increases, and finally, all self-control leaves me. I gather his hair in my hands, and I press his head between my legs as he thrusts up and down with his tongue. My legs start to quiver, and he supports me with his grip as an orgasm wracks my body.

He lifts his head and stands tall, reaching for a napkin.

“You weren’t worried about your family just now, were you?” he asks.

I get down from the table and look up at him.

“I just realized how much I fucking hate you,” I say to him in a voice as calm as still water.

He smiles. “You should. No one comes in contact with a viper and falls in love.”

He lifts me up, swinging me over his shoulders as one would a sack.

“You’ll get your wish tonight. I’ll sleep by your side,” he says.

He takes me up to my room and watches me as I bathe and get into bed. He goes in for a shower, then settles in beside me. My eyes are wide open until I hear the steady sound of his breathing. I pull out the key, reach for my flip phone, and slide out of the room.

By this time of the night, there are no guards on this side of the house, so I can slide into his study unseen. I open drawers to continue my search, emboldened by sheer bitterness, but the desk is empty.

I look around, and my eyes fall on a metal safe.

I sigh and message Giovanni.

He has all the documents secured.

I slip the phone into my dress, but a beep comes much quicker than I expected it to.

Then, let’s just move on to killing him.

I inhale.

Finally. I thought we would never get here. It’s clear that my mother and sister are not safe and if killing Antonio is what will make them safe, once and for all, it will be worth it.