Veiled Vows: An age gap, marriage of convenience, secret pregnancy, mafia romance (Mafia Lords of Sin)

“You wanted to see me?” Keeping my voice calm in front of my father is a challenge. Having been wrapped up in a romantic tryst with Jasmine only a few hours ago, being dragged back here is worse than being dunked into a bath of ice water.

Leaving her gets more and more difficult each time, but this is different. Now I know she likes me. Really likes me. And I like her.

Our desperate business agreement to save our families is blooming into something better than I ever could have imagined, so my father better have one hell of a good reason for demanding me back here like the world is ending.

He stands behind his desk beside the window, staring out over the vast gardens blanketed in darkness. The only visible lights gleam from the night patrol guards as they walk the perimeter at random intervals. With a glass in hand and his brow pulled low, I don’t need words to tell me how serious this is.

Something’s happened.

Something big.

“Sit,” Santino says, despite not looking at me.

“What’s wrong?” I refrain from sitting. Something about his tone rings an alarm bell in my head, and sitting leaves me vulnerable. I’m not taking any chances. “When you called, it sounded urgent.”

“When you first announced your engagement to Jasmine Falzone, I felt betrayed.” Santino drinks slowly. “But I understood your reasoning. She’s a naive, stupid little girl, and trapping her into a marriage is a clever way of locking down that family.”

I can sense the but hanging in the air like a threat, so I remain silent.

“But Alto has made some excellent counterpoints these past few weeks, and I’m beginning to think that your stunt is nothing more than that. A stunt.” Finally Santino looks at me. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

“You’re wrong,” I reply confidently. “My move got us closer to the Falzone family than either you or Alto has managed. I’ve been invited into their home for dinner. I’m marrying their daughter. They’re basically signing everything over to me, to us, the second we’re married, so what’s the problem?”

“Little birds tell me that Enzo is planning on using the wedding to crush us. I asked you to keep an eye on Jasmine. Has she mentioned anything along those lines?”

I shake my head. “No. She’s excited about the wedding.”

“Of course she is,” Santino scoffs. “She’s just a stupid girl.”

“Her mother as well. They seem to be celebrating things. They want this feud over and done with, and that’s finally on the horizon. Isn’t that what you want?”

Santino takes another slow drink. “What I want is power, Roman, did you forget?”

“No,” I reply tightly. “But I fail to see how this merger does anything but grant you more power.”

“You fail to see it because you’ve been blinded by some fucking pussy!” Santino suddenly slams his glass down onto the desk, sending a cascade of bourbon over his fingers. “I know Enzo. That prick is biding his time. He’s more shrewd than I am, and the little birdies tell me he plans to use this wedding to crush everything I have ever worked for.”

“Are these birdies Alto by any chance?”

“It doesn’t matter! What matters is that Alto seems to be the only one with this family’s best interests at heart.”

“How can you say that?” It’s challenging not to raise my voice. “After everything I’ve done? I’ve dedicated my life to you, father. I’ve done everything you’ve ever asked and more. Even this wedding is sacrificing my freedom for you.”

“And yet you are blind to how Enzo will use this against me. I won’t sit by and let that bastard make the first move.”

I want to tell him that he’s wrong, that Enzo plans to do no such thing, but I have no confidence in my words. Jasmine hasn’t told me her father’s plans, the same way I never told her that my father ordered me to spy. Granted, my spying was minimal.

“Enzo has always been one step ahead, and that’s been so fucking infuriating. Even taking his shipping lanes didn’t put as much of a dent into his wealth and power as I needed it to. He just fucking … adapted. Well. No longer.” He raises his glass and drinks deeply.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m going to kill him. And his bitch wife too.”

“No!” The words slip out of me before I can stop them, and Santino’s eyes narrow.

“No? What do you mean, no?”

“Father, you have to see how much worse that would make everything. Enzo has incredible loyalty from his men and the people underneath him. If anything happens to them, you have that to face, and Jasmine isn’t going to take that lying down. We’re so close to peace. Why risk rocking the boat when I almost have a ring on her finger?”

“Because I don’t want peace!” Santino’s lips press into a thin line. “I don’t want an amicable joining of families, don’t you see? I don’t want to end the feud, I want to fucking win it. I want that bastard dead, I want his daughter on her knees begging for mercy, and I want to absorb every fucking cent he has. And then it will be me on top with the vast wealth of the Falzone fortune in my bank account.”

No. No, this is wrong.

All my planning is unraveling like a spool of thread, and I have no doubt that Alto has a hand in this. “If you kick the hornet’s nest, it won’t be just the hornets that answer. Did you forget that the eyes of every family ten times the size of ours is watching this wedding?”

“I hadn’t forgotten.” Santino sets his empty glass down and adjusts his waistcoat. “They’re watching to see an amicable merging of power, and I’m going to show them a swift and vibrant takeover. I will show them that they can never take their eyes off me or they will be next.”

“You can’t do this.”

“Why? Sorry, did I miss when you became head of this family? Did I not read the memo where you were in charge?” He wrinkles his nose and scoffs sharply. “Are your feelings for that bitch clouding your judgement? Where is the killer I could send to do a job at the drop of a hat? The ruthless man who would do everything and anything for this family.”

“I’m still here!” Stepping forward, I clutch the back of the chair in front of me. “And I’m doing what needs to be done rather than stirring up unnecessary aggression like fucking Alto. You know a plan like this crumbles the second Enzo gets a hint that you’re up to something.”

“And where would he get that hint?” Santino raises a brow. “Let me make myself crystal clear, Roman. This is how we move forward. I’m done playing nice, and I’m not going to sit around like a fucking turkey waiting for Enzo to kill me before I kill him. And quite frankly I don’t care for your thoughts. I only need one thing from you.”

“Father, this is insane! Don’t you see that any action destroys the engagement? These weeks and weeks of silence and ceasefire have been profitable for all of us. We’ll be back into a bloody war within the day!”

“And Enzo will be dead.”

We will all be dead. The Mancinis will snap their fingers, and their original plan to wipe us both out will go ahead.

Jasmine will die.

“I’m not letting you do this.”

“I don’t need your fucking permission,” Santino snaps. “It’s quite simple, Roman. Be more like your brother and fucking listen to me. Call off the wedding immediately. As soon as you do that, an emergency meeting will be called where we all will discuss your shitty attitude, and Enzo will be right where I want him.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

“No?!” Santino surges around the desk and approaches me, his eyes like thunder. “Where exactly does your loyalty lie, Roman? With me? Or that fucking bitch Jasmine? Or have you regressed right back to the fucking Yakuza? It’s quite simple, you do this or you’re out.”

My heart stalls briefly in my chest and tightness squeezes across my shoulders. “Out?”noveldrama

“Yes, out. No son of mine defies me like this. You want to stay in this family? Make the fucking call.”

No. No … suddenly my entire future crumbles. Marrying Jasmine was supposed to get me what I wanted: a position of power to watch Santino crumble as I destroyed him. But calling off the wedding destroys all of that, and worse, being ousted from the family completely ruins my years of hard work getting close to this man.

I’m so close, I’ve worked so hard. My entire life has built to this moment, and now it’s balancing on the edge of a blade, threatening to be ripped away from me forever.

My mother will remain unavenged.

Santino won’t suffer an ounce of pain that he deserves.

My life’s work, wasted.

“Well?” Santino arches one brow with a sneer. “Tell me, son. What’s it going to be? Make your choice Roman, me or that little bitch? Where does your loyalty lie?”