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

“Are you sure about this?” Theresa’s soft voice over the phone is surprisingly calming as my driver races me and the rest of my team toward the Gatti mansion. “You’re heading into the lion’s den.”

“I’m done running.” My racing heart says otherwise. “Santino doesn’t see me as a threat, so he won’t expect me to just turn up like this. He also doesn’t think I have the power to back it up.”

“And if he’s not there?”

“Santino Gatti only has a few places to hide. He won’t escape me.”

“I wish you luck, darling. Call me if you need anything.”

“Will that raise the percentage of our deal?”

Theresa laughs softly. “Tempting, but I’m enjoying the show. Remember, Jasmine. Your name is attached to mine now. Don’t disappoint me.”

How can one woman sound so angelically gentle and yet terribly intimidating all at the same time? Thankfully, the conversation with Theresa calms the turmoil churning in my gut about Roman.

Anger still sits hot and heavy in my chest when I think of him standing in front of me saying all of those awful things. He really pulled out the stops to make me hate him and it worked.

Well, almost.

Hate isn’t exactly what I feel for him. If what Alto said is true and Roman was faced with losing everything he’d been working toward for decades, while also unclear on the threat toward my life, why didn’t he just tell me?

Did he not trust me? Was his goal really to make me angry and untrusting of everyone? Because it definitely worked.

Then again, I didn’t trust him either.

My hand moves protectively over my abdomen, and I try not to think about Alto’s blow to my gut. I need to get to a doctor, but after. Roman first. I can’t stand by and let someone else I love be taken from me.

We arrive at the Gatti estate to find the entire place in darkness. An absence of guards at the front gate makes entry easy, and my car screeches to a stop in front of the door.

“Ma’am, you should stay here.” My captain blocks my exit from the vehicle. “For your own safety.”

“Please stop calling me ma’am, it makes me feel so old. And I’m not staying here. Surely you’ve learned by now that sitting back and letting everyone else do shit for me isn’t my style?”

He fights a smile but remains in the doorway preventing me from leaving the car. “This situation is infinitely more dangerous than the one we were just in. There’s no telling what is inside that house.” Behind him, several heavily armed members of his team breach the front door and pour into the darkness.

I wait with bated breath, expecting an explosion or terrible gunfire to greet them, but there’s nothing but silence. “See?”

“Silence isn’t always a good thing.”

“If I fire you, will you move?”noveldrama

“You can’t fire me, I work for Theresa, and she protects her investments.”

“What if I kick you in the balls?”

The captain seems to debate quickly with himself, then he steps back and grips his rifle. “Stay close to me, okay?”

“I’m a leader, not a follower.” Hopping down from the car with my gun in hand, I run into the dark estate with my pulse racing. There’s no telling what we could find in here, if anything at all, and it’s difficult to keep my thoughts from spiraling. Just thinking about Roman brings up a whole host of horrible scenarios that I could find him in, and none of them are ideal.

At this point, I just want him alive so I can yell at him and kiss him if he’ll have me, then yell at him some more.

But he isn’t here. My team scours the estate from top to bottom, finding only a handful of staff and minimal guards. Those who don’t put up a fight are saved from a bullet and herded into the kitchen while the captain and I take the narrow, stone steps down to the cellar.

The stink of sweat, iron, and copper is strong as soon as we throw open the wooden door. Where I’d expect to find collections of wine and booze, there’s only a row of jail cells, each more filthy than the last. How fitting that someone like Santino turns his basement into a fucking prison.

But there’s no Roman.

Alto said he would be here.

Did he lie?

My jaw tightens as I envision returning to his body, bringing him back from the dead and killing him all over again.

But it won’t change anything.

“Fuck!” I slam my hand against one of the iron bars.

“This blood is fresh.” The captain kneels inside one of the cells and drags his gloved fingers through a pool of drying blood on the cold stone floor.

“That could be anybody’s,” I reply, defeated. “He’s not here. Santino isn’t here. He could be anywhere, and I have no way of tracking him down or finding him.”

“Maybe.” The captain stands and wipes the blood on his black pants. “But you’re a leader, remember? So don’t give up.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m tired. This whole situation is …” Defeat sits heavily in my chest like trapped gas refusing to shift. “My dad is dead. I’ve basically lost my mom. Now Roman could be dead or worse, kept as Santino’s fucking toy for God knows how long. The only reason I’m standing here is because of Theresa. What the hell do I have to offer?”

“The self-pity will feel good for a while,” he replies. “But Theresa doesn’t help lost causes. She helps potential. She isn’t pitying you. She sees something in you that she wants. Maybe it’s power, maybe it’s notoriety. Either way, having something of worth that people want is the first step. Don’t you see that if you had nothing, your family name would have been dust the moment your father died? But it’s not. You’re here. You’re working. You’re carrying that name with pride and people are noticing. So embrace it. Use it.”

“How?” The sensation doesn’t shift even though the captain’s firm words ring true. “Finding Roman in the city will be like looking for a sliver of glass in a sea of crystal.”

“Do what you’ve been doing since the moment this shit started. Lead.”

I want to roll my eyes and tell him he’s wrong. That his speech is nothing more than a flowery way to make me seem more important than I actually am. But, surprisingly, it’s working.

And he’s right.

The Falzone name should have faded the moment my father died, but I’ve scraped by to keep us alive by seeking out alliances and ensuring we don’t vanish under everyone else. That has to mean something.

I close my eyes and rub at the spot between my eyebrows. “I want to be as calm as Theresa,” I murmur. “She seems so completely unfazed by everything.”

“She’s not,” he chuckles softly. “She just has years of practice. But if it helps, what’s the first thing she would do?”

Opening my eyes, I try to imagine what my life would be like as her with infinite power and respect at my fingertips. “She would use everything she has to get the information she needs.”

“Exactly.”

Back upstairs in the kitchen, I try to channel my inner Theresa to keep the confidence in my heart as I stare down the eight guards and four staff members left in the estate. None of the staff look me in the eye, but all eight of the guards glare at me like I’m shit on their shoes.

“I’ll keep it short. You’re all going to die. The Gatti’s have fucked with my family for far too long, and I don’t have the patience to wait around any longer. But one of you has a chance to live.” I look at each guard in turn as calmly as I can while my heart pounds like a wild drum beneath my ribs. “Tell me where Roman is and I’ll let you live.”

A sea of silence greets me.

“Alright.” Shrugging one shoulder, I glance toward the captain. “Kill them.”

He clicks his tongue and his men raise their rifles toward each of the guards and the staff. The first guard dies, earning a scream of surprise from one of the staff members. She begins to cry and shake with her head down low. The staff next to her tries to keep her calm, hushing her the best he can as the second guard gets shot. Then the third.

The fourth cracks. “Wait! Wait.” Staring past the barrel of the gun aimed between his eyes, he glares at me. “You’re really going to kill innocent people?”

“No one here is innocent,” I snap. “Including me. I’m just cleaning up a mess. So unless you have something important to tell me …” I raise my hand to signal my guard to continue when the fifth guard in line surges forward.

“Santino took Roman to the Yakuza!”

“You bastard!” The fourth guard surges toward the speaker and is quickly shot dead.

“Continue,” I say calmly as the man who spoke out stares in horror down at the dead body now slumped in front of him.

“He—fuck. Boss said that Alto was supposed to check in. He didn’t. So he said he was going to take Roman back to where he belonged. See, the Yakuza never liked that Roman defected when he learned who his true father was, but the only reason they never did anything was because Santino was protecting him. But Santino … he hates him now so he’s giving him back.”

A sudden bubble of laughter escapes me. “Santino is taking Roman to the Yakuza? For what exactly?”

The guards frown at me, visibly confused. “To let them kill him. Yakuza have a way of making that shit prolonged and painful. He wants a show, says he deserves it.”

The laughter swells up again and I cover my mouth with my hand. It must be the relief, surely.

“The fuck is wrong with her?” mutters another of the guards and a few of them shift uncomfortably.

“Oh my God this is …” I exchange an amused glance with my captain. “Kill the guards. Let the staff live.”

“What the fuck?” The talker surges up onto his knees. “You said if I told the truth, I’d live.”

“I lied,” I giggle, shaking my head. “But I will give you one little tidbit before your passing. You see, Santino is returning Roman to the Yakuza, correct?”

“Yeah, what of it?”

“They’re mine,” I grin. “I own the Yakuza now.”