by Bella J.
***
Antonio
I righted my tie, checking my reflection in the mirror. The black suit and crisp, white shirt was fine, but I hated the red tie. Karina knew I always wore a black tie. Always. But when she started scolding me in Italian, telling me it was a tiny sacrifice on my part since she had to wait so damn long to get married, I gave in. So now I was forced to wear the goddamn red tie.
Doe was wearing red as well. Last night, I made her try it on, and the sight of the red silk hugging her newfound curves turned me into a goddamn animal. It took every ounce of self-control to stop myself from tearing the five-thousand-dollar dress off her body and using the silk to tie her wrists and ankles to my four-poster bed.
After fucking her out of the dress, feeling her warm, sweaty body against mine, all I thought about was how she would look all tied up, with ropes and knots in all the right places. And for the first time, it didn’t feel like I would lose my shit while thinking about it. That was how I knew it was time. I was ready. She was ready. And tonight, it would be me and my pretty, broken girl.
There was a knock on the door, and Lucio came walking in wearing jeans and his leather jacket.
“Why aren’t you wearing your suit yet?” I looked at his reflection in the mirror while smoothing out the lapels of my suit jacket.
He pulled his hands through his dark hair. “I’m taking off.”
I turned. “You’re not attending the wedding?”
“Sorry, cous. You know me. I don’t do weddings.”
“Not even when it’s family?”
“Nope. All this love and romance and shit make me want to hurl.”
I smiled. “I knew you’d have a hard time with all the love, flowers, rainbows, and unicorns in the air.”
He faked a gag. “Believe me, I wanted to choke myself to death a few times during the last few weeks. All this peace and quiet and happiness were fucking with my head.”
I snickered with my fist in front of my mouth. There was only one like Lucio. Guy had a heart of stone, but one day he’d meet someone with a jackhammer and a wrecking ball who would finally be able to crack through the walls he built around his soul.
I placed my hands in my pants pocket. “Where you headed to?”
“Back to New York. I have some shit I need to sort out.”
“Family?”
“Something like that.”
Leaning my head to the side, I stared at his neck, part of the Band-Aid visible above his collar. “You gonna be okay with that?”
He placed his hand against his neck. “Another reason I thought it best that I leave. And, cousin, you know I can’t come back here. Ever.”
I knew this day would come. Especially since Lucio volunteered to take the burden off our hands. At first, I wanted to do it, make sure only I knew the whereabouts. But Lucio insisted, saying stuff like the risk was too great since I was too close to Doe. Lorik and Dante weren’t even an option, and neither was destroying the chip. It was too valuable. I clenched my jaw. “As long as you have it, you’ll be a target.”
A wicked smile spread across his face. “Dude, why the fuck do you think I agreed to this?” He pointed to the bandage on his neck. “I’m counting on this motherfucker keeping my life interesting.”
We laughed, and then I turned all shades of serious. “Thank you, Lucio.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“I’m serious. I owe you everything.”
Lucio walked up, and we gave each other a good old-fashioned bro-hug. “Take care of her, Antonio. That girl has been through enough.”
“I plan to.”
Lucio smiled when he pulled back. “But something tells me you two are going to rule this city with iron fists. You managed to make quite a fierce queen out of her.”
I cocked a brow. “You crushing on my woman, Lucio?”
“Nah. But she did make me realize what kind of woman I want.”
“What kind is that?”
He smirked. “The kind who loves getting her hands dirty.” He winked and waved before walking out the door. I was going to miss having the twisted fuck around.
I took a deep breath, roughing my hands through my hair, when Dante came walking in with Karina behind him. When I saw my sister in her halter-neck wedding dress, straight cut and embroidered with pearls, I had to swallow the lump in my throat.
“You look beautiful, Karina.”
“Thank you.” She smiled shyly.
Dante stepped in next to me, admiring how gorgeous our sister looked. “Dad would have been proud.”
Tears welled up in her eyes. “I wish he was here, you know…to give me away.”
I walked over to her, taking her hands in mine. “He is here. He lives through us.”
“I know.” She nodded.
“But Dante is right,” I continued. “Dad would have been really proud.”
She smiled. “I can’t believe this day is finally here. We’ve waited so long.”
Both Dante and I groaned while I rolled my eyes. “Okay, we get it. Dante and I caused a slight delay in your plans.”
Karina lifted a brow. “Slight delay?”
“Okay, fine. Do you want to get married or not? I’m sure Dante and I can go out there and cause another shit storm to delay this marriage even further.”
She scowled. “Don’t you dare.”
I only laughed and stepped in next to her, holding out my elbow. Dante did the same on her left.
I glanced down at her, my heart swelling with pride at how far our family had come. And here we were, stronger than ever.
“Ready to be given away by the two best brothers in the world?” I teased.
She smiled. “More than ready.”
After everything our family had been through—everything Karina, Dante and I had endured—it finally felt like this was it. It was our time now. There were no wars threatening to happen. No rival family or Russian fuckers to worry about. We survived so much, and all three of us managed to finally find our happily ever afters.
Karina and Lorik.
Dante, Layla, and Rafe.
Me and Doe.
It was the perfect fucking ending…for a mafia family, anyway.
~The End~
About the Author
All the way from Cape Town, South Africa, Bella J lives for the days when she’s able to retreat to her writer’s cave where she can get lost in her little pretend world of romance, love, and insanely hot heroes.
She has a taste for dark, romantic suspense novels with mysterious, brooding bad boys and strong, sassy women who bring them to their knees. Add a little humor and a lot of sexy, and she’s in writer’s Heaven.
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