Beyond Forgiving: A Dark Mafia Captive Romance (The Underworld Book 2)

by Jolie Damman

  I put him down and squatted. “And you know the good news about that? I’m going to take your mom and you with me.”

  His eyes sparkled. “For real?!”

  “For real,” I rubbed his head again, slowly this time. He spun on his heels and went running back into the room he came from.

  I noticed Gloria’s reaction during the whole time I was speaking with my nephew. Her eyes were wide with genuine shock. She must have thought I couldn’t be nice and didn’t have anyone I cared about. Well, maybe what just happened here changed her mind a little bit about me.

  I noticed her lips parting to say something, but then her attention was drawn to my sister, who was just coming out of the same room Duilio ran into. Her face was a serious one, and I wondered if she was worried about something.

  Her eyes found Gloria, and she stopped in her tracks. She knew I was going to New York, but not that I was going to take someone with me. Well, now it was time to introduce her… to my future wife.

  “Sis, I need to talk to you about something.”

  “As do I,” she said as she resumed walking to me.

  “Oh, and this is Gloria Manna,” I said, waving my hand in her direction.

  There was some tension in the air, though it wasn’t intense. I knew why they were not feeling calm right now. Taziana didn’t think I was going to bring the daughter of the guy my father killed to our home. She was soon going to find out what she was doing here, though.

  She offered Gloria her hand, which she took. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Taziana Calabrese,” she said, and Gloria replied, “Nice to meet you as well. I’m Gloria.”

  Well, that was a very robotic greeting. She withdrew her hand quickly, almost like a blur. Taziana could eventually calm down and pretend she wasn’t here, though. It wasn’t like Gloria would be here for long. We would attend the funeral of her dad and uncle, and then we would fly to New York.

  Taziana returned her attention to me and said, “Basilio, can we talk… privately?”

  Gloria excused herself out and sat down on a couch in the living room, and Taziana took me to another room in our home. She closed the door behind her and said, “I know what you said to Duilio. I don’t want to live there.”

  I settled my hands on her shoulders. “But it will be better. Look, I know I should have talked to you about it, but Duilio… he doesn’t have a father. I’m all he has, and I want to make sure he will grow up alright. I want him close to me.”

  She looked down, and then back up to me. “Alright, but I will need a lot of time to prepare.”

  I withdrew my hands from her shoulders, and she asked, “What is Gloria doing here?”

  “Father wants me to marry her. She will live with me in New York.”

  She looked confused. “What? Why?”

  “Ask him those questions. I am trying not to piss him off and… I feel kinda bad for Gloria. Her dad and uncle were killed in front of her.”

  Her incredulous expression was replaced by one of pity. “Oh, I see. Well, father doesn’t make sense sometimes. I wonder what his angle is. You are going to treat her well, right?”

  I settled a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to be an ass to her.”

  “You promise me so?”

  “For you, and for Duilio too, I promise. You two are going to live with us.”

  She nodded, and I headed over to Gloria. She was still sitting on the couch, probably thinking about what her life was going to be like from now on.

  “Come on. I’m going to show you where you are going to sleep.”

  I waited to see if she was going to say something, but she didn’t. She merely walked over to me with her head hanging somewhat low. I turned around and took her upstairs, where we had a guest room she could make use of until she had to fly with me to America.

  “This is your place. It doesn’t look pretty right now, but I will ask one of the maids to clean it up for you later.”

  “Thanks… it’s okay.”

  Well, she could speak after all. She was so fiery inside her house. She was probably taken aback by being in another place.

  “Good night,” I said before turning to walk away and beginning to think about how I was going to set up our family’s operations in New York.

  Chapter 6

  The Burial

  Gloria

  Well, I lived in his guest room for a couple of days. It took them some time to prepare the funeral, and well, I wanted to be anywhere but here.

  The funeral was being held in a chapel by the cemetery, and it was packed. Not only did people from my family come here, but also some people I would rather see dead. The Calabrese family, or at least some of them, were here.

  Why did they need to attend the funeral of my father and uncle, who were people of no importance to them? I didn’t know, but their presence was an insult. I wanted to scream, grab a gun, and shoot them dead.

  But that sort of thing was never going to happen, and so I remained silent. My brother, mother, and the rest of my family were with me. We were standing next to the coffins, and I didn’t know for much longer I was going to be able to remain here without crying. I didn’t want to look weak with Basilio nearby.

  He could think I didn’t have inner strength and that he could do anything to me. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. I was going to continue being brave. I was going to make him think twice before trying anything on me.

  And his dad’s plan to make me marry him? A crazy thing. It was so out of this world I didn’t even want to think about it right now. It was just not going to happen. He was going to have to find someone else.

  My mom and aunt finished mourning, and I was left with my brother. He was the only one still with me. I had always been closer to him than I ever was with the rest of my family, but right now, that meant something more.

  He was the only one that was going to travel with me. Editta also was going to come with us to America, but I wondered if she was going to be okay with living near Basilio. They had such a tough past together, and it made me hate him even more.

  We were in silence. I didn’t feel like saying anything. Dad and uncle were important, but there were no words that could express what I felt for them. Their deaths meant so much for me, and right now, I only wanted to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

  Looking at them only made me feel horrible. They meant a lot to me, and now they were inside wooden caskets as if this was all they deserved. Well, I was going to make sure their death wouldn’t be in vain.

  Gino meant it when he said we needed a plan to bring down the Calabrese. We could rile up the other families. They pissed them off too, and we could make use of them to have our revenge. He was going to keep me posted on that, and I couldn’t wait to hear the news.

  I thought about dad some more, and then took my brother’s hand in mine. Editta wasn’t here. She knew Basilio would be here and the last thing she wanted was to come here and see him. I couldn’t blame her because she felt that way. He was a despicable man.

  I guided my brother out of the crowd, and found a spot behind a wall. They wouldn’t be able to hear us here.

  His eyes looked for mine, and he said, “Gloria, you need to be strong.”

  But I couldn’t. I felt one tear coming out, and then another and another. I was breaking down in front of him. He hugged me as soon as he noticed the first tear rolling down my cheek. I hid my face in his chest and pretended that nothing bad was happening.

  He comforted me as no other person could. I wished I was this close to mom, but she was always somewhat distant. She cared about me. That wasn’t something I could deny, but she was always more worried about her things. She let my big brother take care of me.

  He pushed the hair that fell in front of my eyes to the side of my head, and I broke the embrace. I didn’t want people here seeing us like this. It would make them talk about stuff they didn’t know one thing about.

  I looked up. Looked into his eyes, and he s
aid, “Gloria. It will be alright. We will avenge their deaths.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Basilio

  I opened the door and let Gloria in. She walked up the stairs, and I heard her closing the door of her bedroom.

  Today was a shitty day. Father and Paolo were absent from doing God-knew-what. They didn’t tell me they would not be in the burial, and they also left some people in the dark about that. I had to answer so many questions. I was tired of them and their machinations behind my back.

  They could have at least told some people they wouldn’t be in the burial of the people they killed.

  I took off my tie and boots, and then looked for Lavinia, who was a maid in the house and a friend of mine. She was also the only one I could trust right now to do one very small favor for me.

  I walked into the kitchen and found her cleaning the sink. “Lavinia, I have something I need to ask of you.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Gloria

  A maid by the name of Lavinia opened the door, and said, “Can I ask you some questions? I need to know some things about you. It won’t take long.”

  I shrugged and offered her a chair. She sat down on it. Her hand was holding a notepad and she began to ask me all sorts of questions about my life. How strange that was. But I responded to her inquiries nonetheless because she appeared to be a good woman. And she wasn’t one of the Calabrese. She worked here, and nothing more.

  “Thanks, that will be all,” she said before standing up.

  “No problem,” I said, and she closed the door.

  How weird. Someone in the house must have asked her to make me those questions. They were personal. She wanted to know about my life, my favorite food, music style, and that sort of thing.

  I answered her without properly thinking about the consequences. The last thing I wanted was one of them using that information against me. But now that I was thinking about it too, what need would they have to punish me even more?

  I wasn’t even struggling. I wasn’t complaining. I accepted their plan to make me marry Basilio… for now.

  Chapter 7

  A New Home

  Gloria

  The plane took off, and although I tried to sleep, I only pretended I was sleeping. I did it so that Basilio wouldn’t try to talk to me during the trip to New York.

  The burial was almost a distant memory now. I wasn’t only going to New York physically, but also mentally. It was almost like starting anew. I remembered one very important thing I could never forget, though. I was their captive, and I was supposed to do everything Basilio would ask of me.

  If I didn’t obey him, didn’t do everything he was going to want, then I could end up putting the life of my family at risk. I was never going to do anything that might harm them. My revenge would only be put into practice once I was sure we could kill them all before they could react.

  The plane landed and Basilio drove a car he borrowed to the house. When the house was within viewing distance, I was taken aback. I had never seen anything quite like it, and my family was anything but poor.

  That was some impressive piece of work. The designer who envisioned it should feel proud of himself.

  Ivy and ferns grew through the crevices of the old winding stone path, which led directly to the colossal structure. The mansion loomed proudly behind iron gates, flanked by rows of trees crowned in crimson, swaying gently to the chilly Fall wind. At its threshold stood the delicate marble fountain, the soft gurgling of the clear water melodic as it resonated in the surrounding silence.

  I was impressed, and it seemed I was going to be even more so. I was dying on the inside to find out what its interior was like, and once the car pulled over in front of the large double door made of hardwood, I knew that wasn’t going to take long to occur.

  Basilio stood in front of me and said, “Come on. I’m going to show you the place.”

  “You’ve been here before?”

  Before this very moment, I felt incapable of communicating with him, but now, things were different. I felt different. I didn’t forget one bit of what his family did to mine, but I could almost ignore it all right now.

  In other circumstances, I would have said nothing to him. He didn’t kill my dad and uncle, but he was part of it all. Now, I felt changed. It was all because I loved wealth and new things. This mansion was like knowing all the gifts under the Christmas tree were only for me.

  “Not at all. I haven’t been here before, but my dad showed me the layout. I know what the place is like.”

  One of the butlers showed up. “Sir and Madam, do you want a tour of the place?”

  Basilio said, “No, we will be fine on our own.”

  I kind of wished the butler wasn’t just that. He nodded and walked away, bowing before doing so. Basilio commanded respect, and out here, in America, he was a King. People here looked and were going to look at him like the Italians looked at his father.

  He walked in front of me, and I followed him. When he opened the double door, I was even more impressed. The interior was like stepping into a mansion I saw before only in one of my toy houses. My home wasn’t a cheap one, but this place here was something else.

  He took me to other rooms in the mansion. He showed me the kitchen, and how it had so many workers one could think it was a restaurant and he was going to allow people to come to eat here. He showed me the living room, the dinner one, the library, the game room with a pool table and many other games, and other rooms I couldn’t even name.

  “I’m going to show you your bedroom,” he said before taking the stairs to the second floor.

  He turned left with me in tow. He stopped in front of a large wooden door. His hand looked for the knob, and he opened the door. Slowly, as if I was afraid of what I might find, I walked into the room.

  What I saw left me shocked.

  This room wasn’t like the others. It was different from the rest of the house. It looked almost like the one I had in my home in Sicily. The color of the walls was the same, as was the floor. It looked bigger, though. Everything in it was bigger.

  Maybe I shouldn’t have shown him I was so shocked about the bedroom. He smirked and showed me he felt he did something very right. His arms were folded across his chest, and he was leaning his back against a wall.

  “Do you like it?”

  I quickly recomposed myself. The last thing I wanted him to know was that he did something right for me. And... he did.

  “I-I guess I do…”

  He chuckled softly. “I made sure this room would be perfect for you. Remember Lavinia? I asked her to make those questions to you. Figured you would be more willing to talk to her.”

  “Yes, I remember her. The room is… good. Thanks.”

  He nodded and said, “Well, I’m going now. I’ve got some things to take care of. You can stay in the house, but you can’t leave it. Father said you can’t.”

  “What?! But I want to see my brother.”

  “Let him come here. I will let him in here when he comes. You aren’t a prisoner. You just can’t leave my property until I am certain you are not going to stab me in the back.”

  “I would neve-”

  “Please. Don’t try to lie to me. I know someone like you wouldn’t give up easily. There’s tension between our families, and while I can’t convince you, I’m going to be careful.”

  I was going to say something else, but he walked away and closed the door behind him. I couldn’t believe he was going to keep me locked in his mansion, and for how long did he plan to make that last? I couldn’t stay here forever.

  I wished I had my brother’s number. I could call him to tell him the bad news if I had it. But maybe I wouldn’t be authorized to use one of the phones in the house. I leaned against the wall and even though I felt a bit desperate now that I knew I was a prisoner here, I was excited about this bedroom.

  That was something I needed to work on. I was far too entertained by money and wealth, and I was careless. He saw throug
h the mask I put on, and now he knew I liked not only the mansion, but also this bedroom.

  I couldn’t deny, though, that he was nice to me so far. But I also couldn’t tell myself our relationship would ever become much more than what it was right now. It just wouldn’t.

  Basilio was nice with regards to the room by getting everything about it right for me, but he was still the one who beat up my brother and helped to destroy my family. I was never going to think he could be more than what he was.

  Having thought about that, I explored the bedroom a bit more. I opened the closet and… wow. He didn’t only get the structure of the bedroom right, but also the clothes he put in here. They were all clothes I liked. I wasn’t going to go out to buy new clothes any time soon, which was… great and bad at the same time.