His Captive_A Mafia Romance

by Nikki Chase

  “What is this? One of the twelve steps AA wants you to do?” He sizes me up. “Did you find religion or some shit?”

  “What does it matter?” I ask. “I just regret my actions and want you to know I’m sorry.”

  “Crawl,” he says.

  Elena stares at her dad with disbelief. “What?”

  “This doesn’t concern you, Elena.” Enzo keeps his eyes on me. “I said, crawl.”

  “No,” Elena says.

  “Elena, wait in the car,” Enzo says. To me, he adds, “If you come crawling back to me, I may just consider forgiving you.”

  “Dad, I’ve never been more disappointed in you in my whole life.” Elena leaves his side. But instead of walking toward the car, she grabs my hand and pulls me away from Enzo.

  “Elena, what are you doing?” Enzo yells out.

  “Shut up, Dad,” she yells back.

  Enzo doesn’t move from his spot, probably too stunned by the fact that Elena, his sweet daughter, has just told him to shut up.

  “What are you doing?” I ask.

  Elena stops just far enough away for us to be able to have a private conversation. We’re still within view of Enzo and his men.

  “You’re not going to crawl,” she states. “No way.”

  “I thought this is what you wanted. You wanted me to apologize to your dad so you don’t have to be stuck in the middle this feud.”

  “This is not what I wanted. I never wanted you to crawl in for my dad.” Elena is shaking with anger. “You’ve already told him ‘sorry’ three times, and he still dared to ask you for more? After everything he’s done? What the hell?”

  I smile. She’s so cute when she curses.

  “It’s not funny, Damon,” she says. “He has crossed a line. Has he ever apologized for what he did to your family? Huh? I’ll bet he hasn’t.”

  “He hasn’t.” I restrain myself from smiling. She’s getting all worked up on my behalf, and it’s so adorable I could implode.

  Of course I’m angry that Enzo would demand something like that from me, but I can’t get over the fact that Elena is going against her dad, and she’s doing it for me.

  “All I wanted was for you two to get along, but I see now that he’s made that impossible,” Elena says. “You’ve done all you can.”

  “So what do you want to do now?”

  Elena pauses. She glances at her dad, who’s watching us intently. Then, she pulls me into a kiss. Not our hottest kiss ever, but still not the kind of kiss a good girl would give a guy in front of her dad.

  I’ve known for a while that Elena’s not always a good girl. But it’s new information for Enzo.

  “Let’s go,” Elena says, pulling me toward the sidewalk.

  “Elena, where are you going?” Enzo asks, finally waking up from his daze.

  “Breakfast is cancelled, Dad.” Elena turns to me and smiles. “Oh, look at that. I’m free this morning after all. Does your breakfast offer still stand?”

  “Of course.”

  Epilogue

  Elena—One Year Later

  I stare at my dad as he wipes his lips with a paper napkin. With my eyes, I gesture at Damon.

  My dad clears his throat. “Thank you, Damon. That was a good meal.”

  “It was lovely, really,” my mom adds. She plays with the pearls around her neck.

  This is the third Friday my parents have joined us for dinner at home, but the awkwardness hasn’t quite melted away.

  My dad hasn’t apologized to Damon yet, and I’m not holding my breath. I’ve never heard my dad apologize to anybody in my life. He’s not going to start now, when all his hair has turned gray.

  But as soon as I told my mom about my pregnancy, my dad started calling Damon to ask about us having a meal together. Well, to be more accurate, he called me first, but I told him to ask Damon instead . . . and he did.

  That’s as close to an apology as we’ll ever get.

  I wanted to insist on my dad actually saying “sorry” at least, but Damon coaxed me into giving in. Me giving him radio silence for almost a year was punishment enough, he told me.

  He knows what it’s like to feel alone as a kid and he wants our baby to grow up having as big a family as he can get.

  My parents and Damon drink wine as I sip on my juice and rub my belly. I’m four months pregnant, and it’s starting to show.

  “Your brother has good news too,” Mom says. “He’s getting married.”

  “Matteo?” Damon and I ask almost at the same time.

  “Yes.” My mom nods.

  “This is the first I’ve heard of this. I didn’t even know he had a girlfriend,” I say.

  “Well, she was never his girlfriend,” Dad says.

  “What do you mean?” I ask.

  “This marriage will be a good thing for both families,” my dad says cryptically.

  “Wait. Did they even know each other before the families decided they should get married?” I know being a girl in a family like mine sucks because of how overprotective everyone is, but being a guy sucks too in a different way.

  Dad frowns. “This is not just about them, Elena. Matteo has responsibilities.”

  “No business talk at the dinner table,” Mom warns us.

  “This is about family, Mom,” I say. “Dad, it’s not the fifties anymore. You can’t just make people get married because it’ll be good for the family.”

  “I said no business talk,” Mom insists. “So have you decided on a name yet?”

  “No, we’re going to wait until we know the gender at least,” Damon says.

  I take Damon’s hand under the table. I’m so glad I have him in my life.

  My family are nuts. I mean, the things they do are downright crazy. They can be so united in their insanity they make me feel like I’m the odd one out. But Damon reminds me I’m the sane one.

  Thanks to Damon, I manage to keep the dinner table somewhat free of conflict.

  I tell everyone about my pregnancy symptoms, my mom sharing her experience and some tips while my dad pretends he’s not listening whenever anyone at the dinner table even alludes to the fact that I have a vagina.

  At the end of the night, I give my parents a hug at the door. I’m glad to see them together again. Before these dinners, I’d have to meet up with Mom at some restaurant so I wouldn’t accidentally see Dad too.

  “Thanks for coming,” Damon says.

  “Thank you for having us, Damon.” My mom smiles.

  We close the door as my parents walk down the hallway.

  Finally left to ourselves, I put my arms around Damon. “It’s my turn to thank you now.”

  “Oh yeah?” He cocks an eyebrow. “How are you going to do that?”

  “Like this.” I stand on my tippy toes and press my lips against his.

  This kiss feels familiar—in a good way. People wax nostalgic about the first days or weeks of a relationship, but this, where we are right now, is perfect.

  We went through a terrible storm in our early days, and it brought us closer together, but it also could’ve capsized us.

  Compared to that, none of the normal obstacles of a relationship could put a dent on us.

  Moving in together was a cinch; Damon was practically sleeping here in my apartment every night, so one day we simply decided to move his things here.

  And now, we have the most wonderful thing in the world to unite us. This pregnancy has brought us closer than ever.

  We’ve always talked about a future together, and now it feels real. We’ve even started saving up to start Damon’s mixed martial arts studio someday. And I can’t wait for our child—or children—to learn his moves.

  I never thought this life was possible. I was taught from an early age to listen and obey, but I know now that sometimes I have to fight for what I really want.

  I’m thankful every day that Damon fought for me first and gave me the strength to fight too.

  “That doesn’t feel like enough gratitude for me,�
� Damon says.

  “No?” I smile.

  “No. A kiss? Come on. I deserve more than that.”

  “Like what?”

  I cry out as Damon bends down to pick me up onto his arms. “Like this.”

  We both laugh as he carries me into our bedroom and puts me gently on the bed. He lies down beside me and stares at me with love in his eyes. Then, he pulls me into another kiss.

  Somehow, despite the ugliness behind us, we’ve found ourselves in this beautiful place. Nobody can tear us apart now.

  Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed Elena and Damon’s story.

  Want more?

  Check out Protecting His Baby to learn what Rosa Geurriero did to make her dad so angry.

  Or grab the seven-book box set, Billionaires and Bad Boys, to binge on my books. :)

  xx,

  Nikki

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  Bonus: Virgin Fiancée

  A Fake Engagement Romance

  Piper

  Two Months Ago

  What the hell?

  I stand frozen in the doorway, my mouth hanging open.

  I can’t believe my eyes.

  The door isn’t even closed, and they haven’t even heard my footsteps.

  On the bed, just a few feet away, my boyfriend’s naked ass is going up and down, plowing into a woman who’s spread-eagled beneath him.

  She’s the one who notices me first. She says, “Hey, she’s cute. Your friend wanna join us?”

  Is this woman crazy?

  Mark stills, hovering over the woman. He turns his head to the side to look at me. His eyes are wide and his forehead is covered with fat beads of sweat.

  Oh, and his cock is still buried in the woman’s pussy.

  “Piper. I… Uh…” Mark’s body jumps into gear, although his brain hasn’t quite caught up. He pulls his cock out, dives down to the floor to pick up his boxers, and quickly puts them on. He steps closer.

  “Keep your hands off me,” I say, avoiding him as he reaches out to touch me.

  “You… I… Uh… I thought you… Weren’t you planning to come later tonight?” Mark asks, stumbling all over his words.

  “My plans changed,” I reply curtly.

  I was about to have lunch with Carly today, but she canceled. So I thought I’d visit my boyfriend, make out a little bit, and—if things go well—maybe even let him take my virginity today.

  That’s definitely not happening now.

  “Hey, dude, your one hour is up. Do you want more time? It’s the same flat rate,” the naked girl says, as if she’s completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere.

  Mark remains quiet as the gears in my brain goes into overdrive. Why is she being so casual about everything? And what could she mean by “flat rate”? Flat rate for what?

  My breath catches in my throat as realization hits me like a ton of bricks.

  “Dude? Max, right?” The woman remains on the bed as she picks up Mark’s jeans, which were lying on the carpeted bedroom floor. She pulls out his wallet from the back pocket and says, “I’ll just help myself, okay? See? I’m just taking whatever you owe me.” She takes out a few bills and holds them up for Mark to see, although he remains completely frozen in place, not daring to take his eyes off me.

  My blood boils. He’s cheating on me with a prostitute? Really?

  “Don’t tell me she’s a prostitute,” I say as I glower at Mark.

  The woman gets up from the bed and quietly puts on her clothes, piece by piece, as if we weren’t also here in the same room.

  After a long pause, in which the only sounds are the zipper of the woman’s mini skirt being pulled up and the muffled clicks of her heels on the carpet, Mark says, “Okay. I’m not going to tell you she’s a prostitute.”

  The woman laughs. Looking right at me as she walks out of the bedroom, she says, “Honey, I wouldn’t have fucked this guy if he didn’t agree to pay for it.”

  The woman’s ultra-high heels click noisily on the wooden floor as her footsteps get further and further away.

  The front door opens, then closes again with a soft click.

  It’s just the two of us now, marinating in the tense, awkward atmosphere, neither of us knowing what to say.

  I look at the desk, where I left my laptop this morning. I could at least take that with me right now, even if I have to leave the rest of my stuff behind.

  “I’m sorry, Piper. I didn’t mean to hurt you. You weren’t meant to find out,” Mark says, finally finding his tongue.

  “And that makes it okay?” I march past him toward the desk and grab my laptop. I’m ready to leave now. I don’t care. There’s no explanation needed.

  “Please, Piper. I know I fucked up, but I had a bad case of the blue balls. It’s been six months,” he says as he follows me out the room. “If you think about it, both of us are responsible for what just happened. We can move forward. We can move past this. I have faith in us.”

  “I don’t.” I open the front door, step out into the hallway, and turn around. “Don’t even think about following me. Your face makes me sick.”

  Mark flinches from my words. I take the opportunity to slam the door shut in his face.

  Dickhead.

  My feet move swiftly, fueled by anger. What a waste of my time and energy.

  I thought I was going to finally lose my virginity to Mark, but now I’m glad we never did it. God knows how many times he has cheated on me and never gotten caught.

  Piper

  Present Time

  I swear, her heels were higher than her skirt was long.” I pick up my bottle from the floor and take another gulp of the beer. “But enough about that. I’m so over Mark. Can we just talk about something else? This is our last night here. It’s the end of an era.”

  “Yeah, who cares about Mark? This is our night. Fuck that guy,” Carly says passionately, adopting my anger as if it’s her own. She pauses to think. “Wait. No. Do the opposite of that. Don’t fuck that guy.”

  We both laugh. Our apartment may be mostly empty now, but it still feels like home, now that we’re chatting and laughing like we usually do.

  The living room looks smaller than it normally does, which is weird because there’s actually less stuff now.

  Brown cardboard boxes of different sizes are scattered all over the green carpeted floor. Instead of buying moving boxes, we went with the free option. We went to the grocery store and begged a staff member for free, used boxes from the warehouse.

  Other than the boxes, there’s not much left in the apartment.

  A pizza box that contains our dinner. Three bottles of beer, one of which is already empty. Our bags. And us. Oh, and McClaw, my orange tabby, who’s chilling on my lap right now. He was a total nuisance while we were packing, jumping into boxes and tearing them apart with his sharp teeth and claws.

  All the big pieces of furniture have been sold on Craigslist or moved to my new studio apartment.

  I’m glad George, Carly’s boyfriend, has nicer furniture than we do. That’s why Carly’s leaving behind almost all the big items to me, although she was the one who originally bought most of them. So I got them for free.

  God, I love free stuff.

  Like this pizza. It tastes better because it’s free. Carly bought it for us both, knowing how broke I am. She’s an amazing friend.

  I take another slice of the pizza, the one with a bunch of meat chunks and pepperoni on it. I’ve been subsisting mostly on ramen and day-old grocery-store bread. I probably don’t get enough protein.

  “You know, I never liked Mark,” Carly says as she takes another sip of the beer.

  “What? Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask, my mouth full of cheesy, meaty goodness.

  “Well, you seemed to like the
guy. As far as I could tell, he treated you nice enough. I thought I was just jealous.” She grins. “I know it’s weird, but I used to have you all to myself.”

  “Aww…” I lean over and pull Carly into a hug with my clean hand, holding the pizza with my other one. “It’s not weird. To be honest, I’m feeling kind of jealous too, now that George gets to be your new roommate.”

  “I’m so going to miss you, Piper,” Carly says, pulling me closer with both hands, resting the beer bottle she’s holding on my back. The bottle is cold, the wetness seeping through the back of my shirt.

  “Oh, you’ll be fine.” I break the hug. “You’ve stayed over at George’s a bunch of times, right? I’m sure you guys will do fine.”

  “I know, but it won’t be the same without you.” She sighs.

  “I’m the one who’s going to miss you more. I’ll be living on my own.”

  “That’s not true. You have McClaw with you.” Carly reaches out one drunk, heavy hand and pets the cat, making him swish his tail from side to side with displeasure.

  “Yeah, he’s not a very good conversationalist, though.” I move Carly’s hand away before McClaw shows her how he got his name in the first place. “Plus, he made it really hard for me to find a new place. If it wasn’t for him, I would’ve been able to find new roommates and just move into a room. Instead, I have to get a tiny, unfurnished studio.”

  “Eh, you may be better off living on your own anyway. At least McClaw will be the only asshole you’ll live with.”

  “Yeah.” I pause. “Can you imagine if I ended up moving in with Mark I I’d planned and then found out he’d been cheating on me?”

  “When things are bad, it’s good to remind yourself that it could be worse.” Carly lifts her beer bottle up for a toast.

  “Word.” I pick up my bottle and clink it against hers. “I had no idea how hard it is to find an apartment, though. I was completely unprepared.”

  “Really? It was pretty easy for me to get this one.”