Forbidden Love: Book 1 in the Mackenzie Series (Leave Me Breathless World)

by Elizabeth Knox

  “Are you alright?” I can’t help but ask. She puts her hand under her hair and moves it behind her head. She’s still in the Maeve’s apron, not bothering to take it off when we were rushing out. Father O’Sullivan told us to stand in his foyer while he went upstairs to get changed. Considering I was knocking on his door at one in the morning, I’m not going to argue with him about changing out of his pajamas.

  Caprice has her hands drawn in front of her chest, looking a lot like a scared little girl. “I’m fine,” she dismisses, averting her eyes to the photographs on the wall.

  Father O’Sullivan has been involved with my family since before I was born. He married my biological mum and father, baptized me in the same church where my entire family had been baptized, and married my father and step-mum.

  I catch the gold frame she’s walking up to and place my hand over hers as she touches it. “Father O’Sullivan is practically a Mackenzie.” In the photograph, I see the last time I ever remember being happy. It was before my step-mum’s accident when the girls were still with us. They’re in white baptism gowns and I’m standing there in an all-white tux. I remember how my father grumbled at mum that day, saying it was too modern. She’d always been the type to get her way, though.

  “I thought the twins were merely a myth, but here they are,” Caprice admits.

  I press my chest against her back and look at the auburn specs that were just starting to grow out of Greer’s head. Sloane, on the other hand, has black locks just like her mum Sofia. “They feel that way sometimes like they were only ever a figment of my imagination . . . but then I see photos like this that remind me they’re alive. As a child, it was odd to grieve the loss of my two baby sisters knowing they were alive but locked away for safekeeping. My father told me they were princesses and how evil beasts were going after them. Back then I hated the way he said it to me, but he couldn’t have been more accurate.”

  Caprice turns, brushing every part of her body against mine. I want to ignore it, the tension I feel between the two of us, but I can’t. When she first came into Maeve’s, I wanted to screw her against the wall, however, that changed when I found out her true identity. The only thing I wanted then was the status of marrying her, knowing it would put me on the path I need to go down. Still, there’s part of me that truly wants to help her, where it’s not solely for my own personal gain. I’ll admit she’s a vision, in that caramel sort of Alessandra Ambrosio way. I swear Caprice could be the Victoria’s Secret supermodel’s twin sister. I feel the internal pull between two sides of myself— the part that wants to save her, and the part of me who is only concerned about my position as next in line to lead the Irish Mob.

  I have a gut feeling I’ll be fighting against these two parts of myself for quite a while.

  “He was only trying to keep them both out of harm’s way,” Caprice says, skimming her fingertips over the photograph of Sloane and Greer. “And this was your step-mother?”

  Everyone assumes she’s dead, but she isn’t. No one knows she’s still technically alive. She’s my father’s best-kept secret, tucked away in a locked room of the Mackenzie estate. “Yes, that is Sofia Ramirez.”

  “She was so beautiful,” Caprice states, and I have to agree with her. Her face is in the shape of an oval, framed by long curly locks that span down to her hips. Her eyes are the color of the darkest Cadbury chocolate and her lips are plump and bountiful. I stare into the eyes of the one person I knew who was so full of life, missing her essence. It’s been far too long since I’ve heard her voice, or witnessed her dancing in the kitchen with my father to nothing but the sounds of a teapot getting warm. She was silly but oh so beautiful. If anything, I miss her spirit. More than that, I hate that my sisters had to grow up with no memories of her. In a sense, I was the lucky one because I had the chance to know her.

  “Yes, she was,” I reply, taking a step back as I hear a coughing sound interrupt us. Looking back, Father O’Sullivan descends down the stairwell in his usual ensemble.

  “Now that I’m in presentable clothing for guests, would you care to tell me what in God’s name is going on?”

  I take the lead, not wanting Caprice to say a thing. “I want to be married to the love of my life, right now. I can’t go into too much detail, Father, because . . . well, you know the type of business my family is in. Another man is trying to harm her, to force her into a marriage with him instead, and I can’t allow that to happen. The other man will most likely kill her within a year and our only option to save my beloved Caprice is by marrying her, taking her off the market from this monster.” I bullshit the hell out of him with half-truths. If anyone is going to believe Caprice and I are in love with one another, I need to sell it the way I am right now.

  Father O’Sullivan looks between Caprice and me, obviously unsure. “I didn’t know you were seeing anyone, Liam.”

  “We’ve been communicating in secret for over a year, Father. I was able to get Caprice to Ireland a couple of weeks ago, getting fake passports in the process. We both assumed we’d have more time before anyone caught her . . . but the man I was telling you about came into Maeve’s tonight, threatening her. The only way to avoid potentially harming her is to unite us in God’s most precious way. I need your help, Father.” I turn away from Father O’Sullivan and take Caprice’s face in my hands, staring deeply into her eyes. I need to continue selling this, making it appear as though we’ve been in love for ages. “Now I can imagine going through hell, my love, but losing you would cripple me beyond compare. I won’t allow it to happen. Not now, and not ever.”

  11

  “The lion doesn’t turn around when a dog barks.”

  ~ Unknown

  Caprice

  I’m blown away at how easy it is for Liam to lie about loving me. He’s convincing this man of God that we’ve been in a relationship for a year and how he cannot imagine his life without my presence, begging Father O’Sullivan to marry us, ensuring my safety from Sergei. If I didn’t think this was insane . . . he’s buying what Liam is saying. I should’ve known. This is how all mafia men are— fabulous liars.

  Liam is cradling my face as he leans in, leaving a chaste kiss against my forehead before he turns back to Father O’Sullivan. “So, will you help us? Unfortunately, we don’t have another option and you were the first person I thought of before taking her to the family estate.”

  “Well, I never thought I’d see the day. Give me a few minutes to prepare the chapel and we can head over to the back part of the property and proceed,” Father O’Sullivan states, pausing for a moment before he continues. “If you want to lead your beloved out to the chapel, feel free. You know where it is.”

  Liam takes my hand in his own and escorts me toward the back of Father O’Sullivan’s home. We head down a narrow hallway that comes to a kitchen, but he tugs me in the direction of a doorway, where I see a stone path that leads out to another building. That must be the chapel.

  It’s pitch black out here, but the path is illuminated with small lights every twenty feet or so. As we get closer to the chapel, I see it’s made of old stones. The rocks look to be so old, I imagine it’s been here for centuries. There are small stained glass windows on the side of the building and a massive green door in the middle with three steps leading up to it.

  Liam and I walk alongside each other and enter the chapel. He moves his hand, turning on the lights and revealing the beauty of this historic location to me. “Oh, my word . . . ” I whisper, taking in everything.

  To the right, I see church pews, probably enough to seat twenty people or so. Beyond it is a podium and more glass, all of it green with bits of yellow and blue. It spans across three windows, but I can see how the artist wanted us to envision the countryside of Ireland. It’s magnificent. In my opinion, some of Rome’s artists don’t put this much detail into their stained glass work.

  “This has always been one of my favorite places in all of Ireland,” Liam states, and it’s now that I realize I’v
e seen the chapel before.

  “This is where the photograph of your family was taken,” I say, turning to face him. He nods, giving me a soft smile before shifting his gaze away. There’s a part of me that thinks bringing up happier times makes him upset. While my family aren’t angels and most days, I want to be far away from them, I can’t imagine what the Mackenzies have gone through. I decide to shift the topic of our conversation. “How was it so easy for you?’

  “What was easy?” he asks, focusing his eyes back on me.

  “To lie like that,” I say.

  Liam chuckles. “Neither of us has a choice. If I didn’t lie and tell Father O’Sullivan the truth, he likely wouldn’t have agreed to marry us, even with my family connection. You need an out to ensure your safety and I need a wife before I can take my father’s place. It seems like a win-win situation to me.”

  Finally, it clicks. “Ah, you’re doing this for power.”

  I wonder if he’s going to deny it, but instead, he gives me that half-smile which tells me more than his words do. “I’m doing it for many reasons, Caprice. There isn’t just one.”

  “Do you really care if I get filleted like a fish by Sergei?” I ask, honestly wanting to know. His answer will tell me what type of man he is.

  His eyes widen for a split second at the shock of my question. “I don’t wish anyone to be treated in such a way. Especially not—” Liam cuts himself off, walking toward the other end of the chapel.

  “Finish what you were about to say,” I demand, needing to hear where he was going.

  He grumbles something softly before turning to face me. “Especially not to a nice woman like you. I’ve heard the rumors about what your father made you do, Caprice. Honestly, I think everyone knows the way he treated you opposed to your sisters.”

  A gut-wrenching feeling sinks deep in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t realize others knew about what my father made me do. “How do you know?”

  “He tried to offer you to my father, who then came home and told me about it. He told me if I ever did something like that in the future to my own daughter, he’d kill me on the spot.” I don’t know Desmond Mackenzie, but I’m starting to like him.

  “You know . . . about my past and you still want to marry me?”

  “It’ll keep you safe, won’t it?” Liam shoots out, cocking a brow.

  I narrow my eyes, focusing in on him. “Do you even care?”

  “Wow. Do you think I’m a heartless pig?”

  “No, of course not. I don’t know what to think of you, though.”

  “What in the bloody hell do you mean by that?” Liam hollers, glaring at me.

  “Well, I’d say you both are madly in love. If you aren’t, you wouldn’t be yelling at the other like you are.” Father O’Sullivan chuckles. I look behind him and see Alessandra next to Luca and rush over to her, wrapping my arms around the brat. We hold each other for a few moments before I pull away and look into her eyes.

  “Are you okay?”

  She nods. “Yeah . . . what’re we doing in a chapel?”

  I glance back to Liam, smiling since Father O’Sullivan is in here and we have to lie. “Liam and I are getting married. It’ll keep Sergei from harming me.”

  Alessandra closes her eyes. “Yeah, well, he came to the apartment and was determined to yank me off and use me instead.”

  I look over at Luca. “Is this true?”

  He nods.

  I want to curse, but considering we’re in the house of God, I don’t. I bite my damn tongue, even as hard as it is to do so. I shake my head from side to side, not wanting the reality of what I’ve put us both through to sink in. “He’s going to come for you next . . . ” I stammer out, feeling tears well behind my eyes. I’ve only ever wanted to protect Alessandra and today I failed to do so.

  “We need to focus on your safety,” she tells me, but I can’t. I think about what time of year it is and the horrors fill my head.

  “It’s July tenth,” I state, eyes going wide.

  Alessandra furrows her brows. “No. It can’t be July tenth already . . . ”

  “What’s July tenth?” Liam asks.

  “My birthday,” Alessandra answers. “I’m officially old enough for Sergei to marry. He said he was coming after me. It sounded like a promise . . . you don’t think father would let him, do you?” There she goes again believing the best about our father.

  Shutting my eyes, I tell her the truth. “He’ll do whatever he can to make himself more important.”

  “Is there a way out of this for me too?” Alessandra asks, and I look over to Liam, trying to think about possible scenarios. There’s only one option I can think of now that she’s eighteen.

  I give Liam a pleading look, wanting nothing else than for Alessandra to be safe too.

  “Holy hell . . . ” he mutters.

  12

  “In spite of everything, I shall rise again.”

  ~ Vincent Van Gogh

  Liam

  She can’t be serious. I think I know what she’s insinuating . . . but she— no. I barely convinced Father O’Sullivan to marry us. Now she wants me to marry her sister off too? I need a glass of whiskey, as soon as possible. I glance over to Father O’Sullivan. “I bet you can read my mind right now.”

  “Who would I marry her to?” Father O’Sullivan asks me. There’s only one other man in the room with me and he happens to be my most trusted guard.

  “Luca,” I immediately answer.

  “What the hell, man? You can’t be serious,” Luca shoots out.

  “Now . . . these two obviously don’t have the story you and Caprice do,” Father O’Sullivan states and I give him a curt nod.

  “No, while Caprice and I are madly in love, Luca and Alessandra only just met tonight. We’re trying to keep her away from the man who wants to cause harm to Caprice,” I explain, keeping my eyes on the two impending lovebirds. However, I don’t miss the look Alessandra gives Caprice. In a silent way, she calls her out on her shite.

  “And marriage is the only way to keep this man away from them?” Father O’Sullivan questions.

  “The only effective option,” Caprice speaks up, looking to the priest.

  Father O’Sullivan sucks in a sharp breath. “Alrighty then, let’s get this over with before I change my mind. Luca and Alessandra, please come here.”

  Alessandra looks over to Caprice with worry-filled eyes and she urges her sister to go along. “If you don’t do this, your fate will be sealed.”

  Over the course of the next twenty minutes, Father O’Sullivan rushes the traditional Catholic ceremony and marries Alessandra DiGiovanni to Luca McCarthy. “I’ll sign the marriage certificates when you provide them to me, but you know I can’t help you obtain them.” Father O’Sullivan tells me.

  Nodding, I reply. “Don’t worry about that. I can get those first thing in the morning.” I pull my cell phone from my pocket and text a friend who works at the registrar’s office. If I pay him a hefty chunk of change, he’ll be sure to make it happen. I text him and tell him I need a favor and for him to call me in the morning when he gets to work. When he does, I’ll give him the dates I need the marriage licenses to have and they’ll be certified by the country of Ireland. No one will dare question them.

  I slide the phone back into my pocket until I see my father’s name appear. Immediately, I answer, “Hello,”

  “What in the bloody hell is going on? Do you know Gabriele DiGiovanni called me?”

  I suck in a sharp breath. “No. I had no idea. What did he say?”

  “He said you were married to Caprice, his eldest daughter.”

  “Yes, we were married— yesterday,” I state, looking at Father O’Sullivan who sighs and throws his hands up in the air. He mumbles something under his breath about why he even tries to do things for my family. The good thing is he believes Caprice and I are madly in love, which means he’ll sign the certificate regardless. There’s absolutely no reason for us to go through what we j
ust witnessed her sister and my best friend go through.

  “You’d better get your ass back to the family house as soon as possible. I’ve got a bone to pick with you,” my father grumbles.

  “Alright. Just so you’re aware, we’re not coming back alone. Caprice’s younger sister Alessandra will be accompanying us.”

  My father mutters something I can’t make out and ends the call abruptly. I slide my cellphone back into my pocket and look over to Father O’Sullivan, who is obviously irritated. “Am I going to marry you both or not?”

  “You will, however, it won’t be tonight, I’m afraid. My father isn’t pleased and we need to get back to the family estate as soon as possible. You will sign the certificate for us, correct?”

  “It will keep the girl safe, right?” he asks.

  I nod.

  “Fine, I’ll do it, but when you two actually get married, I expect to be the priest officiating the ceremony. God will forgive you for what you’ve done tonight, Liam, but I’m sure he’ll make you repent for it.”

  Smiling, I reply, “I’d expect nothing else from the big man upstairs.” I see everyone’s eyes are glued to me, so I speak to Luca. “We’d better get a move on it.”

  “I agree. Let’s get out of here.”

  We lead the women to the front of the property where the SUV is parked and climb in the back. Thankfully, this car can easily fit eight people. Luca takes the backroads and heads to the family estate versus taking the interstate and going in through the front way.

  When we arrive, he enters the keycode for the back gate to open, driving us through the tree-lined driveway that takes us to the back of the house. I doubt either one of the girls can see much, but I’m sure they can see a decent bit of the grounds. Considering the family they’ve come from, their own home may be bigger than the Mackenzie estate. Although, massive isn’t an accurate representation of our home.