Page 14 of Runaway in the Mafia (The shadows of Cosa Nostra Chronicles #3)

Okay. Maa is being her normal self. As if she hasn’t learned her lesson, she’s looking for someone for me now.

What?

Yeah. Don’t worry. I’m getting out of this.

How is the hot Italian?

What? I hadn’t said anything about… I frowned… had I? He’d visited me. In my room and then in my dreams. Both instances he’d stepped in uninvited. He was a lot. To handle. For my eyes and...

I already know enough with your long pause. You deserve some happiness, Aana.

I wasn’t sure if it was her words or her nickname for me that made my eyes blur.

I’ve got to go. Tell me if you know anything.

The bastard is a sicko. He deserved to be impotent. I’m glad those villagers beat him up when he tried to assault that girl. Maa should know that’s Karma! He tried to hurt that girl and the villagers took care of his weapon.

Ama…

I never realised when I read it in the newspaper that it was him until you told me. He comes to India to get married and then he tries to rape an innocent girl. I keep on thinking how much it would have hurt to be kicked over and over on your dick.

You shouldn’t…

I hope the pain was memorable.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I didn’t want to think of him. I wanted him gone. Erased from my memory.

I just want to forget.

Good. Go and fuck the Italian.

Does Maa know you curse like a sailor?

I’ll tell her to give an extra pooja on my name.

Also, I know what you are thinking. This is not your fault.

You stayed for four months. I would have walked out the first day.

He beat you, Aana. Get that through your head.

I swear to all the Gods we are supposed to worship, if I come across him I’m going to stick a broom stick in his ass.

I know it’s not my fault.

It wasn’t. It was okay to want love and sex. There was nothing wrong about it. It was okay to not want your husband to break your bones. I was worth more. I was.

You are a fucking whore, Ahana.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Took a deep breath and opened them to bid my sister goodbye. It took me a few heartbeats to come back to the talk around the table. Awareness prickled my skin beyond it, and I pulled my gaze up and found him.

He was draped in the doorway with his eyes pinned to me.

I bathed under his full attention. The way he was looking at me…

it was like he was saving every feature of mine into his hard drive.

It made me heat up like a fire had been lit right beneath me.

I’d never had a man look at me like that. It made me feel wanted. Desired.

He was, of course, dressed from top to toe in green. Olive green. It was like he’d done it to tempt me. Because he was all of that. Temptation amplified.

A sudden yearning pulsed in my chest. I wished I wasn’t so broken. I wished I had met him another time. Another place. Then again, who was I kidding? I was Indian. He was Italian. We were never meant to be.

“Where’re you going?”

Lia’s voice broke through the fuzziness in my brain. I hadn’t even realised I’d got off the bench and stepped towards him. Hey Bhagwan! What was I thinking? His pull was electric. Simply addictive.

He made my brain short-circuit. I didn’t like how he did it so effortlessly.

I glared at him, and he brushed a thumb off his smirk like he knew the insanely crazy impact he had on me.

I should have gone to my room, but I would have to be an idiot to go past him.

He looked like an animal ready to pounce on his meal.

I stepped back and half-turned to Lia and the girls.

They frowned at me. My skin heated. I was confused.

Distracted. This looked weird. “I thought I’d get changed,” I croaked.

Lia shrugged. They must have believed the lie because they went back to the mess on the table.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I passed the aunts near the kitchen counter, three of them, I think, although I wasn’t sure anymore.

Everything was a blur outside of the bubble with me and him.

My breath felt uneven. I’d thought this house was large, but he blocked that doorway entirely.

Distance between us. Six feet. Enough to get a dining table in between, but not enough for the suffocation to escape me.

He cocked his brow, and even in his arrogance, I found him smouldering hot. This was all wrong. I shouldn’t want him. Rajesh had called me a whore. Was I one?

His tongue rolled out to lick his lip. My pulse dropped and throbbed between my legs. My God, this man. How did they make men like this?

“Goodness, Vitale, can you let the girl pass?” a shrill tone invaded the heated air between us. One of his aunts. Thank God.

He shrugged. His voice a deep drawl that seeped into my bones. “She didn’t ask me.” He held my gaze for another heartbeat before he finally stepped to the side.

I seized the opportunity and scurried past him. For a second, I thought I got away. Until I passed the doorway. My breath whooshed out of me when a palm sealed my mouth, and my shoulders hit the wall behind me. Pure instinct and panic took over, and I sank my teeth into his hand. Hard.

“Fuck,” he growled, and pulled me further along the wall, away from the kitchen.

I clawed at his hand while I tried to glimpse past him, but he was broader than a brick wall.

Dark memories collided with the fear of being found out.

Any minute, someone could pass by. What if one of the aunts had seen him pull me in?

What was he even doing with me? His palm slipped off me, t hank God, and grabbed my waist. That was worse.

“What the hell are you doing?” I glared at him, my voice belying the fear in my chest. Those eyes. Too close. Hazel edged in green. His hair was tousled and his tie was askew, like I’d walked in while he was undressing. Why am I even thinking these things? I was a twister of emotions.

He leaned forward, and I pushed back. He was so close, his mouth was an inch from mine.

Painfully so. If I inhaled, his lips would be on mine.

So I didn’t. My body trembled from the effort.

Rough bricks bit into my thin, green, silk blouse.

His dress shirt brushed my blouse. Cotton on silk.

Chest against nipples. A heated breath, and he shifted.

A slow, smooth voice touched my ear. “Green does.”

“Does what?” I croaked.

“Suit you,” he murmured. “Brown, yellow, green…” his voice dropped a tone. “Translucent.”

Awareness prickled on my skin. I bit my lip to stop the gasp. Was this man imagining me naked?

He was deliciously attached to me. I could smell him. Not his cigars. But him, and he smelled just fine. Like a rare and expensive vintage car. Sandalwood, musk, and all-natural leather.

“Where’ve you been?” His voice vibrated like silk on my skin. Not the smooth type, but the raw one. I could almost feel the fine hair of the caterpillars raking my arms, crawling up my veins and hanging to the edges of my heart.

Fear and desire went to war inside me. Tipping the balance continuously. Someone come and find us.

“Have you been a bad girl, Ahana?” His nose dropped to the curve between my neck and shoulder. This was so unconventional. “Haven’t you been listening to me?” He inhaled. Inhaled? What was I letting him do?

My hands squeezed between us, and I pushed him back hard. A few breaths of space appeared, but it was enough to feed courage to my voice. Ease my breathing. “Back off with your bossy attitude. If I wanted that, I’d ask my brothers.”

“Yeah, how many?”

“Two, and that’s not—”

“I bet they are called Bahana and Cahana,” he taunted.

“No, they aren’t—” I bit my lip. He’d almost had me.

“You’re not going to leave me hanging, are you?”

I most definitely was. I shoved him, but he didn’t back off.

My resolve crumbled. Insecurity burst in.

Another time, another place when I couldn’t escape, filtered through my mind.

Rajesh’s cold laugh drilled through my bones.

What you going to do, Ahana? Fight back?

My lips wobbled. I wanted to be the strength I needed.

He must have seen something in my eyes because he pulled back. Not much, but enough for me to duck under his arm and flee.

To think I thought he was being nice to get the lock sorted out.