Page 21 of Runaway in the Mafia (The shadows of Cosa Nostra Chronicles #3)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

VITALE

T he monster in me raged. Fuelled with a scorching fever, with the only cure being blood on my hands. I couldn’t rest anymore. Couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t fucking think. Somewhere out there was a fucker who’d put his hands on her.

It was ridiculous, really. That the motherfucker still breathed. Still slept. While she’d been ripped apart. Tainted by his rotten hands. Not for long. I’d made that promise the moment she’d flinched. Not for long. I had plans for the shithead.

Something vile burned in my body like acid and raged like a thunderstorm.

I breathed poison. That some man, a fucking monster, had thought to punch her crawled up my skin all wrong.

Was it a one-time thing or more? That was the question I’d been asking throughout the night.

Did he slap her? Kick her? Break any bones?

As if the outcome mattered. It didn’t. But I wanted to know so I could rewind it and share her pain.

Vacuum it out of her and leave her empty of pain. Until I bore it on my own.

I always carried my .22 around. But ever since I’d seen her face break, ever since I’d felt her body crumble, I’d started carrying my favourite knife around.

The one I’d inherited from my Nonno . In my pocket on the right side.

Because an asshole who beat a woman didn’t deserve a gun.

He needed the sharpness of a blade. To skin him alive.

Cut through limb by limb. Shredding through to his bones.

Exact reason I had a chain saw in the back of my car with this jackass’s name written all over it.

I’d find out what it was soon enough. I had to. Even if she didn’t want to give it to me.

I didn’t get this woman. Was past understanding her.

She’s seeped into my skin, tickled underneath my veins, and dripped into my blood.

For some reason that had nothing to do with efficiency or comfort, I found myself stepping into my childhood home every single day.

The one I swore to avoid at all costs, given the fucking memories.

Memories that slid off me when that heady, exotic scent floated into my nostrils.

I couldn’t help myself. I combed the hallways looking for her, and when she was in a meeting sitting in front of her cute little pink laptop, I found myself leaning outside her shut door and listening to the comforting thrum of her voice.

I couldn’t even say I liked this woman. But she was entangled in my heartbeat.

An inconvenience I’d rather do without. A cancer in my veins. One I definitely wanted to avoid.

I didn’t want to want her. A kiss should have been enough to calm my need.

I didn’t want to lie awake and plot the death of an unknown man.

Fuck knows, I had better things to do. More important shit.

A damn business to run. One that needed an alliance unless I wanted to go to war.

Fuck. If I had known this, I wouldn’t have— no.

That sin I would have committed either way.

But maybe I would have gone about it in a smarter way.

Thought a bit without letting my rage take over.

What was the point now, anyway? It was done, and I needed to make amends.

The moment I stepped into the kitchen, the conversation dropped.

With forearms balanced on the counter, hair in a ponytail, wearing a brown dress a full hand above her knees, she sucked all my attention to her.

Mamma glanced my way, but the brown temptation steadfastly ignored me.

She could pretend all she wanted, but she couldn’t stop her shoulder line tightening or her chin jutting out with determination.

Disobedience hummed out of her body. Only for me, mia ammaliatrice .

“Vitale will agree with me,” Mamma said, nodding her head my way.

Her answering scowl came as no surprise. Witch. I liked my new nickname for her. Mia ammaliatrice.

“What will I agree with?”

I came for an espresso but ignored it for a new need. Cold water from the fridge, which would take me past her idling against the counter. A coincidence.

I swallowed the distance between us, taking in her dress, the colour of a rich espresso.

When I dragged my gaze to the floor, I found red painted toes.

Without being aware of it, I’d come to a stop, a seat away from her.

Her gaze filled with unease, and she dropped it to the counter hurriedly.

The sharp movement did nothing to mask her scent. Sultry. Sexy.

I forced myself to move. Grabbed the ice-cold bottle.

A contrast to the thoughts in my mind. Silence strummed from the other side.

Christ. The chill in my hands did nothing to cool the heat in my veins.

I was one sniff and a shove away from fucking her against the counter.

Whether Mamma was there or not. You’d think then that I’d be smart enough to avoid the temptation altogether, but the menace in me picked up a glass from the counter, skipping the wall units behind me entirely.

It took only a few seconds for me to decide the risk was too great.

With the glass full, I stepped back and leaned against the wall unit.

“Am I supposed to read minds?” I asked to her glare.

“Ahana wants to pay the internet bill,” Mamma filled me in.

I gave her a puzzled look. “Why?”

“See,” Mamma pointed her pan at her, “I told you this is stupid.” Mamma looked at me and rolled her eyes. “Apparently she’s using a lot of,” she glanced at a silent Ahana, “what’s it called?”

“Data,” she muttered.

“That. She thinks I’m too poor to pay for it.”

“It’s not that,” she straightened. “I have to watch and download videos for my work—”

“So?” Mamma scoffed.

“It takes up a lot of space. I would like to increase the plan you have and get a better connection.”

“So you do it.” Mamma shrugged.

She looked at me desperately. “Can you please explain this to her?”

“I don’t need an explanation.” The pan flew into the drawer. “ Schifiu! You’re insulting me. This is the way you pay me back for thinking you are like my daughter? My daughter wouldn’t ask to pay me.”

I took a sip of water and muttered helpfully, “Your daughter would rob you to buy some designer bag.”

“See.” Mamma whole heartedly agreed.

Her face was coated in disappointment. It didn’t get past me that she fought for financial independence at every turn.

Like she was afraid. Like she didn’t want to trust anyone with it.

I couldn’t say I understood it, coming from a generation of women who spent like it was their vocation and didn’t care if the money came from the husband or the father.

Or the brother. But she treated it like it was a necessity.

It was different to Daria wanting to work because, well, Daria just liked going against tradition, or Antonio’s wife, Divya, because it was her passion.

With her, the need was deeply rooted. Twisted, like she’d gone down the wrong path, and she was trying to crawl her way out of it.

“Okay, then.”

“What?” Ahana asked.

Mamma went red. “Sei serio?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “ Sì, I’m serious. I’m sure she’s earning well enough to not starve after paying the bill, Mamma.”

“Ma, Vitale—”

“But nothing, Mamma. Let it go. She wants to pay the bill, so she pays the bill.”

Scepticism filled Ahana’s face. Then her lips tilted into a slow, genuine smile, and fuck if it wasn’t deadly.

It jackknifed straight into my chest. It dawned on me that it was the first time she’d smiled at me like this.

Her lips curled up fully. Her eyes dazzled.

It was like the rush of a warehouse theft. Quite addictive.

“Grazie.” My eyes followed her ass as she strolled out. That accent of hers was going to get my dick in her mouth.

“Huh?” I glanced at Mamma. I’d totally missed what she’d said.

“I am not taking her hard-earned money.”

“You’re not.” I dropped the glass in the sink. “I’ll open an account in her name and transfer it.”

She frowned. “We are not going to steal that girl’s money.”

I sighed. “No, Mamma. She wants financial freedom. So give it to her. If she ever needs the money, it’ll be sitting in a savings account waiting for her.”

Mamma was pensive. Then she smiled deviously. “Why don’t we just fake the amount and make her pay less?”

I shook my head. “Have you seen how smart she is? She’ll figure it out in no time.”

Her smile shone like four thousand lumens.

“What?”

“You know, I was worried about you.” She squeezed my wrist. “You’re going to be alright.”

I frowned. She hesitated. “I know you have always done right.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

She just smiled. “I’m going to make your favourite gnocchi today.”

Why did Sicilian mammas always change topics like that?

A need to learn her secrets overtook me. I caught up with her in the hallway. A shocked gasp escaped her when I curled my hands around her waist and pinned her to the wall. Fuck. She smelled good. I inhaled her like she was my addiction. A necessity to breathe.

“What’s with you and wanting to be free?” I goaded her.

Her pulse was a frantic beat under my hand. She was nervous but hid it beneath her scowl and sassy words. “I imagine the same reason women wanted to vote.”

“Nothing to do with the fucker who’s been putting his hands on you?”

She stilled. Her breathing stopped. Her pulse dropped.

She froze right before me. Jesus Christ. Rage erupted inside me.

My hand fisted, muscles straining on the wall beside her face.

“I have plans for him. Would you like to know?” I took her lack of response as a yes.

“I plan to scorch the whole damn world until I find him, and when I do, I am going to skin him alive and shred him apart. Limb. By. Limb.” Her eyes were a whirlpool of emotion.

Anger. Fear. Confusion. I gripped her chin and cocked her face.

“Would you like that?” Not that she had any choice in it.

But I could pretend she did. She was stiff as a board in front of me. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“No,” she gasped.

No wasn’t a choice. “Let’s play a game.”

“Ugh.” Her voice was all cracked and broken. Fuck . I wanted this man’s head and a chainsaw in my hands.

“I’ll tell you my secret, and you’ll tell me yours.”

She was too dazed to reply, but a shake of her head conveyed her thoughts.

“Guess what?” I murmured next to her ear, and her thick swallow vibrated between us. “I’m playing, anyway.” I followed the bob of her throat with the back of my hand. “You can join if you’d like.”

She tried to push away, but I wasn’t in the mood to let her go. She was a rage in my blood, and the secret I’d been carrying burned a path through my veins. I could only do one thing at a time, and she was the reason I had to juggle two at a time.

The hollow behind her ear fascinated me. My thumb sank into it perfectly. The scent was intoxicating. It was a perfect place to carry a secret, so I leaned forward and buried it. “I was the one who killed my father.”