Page 5 of Runaway in the Mafia (The shadows of Cosa Nostra Chronicles #3)

I’d said no then to Maa. I’d gathered all my courage and forced words out of my dry throat.

But it was too late. Which she told me every single time I begged her to cancel it all.

How could they do that when everyone knew?

What would people think? That I wanted to have a say in who I married wasn’t a good excuse.

They’d say your father hasn’t brought up his daughter well, Ahana.

She always knew how to shut me up. I would do anything for Pāpa and when she brought in the embarrassment he would have to face and the risk to his weakening health, I did shut up.

Forty per cent Ahana. That’s all he has of his heart function.

We had never got along, Maa and I. But that day, she proved her shrewdness.

Again and again for every day that passed.

She brought it up, constantly, until it was a ceaseless pinch on my skin.

A pounding thump in my head, more prominent than my own heartbeat.

Pāpā had an ejection fraction of forty per cent.

Indication of heart failure. Avoiding stress was a matter of life and death.

I had allowed it all to happen. I’d been chaperoned all my life. I’d never been allowed to be with anyone but family. Then they gave me away, just like that, to a stranger with dazzling bio-data. On paper. They left me unprotected. Alone with him.

They had been wrong. I’d gone through this a million times in my head.

Let those wheels churn with every action and reaction.

Each time, I came to only one conclusion.

I wanted a redo. There was nothing I wanted more in my life than this.

Just one time. This time around, I wouldn’t change my mind.

This time around, when Pāpā came to my room and asked me if I was happy with the choice, I wouldn’t lie.

I’d tell him the truth, that I wasn’t happy, or at least go to my brothers and beg them to find me someone else.

Anyone, just not him. I’d be the perfect daughter.

I’d marry whoever they wanted me to. Just not the man I married because from day one, he made my skin crawl. Unfortunately, it wasn’t with yearning.

“Ugh…hello?”

I blinked and found Lia sprawled out on my bed. Well, her sister’s bed, who allegedly also had an arranged marriage and fell in love. With her husband.

“Sorry, what were you saying?”

She caught my eyes with a sympathetic smile. “You must miss your home, huh?”

My hand wrapped around my locket. I moved to the mirror.

It stood against one corner of my room next to the doorway to the bathroom.

I fussed with my hair, which didn’t need any fussing.

It was always straight and always neat. I shook it free, and it hit my back in an elegant, long trail.

I used the distraction to shrug away the panic seeping in my chest when I associated home with me.

London was out of the question, for obvious reasons, and it had never been home.

And Delhi separated me with lies and deception.

Don’t lie, Ahana. The web had already ensnared me.

I caught her curious eyes in the mirror and lied, “Not really.”

There was a time when home had been love and comfort.

A pang of disappointment sprang to life in my chest. They’d all decided he was the one for me.

Even Pāpā. Couldn’t he have asked me before the whole of Delhi had approved him for me?

I shrugged the weight of my past off and hoped Lia wouldn’t push for more information.

She didn’t. She was enthusiastic and friendly. But she felt the line, the one I stood behind, the protection I carried around me like armour, and even if she was curious, she didn’t push for information.

“You have stuff to do?”

Well, I was on the run and looking for a job. Because financial stability was a must when you were lying to both your husband and Pāpā. Other than that… “Not really.”

“Good.” She sat up on my bed. Her sister’s bed. “I’m sad, and I need cheering up.”

She was sitting cross-legged, rocking on the bed. She looked happy enough. “What’s wrong?”

“Daria was supposed to come over this weekend because it’s a long weekend in New York, but apparently she has to study.”

The lucky sister with the loving husband was allowed to study? How did some people end up with all the luck? “I’m sorry.”

“Honestly, I don’t think it’s the exams.”

“Oh?”

“Lorenzo is so obsessed with her. The man probably tied her to a bed or something.”

“What?” I croaked.

“They are always on each other, you know. They think I’m too young to notice, but I know what goes on.”

Her sister got into an arranged marriage, fell for her husband, was allowed to study, and he desired her? Someone kill me now.

“Anyway, now Mamma has time. She wants to teach me cooking, and I don’t want to learn how to cook boring food. I thought you could teach me to cook a curry.”

I laughed. “You’re weird. How’s Italian food boring?”

She shrugged, a slight twinge of colour appearing on her cheeks.

I walked gingerly to the bed and looked at her earnestly. “Do you have any idea how extensive Indian food is? You’ll be stuck in the kitchen for hours.”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s delicious. Besides,” she paused guiltily, casting her eyes towards the door. “Mamma needs cheering up. I think she’s upset with Vitale.”

I frowned. I hadn’t known Ada for long. But the woman brought me, a stranger, into her home and kept me safe.

My loyalty was very much undeniable. She was also where similarities ended with my family.

She was what a mother should be. She defended her children.

From the way she was with Lia and the conversations I heard with Daria, I wanted her to adopt me.

“Maybe we can cheer her up by learning how to cook your boring food?” I suggested to Lia’s violent shake of her head.

“Nah. Vitale can fix it himself.”

Well, that was the extent of her sacrifice. Not everyone can be expected to put their life on hold for family.

I thought Ada had another daughter, but I didn’t know for sure. I avoided asking too many questions because I never knew when they would be turned back on me. Most times, it was a pity, though, because I was a curious person. But Lia caught the question in my gaze and misunderstood it.

“She’s just annoyed that Vitale doesn’t visit us more.”

Vitale, the son that I’d heard whispers about.

Apparently, he was also the don of the Cosa Nostra, as they called it.

Minor point for some perhaps, but major for me.

That was like one of those big red flags on the beach that helped kids find their way.

Except this one should make you run for your life.

I picked up bits and pieces about him during this week.

As if it wasn’t enough that Lia called her brother a control freak and Ada had a weird look on her face when his name came up, the family and the help had plenty of things to talk about.

A young don that everyone had expected to crumble in his shoes.

But he’d apparently taken over like a duck to water.

I pretended not to hear the quiet conversations in the house.

But when one cousin was talking about the don of the Cosa Nostra setting fire to some Albanian’s house because that man was the reason his father was dead, well, obviously, I leaned in closer to listen.

I was a smart girl, but still curious enough to risk it.

I’d thought that was bad enough until I heard that said Albanian and some of his goons had been inside the house when he set fire to it.

I’d thought Rajesh was evil, but this man might bring evil to a whole new level. Given the reputation that followed the man, the respect but also the fear that coated his cousins’ voices when they spoke about him, I couldn’t say I was disappointed that I hadn’t set eyes on him yet.