Page 7 of Runaway in the Mafia (The shadows of Cosa Nostra Chronicles #3)

CHAPTER FOUR

AHANA

H ey Bhagwan!

The simple grasp of English and ‘oh my God’ evaded me.

I stared at the shut door for nine crawling heartbeats.

It took him that long to move away from the door.

His fading footsteps echoed through my chest. The further he stepped away, the faster my pulse beat.

My heart picked up from its frozen death to panic flight.

He had been in my space. Touching me with vulgar words falling from his lips.

There was no doubt in my mind as to who that was. Vitale Di Matteo. Lia called her brother controlling. Ada’s reaction whispered that her son was pure evil. I couldn’t say they were wrong, didn’t know him well enough to, but my God, they’d forgotten to mention the drop-dead gorgeous part.

Shit! My knees gave way, and I collapsed on to the bed. Evil or not, it was definitely a crime to look like that. Someone better put that man behind bars because he was a danger to womankind.

There were plenty of good genes in this house. Lia, her mama, her cousins. If you left the uncles aside with their pot bellies and sleezy looks. But this man. Hey Bhagwan! With a groan, I fell back onto the bed.

He was the kind of handsome that made you rip your heart out and shove it under his shoes in the hope that he would look twice at you.

He was all tousled, just out of bed, thick brown hair and a chiselled jaw.

Adding tanned skin and a muscular body in a suit would have already been overboard.

Then he had to have those eyes. Hazel bordering on green, and when he’d looked at me, he’d pulled me in.

He’d made me forget that I had a brain. The heat of his fingers still burned in the valley between my breasts.

A flame which... I glanced down... shit.

There was a burn mark on my towel. His damn cigar had cut through and I hadn’t even noticed?

This was not good.

No.

Not going to happen.

Something had snapped in my brain. Because what I should have felt was fear. A man had been in my room. I should have been repulsed.

He was definitely all man. He’d had an upper lip half the size of his lower lip.

Not going there.

Surrounded with a sexy scruff. It hadn’t been too thick nor too thin. I wondered what it would—

No. I jumped off the bed. Control your vulgar thoughts, Ahana.

I didn’t have time for this. Getting my life back in order should be my only priority.

It must have been the unexpected encounter.

Yes. That was it. When was the last time I was so vulnerable before a man?

The knot in my stomach strained with memories.

A reminder of the exact reason I should stay away from men.

Betrayal and broken promises. Locked rooms and harsh words.

Fear gushed into my bloodstream. Invaded my mind until my ears burned with my frantic heartbeat.

Even worse was the physical pain. How could I still feel it?

The stinging pain across my cheek, a thick tear on my knee, or the arm that never really recovered once it was broken.

I would never, ever put myself in a vulnerable position before a man again.

Soul sucking eyes or not. Because that man was nothing but trouble.

I stayed in my room for three hours. When Lia knocked for breakfast, I said I wasn’t hungry.

My initial confusion had shifted into something else.

A fear that I was vulnerable before him.

Going out of my room while he was in the house wasn’t an option.

He’d leave soon enough, and then it would be safe.

Coward.

It wasn’t cowardice. I was being smart.

It wasn’t like I sat still and thought about him or how his Adam’s apple had bobbed in his throat or his jaw had tightened when he’d pulled me close.

I had worked. Added the final touches to my resume and written the accompanying letter to send with it.

Then I did the biggest task on my mile long to-do list. Admittedly, the most rewarding one.

I pressed send. One click was all it took.

For the first time in my twenty-four years, I was applying for a job.

Not purely because of a passion, but because of necessity.

So the secrets could stay hidden and the lies could be perpetuated.

Just until I could find a solution. There had to be one. I was sure of it.

It took the lack of breakfast and my stomach rumbling to pull me downstairs. I should have probably come earlier to help Ada. Being lazy wasn’t something I could indulge in. But I had a good excuse. Working on my resume. Not avoiding someone.

My bare footsteps were light as I neared the kitchen with voices filtering out.

Sergio, Lia’s cousin, was here. So were Sara and Lara, his sisters.

Not the coward in me, but the smart woman, leaned against the wall just before the open doorway and listened, but I didn’t hear the low, smooth voice that had made my stomach coil with an unfamiliar tension.

After five minutes of listening, my shoulders straightened.

The agitation I had been feeling for no reason vacated me. He had left.

I turned the corner and took two steps into the kitchen before I realised my mistake. With his back to me, he leaned on his fists on the table and stood across from Sergio. A flutter of nerves swirled in my stomach. His shoulders stiffened into a tight line as if he, too, felt my presence.

For a few awkward beats, I froze before I backtracked out of there.

“Ahana, where are you off to?” No. Don’t do that. Sergio ignored my silent plea. “Come in. You’ve not met Vitale yet, have you?”

Shit. The three girls seated at the end of the table tipped their heads in curiosity. Lia’s gaze was wary, which would have been a bad sign if I hadn’t already met her brother. Now that I had, I knew he was just a devil in a suit who apparently wanted to fuck me.

For a second, running away seemed like a good option. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t done before. But then it had been for a far worse cause than fearing soul sucking eyes. Still, I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that this man was going to mess with my already chaotic life.

Woman up, Ahana.

But my feet wouldn’t move. It was as if time itself decided to freeze and indulge.

He turned in slow motion, like he’d heard my inner thoughts.

With his hip resting on the table, he let his gaze drift over me before he brushed a smirk off his lips.

Was he challenging me? My mood flipped. I bristled like a porcupine.

Caution gave way to determination. I didn’t like anyone underestimating me.

I forced my feet to move, but my plastic smile and the hello on my lips froze when he said, “We’ve met.”

Shit.

His rough voice bubbled under my skin. Now, drop that towel and rock up to me, burned between us.

It took me a heartbeat to yank my gaze from his magnetic pull to beyond him. The insinuation in his words was heavy. It was reflected in the girls’ faces. No. I screamed internally. Externally, my eyes flickered back to him, and I roasted him under my glare.

Lia’s “oh” came together with Sara’s “how so?”

My mind clambered, trying to come up with something, anything, that I could use to rectify my reputation with this family while my insides silently burned hot.

He was completely unaffected. Ignored everyone as if we were the only ones in the room.

Yet another arrogant bastard.

“Ahana, huh?”

Hey Bhagwan! He said my name like we’d just tousled under the sheets. It sounded dangerously inappropriate, falling from his lips. I shouldn’t let it bother me. I didn’t even know why it sent a ripple of unease through me.

“Yes.”

He cocked a brow. “Didn’t catch a surname.”

“Didn’t give you one.”

The room went silent. Deadly. Belatedly, I thought I should probably not have talked back to the don of the Mafia.

He thought the same. I was sure of it. His brow furrowed in thought... of killing me? I couldn’t bear to hold his dark gaze. I tried. I lost. My eyes dropped. His hands went to his pockets, and the fabric of his pants stretched taut on his solid thighs.

“Is that how it’s going to be?”

His voice was light, but there was a tightness to it he didn’t bother to conceal.

It sounded very much like an ultimatum. I didn’t do well with them.

Not the new Ahana, anyway. I shrugged. I wasn’t giving him or anyone else my surname.

And I wasn’t lying. I’d done enough of that.

What was he going to do? Kill me? That might be the solution to all my troubles.

But the panicked flutter in my chest said I wasn’t going to like it.

Either way, I didn’t have to find out. I’d warmed my way into Lia’s heart, and she proved something alien to me.

She had my back. Jumping off her chair, she ran up to him and wrapped her arm around his.

“Oh come on, Vitale, stop intimidating her. Keep your moodiness away from Ahana.” He was tall, but next to her, he looked colossal, even when he was half sitting on the table.

But his jackass attitude cartwheeled at her words as he gave her a soft laugh and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in.

“Fine. I’ll play nice,” he said. Then he turned and mouthed the words above her head to me. For now.

VITALE

Fuck this woman! I knew her for the whole of a few hours.

Well, a week and a few hours if you counted when Mamma told me about her ward.

And I was fucking counting. I’d not given it much thought.

I’d thought ‘ward’ as in Oliver Twist with a bowl of porridge in his hands.

But this ward was female. Sexy and soft.

She smelled like sin, and she looked like heaven.

And fuck me. I’d only seen her hair piled up.

When she let it down, it was long, black and silky and it touched her ass.

To hide the urge to fist my hand in it and yank, I had to bury them deep in my pockets.

She was seated three meters away from me on the other end of the table with the girls.

She should be wallpaper, but instead of fading away, she fascinated me.

She piqued my cold heart with curiosity.

Somehow, somewhere, a spark fired up when it should have remained as dusted ash.

This girl was trouble. That was a sure fact.

The idea alone that I’d never been happier about Mamma’s long table until now, proved it.

But that fragrance she wore didn’t care for barriers, bridging the distance and wafting into my nostrils.

What on earth is that scent? It was fucking intoxication.

I wanted it all over my black satin sheets on my bed.

With that silky hair spread all over it.

Fuck. My molars ground as I yanked my gaze away.

What the fuck, Vitale.

I’d known she’d stepped into the room long before Sergio’s words trailed off.

After all, isn’t that what I’d been waiting for?

Instead of going home, giving up on my moron cousin, I’d walked into the kitchen and smoked two fucking cigars while I’d waited for him.

You’d think I would have come to my senses when he arrived.

No. I hung around. Waiting. The moment her fragrance filtered through the doorway, I knew I should have gone home.

Then my jackass cousin’s words trailed off, and I decided I didn’t like the look in his eyes.

So I stuck around. For her protection. It was purely because of that.

Didn’t have anything to do with the pulse in my groin every time the fucking spaghetti slipped through those mocha lips.

There was a fascination in watching her lick Bolognese sauce from the corner of her lip using the tip of her tongue. I didn’t realise my mistake until a groan rumbled from my throat.

“What?” The conversation dropped, and Lia’s curious gaze found mine.

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. “Forgot something.”

I waited for the chatter to restart about Sara’s impending wedding before I flicked my eyes open and met Sergio’s knowing grin. “Don’t,” I bit out.

He held his hands up. “Hey, I said nothing.”

My lips thinned.

He gave an innocent chuckle. “All I’m saying is better wait a while before you stand up.”

“Don’t make up shit.”

“Right.” His gaze travelled to the brown temptation across the table, and I wanted to claw at his eyes. “Ahana?”

“Yeah?”

Her voice sounded different from when she spoke to me. It sounded calm and... normal. When she spoke to me, it was edgy, tight, breathy... and I needed to get back home.

“How’s the job hunting going?”

My eyes darted to her. “What the fuck do you need a job for?”

The chatter stopped. Her eyes went twice their size on her face, like she couldn’t believe I’d said that. I couldn’t believe I’d said that. Yes. Women didn’t work in the Cosa Nostra . But she wasn’t in it, so why would I care? Repeat after me. Ward. Ward. Ward.

“I don’t know…” she mused, “Probably the same reason women wanted to vote? So we actually used our brains instead of pretending we didn’t have one so men could feel superior?”

Well fuck me.

Next to her, Lia turned red, and Lara looked like she might choke to death. Sergio actually choked, trying to hide his laugh.

Talking back wasn’t something she was used to doing.

I could tell by the way her fingertips clutched nervously at the locket around her neck.

She had balls for even trying. I’d give her that.

Unlike the girls in the Cosa Nostra , who were too scared to even think with a made man in the room.

Rightly so, too. A lesson she should learn. Sooner rather than later.

Words fell out of my mouth. A threat clear in their tone.

“Disrespect me one more time and I’ll show you what your brains can be used for.

” Lia’s face lost all shades of colour. I ignored it.

“And it won’t be for fucking working.” Too much?

But since I’d started anyway, “And girls in this family don’t work.

I don’t know what you are running away from, but you are under our protection.

That means you don’t work.” Her glare was murderous.

I ignored it. Ignored Sergio’s knowing grin, and the girls’ shocked gazes, too.

Didn’t care for any of that. “You’d better not let me find you’ve crossed my words. ”

Annoyance brewed at my temples. Fuck this girl. She was giving me a headache.

Runaway girl.

Yes. That worked better. Runaway girl.