Page 157 of Vows of a Mobster

Declan’s eyes met mine. There was disbelief in them. “No wonder she gives off that princess vibe. A ballerina too, huh?”

I wouldn’t discuss my wife with him.

“My point is that I believe her mother is orchestrating all this with the goal of causing this war and getting easier access to my wife.”

I could see Declan thinking it over. “It seems extreme but plausible. Especially since one of her assassins tried to pin it on the Irish. The question is how is she pulling it off? It would take someone with good connections to our world to accomplish this.”

“Agreed.” It was the same thing that bothered me. “But I can’t discount it. And I don’t want my people nor your people dying for a greedy bitch like that.”

“I can send one of my men to eliminate her,” Declan suggested.

“She’s hiding,” I spat out agitated.

“You were going to have her killed,” Declan stated in surprise. “Does Brianna know?”

“No.”Fuck, no.She had enough to worry about with Emma going through her treatments. Brianna didn’t care about her mother, but I knew she’d resent me if I killed her. So it would be a secret I’d take to the grave with me. Her mother was a threat that wouldn’t be tolerated.

A cell phone buzz had us all glancing at our phones.

“Excuse me,” Declan muttered answering his phone but I wasn’t paying attention to him anymore.

Brianna was calling me. “Amore,” I answered.

I noticed Antonio answered his phone too. “Daphne, slow down,” he ordered her.

“Mateo,” Brianna was crying hysterically. A dread knotted in the pool of my stomach. It wasn’t a coincidence all our phones rang at the same time.

“What happened?” I asked her in a cold voice while fury and fear mixed in my blood.

“They- they took Emma and Giovanni,” her voice shook, my guilt wrenching me on the inside. I should have been with her.

“Who?” I would kill them, kill them all.

“One of Declan’s brothers,” she was sobbing hard. “They shot Lorenzo in his arm. The other guy was knocked unconscious. Right outside the hospital.”

Red rage swam through my brain. I was on Declan, before another thought passed through my brain. I still held the phone with my left hand, while my left elbow pressed against his neck, pressing against it and the gun in my right, pressed against his head.

“Did you fucking know?” I growled at him.

He had phone pressed to his ear. Antonio was on his brother before he could do something stupid.

“You better fucking tell me now or I’ll blow your fucking brains out,” I vowed, my voice promising punishment that I would delight in giving.

I heard Marissa’s voice yelling through his headset.

“Mateo, what are you doing?” My wife’s whimpering voice reached through my own headset. “Who are you yelling at?”

“Stay at the hospital,” I ordered her. “I’m coming for you.”

“Who are you yelling at?” she asked again, through a sobbing voice. It hurt my chest to hear her cry.

“Go inside the hospital and find a room with the girls. Lock yourself in it,” I told her again. “I’m coming for you.”

Fifty-Six

Marissa

“How could you betray me like this?” I screamed through the phone at Declan.