Page 183 of Vows of a Mobster

“Losing your cool.”

“Believe it or not,” I muttered under my breath, “never. I never even had my heartbeat speed up. Till Brianna. With her, all my reason flies out the window. That fucking mother of hers-”

“We’ll get her,” he said, squeezing my shoulder. “All my men will help too. Emma is my family also.”

My phone buzzed, Antonio’s message signaling he had the women out of the building.

Sixty-Three

Brianna

Something was happening and I had no clue what. Daphne seemed fidgety from the very moment she met me in Mateo’s office. When I questioned her whether they found the church they wanted to get married in, she mumbled they might just do a garden wedding ceremony. Antonio was constantly around me and Emma, instead of shadowing Mateo. Declan was acting more like our bodyguard than Emma’s uncle. Marissa seemed as clueless as I was although she noticed tensions running high as well.

And Mateo! He was so tense, I thought he’d snap any second. After asking him several times what was wrong, and him telling me everything was great, I finally stopped asking. But something was definitely wrong. Everybody was on high alert, including Giovanni.

When I asked whether Emma and I could take a quick drive to the cottage to grab a few more things we left at my place, you’d think I'd requested to go into a warzone. I had a feeling Mateo wanted to refuse it but hated telling me no. So there were now three men outside and three inside guarding us.

“This is ridiculous,” I muttered under my breath for the hundredth time. Emma, Marissa, and I were playing Duplo legos on the living room floor. It was lunch time, so we took a little break. We’d grab and pack a few extra items after lunch. I figured since we were here, we might as well grab as much as we can.

“They are just trying to do their job,” Daphne justified them. She kept pacing around and then looking out the window. Her fidgeting was putting me on the edge.

Marissa and I threw her a suspicious glance. She had been doing this for days now ever since we all met at Mateo’s office. I was surprised they didn’t insist on going into the bathroom with me.

“Daphne, would you sit down?” I recommended, in a low voice. Whatever was bothering her, I wanted to help her but didn’t know how.

“Antonio should be here in a bit,” she murmured as if that made sense why she was pacing around like a caged animal.

“Do you want a glass of wine?” I offered, although it was barely noon.

“No, that’s okay.”

“I’ll take a glass of wine,” Marissa jumped in.

I threw her a sideway glance. “Are you sure you need it?” I teased her in a dry tone.

She just grinned. “Yes.”

“Okay. I’ll go fix lunch for everyone and some wine for Marissa.”

“Mommy, can I go in the backyard?” Emma chimed in. “I want to play on the swing.”

“Give me a minute so I can get lunch ready.”

“I’ll go with her,” Marissa offered. “Meet us in the back.”

“Thanks.”

I stood up and headed into the kitchen. I could hear men speaking in hushed tones in the hallway. They must have had the front door opened, because I heard Lorenzo’s voice who opted to watch the front yard.

I started preparing lunch for everyone, including the men that protected us. I found that I liked feeding them. Since Mateo’s cook came back from her vacation, she mostly prepared all the meals. She had been cooking for Mateo for the past twenty years and took her job seriously. I only dared venture into the kitchen on her days off.

It was a miracle how much things had changed over the last month. I couldn’t be happier despite the tensions. I had a big family, my daughter was enroute to a perfect recovery, my husband loved me, and I was crazy about him.

And I was finally opening my own ballet school! Mateo already had some properties lined up for us to take a look at. I couldn’t believe he was willing to invest into it. I accepted it with a small condition, that he’d let me pay him back every cent with interest. He gave me a strange look when I announced that condition.

All of this seemed unreal. I could burst from happiness, but in the back of my head, something kept nagging me that whatever was causing these tensions could jeopardize my hard-earned happiness.

I popped the cork, the loud noise making me jump. I laughed out loud at myself. The sudden noise of opening a wine bottle always scared the crap out of me. Precisely the reason I didn’t watch horror movies.