One more chapter guys. Will you miss Em and Dante?
All eyes turn on me as I enter the abandoned warehouse. It reminds me of the one I went to on the day before I got married. Dirty floor, broken windows, and a thick musty smell. I count seven guys in total sitting or leaning around a rectangular table. Not many. I can handle them. A gun is faster than... Wait, where's my gun? I carried it, didn't I? Fuck, fuck, Dante's going to kill me for coming here without a weapon. That is if these guys don't do it first. Shit, what was I thinking? How could I... My internal dialogue is cut short as I trip over my feet and I'm launched forward, my arms flailing in all directions trying to find something to hold on to. Of course, there's nothing. I'm in an open space and I go down, face-planting the floor in front of men I'm supposed to threaten. Way to go, EmilianaAnd ew. Did my mouth connect with the floor? Huffing in annoyance, I get up, brushing the dirt off my hands, face, and jeans. All this while no one says a thing. I expected them to lau
"WHERE IS HE? Dante, you fucking bastard. Show your face" "She looks mad. What did you do?" Sal asks watching the feed from over my shoulder. "Fuck if I know" Javier sent me a message telling me she'd left the house looking like a mad woman. I had every intention of cutting off his fingers later when I arrived home but now that I'm looking at Emiliana, I have no choice but to agree with him. She definitely looks like a mad woman. Her hair is sticking out in different directions and... She's still in her pajamas. Did she come to The Cloud in her sleepwear? Fuck. I look at Sal to see if he feels the sense of foreboding slowly filling the room. I swear it's almost tangible. What the fuck did I do? I'm sure I put down the toilet seat and I made her breakfast before I left. Did she not like it? "She's coming up. I'm going to leave you guys alone so you can talk it out" he says heading to the door with a smirk "Emiliana, looking lovely as..." "Go back inside" the steely command has Sa
"I'm the fucking boss. My word is the law now. If I decide to cancel these Sunday dinners, who has the guts to stop me?" Eugenio and Sergio glance at each other and then burst out laughing. Fuckers. They work for me now and I sign their checks but they have the nerve to laugh in my face. We'll see how much longer they'll continue doing that. Especially after I deduct their payment for being insolent little shits "While you're busy laughing, just remember that I'm the one in charge of your bank accounts" "No offense, boss but this isn't something you can decide on your own" "Why the fuck not? I hate attending these things" they're just an excuse for the elders to rip into me. They'll find the smallest faults and pretend that if they were in my position, they could have done better. Truth is, they don't know shit. They don't know what it's like to make a decision that could impact thousands of lives. When papa was still alive, I used to admire how he ran everything. He made it seem s
"This is insane" "Check out six o'clock" I follow Elena's hand and immediately shake my head "No, thank you. Next" "Why not? He's hot" "I'm afraid that if he twists his hand one more time, his wrist will fall off. Like we get it asshole. You're wearing an expensive watch" "Fine. How about three o'clock" I nudge her in the ribs. She gives in and laughs "I wouldn't want his hands anywhere near me either" "He should be taking care of his grandkids. Why the fuck is he here?" "Do you think he can get it up?" "Elena!" I admonish but we dissolve into a fit of laughter. I don't even want to know if he can get it up or not. As women from the mafioso, we are required to maintain our virginity until we get married. If my father catches wind of me being here, in a strip club, he'll skin me alive. But since he's on a trip, Elena, my cousin, convinced me to do something daring. She's crazy but I'm crazier. Her idea was to come to the strip club and get a lap dance.
"... marriage" I must be deaf. I want to be deaf and dumb and probably dead so I don't have to hear what my father is saying. Damn my rotten luck. Should have known he was going to find out about us being in Vernetti territory. I know Danillo didn't tell him. He wouldn't rat me out even though he was pretty pissed when he got back. He gave me an earful about what happens to girls who don't listen then went on to explain what would have happened to us if we'd been caught by Vernetti assholes. That was three days ago. I've spent most of the time thinking about him and what we did. My fucked up brain even managed to convince me to go back to that strip club and see if I could find him. I don't know who he is or even how he looks but I'd totally be on board if he was the guy I'm marrying. Not that old fucker Romeo. God, I hate him. And of course, I didn't go back.I remember the first time I met Romeo. I was ten and the way he looked at me made me shiver. Not in
I take one last look at myself in the mirror. My hair is straightened, part in the middle, and held at the nape of my neck loosely. My makeup is minimal. Only lipgloss and the dress I chose is conservative. A long-sleeved cream gown embellished with crystals along the waist. The skirt flows down to my feet where I exchanged my heels for flat shoes. Elena is always teasing me about how innocent I look at first glance then when someone spends a few minutes in my presence, they realize how nuts I am. Gotta thank my parents for giving me these looks because my future husband has no idea what he's getting himself into. I've never taken a soul. My father and brother are overprotective to the point where they'll cover my eyes so I don't see a corpse. Danillo is the only person who doesn't shield me. He tells me I have to be strong for the future. Right now, I regret not letting him train me. He'd offered to do it but my brother forbade him. Telling him it wasn't necess
Wedding dress. I've tried to figure out what that means since Valerio passed me the note but I haven't been able to decipher the message. What did he mean by wedding dress? I asked for poison. Something deadly and untraceable. Something that could make Romeo's death pass off as a heart attack or kidney failure or even dick failure. There have been cases where people took too much viagra and died. Maybe I should slip that in his drink during reception. Let everyone see how fast Mia can suck him off to relieve the tension. That plan puts a smile on my face. Anything that will end up making Romeo suffer makes me happy. And I can come up with different ways to torture his perverted ass but I don't have that luxury because I'm running out of time. So where the fuck is my poison? I've convinced myself that the only way I can go through with this is if I know for sure that man will die.Only a week is left before the wedding. Money ensures that my father or soon to b
"I don't want to go" "Get out of the car, Emiliana" "If you do this I will never forgive you. It's not too late papa" "People are waiting. Get out" he says impatiently. Tears swim at the edge of my eyes and I blink hard to stop them from falling. Not because I care about my makeup being smudged but because I can't show any weakness. Not even in front of my father. It's my wedding day and we've arrived at church. Funny how they insisted on a church wedding when everyone here is a sinner. That's the thing with sinners. They're the most pretenders. Exhibit A: my father. He goes to church every Sunday then turns around and sells drugs and weapons every other day. As if it's nothing. As if his business isn't responsible for millions of death across the world. As if he's never taken a life. I'm not saying I'm a saint. I mean, in just a few hours, I will be a murderer. Just like him and every man in that church. On this side of the world, I don't think there are any saints left except