My Mafia Madness 3

Chapter 13 - A Priceless Reaction

‘Holy s**t, holy s**t, holy s**t… is this really happening right now?’ Alexa thought to herself as the crowd surrounding them gasped incredibly loudly, together as one.

The sound of her heartbeat ‘thudded’ loudly, over and over again within her head; the only sound Alexa could hear in that moment as she stood paralysed in the middle of the stage.

Right there before her was none other than the incredibly famous billionaire Dante Romano, currently kneeling down, and in his hand was a small black velvet box with golden embroidery on it.

The box although currently closed, had two letters embroided on the lid and Alexa noticed them right away amidst her shocked state.

‘H.W’ – ‘Harry Winston!’

Whatever was waiting for her inside was undoubtedly worth a small fortune, according to the name label on the outside of the box in Dante’s large hand.

‘What the hell is he doing?’ she wondered as her heartrate increased steadily.

Suddenly Alexa found it difficult to breathe as the realisation finally hit; the realisation of what was happening.

‘Was he… no. He wouldn’t… not here, like this.’

As Dante spoke again, still into the microphone as he stared deeply into Alexa’s chocolate brown eyes, he spoke from the heart, as if they were the only two people in the room right now.

“You bring me to life, Alexa. You possess a kindness and compassion for others unlike anyone I have ever met. You are always there for me, even in my most difficult times. I’ve never felt this way before, not about anyone…”

He paused his speech, focusing instead on using both hands to open the velvet box to reveal the stunning piece waiting inside.

‘Oh… my… f*****g… God!’ Alexa thought to herself as her eyes widened to a ridiculous size and her mouth gaped open wide.

She couldn’t believe what was happening right now.

Not only that, but the glistening twelve-carat, oval-shaped diamond ring staring back at her was ridiculously HUGE, nestled safely within the expensive designer velvet box in his hand.

“Oh my god…” she muttered softly from behind her hands.

“Alexa Myers… will you do me the honour of making me the luckiest man in the world?” Dante asked his question, speaking into the microphone as he held out the ring box in his free hand.

“Will you be my wife?”

The crowd seemed to silence once more, as if they may possibly miss hearing Alexa’s response if they made a sound right now.

But the truth was, Alexa too felt herself silence completely; not even a breath passed through her mouth as she stood staring down at the unbelievably romantic man kneeling before her.

Dante had certainly surprised her with this, that was for sure!

And as everyone waited on the edge of their seats for her to announce her response, none were more eager to hear it than the mighty Reaper himself.

A small part of him seemed worried that she may refuse him here and now, in front of everyone watching on.

It would of course embarrass him, but he wouldn’t hold Alexa to heart over it.

The choice, after all, was hers and hers alone.

After what felt like ages for everyone, especially Dante, Alexa’s brows furrowed inwards as tears glistened her warm brown eyes to life.

A large smile formed on her face and right away, Dante knew his answer as he saw it reflected back at him in her eyes.

“Yes, Dante…” she finally announced, holding back tears.

“Of course, I will.”

The crowd went straight into uproar, as did Dante’s heart.

Clapping, cheering, whistling and yelling out their excitement for the happy couple standing before them on the stage.

And with his answer, at long last, the Reaper finally felt the ability to exhale his concerns away and close his eyes for a moment of relief before reopening them again to look up at her.

His beautiful new fiancé.

A large, pleased smile graced his handsome face as the Don quickly moved to stand back up in front of her, just as Alexa reached out and grasped either side of his face, surprising him with her forwardness.

Within seconds she had pulled him in for a deep and passionate kiss, right there in front of the entire world as the two were filled with heightened emotions and excitement for their shared future together.

Now that the two were officially engaged!

Dante’s tongue danced about inside Alexa’s open mouth, coaxing hers into submission as their lips crashed hard against one another’s, between passionate and possessive kisses.

Alexa could feel as Dante’s free hand moved to wrap around her waist, pulling her in firmly against his front as he pulled apart from her to break the kiss and instead look into her tear-filled eyes.

“I love you, bella.” he whispered to her, so that only she could hear him.

No microphone.

It wasn’t necessary, and likely that with the roar of the crowd right now, possibly wouldn’t be heard at all anyway.

“Ti amo di più.” (I love you more.)” she whispered back to him in perfect Italian, causing Dante’s eyes to widen and his brows to lift high up onto his forehead in surprise.

Right before the two shared one final kiss.

-

With the hard part of his evening out of the way, Dante felt elated as he walked his new fiancé down the stairs and back over towards his waiting brothers and men.

Everyone there was cheering for their Don with happiness and excitement as the couple returned to the roped off area they had reserved for the remainder of the concert.

And Alexa felt as if she couldn’t get rid of her smile, no matter how hard she tried to.

Her face was beginning to hurt from all of the smiling she had been doing!

Strangely enough, Dante too was smiling a lot as he came over and shook hands with Nicola before embracing his brothers, one at a time in congratulations.

“I knew you had it in you, bro!” Roberto complimented his brother, patting him on the back.

“You’re a very lucky man.” Matteo added, a large smile on his face as well.

As Dante was being congratulated, Willow had Alexa off to the side as the two hugged and squealed together like school girls.

The red head wasted no time grabbing her bestie’s hand and lifting it up to closely examine the ring that the billionaire had chosen for her.

And what a ring it was!

“f**k me dead!”

Willow’s choice of words clearly not everyone’s cup of tea. But it was who she was and how she spoke.

“This thing is massive, Lex!”

Alexa looked down at the ring, finally getting more of a chance to take a look herself.

Amidst all of the pressure of being up on stage and speaking in front of all of those people, she hadn’t taken the time to have a close enough look at the ring she was now wearing on her ring finger.

As soon as her chocolate brown eyes landed on it, she felt the air sucked out of her lungs.

“It’s beautiful.” she muttered in disbelief.

“Of course it is!” Willow countered with a smirk.

“Dante frickin Romano bought it for you! That man has always had class, girl.”

“Oh my god, Will! I can’t believe what just happened!” Alexa announced, chuckling happily.

“You better believe it! You’re going to be Mrs. Dante Romano… HOLY f*****g s**t!”

Both girls squealed happily, hugging once more as they shared such a special moment with one another.

And as the congratulations continued amongst the group, the concert was back underway with the final performer coming out onto the stage for their two scheduled songs before the evening was set to conclude.

But it wasn’t just any old act.

This one was special… just for Alexa.

It had taken Dante many weeks and an obscene amount of money to organise their appearance here this evening, but in the end, he felt it would be worth it just to see the look on his beautiful woman’s face when she found out.

And that was about to happen, any second now…

The lights suddenly darkened until the stadium area was almost completely black and the soft haze of smoke formed out from the floor of the stage as bright red neon lights began to illuminate.

The crowd began to cheer with anticipation, drawing Alexa and Willow’s attention towards whoever was about to perform.

And a knowing Dante grinned as he watched his woman, waiting for her reaction.

Something far more priceless than any money or wealth that he possessed.

The sound of a jewellery box dancing ballerina sounded over the speakers, suddenly fading out and into a crescendo of electric guitar and drums, signalling the beginning of the first song they would perform, “Better Without You”.

And the song opened with a bang.

“Stand in the front but shut up ’till I tell you to go…”

The female voice sang, immediately alerting Alexa, causing her eyes to almost bug out of her skull as she stood upright and staring ahead at the stage.

“What?” she whispered to herself in disbelief and shock.

“And don’t get caught up in pretend ’cos you’re not in control…” the voice continued.

“No way, no way, NO WAY!”

Alexa squealed as her brown eyes searched the darkness of the stage for evidence of her beliefs.

She needed to see it to believe it could even be possible.

There was no way that it could be… right?

‘But it sounded just like… like…’

Suddenly the stage began to illuminate as the chorus started and Alexa felt her heart go into overdrive with an excitement she had never felt before.

“As empires fall to pieces… our ashes twisting in the air… it makes me smile to know that… I’m better without you!”

It was as if Alexa had fallen asleep and woken up in the middle of one of her most incredible dreams.

But it wasn’t a dream… it was totally real!

Unable to control her happiness, Alexa and Willow both jumped up and down in excitement as they too, like everyone else there at the concert, cheered for more.

They knew who it was playing for them right now and they couldn’t believe it!

And from where he stood, Dante got exactly what he paid for with Alexa’s bewildered reaction to her final surprise for the evening.

As right there in front of her was none other than the American rock band famously known as Evanescence, ready to rock Madison Square Garden!

And standing right in the middle of the smoky stage with the microphone in her hand, the amazing vocalist, Amy Lee!

Within seconds the entire stadium was in an uproar as Evanescence took control of the evening in their usually exciting way.

And Alexa had never been happier in her entire life!

-

Currently standing up on the VIP balcony, Vincenzo (aka. Nicholas Valentino) had just received a text message from one of his men working on the floor down below.

He lifted the screen up and read what it said silently to himself as his men waited patiently for him by the balcony door.

The text message read…

‘Eyes on target. Ready to separate. Meet in agreed upon location in 15.’

To most people, a text coded like this would not mean much, but to Vincenzo it made total sense.

In fact, it was instructing him to start making his way downstairs towards their agreed upon location for what would take place next.

It would appear that his fake persona of Nicholas Valentino had a job to do.

A part to play, so to speak.

And just like the international rock band playing right now down on the stage, Nicholas would also give the performance of his life...