My Mafia Madness 3

Chapter 25 - Calm and Confessed

The Gala Ball was being held at the prestigious Beekman Hotel, with an expected two hundred or more guests estimated in attendance there that night.

As it was a Romano Enterprises funded event, celebrating their thirty-first year of successful business, the entire lobby and Atrium of the hotel had been intricately decorated with countless fairy lights and decorations.

Large baubles hung down from the roof of the lobby, while a gigantic thirty-foot Christmas tree had been positioned right in the centre of the lobby, beautifully decorated with endless amounts of bright lights, colourful baubles and a large golden star nestled right at the top.

Large wrapped giftboxes scattered the floor beneath the massive tree, each with their own beautiful bows and ribbon.

The entire lobby looked like a winter wonderland.

Lyric-free Christmas music played on from the hotel’s speakers, giving the entire atmosphere a joyous and exciting feel.

Whoever had been in charge of decorating for the event had clearly done a magnificent job!

As it was now seven in the evening, guests had already started arriving and the lobby was a bustling centre of smiling faces and happy discussions as the luxuriously dressed attendees made their way through towards the grand ball room where their event would be held.

Each guest was surprised with a gift upon entry into the grand ball room, a small box gift wrapped with delicate silken ribbon.

Tonight was all about showing just how powerful Romano Enterprises had become in the three decades of business.

Not only in its wealth but also in its acquired connections.

Amongst the glittering crowd stepping inside was none other than Nicholas Valentino himself, accompanied by an unknown woman who practically hung from his shoulder the entire time.

A hired escort for the evening, she wore a long flowing red gown which left little to the imagination.

Nicholas however, had no interest in his newest arm candy, even as she continuously attempted to rub herself up against him whenever she got the chance.

He had other things on his mind right now. Far more important things than getting laid.

Everything had to go exactly to plan tonight.

His well-dressed men each stood close by, making sure that they appeared to blend into the crowd of party guests as they chatted and drank their fill.

Some flirting with the women they were busily chatting with, others entirely focused on their mission.

Nicholas (aka. Vincenzo) scanned the room, as if searching for the infamous power couple, Dante and Alexa.

But they had yet to arrive.

-

Holding her fiancé’s hand, Alexa could feel the inner tension radiating from him as Dante continued with his conversation over the phone he now had pressed up against his opposite ear.

He seemed concerned about something.

And of course, he was purposely speaking in Italian so that he did not worry Alexa too.

But the Don had no clue that his witty woman could now understand every single thing that he was saying in his supposedly private conversation.

She sat in silence, pretending to be none the wiser as Dante went on, his tone seeming somewhat panicked.

“Abbiamo bisogno di occhi su ogni singola stanza di quell’hotel. Questo è importante.” (We need eyes on every single room in that hotel. This is important.) the Don ordered.

He became silent for a moment as someone, Alexa assumed was Nicola, spoke on the other end of the line.

“Non rischierò di entrare lì cieco. Fallo fare!”(I will not risk going in there blind. Get it done!)

With that, he used the pad of his thumb to end the call and tucked his phone away into his jacket pocket, where he normally kept it.

A long sigh escaped his lips as he leaned back in his seat, still with Alexa’s hand in his.

And she could immediately tell that something wasn’t going to plan.

Being his loving partner, she decided to try and calm him. To bring some sort of reassurance to his raging mind.

Leaning in closer and pressing her shoulder up against his, she spoke with her head to the side, hoping that he would do the same to meet her gaze.

“You know, you look incredibly hot when you’re all flustered like this.” Alexa taunted with a smirk.

Surprised by her unexpected remark, Dante frowned and turned his head to the side, meeting her eyes in confusion before he noticed her smirk growing wider.

She was goading him.

With a growl and narrowing his eyes at her sass, the Don reached his free hand around and cupped the side of her face with it, pulling her in for a tender kiss.

But what started as a tender kiss quickly grew into something far more heated and filled with unquenchable need.

Before too long the two were locking lips, their tongues wrestling while hidden away within one another’s mouths.

The sounds of their pants and moans were all that could be heard in the back of the vastly empty limousine they were traveling to the hotel in together.

Nicolas sat in the front passenger seat, with Luca at the wheel, but their divider was up, giving the Don and his love preferred privacy for the duration of their trip.

And just when things were beginning to get all hot and heavy, the shrill sound of Dante’s ringtone sounded, piercing through the cloud of desire, and causing the couple to cease their facial assaults on one another.

With hooded eyes, Dante pursed his lips in frustration at being interrupted before he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone, answering it and lifting it up to his ear.

“Si?” (Yeah?)

A moment of silence as Dante listened, all the while staring directly into Alexa’s beautiful brown eyes.

The eyes he often found himself lost in.

Staring him dead in the eye, she bit her bottom lip, and he felt his c**k instantly harden from where it had been tucked away beneath his tuxedo pants.

“Bene.Non mi interessa quanto ci costa, assicurati solo che abbiamo occhi ovunque.Non ci possono essere errori stasera, capito?” (Good. I don’t care what it costs us, just make sure we have eyes everywhere. There can be no mistakes tonight, understood?)

And once more, the Don hung up and pocketed his phone.

“Is everything… alright?” Alexa suddenly found herself asking him, purely out of curiosity over why Dante had become so flustered by this all so suddenly.

Dante’s brows both lifted as soon as she had asked.

“Of course.” he spoke with confidence and a smile.

“Now… where were we?”

Leaning in with a deveiner smirk on his handsome face, Alexa found herself stopping him with her hand held out against his chest as she spoke.

“Dante… you’re doing it again.” she pointed out.

“Doing what?” he queried with a frown.

“Hiding things from me.”

His head lowered and he let out a sigh.

“I thought we agreed to be open and honest with one another. About everything.” Alexa tried prompting him to open up with a squeeze of her hand.

But Dante held firm.

“You know there will always be things that I can not divulge, even to you, bella.” he spoke in all seriousness, lifting his head to meet her eyes.

“It doesn’t mean that I love you any less.”

Alexa, closing her eyes for a moment, nodded her head in understanding.

It was true, there would always be things, horrible things that he would have to keep her from.

His world was dark, disturbing and filled with deceit on a daily basis. And he didn’t wish to scar her with such terrifying things, understandably.

“I get it. I do.” she finally spoke in admittance.

“It’s just something I have to try and get used to, that’s all. I’m still pretty new to this whole Mafia thing.”

He chuckled softly.

“You wouldn’t think that, not with everything you’ve been through. You are by far the strongest woman I have ever met.” he complimented her from the bottom of his growing heart.

Her brows furrowed inwards after hearing him admit this to her.

“Me?”

“Yes you.”

He replied almost immediately.

“You’re a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for, amore mio. I admire that about you. That and your innocence-”

“-Hey, I’m hardly innocent.” she cut in, her brows both lifting in challenge.

Once more he chuckled.

“Innocent to my world I mean, bella.” he went on to explain.

“Over the years I have lost count of the lives I have taken. Of the blood I have spilled, the hearts I have broken and the families I have been responsible for destroying. I honestly never again believed that I would be fortunate or deserving enough to every again feel anything after the despicable things that I have done.”

Alexa swallowed at his intensity here in this moment of his confession.

“What happened with Michelle, it destroyed a part of me. Froze my heart into a block of solid ice, so that I could never again feel that kind of pain…”

Tears began to well in the corners of his brilliant green eyes, but still he went on.

“I never thought I would deserve happiness, Alexa… not until I met you.”

“Dante…” she spoke, tears of her own welling up as she fought to hold them back.

“No, I need to confess this to you. I need you to know just how important you truly are to me. You and our son.” he admitted, now grabbing both of her hands in his as he looked deep into her eyes.

“I finally have a chance again to be happy. To have a family and share my life with a woman who drives me insane, in all the best possible ways.”

Alexa giggled, a tear rolling down her cheek.

“And when you agreed to become my wife that night at the concert, you made me the happiest I can ever recall being. To know that you wanted the same thing, a life shared with me. Even with everything that comes with… you chose to be with me.”

“Of course I would.” she cut in, frowning.

“I mean, yes, you’re a cold-blooded killer who does things that I probably shouldn’t even ask about. And that isn’t going to change anytime soon… and I accept that. Because I love you for who you are, Dante Romano…”

Dante smiled, lifting both her hands up to meet his waiting lips before he began placing kisses all over her skin, one after the other.

“I always have.” she added, tilting her head slightly to the side with a smile of her own.

Her chocolate brown eyes glistened with her tears, as did his emerald shaded ones.

And it was in that very moment alone that the Don was completely certain that he had found his perfect match.

The woman who was right for him in every single way.

He felt like the luckiest man on the face of the planet.

Releasing both her hands, Dante lifted both his hands up and cupped either side of her face, using the pads of his thumbs to wipe away her stray tears.

And when she was perfect once again, he went to lean in for another kiss…

But the car suddenly came to a stop and the already blinding sight of camera flashes just outside the opposite car window had the pair turning to see.

They had arrived.

Taking a deep breath into her lungs to try and console herself, preparing for the crazed frenzy of press waiting for them just outside, Alexa exhaled a shaky breath and Dante immediately noticed.

“Hey, relax bella.”

He spoke with a smooth, confident tone to his voice as he gave her a comforting smile and brushed her left cheek with his right thumb.

“Let’s go in there and blow them away…” he mused.

“I want to show these stuck-up aristocrats just how lucky I am to have such a smoking-hot fiancé.”

With a confident smile, Alexa nodded her head.

And right as she did, the backseat door to the limo was promptly opened by a well-dressed Nicola who stood tall and patiently waiting for his Capo to emerge.

Sliding smoothly out of the limousine, the powerful CEO and billionaire’s dashing smile appeared almost instantly as he came to stand on the side of the curb, turning and waving towards the sea of flashing cameras and waiting microphones.

His look radiated great wealth as he stood in his well-polished black Italian loafers, nodding and waving to the people gathered outside of the hotel’s entrance.

Holding out his hand for her, Alexa reached out and grasped it tightly as she too emerged from the backseat of the stretch car and came to stand tall beside her loving man.

The non-stop flashing of the cameras was almost blinding, but she had somehow managed to keep herself from glancing away from them. Instead, she focused her sights on Dante.

He really knew how to work the crowd!

Wrapping his arm around and placing his outstretched palm on the small of Alexa’s back, Dante began gesturing for them to move forward together as Nicola closed the car door behind them and began to move into position, along with the others.

Luca had joined him, after handing the limo over to the valet working there that evening.

And having arrived in their own vehicles, Cecilio, Lanzo, Max, Dexter, Carmen and Anthony were also stealthily guarding their Don as they moved around him, preventing others from getting too close at any given moment.

That included the press and organisers of the event.

Within moments, the power couple were ushered inside and headed straight into the massive lobby of the Beekman Hotel.