CAUGHT BETWEEN TWO MAFIAS

No one plays with me

JASON

Penetrating Kerien feels easier than I expect, even though she is a virgin. I keep looking into her eyes with every slow thrust, and all I see is a scared, innocent woman—one her father handed over to me as a debt payment. Now, she is my wife.

“You’re hurting me…” she whispers, her voice shaky. Her neck is reddened from my grip that I haven’t let go of. But I keep moving slowly, not stopping.

“Shhh… I’m going easy on you. This is how it feels for the first time,” I say, not sure if the pain she is talking about is from my hold or my thrusts. Still, I can’t stop. I admire her—she has kept herself untouched till now. That matters to me more than anything.

The last woman who lied to me about being a virgin paid with her life. I don’t play with trust. I made a promise to my father on his deathbed—to never end up with a woman who would lie or destroy me the way my mother destroyed him. She claimed to be innocent but left him broken and sick, stealing his money and ruining everything.

I’m not letting that happen again. I want someone I can control, someone loyal. And now here lies Mr. Hampton’s daughter, the same girl I always noticed at the bakery. The quiet, decent one.

I glance at the white cloth I placed under her before we started, checking for stains as I continue. I wait, but nothing appears. Twenty minutes pass, still nothing.

I pause, frown, and pick up the cloth again.

Nothing.

“I know what you’re thinking,” she says, her voice weak. “Not all virgins bleed. Some are born without the hymen, and sometimes it breaks from other things, like exercise.”

I stare at her and manage a slight smile. She’s right. I’ve heard that before. And besides, I know her father wouldn't dare play such a game with me. He knows what will happen.

“That’s alright. Go clean up and get some rest,” I say, letting her go.

She gets up and walks to the bathroom. I reach for my cigarette and light it, then sip from the glass of wine beside me, releasing the smoke into the air as I lean back silently.

Days later, both of us are seated on a leather couch in my private lounge. Her fingers wrap tightly around a glass of wine, while I hold a cigarette in between mine.

I glance at her as the men in suits walk in one after another, each bowing slightly before taking their seats. Their faces stay sharp, their eyes cold. I know what she must be thinking—“these are no ordinary men.”

Yes. This is my world, the world her father has dragged her into.

“There is a traitor. One of us gave out information to the Donnites,” Castro says from across the room.

I blow out a thick cloud of smoke.

“Bring him in.”

Kerien’s eyes widen. She gets up slowly, like someone unsure of what she is about to witness.

The door opens. Two of my men drag a bruised man inside. His legs stay tied behind his back, and blood drips from his nose. He looks terrified.

Kerien rushes to my side.

“Not in front of me, please. Let me go inside.”

I raise my hand, silencing the room. She looks shaken, and her voice cracks. I turn to her, my eyes sharp and bloodshot.

“You are my wife now. You should see how your husband rules.”

“Jason, he is hurt already. You can do something else… maybe involve the pol—”

“We don’t do police here, Kerien!” I cut in sharply. “Here, betrayal costs blood. It’s an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.”

The man on the floor starts begging, crying out for mercy, screaming with fear in his voice.

I pat Kerien, but she covers her ears and turns her back. My hand flips off her shoulder as she pulls away. I walk past her and pick up the gun from the table.

“You had a choice,” I whisper to the traitor, dragging on the lit cigarette between my lips. I blow the smoke into his face while he coughs hard, blood mixing with the spit that drops from his bruised mouth.

Without saying anything else, I pull the trigger. A loud gunshot breaks the silence in the room.

Kerien screams and turns around immediately, her body shaking. She watches the man fall to the floor, lifeless. Her chest rises fast as she stares at me. I hand the gun calmly to one of my men and return to my seat like nothing just happened. Of course, to me, nothing has. It only feels new because Kerien is here.

“You really didn’t …have to do that…” she says with a shaky voice. I can hear the fear in it.

My eyes meet hers with no regret in them.

“This is the life your father gave you, my love. And you need to start embracing it, because now it’s yours too.”

She walks out of the room with tears in her eyes, like she is walking out of the life I just spoke about. But deep down, she knows it’s impossible. She can’t leave this life. The earlier she accepts that, the better.

“Pack him up and dump him on the usual lonely road. Let the Donnites find him there. His corpse will send them the message,” I say, dragging on the cigarette again, as the men rush to pack up the body.