In bed with the Mafia

A date with the devil

Anna

I looked at the red dress on the bed and let out a whooshing breath of air. I was doing this after all, meeting up with the heir to the Martinez Mafia.

Never miss an opportunity to know your enemies.

Another of my father's numerous teachings. He was a brute, yet he was one of the wisest men I knew. But even with all of that wisdom, he still couldn't see the traitor living right underneath his nose. Marcus was his second, he trusted him even more than he trusted his own children. That trust was enough to split our family. Family above all, right? But not Father, to him, we were all just another member of his Mafia, and loyalty—that was all that mattered. He had always been a great Don, but never a great father.

I let out a soft hiss as I picked up the dress and got into it. I turned to the mirror and inspected the dress. It was perfect. It hugged me in all the right spots and accentuated my curves. It showed a little too much cleavage, but I guess that was Liam's idea of dressing to kill. Speaking of Liam, he was nowhere to be found. He had gone out on one of his secret trips as usual. Every time I asked about it, he said something snarky like: the lesser you know, the safer you are.

I stepped out of the mansion and into the car that was waiting for me. Gabriel had sent his driver and he knew exactly where I was going. I didn't. He shut the door behind me and took heavy strides round the car and settled into his seat. He adjusted the rearview mirror and nodded another greeting. I ignored him and looked out the window. I had no obligation to be friendly, after all, I wasn't doing this because I wanted to.

During the drive, I enjoyed the feel of the wind smashing into my face. I had always enjoyed it as a child, it was as close to normal.al as I could get. Everything else was blood and violence.

Soon, we reached our destination and I was ushered in. The soft, ambient lighting from the crystal chandeliers filtered through the restaurant. The golden glow bounced off the polished hardwood floors. The tables were set in seats of twos and fours, covered with pristine white clothings and housed gleaming silver wares and glasswares. The walls were occupied by breathtaking works of art, but the restaurant was however empty. Gabriel had most likely reserved it for tonight.

Show off. I hated show offs. This was probably one of their restaurants, a perfect cover for the dirty deals they did in secret, but who was I to judge, eh?

It wasn't difficult to find Gabriel. He was the only one inside and he was seated at the center of the restaurant. I made my way to him. A smile touched his lips as he laid eyes on me—eyes that briefly clung to my exposed cleavage. He stood up and pulled the seat for me.

“Anna,” he greeted with a slight husky slur. One that if I would admit sent a little shudder down my back.

“Gabriel, good evening,” I said, as I sat. He was tall, a little taller than Aiden. He and Aiden shared no resemblance, but he was handsome too. He had sharp facial features that just made you certain that he wasn't created, he was sculpted. His muscles strained against his suit with every single movement, and it seemed like it might actually pop a button or two.

He cleared his throat as he took his seat, and set his glacier blue eyes on me. His haircut was stylishly messy with a few strands falling across his forehead.

“I'm glad you could make it.”

“I wouldn't miss it for the world,” I said, forcing a smile to my lips.

We ordered deserts, while an awkward silence lingered between us. His gaze never left me though. I could feel it boring into my skin and I could bet that he was already f*****g me in his head. I raised my gaze to meet his. He wasn't ashamed of the lust boldly written on his face. He just smiled flirtatiously. He was confident that I was going to be his. I, on the other hand, couldn't imagine myself married to anyone in the Mafia.

“You know when your brother proposed this union and my mother agreed, I was furious.”

“You don't say…” I whispered.

“That was until I saw you. Since then, I could only think of making you mine.”

I rolled my eyes internally. Here we go.

“I think you and I will make a perfect couple, don't you think?”

“Of course, I do. Why would I think otherwise?”

He smiled, satisfied by my response. “Then we should spend more time together—get to know each other. That's why I prepared all these; to get to know you better.”

The waiter brought the main dish and it was a good excuse to keep quiet. After a while he took out his phone and dialed a number.

“Aiden,” he said, and I froze. I still hadn't reconciled with the reality that I'd bump into Aiden more times than I'd like to. “Marcus requested a meeting tonight. I'm with my fiancee, so I won't be able to make it. Go on my behalf.”

After talking for a few more seconds, he cut the call and looked at me. “Sorry. I forgot to mention. Your father's successor wanted to meet. Probably to discuss about you and your brother. He seems bent on killing you two at all cost.”

He grabbed the wine bottle and poured himself a drink. “My family is the only thing standing between you and him, and we intend to keep it that way, assuming this relationship works.”

“I see no reason why it shouldn't,” I said, sensing the underlying threat in his words.

“For it to work it'll require actual effort from you. What do you know about your father's secret stash?”

“That it's a secret and meant to remain that way if this relationship doesn't work. I heard that the Martinez’ are going bankrupt and finding it difficult to keep operations running…” I said, dropping a subtle threat of my own. Two can play the game, after all. They needed us just as much as we needed them. They didn't need to know they were getting played.

He leaned back in his chair and looked at me. For the briefest of moments, anger flashed through his eyes, but it dissipated as quickly as it had appeared.

“I guess we'll both need to put in effort then,” he mumbled.

“I'll be happy to.” I eased up. I had to soften up, if I wanted this to work at all. I needed to have him wrapped around my fingers, at least enough to have access to the kind of information I wanted. To achieve that, I needed to be a little less confrontational, and so I let down my guard.

“Good. I need you to answer just one question for me.”

“What question?”

‘“How well do you actually know Aiden?”