My Mafia Madness 4

Chapter 28 - Time to Come Clean

After returning their slumbering infant son Alessandro to his own nursery for the remainder of the evening, Alexa then headed back towards the master bedroom.

She intended on getting some much needed shut eye before tomorrow finally came.

Little did she know what lie ahead for her.

Walking alone down the empty hallway, Alexa began to contemplate within her mind whether it would be a good idea to come out with her secret marriage to Vincenzo or not.

To finally tell Dante the truth.

He deserved that much from her at the very least… right?

The more she thought about it the more the young mother felt her anxiety beginning to steadily increase as her body tensed up with fear.

Fear of how Dante might react to the news.

Would he blame her for it?

Would he decide to end things between them when he found out? Even after everything they’d been through together?

Would she loose him forever?

Over and over again she mulled over the difficult choice within her head, playing out the scene in her mind to see how it might go.

And the closer she got to the room she shared with Dante, the more her nerves ate away at her, with her anxiety continuing to spike dangerously.

Her heart was thudding loudly now, almost able to break through her chest.

But as she reached for the handle, she suddenly wondered something. A frown crossed her face.

Why was she so afraid of telling him?

She trusted him, right?

He loved her, right?

So, what was the problem?

What was preventing her from being honest with the man she loved? After all, that’s all she’d be doing, right?

Pausing for a moment to gather her remaining courage with a long, inhaled breath into her lungs, Alexa exhaled just as slowly and grabbed the handle, turning it and opening the bedroom door.

And as soon as she stepped into the luxurious room, her eyes immediately locked onto Dante who was standing with his back to her and wearing what appeared to be a different suit?

This suit unlike the one she had last seen him in was all black, including the shirt underneath his vest and jacket, and his silken tie.

Did he change while she was out?

His hair was slicked back and nicely styled and she could smell the scent of his freshly applied cologne from where she stood in confusion just inside the bedroom.

Honestly, the Mafia Boss looked as if he were about to head out somewhere, which Alexa found hard to believe due to how late it was.

Narrowing her eyes, she made her way across towards the centre of the room and spoke to him as she walked.

“You might find that suit a tad uncomfortable to wear to bed, babe.”

Alexa pointed out the obvious fact with a smirk as Dante then turned around to meet her gaze.

“Not that I’m complaining, of course... I mean, you do look rather incredible in it, Mr. Romano.”

A low animalistic growl escaped through the Don’s lips as he glared back at her with gentle warning.

Alexa calling him that name always got him hot and bothered. And she knew it too!

It wasn’t so much the name itself, rather than the way she said it that did it for the powerful Italian Don. In her uniquely sweet and yet seductive voice.

“As much as I would love to stay here and teach you a well-needed lesson about respect, bella, I have some things that I need to see to.” he announced, straightening his tie before turning around to face her.

“Things? This late at night?” Alexa enquired, crossing both her arms over her chest.

“And what things might they be exactly?”

It appeared that she was challenging him right now, unconvinced of the reason as to why he was heading out so late.

“Just some… business I need to sort out.” he announced with a careless demeanour, and while strolling across the room to stand in front of her with his arms linked around her lower back.

“I promise I won’t be gone too long.”

She decided whatever it was wasn’t worth the argument it might lead to and lowered her head as she spoke with defeat.

“Ok.”

At that very moment Alexa was not only feeling completely let down by his choice to leave her alone, but also because she had something she needed to tell him.

She just wanted to get it off her chest.

But Dante noticed her odd behaviour and pulled her in against his chest in a comforting manner as he spoke down into her heavenly scented hair.

“Is something on your mind, cara mia?” (my dear?)

Finally, an opening!

And she wouldn’t waste it!

Lifting her head up in surprise, Alexa looked deeply into his eyes and forced her mouth to open and the words to come out at long last.

“Dante... there’s something I need to tell you.” she spoke to him rather hesitantly.

“I’m listening.” he replied patiently with a smile.

And that just made her heart ache even more for him.

This perfect specimen of a man, here standing before her with his arms around her and a smile on his face as he listened intently to whatever she had to say.

She felt terrible about what she would now proclaim to him.

“It’s um… actually, it’s kinda hard for me to explain…”

Alexa suddenly found herself rambling on now and it surprised her, causing her to wince uncomfortably.

“It’s alright, bella…”

Dante spoke calmly while squeezing her in against his chest as he patiently waited for her to make her big announcement.

“Just relax.”

Refocusing with a shake of her head, she tried again.

“It’s about Vincenzo.” Alexa managed to finally announce, causing Dante to pull back slightly with a worried expression on his face.

“What about him?” he queried, looking her up and down for a moment.

Now she felt panicked. Swallowing away some of her nerves, she went on with her explanation.

“I know I should have told you about this sooner, but with everything else going on, I…”

Pausing for a second, Alexa realised that it was going to be much harder to come out with this than she had initially thought it would be.

She didn’t want to hurt the man she loved.

“Whatever it is, you can tell me, amore.” he urged softly.

The pained expression staring back at him could have cut him deeply as Dante found himself aching horribly from it alone.

She looked so desperate and in such terrible pain. He wanted to rid her of it immediately.

Alexa then forced the words out, as if her very life depended on it.

“Dante… when he kidnapped me, Vincenzo… he forced me to-”

“-Marry him?”

Dante cut in over her, knowingly lifting his chin only slightly as he continued to stare deeply into her open eyes for clarification. Even though he already knew that this was the case.

And of course, his sudden and frighteningly precise announcement had poor Alexa totally stunned as she stood there simply blinking back at him in silence, her mouth hanging wide open in disbelief.

She couldn’t believe her ears!

How the f**k did he know about the marriage?

And also, how long had he known?

“You… you know about it?”

Her voice came out timid, like that of a mouse.

“About the marriage, I mean?”

Casually shrugging both shoulders with a devious smirk, the Don acted rather carefree about the entire situation as he spoke again.

“It’s my job, remember? I must always be at least one step ahead of my enemies.” he proclaimed to her smugly.

“Who told you?” she demanded, suddenly feeling rather angry now about the constant secrets being kept from her by everyone around her.

Not that she could talk. She too had just confessed a secret she had been keeping. One she believed would have a totally different reaction coming from Dante.

“Does it matter?” Dante countered smartly.

Alexa had to admit, he had her there!

Dante went on, holding her snuggly while staring deeply into her warm brown eyes.

“What does matter, is that you are safe with me, where you belong. And rest assured that this marriage, sham or otherwise, will not stand for much longer. I will personally see to it that the cowardly bastard Don Moroni gets what’s coming to him for what he forcefully made you endure.”

With an obvious weight now pulled off her shoulders, Alexa felt as a smile suddenly graced her expression.

She now felt great thanks for this incredible man who had come into her life and stolen her heart.

“I tried to stop it, I swear…”

Alexa spoke softly once again, apparently now overcome with all the emotions flooding in from her highly traumatic ordeal as her eyes were soaked with tears.

It seemed that she still felt a great sense of guilt for allowing this ridiculous marriage to even occur in the first place and was unfortunately unable to forgive herself for going along with it.

Perhaps in her mind, she had betrayed Dante by marrying Vincenzo.

Distraught by her obvious concern and fear, Dante quickly cupped both sides of her face as he furrowed his brows at her.

“Hey. Listen to me, Alexa. Please listen, alright?”

He spoke while tracing small circles over her cheeks with either of his thumbs.

“You did absolutely nothing wrong. Do you hear me? What happened back there with that slimeball Moroni, none of it was your fault. That man forced you into something against your will. And he will pay dearly for that mistake.”

Now seeing the sincerity within his eyes, Alexa knew that Dante’s words had come directly from the bottom of his heart.

That he did indeed hold no ill will towards her for what had happened with his rival.

She had done nothing wrong, plain and simple.

And more importantly, Vincenzo would soon pay for what he had done.

With that, Dante closed the space between them, leaning in and pressing his lips up against Alexa’s.

The kiss he then invoked from deep within her was far gentler than any of their previous kisses.

This time, it was one of nothing but pure love and devotion.

And as soon as their brief moment of shared intimacy had ended, the couple proceeded to slowly open their eyes and smile back at one another.

“Now, why don’t you go have a relaxing rinse off and get ready for bed.” the Don suggested with a nod in the direction of the ensuite behind them.

“It shouldn’t be too much longer and I’ll be up here to join you.”

Still with the feeling that something was up with him, something big, Alexa did what she felt was best in this current situation and kept it to herself.

Merely nodding in agreement with his suggestion instead.

Pleased not to have to fight with her about what he needed to do next, Dante leaned in once more and pressed a gentle kiss on top of her head.

“Get some sleep amore mio. I’ll see you soon.”

With one last smile, the powerful Don then turned himself around and headed for the doorway, one confidently long stride after the next.

Walking tall and proud, he looked like a man on a mission.

Just as he reached the door, he turned to face her one last time and caught her worried gaze.

With a subtle wink, Dante then slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him with a soft ‘click’.

And just like that, she was all alone. Alone with no idea of where Dante was headed at such a late hour and dressed the way he was.

There was absolutely no doubt within her mind that he was hiding something from her.

The question was… did she really want to know what it was?

-

Poor Fiona was at that very moment running for her life as she ducked and weaved through corridors and rooms, one after the next while running from two men armed with knives.

The two men were currently hot on her heels while managing to dodge several pieces of furniture she had knocked over.

Clearly Fiona had hoped that these new obstacles might help to slow them down, but unfortunately for her they did hardly anything of the sort.

These men were intent on catching up with her.

They wanted to kill her!

“Help me! Please, someone help!”

Panting heavily as her heart beat faster than it had ever before, Fiona tried calling out for help.

“They’re trying to kill me!”

Strangely enough, not one person came to her aid, even in such a heavily guarded place as the Reaper’s manor.

This alone had her baffled as she rounded yet another corner and tried the door at the end of the hallway.

Luckily for her, it was unlocked!

Taking one last look behind her, she locked eyes with one of the intruders and gasped, pushing her way into the room and slamming the door shut after her.

Both men charged directly at the door down the end of the hallway before ramming up against it with their shoulders.

‘THUMP… THUMP… THUMP!’

Over and over again they tried to break the door with nothing but brute force.

With only a lock keeping them at bay, Fiona’s tear-riddled face showed her immense terror as she slowly began walking backwards from them, one step at a time.

Never once taking her fearful eyes off the door that was being brutalised.

She knew that if they managed to make it into the room with her, she would be the next person that these two monsters brutalised!

Breathing heavily, she had never been so afraid before in her entire life than she was right now, with her entire body shaking uncontrollably.

Taking one more step backwards she felt a sudden hand cover her mouth and an arm wrap itself around her waist, pulling her back into someone’s powerful chest.