Stolen Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle
Marcelo
Salvatore sits across from me looking at the newspaper. I’ve never understood why my brother, who is pretty savvy and on top of things, can’t just read the news on his phone like any other normal human being in the 21st century. For some reason he insists on getting a physical paper sent to him every fucking morning like he’s our father or grandfather or some shit.
“The hit didn’t make the paper,” I say. “It’s a good thing that those two asshole detectives weren’t the ones that got called to the scene.” When Salvatore kidnapped his wife Arabelle, instead of killing her like he was supposed to, there were two detectives who were up his ass like hemorrhoids.
Of course, he decided to keep her here at his house in the middle of the fucking town instead of moving her farther away, like I did. Nobody would be able to hear Tess, no matter how much she screamed.
Nobody would be able to find her, either.
The thought makes me grin.
“Erick Tallen has had it coming for a long fucking time,” Salvatore says with a sigh as he finally puts the paper down on the table. “Asshole was working with Arabelle’s father and I had no fucking clue. How the hell did that happen? How did we let that one slip through the cracks?”
I don’t point out that technically Salvatore was the one who let it slip through the cracks. He was the one who was supposed to be on top of the Wicked Bastards and all of the shit that they got into, because he’s too damn anal to loosen the reins enough to let anyone else help him.
I only took out Erick because my brother didn’t want to get his hands dirty on the weekend. All of a sudden though, go figure, I get wanting to spend time with a woman, now that I have Tess locked up in my house.
Thinking about her makes me hard and I shift position before pulling out my phone and tapping on the app that shows me all of the security cameras in the house. They were all carefully installed so that they’re not easily spotted. In fact, I don’t think that Tess has any idea that I’m keeping an eye on her no matter where she is in the house.
Right now she’s curled up on the sofa looking for all the world like she needs to have someone come fuck some sense into her. I’d be happy to oblige, but first I have to handle this shit with Salvatore.
“You can’t keep her.” His voice is hard and I glance up at him in surprise.
“Pot calling the kettle black much?” I almost click off my phone’s screen to put it back in my pocket when Tess suddenly stands up. She looks surprised, her eyes widening as she stares at the front of the house.
What the fuck is she looking at? Ignoring Salvatore, I flick through the views from the different cameras until I see who’s on the front porch. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mutter under my breath.
“What? Tess find her way out of the room that you have her locked in? I sure as fuck hope not.” Salvatore leans back in his chair, stretching his legs out. He has no idea about the collar and the free rein that I’ve given Tess in the house and I have no desire to tell him right now.
“Someone’s at the front door. Selling fucking Girl Scout cookies, if you can fucking believe it.” The sight of the little girls in their stupid vests with huge grins on their faces, and their mom behind them, makes me angry. The last thing that I need is for Tess to do something dumb to try to get their attention.
Part of the reason that I love my house is that nobody fucking knows where it is. It’s infuriating to think that these Girl Scouts found their way there and are standing at the front door when my kidnapped kitten is right on the other side of it.
Holding down a blue button, I lift the phone to my mouth and bark into it. “We’re not interested and you’re trespassing on private property.” My voice is gruff and barely hides the anger that I feel right now.
“I’m so sorry!” The mom waves her arms above her head like that’s going to make her apology even more impressive. She grabs the little girls by the shoulders and turns them around, steering them back to their minivan parked out front.
Before looking back up at my brother I watch from different camera angles until I’m sure that they’re gone. Finally, I flick back to check on Tess. She’s sunk down to her knees, still staring at the door, and I wonder if she was able to hear my voice from inside the house.
“Are you quite done?” Salvatore sounds bored and I roll my eyes at him before putting my phone away. “Listen, Marcelo, we need to decide if we’re going to let another club move into town.”
“Another club?” I raise an eyebrow as I look at my brother. “I thought the whole point was that we wanted to keep this place free of them after that problem with the Wicked Bastards. We’re top of the food chain right now and it doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense to be inviting anyone else in who might threaten that.”
“I know, but we have needs. Since the Wicked Bastards are gone there’s a void that needs to be filled. Guns, drugs, that sort of thing.”
But not women. He doesn’t have to say it but I know that he’s thinking it. That was why we had to shut down the Wicked Bastards in the first place. There wasn’t any way that we were going to allow them to continue selling women right underneath our noses. Guns and drugs are fine. You want to blow yourselves up or kill your brain cells? Whatever, that’s your prerogative.
But don’t fuck with women. That’s personal for the two of us.
“Okay. Do we know who’s interested? I’m willing to talk to someone if they really think that they can move in here and take care of that side of things for us.” I’m not an asshole, especially not when it comes to making sure that everyone gets what they need. We have a family business to run, and as much as I hate motorcycle clubs, they bring in a hell of a lot of money—money that we need.
“There are a few options. I’m going out of town for a few days to meet with some of them. I think that we need to divide and conquer on this one.”
I nod. “Definitely.” I don’t think that I’ve ever gone on a family vacation with everyone, even when I was a little kid. Someone in the Bonanno family always has to stick around to make sure that the shit doesn’t hit the fan when people are gone. It’s too easy to appear weak when some of the family members are out of town.
“Great. I need you to handle the expansion downtown. Our builder is a little unwilling to make sure that we have the space in the foundation for what we need.”
“He didn’t take kindly to having Erick buried down there, huh?” Man, if people really knew how many bodies were buried in the foundations of various buildings around town—hell, around the world—they’d probably shit a brick. Nobody wants to think that while they’re asking for a loan at the local bank that they’re standing on three people, but chances are good that they are.
It really is one of the best ways to get rid of a body. Need someone to disappear? Just put them in the foundation of a building that you’re working on and nobody is ever going to know. It’s ideal. Problem is, every once in a while, a builder gets squeamish.
That’s where I come in.
“You could say that. You go talk to him and see if he won’t come around and get his head out of his ass. I’ll be out of town for most of the week.”
“Don’t fuck it up,” I say to him, grinning. It’s something that our dad always said to us when we were younger and Salvatore smiles back at me.
“I was going to say the very same thing to you.” He pauses, like he’s going to impart some amazing wisdom to me. I honestly can’t wait to hear what bullshit he comes up with.
“Marcelo…I know what it’s like to want someone so badly that you just take them, consequences be damned, but you need to have an…exit plan…in case this doesn’t work out.”
“You had one with Arabelle? I highly doubt that you were considering the possibility of dumping her body in a building’s foundation if she decided that she didn’t want to be with your ugly ass.” Even though I’m angry with him for bringing it up, I know that he’s right. I should have a plan B. But I don’t. Because I keep telling myself I won’t need one, even though I might.
“I considered it,” he tells me, but I know that he’s lying. He knew from the moment that he saw Arabelle that she was going to belong to him, which is exactly how I feel about Tess. If he honestly thinks that I’m going to let her go then he’s lost his damn mind.
“I’ll think about it,” I tell him, standing up. “Don’t get your ass murdered dealing with those motorcycle bastards. I’ll handle things here.”
He stands and we shake hands. I know that he wants some sort of confirmation that I won’t let Tess get under my skin and that I’m willing to take care of things if it goes south with her, but I can’t give him that.
I want Tess. I’m going to have her. And everyone, including my brother, can get fucked if they think they can take her from me.
