The Mafia Killer’s Wife by Rosa Milano

Nine

Amanda

My father sounds shocked. "Amanda? She cannot be with a Gianni. You know that."

"You hate my famiglia. I am leaving the famiglia. The truce is unaffected. She will come with me."

"But she belongs to Benito. Don Mancini has paid for her already."

"He can have her once I am done with her."

"He wants her while she's still fresh." They're talking about me like I'm a piece of meat to be handed out at a barbecue. I can't believe that's my own father in there. He's still talking. "They are already engaged, Ethan."

"Engaged is not married," Ethan replies. "You tell me you'll give anything as a mark of respect. Amanda is leaving with me today. Right now. See her as a hostage to be held against proof of your future behavior."

"What am I supposed to tell Benito?"

"Tell him the Gianni family have taken a hostage from you for the disrespect you've shown our family. Or tell him I'm breaking her in for him."

"I can't tell him that. He'll kill me. We made a deal for her, Ethan."

"What's the deal? I'll better it."

"I can't say."

"I think you can."

My father sighs. "I get made without making my bones and I get a few grand. I need the money, Ethan. I'm in the hole with the bookies for three vig a week. Please, don't do this to me."

Ethan's voice gets quieter instead of louder but the threat is still there, chilling my own blood and I'm not even in the room with him. "Give me the slips and I will pay off your bookmakers myself."

"But Benito? What do I tell him?"

"You told me you would give anything. Word of advice, don't show all your cards until the end of the game. You work for the bookies, you should know that. I take Amanda with me. Benito is a reasonable man. I will make sure he understands."

The conversation's over. A door's opened and closed. I can hear my father talking to himself. "Fuck, what am I doing?"

I come out of the bathroom in time to find Ethan and Benito standing close together in the hall. Benito looks scared. I'm not surprised. Ethan's got about a foot and a half on him.

Benito has two guys either side of him with their hands inside their jackets, but Ethan doesn't look bothered in the slightest by the show of force. "Here's what's happening," Ethan is telling him. "Amanda is my girl now. I have paid an appropriate dowry to her father for her. You have a problem with this arrangement, tell your father to come speak to Don Gianni. Unless you would prefer to fight me man to man for her honor."

Benito looks pale. He swallows hard. "You can't do this, Ethan. You're retiring, everyone says so. Getting too slow for this game. You let slip last night about your meeting. You're best off going while your stock's still high. Don't make waves."

"I always appreciate advice, Benito. I'm still claiming her."

"You do this and I'm going to have to come after you. You want me to do that when you're supposed to be walking away?"

"I know what you're thinking, Benito. Are the rumors true? Am I slowing down?Can your men pull out their guns and shoot me before I make them regret their decision. Feel free to give them the order and we'll see how slow I am." He glances over at me. "Amanda, come here."

I take one look at him, and then I turn and run out the front door.

I'm not just running from him, from the cold dead look in his eyes. I'm running from the way I feel when he looks at me. I want him to grab me, to rip my clothes off me, take me to his house and fuck me without me being able to do anything about it.

I hate him and his famiglia, but that doesn't stop me thinking this way.

I have to run from this feeling. It's terrifying to even contemplate why I think that when he stares at me. He's clearly a dangerous man, even more so than Benito. Benito is scared of him. My father is scared of him. Everyone is scared of him. I should be scared of him, not want to be pinned down on his bed with nothing between me and his cock but my panties, which he rips with his teeth and then...

I run out of the house. I don't stop running until I reach Tess's place. She's not there. Of course not. She's at work. She's allowed to have a job, unlike me. She works in a cafe down near the river, The Bend in the River they call it. Its gimmick is the drinks all come with bendy straws. Real hip, right?

She's behind the counter when I get there. There are only a couple of customers. An old guy near the window, another behind him, a couple of teenagers making out, their milkshakes untouched.

"Mandy," Tess says when she sees me. "You okay? You look white as a sheet."

"No, I'm not okay," I tell her. "You got a minute?"

"Sure. You want a drink?"

"Only if you've got some vodka hiding in one of those cupboards of yours."

"Might have just the thing." She reaches under the counter and brings out a bottle of water. I take a swig, but if it's water, it's about forty percent proof. I take a gulp and then another. Then I can talk, the heat of the alcohol burning its way down into my stomach as I do. "You know that guy you saw me with last night?"

"The guy who's standing behind you right now?"

I turn around, my heart sinking. He's here. Ethan Gianni. He beckons me over to him and I want to run but there's nowhere to go. My feet move of their own accord. Apparently they can't disobey him, even if my mind can.

"You do not run very fast," he says. "You are too easy to track."

"Fuck you." The words are already weak by the time they're out of my mouth.

"You will come with me now."

"I will not," I reply with a shake of my head. "You can't tell me what to do. You don't own me."

His face darkens. "You will come outside and get into my car in the next thirty seconds or I will pull down your pants and spank your bare ass in front of every person in here. Then you will still end up in the car. Your choice, Amanda. What's it to be? Want to test me?"

"You wouldn't dare," I say, my heart racing as his expression darkens further.

"You tested me before," he says, taking hold of my arm. His grip is like a vice, tightening with every passing second. "Have you forgotten so soon?"

"What are you doing?" I ask as he spins me around and bends me over the nearest table. One hand sits in the small of my back, holding me in place despite my efforts to move away. The guy's like the Terminator. Arm like solid steel.

His free hand yanks down the back of my sweatpants, taking my panties down with them.

"Get off me!" I yell, squirming to get free.

His hand slaps down onto my ass an instant later. It isn't the pain that makes me shriek so much as the humiliation. I can't believe this is happening.

"Get off her!" Tess is saying.

"This is nothing to do with you," he replies. "This is between me and my fiancee."

Fiancee?" Tess says. "Since when?"

"About ten minutes ago." He spanks me a second time. The sting moves deeper into me and I hate it but something else is happening something I would never admit to anyone. My body is heating up.

I whip my head from side to side as he continues to spank me. My ass is still sore from whatever happened last night.

A memory comes back to me. He spanked me last night. Outside the club. That's why my ass is sore. This is the second time he's done it. This man is the devil himself.

The old guys are staring at me. The young couple are watching too. Tess seems frozen to the spot, like she's not sure this is even happening. "Call the police," I tell her.

"Feel free," Ethan adds. "We'll be long gone by the time they get here." He grabs me around the waist and carries me outside. I yank at my sweatpants. They're in danger of falling down to my ankles. I keep myself covered up, just.

He tosses me into the back of his car. I squirm straight over as the door shuts but it's locked already. I kick out at it while he's climbing into the driver's seat.

He turns to look at me and in that moment, I'm sure he's going to kill me. His face is neutral, like he's talking about the weather. His eyes are darker than the pits of hell. "You will sit up and you will sit still or I will strip you naked and we'll walk the rest of the way home. What's it to be?"

He means it. I can tell just by looking at him. I sit up. I keep still. He starts the engine and we set off. I get a last look at Tess's face as we leave. She's on the phone, no doubt to the police.

Ethan's right though. By the time they get here we'll be long gone.