The Mafia Killer’s Wife by Rosa Milano

Thirty-Five

Amanda

Ilook down at my glass, swirling the ice cubes around and watching them clinking together.

"He does care about you," Iris continues. "More than maybe you realize. You know why he sent you away, don't you?"

"He told me, because he can't trust me. Because I was just an easy lay. One more notch on his bedpost."

"Ethan hasn't had a woman here for years. It's nothing to do with that. He did it to keep you safe. He knew trouble was coming. Trust me, whatever you think he's thinking, I guarantee he's about four moves ahead of that. I've never known anyone like him. He sent you home because he knew trouble was coming."

"So why tell me that story about not trusting me? About just wanting sex from me?"

"Would you have gone so easily any other way?"

"I guess not."

"Of course not. You'd have forced him to let you stay, refused to leave. I know you like him, Amanda. I tell you something else as well, I reckon you'd be good for him. Just tell him the truth."

"What truth?"

"He knows you gave Benito the keycard for the penthouse. He just wants to hear you admit it."

"Hang on, what are you saying?"

"He knows, Amanda. Don't look so surprised. He'll forgive you anything if you're honest with him. He's that kind of guy. A lot of people have lied to him in the past, tried to take advantage of him. Don't be one of them. He doesn't trust easy but he'll trust you as long as you're straight with him."

The door to the panic room slides silently open. Ethan is leaning in. There's a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead but other than that, he looks like he did when I last saw him. "You can come out now," he says.

I burst past him into the kitchen, looking around me as if I'm going to see my father's corpse hanging from the ceiling. "Where is he?" I ask. "Where's my dad?"

"Driving back to the city with a message for Mancini," Ethan replies, fetching himself a glass of water from the sink over by the window.

"What message?"

That Mancini leave me and you alone from now on. This is the only warning he's getting. He sent his best people after me and they're all dead. I thought they were associates but they were outside hires. He's got no one as good left to send. Right now my guy is disposing of the bodies and the only reason Victor is alive is to take a message back to Mancini." He pours himself another glass and drains it in one.

Iris leans over and whispers in my ear, "And because Victor's your father and Ethan cares about you. That message stuff is just an excuse."

I look at Ethan and try to work him out. His face is expressionless. He doesn't look like he just killed however many people my father brought here.

I'm still trying to work him out when he puts the glass down and nods to Iris. "You can take her home. There's no one out there waiting. I checked."

"What?" I say. "You're sending me away again? Why?"

"I told you. I can't trust you. You're a liar, Amanda. Don't worry, I told Mancini I've claimed you. That puts you under my protection. The marriage will just be a contract, nothing more. Don't worry. Nothing will happen to you and you can go do whatever you want now. You're safe and you're welcome. Don't mention it."

"What if I don't want to go?"

He walks over to me. "You should go before I put a bullet in your head." He looks like he hates me and I realize something. He wouldn't feel so strongly if he didn't give a shit.

I sink to my knees, head down. "I will submit to you, Ethan," I say. The words are out of me and I don't know where they came from but they are the truest thing I ever said. I want to submit to him. I really do.

"What are you doing?" he asks, frowning down at me.

I'm not sure. I'm winging it a fair bit." I manage a smile as I look up at him. "I'm not a liar, Ethan. I've never lied to you."

He turns to Iris. "Go for now. I'll call when I need you."

She walks away, closing the kitchen door behind her. Ethan looks down at me. "Get up," he says.

"Do you believe me?"

"You've caused me no end of trouble the last couple of days. Brought a battle right to my front door. Tell me something and you better be honest. Who gave Benito the keycard to my apartment?"

"I did."

He nods. "I knew it. You want me dead, don't you? Been working for Mancini all this time?"

"No, it's nothing like that."

"I will give you a choice, Amanda. A choice that is yours alone to make. You can walk away right now and have nothing more to do with me. We will never speak again. I will make sure no harm comes to you but we will never interact. You go your way and I go mine."

"What's the other choice?"

"I take you upstairs. You put on a dress I choose. You sit with me and tell me the truth."

"I am telling you the truth."

"I have ways of getting the truth out of people, Amanda. You don't want to see what I will do in order to get the truth out of you."

"I already told you the truth, I swear. I gave him the keycard, but it was a mistake. Why can't you see that? Why do you think I came back if I was working for Mancini?"

"I know one thing for certain. You are hiding something. If you choose to stay, within an hour I will know the secret truth you are working so hard to conceal. Trust me, Amanda. You don't want to know what I will do to you in order to find out that secret truth."

"You don't scare me," I say, trying my best to sound defiant.

He smiles coldly. "It's not me you have to fear. It's yourself."