Becoming His Wife by Hayley Faiman

Chapter Twenty

TIZIANO

My first night on the job is nothing special. I keep my head down and do as I’m told. Transporting guns in another country is an experience in and of itself. I don’t understand everything that is being said around me, my Italian isn’t up to par at all.

I have a feeling much of what I know is a mixture of Italian and English anyway, even if I practiced more, I probably still wouldn’t understand anything happening around me.

When our work is done for the night, our allotted number of guns have been transferred to their new owners, our money collected, we go back to the apartment. I’m still very much an outsider, but I’m surprised that they aren’t treating me like shit. I probably wouldn’t be as nice to someone who has been deemed a traitor as they are being to me.

“Your wife, what happens to her now?” Elio asks once we’re settled into the apartment and scrounging around for breakfast.

Clearing my throat, I look to my feet, then lift my gaze back up to meet his. “Does your organization deal in skin?” I ask.

“Skin?”

He looks totally fucking lost and I forget that a lot of what we say gets lost in translation. “Prostitution,” I say.

“Prostituzione?” he asks, his brows rising. “No, not here. Maybe other famiglias.”

“In New York, the man I contracted my marriage with, he deals with prostitutes.”

“That is where your father took her?” he asks, his brows snapping together.

Nodding my head slowly, I clear my throat and look down at my feet before I slowly lift my gaze to meet his.

“He did. She was supposed to be one. I traded for her, to keep her and marry her before she ever went to work. My father gave her back.”

“Cazzo,” he rasps.

“Yeah.”

There is a long moment of silence, one where we just watch one another, then Duran clears his throat from the small table next to the window. I look over at him and he jerks his chin in my direction before he shakes his head a couple of times.

“You should just forget her,” Duran says, his voice soft.

His words seem cruel, but the way that he’s saying them, I have a feeling that he’s speaking from some kind of experience. I don’t get angry or even respond, I watch him and wonder what he is going to say next, because it’s obvious there is a story to tell.

“I had a girl before I was Made. Good girl got mixed up with the wrong people. Ended up doing just that, lost to me after. You cannot save her, Tiziano. You cannot go back there.”

“Can’t I?” I ask.

Calvino is in the living room a few feet away, he turns his head and looks over at me. “Not if you want to live, there’s a price on your head in the US. It’s why your padre begged Di Stefano to take you on here.”

My heart slams against my chest at the word. My stomach twists and I almost double over in pain. A price on my fucking head? There’s a bounty on me. Which means my own fucking father did that shit.

“You mean my father put a price on my head?” I snap. “Then begged Di Stefano to keep me?”

I know that only a Boss can do that, and even then, it’s extremely frowned upon. I don’t ever recall it happening before. This is a first and my own fucking father has done it. I try to keep a clear head, a cool head, but the anger fills my body, causing my blood to boil.

“He did,” Elio confirms.

As the Capo, he would know more than anyone else. I feel sick to my stomach, completely fucking sick that my own fucking father has done this to me. Nodding my head, I wonder if this is indeed the end of my marriage. Was it truly over before it even started? I can’t imagine not ever seeing her again, marrying someone else, moving on. And rage flows through my veins at the simple idea of another man even looking at her, let alone touching her.

“My father doesn’t get to make these decisions,” I grind out.

“Seems you’re much like him. You made a decision that wasn’t yours to make as well?” Calvino asks.

Nodding my head a couple of times, I can’t help but agree with him. He’s correct. I did something that I wasn’t supposed to do. I made a decision, a deal, that wasn’t mine to make yet. I did all of this, but what I didn’t do was try to kill my own goddamn father.

“So you’re saying I should just lay down and take it?” I ask.

Aldo hasn’t said a word the entire time, but he snorts. Shifting my gaze over to him, I arch a brow and watch him for a moment. His eyes find mine and his lips curl.

“What do you think I should do?”

I don’t know why I’m asking them or even talking to them about this. They could betray me. I know literally nothing about any of them, however, I’m fucking alone. There is nobody I can turn to and as much as I think that I can do this all on my own, I’m fucked.

I’m completely fucking fucked.

They’ve been more forthright with me than my own father, so I decide to just throw caution to the wind and hope they don’t bend me over and fuck me dry in the end.

“Watch and wait,” Elio says. “See what the future brings, wait for your opportunity.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that,” I grumble.

He chuckles and we end the conversation. I don’t bother eating breakfast, instead I take a shower and go straight to bed. Taking my phone out of my bag, I power it on and try to call Gavino.

The call can’t be made, and I know it’s because my service has been disconnected. I knew it would happen. I’d hoped that it would have been a few days at least so I could make sure Maci was safe.

Elio is right. There’s nothing that I can do right now. I betrayed my famiglia, even if my intentions weren’t to cause any true harm, they were selfish. I wanted a wife, one that couldn’t and wouldn’t leave me. I wanted to own her and there was only one way I felt as though I could do that. That one way ended up costing me what I desired most.

I just have to wait.

I don’t know how to be calm. I don’t know how to wait. Not when I have no fucking idea what Maci is going through or what is going to happen to her. It’s going to eat me alive wondering and waiting. I don’t think that I can do it. As much as I want to do what is going to be the best in the end, I don’t know if I can. Not when it comes to her and her safety.

MACI

Gavino and Arlowatch me for a long, uncomfortable moment. I lick my lips and don’t look away from them in my attempt to be brave. I’m not sure if I come across that way or not, especially considering my entire body is trembling in fear.

“Tussio is going to file for an annulment on Tiziano’s behalf,” Gavino announces. “We have a leak somewhere. He found out about the deal we made, and he is not happy.”

Nodding, I press my lips together, already knowing that much, but that’s all that I truly know. Gavino and Arlo are very somber, which makes me believe that this isn’t going to have a positive outcome.

“Do you want an annulment?” Gavino asks.

“No,” I practically shout immediately.

His lips curve up into a small smile. “I didn’t think so. You like your husband, then?” he asks.

Arlo snorts. “Yes, Gavino, you’re the most wonderful matchmaker in the world, let’s get through this.”

Gavino shrugs his shoulder. “I am good,” he announces, then swings his gaze to me. “Tiziano called me, wanted to make sure you were protected.”

“Protected?” I ask.

“He wanted to make sure Vino and Arlo weren’t going to whore you,” Mia drawls.

My eyes widen and my breath hitches. I don’t ask if they are, instead, I wait. They’re going to tell me what they have planned, I just have to wait until they’re ready. I don’t know why they’re being so dramatic and making me wait. I want to know and I want to know now. This is my future—this is my life.

“We aren’t,” Gavino says. “I made a promise to a friend. Business aside, I cannot let a Made Man’s wife, one that he very much wants to keep as his wife, be used for financial gain that way. So, as long as you need, you have us as your protectors.”

“What does this mean?” I ask.

Arlo clears his throat. Obviously, this is his territory. “We’ll put you up in a small apartment. You’ll get a job working for someone in the famiglia. You work, you live, you wait.”

“I don’t have any work experience. I don’t have any skills,” I admit.

Arlo doesn’t say anything right away, he watches me, then he turns to Gavino. “Nowhere safer than at the side of your consigliere,” he states.

“What does any of this mean?” I ask.

“You’ll be filing papers in a legal office,” Gavino announces and the way that he says it, it’s fact, even if this man doesn’t want me working for him.

Arlo chuckles and then there’s a knock on the office door. Mia shuffles over to answer it and lets out a sigh as she opens it. I watch as Pippa walks in. She doesn’t even greet the men, instead she rushes over to me and throws her arms around me.

“I heard what happened. I am so, so sorry,” she cries.

“I’m okay,” I lie.

“You’re not,” she says, lifting her head and looking into my eyes. “But you will be. You’re made of the good stuff, the strong stuff. You will be okay.”

My bottom lip trembles from her words and I wonder if she can truly see inside of me. I am made of strong things, but what she doesn’t see is that all of those strong things, they’ve weakened and they’re crumbling inside of me.

She turns to the men, and I shift my gaze as well wondering what she’s going to say. “She’ll work here with me. I could use some help,” she states.

“Gavino has already said she’ll be working for Salvatore in his office,” Arlo says, his lips curved up in a smile.

“Oh,” she breathes. “Well then.”

“And she’ll be living in a Zanetti famiglia building, is there anything else?” Gavino asks, arching his brow. I can tell that he’s trying to be intimidating, but it’s obvious that he thinks that Pippa is cute.

Gavino’s gaze flicks over to mine. “We will take care of you, Maci. Annulment be damned.”

“What happens if he never comes back?”

Gavino shakes his head once, and I know he’s going to say something reassuring, but it doesn’t sink in because I can see the look in his eyes. He isn’t convinced, he isn’t sure, and that causes my heart to squeeze.

I don’t hear anything as he starts to outline the details of my future. I don’t pay attention. I hear things like paycheck and clothing allowance. I’m not paying attention, not at all, because I can’t think of anything but the fact that Gavino doesn’t think that Tiziano will be coming back to me.

Pippa helps me to my feet, and I stoically walk with her out of the office. She guides me, but I can’t even think about anything. Nothing at all. It’s hitting me like a ton of bricks, those bricks are slamming into me over and over, as if someone is standing by and throwing them at my body as I walk past them.

One after the other, after the other.

I only get halfway through the casino floor when my knees give out and I slide down to the floor in tears. Everything just consumes me. The pain, the fear, the unknown. It consumes me completely and I can’t hold myself up for another second.

The realization that I won’t be seeing my husband ever again. I’ll be here and he’ll be in Italy. One week. I got one week with him and now I’ll be alone the rest of my life. What terrifies me is not that I’ll be alone, not because I want someone else, but because all I want is Tiziano.