Becoming His Wife by Hayley Faiman
Chapter Two
TIZIANO
Gavino calls me, and as I stare at his name on my screen, I know what he is calling me about. He has another folder of women, a final folder. Clearing my throat, I slide my thumb across the screen before I bring the device to my ear.
“Bianchi,” I murmur.
“Come by the house, I have a new folder for you,” he announces.
“On my way.”
I don’t have much going on today. Last night I collected dues from my street bosses. It was a good night financially, which ended in a good night of booze and women. Though I only felt like the booze. I’ve stayed away from women recently, not for any particular reason.
Instead, for whatever reason I’ve chosen to be with just one. I like her, but she’s just to pass the time while I search for my wife. I’m probably too stressed out. I need to choose a wife and sign everything over. I need to just be done with it. Prolonging it does no good for me at all at this point.
Jogging toward my car, I slip into the front seat and touch the button to start the engine. It doesn’t take me long to drive to Gavino’s. He has an actual office, but I don’t think he goes down there much these days. I don’t blame him. He has a family, a wife that he is completely in love with, and babies. I would be home with them too if I were in his situation.
Pulling into his driveway, I exit the car and walk toward the front door. Knocking, I smile as his pretty wife answers the door. She lets out a sigh, her baby in her arms and little Paola at her heels.
“Luciana,” I offer with a tired smile.
She returns my smile and steps to the side. “Gavino is expecting you, come on inside.”
“Thanks,” I say, dipping my chin as I step past her. “You’re doing well?” I ask.
“As well as I can be.” She laughs softly. “Between Gavino and the babies, I don’t know which way is up most of the time.”
“Sounds like a good place to be,” I offer with a grin.
She nods her head. “It really is,” she murmurs. “A better place than I ever thought I would be in my entire life.”
“Happy for you, bella.”
She smiles and it takes over her entire face. The tiredness completely fades away and, in its place, pure bliss. I leave her with a wink and head toward Gavino’s office. His door is open, but I don’t just waltz inside. Lifting my hand, I knock on the doorjamb and wait for him to call for me to enter.
“C’mon in,” he calls almost immediately.
Walking into his office, I sink down in the chair across from his desk with a sigh. There is a manila envelope on his desk and he dips his chin toward it, wordlessly. Reaching out, I grab the envelope and stare at it in my hands.
“Open it,” he orders.
Lifting my gaze, I connect with his. “Feels really final,” I say.
“This is what you wanted, no?”
“It is,” I confirm.
“Then look in the file. I think you’ll find something to your liking.”
Opening the envelope, I pull out the stack of photographs. The women once again are gorgeous. Four brunettes, a black-haired woman, then a redhead. I find nothing remotely what I want. My time is up though.
“The redhead,” I say.
Gavino watches me for a long moment, almost unnervingly. Lifting my eyes, I look up at him, but the bastard is so hard to read that I have no idea what he’s thinking.
“As picky as you’ve been, that was fast,” he points out.
Shrugging a shoulder, I clear my throat. “I don’t have a choice. The black and brunette look too much like my mother,” I say.
I’m admitting more than I would like about my past. However, Gavino knows the reason I want this woman is because of my mother and her leaving me as a child. It’s no shock that I have mommy issues.
“Bianchi,” Gavino murmurs, a look of almost pity crossing his face. Fuck that.
Shaking my head, I refuse to allow him to pity me. Slamming the redhead’s picture on the desk, I stare at him in the eyes.
“Wedding in one month,” I state.
“Do you want to meet her first?” he asks.
I think about his words but decide to decline. “Nope. Get whatever planner you want, she wants, I’ll be at the church in one month’s time.”
Without another word, I turn from him and walk out of the room, then out of the house. Starting my car, I head somewhere that I should not be going. I go there anyway. I’ve been going more recently, and I really should stay the fuck away.
The nondescript building comes into view, and I kill the engine, but don’t make a move to exit the vehicle.
Closing my eyes, I inhale a deep breath. Turning my head, I look over to the door and I know that Mia is going to get pissed off at me for showing up without an appointment, but she’ll accommodate me.
Once I’ve taken a few breaths, I open my door and unfold from the car. Buttoning my jacket, I approach the door and touch my fingers to the small doorbell at the side.
It’s daylight, there won’t be a bouncer or guard at the door and since I don’t have a key, this bell is my only hope at gaining access.
The door swings open, and I’m surprised to see Pippa Ferrucci tug the door open. She blinks, her eyes widening at the sight of me.
“You are not FedEx,” she states.
“I’m not.” I chuckle.
“That’s who I was expecting. Do you have business here, Mr. Bianchi?” she asks.
She’s a good employee and wife. Always looking out for the famiglia and has been since day one. She’s who I should have married. She has been nothing but a good, devoted and loyal woman.
“Not yet, but I’d like to speak to Mia,” I say, arching a brow.
Pippa’s cheeks tint pink and she takes a step to the side, her gaze flicking down to her shoes as she does. She knows why I’m here now and she’s embarrassed. Fucking perfect wife. Lifting my hand, I touch her nose as I pass.
“Say hello to Massimo for me, yeah?”
She nods. “Yeah,” she breathes.
Mia is standing behind the desk as I make my way into the room. Slowly, she lifts her gaze to meet my own as I approach. Her lips curve up into a small grin.
“You’re back,” she points out.
I hum. “I am.”
“You should not be here. Vino told me you’d chosen a woman,” she murmurs.
“I have. Jealous?”
She laughs softly, shaking her head. Her gaze finds mine and she holds it. I detect zero jealousy in her eyes and I have to admit I’m a bit disappointed by that.
I should know that Mia does not get emotionally attached to anyone, and who could blame her. Just like all of us, she has her shit past that had forged the path of her present.
“I don’t have time today, Tiziano, and you have a wedding to prepare for.”
Mia also refuses to get involved with drama. She hates it and I don’t blame her. Fucking a newly engaged man could cause drama.
“C’mon, last time?” I ask.
She watches me, then her lips twitch into a small smile. “Okay, last time, no more.”
“Not even for my bachelor party?” I ask.
She snorts. “Especially not for your bachelor party.”
She turns and walks over to a door that is flush with the wall and I follow behind her. I don’t know if Pippa is still in the room, if she watched our exchange at all, I honestly forgot about her.
The world disappears when Mia is present, it has always been that way with her, even when she was young. She’s a force to be reckoned with, always has been, and when she chooses a man of her own, he will be one lucky fucker.
MACI
I’msurprised that I’m being taken to New York by truck. I thought for sure I would be thrown on the back of one of these guys’ bikes and with zero fucks, rode straight into the wind and thrown off the back when I arrived.
I’m a little dramatic.
Can we really define being completely traumatized by the first nineteen years of my life dramatics? If so, that’s what I am.
It takes a few days to get to New York, and thankfully those days are not traveled in silence. The men driving me are named Taz and Eagle. I don’t ask much about their personal lives, but I do see that they each wear a wedding ring on their fingers, so I assume a couple of the Old Ladies that I briefly met are theirs.
They talk to me about music, movies, and television. I don’t know much about movies or television, but I love music. The trip is kind of boring, but that’s fine with me, I could use some boring in my life these days.
“What happens when you drop me off?” I ask once we cross the Pennsylvania and New York border.
They don’t say anything right away and I don’t know if that’s because they don’t want to tell me or they don’t exactly know.
Eagle clears his throat before he speaks. “Gavino is a good man, but he does run high-class call girls and gambling, among other things.”
“So, like Dragon said, I’ll be paying for my safety by being a whore,” I murmur.
Taz clears his throat, shifting in his seat. “Sorry, babe,” he says, and I truly believe that he means it.
I’m sorry too, mainly because this really blows. I knew my life would be shit, mainly because I was raised with shit for parents, but I never thought that I would be a hooker. I thought that best case scenario I would end up with some no-good lazy husband, worst case, a druggie husband like my mom was.
Never in my wildest torments did I believe I would be a whore, though it beats whatever the Donkey Punchers had planned for me, I know that without a doubt. Those guys were evil, pure to their cores.
I could have stayed with the Savage Beasts and been the same, but this somehow feels so much different. Maybe it’s just my imagination, getting fucked by a faceless man is the same no matter where you live.
But if Dragon, Taz, and Eagle all say that this Gavino is a good guy, I believe them—even if this isn’t anything close to what I wanted for myself. Even if my stomach twists and aches at the thought of what is going to happen to me.
That night, I don’t sleep. I toss and turn, knowing that in just a few short hours I’ll be handed over, my fate in yet another man’s hands. I’ll no doubt become a whore. I have no tears left to cry, they’re all gone.
I suppose that this is just the way of the world. As far as women’s rights have become, I don’t know that all of us are ever truly free, that we aren’t beholden to men in some way or another. I know that I always have been and that doesn’t look like it’s about to change.
I’ll be physically beholden to men for the rest of my life and as long as I’m breathing, as long as I’m not being abused, and I’m able to find something positive to look toward, I should be grateful that the Savage Beasts saved me and didn’t kill me on the spot, the way that they did my father.
They could have done it too.
They could have gotten rid of me at any time, but they’ve chosen to send me to an associate, someone that they trust. So instead of thinking about all the bad shit that could happen, I’m going to be happy to be breathing and to have a chance to live.
At least that’s what I tell myself over and over as Eagle and Taz sleep, I repeat the words in my head as tears come from deep inside of me, falling as my body trembles in fear. In reality, I’m terrified. I’m also exhausted. I’m so damn tired of being scared every minute of every single day.
I just want some fucking peace.
