Becoming His Wife by Hayley Faiman
Chapter Forty
MACI
“Come into my office,” Salvatore calls out as soon as I walk off of the elevator.
Tiziano is standing behind me, his hand on the small of my back. He doesn’t leave my side and I wonder what has him so insistent to stay. It’s been a few days since the missed doctor’s appointment and Mia situation. I’ve forgiven him, even if I didn’t like what had happened or the way it did.
Turning my head, I look back and up at him. He is scowling as he stares toward Salvatore’s open office door. Shifting my gaze, I blink at Salvatore who is staring back at him, equally as intensely.
“Is something up?” I murmur.
Tiziano clears his throat. “Who knows,” he says, his voice nonchalant, sounding the exact opposite from the expression on his face.
I open my mouth to ask him what the hell is going on, but I don’t get the chance. Tiziano spins me around and touches his lips to mine in a hard, bruising, claiming kiss. It’s deep and long, so much of each that my arms automatically lift and my fingers grip his shoulders.
Slowly, he breaks the kiss, nibbling on my bottom lip before he releases me and takes a step back. “Call me when you’re finished for the day. I will come and pick you up.”
“Tiziano,” I call out.
He shakes his head a couple of times. “No, zuccherino. The phone is yours so that you can call me when you need me. I will always answer and I’ll never be too busy for you. Call me when you are ready to leave the office, yeah?”
Nodding, I look into his eyes, searching for anything close to annoyance or inconvenience, but it’s not there. He means it. He wants me to call him. He wants me to lean on him.
“Okay, Tiziano.”
He hums, touching his lips to mine again. “I love you,” he rasps against my mouth. His hand touches my stomach and I feel the warmth from his palm. “Both of my girls.”
Then as if he hasn’t just blown my mind, he takes a step back, turns and walks away from me. I stare after him, wondering how my world has changed, flipped around, so much that I don’t even recognize it anymore.
It’s beautiful. It’s everything I could ever dream of, even if my husband is some big bad mafia guy. None of it matters because he loves me, he’s good to me, and I’m not his property. I’m his wife.
“Maci,” Salvatore shouts.
I jump, turning around, and hurry into his office. He’s sitting behind his desk, his gaze on mine as I enter. I don’t bother closing the office door, his paralegal isn’t here today, in fact, she hardly ever shows up. I have no clue what her story is, I haven’t really spoken to her enough to figure her out.
“Salvatore?” I ask when he doesn’t say anything right away.
He clears his throat, then lifts an envelope in the air and holds it out. He doesn’t tell me to take it, but I do just the same. Reaching across his desk, I wrap my fingers around the envelope before I sit down in the chair across from his.
“This is a sensitive topic,” he murmurs.
“What is it?” I ask as I open the flap of the envelope and reach inside.
There is a stack of papers and I tug them out before placing them on my lap. Glancing down, I notice that it’s all typed out and it looks like a biography of someone.
There is a name, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, skin tone. Then lower down the page, education information including elementary school through college. There are degrees held listed, then parent names, siblings, and even extended family names listed. Then at the bottom, there is a whole list of likes and dislikes, as if those are the least important things.
“Salvatore, what is this?” I ask softly.
“I need to marry someone. Gavino comprised a list, against his better judgment.”
“Why against his better judgment?”
He smirks as I watch him. “Because last time one of his men married someone he insisted on, they had to kill her.”
My eyes widen and I blink. Dropping the bio onto the stack in my lap, I try to breathe. Killed her. They killed her. Salvatore chuckles, shaking his head.
“It’s a long story, but since then you’ve been the only other arrangement that Gavino has made. Until I practically twisted his arm.”
“Why don’t you just date someone, Salvatore?” I ask, keeping my voice soft and trying not to sound accusatory or bitchy about it.
I’m kind of scared about the killing thing, but also, I don’t want to come off as judgy. Salvatore has a story and I only know a small portion of it, but what I know is sad. Salvatore is lonely and he’s alone.
“How do you date someone when you’re the attorney of a boss in the mafia? When you’re a Made Man yourself? How do you explain that to an innocent?”
Nodding my head, I lick my lips. “Okay. What do you want me to do?” I ask.
“Help me pick someone.”
“This is for life, Salvatore. Tiziano explained to me that there’s no leaving. This is forever, are you sure you want to choose your forever from a few pieces of paper?”
Smirking, he chuckles. “I can always have someone on the side.”
“Sal,” I cry.
He lets out a full laugh. It’s hearty and I know that he’s laughing, but I also know that he’s completely serious about the woman on the side. Pressing my lips together, I watch him, waiting for him to stop. Eventually, he does, his gaze finding mine again once he’s stopped cracking himself up.
“I could date her for a decade and still end up hating her and being stuck with someone I don’t particularly like. These women know the score, these women are part of the famiglia and they will be a good fit.”
“The woman that was killed?” I chance asking.
“Was not part of the famiglia. She does not know the score and she was not a good fit.”
Biting my bottom lip, I clear my throat. “Fair enough, now what do you want in a wife? Do you want a career woman or more of one that wants to stay home and raise your babies?” I ask, trying to objectively get down to business.
Salvatore and I spend the next few hours going through the bios. There are ten women to choose from. We narrow it down to three and Salvatore decides that he doesn’t want any of them right now.
I don’t pressure him by asking him why he doesn’t want them. He just closes the file and shakes his head a couple of times before he speaks.
“Thank you, Maci.”
“For?”
He smiles, his eyes searching mine as I hand the papers back to him. “For being a good friend. I couldn’t trust anyone else enough to help me with this. So, thank you.”
Leaving him alone with his papers and his thoughts, I go back to the office and begin to work on my filing. Looking to the right, I notice that Salvatore’s paralegal is back at her desk. She narrows her gaze on me and tilts her chin up as she looks down her nose.
Her dark glossy hair is up in a sophisticated updo, she looks like she could be a supermodel, she’s absolutely stunning, but she’s a bitch. At least she is to me. When a man walks in, she’s sugar sweet, and when she is with Salvatore, she’s melty sugary sweet.
She’s going to be seriously pissed off when he appears with a new mysterious wife. I smile. Good. The bitch.
TIZIANO
The commissioner is sittingon his back deck drinking a cup of coffee. This is his routine. Watching him this way makes me think of the way I watched my own father before I ended him.
I should feel guilty about killing this man, about murdering him in broad daylight. I don’t. Instead, this is just another step to take in making the famiglia safe. In keeping Gavino out of trouble, and keeping Gavino out of prison means keeping myself out of prison, because once one boss falls, we all fall.
This moment isn’t about murder.
This is about survival.
This is about seeing my daughter come into this world, about creating more babies with my wife—about holding my wife every night as we fall asleep in bed together. I will fight for that. I will die for that.
She’s already been taken from me once, never again.
Never fucking again.
Taking in the area, I wonder if this is as good of a place as any to end him. Glancing around, I notice that it’s pretty secluded. The neighbors aren’t close by. He’s alone, I already watched his family leave for the day.
A single ounce of guilt rolls through me at the thought of his family. Why does mine seem so much more important than his? I realize it’s simple—because they’re mine. It’s a selfish explanation, but it’s the only one that I have.
Kill or be killed.
Focusing on him, I point the gun directly at his forehead. If neighbors are home, they’ll hear the shot. It’s not perfect, but this is what I’m working with. It needs to be done fast and this is indeed just that.
Pulling the trigger, I watch as his head flies back before the sound rings out around me. His entire body slumps, so I pump a few rounds into his torso, careful to aim near the heart. Then I slip away. I make sure to stay low and go in the exact opposite direction of my car, which is parked a block away.
The commissioner lives near a park, so I walk around there, for an hour or so. I make sure to grab a coffee and some breakfast, waiting for the sound of sirens. I hear nothing but the children playing, people’s shoes as they hit the ground jogging and exercising, and the voices of others on the phone or talking among themselves.
Taking my phone out of my pocket, I make my way back to my car. “Santoro,” Gavino rumbles into the phone.
“Where are you?” I ask.
“The casino with Arlo.”
“I’ll be there in ten.”
Ending the call, I head toward the casino and hope that Mia isn’t anywhere nearby. The casino is empty when I arrive. I’m not surprised, it’s usually pretty desolate in the middle of the day, however, this feels different.
Walking inside, I look around and it’s dark—really dark. Making my way toward Arlo’s office, I notice that it’s the only light in the whole place. What the fuck is even going on here? I don’t bother knocking as I open the door to the office and slip inside.
Arlo is sitting behind his desk, Gavino across from him and both men look up at me. “What?” I demand.
“Mia is gone, fucking took a bag of shit and vanished,” Arlo growls. “Pippa is currently at the store, buying supplies for a huge fucking baby shower tonight. Surprise,” he deadpans.
Smiling, I wonder when our lives are going to slow down or get boring, but then I realize that I doubt I would be happy if they did.
“The commissioner has been dealt with,” I state.
“Fucking Mia,” Gavino growls. “She just can’t take what I’m offering her. She has to be goddamn difficult.”
“Do you expect something different? Truly?” I ask as I sink down in the extra chair across from Arlo’s desk and next to Gavino.
“No,” Gavino snorts.
“She’ll be back. Your offer is too good for her to just walk away from.”
“My offer has an expiration date. I need someone to take over that famiglia,” Gavino says.
Nodding my head, I clear my throat. “What happens now?”
Gavino shrugs his shoulder, his eyes finding mine and he grins. “Now, you get the Bianchi famiglia back up and running. You take care of your pregnant wife, and you fucking live, Tiziano.”
“Live?” I ask.
He hums. “Yeah, cugino. You live. You’re in control of your famiglia now. You have a wife and a baby on the way. You have a whole fucking life ahead of you and it’s time you enjoyed it.”
I could try and argue about how I’ve enjoyed my life so far, but it would be a lie and Gavino would no doubt call me on it. So, instead of arguing with him, I smile. He’s right. I have a whole fucking life to live.
I have a wife that I’ve fallen in love with. I have a baby girl on the way and I have more beauty than I’ve ever experienced. I’m ready to get on with my life, to leave the bad shit in the past. To leave the abandonment and betrayal behind me.
I’m ready to move the fuck forward.
