Blackmailed to the Altar (Caputo Crime Family #2)

14. Chapter Fourteen

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

D r. Mya

As the morning sun spilled across the garden, casting dappled patterns of light over the roses and marigolds that Nonna Caputo had meticulously planted, I thought about what I’d told Riccardo last night. I sat stiffly at the table, my fingers nervously twisting the napkin in my lap, as I half-listened to the warm, enthusiastic, voice of the old woman seated across from me. Nonna was a force of nature, her hands never still, always fluttering as she gestured animatedly about wedding traditions and family customs. From the moment I said hi, she hasn’t slowed down. We’d moved outside for some air, as she got a wedding planner on the phone. A venue, and the catering, was already taken care of.

I shook off the pain of what I’d told Riccardo. I couldn’t focus on that. Not now. Not here.

Sebastian had been clear, if I didn’t go along with this wedding, and therefore, his Nonna’s plans, he’d reveal the truth about what I’d done in the prison reformation program. I’d crossed a line, breaking laws and risking everything to help those inmates, and now my past had come back to haunt me. He’d cornered me with it, trapping me in a lie. I couldn’t escape. The threat loomed large, a constant reminder of the fine line I was walking, between right and wrong. Mostly, the family was doing all the legwork for the food. I sat shell-shocked as all of this went on. Nonna, as she demanded I call her, basically told me to sit and look pretty, while I watched the OG wives of the mafia gather in the villa, and plan my big day.

But Nonna was kind and warm in a way I hadn’t expected. She’d greeted me like an old friend, pulling me into a tight embrace that felt so genuine, like I was her family. It made the whole charade feel that much more surreal. I should be more concerned about this forced wedding, but there didn’t seem to be a way out of it.

“So,” Nonna sat next to me on the couch, filling out handcrafted invitations that the women were working on. “Tell us something interesting about you, and, in return, I will tell you something embarrassing about your intended.”

At first, I was going to ignore what she said, but again, curiosity won out. “Deal.”

“You go first then,” Nonna said.

I didn’t argue. Better to rip off the bandaid, and show her how uninteresting I was. Then maybe she wouldn’t want me married to Sebastian, and could stop it. I looked at Nonna and the other women. They were older than me, and seemed happy in this life.

“Well, I grew up in the Roxbury slums of Pennsylvania, and I pulled myself out of that area, by being the first in my family to go to college.”

“Ah, Mya, you are perfect, even though you aren’t Italian.” Nonna beamed, uncaring that her compliment was backhanded, clasping her hands together as if she’d been waiting her whole life for this moment. “When Sebastian was a baby, he used to swirl his hair on his head to fall asleep.”

I frowned. “What’s so embarrassing about that?”

Nonna chuckled. “He still does it as an adult, to soothe himself to sleep.”

I laughed, too. I couldn’t imagine Sebastian using something so sweet to help himself fall asleep.

“Back home, I’m a world renowned psychiatrist, but here, no one knows me, and that’s actually pretty nice, you know?”

Nonna agreed. “However, you are still special. Otherwise, my grandson wouldn’t have chosen you. You’ll keep him in line, eh?”

“I mean he kidnapped me, but semantics, yeah.”

Nonna dropped the pen she was using to write on the invitations in fancy calligraphy. “Yay, I always love a good kidnapping.” She started clapping.

My eyes bugged out of my head in shock. “You say that like it’s normal,” I hissed.

She waved away my concern. “In this world, it is normal. I mean, what would a good arranged marriage be, if you weren’t kidnapped.”

“And warring families who needed to become allies,” an aunt chimed in.

“Don’t forget the marriages of convenience,” the maid muttered.

“Right you are. There are so many of those nowadays, I miss a good old fashioned kidnapping,” Nonna said.

“Don’t forget, forcing them down the aisle,” one of the aunts said, her glasses falling down her nose as she peered over them. “Are you being forced, honey?”

I nodded my answer, and the women giggled, and fell into a frenzy of similar stories. It showed me how unhinged this family was. The women were brainwashed, or had Stockholm Syndrome.

I couldn’t help all of them. There was only one of me. Nonna pulled out some drinks, and we all drank to the future. I didn’t make a toast, and I stayed silent. My only wish would be for peace.

Who could have that when the man who consistently made me miserable, would never give me the peace I deserved? We drank, and I sat back quietly, while the wedding I didn’t want was planned.

Maybe I could fix him. Maybe I was foolish for trying.

I hoped I could get out of this, but it was looking bleak. No matter where I turned, someone was in Sebastian’s pocket. Not only that, but if I went back home, and he released whatever information he had on my prison reform program, I’d be headed to jail.

There were probably a ton of prisoners who wanted a piece of me; men and women. I dealt with the worst of the worst, and I was their judge, jury, and sometimes, even their executioner. Without me, many of them would backslide.

The most notorious being Eden’s Uncle Darren.

When the women left, and Nonna said her goodbye to me, I headed back into the office I was using. I opened my emails, and my heart sank when I saw the first unread one in my mailbox was from the parole board.

I scanned the document, and my breath caught. They were releasing him. Even though my drug wasn’t working permanently, the parole board decided to release Darren early. This was all my fault. If only I hadn’t told the board before my kidnapping that he was not only remorseful, but a changed man. I even leaned on family image, and his belief in God.

All so I could run more experiments while he was on the streets. I was no longer there to oversee his therapy, which meant he was still a danger to society. A menace to women and children. An unrepentant serial killer with a fuck-ton of rage.

It was one thing for him not to have any sexual attractions or predilections in prison, but when he went out into the real world, that would be the test. With temptation on every street corner, I was planning on following him to see if he backslid.

Now, I not only wouldn’t be able to test my theory, but I may have put unsuspecting women and children in danger. I held my head in my hands. This wasn’t good. Not at all.

The door to the office swung open, and Sebastian came inside. He looked me over with a frown on his face.

“What’s the matter, little mouse?”

My head popped up, and I glared at him. “You!” I pointed an accusing finger at his face. “This is all your fucking fault.”

His eyebrows rose in surprise at my cursing, but I was too angry to see sense at this point.

“And what have I done now?” His seductive tone would not get him out of this one.

No siree.

“If you hadn’t fucking kidnapped me,” I rose out of my seat and stomped over to him, so I could poke him in the chest with my finger like it was a knife, “I would still be home, and able to stop this.”

Sebastian’s smirk was wiped off his face, and he grew serious. “Stop what, exactly?”

“A monster from tearing through the streets back home,” I cried.

Sebastian walked around me to the computer screen and read silently. I couldn’t keep looking at his face. I closed my eyes, and breathed in for four, and out for four. In and out. My chest heaved from the exertion, but I kept counting.

When my eyes fluttered open again, Sebastian was standing in front of me. His features were drawn with rage. I took a step back, thinking it was at me, but he shook his head.

“This is the man who hurt Eden, yes?”

I nodded my head, holding my breath.

“Eden is family. He shouldn’t be out of prison,” Sebastian chuckled darkly. “But that’s the American prison system for you, no? Isn’t that why you do what you do?”

I nodded again, lying since he didn’t remember what I’d told Riccardo. I felt the same dark aura that Riccardo had around him. Had I gotten it wrong? Was Sebastian the darker alter after all?

“I will sort it out. Don’t tell Eden about this, it will only hurt her recovery,” Sebastian whispered the last bit against my lips.

He stalked around me, slamming the door shut in his wake. I flinched from the sound, expecting violence from him, but that’s not what happened. He left me alone. While he took care of business.

I walked to my chair and sank down into it. A tear fell from my eye. I hadn’t realized how close I’d been to losing my composure. Living in this villa wasn’t for the faint of heart, that was for sure. I didn’t know how much more I could handle.

I just had to take it one day at a time.