Unwanted Marriage with the Mafia Boss (Mob Boss’s Unexpected Twins Duet #1)

13. Adriano

CHAPTER 13

Adriano

I watch the bathroom door. As I touch my cheek, I see a little bit of blood on my fingers. Who would’ve thought Chiara would try to kill me? I should have considered that possibility, especially because she had the pillow over her face.

Hell, only a blind idiot wouldn’t figure out that the knife was gone. One quick glance. It was all I needed to figure out her plan. But all I saw was Chiara’s unmoving body. At that moment, I only wanted to make sure she was still alive. Nothing else mattered.

My mistake could’ve been fatal. I don’t know why it’s so easy to lower my guard around her. Maybe I’m too used to her presence. Our situation has changed since Amore Bruciante, but it doesn’t feel that way to me.

When I had her pinned under me, I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to forget everything else and just take her right then and there. Satisfy the hunger inside me. Even now, my cock is still hard. Fuck.

Rocco was definitely right. She’s a distraction, and this isn’t going to be easy, but I like a challenge. If I can’t handle Chiara, then what the fuck am I even doing? I’ve always put business over pleasure, and I’m going to do so now.

As Chiara strolls out of the bathroom, her a-little-too-wide eyes meet mine. I want to go over to her and wrap her in my arms. Tell her everything’s going to be okay and that she’s safe with me.

But it would be a lie, wouldn’t it?

I dial Paradossi’s number and it goes straight to voicemail. Just fucking great. Did he really turn off his phone? It’s still early, and he hasn’t heard from his daughter. Was I wrong and he actually doesn’t care about her? It’s too early to make any conclusions. It hasn’t been all that long since I took Chiara with me.

I try to call Chiara’s uncle since Rocco found his number too, but the line just rings and no one picks up. Maybe I should make a call from Chiara’s phone, in case the uncle doesn’t answer unknown numbers.

I call Rocco instead.

“No one’s picking up,” I say. “Do you have the number of Chiara’s mother?”

“Yeah, I’ll send it to you,” he says. “But the uncle apparently has a cabin in the mountains and the signal is spotty there.”

“Why the fuck would they go to the mountains?”

“For some peace and quiet, I guess.”

“Great,” I mutter.

They’ll have to go somewhere with a signal eventually, or they won’t hear from Chiara. I can’t imagine they wouldn’t call to make sure everything’s okay. I just have to be patient and wait for tomorrow. They’ll call her, or they’ll pick up the damn phone.

I adjust my pillow and lie down on the sofa. A moment later, I groan in annoyance. It’s fucking uncomfortable. Too soft in certain places and too hard in others. I roll onto my side, but it doesn’t help.

With a sigh, I get to my feet. I grab the blanket and the pillow and toss them on the floor behind the sofa. It’s been a while since I slept on the floor, but at least I’m used to it and won’t be tossing and turning all night.

I sprawl on the blanket and stare at the ceiling. Is Chiara asleep? I opened the drapes so there’d be some light in the room, so she wouldn’t be too afraid to sleep. Gennaro would lock me up in the basement as punishment when I messed up, and I always hated the complete darkness around me. A sliver of light would’ve helped, but it was always pitch black.

Maybe I should have checked to make sure Chiara wouldn’t hurt herself too. It’s funny. She’s the one who tried to stab me with a knife, and I’m thinking about whether the cuff will hurt her arm or if she’ll be able to sleep.

But while she’s here, she’s my responsibility. I don’t want to hurt her. It’s not her fault she got caught up in the middle of all this.

Chiara watches me with her doe eyes as her lips spread into a smile. She goes down on her knees in front of me and unzips my pants. Everything around us is hazy enough to let me know this is a dream, but I don’t want it to stop.

She strokes my cock and then wraps her mouth around it. I push my hips, shoving myself as deep as I can go. Her tongue glides over—

A creak somewhere cuts through the dream. I open my eyes, cursing my training and skills that make me wake up at the slightest noise. It’s probably nothing. If someone had gotten through all the security and guards, there would be way more noise and the alarms would be blaring.

But there’s another creak. And another. Someone’s here. In the hallway. I slowly lift myself up, hiding behind the sofa, and get out my gun.

I pad through the darkness, keeping close to the wall. When I take a peek into the hallway, I spot a shadow entering my bedroom. What the fuck? I press the emergency button on my phone as I go after the intruder.

“Don’t be afraid,” the man whispers to Chiara loud enough for me to hear him. “I’m here to help you. Don’t make a sound.”

I recognize his voice. He’s one of my guards. Domenico. What the fuck does he think he’s doing? I could kill him. He doesn’t even realize I’m standing right behind him. But if I put a bullet in him, then I won’t find out why he’s here.

Is it just for Chiara? Is he actually a twisted and sick fuck who wants to trick Chiara into thinking he’s a good guy and do who knows what to her? Or is he a mole? Working for someone else? Did someone bribe him? Threaten him? Everyone near me is carefully vetted. Did he slip through the cracks or did something else happen to change where his loyalties lie?

I should’ve left the drapes over the windows. Another mistake. Now there’s enough light coming from outside, so I can see Chiara’s eyes when they look at me. Domenico sees it too. Fuck.

He spins around, lunging at me. I jump aside, slamming my hand against the light switch. The lights come on, and I punch Domenico while he’s disoriented. This is my bedroom, and he’s never been in here before.

I grab the lamp off the nightstand and slam it against his head. Rocco and my men burst into the room. They easily overpower Domenico.

“Take him to the basement,” I say.

“You’re not a real Gaviani!” Domenico shouts at the top of his lungs while he’s being dragged away.

I should put a bullet in him just for saying that, but that might be exactly what he wants. I need information, and he won’t be able to give it to me if he’s dead.

Once everyone’s gone, it’s just Chiara and me. She’s watching me carefully, but her face is expressionless. What does she think about all this? Domenico didn’t manage to get close enough to her, which is good.

I turn off the lights and find the key so I can lock the door. No one else is getting into this room. No one. I’ll have to be quick too because I don’t want to leave Chiara on her own for too long.

I don’t even know which ones of my men I can trust, but I’ll lock the apartment and turn on all the security measures that I don’t normally use. I should’ve done it before, but it seemed like overkill.

I didn’t think anything would change with Chiara’s presence here, but I was wrong. If Domenico’s a mole, why try something now? Why go for Chiara? I’m going to beat the answers out of him.

Domenico’s left eye is swollen shut, blood dripping from his nose and mouth. And yet, he just keeps glaring at me.

“Who do you work for? Gennaro? Matteo?” I ask. “Come on, you’ve been with me for years. You know what I do to people who refuse to talk and won’t give me what I want.”

He’s been with me when I cut off a guy’s fingers one by one. Why would he want to die like that just for Gennaro and Matteo? He’s not related to them, so he shouldn’t care who’s a real Gaviani and who’s not. I would’ve known if he was. It doesn’t make any sense.

No one is that loyal for no good reason. I’m not threatening his family because he doesn’t have any. It’s unlikely he could’ve gotten attached or gotten something super valuable from Gennaro or Matteo. Unless Matteo made him believe he was his friend, but how could he have pretended all this time? Why not just attack me or kill me when he had a chance?

“I won’t tell you anything,” Domenico spits out.

I take a knife from the table in the corner of the room and wave it in front of his face. “Do you want to bleed for them? What did you want to do with Chiara?”

He clenches his jaw.

“Is someone threatening someone you care about?” Maybe Domenico has fallen in love, and we don’t know anything about it.

Maybe there’s someone he’s willing to die to protect, and that’s why he’s talking nonsense.

“You’re a fraud. You’re not a Gaviani,” he says, staring into my eyes.

“And what is that to you? Why do you give a fuck? You’re not a Gaviani either.”

“No one would support someone like you. They’re all pretending. All of them. Even your dear Rocco.”

I cock my head at him. What the fuck is he talking about? Is he trying to convince me that everyone around me is a traitor?

“Should I do a toxicology test on you? Because you’re not yourself.” I can’t let him provoke me into killing him because I still don’t know anything.

But Domenico will get tired. He’ll get hungry and thirsty. He’ll beg me to finish him off, and then I’ll ask him again. If he chooses to suffer until then, that’s his choice.

I lower the knife and just punch Domenico again. And again. And again. Blood coats my fingers and my clothes are stained with it as I exit the room.

“Did he tell you anything?” Rocco asks.

“No. He’s babbling nonsense.”

“Some of the guys have seen him in the park a few days ago with a woman. They don’t really remember enough to describe her, but maybe she’s a spy or working for Matteo. He could’ve gotten his orders then. She might have offered him a lot of money.”

“Or he fell in love with her, and Matteo or Gennaro threatened her life or kidnapped her. Money just doesn’t seem like a powerful enough motivator for something like this.”

“But why won’t he tell us then?”

“When someone you care about is in danger, you don’t think rationally.” And it’s the main reason why I can never allow myself to care for someone like that. “They might have told him they have spies among us, and if he says anything, they’ll kill her. So he’d rather die than put her life at risk.”

“Wouldn’t they kill her anyway?”

I shrug. “Depends on how complicated it would be for them to cover it up. Sometimes it’s not worth the effort, and if she hasn’t seen or heard anything important, you can let her go.”

“Will you let Chiara go? She’s now seen and heard a lot.”

“This isn’t about Chiara.” I’ll decide what to do about her later.

She’ll probably be too terrified to talk to anyone, and she and her family will know I can just kill them if they don’t make things easy for me. And once I have everything I need to start building the Gaviani Resort, I’ll get myself a new apartment. It’s good to change buildings and apartments often anyway. If you’re in one place for too long, people can learn things about you and study your movements. It’s easier to get a new building.

“Keep an eye on Domenico,” I say. “And don’t leave anyone alone with him.”

He frowns. “Do you think there might be someone else like him?”

“There better not be, because it’ll seriously piss me off.”

The whole thing might be about Gennaro trying to unsettle me further. Or it’s Matteo. Matteo always used to brag that he was Gennaro’s real son. He would constantly try to rub it in my face and say that I’d never be like him.

Even in school, whenever someone called me his brother or just by my last name, he’d tell them we were not related. It bugged me for a while, and once we were alone, Matteo would sometimes say he was only joking. But I’m not a kid anymore, and I am a Gaviani, whether Matteo likes it or not.

I curse under my breath as I unlock the door to my room. There’s blood all over the handle and the key. I’ll have to clean it up later. After I enter, I lock the door again. No one’s going to just waltz in here.

I yank my shirt over my head, and just as I let it drop to the floor, I look straight at Chiara. She’s staring at me and at all the blood. Her lips are parted in shock, her eyes bulging.

It’s insane how distracted I am lately. But I don’t want to go to another bathroom, and Chiara has seen everything. She already thinks I’m a monster. A little bit of blood won’t change anything. I slam the bathroom door behind me.