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

20. Chiara

CHAPTER 20

Chiara

My eyes fly open. Adriano is mumbling something in his sleep. I eye him carefully. It’s dark, but I can see he’s in some kind of distress.

“Don’t leave me,” he whispers.

Is he having a nightmare? His breathing is ragged, and his body is shaking as if he’s trying to move but can’t.

“Adriano?” I say softly.

He doesn’t hear me. I want to go over to him, but I don’t want to end up in the basement. Snatching a pillow, I toss it across the room. My aim sucks, so it ends up landing nowhere near him.

But Adriano rolls over, jumps up, and aims his gun at the pillow and then at me. I gasp. Where the hell did that gun come from and how did he do all that so fast?

I lift my hands up, not daring to move. He looks around the room and turns on the lights. I squint at him. His forehead is beaded with sweat.

“What the fuck did you just do? Throw a pillow at me?” he asks.

“Um, you were having a nightmare, I think. You said—”

“So what?” he snaps, holstering his gun. “I could’ve shot you!”

“That’s why I stayed over here. But how did you do that?” Having such crazy reflexes when you’re asleep and in the middle of a nightmare...

The pillow barely made any noise.

“Not hearing things and not reacting in time can get you killed. Matteo and I practiced for months to be able to do it.”

“Ah, so you actually heard me when I called your name, and this was all for show. Got it.”

He blinks at me in confusion. “You didn’t call my name.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Before you threw the pillow?”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck,” he mutters.

I have no idea why he seems so upset. Is not hearing every single whisper while you’re in the middle of a dream really such a huge failure?

“What was your nightmare about?” I ask.

How does he even live like this? If every single noise at night makes him wake up and jump up with his gun, I can’t imagine how he ever relaxes or rests. Surely, all the money and power aren’t worth this kind of stress. I thought people like him slept peacefully every night with tons of security, and maybe they do, but not Adriano.

“It wasn’t a nightmare, just a distorted version of a memory. Now go back to sleep.”

“I can’t. I’m too awake. Please just tell me.”

“It’s nothing interesting. I was supposed to deliver a small package for Gennaro. I was a kid, so I was small enough to run past certain people without being seen. But there was something that caught my attention and I stopped, and they spotted me. I ran and ran. In the end, I had to call Gennaro because I got lost. He showed up to get the package, and he was very disappointed, so he left me there to find my own way back. Eventually, I did, and Gennaro gave me another chance, but I knew I couldn’t make such a mistake again.”

“What?” I gape at him.

Whenever he tells me something about himself like this, it horrifies me. Gennaro has to be on the list of the shittiest fathers ever.

“If you’re not useful to people, they get rid of you. It’s as simple as that. Now I’m the one who decides who’s useful to me and who’s not.” His lips pull up into a smile.

“Not everyone needs or wants something from you. You were just unlucky to be around such people.”

“I don’t care.”

“What about your adoptive mother?” I just can’t believe everyone in his young life sucked so much.

“I didn’t have one. Gennaro’s wife died shortly after Matteo was born, so I never met her. Their marriage was arranged, and since his alliance with her family has always been strong, he’s never looked for another wife. But enough about that.”

“So if your plan works, and you build your—”

“Gaviani Resort.”

“You build the Gaviani Resort and then what? What are you going to do next? Won’t your satisfaction only last for one meaningless moment?”

“Meaningless?” He raises an eyebrow at me.

“Well, you won’t really care about the resort because getting attached is wrong, right? So even if it caught fire and it all disappeared, you’d only be annoyed you were losing money, but in the end, it wouldn’t matter to you. You’d just be happy you built it and got everyone out of the way for one second. You’d prove you’re the biggest and baddest to your family, and then what? Who would share your happiness? The people you hired to work for you and who you’d get rid of the moment you no longer needed them?”

“I’ll just find another goal. And another.”

“But why? What’s the point?”

“You’re going to college. You planned to run the restaurant. What’s the point in all that then?”

“Yeah, and when I graduate, I’ll throw a party for my family and friends, who’ll be happy for me. And no, it won’t be because they need something from me. I did have a few fake friends, but they’re out of my life now. When I take over the restaurant, I’ll be doing exactly what I want. And yeah, I still choose to believe you won’t win.”

He chuckles.

“But that’s only a small part of what I want. I want a family. I want to grow old with the man I love and surrounded by the people I love. We’ll celebrate and be proud of each other’s achievements. We’ll be there for one another in difficult times. We’ll hang out at the restaurant, tell stories, and sing and laugh long into the night. I’ll fall asleep every night in the embrace of my loved one, knowing that I’m completely safe. I definitely won’t be jumping up with a gun every time a mosquito buzzes next to my ear. I want my children to have a happy childhood. I want them to grow up knowing I’ll always be there for them, for as long as I can.”

“Good for you,” he mumbles, annoyance evident on his face as he crosses his arms.

“Don’t you want something like that? Or will you pay people to spend some time with you? If you didn’t have any business projects or mafia business, would you even have anything to talk about? Would anyone be talking to you? Will you spend your days at your resort or Amore Bruciante?”

“Maybe I will. There’ll be enough drinks, food, and entertainment. Why would I want anything else? At least I’ll know exactly how things are and what I’m paying for. You, on the other hand, might find yourself wondering whether your precious husband is cheating on you. Or your restaurant, which will obviously have to be somewhere else because I’ll win, will struggle, and you’ll spend sleepless nights trying to figure out whether to take a loan from someone like me or not.”

“But even if I run into problems, I won’t be alone. I’ll talk to my friends and my family. Share experiences. We’ll find a solution together, just like we’ll defeat you.” Maybe I shouldn’t be telling him that, but I’m tired of him thinking that life is either a fake, pink fantasy or a dark, cold empty world where only money and power count.

It’s more complicated than that.

“I think you’re just afraid of love,” I say. “You’re afraid of letting yourself feel something because you don’t want to get hurt like you did when you were a kid, so you’re trying to convince yourself that everyone who loves someone is a fool.”

“I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Everyone is afraid of something.”

“And you should be afraid of me.” He narrows his eyes at me.

“I am.”

He jerks back in surprise. Did he think I wouldn’t say it out loud? That I would lie? I doubt he’s unaware of how I feel.

“Good night,” he says as he storms to the door.

I watch him leave and hear the door lock. My gaze lifts to the cameras, but the red light doesn’t appear. They’re still off, and I’m not cuffed to the bed.

I hop to my feet, quickly looking around for something, maybe a weapon. I find a big safe, but I can’t get it to open because it’s locked. I rummage through the closet, but I don’t see anything interesting or find any forgotten knives or weapons.

Just as I’m about to shut the closet door, I spot a piece of paper at the bottom, under a pile of shirts. I pull it out and frown. It’s a drawing of a necklace.

Is that the necklace he mentioned? The one that he had when he was a baby and that Gennaro threw away? I think it is. So much for Adriano not caring about it. He’s been trying to find it again, hasn’t he? Or maybe locate his birth parents.

I return the drawing back to its place. A voice at the back of my mind tells me that I shouldn’t care. Adriano is my enemy and a threat to everything I hold dear. I can’t allow myself to feel for him, but I do anyway.

It doesn’t change anything, but all of it just makes me so sad. He still has the choice to become a better man, despite what he’s been through, but he has to be willing to make it. I don’t think he’ll do that, so I need to focus on myself and getting out of here alive.