Vow to Me: A Mafia Arranged Marriage (The Romano Empire Book 1)

Chapter Fifteen

Walking away from that kiss with Izzy was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, I left before she even had a chance to open her eyes because I knew I’d see the same lust reflected back in hers that were in mine and seeing that isn’t something I’d be able to walk away from. I’d end up dropping to my knees right there and begging her to let me worship her like the queen she is.

Kissing her set my fucking soul on fire, as soon as my lips met hers, I felt like I was finally home. I don’t know how to describe the feeling of her body pressed to mine, just that no matter how close I could get, it wasn’t enough. All thoughts of tonight left my head and it was just her and me, nothing and no one else existed, I could fucking lose myself in that woman and not give a damn about real life if it’s like that every time.

Fuck, get your head right, man. Now is not the fucking time of this shit.

I’m thinking like a fucking horny fourteen-year-old boy who’s never kissed a girl before.

I shake my head to dispel my lustful thoughts and focus on my dad’s voice, we’re driving through Queens towards Novikov’s safe house. “Luca, you’re with me and group A, we’re going in through the front. Marco, you”re with team B going through the back patio and Enzo you”re with team C going through the side entrance while the rest of our men are positioned around the perimeter in case any of those fuckheads think they can get away.”

We drive up the gravel driveway of our destination. Our men are already here, scattered around out of sight.

“Enter on my count, and for fuck”s sake do not get shot. I do not want to bury one of my sons, so stay fucking alive and Luca, you’re married now—let’s not make the girl a widow a week after the wedding. Kill anyone who isn’t one of ours,” he growls as the car comes to a stop and before adding “Novikov belongs to Luca, he owes him a debt.” Damn right he does after last week. We all exit the car and split up into our groups. We’re all wearing headsets so we’re able to communicate with each other.

“On three, one, two, three!” Dad says and we all make our way into the house, one man comes rushing towards me, he’s just flipping the safety off his gun when I land a bullet into his neck and he drops the floor. Two more men come around the corner, they’re too close to get a decent shot so I throw a punch to the one on the right and put a bullet between his eyes as he falls to the floor just as of our men grabs the one on the left and slices his throat from ear to ear.

I can hear the commotion of the other teams through my earpiece, but I drown it down while I make my way up the stairs and into the bedroom, we knew Novikov was likely to hide in his panic room, but rather than having Alec disable it completely, we thought it would be fun to keep it active and instead I’m using the code to enter. Ha! Let the little fuck face think he’s got a shot at surviving.

I walk through the closet and enter the code into the reader on the back panel, the door unlocks, and I kick it open to see Novikov reach for his gun on the table.

Seriously? Your house is being attacked and you leave your gun out of reach?

Fucking amateur.

How he’s survived this long is one of the world’s biggest fucking mysteries, like on those god-awful tv shows I’ve noticed Izzy likes to watch about crop circles and shit. Great, I’m thinking about her again, this is why I’ve never bothered with a girlfriend, they’re fucking distractions.

I shoot Novikov in the shoulder, not wanting this to be over too quickly, he manages to get a shot off at the same time that narrowly misses me. “Get fucked, Italian piece of shit!” He shouts, oh no, he hurt my feelings. I narrow my eyes at him and cock my head before donning and wide, maniacal grin.

“Good to see you, too, Dimitri,” I sneer as I step closer and fire off another shot to his right hand and making him drop his gun, so he doesn’t get any more ideas of shooting me. “You’ve been a pain in our asses for months, but that’s finally coming to an end, did you know that your best friend, and second in command, was planning on overthrowing you? It seems even he’s had enough of your shit.”

“Fuck you, you”re lying,” he growls, and I just laugh. I grab a knife from my ankle strap and throw it at him, hitting him in his left eye. His knees buckle so he’s kneeling before me. “That’s right, sunshine, kneel for me,” I laugh.

Fuck, this is so much fun.

“Did you know your attack at Di Nuovo’s caused my wife to bleed? The sweetheart that she is kept trying to reassure me that she was fine, but I don’t like that she lost even a drop of blood because of you,” I say and drag my knife over his arm in the same place Izzy was hurt, granted his is a lot deeper than hers was.

His cries and whimpers fill the room, but it’s not enough. I kick him in the chest, so he falls backwards, and I kneel over him, so my legs are pinning his arms in place. He’s bucking his body, trying to throw me off but it’s useless, he’s not going anywhere. I reach to my ankle and take another knife from the strap before using it to cut right up his shirt and exposing his bare torso to me and carve the words we’re coming for you next into his skin as a little love letter to Mu?oz. He’s sobbing and gasping for breath but I’m not ready to put the sick fuck out of his misery just yet.

“I hear you”re interested in the sex trafficking business,” I grit out through clenched teeth. “What would you have done if you could get your hands on and innocent woman or child that’s been snatched off the street? Would you have violated her? Raped her? Kept her as your little pet? Do you prefer them older, or are you a sick fuck that likes them underage?” I spit.

I really fucking hate assholes who think they can prey on innocent women and children, it’s the twenty first fucking century for fuck’s sake, the flesh trade should have ended with the fucking slaves. Thinking about what he could have done to an innocent woman makes me think of Izzy. What would this bastard do if he could get his hands on my pretty little wife? Rage like I’ve never felt before bubbles up inside me from the very depths of my soul and I have to take deep breaths to calm myself down. I can’t just go flying off the fucking handle because of hypothetical scenarios I’ve drummed up in my head.

My wife seems to be fucking with my thoughts more and more as the days pass. There was a time when I would be laser focused on the task at hand, now everything in my fucking life revolves around her. I keep finding myself distracted to thoughts of her, and not only sexual. I find myself wondering if she’s eaten, or what she’s doing, how she’s feeling in a new city. It’s fucking weird, and the worst part? I don’t entirely hate it.

I shift backwards and use my knife to cut open his trousers and reach around to my back pocket and take out the set of pliers, I use the pliers to get a grip on his small, flaccid dick and slice it off with my knife with a wince before grabbing his jaw, so he opens his mouth and shoving it in. Don’t get me wrong, I live for this shit, but cutting off someone’s dick? This is by far the most fucking gruesome think I’ve done, but going after his manhood seems like poetic justice to me.

I close his jaw and place my hand over his nose and mouth, giving him a death that he’s deserving of, choking to death on his own cock. I may be used to blood and violence, but this is on a rather different level, I have to hold my breath to stop myself from gagging.

“Luca, are you done fucking around? Where the fuck are you?” I hear Marco say through my earpiece, only now realizing that everyone has just had a front row seat to me killing the piece of shit beneath me side they can hear me through their earpieces.

“I’m good, we’re coming out now,” I answer him and take a deep breath before standing.

I grab Novikov by his ankles and drag him from the room, it’d be too much work dragging him down the stairs, so I just give his body a kick, so he bounces down the stairs and lands at the bottom with a thud.

Huh, that was fun, maybe I should have kept him alive a bit longer, I think to myself and chuckle. When I reach him, I grab hold of his ankles once again and make my way out to the driveway where I dump him for everyone to see.

“It’s about fucking time,” Dad says with a smirk before instructing Enzo to do his part next through the earpiece. A few seconds later there’s a loud boom and sounds of windows shattering before the whole house is lit up. Ah, an Enzo special. I stand and watch the house burn from the inside out while the rest of the men are tending to those wounded, luckily there were only a few injured, and they all seem pretty minor, we managed to kill every one of Novikov’s men without losing any of our own.

As I watch the flames dance around the night sky, I sigh and let out a breath of relief.

Fucking finally, one down, one to go.

We pile back into our respective vehicles and make the drive back into the city. Now that the chaos has died down, I’m back to thinking about the kiss I shared with Izzy before I left. Fuck, I wanted to take it further, so much so that I don’t think I’ve ever been so fucking desperate for something in my life. I check the time on my phone and see it’s only eleven thirty, she might still be awake, I hope like fuck that she is.

I wonder what she thinks about what happened. I know for a fucking fact that she’s attracted to me, especially after I heard her calling out my name while she brought herself to orgasm. But fantasizing about something and actually doing it are two very different things.

Will she want to take things further? Or would she rather just keep things how they are now, platonically living together while ignoring the sexual tension. I guess there’s only one way to find out. Fuck it, I’ll talk to her about it in the morning.

We finally reach my building where I say my goodbyes to my father and my brothers. “Good work tonight son, take the day tomorrow and I’ll see you on Saturday at the Mayor’s gala,” Dad says with a smirk. Fuck me, another goddamn event to keep up appearances, he knows there’s nothing I hate more than sucking up to the city officials but shit like that is what keeps us the fuck out of jail, it’s unbelievable really, how many respected politicians and other influential assholes are dirty as the shit on the bottom of a farmers boot. I give him a reluctant nod and make my way up to the apartment.

Adrenaline is still coursing through my veins as I step off the elevator, I head towards my room but make a split-second decision and head towards the guest room that Izzy’s staying in. Stopping in front of her room, I raise my fist and bang on the door, deciding I’d rather have my answer tonight.