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

Chapter Twenty-Eight

For the second time since I’ve lived in this apartment, I wake up feeling eyes on me, except this time I can sense it’s not my husband.

I gently reach under the pillow for my gun while I pretend to still be sleeping. Luca doesn’t like the fact that I sleep with a gun under my pillow, he says that I don’t need a gun to protect myself when I have him, yet I still don’t feel safe without it. Call it old habits, I guess.

I slowly turn off the safety before quickly sitting it and pointing it at the asshole sat at the end of the bed.

“What the fuck are you doing in here Enzo?”

He looks at me with wide eyes, clearly, he didn’t expect me to be armed, never mind point the gun at him. I knew it was him as soon as I sensed him, but the little fucker needs to be taught a lesson about watching women sleep.

He lifts his finger in a just a moment gesture and pulls out his phone and brings it to his ear.

“Uh bro, your wife currently as a gun aimed at me, please call her off,” he says into the receiver before putting the call on speaker and placing it down on the bed.

“What do you mean Izzy has a gun aimed at you?” he speaks slowly as if he doesn’t quite believe he heard what Enzo just said.

“Well, I was watching her sleep and then suddenly—” he’s cut off by Luca bellowing into the phone.

“What the fuck do you mean you were watching her sleep? Izzy, fucking shoot him. I give you my blessing,” he says seriously and making me laugh.

“Again, what the fuck are you doing here Enzo?” I ask with a sigh, it’s too fucking early in the morning for their shit.

“You like books, you said that two nights ago at dinner, so I want to take you book shopping,” he says with an eager nod and suddenly everything clicks into place. When I gave him the information about the girl he saw in the club, I found that she owns a bookstore a few blocks away, he’s using me as a fucking stalking tactic.

“Of course! I can’t wait to meet Robyn,” I say with a grin, “now get the fuck off my bed and make me a coffee while I get ready.”

“He’s on our bed? Enzo what the fuck is your problem? Get off my fucking bed and away from my wife, I swear I’ll fucking castrate you,” I hear Luca growl as Enzo grabs the phone and makes his way out of the room.

Huh, I forgot about him being on the phone.

I take a quick shower and get dressed before meeting Enzo in the kitchen where he’s waiting with a fresh cup of coffee waiting for me in a to-go cup.

“I asked Luca how you liked your coffee, now let”s go.”

“Why are we going there Enzo?”

He bites his lip in a contemplative gesture as though he’s trying to find the right words.

“I’ve been watching over her, keeping her safe. I don’t want to get her involved in my life, but I can’t stay away either. The only thing I could think of to be close to her just once was if I’m a customer in her store, but I know fucking nothing about books. Which is why you’re dragging your reluctant brother-in-law with you,” he nods, and he reminds me of a little lost puppy.

He’s clearly conflicted about this girl, and if he’s determined to keep her safe? Well at least that’s one good thing about this while fucked up situation.

We leave the apartment and Enzo leads me to a sedan parked near the entrance to our building. I expected some flash sports car considering his age, not a fucking sedan. Then again, this ties in better with his watching girls from the shadow’s aesthetic.

Enzo drives a for a couple of blocks before pulling up outside a building which I’m guessing is about a block away from the bookstore. And gets out of the car.

“What are you doing?” I ask when he opens my door.

“We can’t just park outside of her store, what if she sees my car? Nope, we”re walking the next block.”

Jesus fucking Christ, he’s thought of everything.

I shake my head at him, at a loss for words and we walk side by side towards our destination. Enzo tells me how Robyn bought the store with the inheritance she got from her parents’ deaths, as if I didn’t already know from the search that he had me do for her. I let him keep talking, he seems like a different person when he’s talking about her, his face brightens, his eyes light up and he gets all animated. It’s fucking adorable.

We enter the store and a bell chime’s, alerting any staff to our presence. Robyn rounds the corner, she’s short like me, but with dark brown hair and green eyes. She’s pretty, I can see why Enzo has taken a liking to her. She’s dressed in ripped jeans and a cream sweater, nothing like the women from our world would dress—other than me.

She gives us a big smile, welcoming us to her store and asks if there’s anything in particular we need. Enzo seems to be fucking stuck staring at the poor girl.

“Hey, I’m Izzy. This is my brother in-law Enzo, I recently moved to the city to move in with my husband and left a lot of my books back home in Chicago. Can you give me any recommendations?” I say with a smile to break the weird fucking silence that seemed like it would never end, and I elbow Enzo in his stomach to bring him out of his daze.

“Nice to meet you,” he says cooly with a nod, and I give him a what the fuck look. He needs to get his shit together before he scares her.

Thankfully, he takes the hint and starts asking her questions about the types of books she sells. He makes a big production about how he wants to build me a library as a wedding gift, and I internally roll my eyes as I follow them both through the shelves while Robyn points out different genres that she thinks I might like.

I actually really like her, she’s the same age as me and we’d probably make good friends if I wasn’t helping the idiot in front of me stalk her.

I pull out my phone while Enzo and Robyn are deep in conversation about some new thriller that’s just been released.

You should see the state of your brother, he fucking clammed up like nothing I’ve ever seen before when we came into the store. He just stood and stared at her like he couldn’t believe she was real.

Luca

I still don’t understand why you had to spend the day with my idiot brother.

Why? Jealous?

Luca

When it comes to you? Always. You’re mine, I don’t like other men near you, especially when the fucker invited himself into our bedroom. If he wasn’t my baby brother, I’d fucking kill him.

I’m helping him stalk another girl, jealousy is the last feeling you should be feeling.

Luca

Just hurry the fuck up, I’ve got a meeting in Queens soon then I’m coming home. You better be there when I get back, I miss you.

I miss you.

I smile to myself feeling like a giddy teenager, how the hell he elicits these feelings from me I have no idea.

I miss you too x

I tuck my phone away and focus on what Robyn is saying to Enzo, he’d been picking up books as we’ve walked around the store, we make our way to the register so Enzo can pay for the stack of books he’s been carrying for my “new library” before we thank Robyn for all of her help and make our way back to the car.

“Feel better now that you’ve spoken to her?” I ask after we’ve walked for a couple of minutes in silence.

“Yes. No, I don’t fucking know. I just want to keep her away from the world. She’s too fucking light to be tainted by my darkness, but she’s also like a fragile little bird that needs caring for,” he says on a sigh and squeezes his eyes closed.

He’s so fucking conflicted about this and it makes me think about what my life would have been like if I grew up away from the Mafia. Don’t get me wrong, it can be a fucking dark life to live, but the Romano’s are also pure, they’re good men who put others above themselves and they genuinely fucking care about their Cosa Nostra family. I could have had it so much worse.

I used to dream about growing up in a different life, away from the danger, violence and death. But when I think about that life now? I think about how I wouldn’t have Luca—and that’s just not fucking worth it.

“I know you didn’t ask for my advice, but you’re getting it anyway. I grew up in this world, like so many other women. But I got fucking lucky to be a part of your family. You may see our way of life as darkness, but there’s light within it, Enzo. Think of how much safer Robyn would be at your side, you wouldn’t have to keep her safe from the shadows anymore, her being known as yours would offer her a layer of protection as it is, but if the whole famiglia was behind her? She’d be untouchable.”

“She shouldn’t have to change her entire life for me though, and there’s still the dangers that comes with being mine. What if someone wanted to use her to hurt me? She’s my weakness,” he says, not understanding my point.

“How much would really change? She’d still be able to work at her store, she’d still be able to do everything she usually does, she’d just have bodyguards to protect her. Is that really a bad thing? You’re so hell bent on doing things your way. Have you ever thought about what she would think? I saw the connection between the two of you just now, maybe you should try and date her, tell her who you are from the beginning and let her have a choice.” We reach the car and turn to face him.

“Take it from someone who’s had decisions made for her for her whole life, you need to let her decide.”

Enzo gives me a nod, lost in thought about what I’ve said and goes to open the passenger side door for me, but before I can step forward Enzo grabs me and throws me to the floor, covering me with his body as there’s a loud explosion.

Someone blew up the fucking car. Who? Were they wanting to kill Enzo? Or was it me as Luca’s wife? And why the fuck am I thinking about this shit when we clearly need to fucking move.

We don’t get the chance to move, the force from the explosion jolts my body backwards and my head cracks against the pavement. I can feel the heat from the fire, and it prickles at my skin. The hit makes me dizzy; I can hear Enzo shouting to me, but I can’t make out the words that he’s saying. My vision blurs and white spots begin to take over, I try to blink to clear it but it’s no use. Enzo’s panicked eyes are the last thing I see before everything fades to nothingness and my world turns to black.