Pov: AndreEvery bone in my body was rattling with rage.After putting a call across to the family doctor, I watched Bianca drift into a fitful sleep and my hands wouldn't stay still as I brushed her hair away from her face, the image of her struggling underneath that man was enough to sear my senses.The lights had been turned off when I got to the room and it was easy to put two and two together and realize that he was the one behind Bianca's fear of the dark.Benito came as soon as possible and my phone buzzed in my pocket just as he started checking for any fractures or internal injuries. I picked it up immediately. Leon's voice was grave on the other line, "boss, apparently, that man... He's Bianca's uncle. Gustavo Fiori. Fifty two. Consigliere to a capo in Philadelphia."My eyes bulged. "What?!" Because, even though I was a sick bastard, I would never try to get with my thirty years younger neice. "I'm guessing Maria invited him," I said underneath my breath."Yes, boss.""Ge
Pov: AndreShe roused awake on the second day enough for Benito to announce that she had no concussion but still needed some rest.She slept throughout the second day and third day, waking up only when she had to eat or use the bathroom.I never left her side. Never paid attention to anything going on except her. I left Leon in charge of the mafia while I took care of her, knowing that the syndicate was safe in his hands.I'd been reduced to a worried and possessive bulldog, prancing around her bed, hovering around her and snapping angrily at anyone that tries to get close.My heart had been burned to nothing but soot and char a long time ago. But when I looked at her, what was left of my blood pumping organ seemed to ache for her. Gustavo Fiori.She couldn't even sleep with the lights off because of that motherfucker.When I wasn't pacing about the room, I would stare at her, an emotion bubbling in my stomach. Darker than rage and fiercer than the need for retribution. I wanted to t
Pov: AndreI placed an arm behind her knees and another on her back and lifted her out of the car. I carried her easily in my arms as we walked into the house, my men converging around me.She rubbed her cheek against my chest, sighing softly like a kitten, her eyes fluttering close. "I think I like this whole: spending your entire life proving how much you love me. It makes me feel like a princess."I grunted. "I must not be doing enough. You're meant to feel like a queen."Her hand reached up to touch my cheek, her soft palm brushing my dark bristles. I looked at her and nearly keeled over. Her beauty was not something I had gotten used to. I could get used to. "Careful, Andre," she whispered, a smile playing on her red lips, her emerald eyes glimmering with mischief. "Your men will think you're going soft on them, fussing over a woman."I shot her a dark gaze. "I'm fussing over MY woman. Any of my men that have a problem with that can say it to my face, staring up the muzzle of m
Pov: Andre I was aware of her eyes on me, watching me across the room as I slipped on a new shirt, seeing as my previous one was ruined, and buttoned it up. "I like watching you put your clothes on. It's like stripping but in reverse," she joked. "Haha." I said dryly. She only bit her lip and stretched out in the bed, a playful glint in her eyes. She was only in her panties and tube top, her naked torso speckled with droplets of water from the quick shower we just had. "What are you going to do today?" She asked. My reply was gruff, cold and mechanical. "I'm going to take care of your uncle." She sat up at that. "By 'take care of' you mean..." "I'm going to kill him, Bianca." "I'm coming with you," she said and immediately scrambled out of bed and went for my closet. I frowned, "no, you're staying here." She turned and flashed me a glare before turning back and continuing her walk into my closet. I walked over to her, crossing the distance between us in seconds and grabbed
Pov: BiancaIt shocked me how quickly the club changed from its bright, glittery aesthetics to something that belonged in a horror movie the deeper we went into the building. There were men in black lining the hallways with hardened gazes and the darkness of the Cosa Nostra in their eyes.They straightened up as Andre walked past them. It was obvious that they not only feared him, they revered him. These men would shoot themselves in the head if Andre ordered them to, and just knowing that I was getting married to a man that commanded such power was overwhelming.Andre walked with such power and authority ahead of me, with a cold, dark and quiet sort of grace that had the entire temperature of the hallway dropping by a few degrees. We had been walking together but it was so much easier to slip a few steps behind him and admire the view. I focused on the way his broad shoulders stretched the perfectly tailored Armani suit, his strides confident and powerful. He radiated so much power
Pov: Bianca My uncle. The man behind memories of my past I'd rather bury and never think of. The monster waiting for me in the dark whenever I retire to my bed. The man that hit and slapped me whenever I cried too much, whenever I couldn't make him come. The creature behind all my nightmares and night terrors... This man started bawling like a baby. His entire body racked with sobs and he was shaking his head and murmuring his apology. Tears spilled down his dirty cheeks, snort and blood slid out of his nose. I'd never seen him so degraded, helpless, so out of his element. I liked the sight of him like this more than I'd let on. With the knife in his hands, Andre reached up and slashed off the bonds at my uncle's wrists. My uncle's feet hadn't even touched the ground before Andre swiped his feet from underneath him. I watched as my uncle fell on his stomach, hitting the ground hard, too weak to break his fall. He let out a groan, still sobbing profusely. "What's your dominant a
Pov: BiancaIn my usual careless fashion, I forgot the way to Andre's office and walked into the first door I found.I sat on the desk, my hands trembling in my laps.I did it.It's done.Breath taking relief and gut wrenching guilt were fighting a war in the pit of my soul. I tried taking deep breaths but ended up hyperventilating.After a few minutes, the door pushed open and Andre walked in.He must have taken a shower because his hair was wet and slicked back and he was wearing a black dress shirt, instead of the white one he stepped out with.The look on his face was hard to read, hardly any emotion swirled in his black orbs. I dropped my gaze and looked at my hands that were still trembling in my lap.He let out a sigh and walked over to me. I didn't look up, even when he was right in front of me, his Tom Fords coming into view."Look at me," he ordered, and unable to resist him, I did.His gaze softened. His right hand came up to cup my cheek, his thumb stroking my cheek soft
Pov: AndreIt was practically impossible to get any work done with Bianca so close to me in my space, breathing my air.It had been a long day, checking on my shipments of heckler and Koch submachine guns and incendiary rounds and the labs that produced my drugs. Bianca had stuck by my side, not complaining once or even looking the tiniest bit out of place. I thought she'd crumble to pieces after her first kill, but she didn't. She shed off her innocence like it was a second skin and embraced her blood stained hands.She was poise, cold, tactical... Beautiful. It was impossible not to look at her and wonder how I got so lucky that I got her to fall in love with me.We returned back to my office where we sat in silence as I checked my emails and replied to the important ones as she thumbed through her phone.I was on the phone with Alistair and once in a while, my gaze would drift over to her where she was wholly concentrated in whatever she was typing on her phone screen."I'm sendin
Optional, but if you decide to read, I'll really appreciate it. Guys, I'm done. It's over and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to share my story with you all. Thank you for following me on this journey. Every gem, every coin, every nice review was seen by me and I love each and every one of you for the support. I can even name some of you off the top of my head because reading your comments brought me so much joy. I hope you all stick with me for future projects. I'd like to know more about books you would probably like to read from me: The genre, trope, all that. Do you prefer Werewolf? Billionaire? Or Mafia?... Or a combination? Rich boy poor girl? Enemies to lovers? Rejected trope? How do you like you male leads? Strong, controlling? Nice? Cold? Ruthless? Cruel? Over the top? How do you like your female leads? Feisty? Demure? Kick ass? Soft? The power is in your hands, I'll try to write future books, of course with loads of creativity but also keeping in mind what my read
EpiloguePov: Andre(Four years later)I roused awake in the middle of the night with a starts and looked around the room, peace settling over my heart when I saw that Bianca was right beside me.Very much asleep and very much round with my baby in her.A beautiful little girl I was going to love and cherish with my whole heart.The years had been fairly peaceful with no more intruders trying to close in on my territory. Business was better than ever and Bianca was an active member of the mafia, asserting her place as my wife and equal.Thr room was dark except for the sliver of light that reflected from the night lamp by her bedside.She had never really gotten over her fear but she was better at controlling it now.I reached out and rubbed her swollen belly and she roused awake and looked at me with sleepy eyes."Andre?" She murmured, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Can't sleep?"I shook my head, "just worried." I murmured, rubbing her bare stomach.Even after all this while, I st
Pov: Andre"You're sure you don't want our help with this?" Alistair asked one last time before I jumped into the Jeep and the rest of my men got ready to get the fuck out of here."In the Cosa Nostra, we deal with our own famiglia," I said gruffly, my knuckles turning white as I clenched my fists hard around the steering wheel and started the car. Usually, Oscar takes the wheels but I was prepared to fuck up the speed limit and drive like a mad man until I got to Bianca.That slimy bastard is fucking dead. Nothing will stop me from tearing open his gut with my bare hands and stringing out his intestines. Excitement thrummed in my blood, the idea of having a reason to finally kill him was too good an opportunity to pass up."Found his location," Leon chirped behind me in the back seat. "He's back at the old townhouse."Good. I had one of my men link a tracker to him after the fiasco at the party cleared up. He had fled back to Sicily where I didn't have to see his face and contempla
Pov: Bianca(Two hours ago.)Things went wrong almost immediately Andre left."Where's Nico," I turned to Bernard as he led me up the stairs towards the safe room where half a dozen other men stood, alert, with their guns drawn."I sent some of the men to look for him. He probably snuck out to go with Andre. Right now, my job is to keep you safe.""You don't understand, Nico is also important to Andre, you have to find him. I don't want anything happening to him again."He huffed an exasperated breath and looked at me as if I was over-reacting. "Fine," he conceded, "get in the room and I'll go with the rest of the men to find Nico after you're safely locked inside.""How will you get it to open? Only Andre and Emilio knows the password.""Andre had you and Nico's fingerprints scanned and inputed into the house's control unit. The two of you can pretty much open any door in the house. We can let you in, but none of us can get out unless Emilio or Andre himself unlock the door from the
Pov: Andre"Get up," I told the girl, dropping my hand. "Lead us to the basement he was talking about."She sniffed and scurried to her feet while glaring at me with as much venom as she could. "You killed him!" She screamed at me."Careful," I narrowed my eyes into slits at her, "I'd hold my tongue if I were you, unless you wish to join him."She wisely clamped down on her lips as her body racked with sobs.My phone buzzed in my pocket and I ignored it, knowing that the men would reach out to me through the earpieces if they wanted to deliver a message."The south wing has been successfully breached," Alexei's voice came in through the receiver. "No sign of Grigori.""None here, either," Enzo murmured."He's probably hiding from in his basement. I'm heading there right now.""We'll cover you," Alistair said, sounding not too far away.I grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her along with me. She couldn't be of much importance considering the fact that she was dressed in a scruffy maid
Pov: AndreI grabbed strapped on my armoured vest and double checked my weapons.Roma voice suddenly blared through the receiver. "Incoming, in three, two..."I turned to see the mad man standing up in his jeep, his upper body poking through the space in the roof, a rocket launcher balanced on his shoulder.He grinned hard and wide and launched the weapon, the grenade flying past us at record speed and launching itself straight into Grigori's wall, exploding immediately on contact.The ground shook at the rumble as the grenade exploded and crumbled part of the wall to pieces.I looked at Roma and he nodded a you're welcome at me, strapping his own vest and jumping out of his car."It's a good thing law enforcements have been taken care of or we'd have a hell of a time explaining what the fuck that was," Alistair grumbled into his speaker.The explosion alerted Grigori's men and in no time, they were stumbling through the wreckage, confused and disoriented. As if they hadn't been ready
Pov: AndreMy living room is one of the biggest and most lavish in Chicago, yet it felt small and cramped as the respective mafia bosses I called my allies gathered there, armed to the teeth, their expressions lethal and serious.The entire energy seemed to cackle with the electric force each of us exuded and I had never been more grateful to be part of this alliance. Leon worked on passing around the guns and weapons, with earpiece devices that doubled as a microphone so that we could communicate when we seperated into our different rides.Bianca was perched on the armrest of a couch, chewing her lip pensively, her bright green eyes were worried as they found mine.I tucked my Glock I had been double checking into my pants hostler and walked over to her, her gaze beckoning me.She rose to her feet immediately, her lip trembling. I took her chin in my thumb and forefinger, stroking her jaw. "Tesoro," I whispered. "If I don't come backβ"She shook her head, a stubborn glint in her br
Pov: Andre"Nothing's going to happen to her. Benito knows what he's doing, we just have to let him do his job.""She saved me," she whispered, her voice detached and cold. "He aimed for my heart. She took the bullet for me."The least fucking thing she could have done in the situation, considering all the shit Bianca went through because of her negligence.But instead of ruining her train of thoughts, I pulled her close to me and pressed a lingering on her forehead.She sighed and relaxed against me, her arms going around her torso. She rested the side of her face against my chest, listening to my heartbeat. Her eyes were closed, her breathing even. I nuzzled her hair, loving how soft and sweet every inch of her felt.I had never felt peace like this even after such a dangerous situation."I'm glad it wasn't you," I said truthfully. "I don't know what I would have done if it had been you, Bianca.""Me too," she whispered after a few seconds. "I'm glad it wasn't either of us. I'd be d
Pov: AndreMΓ‘ria had rented out an entire high end Italian restaurant for the occasion, to ensure that we would be uninterrupted during the entire discussion.She was over the top like that, and I didn't mind, seeing as it was my papa's money and I hadn't wanted to accommodate her in my office where thoughts of bending Bianca over my desk and taking her from behind seemed to resurface everytime I blinked.She donned a white fur jacket and black jumpsuit with long diamond earrings and an equally large diamond set of rings on her fingers. Her dark hair was now dyed blonde, christian dior sunshades shielded her eyes and louboutin heels clad her feet.She had been nervous cracking her knuckles when we showed, her body movement anxious and antsy."Angelo mio," she whispered, rising to her feet when we walked through the doors. She wasted no time in leaving the table to come and throw her arms around Bianca, sobbing quietly.Bianca was stiff in her mother's arms but at least she hadn't bolt