Owning the Mafia Don

Lucien

Schwartz was in his room in the house in a few minutes. He explained briefly that he had been on the way there when he had received the message from Beston.

Lucien filled him in on what had just happened.

Schwartz listened thoughtfully, his sharp green eyes flitting over the large screen on Lucien’s study wall. Like Lucien, he knew that if they lost this chance, finding Dmitri Rudenko would prove to be very difficult. Once he entered the vast wastelands of Afghanistan, he could hide anywhere he wished. Al he would need was money. Thereafter, he could move any which way he pleased. But he would have escaped from Lucien Delano.

They quickly began to formulate a plan. Both men were kept busy, calling up contacts, arranging places to stay, and making sure all the small details were taken care of. It was dusk when they were done.

Lucien stretched and strode over to the window to gaze outside. In the gathering gloom, he could make out the figure of his wife. She was sitting on a deck chair, all alone, her knees drawn up under her, staring into space. there was a distant, closed expression on her face.

Schwartz had followed him. His hands on his lean hips, he asked softly,

“Mate, how’s our girl holding up?’Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

***

Proserpina

I was kept occupied all day. Ria and Piers had been homeschooled until now but I had finally managed to convince Lucien that they should attend school. Accordingly, they would be beginning next month. The kids were excited and apprehensive. Lucien and I wanted to make sure that they were safe; that was the topmost priority. Lucien had suggested a private residential school in the Alps. I had not known whether I should be angry or if I should laugh.

That idea had been shot down by the twins. They were unanimous. They wanted to be with us.

At least for now.

Lucien had grudgingly agreed to their demand.

I had had a great deal of correspondence to handle. Many people I worked with were under the impression that I had been away on a sabbatical or at the worst, I had taken a holiday to deliver my triplets. Only a handful of my close friends knew the truth.

Brian, my old friend from Bhutan, was one of them. He was touring Europe giving lectures on Buddhism. When he called me earlier this afternoon during a break in his busy schedule, he had said little. But Brian listened and he was able to read into silences.

“You need to talk to a neutral person.’ he said in his quiet but authoritative way. ‘Bottling up your emotions will cause you harm, my dear.’

I sighed as I recalled our conversation and leaned my head on the seat.

***

It was evening.

Late evening, to be precise.

I loved this time of the day when the sky turned a lavender and purple, pink and deep red before the black curtain of night spread across the landscape.

Hugging my knees, I rested my cheek on them and thought of nothing in particular.

I had come out for some Me Time. The twins were watching cartoons and Claude was with them. Anything his elder siblings did he wanted to do better. A real Copy Cat, as Piers said superciliously.

I had pumped the milk in readiness for the triplet’s feed. Dear Bea and Cam had volunteered to feed them. Then, of course, the nurses who had been with me for years now were also ever willing to help. Tadhana, my Filipino helper, was also available. She had been roped in to help with my correspondence and was very efficient. Her son was now part of Lucien’s Club, working as a trainee in the kitchen. I smiled.

Tadhana had no illusions about her son’s culinary talent but she was grateful to know he was not snorting coke anymore. I had begged Lucien to take him in a while before I had been snatched.

I had never had any reason to regret my decision. But my husband was not too happy to know that I had managed to get another ‘stray’ as he called them, under my wing.

He had not forgotten my kindness to Sophia and what it had eventually earned me. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair which was in a long braid.

I wondered where Sophia was. Whenever I looked at Paddy, I felt a deep sadness. The boy was looked after in our house but my twins, who had heard of Sophia’s hand in my abduction, made it clear that they did not really want him with them. The poor chap hung around and I made it a point to include him in everything I did. Right now, I had parked him in the room with the triplets where Cam and Bea were sitting. He loved the babies and would spend hours cooing over them.

The onset of dusk made me slip into my shell of gloom. I felt it weighing upon me like a heavy blanket someone surreptitiously enfolded me in. Those days, those people where I had been paraded semi-naked before a room full of buyers…

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to erase that feeling but to no avail.

“Hen, are you alight?’ came a familiar voice and I looked up, smiling.

Schwartz was striding across the lawn to me, the lines of worry on his face making me want to hug him. He was a good friend. If only he would stop getting serious about his flirting, I thought tiredly.

He crouched down on the damp grass beside me, eyes on my face.

“What is it?’ he asked, tipping my chin with his long, beautiful fingers.

“That woman belongs to ME.’ growled a familiar voice and I almost fell off the seat in shock.

Schwartz grinned as he gripped my arms to steady me.

‘He does that all the time, eh?’ he said in a conspiratorial whisper that brought a smile to my face.

Although Lucien had spoken in jest, the look in his eyes was very clear.

“Hands off her!’ it said.

Schwartz smiled easily.

“Actually, I wanted some advice from you, hen.’ he said, smiling

But I sensed a seriousness beneath the words.

Lucien had come up to us, standing so close to me, I could lean back and feel his hard body behind me.

“But Boss here has something important to say so I shall come back another day.’ he went on and winking at me, he loped off across the lawn.

I turned around and looked into Lucien’s hard face. The lines etched on his harsh countenance seemed deeper. I stood up, stumbling in my haste and he gripped my waist, pulling me to him. My breath came faster. I looked at his chest and asked in a small voice,

“Lucien, what is it?’

There was an aura of seriousness about him as he held me, staring into my face. He seemed to be drinking in my features, my body.

My eyes fluttered to his countenance and I longed to reach up and kiss him. But I hesitated.

‘Woman, I need to go away. I do not know when I shall return.’ he said baldly.