The Mafia’s Forbidden Desire

ROSALINDA.

In all honesty, I didn’t want to return home. I wanted to remain with him. In his arms. Until the sun rises.

But unfortunately, that wasn’t possible. We got some pills from the pharmacy, and he drove me home afterwards. We had one last scorching kiss in his car before I hopped out. Upon entering the building, I learned from one of our maids that Sofia, Mama, and Matteo were in Papà’s room, so I went there to join them.

Papà was on his bed, lying down with Mama, Sofia, and Matteo seated all around him. As I stared at him, reality hit me in the chest. A few minutes of pleasure couldn’t erase the pain that lingered in my heart. Papà was sick, and the only thing I could hope for was for him to respond to treatment.

“What took you so long?” Papà asked as I approached him.

“Antonio had a flat tyre, so he had to fix it.” I lied.

He nodded. “Okay.”

My eyes subconsciously darted to Sofia, and the look she had in her eyes said that she didn’t believe my excuse.

“I was just telling them that I don’t want you all to treat me any differently. As you can see, I don’t look exactly sick.” Papà started, but I cut him off.

“But you are sick!”

I was still of the opinion that he should have remained in the hospital for at least tonight so that the doctors could monitor him before getting discharged. The symptoms of cancer might not have manifested yet because he only got diagnosed during routine checks, but he was still sick. And he even fainted during the birthday party.

“I am not.” He said calmly.

He tapped the empty space beside him on his king-sized bed, gesturing for me to come sit beside him. “Come.”

Sighing, I jumped on the bed and sat beside him, resting my head on his shoulder.

“I don’t want you to die, Papà.” I said.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

My emotions came rushing in all over again, and tears began to stream down my face.

“You heard the doctors. I have a high chance of survival. The cancer hasn’t spread to other organs. It’s a good thing it was detected early.” He sighed, patting my head.

“It hurts me to see you like this. Stop crying. The doctor said I need you guys to help me in the recovery process. I need your love. Not your tears. I don’t want you guys to treat me any differently. Can you do that for me?” Papà pressed on.

I hoisted my head to look at him through my wet eyes. “Yes.”

He was right. We were not supposed to worry him. He was the sick one, and he was the one comforting me. It wasn’t supposed to be like that. I wasn’t supposed to only think about my emotions. I was supposed to think about his as well.

“Now, stop crying.” He urged me as he began to wipe the tears off my face with the back of his hand.

Leaning in, I placed a gentle kiss on his right cheek. “I love you, Papà.”

“I love you, Piccola.” He said with a warm smile.

We all remained in his room for a little while, talking about nothing and everything, with laughter filling up the space. It had been a while since we bonded together as a family, and I hated that it took my father’s sickness to bring us together.

“It’s late. You all should go to your rooms. We’ll continue tomorrow. Besides, I want to have a little chat with your mama before we go to bed.” Papà said after a while.

Sofia was the first to kiss Papà on the cheek and wish him goodnight. She also wished Mama, Matteo, and I goodnight before trudging out of the room.

“Goodnight, Papà.” I said, kissing him on the cheek.

I inched closer to Mama and gave her a kiss before whispering in her ear. “He’ll be fine.”

She smiled at me, and I mirrored her expression before starting to walk away.

“I don’t deserve a goodnight.” I heard Matteo say from behind.

I half turned to look at him, surprising him with my words. “I love you, brother.”

“I don’t.” He retorted sharply, but he couldn’t hide the smile that crept up his lips.

Rolling my eyes, I continued on my way. I knew he loved me and was just being purposely annoying.

Giovanni and Sofia were standing a few feet away from the room when I stepped out, and they seemed to be gossiping about something.

“Why are your voices so low? What are you gossiping about?” I asked as I approached them, raising my brow.

“Flat tyre, uh?” Giovanni scoffed.

I glanced briefly at Sofia, knowing that she was the one who told him about it, before returning my gaze to Giovanni.

“What are you trying to say?” I asked, raising a brow.

“Did he really have a flat tyre or-” Sofia chimed in, raising a brow.

“Yes.” I lied.

Giovanni cleared his throat.

“Dishevelled hair,” he said, turning to look at Sofia. “Was her dress rumpled before we left the hospital?”

“Definitely not.” She responded, scanning my dress with her eyes.

Papà’s room door clicked open, and I turned to see Matteo slipping out. He raised a brow as he approached us.

“What meeting are you guys having?”

“Mind your business.” Sofia retorted.

A small, satisfactory smile curled on her lips when Matteo’s face twisted in annoyance. She loved teasing him.

“Come here.” Matteo groaned as he took threatening steps towards her.

A small laugh erupted from her as she hid behind Giovanni for protection.

“Gio won’t save you today.” Matteo muttered as he tried to pull her away from Giovanni’s back, but she was relentless, clinging so tightly to him.

As I watched their never-ending drama with a smile on my face, my phone suddenly started ringing, and I silently hoped it was Antonio. I missed him already.

“Excuse me,” I said as I walked away from them.

I could feel their gazes on me as I pulled the phone out of my pocket, but I didn’t bother to look at them.

Looking at the screen, I realised Antonio wasn’t the caller, and I sighed.

Picking up the call, I muttered, “Ruby.”

***

ANTONIO

I didn’t expect the turnout of events tonight. The way she hopped on my legs and kissed me like her life depended on it, taking me to places I’d never been. It was totally unexpected, but I fucking loved it. I fucking loved her.

I wanted to be the one to say ‘I love you’ first, but she beat me to it, and that was sexy. Knowing she loved me aroused me so much, and I wanted to fuck her all over again when I heard those words, but I couldn’t. We were running late, and I couldn’t have her father call me before I took her home. It took everything in me to drive her back home. I wanted to take her to my place and make love to her all night.

I hated that I couldn’t do the things I wanted to do with her at the time I wanted. But that would change soon. I loved her, and I planned to do everything I could to make her mine. Forever.

But for now, I had to deal with the matter at hand-the mother fucker who was trying to murder me.

I made a shocking discovery tonight at the party, and I asked Marco to confirm what I saw. I hadn’t seen him since then, and his room was the first place I went when I got home.

“Marco.” I called, pushing the door open without bothering to knock.

“Boss.” He hoisted his head to look at me.

He was sitting on his bed, gazing at the laptop, when I entered.

“Did you confirm what I asked you to confirm?” I asked as I approached him.

He sighed. “I asked a random lady at the party to roll up his sleeve while pretending to seduce him. And she did.”

“So, did you see it?” I asked eagerly.

When I yanked Lorenzo’s hand off Rosalinda’s waist, I spotted a tattoo on his wrist in the process. But his sleeve didn’t crease up enough for me to see what type of tattoo it was, and I couldn’t draw a conclusion yet. Though I had a strong hunch that it was the same tattoo that my attackers had inked on their wrists, So, I asked Marco to find a way to confirm if it was the same.

“Yes.” He nodded. “It was the same tattoo.”

“Bastardo!” I gritted, my jaw clenching in extreme fury as I began to dial Lorenzo’s number.

That motherfucker!