The Mafia’s Forbidden Desire

ANTONIO

I sped to the safe house, worried and hoping that nothing had happened to them. I tried to shut the dream out of my head, but I couldn’t. The more it replayed in my head, the more I lost my mind, and the more I desperately wished I could just teleport to the coastal hideout. It seemed so much farther than I remembered it to be.

When I finally got to the beach house, I found the men I took there to guard them stationed around the house.

My presence and the look of perplexity that saturated my features surprised them, as one of them, Jasper, quickly approached me and asked.

“Do we have a problem?”This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

“Where are they?” I impatiently asked.

“They’re inside.” He raised a brow as he asked again. “Do we have a problem?”

“No.” I responded.

I was so paranoid that I had totally forgotten to call the men guarding them to confirm if everything was fine. All I could think of was getting there to make sure they were okay. Even though Jasper had assured me that they were okay, I still had to confirm it myself. I needed to see them healthy and alive in order to get the graphic images from the dream out of my head.

So, without hesitation, I rushed to the front door, disabled the security system in order to prevent the alarm from going off, and entered inside.

Everything seemed fine. It was quiet and peaceful. I assumed they were sleeping, so I started making my way upstairs to where the rooms were in order to see them. Even a sneak peek was enough for me. I just needed to see them.

But before I could finish ascending the staircase, Camilla appeared at the top of the stairs, a confused expression masking her features.

“Why are you here?” She promptly asked.

“Shhhh…” I placed my index finger over my lips as I continued climbing up.

“How are you?” I asked when I came to a stop in front of her.

Still confused, she replied. “I am fine.” Her gaze swept from head to toe before asking again. “Why are you here?”

“Where’s Rosalinda? And Carlo?” I asked.

“Probably in one of the rooms, sleeping. I don’t know.” She shrugged nonchalantly. Her brows drew together. “You’re scaring me, Antonio. Tell me. What’s wrong.”

I sighed, relieved that it was just a dream. I wouldn’t have survived the loss of those three humans.

“Antonio.” She called, waving her hand over my face to get my attention.

“Nothing.” I replied.

“Then, why are you here?” She asked with a raised brow.

“I called multiple times. Why didn’t you pick up my calls?” I asked. My demeanour had changed from being worried to pissed.

“I was in the shower when you called. I decided to dress up before calling you back, but I forgot after dressing up. And my phone was on silence.” She flashed her phone at me. “Just for me to pick up my phone now to see this amount of missed calls. I was about to call you back. Antonio, if there’s something wrong, you should tell me.”

She looked genuinely worried.

I sighed. “Can you go and check on Rosa for me, please? And Carlo.”

She drew her brows together. “Why?”

“Just do it. Damn it!” I groaned.

“You’re acting really weird.” She muttered, casting a suspicious gaze at me.

I exhaled sharply. “Would you do it or not?”

“Fine.” Without asking further questions, she began to walk away from me.

“And please don’t tell her that I’m here.” I added.

“Whatever.” She mumbled. I couldn’t see her face, but I was damn sure she rolled her eyes.

She returned in no time, with her hands folded across her chest as she approached me.

“She’s perfect, Antonio.” She waved her hands frantically as she came to a stop in front of me. “Sleeping, meditating, or whatever.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

“What happened?” She asked again.

“Nothing.” My response remained the same. “Take care of yourself, Carlo and Rosalinda.”

She rolled her eyes. “She can take care of herself.”

The door to one of the rooms suddenly creaked open, hinting that Rosalinda was awake and probably headed to where we were.

“Please don’t tell her that I was here.” I quickly told her.

I didn’t wait for her response before rushing downstairs and dashing out of the house, relieved that they were safe and alive.

***

ROSALINDA

Camilla was such a weird human. How could she come to my room and tap me awake, just to ask if Carlo and I were fine? What happened to minding each other’s businesses while we cohabitated in the safe house?

She never cared about me, so what changed? Or, could it be that something was wrong? I wondered.

Out of curiosity, I lazily crawled out of bed. As I walked out of the room, I heard murmurs, but I couldn’t make out who was talking or what they were talking about. But one thing I was sure of was that there were two voices.

I tensed, wondering who was in the house other than Camilla, as I carefully trudged to the source of the voices.

But when I got to the staircase, I saw Camilla walking down the stairs. No one else was there-just her.

“Who was here?” I immediately asked her, my brows drawing together.

“No one.” She replied nonchalantly as she continued descending the stairs without bothering to look at me.

“Someone was here. Who was it, Camilla?” I persisted, following her down the stairs.

“No one.” She insisted.

“You can’t tell me that. I am not deaf. I heard you speaking with someone.” I wasn’t having the response she was giving me. Someone was definitely there, and I needed to know who.

“Okay.” She gave her shoulder a little shrug before turning around and walking past me as she ascended the stairs.

I wanted to hurriedly follow her, but I got distracted by a call from Antonio. I had deliberately refused to pick up his calls earlier because I was clearly still upset with him. But for him to be this persistent, even calling in the middle of the night, there had to be a reason for that.

So, blowing out a sharp breath, I picked up his call this time.

“Rosa.” He said with a longing tone from the other end of the call.

Just the sound of his voice was enough to send tingles down my body.? Oh, how I’ve missed him. I desperately wished he was here. With me.