Falling for the Mafia Boss

Chapter Fourteen

Mia POV

Usually, knowing the truth rather than assuming it lifts a weight off your shoulders. When you have been dreaming up scenarios and everything is finally brought to light, a sense of peace washes over you. Not this time. As I let the seed that the detective plant sprout and fumble as it rapidly grows its vines towards each of the dots connecting them, I can’t help the dark cloud that forms around me shifting my usually positive mood.

I fought the urge to turn on my heels and run home instead of meeting up with Enzo, but I decided to confront him instead. I’m done with him dancing around my question. I will NOT take the cold shoulder from him again; he will answer me. He will tell me what affiliation him and my brother have with the mafia.

I round the corner of 7th and Bourbon and slip into ‘Throwdown boxing club’ where I promised to meet Enzo. By the time I enter the threshold of the locker room after failing to find him anywhere on the floor, I am fuming mad.

A detective is stalking me and taking pictures of me without my knowledge. The New York police force knows that I am screwing my brother’s best friend. Which is supposed to be a secret. They claim Lorenzo is a killer - a Capo in the mafia along with my brother. Johnson says that I am in danger moments after my brothers gives me a gun and tells me the same. The severity of this reality has boiled my blood and Enzo is to blame. I have given him chances to come clean – begged him to tell me the truth and he refused. He refused because I was too “good” of a girl to know the truth.

He knows NOTHING!

I am far from a good girl. I play the roll my father and brother has pushed me into. The naïve pretty face who’s only priority is her career in microbiology. Sure, that girl a part of me, but not all of me. I can be fierce. I can be unpredictable, and when I’m mad, I’m a firecracker with a short fuse.

I find him standing in front of his locker, swiping a towel over his wet hair. His basketball shorts are hanging low on his hips showing off the delicious V that points to parts of him that I can’t stop thinking about. I almost forget why I’m here – to make him tell me the truth. I almost forget that I am mad at him, and beg him to f**k me over the bench next to him, but I don’t. No distractions this time…. I need to know.

I need to know what I have gotten myself into and how deep this thug life goes.

I watch a water bead fall from his hair and roll down his chest. The black lines of his tattoo shines from the wetness, making the art glisten in the fluorescent lights. I find the details of it mesmerizing. As I recite his last name in my mind while I read, my heart drops. Genovese. He is the son of my father’s old boss, Genovese.

A flashback of me peaking in the crack of my father’s office door when I was a small child steals my mind. My father talking on the phone while he wiped fresh blood from his hands. “I did it for the boss, Genovese, I owed him one last battle.” He pulled his shirt from his body, tossing it into the trash along with the towel stained with blood and a pair of black gloves. He took out a match, striking it until the orange glow from the flame danced around the dark room. He disposed of the fire into his trashcan and watched as the clothes ignited. “Once Lorenzo is of age, he will be a great leader. The boys already follow him around like he is in charge. You can guarantee I will not let his uncle poison his mind… My wife and I will come see you in Italy soon nonno.” His words spread through me like a wild fire, setting my skin on fire as adrenalin pumps through me.

OH MY GOD!

Reality punches me straight in the gut. Lorenzo is THE boss and he drug my brother into this s**t, and now me.

His eyes open and he takes a deep breath. He notices me coming toward him, finding my stare he smiles softly, but his expression falls quickly when he reads my energy.

“You’re the Mafia’s boss.” A whisper is all I can get out. My vocal cords unable to vibrate enough for me to scream like I want.

He strides closer to me, quicker than I have time to react to. His hand grabs ahold of my cheeks, covering my mouth lightly. He pulls my face up to look into his. “Shhhh, not here Bellissima, it isn’t safe to talk business. Let me get dressed. We will talk somewhere else.” He kisses my forehead reassuringly.

I push at his arm, removing his gentle hand from my face. How dare he man handle me and then tell me to wait! “You’re a f*****g asshole Enzo. You dragged my brother into your s**t and now me. A f*****g detective just stopped me on the road asking about the bartender’s murder!” I find my voice and scream at him. I push at his solid chest with fury. He tries to grab my wrists to stop me from shoving him, raring my hand back, I slap him in the face as hard as I can.

As if a switch is flipped from behind his bright eyes his features turn dark. He grabs me by my elbows, squeezing my arms tight to my sides to stop my assault. He presses me firmly against the chilled lockers. “Lower your voice, Mia!” he demands.

“f**k you.” I try to wiggle out of his grasp.

He jolts my body into the lockers again, banging my head into the hard metal. The gun falls from my waistband to the floor in my fight to get away from him, making a loud clank at our feet. Enzo peers down, his fury growing. “Why the hell do you have a gun? You don’t even know how to use one.”

I squirm, trying to free my body from being pinned by his solid form. “Don’t worry about it, asshole!” I raise my tone, my voice ricocheting off the stone walls that make up the privacy of the locker room.

Enzo covers my mouth with his hand muffling my insults. He presses into me firmer holding me against the lockers. He drops his forehead to the metal and takes a few deep breaths. His thick chest rises and falls, his warm breath caressing my neck. He turns his head, running his lips over my earlobe, “Watch your dirty little mouth and how you talk to me. I’m going to remove my hand and let you go. You’re going to wait here while I dress. I will take you somewhere private to talk.” He lifts his head, his eyes pierce into mine. “If you say another word while we are in here, I will f**k your mouth until all you are able to do is choke rather than talk. Do you understand Mia?” His gorgeous eyes search mine, watching for any thread of resistance before he lets me go.

Fire ignites me but not in the angry way it did a few moments ago. His threat to f**k my mouth excites me, and I’m half tempted to argue with him, just to see if he will do what he says. My body and heart want him, but my brain is angry with him. I nod my head, deciding against being a brat.

He releases my mouth and step away from me. He opens a locker next to me and pulls out a stack of clothes. I bend down and pick up the gun, concealing it back in my waistband. He dresses quickly then grabs me by my hand, interlocking our fingers and walks us out of the locker rooms. The gym is full now, prying eyes watch us stroll across the padded floor making our way outside. Once we make it to his car, he opens the door for me like the gentleman that he is.

Enzo is too nice to be a Mafia Boss. I mean, the way he man handled me back there was the worst I have ever seen him do. Sure I have seen him fight Mario and Donnie before when we were kids and a few others in school, but he wasn’t violent beyond that.

Getting into the car Enzo revs up the engine before pulling onto the main street. “I was born into this life; It runs in my blood. I had no choice but to take over when my nonno (grandfather) passed. I didn’t choose this life Mia; it is who I am. I am Lorenzo Genovese, the youngest Mafia boss from here to Italy.” He shifts his gears as he pulls onto the interstate. “I’m dangerous Mia…. And if you were smart, you would stay away from me.”