An Arrangement for the Mafia Princess

Chapter 8- Enzo

-Enzo-

“Are we sure that splitting them up is the best idea?” Marco asks me.

I nod. “If someone is still waiting to follow, we’ll see which one they go after. Luca will be following in the van with Reilly’s things, too.”

“Alright,” Marco reluctantly agrees, looking past me at the two women. “I assume you’ll take your new wife?”

“Yes.”

Reilly hugs her father tightly, and I almost feel bad for making her leave. She didn’t get to talk to him much, and with how sick she’s learned he is, I’m sure she’s upset.

“Mamma, you’re with the boys. Reilly is going to ride with me,” I tell them.

Sean smiles before kissing his daughter’s cheek. “Take care of my girl.”

The things he told me today have shaken me, and I feel so on edge. I want to get her home and tuck her into bed safely, but I promised her I’ll tell her what’s going on. I wish I hadn’t.

“I will,” I promise the man as the weight of that promise sinks in.

I offer her my hand, and she takes it, but not before kissing her father’s cheek. “I’ll come check on you as soon as I can,” she tells him.

“I’ll work out a driver any time you need, Reilly. You just let me know when you want to come.”

I lead her to the car and open the door for her. She slides in and pulls the seat belt on, fastening it tightly before I even get around the car. I carefully watch my mirror as we make our way down the street and onto the interstate. Only Luca is behind us.

“I need to tell you something,” Reilly says softly. “I tried to call Fionn earlier. I didn’t talk to him, though.”

“Why would you call him?” I ask, as a pulse of anger surges through me.

“Someone was following us, and neither you nor Dad were answering your phones. I called him and asked him to get you.”

She asked him to get me? “He did not.”

“I know,” she says softly. “He was upset that I asked for you and hung up. I didn’t even get to tell him that someone was following us. I didn’t want you to find out that I called him and think that it was anything other than that.”

I glance over at her. She looks so nervous when there’s no need to be. I reach across the car and rest my hand on her thigh, trying to let her know that it’s alright. The poor girl seems hurt by his reaction.

“It’s fine, Reilly. I’m sorry I didn’t answer. We both left our phones outside the room.”

She nods. “Yeah. Dad has a rule about that. I don’t know why, but there are always phones sitting outside of his office.”

“It’s so no one can bug them and listen in,” I explain. “It’s a wise decision, one that I think I’ll be taking from him.”

We make it safely to the house with no sign of a car following. I help Reilly out of the car and lift the suitcase from the trunk. This one is larger than the one she had yesterday, and it feels like it weighs a few hundred pounds.

“Do you have a swimsuit in this thing?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “No, why?”

“Hot tub,” I tell her as I lug the bag up the stairs. “Just get in your underwear. It’s only us.”

She suddenly looks so nervous, and I almost feel bad for suggesting it. “My scars.”

“I’ve seen them. They’re not a problem for me,” I tell her, not fully understanding her hesitation. I spent most of the night with my hand over them, so why would seeing them be an issue?

She opens her big suitcase on the ground and digs around before taking something into the bathroom. I change out of my suit and pull on a pair of trunks when she emerges from the bathroom.

“Are you wearing my dirty shirt?” I ask. “I’m going to see you once you take it off.”

She shrugs, looking down at herself. “It’s dark and I’ll be in the water.”

Christ. She has some serious concerns about these scars, which becomes more evident when we go out onto the balcony and she makes me turn around until she’s completely submerged in the water.

I sit near her and tug her to my side, reaching across and placing my hand over the marks. “I don’t have a problem with your scars. You don’t have to hide them.”

She shrugs, looking away from me. “It’s just what I’ve always done.”

I keep my hand on her stomach as I place the other on the edge of the hot tub behind her. I wanted her to be out here to talk because it may help her relax through the tough conversation. I’m not sure if that was the right call.

“Your father knows I’m telling you everything,” I begin. I don’t want her to think I’m going against him. “Mamma said you don’t know what either of our families does.”

She shakes her head, still not looking at me. It’s dark, but I swear she’s blushing. “No.”

“My family has a hand in a lot of things,” I tell her, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. “We sell drugs. To be clear, it’s whatever we have to sell. There are no limits. We deal in stolen goods and have begun to get involved in some cyber-related activities. We also run a strip club and a brothel.”

She turns her head at that, blinking at me. “So when you said you could go to the strip club and find a wife, you meant it.”

I nod. “I don’t want a stripper for a wife, though.”

She nods slowly, and I can see that the wheels in her head are turning. I thought about not telling her about the brothel, but I didn’t want to be dishonest. I knew it would raise some concerns for her. But she’s my wife, and she should know everything. We’re married, so even if the worst should happen, they can’t make her testify against me.

“I’m happy to take you to either of those locations, at any time, if you’d like to see it,” I offer. “No one is forced to work there. They’re both clean, high-end establishments.”

“Do you go often?” she asks.

“I go often to work,” I tell her. “I do not partake often.”

She nods slowly, looking away from me again. “But you have before.”

“I have, but I told you, there will be no one else since we’re married. I meant that s**t, Reilly.”

She nods quickly, but she doesn’t look at me. I take it as a sign to continue. “Your father has similar businesses. He has more brothels than I do.”

“He what?” she asks, her head snapping to look at me. Her quick movement sloshes the water so that I get a peek at the top of her perky t**s. f**k. I’m getting hard now. The hot tub wasn’t a good idea at all.

“I believe there are four brothels. No strip club, though.” She’s so innocent, even more than I had realized before. “Your father also sells various drugs and illegal items. He deals guns for a gang in Ireland, though.”

Her face falls at my words, and I can see how difficult this is for her to hear. I honestly hadn’t wanted to hurt her, but Mamma was right. Reilly needs to know the dangers she faces, and she can’t without knowing what to look for.

“I didn’t know about the last part, and I don’t think my father did, either,” I explain. My fingers ghost along her scars. “Your father told me that they came to him and requested that he run the finances from it through your mother’s jewelry business. He refused, which is when they attacked you both.”

She looks in my eyes, her light blue eyes shining with tears. “He said he’s always known that they were responsible, but he blamed my family to take any suspicion away from the fact that he was transferring weapons. It worked, too, because we had no idea and didn’t know you had also been a target that day.”

Her lip quivers. “Who would try to kill a kid?”

“They would, which is why he wanted you married to someone who can keep you safe. After your mom died, they threatened you again, so he agreed to work with them to keep you safe. He didn’t let them near the jewelry business, though.”

“My mom started that,” she says softly.

“Which is why he didn’t want anything illegal to go through it,” I tell her. “It’s yours now. If anything ever happens to me, you’ll always have that to fall on.”

She nods slowly before finally looking at me again. “If he did what they wanted, why does he think I’m in danger now?”

This is the hard part. This is the part I don’t want to explain. “They kept threatening you to get him to continue working with them. He worries that they’ll come after you once he’s gone, which is a valid fear. It’s why he put his own guy with you when you kept running off.”

Her entire demeanor changes, and it makes me feel bad. Sean should have been the one to tell her this, but he’s felt responsible for the death of his wife for so long, he didn’t want to hurt her.

“I didn’t know,” she says softly. “I didn’t mean to be so difficult.”

She’s pulled her arms toward herself, and her shoulders slump. It’s almost as if she’s trying to make herself smaller. I don’t want her to feel that way, especially over something that she was kept in the dark about. I grab her around the waist and pull her over to sit on my lap.

“Enzo,” she says, but I’m not having it.

“You’re my wife, Reilly,” I remind her. “I’m not going to let you sit here and feel scared. The gang in Ireland always knew what Sean was going to do next. He’s thought for years that someone in his crew was feeding them information, but never figured out who or how. I don’t think that’s the case, but whatever was going on is done now.”

“It’s done?” she asks as she slides her arm around my neck. Her t**s are resting just above the water now, and I may combust as I try not to stare.

I force my eyes up to hers. “Yes. I ruined any plans anyone had when I showed up. We married and left within an hour and a half. No one had time to stop it.”

“That’s why Dad went along with it?”

I squeeze her thigh and pull her a little closer to me. She lets me. “Yes. He knew I could keep you protected, and he knew it wouldn’t give them time to intervene. He’s been worried that they’d force you to carry on their business after he’s gone.”

She nods and looks off into the distance, clearly bothered by everything she’s learned. I was shocked when Mamma said she had no idea what her father did, but I see it now. He was doing everything to protect her. She needs to know, though, because I don’t want to lock her away like Sean did. That’s no way to live.

I reach up and gently grasp her chin, turning her to face me. “I can protect you, Reilly. I need you to understand that.”

“I know,” she says, giving me a small smile that melts me in a way I’m not prepared for. “I think it’s probably best that I didn’t know. If I had, I probably would have agreed to marry the first man he set me up with.”

My hand trails from her chin, down to her neck. I lean in and press my lips against hers. “I’m glad you didn’t agree to marry any of those fucks.”

Reilly smiles. “Me, too,” she says, leaning in to kiss me.

She balances herself by placing her hand on my chest, and I can tell just how nervous she is. She doesn’t pull away, though, so I grab her hips and turn her so she’s straddling my lap. Still, she doesn’t stop me.

“You’re shy,” I whisper against her lips.

“Sorry,” she says, pulling back, but I hold her in place. My d**k is hard, pressing against her core, and I know she feels it. I want her to feel it. “I don’t know what you expect from me.”

Her voice is so soft with her admission that I almost let go of her. She isn’t very experienced, but I can’t point that out to her. Her dad ran off the first guy she was with, and that Irish fucker has just been using her.

“I don’t know what I expect either, but I like this,” I tell her, my hands holding her hips in place so she can’t run. “I’d originally thought that you’d live your life and I’d live mine, but I don’t want that.”

“I don’t either.”

“Stay in my room,” I whisper against her lips. “Let’s get to know each other. I don’t know how much time I’ll have for a while, but if you’re there every night…”

“Ok,” she whispers before slowly sliding her tongue across my bottom lip.