Page 10 of Mafia’s Fake Bride

She wasn’t sure where this assertive person she’d suddenly become had come from, but she was going with it. It was probably sheer bravado, she thought but didn’t care.

“If your mom hadn’t,” he started. The immediate glare that the beginning of that sentence caused stopped him. “If my uncle hadn’t…”

“It doesn’t matter who started that crap all those years ago, she decided to carry it on. She decided that tormenting a dying woman was a fun way to get her jollies. Well, she’s fucked me over, so I hope she’s happy. The feud continues.”

“Let’s not argue, Marie,” he sighed out and turned to her. “We’ll be down here for a month more, at least, but then I have to get back to New York. We have to get back to New York. You might meet her, you might not, I don’t know. But I’ll be there, so you’ll be safe.”

“Fine.” She didn’t have a whole lot more to say to him, so she leaned back against her car again. “Is that all?”

“I’ll need some paperwork from you, and we’ll have to apply for a marriage license together. So, we should meet up once you’ve decided on a dress. Oh, here, use this to buy whatever you want.” He moved towards her, pulled out his wallet, and took out a credit card.

She stared at it, at the name on the card, and felt her heart seize up. Whatever she wanted? She wanted to buy his love, to be his love, she didn’t want that stupid card. For a moment, she almost ran away, but then she remembered that stack of bills on her kitchen table. She might even be able to save the house if he was going to pay off the debts she now owed. Her hand shook slightly as she took the card and slid it into her back pocket.

“Thanks.” That was all because she couldn’t think of what else to say.

“I’ll wait for your call then.” He stopped and turned to her. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

“I will.” She turned to open her car door. “See you later.”

“Indeed, you will, Marie,” his deep voice promised. She looked at him as she slid into her car seat and turned the engine over. He didn’t seem like the chastened schoolboy anymore, he looked like a grown man with plans to make her his.

She swallowed and decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to ask him about her wifely duties yet. His eyes told her there was one duty he was still very much interested in.

She put the car in drive, despite her body’s demand to go back to him, and sped down the drive. Rocks from the graveled surface flew out behind the car as she raced away, but she didn’t care about the damage those rocks might do. She had to get away, otherwise, she’d make a fool out of herself.

Her thoughts froze as she drove down the road, her movements were automatic. She made it home in one piece, and let herself into the quiet house. She went to the coffee pot and turned it on. She needed the jolt it would give her. She flipped on the radio and waited for the gurgle to tell her the coffee had brewed.

She had a month, at the most, before he expected her to go to New York with him. There was business down here, he’d said, and she had to wonder what that business was. Was it drugs? More than likely it was something to do with gambling.

Her mom used to go on about mobsters and how Marie needed to stay away from Mafia boys. Well, it was more than obvious that she’d failed to avoid those kinds of boys. She’d fallen in love with one at the first opportunity.

She wanted to be greedy, to think about all of the things that she could buy now, but that wasn’t what had drawn her to Matteo. It was his eyes, the way he’d treated her. Would that change now?

Thoughts spun around in her brain so fast that they made her head pound. She didn’t want to think about money, she didn’t want to think that her only interest in Matteo had ever been about the poverty he could take her away from. It was sensible though, he had money, he’d never hidden that fact. His ability to lift her out of the life of abuse she’d endured had appealed, more than his money, however.

Where her mother had only offered her misery and hate, Matteo had offered her love, friendship, and joy. He’d brought light to her dark world. So, no, it wasn’t all about his money. It was more about the fact that he made her feel human.

She poured milk into a mug filled with the fresh coffee and sat back down at the table. She looked at the stack of bills before she looked away. She didn’t have to worry about those anymore. Matteo would take care of them. She didn’t have to worry about anything really, other than meeting his witch of an aunt.

That she didn’t want to do. Marie knew the meeting would be tense, after all, Marie was the product of the woman’s husband’s infidelity. She was proof that he hadn’t really loved her. How could it go right?

No, she’d marry him, and later, after the bills were paid and the house was hers, she could divorce him. If she wanted to. Maybe he’d be a good husband, maybe this wasn’t all some game he was playing with his aunt. Why would he want to marry her otherwise, really? She was a nobody, she didn’t bring him anything but debt, so perhaps there was a part of him that really did want to marry her? How else could she explain it?

That’s what she’d do then, she’d marry him and get on with her life. After the divorce, she could do whatever she wanted: travel, find out who she really was after all these years of living with her mother’s torture. She’d learned over the last few days that waking up with the knowledge that her mother was no longer around to tell her how terrible she was, what a burden she was, how the world would be better without her, was really… nice.

She felt another pang of guilt, but she was coming to live with those. Her mother had been horrible to her for her entire life, Marie was perfectly aware of that. She’d become used to it, even if it got to her some days. Now, though, she had a chance at so much more than just existing. She had a chance to live, to live a life she’d never dreamed of, and she’d take that chance. It wasn’t like she had any other options.

6

Matteo walked back into his office as he heard her drive away and sat down at his computer. She’d left angry, hurt, and on the verge of tears. He knew that, yet he couldn’t, wouldn’t, do anything to make it stop. He wanted her, had to have her, and with his aunt in the way, this was the only way he could do it.

His aunt was not one that he would normally fuck around with. That was before he met Marie, before he felt… something. Emotions weren’t his normal playing ground, he didn’t have them, not really, but from the moment he’d seen Marie in that parking lot, he knew he had to have her.

Now, after a long tormenting wait, when he thought he’d go mad wanting her, he’d had her. That should have got her out of his system, but it didn’t. It made him want her even more. He wanted to own those sighs of hers, the way she arched her back and twisted her hips. He wanted all of that, all of her, to be his. The problem was… his aunt.

The only way he could think of to get around that problem was to marry her. He’d made the offer to Marie, an offer he knew she’d have to accept, knowing that it would hurt her. The fact that he had to tell her his aunt wanted what was owed to her would hurt her anyway, he figured he’d soften that blow with… marriage. It would take care of her debts and she’d be his wife.

Women all over the world wanted to be his wife. They’d thrown themselves at him since he was 13. He knew women wanted the power that would be his one day, the wealth. Marie had never wanted any of that, she’d only wanted to be his. Now, she needed money, and it was the one thing that would get him what he wanted, what she wanted.