Convenient Mafia Vows (Ruthless Billionaire Mafia Kings)

20. Caleb

20

CALEB

Lauren hands over two tickets to see Wicked at the Gershwin Theater on Broadway.

“Will she enjoy this show?”

Lauren’s eyes flit between me and the tickets in my hand, and her customary pursed lips soften into a smile. “She’ll love it. I’ve seen it five times.”

“You have?” I’ve never thought of Lauren’s life outside the Wraith, never even considered that she might be married or have a partner, kids even. How does she find the time?

“Mr. Murray.” After all these years, we’re still on formal terms. “I apologize for yesterday, for letting your … well, for allowing Mrs. Murray to interrupt the family meeting. It’s just that you said to bring family straight through and I didn’t… That is to say, I didn’t know if I should…”

“It’s fine, Lauren. Victoria is family now.”

Lauren closes the door to my office on her way out, and I stare at the tickets. If I’m being honest with myself, Victoria is more than family. She’s everything that I ever imagined I wanted in a wife. Beautiful. Sexy. Affectionate. Feisty. I can’t help smiling when I think of her with Abigail. She’s everything that I would want the mother of my kids to be too.

Perhaps there’s a reason why she stumbled into the Wraith when she did. I don’t pay much attention to motivational quotes and all that ‘Trust the universe’ shit, but there has to be a reason why she was there when I needed her. I can’t even imagine asking anyone else to pretend to be my wife, and yet she has settled into the role as if it was always destined to be hers one way or another.

I hide the tickets inside the desk drawer and stare at a spreadsheet on my screen. The figures merge into one fuzzy gray mass in the background when I think about Victoria lying on the edge of the rooftop pool with her legs open. My cock grows inside my pants. I could ride the elevator up to the rooftop now and fuck her until she begs me to stop, and it still wouldn’t be enough.

I’m insatiable for her. Like a drug, the more I have of her, the more I want, and I don’t know what’s going to happen when this is all over.

I open the drawer again and check the start time for the show. 7 p.m. We’ve got a couple of hours to kill, and I’ll achieve nothing while my brain is occupied with the soft groans of Victoria reaching an orgasm on my tongue.

I stand, adjust my cock inside my pants, and tell Lauren to finish early for the day as I pass her desk on my way to the elevator.

“Early? But, Mr. Murray, what about?—”

I don’t wait around for her to finish.

Victoria is on her hands and knees in the bathroom, cleaning the bottom of the shower when I walk in. Her ass in the air is enough to make my cock bounce. It’s tempting— so fucking tempting —but I want tonight to be different. I want it to be special. I want to prove to her that I’m not a sex-crazed mafia king who thinks with his hand in his wallet or on his dick.

“What are you doing?”

Victoria visibly jumps, banging her elbow on the shower door. “Caleb.” She sits on her haunches and faces me while she rubs her elbow. “Why are you here?”

“I live here, remember?”

She wrinkles her nose. “I mean, why are you back so early?”

“We’re going out.”

“Out? Where?” Her eyes narrow like she doesn’t believe me.

“To the theater.”

The tickets are burning a hole in my pocket, but I don’t want to show them to her yet. I don’t know much about my wife, but I get the sense that she enjoys surprises, and I want to see her face when we’re standing outside the theater.

She stands slowly and tugs the latex gloves off her hands. She half-smiles with a sideways glance. “Is this like a date?”

I shrug, trying to keep the smile off my own face. “Maybe.”

Victoria crosses the bathroom, stands on tiptoes and kisses my cheek. “Why, Caleb Murray, you never cease to surprise me.”

I can’t resist. Pushing her up against the wall, I pin her down with my body and force my tongue between her lips. She reciprocates the kiss, as I knew she would, and I pull away before I go too far and take her on a date to my bedroom instead.

“Should I change?” she asks.

My breath catches in my throat as my fingers drift down and sneak underneath her sweater. “No. You’re perfect as you are.”

Her expression is unfathomable, but it soon rearranges into her familiar smile as she brushes past me on her way to her room. I follow her with my eyes. What the fuck is happening to me? She’s wearing faded jeans and a plain pink sweater, but the promise of what lies underneath her clothes is almost too much for me to bear in such close proximity.

Five minutes later, we’re in the car and heading for Times Square. Victoria’s hand is on the seat between us, and I cover it with my hand, raising a smile from her that warms me inside. If anyone ever touches her, I’ll happily spend the rest of my days behind bars.

We join the throng of tourists in Times Square, following them hand in hand, Martin trailing a few discrete steps behind us. The sky is a moody shade of purple-gray, but this is already overshadowed by neon lights and flashing virtual signs. Victoria squeals as a woman appears to fly out of a gigantic 3D billboard above our heads. Like a child, she wanders around with her head tilted back towards the sky so that she doesn’t miss anything.

“You’ve never been to Times Square before, huh?”

She laughs. “Plenty of times, but never as a tourist.”

It strikes a chord within me. I’ve never done the whole touristy thing around my home city either, and it’s refreshing to view the sights and sounds through her eyes.

We stop at the Royal Grill cart and buy lamb over rice for Victoria and Philly steak over rice for me, eating as we walk, the flavors exploding on our tongues.

“Oh my God this is amazing.” Victoria licks sauce from her fingers, grinning like the cat that caught the fattest mouse.

“Better than the Wraith?”

Her smile fades and she scrunches up her nose in a gesture that makes me want to drag her down an alleyway and fuck her up against the wall. “Sorry. I didn’t mean?—”

I laugh out loud. “It’s the best Philly steak I’ve had in years.”

“You’re just saying that now to make me feel better.” She nudges my arm with her elbow, and I nudge her back.

When we eventually stop outside the Gershwin Theater, and she sees the Wicked sign, she squeals again, eyes wide and glittering with tears. Then she throws her arms around my neck and kisses me on the lips. No tongues. Just a happy kiss, and I hold her hand as we enter the muted sounds of the theater foyer.

I barely recall much of the show. I’m too busy watching Victoria who rests her arms on the ledge of the boxher chin on her arms, mesmerized by the stage, the costumes, the songs.

Outside, she walks in a daze, her mind still back inside the theater, the songs replaying inside her head. Each time she looks at me, she recalls another moment from the show that stole her imagination.

“What would you like to do now?” I ask when we’re back in the car.

“We should go pick up Abigail from your mom’s house. It isn’t fair on Emily.”

“Victoria.” I hold her gaze and force her to listen. “Stop worrying about Abigail for once. I asked Mom to keep Abigail at her place overnight. Tonight is yours.”

Her eyes grow large with tears. “Anything?” she whispers.

“Anything.”

She twists her mouth to one side. “You’re going to laugh when I tell you what I want to do.”

“You’re not going to tell me that you want to go home and watch a movie.”

She grins at me. “No. Better than that. I want you to take me out on your Harley.”

At first, I think she must be joking, but then I realize that she’s watching me closely, waiting for me to react. “You’re serious?” She nods. “Have you ever been on a motorcycle?”

“Nope. Never.”

“You know it’s dangerous.” She nods again. “You know how fast a Harley can go. Riding a bike isn’t like sitting in the back of a fast car.”

“I know.” Her eyes are still wide, eager, hopeful.

“First time riding pillion can be scary.” It sounds like I’m trying to talk her out of it, but I just need to be certain that she understands the risks.

“I’m not scared, Caleb. I trust you.”

That does it for me. “I’ve got a helmet and leathers back at the Wraith that will fit you.”

Her smile is wider than ever.

“Where do you want to go?”

“Surprise me.”

We head out of town, pick up the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway, and drive until we find a spot by the river with spectacular views of the New York City skyline. With Victoria riding pillion, her arms wrapped around my waist, her thighs pressed against mine, my adrenaline rush is drastically altered.

Her presence fills my head. Her body consumes my every thought. Her trust in me is like every orgasm I’ve ever experienced bottled into an exotic cologne that I could make billions from.

I offer her my hand and help her to dismount the bike when we stop. She stands in front of me, her face pale in the moonlight, and doesn’t move while I take off her helmet. She’s trembling, I realize.

“Are you alright?” I lower my face so that our eyes are level.

Victoria’s eyes are wide and dark. Her lips are so pale they blend in with her skin.

“Did I go too fast? Did something happen? Breathe…”

She shakes her head, and a wide smile sets her face aglow. “That was amazing.” She laughs, a mixture of emotions, shock, exhilaration, pleasure, playing across her face. “Why did no one ever tell me it would feel this good?”

“Because you never met me till now.”

I pull her into my arms, and we stand there by the side of the road enjoying the view of the city lights, her head resting against my chest.

I’ve explored the Byway before. I’ve pushed the Harley to its limits, the speed and the adrenaline rush erasing my thoughts and setting me free like a bird released from its cage if only for a few hours. But it has never felt like this before. I’ve never paused to breathe and feel and just be me.

I don’t know if it’s having Victoria in my arms, or the view, or simply a combination of an evening spent being someone other than Caleb Murray, but there’s a sensation rushing through my veins and shouting in my ears that this is what I’ve been missing. It’s the same feeling that prompted me to search for Sandy. A feeling so extraordinary that letting it go would be like telling my heart to stop pumping.

“Victoria, you don’t have to go ahead with the wedding reception.” The words appear from nowhere, but now that I’ve said them out loud, it’s like slotting the final piece of a jigsaw puzzle into place.

After the party, once Victoria has been introduced to the rest of the world, we can think about cutting short the agreement. It’s the tipping point, the peak of the mountain, passing the test you’ve been studying for your entire life and realizing that it’s all downhill from here on. I’m not ready to let her go. I’ve barely even scratched the surface of Victoria Callahan, but if this is only the beginning, I’m not prepared to walk away without knowing more.

Plus, there’s the niggling concern at the forefront of my mind called Olivia Dragonetti.

Victoria tilts her head back so that she can look me in the eye. “What’s brought this on?”

“I… I know that you want to help. You didn’t have to marry me, but you did. You accepted my fucked-up proposal and you’ve done nothing but keep your side of the deal from the moment you stepped into my office.”

Her eyes are glittering with unshed tears, but she doesn’t say anything.

“My family … they can be persuasive when they want to be.” She opens her mouth to speak, and I shake my head. I’m not finished. “They want the reception to go ahead because it works in our favor. It ties up loose ends. It may even, with a bit of luck, result in the alliance we’ve been trying to seal for years.”

“It works in your favor too.” It’s barely more than a whisper.

“Depends which way you look at it.” I smile. “Until now, I’ve used people to get what I want and never given them a second thought. It’s what people like us do.”

“People like us?”

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it. You’ve seen the way we live. The lifestyle, the trappings, the bodyguards. It all comes at a price, and I’m not prepared to barter with you and Abigail.”

I feel her stiffen in my arms. Maybe I’ve said too much, but she needs to hear it like it is. She needs to know exactly what’s in store for her if we don’t walk away from each other as planned. As if the bullet wound and the stalker haven’t made it blatantly obvious.

She shakes her head. “You’re not bartering with me and Abigail. I came to you of my own free will. I’m a big girl now, Caleb. I make my own life choices, and I choose you. With or without the lifestyle and the trappings and the bodyguards.” Her mouth twists into a lopsided smile. “Although I’ll admit that the bodyguards are useful when you’re being followed.”

“So long as you don’t lose them in Macy’s.”

“Yeah…” She winces. “Sorry about that.” She looks like she has a whole bunch of stuff more to say that’s eating away at her, and I wish she understood that she can talk to me. I want to listen.

“I need you to trust me, Victoria.”

“I do.” She leans back to get a better look at my expression. “What is it? What haven’t you told me?”

“I’m calling off the reception.”

“But—”

“I’m making an executive decision. It’s what I do, if you hadn’t already noticed.” I’m making light of it, but I know I’m not fooling her. “We’ll find another way to call Olivia’s bluff. Fuck knows we have enough resources to throw at it.”

“But what about your mom? Kyle?”

“I’ll handle them. This isn’t what’s best for Kyle.”

There’s so much I want to tell her about Kyle. I want her to know that he isn’t an asshole, that he would never leave a woman for dead to save himself, that he’s not as strong as he looks. Baby steps. I haven’t even told her how I feel about her yet because I’m still figuring it out for myself.

“You can stop Kyle, Caleb. He’ll listen to you. They all listen to you.” I sense a but coming. “But I think the wedding reception should go ahead as planned. You need this. Your family needs this. Maybe I…” For the first time since we stopped here on the Byway, she turns her face away and refuses to meet my gaze.

I take her chin between my thumb and forefinger and tilt it towards me. “Go on.”

“Maybe I could talk to Olivia.”

“No.” I release her and step backwards, missing her presence in my arms instantaneously. “Don’t even think about it. You don’t know what she’s capable of. You’ve not grown up in the same world as she has, so you wouldn’t understand how little respect she has for anything or anyone.”

“No, you’re right.” Her voice is brittle. “I don’t belong in your world. Thank you for the reminder.”

She goes to walk away, but I grab her arm and turn her back around to face me. “That isn’t what I’m saying. I don’t want you to belong in this world.”

She glares at my fist wrapped around her arm until I let her go. “What do you want then, Caleb?”

Her chest is heaving with the effort of controlling her anger at me, and I hate myself for doing this to her. I asked her to trust me, and then I shoot her down the first time she asks me to trust her. It isn’t one of my finest moments.

“I—”

My phone rings in my pocket. Terry’s ringtone. He only ever calls me when it’s an emergency; it’s an unspoken rule that we keep communication to a minimum because you never know who’s listening.

“I have to answer this.” My cell phone is already in my hand, the screen unlocked.

Terry’s voice buzzes in my ear. “Don Dragonetti has had a heart attack.”