Convenient Mafia Vows (Ruthless Billionaire Mafia Kings)

27. Victoria

27

VICTORIA

The ballroom in the Titan is exactly how I pictured it. There’s a raised platform in the center of the room, the fountain spilling gold water into a pond filled with golden fish. The walls are decorated with floor-to-ceiling white and gold feathers, the tables laden with food in gold tureens, and at the far end, on a platform draped in shimmering gold curtains is the band. It’s opulent and glamorous and glitzy, and I stand inside the doorway, hardly daring to believe that this is happening to me.

A few days earlier, Caleb and I were married in a small, private ceremony in the gardens of Moira and Terry’s property on Staten Island. It was everything I’d ever dreamed of. We made our vows beneath a white rose covered arbor, surrounded by our close family and friends, with Abigail as our flower girl.

There were no photographers. There were no mafia family representatives. The bodyguards maintained a discreet distance.

We took selfies on our phones of happy, smiling faces, laughter, and love. Sienna went around snapping photographs on her camera of us all when we were not watching. Natural photos. Images of me and Caleb dancing around the garden with flowers in my hair, and a rose tucked behind Caleb’s ear. Abigail being pushed on the garden swing by Bash. Mason popping an olive into his mouth looking more relaxed than I can ever recall seeing him. Moira and Terry snuggled together on the decking sofa.

Sienna and Kyle… The kind of hurt Sienna experienced after the wreck doesn’t vanish overnight. Kyle is patient, and I believe him when he says that making Sienna happy is his life’s mission, but I’m worried that her scars run too deep to ever be repaired.

Caleb sneaks up on me from behind in the ballroom and nibbles my earlobe, his hands snaking inside the plunging neckline of my dress. He pinches my nipple, and I bat his arm away as I turn to face him. “The guests will be arriving any moment now.”

He pulls me close and wraps his arms around me. “I could lock the doors. I can picture you now, naked behind one of those gigantic feathers.” He smiles.

I can feel the bulge in his pants pressing against my abdomen. “Not exactly the outfit I had in mind for tonight.”

Caleb wrinkles his nose. “Trust me, it would be for my eyes only. You’re mine, remember.?Gach mianach.”

I peer into his eyes. “You never did tell me what that means.”

“It means that you’re all mine. Gach mianach. And don’t you ever forget it.”

“How could I?”

Caleb picks me up and, with my legs wrapped around his waist, turns three-sixty, kissing me until I feel giddy and a little bit queasy. “Put me down.” I can’t help laughing though.

Moira and Terry come in with Abigail, who runs over to me and squeals, “I’ve got a bunny rabbit.”

“A bunny rabbit?” I glance at Moira above Abigail’s head.

Moira shrugs. “We couldn’t resist when we saw her in the pet store, could we, Abigail?”

“Her name is Snowy because she’s all white.”

I crouch in front of Abigail. “Snowy. I love it.”

Abigail is wearing a white dress covered in embroidered daisies that pick out the green and amber flecks in her brown eyes. Her hair is loose and reaches almost down to her waist, and she looks more like me than ever.

She is staying with Moira and Terry while Caleb and I go on a honeymoon to Europe. Mason has gone to Florida to stay with Mom and Quincy for a while. After the abduction, he broke down in the hospital and confessed to his gambling addiction being out of control, so we’re hoping that some quiet time with Mom will help to get him back on track. He’d lost his way somehow, lost sight of what was important as the debts started accruing, but I have a good feeling about his future now.

“I know how to take care of her. Emily told me what to do. She’s learning to be a vet.” Abigail’s expression is serious; looking after a bunny is an important job. “Emily will help me clean out the hutch, but I can move her into the run myself so she can eat the grass.”

“I’ll have to come meet her when I get back from our honeymoon.” I kiss the top of her head and stand up. “What do you think of the ballroom?”

Abigail peers all around, wide-eyed. “I like the fountain,” she says before skipping off to join Emily, who seems to be her favorite person these days.

Cash and Bash came in while we were discussing Snowy. They stand on either side of me and kiss my cheeks. “We didn’t get you a wedding present yet,” Bash says.

I smile. “Guys, you really don’t have to. I think Caleb has everything we could possibly want in his apartment.”

“Ah, but does he have one of these?” Cash ducks underneath one of the food tables and comes back out with an inflatable unicorn, inflated, complete with golden unicorn’s horn on its head.

I burst into giggles and take the unicorn, pretending to inspect it closely. “Indeed, he doesn’t. We’ll give it pride of place in the pool, and every time Caleb falls off it, I’ll think of you.”

“My turn.” Bash copies his brother, disappears underneath the table, and returns with a curious transparent cube. I chew my bottom lip trying to guess what it is so that I don’t make him feel bad. “It’s an egg-cuber,” he announces proudly.

“An egg-cuber?” Caleb takes the gift and turns it around, his brow furrowed. “Just what I always wanted.”

“I knew it.” Bash grins. “I thought that if ever there was anyone who would want to make square eggs it would be my seriously square big brother.”

We all laugh as the ballroom continues to fill with guests.

The twins have eased my anxiety a little, but my heart is still drumming dramatically. I’ve barely known Caleb for a few weeks, and his world and events like this are still so alien to me I feel like a deep-sea diver stumbling upon an underwater city without an oxygen tank.

“Hey, I’ve got you. You’ll be fine.” Caleb’s arms snake around my waist from behind, and he kisses me on the lips as I lean back against him. “Have I told you how beautiful you are?”

“No.” I shake my head, twisting my mouth away from his lips in feigned confusion. “Have you told anyone else?”

Caleb turns me around and places both hands on my shoulders. His face is so close to mine our lips are touching. “You are, and always will be, the most beautiful woman in the world to me, and don’t you ever forget it.”

I slant my eyes and tease him with a sly smile. “Out of curiosity, what will happen if I forget?”

His lips tickle my ear as he whispers, “I will withhold my cock and make you beg for it. Naked. On your knees with your butt in the air.” He pulls away.

My face is flushed, and I can feel my nipples hardening. “I’ll bear that in mind.”

Sienna navigates her way across the slowly-filling room, and Caleb chuckles. “Saved by your best friend. We’ll resume this conversation later.”

Sienna looks stunning in a floaty green-and-gold dress with a high neckline and long floaty transparent sleeves. Her red hair is piled up on top of her head, with long curls framing her face, but the first thing I notice about her are the flushed cheeks. She looks happy, and seeing my best friend happy is the best wedding present ever.

“Wow, look at you.” She holds my hand and twirls me around. “I can’t remember the last time I saw you wearing anything other than jeans. What have you done to her, Caleb?” She smiles. “I mean, wow.”

My cheeks flood with heat, and I hold onto Caleb’s arm.

Even I see a different person when I look in the mirror now, and I told myself it was because of the designer labels stitched inside my new outfits. But it isn’t. It’s knowing that Caleb feels about me the way I feel about him. It’s knowing that he will always be by my side, and that our future is together. It’s like the real me was hibernating until the sun came out, and Caleb is my sunshine. My oxygen. My Prince Charming.

“Where have you been?” I ask Sienna, deflecting the attention away from me. “I haven’t seen you for a couple of days.”

“I’ve been busy … looking at art galleries.” She pauses. “I think I’ve found one.”

Kyle wanted to help her start her own gallery, but Sienna refused his offer. She’s keeping him at arm’s length. It’s survival instinct, and I can’t blame her for that. She almost died in that car wreck, and I can’t even begin to imagine what horrific images appear inside her head when she closes her eyes at night.

But Caleb kept his word and is funding the gallery on the provision that she repays him with one of her paintings when she’s a famous artist charging millions for a picture of a sunflower.

“I can’t wait for you to see it, V. It’s perfect.”

“It’s the first thing I’m going to do when we get back from Europe.”

Caleb smiles. “I’m excited for you too.”

Kyle joins us then, and as always, I study their body language, hoping to see a glimmer of something more. Something romantic. That hope fades when Sienna reflexively edges away from him. She barely makes eye contact before grabbing a glass of champagne from a passing server, and muttering, “Oh, well, time to mingle.”

Before the accident, Sienna was always the first person to get up and dance at a party, and the last one standing, and it breaks my heart to see her avoiding the dance floor like it’s something toxic. Almost as much as it breaks my heart when I see the defeated expression on Kyle’s face.

Caleb places a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulder, but Kyle shrugs it off and heads outside, his eyes lingering on Sienna’s back as he passes by.

“She’ll come around in her own time,” Caleb says, pulling me against his chest and kissing the top of my head.

I wish I could be so certain. But I want Sienna to be happy, and if that means keeping her distance from the Murrays, then I’ll respect her wishes all the way.

I peer around the room at the smiling faces of the guests. I spot Denise with a small group of people, and wave at her from across the room. She waves back and winks at me. She’s still reeling from the knowledge that when she offered me a temporary job, she was introducing me to my future husband. She never saw herself as a matchmaker before.

A familiar figure appears in the doorway, young, tall and slender, with raven-black hair.

“Ivan,” I say at the same time as Caleb mutters, “Brailand.”

We face each other. “Brailand?” I arch an eyebrow when Caleb asks, “Ivan?”

Turning back to the two men who are now accepting a glass of champagne from one of the servers, I realize that this must be the secret boyfriend Olivia mentioned in the warehouse. Caleb had been worried that Brailand Voth had been abducted too, but it turned out that he’d resigned from his job and taken a step back from his regular life to protect the man he loves. Ivan Petrov.

“They make a lovely couple,” I whisper to Caleb. “I hope everyone can see that.”

“Well, if they can’t, it’s their loss.” He kisses me on the lips. “I’ll go and speak to them. Will you be okay?”

“Go. I’ll be fine.” I watch him walk away. His broad shoulders, slim hips, wavy hair… How did I get so lucky?

“You look radiant, Victoria.” The voice catches me unawares, and I turn around to find Don Dragonetti standing beside me holding two glasses of champagne. He offers one to me, and when I take it, he clinks his glass against mine. “To your future.”

I smile, sip my champagne, the bubbles fizzing on my tongue. “How are you feeling?”

No one had heard from the don since the incident in the Lake Placid warehouse. We didn’t even know if he would come to the wedding reception, so I’m surprised to find him looking ruggedly handsome in a smart black suit and crisp white shirt.

“Weary.” He sips his drink. “But don’t tell anyone I said that.”

“I won’t.”

“I hear you’ll be leaving for your honeymoon tomorrow. I won’t spoil your evening with talk of business, but please tell your husband that I will speak to him on his return.”

“Is it serious?” I blurt out before I can stop myself. Me and my big mouth.

“My dear,” Don Dragonetti smiles, “in this city, everything is serious.”

I want to ask about Olivia. I don’t know how badly she was hurt, but no one has seen or heard of her since that day, and I’m scared that I’ll ask the wrong question, and he’ll tell me that the gunshot was fatal. It all happened so quickly that I didn’t even see who fired the first shot. Then another went off, and when I peered out from beneath my arms, Ivan and Olivia were bleeding on the floor.

“Please don’t look so concerned, Victoria. I think your husband will appreciate what I have to say.”

Is he going to offer Caleb another chance to form an alliance? With Olivia out of the picture, it would benefit both families and should be a smooth transition on both sides.

“Is Olivia…” It will eat away at me if I don’t ask. “I mean, does she know what you want to speak to Caleb about?”

Don Dragonetti downs half his glass of champagne in one mouthful. “You didn’t see what happened, did you?”

“No. I was there when she threatened Ivan before you arrived. He wanted to leave. He didn’t like what was going on.”

The don’s eyes seek out Ivan who is deep in conversation with Brailand and Caleb, a wide smile on each of their faces. “He was worried about the fallout with the Murrays. My daughter unfortunately had no such qualms.”

I don’t know what to say. Olivia was governed by her misguided desire to be married to Caleb. But she abducted my brother and my best friend to get to me, and although I might be able to forgive her, I will never forget what she did.

“You said that you hoped we might be friends, Olivia and I.” Pause.

I don’t know how far I can go without being disrespectful to the mafia boss. Caleb has a lot of respect for the older man, and I’ve learned enough to know that respect is key in their line of business. Without it, they might as well pack their bags and relocate to the other side of the world.

“That was then, and this is now,” he says before I pluck up the courage to continue. “My daughter fired the first shot.” At my gasp of surprise, he adds, “Fortunately for all concerned, my daughter was more proficient at applying makeup than she was at wielding a firearm.”

My eyes instinctively drift across the room to Ivan Petrov. It must’ve been a surface wound; he doesn’t appear to be in any pain, and when our eyes meet, he raises his glass to toast me.

“Did Ivan try to stop her?”

“He didn’t need to.” Don Dragonetti has been acknowledging other guests throughout our conversation, but now he turns to face me, creating a tiny bubble in which only the two of us exist. “I fired the second shot.”

I blink furiously. I’m not sure I heard him correctly with the ringing in my ears as I relive those terrible moments in the warehouse.

“I… I mean, you…” I swallow a mouthful of champagne too quickly and feel it bubble and fizz as it goes down.

“I was aware of a mole within my organization. Agreements were broken. Pressure was being put on my business by the police commissioner. The casinos were losing money. I suspected of course, but I didn’t quite believe it until Lev Petrov informed me of my daughter’s antics with his son.” He drains the liquid in his glass and sighs heavily.

“Is she…?” I can’t bring myself to finish the question.

“She has been taken care of. So, you see, you have nothing to worry about on that score.”

I swallow, tears inexplicably welling in my eyes. “What about you? Will you be alright?”

He smiles, and his eyes crinkle at the corners. “Yes, my dear. Thank you for asking.” He places his empty glass onto a tray as a server walks past, leans in, and kisses my cheeks. “Enjoy your honeymoon. We will meet again when you get back.”

“Thank you.” Although he is smiling, I sense the heavy sadness resting on his shoulders. I throw my arms around him and hug him closely. “Please take care.”

I release him to find Caleb watching us with a curious half-smile. “Don Dragonetti, I’m so glad that you could make it.” He shakes the older man’s hand.

“I can’t stay. But I wanted to offer my congratulations to the happy couple.”

I watch him navigate the small groups of people in the ballroom with handshakes for the men and kisses for the women. His spine is straight. He knows everyone, and everyone greets him with respect, and I can’t help feeling that an alliance with the Murrays means more to him than he lets on. Maybe he looks upon Caleb as the son he never had. I only hope that we never let him down.

“Happy?” Caleb pulls me into his arms and kisses me on the lips.

“Always.”