Chapter Eleven
Roselyn
I lie on the bed and stare at the ceiling as the fan moves slowly. I hate it here. I hate that I’m confined to this mansion, and I don’t have any freedom. I hate the only interaction I have with other people are the staff, and they barely speak to me. One older maid makes snide comments under her breath, and I suspect it was her who snitched on me to Devious about taking a knife back to the bedroom.
I’ve explored most of the mansion. Devious has two movie theaters, two kitchens, and a gun room which is in the library. It’s locked, and a guard stands next to it. Fifty guards surround the property, and I know because I counted every last one of them.
I get bored easily, so I sit by the pool or paint or sit in the garden. It’s peaceful here, a homey vibe, but this place will never be my home. I’m constantly anxious from when I witnessed Devious killing Tommy. That’s what pissed me off the most about him, that he was so cruel and he threw away Tommy’s life like it was nothing. I guess when you’re a murderer, life is meaningless.
Most of the time, all I think about is Tommy, my mother, and Nonno. I wonder if he’s getting his medication on time and if the nurses are taking care of him. I used to help pay for his medical bills and medication, but now that everything has been taken away from me, I don’t know if he’s getting the help he needs. And Papa doesn’t want to have anything to do with his father, so I know he’s not looking out for him.
Pain bubbles in my chest. Usually, I start my day with tears, but not today. I don’t think I have enough tears in me to cry.
I never thought I’d say this, but I don’t miss living with Papa. I don’t miss the outbursts he’d have out of the blue or him letting me know how much I was a mistake. I don’t miss walking on eggshells around him either. It was like living with a ticking bomb.
It’s quiet and Devious doesn’t speak to me as much, and I don’t have to walk on eggshells around him. But I have so much resentment against him for locking me in here, so much anger for forcing me to marry him. The more and more I think about it, the more I squeeze the sheets in my hand.
I sit up with my hands wrapped around my legs, and my chin resting on my knees, while I watch a trashy reality TV show, then I get mad at all the people on the TV screen because they have what I want—freedom.
There is a knock on my bedroom door, and Marla pokes her head in, smiling. She wears a sundress and sandals today, and her hair is in a high ponytail.
“I have a gift for you.”
“A gift?” I question.
She doesn’t know me well enough to give me a gift. When people are too nice, they want something in return. People don’t do anything for free.
She bends down and picks up a white kitten covered in brown spots. My heart thumps in my chest, and a smile tugs at the corner of my mouth. I love cats, and I always had this weird dream of me dying of old age surrounded by them. I get on my knees and watch the kitten look around, confused, his fur spiked up, and his green eyes beaming at me.
The kitten strolls toward me, and I scoop him up in my arms as I pet his head.
“What are you going to name him?”
“Binx. From Hocus Pocus .”
She sits on the fluffy bed, rocking her legs back and forth. “I like it.”
Did Devious send her to spy on me? I don’t trust her, not now, anyway. She lies on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. She’s the only one who has been kind to me since I married Devious.
I watch Binx run around the room, looking lost.
“Why are you being nice? People just don’t do things for people without a price.”
I would ask her if she’s spying on me, but if I do, she’ll deny it, tell Devious, and he’ll work harder to keep me trapped in this luxury cage.
She removes strands of hair out of her face. “Honestly, I’m trying to help because I want Devious to move on from Shelby. I want the old Devious back where he was happy, but ever since the bitch died, he’s been walking around like an empty shell.”
Devious being good and nice. That’s hard to believe. His heart is cold as pitch-black night, and if he does do nice things it comes with a price. I’m pretty sure he gifted me an art room in hopes I’ll fuck him, but I know if I don’t have sex with him, he’s going to take my virginity anyway. I’m not stupid, I’m well aware that the mafia men rape their wives. My father did it to my mother multiple times.
“Did he force Shelby to marry him as well?”
Smiling sadly at me, she sits up and glances around the room. “No. They were high school sweethearts.”
“This shit isn’t fucking normal,” I lash out at her. “How he’s treating me isn’t normal, Marla.”
“There is nothing you can do about it. You can’t run from him. Suck it up and put your big-girl panties on. Now you’re married to a don. Start acting like it,” she snaps.
She’s brainwashed. Every woman in the mob is. I shake my head. I have an idea, but if I run it by her, she may tell Devious I’m trying to escape.
“Can we go for a drive?”
She gets up from the bed and eyes me. “Where do you want to go?”
So, she doesn’t know that Devious is keeping me hostage against my will.
“To the mall, I want to look around.”
“Devious told me that you tried to kill him, and he’s not letting you leave this mansion. Nice try.”
My cheeks flame and I shrug. “It was worth a try.”
“If you want me to be your friend, and on your side, don’t try to manipulate me into doing things, Roselyn. That’s unkind.”
Guilt eats at me like a disease. “I’m sorry. It won’t happened again.” A tear leaks down my cheeks. “I just want to be free from this lifestyle. I don’t want to be married to your cousin.”
She gets up, brings me into a hug. “There isn’t anything you can do about it. You’re stuck with him for life.”
That’s what I’m afraid of.
Devious
I sit in my black Aston Martin, DBX, waiting for Cashel to show up to pick up the coke. Several minutes later, one of his underbosses gets out of the car, heads over to one of Matteo’s men, and hands him a briefcase. Matteo’s men get into their vehicles and drive off.
As soon as I get out of the car, I grab my Glock from the holster and add a silencer to the tip. My soldiers get out of the car beside me and follow. I aim my gun at the underboss, shooting him in both of his legs. Dark blood seeps into the concrete, and he wails in pain. His soldiers shoot at us, but my soldiers kill them one by one, their bodies dropping like flies on the ground. I hurry to the underboss as he crawls to his gun, leaving a streak of blood.
“I’ll be taking this,” I say, stepping on his tan hand, digging the heel of my brown loafer into his flesh. He screams in agony as I take his gun and strap it in my holster.
“Damien, toss this piece of shit in the trunk. Tell the rest of the soldiers to go back to the manor, and you get into the back seat.”
Nodding, Damien picks up the underboss, tossing him over his shoulder.
I get back in my car and dial Aiden’s number, but he doesn’t pick up. Forty-five minutes later, King pulls up in the driveway of my brother’s manor. He parks my car, and I jump out and knock on the oak door. Two guards stand next to a row of flowers. They slightly bow, and I nod.
A woman dressed in black lingerie opens the door, and she eyes me from top to bottom. She looks like a high-class stripper or a prostitute. She’s probably one of the women from the escort service. It wouldn’t surprise me. My brother always had a thing for those types of women, especially ever since he broke up with Maya, his first love.
“You look li—”
“Where is he?”
Aiden appears at the door. Frowning at the woman, he clutches her by the neck and squeezes tight. “Don’t you ever fucking answer my door. You don’t live here. Get dressed and get out,” he threatens.
The woman’s face pales, and then she leaves us.
Yawning, he rubs his eyes. “What are you doing here in the middle of the night?”
“I have a gift for you,” I tell him. “Come with me.”
He follows me to the trunk, and it opens. Aiden’s eyes light up with delight.
I pat him on the back. “I figured you would enjoy a mini torture.”
“Hell yeah. I haven’t carved up a body since we chopped up that hit man’s body. My hands are itching to kill someone.” He pauses. “Where did you find this trash?”
“Matteo gave me the whereabouts of one of Cashel’s underbosses. Get in the car.”
I close the trunk as Aiden slides into the back seat.
King drives us to my usual spot where I bury people’s bodies, then stops the car. He hits a button, popping the trunk open.
The sky is hues of purples and oranges with ripples of white clouds. The smell of pine is thick in the air. Perfect day to shed more blood.
Aiden and I get out of the car and stand in front of the trunk. The underboss tries to break free from the ropes he’s tied up in. I remove the rope from his mouth, and he screams at the top of his lungs.
“Shut the fuck up,” Aiden says, grabbing his gun from his sweatpants pocket, pounding on his face with the handle. Bones crack in his nose and blood colors his face bright red.
“Where is Cashel?” I ask.
“I don’t know.” He slurs his words.
I grab his phone from his pocket and swipe the screen, pulling up the keypad. “What’s his number?”
“Dial number one,” he answers.
I do what he says and tap the Speaker button on the screen.
Cashel picks up on the second ring. “Yeah, Leon. Did you complete the trade?”
“No, you dipshit. He’s going to be dead in the next ten minutes,” I say.
“You miss me?” Cashel chuckles through the phone. “I bet Shelby would miss riding my dick if she were alive. She had a good pussy. Tell me if your new wife’s pussy is as tight. I might have to sample her too.” He laughs louder. “She can ride my dick as she tells me how lousy of a man you are.”
I don’t know how he found out that I got married, but I don’t care. I grip the phone so hard it might crack.
I grit through my teeth, “You come anywhere near my wife and I will slaughter you. Did you like the gift I sent you?”
He ignores my question. “Call off the war, Cayden, or you’ll watch all your men die,” he threatens.
I pace the dirt ground. “You brought it on yourself—you betrayed me. You think you’re going to get away with what you did? You’re dumber than I thought.”
“That’s rich coming from you. I wouldn’t have betrayed you if you hadn’t betrayed me first.” Before I can question what he’s talking about, he says, “The baby Shelby was carrying wasn’t yours. It was mine. She was too embarrassed to carry your child in her tummy.” His tone is low.
Confusion haunts me. Did he say what the fuck I think he said? He did. He’s saying this shit so he can get a rise out of me. He knew how happy I was to find out Shelby was pregnant. My hand trembles, and adrenaline burns through my blood. I stop dead in my tracks and rub my eyes.
“You’re fucking lying,” I spit.
“No. I’m not. She was going to tell you, but she didn’t get a chance. We had plans to get married a few weeks after you… after she died.”
I don’t want to hear any more of his bullshit, so I hit the End button.
Aiden glances at me in shock but doesn’t say a word. After all I’ve done for Cashel and Shelby. I’m the one who helped build up Cashel’s businesses after his father passed away. And with Shelby, I’m the one who paid her tuition for school and got her out of poverty. I risked being with her when I knew we could end up dead. It was against our laws to marry outside of the mafia. I did everything to make her happy, and she betrayed me. My throat grows tight, and my pulse accelerates.
I yank Leon out of the trunk and onto the dirty ground, shooting him in the head. Brain matter and blood flies onto my pants. Then I grab two shovels, tossing each one at Damien and Aiden, and they dig a grave. As soon as the hole is big enough, we dump the body and bury the bastard.
“Why does he think you betrayed him?”
I’ve always been loyal to the bastard. “I have no idea what he’s speaking about,” I answer honestly.
Pity shines in Aiden’s eyes. “Draco had no business aligning with the Irish mob.”
We get into the car, and I rest my head back against the leather seat. I need a fucking drink. I need to call Shelby’s best friend, Zeta, and ask her if Cashel is telling the truth.