Chapter Thirty-Four
I feel my lungs burning, begging for air. My eyes are closed, letting my body limp, but in the same time I force myself to stay in the same position.
Just a little bit more.
I need to feel this peace a bit more. The sound of nothing calms my demons and the pressure on my body reminds me that I'm still alive.
For how long?
I don't know, but I need to stay underwater for just a bit.
The last couple of days have been silent. Since Everette came back from his old house, he's been silent. He acknowledges me, forcing himself to kiss my cheek every time he sees me, but I know it better. He has all the rights to behave like this.
Everette thinks he needs time to adjust, that we'll go back to our lives when everything will make sense. But I know from experience that he'll never look at me the same. He will see that his life is much better without getting involved with me.
Everette will move on eventually while I will be stuck in a bubble that has his name.
The alert heartbeat feels like my heart falls in my stomach, and my lungs are screaming. I cough once and bubbles of water tickle my face. I cough twice and my body moves without me controlling it.
When I make contact with air, I take big, irregular breathes, just to calm my inside. I wipe the water from my eyes, looking at the roof that shows the dark sky with thousands of stars.
The last day of August was a warm one. Vincent was all day with Emmeline, riding her horses like a little cowboy while I visited Mamma.
Having this distance from Everette brings me only one advantage. I don't have to sneak out anymore. Maybe from the bodyguards, but sometimes with just one plead it works.
I haven't visit Mamma since the mess with Ivan started. It's not like she will answer me when I tell her all the things that are messing my life.
Sometimes I wish she would answer me. Maybe hearing her voice will make me feel more at peace, or her hugs will bring the little girl in me. The one who left me at nine years old and forced me to become an adult.
I let out a deep sigh, letting my head fall on the pool edge.
I'm tired living my life in wishes when clearly, they won't ever happen to me.
I close my eyes knowing that I will not see darkness, but Everette. His dark, messy hair that always makes him look a god, his green eyes that put me in a spell all the time, his muscular body with my claim on him.
Everette doesn't just consume me, but he makes me consume myself with him.
My body lowers again in the water that seems hot. The white shadows on the bottom of the pool are the
only source of light that surrounds me. I feel the water swallow my neck, welcoming my whole body.
Because of the numbness of my muscles, I don't sense the person that emerges from the dark corner of the room. I feel my hair wrapped around a tight fist, yanking my head out of the water. My scalp hurts, making my head tingle in pain.
I open my eyes in alert at the assault. My vision meets my favorite green eyes and a tensed face that is ready to kill me on the spot. Everette brings my face close to his, breathing hard and irregular.
"You do that again and I'll fuck you hard with your head in the water until you faint. You understand?" I try to cover my gasp at his angry voice. His words make my pussy clench, almost begging him to fuck me underwater.
"You talk to me now?" I ask him with a raised eyebrow, my displeasure seeking out.
Everette smirks and his fist still in my hair, he lowers himself in the pool. His white shirt becomes transparent, his ripped muscles and tattoos on display. His other hand goes to his belt, unbuckling it to take off his suit pants.
I bite my lower lip at the sight of him, letting myself eye-fuck him. Everette sees me and he tugs my head back, forcing me to look up at him. He lowers his head until our lips are inches apart, throwing his soaked pants and shoes out of the pool.
"Did my little fox miss me?" He asks in a low voice, sending shivers down my body.
Fuck him and his control over my body. Yes, I've been like a wolf who lost his mate these days, but I hate how my body begs for him.
How my heart begs for him like he’s the only source
of its beating.
"Nah, it's been so quiet and peaceful without you." I say with a content smile, even though the lie feels heavy.
Everette growls and moves me until I'm in a corner of the pool, with him blocking every way out. I'm caged in his arms.
"Still lying I see," He whispers and massages my head where this fist was.
"It's not lying, it's a way of coping," I whisper back, tired of hiding my feelings.
Everette frowns, and I sign deeply. "I needed a way to convince myself that I don't need you. That this pull that attracts me to you it's just my imagination."
"And it worked?" Everette asks with a rough voice.
I take his face in my hands, smiling sadly at him. He looks lost. Tired. And it brings me a feeling of satisfaction that I wasn't the only one affected by this.
"You just caught me underwater, because the feeling of drowning it's the only one that makes me feel you. Because every time I'm around you I feel drowned in all these emotions, and your body is always keeping me above them. So, you tell me Everette. Did it work?" My throat hurts at the words I just said. The lump in my throat makes it harder to concentrate on him.
His eyes look haunted, and when his hand moves to my lips, I almost break. His touch only can make me die.
Everette makes a throaty groan that makes me frown, and them he captures my lips in a desperate kiss. He kisses me hard, his lips staying frozen on mine like he wants to feel my skin on his. I move my hands from the water, grabbing his hair in the same tight hold he had me.
I open my mouth and that all it takes for Everette to
snap out of his trance. He takes my tongue between his lips, sucking it and kissing it until I feel it sore. We swallow each other’s months like we haven't kissed in years.
Two days but it felt like an eternity.
Everette separates our lips, grazing my cheeks in his big hands. His forehead meets mine, and both of our mouths are open, trying to take even breathes.
"I was never mad at you, Althea. I swear I wanted to be, but I can't blame you for keeping this a secret. It hurts, but I don't blame you, baby. I'm angry at myself for not seeing it sooner, but again, I can't change the past if I'm angry at both of us."
"Then why?" I ask in a desperate tone. "Why did you distance yourself from me? Didn't you think that it would kill me? Because it did, Everette. It killed me to think that I lost you too." I feel tears forming in my eyes, and my body temperature changing drastically.
"Fuck, baby, I didn't put distance between us. Fuck, I would never do that." He curses and lowers his head in the crook of my neck, slamming his hand multiple times on the edge. "I tried to not go to war with the Famiglia, that's why I wasn't home."
My hands freeze in his hair. While my heart can finally beat properly after hearing that he never had the intention to leave me, my blood stops running in my veins.
"A war with Famiglia?" And then it hit me.
Cazzo, cazzo, cazzo!
Famiglia doesn't have a ruler anymore. Hanibal died and no one took his place. How the fuck did I forget this?
"Allan told me in that night that Famiglia chose its next King." Everette says and he starts trembling in my
arms.
They chose?
My panic is at full high, thinking of the worst possibilities.
"They aren't taking Vincent. He's turning five in October. He's a little boy," My panic is interrupted by my husband's lips.
For a second, I let myself lose in him, but then, I push away from me.
"Everette, you can't let them take him-"
"They don't want him, baby. Vincent is safe from this." He says calmly, trying to take my panic away.
"Then who? Vincent is the rightful heir of Famiglia. I won't let anyone take that away from him." I say angrily.
Since I found out about Vincent's arrival, all I knew was that I will make him the best Capo that Famiglia ever had.
The thought of someone taking his place makes my blood boil.
"That's why I almost went to war with them, Althea." He whispers and his eyes are turning dark.
And then it finally clicked.
Famiglia is a traditional mafia. They know Vincent is too young to be Capo. And they still want the Luciano bloodline to continue ruling.
"They want me." I say in a rough voice.
Everette's eyes close and he looks feral, "Yeah, baby. They want you as a Donna."
For me it never existed the possibility of becoming the next ruler of Famiglia. First, I am a woman and it never existed a Donna in this world, besides the Empress. Second, even if a Donna existed, Hanibal would've chose Keres. Third, I don't want to be a Donna.
But what if...
"What did Empress say?" I ask curiously. Everette lets out a snort and I frown.
"Of course she's agreeing with Famiglia. She thinks you would be a perfect ruler. And not just for Famiglia, but for any mafia."
"And you think she's wrong?" His answer makes me curious.
"Fuck no. You are the strongest woman I know, of course you would be the best. It's the fact that no one asked you if you want this."
My body softens at his words. After everything that I've done, he's still here with me.
"I don't want to be the next ruler, but what if I prepare the Famiglia for Vincent?" I look into his eyes for any reaction, but I don't see any.
"Prepare in what way?"
"I'll make the Famiglia the mafia Hanibal never wanted. Strong, loyal, unpredictable. I'll be the Donna until Vincent is ready to take his rightful place as Capo. I'll prepare Famiglia for the best Capo of all times." I explain with a little smile.
I will make sure Vincent is unstoppable.
Everette looks at me with pride, trying to stop his own smile. He's so beautiful it hurts to look at him.
And so sexy with the transparent white, wet shirt on him that I'm trying to not jump his bones.
"Then let's get to work, my Donna." He whispers and my knees weakens.
Everette pecks my lips, teasing me until I'm begging for him to take me. His huge hands are pumping my ass cheeks, playing with the thong I'm wearing.
My trembling fingers are unbolting his shirt, and his smirk sends waves of pleasure down my spine. After ripping the thong off me, his fingers unclasp my bra,
letting my heavy tits bounce free.
"Maybe work can wait until tomorrow," I gasp when his teeth bite my right nipple. He works his way up to my lips, kissing me deeply.
"I never got to say thank you." Everette whispers through the kisses.
"F-For what?" I try to say without gasping.
He stops his kisses, looking at me with soft eyes. His hands slide down under my thighs, hauling me in his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist.
"Thank you for saving me, baby." He whispers and I feel like crying again.
I feel his tip at my opening, and I try to lower myself on him.
"You own me," I answer him, and his laugh makes me grin.
"I own you, huh?"
I gasp when he enters me in one thrust, stretching me until I whimper. The delicious twitch of him makes me moan loudly, my fingernails marking his back.
The clock in the pool room announces midnight, and for the first time in three years I'm not scared of my birthday.
Everette thrust in and out of me at a hard, but gentle rhythm, and I feel like melting in his arms.
"Happy birthday, my Althea." His cock touches that place deep inside me and I scream his name like it's my prayer.
"Scream it again," He orders me, touching that spot again.
With one look at him, I scream "Everette!" and let him awake my body.