Kidnapping a Mafia Boss

Chapter Twenty-Five – Thea

A month goes by. A whole ass month, and I’m no longer trapped. I’m back in my house with Max—and to our surprise all of our bills were paid while we were in confinement. Nothing’s overdue. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Silus was behind it.

The man was paying my bills while keeping me locked up. Go figure.

I’m in Mom’s room, wearing a set of old clothes. The carpet is covered with plastic tarps while I do some painting. Trying to make the house a little more live-able, do some upgrades that won’t break the bank. With Max’s new job as Cormac’s personal assistant, we don’t have to scrounge for money.

It’s actually been kind of nice.

And weird. Definitely weird.

Another thing that’s weird is the ring on my left hand. I got use to the weight of it, and now when I glance down at the sizable diamond rock, I’m not shocked, and I don’t get a pit in my stomach that makes me wonder if I’m insane for saying yes.

Drugging and kidnapping a mafia boss is one thing, but marrying one? I must be out of my mind.

I hear Max in the hall. He must be on the phone, because he’s talking: “No, no, no. I already told you, my boss is willing to make it worth your while. We’re not a management company. He wants to buy the property from you outright. I know for a fact the offer was generous, way more than your little shithole is worth. If you think you’re going to get more from anyone, I’d advise you to take a long look in the mirror and ask yourself if it’s worth making an enemy out of Cormac O’Connor.”

It’s funny. My brother actually sounds like he knows what he’s talking about, for once, and he isn’t just blowing smoke. You’d think not much could change in a month, but if anyone’s good at adapting, it’s us.

Life is a wild ride. I might’ve hated Max’s stupid idea in the beginning, but I can’t deny that I’m happy with the way things turned out for us.

“Yeah, you take some time to think about it,” Max says, “but don’t take too much time. My boss is looking to expand, and he’s an impatient man.” He ends the call the moment he walks into the room, and he heaves a sigh. “Dealing with people is driving me nuts.” He leans against the door and watches me roll some fresh paint onto the wall.

I meet his blue-eyed stare with a smile and say, “You love it.”

His sour expression fades and he nods. “I do. I love it so much. Makes me feel all important and shit. Anyway, before I head out, I wanted to ask you if you thought more about the venue.”

What venue? The venue for my wedding. Obviously, I asked Max to help me plan the damned thing, and he pretty much took over.

Hey, I won’t complain. Planning isn’t really my forte, not something I enjoy.

When I don’t give him an answer, he huffs, “Thea! I keep telling you, you need to help me narrow it down, and we need to do it soon!”

“I told you I don’t want to get married right away.”

“Yes, but all the good venues are booked up way in advance. Depending on where you want, we might already be looking at a year or more, and call me silly, but I don’t think Silus would appreciate waiting that long to make you his wife.” Max gags. “For some reason he’s obsessed with you. It’s gross, to tell you the truth. Have you farted in front of him yet?”

His question comes so out of the blue all I can do is laugh. “Max—”

“All I’m saying is, maybe you should. Maybe letting a big one loose would dim those rose-colored glasses of his. Get rid of the magic a bit.”

“I thought it was good to have magic in a relationship?”

“Yes, but after seeing you two together on multiple occasions, it’s gross. You guys are gross.” Max shrugs his thin shoulders. He wears a suit—something Cormac insisted on—and I still think he looks a bit out of place, like he’s someone else and not my brother. “Just think about it, okay? Farting in front of him wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”

I roll my eyes at him and chuckle. “Don’t you have somewhere to be, Max?”

Max checks his watch—another thing Cormac insisted on—and says, “You’re right, for once. I’ll see you later.” And with that, he’s out of my hair and thankfully no longer talking about farting.

Leave it to my brother to say the weirdest shit.

I finish painting the room. I’m in no hurry. Silus and I are having dinner later, and then I’m spending the night at his place. We alternate between homes, something which Silus tried to stop in the beginning, but I wouldn’t let up.

His condo is nice, sure, but if there was one thing I learned while locked up in that room, it’s that I miss the sounds old houses make.

Once the walls are done, I save the leftover paint and hop in the shower. Painting isn’t something I’m used to doing, so I’m pretty messy at it. Somehow I wind up with more paint on my body than the walls.

God, I still can’t believe Max’s advice involved me farting in front of Silus. What is my brother’s problem? He needs to get a girlfriend.

It takes me a while to get ready for Silus after the shower. I dry my hair, style it, put some makeup on—all things I’m not really used to doing on a daily basis, but I’ve tried to get a little better at it. I’ve lost track of how many videos I’ve watched to try to learn how to blend eyeshadow.

By four o’clock, I’m ready and waiting for Silus to pick me up. I chose a dark red dress that I found in the local Goodwill—something with no stains and was actually reasonably priced. Even though I have a fiancé that can buy anything, I do enjoy being thrifty; it’s how I grew up, and I suspect a part of me will always be frugal.

I sit in the living room near the windows, watching. The man refuses to message me when he’s here; he always has to come to the door and get me like I’m a real lady or something.

Which I’m not. He knows it, I know it, we all know it. Still, it is kind of sweet.

The moment I see Silus’s sleek black car pull into the short driveway, I hop up and race to the door. It feels strange to be so giddy, to get so excited to spend some time with him, almost like I’m cheating at life or something. My life has switched from drudgery to the opposite, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

By the time I throw myself out of the front door, Silus is halfway up the cracked concrete walkway. Wearing all black, I’m momentarily frozen when I meet his handsome stare, and my heart skips a beat in my chest. You’d think I’d get used to that devilish attractiveness, but the opposite happened. Every time I see him, he’s even more devastatingly handsome than he was before, and my guts tie themselves into knots when I remember he’s all mine.

Silus McLean is mine. I kidnapped a mafia boss and now I get to marry him. How outrageous is that?

When I meet him on the walkway, he bends his tall half down and kisses me as he greets me, “You look beautiful, love. I could eat you up.” He smirks as he takes my hand, and he leads me to the car, opening my door for me.

No driver this time. It’s just Silus and me on our own little date night.

I buckle my seatbelt as I wait for him to walk around the front end of the car and get in beside me. He left it idling, though no music plays. We’re on the road within the next minute, and I can’t help but smile as we drive past the same houses Max and I grew up around.

“Where are we going tonight?” I ask him, slow to drag my gaze off the scenery and land it on Silus.

God, even his side profile is hot. The man might be a bit old for me, but I don’t mind. He hasn’t started to gray yet, but I bet if he does, he’ll look even sexier. I wouldn’t mind some flashes of gray in that black hair of his.

“About that…” The car rolls to a stop at a stop sign, and Silus leans over me to open the glove compartment. He pulls something out of it and drops it on my lap. “Put this on.”

I pick up what he dropped on me, and as the long, black fabric dangles from my hand, I frown. “Is this… a blindfold ? Silus—”

“Put it on.” When I make no moves to do that, he adds, “If you don’t, I will be forced to put it on for you. This is a kidnapping, love.” He says that last part so off-handedly, it takes a moment for it to click in my head.

A kidnapping? Oh, he’s got to be kidding me.

“You are not kidnapping me,” I tell him. “I’m going with you willingly.”

The look he gives me shuts me up. The man radiates intensity without even trying, and I get a hint of that intensity when he whispers, “It’s one final kidnapping, for old time’s sake. Now stop being a brat and put it on, Thea. I’ll have to punish you if you don’t comply, and that would make us late.”

If anyone else would’ve called me a brat, I would have a few choice words to say. As it is, he didn’t say it meanly and I know well enough by now that Silus enjoys my feistiness. So, I give in, because at this point what else can I do?

“Fine,” I mutter. “You’re lucky I love you, you jerk.” I lift the blindfold and tie it around my eyes, blocking out everything. The only thing I can see is the thick blackness of the fabric before my eyes. “Don’t know why it’s a secret where we’re going.”

“Obviously, you’ll see. It’s going to take a while to get there, though, so if I were you, I’d relax and enjoy the ride,” Silus advises as he sets a hand on my knee, bunching up my dress in the process.

Hmm. It’s going to take a while to get there? Color me curious.

I guess moving furniture and painting is tiring, because I doze off. The secret to early afternoon naps is, apparently, a blindfold. I don’t know how long I nap, but when I jerk myself awake I don’t feel Silus’s hand on my knee anymore.

“Silus?” I wait a few seconds but get no response. “How long was I asleep?” Another moment passes. “Silus? If you don’t answer, I’m taking off the blindfold.” A threat to ruin the surprise of wherever he was taking me—although, maybe we’re there already. Who can say how long I was asleep?

My fingers untie the blindfold from behind my head, and as I set the fabric down on the center console, I’m greeted with a sight I don’t expect. In fact, I’m so stupefied by what I see around the car that my mouth falls open.

I fumble to get out of the car, and the moment my flats hit the dirt a gentle breeze caresses my face and whips at my hair. Silus has his hands in his pockets, his ass leaning against the hood of his car as he stares out at an unfamiliar horizon.

Why can’t I believe where we are? We’re not in the city anymore. To my left, to my right; all there is… is grass . Grass and no houses.

What the…

I move to stand beside Silus, staring at the distance much like he is. Gentle rolling hills, the outline of trees a few acres away, and I think I spot a pond a good distance off. Above us, the sky is no longer blue, exceptional pinks and oranges taking its place, the colors illuminating the clouds in the sky as the sun sets on the horizon.

“It’s beautiful,” I murmur.

Silus wraps an arm around me, his hand curling around my waist as he replies, “It is.”

A minute passes as I take in the serene sight, the clean air, and all the nature surrounding us. Eventually, however, I have to ask: “Where, exactly, are we? I thought we were going to dinner.”

“We are. In a way.” Silus pushes off the car, and as he does so he takes my hand into his. “There is something I want to show you, first. We’re two hours away from the city. I know it’s not as far as you’d like, but this way we can still be relatively close in case my brother needs me.” He says all this as he pulls me off the car and leads me around it—and that’s when I see it.

An old farmhouse, two stories tall, surrounded by overgrown flowerbeds. The wooden siding needs a fresh coat of paint, and it looks as though some of the railing on the wrap-around porch needs to be replaced.

But, even so, it’s beautiful. It’s so beautiful my breath catches and I dig my heels into the dirt, at a loss for words. I must not have seen it when I got out of the car, too busy staring at the back of Silus’s head.

“What… how did you—” It seems I cannot finish any question. My words fail me as Silus squeezes my hand. Is this a dream? It has to be, because there’s no way this can possibly be real.

“It’s amazing how fast things are approved when your offer is all cash and you don’t have to finance a thing,” Silus says, as if it’s no big deal he’s admitting to buying this place in all cash. “Forty acres, with a nice pond, too. House needs a bit of work, but I figure that way we can make it our own. The old owner wanted to downsize, and she couldn’t refuse the offer I made her.”

The more he talks, the more I can’t believe it. I think my heart has stopped inside my chest, too stunned at what I’m seeing and hearing to continue beating.

“Max can take the house in the city,” Silus goes on. “Oh, and I also arranged for your mother to stay a while at a local rehab facility once she gets out. I know you said you and your brother wanted to help her, but as much as you two might love her, let’s leave that to the professionals, okay?”

“Okay,” I whisper, but the way I say it makes it sound like two words. It’s all so much to comprehend, so much to take in, my head feels like it’s going to explode. One last kidnapping to bring me here and show me our future?

Who knew a mafia boss could be sweet?

Silus lets me go, and I stumble toward the house, to the front porch. I lean on one of the bigger supports as I hear Silus come up behind me, and I shake my head and mutter, “This can’t be real.” I don’t think it’s outrageous for me to be in denial. I mean… it’s unreal, isn’t it?

“Oh, but it is,” Silus tells me, and I can practically hear the grin on his face. “I might not be able to take you to the moon, Thea, but this? I can give you this.”

I turn away from the tall beam of wood and meet Silus’s dark gaze. The way he’s looking at me… it’s like I’m his everything. Like the world has shifted for him, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t change for me as well.

I’m struck then, just how weirdly wonderful this all is. Who could have ever predicted in the beginning that Max’s plan would end up like this?

How is this my life?

“You said,” I pause as I take a teeny step toward him, “that we can make this place ours. Does that mean you’re going to live here with me? Can you handle that?”

The smirk Silus gives me makes my stomach flip. “Can I handle living with you or can I handle being this far out in the boonies?” He glances around us, pausing for what must be dramatic effect. “The boonies part is going to take some getting used to, but I think I’ve proven by now that I can, in fact, live with you.” Wearing that pitch-black suit, looking absolutely devilish, he’s not the kind of man you’d imagine living in a house like this.

“You’re aware—” I reach for his black tie and pull it out of his suit, rubbing the bottom of it between two fingers. “—if you get mad at me, you can’t lock me up in a room—”

“No, I can’t,” Silus agrees. He reaches for me, wraps his arms around me, and hoists me up so my face is near his without the need for him to bend over to extreme lengths. That’s what he gets for being well over six feet tall.

“But,” he muses as he nips my bottom lip and draws out a giggle from me, “I can tie you to the bed and do unspeakable things to you without worrying about anyone walking in on us. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like fucking heaven.” His mouth crashes on mine, stealing a hard, passionate kiss.

Tie me to the bed and do unspeakable things to me? That does sound fun. The man might know how to throw a party after all.

In between kisses, Silus murmurs, “I was going to cook you dinner in our new house, but I think we might have to postpone that so I can show you the bedroom, first.”

I nod once. “Bedroom, now.” I wrap my legs around the man’s torso and hook my arms behind his neck, hanging onto him like a spider monkey as he walks so he can get the door without dropping me.

As he carries me to the front door and into the house, I don’t look around at all. The only thing I’m focused on is the man wearing the hungry, serious look on his face. I kiss his neck as he carries me up the stairs to the second floor, my body humming with need.

If this is what the rest of our life will look like, then I’m going to hold on as tightly as I can.