Chapter Nine
Cesare
MASSIMO: è vero? It took three men to keep her still?
Cesare: Sì.
Massimo: And that she managed to give one of them a shiner?
Cesare: Also true.
Massimo: I do not know whether to think you are lucky or unlucky.
Cesare: All you or any other man needs to remember is that she is mine.
Massimo: You almost sound jealous, fratello.
Cesare's lip curled at his brother's message. He was not geloso, for fuck's sake. Never had been in his life, and he would not start acting so now, even where his own fidanzata was concerned.
"I'm back..."
Penelope marched out of her gynecologist's clinic with a still-stony look on her face. Even though she had already enjoyed the most sumptuous breakfast in the tower's rooftop restaurant, it was obvious that she had still not forgiven him for tricking her into getting her bloodwork done.
"Can we go now?"
No woman had ever dared to hold a grudge against him before, but instead of finding this annoying, it only made Cesare want to tease his Penelope even more.
"Not just yet," he drawled.
Penelope's gaze turned mutinous then, but he pretended not to notice.
"You are certain you've discussed everything with your doctor?" Cesare asked silkily.
"Of course."
"Then she's given a prescription for birth con—-"
"Yes!" Penelope was now red-faced in embarrassment, and she was also looking around them nervously as if wanting to check if someone else had accidentally heard his words.
"And did you make it clear that I wanted to fuck you without a con—-"
A mortified squeak escaped her lips as she tried to cover his mouth with her hands, only to end up losing her balance as her body fell against his.
She beat his chest upon hearing him chuckle in amusement, but as soon as she looked up, Cesare was able to retaliate by taking her mouth with a swift, hard kiss.
"Mmmph."
Penelope cried out as he sucked hard on her lower lip, and she glared up at him as soon as he lifted his head.
"Will you still not forgive me, tesoro ?"
"Never," she grumbled without hesitation, "and will you please stop kissing me just anywhere you please?"
"If I really meant to kiss you anywhere I please," Cesare purred, "it would've been another set of lips on your body that I'd be tasting with my tongue."
She blinked at him in confusion. "What do you mean another set—-" Understanding dawned, and heat flamed back into her cheeks. "Y-You—-"
"I can do it, you know. Right here, right this very moment—-"
"Signorina?"
A relieved Penelope pulled away from him as soon as she heard one of the nurses at the station calling out to her, but he saw how her mood also quickly turned sour, with the way the nurses were all ogling him shamelessly.
Penelope attempted to block the other women's views by standing right in front of them, and when they moved to this side and that, so did she.
It was like watching little girls compete for their favorite toy, to be fucking honest...but when one of the nurses went as far as unbuttoning her cardigan and give her tits a shake while licking her lip—-
Penelope spun around, her arms thrown up as if planning this time to obstruct his view...
Cesare arched a brow as their gazes collided. Did you really think another woman can tempt me just like that?
The way she bit her lip revealed her uncertainty, but the way she suddenly squared her shoulders also told him something was up. He had a feeling things would get even more interesting from here—-
Penelope suddenly crooked a finger at him.
And he was right.
She crooked a finger at him again, and Cesare did his best to stifle his smile while making his way to her.
Ah, tesoro.
His long-legged stride had him reaching her in moments, and the first thing he did was have her squeak in surprise when he pinched her cheeks.
"Ouch!"
He pinched her cheeks again, and Penelope glowered. "What's that for?" she grouched under her breath. "I just wanted to demonstrate to them that I'm your owner—-"
" You were the one who forgot that," he chastised gently, "not me, and that is what this is all about."
All she could do was make a face when he was able to steal another pinch from her cheeks.
"It's punishment, tesoro... for doubting your claim on me."
"HMPH."
She scowled up at him as she said this, but she also caught him completely off guard when she stood on her toes a second later—-
What the hell?
It was her turn to steal something from him, with her lips brushing against his in a kiss—-
Fuck.
And then she was hurrying away from him, mumbling something about having to go back to Dr. Rivera's clinic.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Everyone at the nurses' station was staring at him again, but this time all of their gazes were trained at the bulging evidence of his arousal.
Fuck!
He himself was the one to tell Penelope that their upcoming marriage could be nothing more than a business transaction. But as he watched her disappear into the doctor's clinic—-all he could think of was how he couldn't fucking wait to make her his wife.
Penelope
"It's a positive match," Dr. Rivera says with a smile as soon as we settle into a comfortable pair of seats across his desk. "There is absolutely no doubt that you are Signora Pilar Sorrento's granddaughter, but...I have a feeling both of you already know that."
The doctor goes on to discuss results from my blood tests next, and my heart feels like it's about to burst when I see the taut edges of Cesare's gorgeous face while he listens.
He looks really concerned, but...I can't let myself assume anything just yet.
This is still the same man who only sees us as owners looking after each other's properties, and until he says otherwise...
Don't get your hopes up, dude!
We stop by the concierge on our way out, and I see the other man look at me while Cesare is busy re-arming himself like he's John Wick. " Signorina? "
I feel like a student being called to the dean's office, and my back automatically straightens as I nervously meet his gaze. "Yes, sir?"
"Thank you for your visit. We look forward to being of service to you again."
He takes something from the shelf behind him, and I can't help laughing when I realize he's giving me a bottled frappe from Starbucks.
"Thank you, Cazzo."
Cesare chokes as I thank the concierge, and I end up grasping empty air when the concierge, now looking murderous, throws the bottle of coffee straight into the trash.
"Mi dispiace, Cassio."
I realize my mistake as soon as I hear Cesare apologize on my behalf, but I have no chance to say sorry myself with my mafia boss is already whisking me out of the hospital like the concierge is about to shoot us dead.
"I guess it's a mortal sin to mispronounce a famiglia's name?" I ask weakly as he walks me to my side of the car.
"Not generally, no—-" Cesare slides back behind the wheel before facing me. "But it is when you call him a dick, which is what 'cazzo' translates to in Italian."
Oh.
SHIT.
I groan, and being the ever-supportive owner that he is, Cesare throws his head back with a laugh.
"It isn't funny," I bemoan as his sports car blazes out of the parking lot. "I'll never live this day down. Everyone will remember me as that bitch who said—-"
"Fuck!"
I nearly drop an F-bomb myself as his tires screech under us, with Cesare abruptly making a hard turn to the right. Is it just me...or do all famiglia men have this dream of shooting for the next Fast & the Furious movie?
Panic starts feeling like an old frenemy when I see Cesare keep one hand on the wheel while yanking his pistol out with the other.
I know I should've expected something like this because he's famiglia , but the moment his window rolls down, and he starts shooting at the car trying to crash into us from another lane—-
I scream and freak out like a headless chicken as chaos erupts all around us.
"W-What's happening?"
Cesare shoots me a look of disbelief...even as he keeps shooting at everyone else. "What the fuck do you mean what's happening? Didn't you fucking say you understood—-"
"No, I didn't!"
"You even told me I shouldn't fucking worry—-"
"I thought you were worried I'd get bored during the drive," I cry out. "I didn't know you were warning me about people waaaaaantiiiiiing tooooo kiiiiiiiill uuuuuuuuus!"
I have no idea how Cesare is doing it—-
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!
But all the other vehicles have either flipped into the air or crashed into each other while we continue on our merry way, his Lambo unscathed, and my mafia boss driver equally unscarred.
"Duck," Cesare suddenly hisses, and I'm just so out of my mind with terror I have no idea what he's saying.
"Where?" I choke out. And are we talking about Daffy, Donald, the Mighty—-
"I said, fucking duck!"
Cesare shoves my head down between my legs.
OH, so it's that kind of duck he was talking—- shiiiiit!
Tears prick my eyes when a swift flip of the lever has Cesare's seat instantly falling back, and just in time, too, with a bullet whizzing by and grazing the edge of his cheek. One second slower than that, and he could've—-
He could've—-
He—-he—-
"Gluck," Cesare grates out.
Sobs threaten to spiral out of my throat. Is that his way of telling me we're vastly outnumbered, and it's only a matter of time before one of our enemies shoots us dead?
"Good luck," I say fiercely even as my whole body is now quaking in terror. I'll be by his side through thick and thin—-
"Fuck, tesoro."
I wonder if Cesare's finally snapped, with the sound of strained laughter tingeing his voice.
"I'm asking you to hand me the fucking gun in the glove compartment, tesoro—- "
Oh.
"It's called a fucking Glock—- "
OH!
"You should have told me that in the first place!" I feel like laughing and crying at the same time as I scramble to open the glove compartment and get his stupid Glock. Maybe I'm the one who's lost my mind—-
"Now!"
The snap in his voice makes me bump my head and jump in my seat, and I'm all thumbs as I fumble with the gun in my hand—-
Shiiiiiiiiit!
Its weight takes me by surprise, and just as the gun starts to slip out of my fingers, another car slams into us on Cesare's side, and BAAAAAAAANG!
Cesare falls back against his seat in the nick of time once again—-but the other guy isn't as unlucky, and the gun I'm holding drops to the floor as I watch a bloody hole slowly form right in the middle of his head.
Oh God.
Cesare gets back up, and a swift yank on the steering wheel has our car swerving away in safety, and a weird ringing fills my eardrums as I watch the other car spin out of control.
God. Oh God.
I feel sick to my stomach as I force myself to look over my shoulder, and I see all the carnage we're leaving behind.
"Brava, tesoro."
The words have my gaze jerking back to Cesare, and I look at him in a daze. "W-What?"
"You just had your first kill—-"
It almost sounds like he's proud of me, but that can't be, right?
"It w-wasn't. I d-didn't—-" I look at him desperately. "Maybe he's not dead?"
"With that hole in his head?" Cesare says with a snort. "You have a very dark sense of humor—- Penelope? Fuck! Penelope!"