Chapter Six
Ella knew they couldn’t stay in his country home forever. They had succeeded in living there for a month. Then, duty called, and Mateo said he was willing to leave her at the country house.
That didn’t seem right to her, so she opted to come to the city. This is why she was in his apartment, waiting for him to return home. The meal she had prepared was already spoiled. He’d texted her and let her know he would be home by seven. It was close to ten o’clock.
She had eaten what she could of the food, but the rest had to go in the trash.
Ella didn’t know if she should attempt to make him more food, or just wait for him to return home.
She’d already taken a shower. Again, she hadn’t lingered too long in there as she wanted to be ready in case he wanted food.
As the minutes ticked by, she tried not to stare at the clock.
She’d never been much of a television watcher, so sitting in front of it, flicking through the channels, held no appeal.
The few books he owned were not her style.
She was not into murder mysteries and was much more a romance girl.
He didn’t have any romance movies, and if she was honest, she just wanted to wait for him to come home.
She didn’t like the feeling of panic that came over her. The time kept ticking. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. The sound of the clock was driving her crazy, which was kind of funny, seeing as she had been alone with this clock a few times now and never heard it before.
She couldn’t help but think of the tale he’d told her about people hating him. He was the bastard son of a boss he had killed. What if someone had managed to kill him? She didn’t like that thought, and it made her feel a little sick.
Mateo was a complicated guy. She knew he was amazing. She also knew he didn’t do good things all the time.
The past month had been a whirlwind. The moment he finally got over what was stopping him from having sex with her, they had had a magical time. She loved every second of the past month. He’d joined her in the garden, and they talked about everything and nothing.
She learned that he didn’t really have any hobbies.
Growing up, his only interest had been impressing his father and being there for his mom.
He’d focused on training, on being the best soldier.
Mateo admitted he had never wanted to be the boss.
Not until his father did what he did. From that moment, he wanted to destroy the mafia, but now he ran it.
Tick-tock.
Getting to her feet, she glanced over at the clock, and five long minutes had passed. Where could he be? Should she call the police? What if he never came home? She didn’t know the protocol.
Running fingers through her hair, she decided to deal with the consequences and just phone the damn police and demand they locate her husband. He could be lying in a ditch somewhere or injured. Anything could have happened.
Lifting the phone, she pressed her finger to the 9, and then the door to the apartment opened, and Mateo stepped inside. At first, she didn’t have a clue what to do, then she quickly put the phone down and rushed to his side.
“Mateo?”
He was covered in blood. There was a cut on his cheek. She looked at his clothing. There was no way she would be able to fix the suit.
“What the hell happened?” she asked.
“It’s nothing.”
“Mateo Cole, you are covered in blood, and I know you’re used to dealing with this by yourself, but I am not someone you are going to push to the side, as if I mean nothing.
” She stamped her foot. “I might be a nobody, but you are not going to treat me that way.” She put her hands on her hips. “Now, are you hurt?”
“No.”
“You have a cut on your cheek.” She pursed her lips. “Time to put you in the shower.”
“Ella, stop.”
“No,” she said. “We’re married, and you might have thought that is going to mean you’re the boss, and you know what, you are. When it comes to taking care of you, you are not going to boss me around. You can boss me around with absolutely everything else, but not this. Understand?”
She expected him to argue, but he gave her a smirk, which was cute but not too cute. Ella moved around the back of him, and marched him all the way through his apartment, straight toward the en-suite bathroom. Once there, she started to strip him, and the blood on his clothes was in fact dry.
She put the clothes all in one place and went to the bathtub.
She was a little undecided as to whether she should opt for the bath or the shower.
It would be a lot easier for her to care for him in the bath.
Once the water was nice and warm, she added in some bubbles and insisted he climb inside. He raised a brow as if to mock her.
“Do not test me,” she said.
He chuckled but sat down in the water.
“Now, what do I need to do with these clothes?”
“There are a set of bags under the sink. Bag them, and I’ll take care of them.”
“You’re sure?”
He nodded.
“Right, are you thirsty?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“I’ll be right back. Do not go anywhere, that is an order.”
“And what will you do if I disobey your order?”
“I have no problem spanking your ass, Mateo Cole!” With that, she stormed out of the room in disbelief that she had threatened to spank her husband’s ass.
Shaking it from her mind, she went straight to the kitchen, and rather than grab him a nice, strong whiskey, she poured some milk into a saucepan, started heating it up, going straight to the chocolate she had already used tonight.
While waiting for her husband to arrive home, she had decided to make herself a delicious hot chocolate.
It was so good, and as she had been drinking it, she had felt a little better.
This is exactly what Mateo was going to get.
It didn’t take long for the small measure of milk to warm up, and then she added the chocolate, a tiny splash of vanilla, and gave it a little stir. Leaning over, she took a sip, and it tasted good.
Pouring the hot chocolate into the mug, she grabbed the can of whipped cream and squirted a large swirl right on top. Now, his drink was ready for him, and she carried it back through the bathroom, to find him sitting back, waiting.
“What did you get me?” he asked.
“Hot chocolate.”
“Babe, I’d be happy with a whiskey, or a brandy, or even at this rate a fucking large swig of vodka.”
“Good for you, you’re going to have a nice hot chocolate, and seeing as I made this from scratch, you’re going to try it and you’re going to enjoy it.”
“Is that an order?”
“Yeah, it is.”
He chuckled.
“I’ll have a sip right now.”
She stood over the bathtub, arms folded, waiting, and he took a delicate sip, and she even heard a moan.
“That’s good,” he said.
“Yeah, it is.”
And she loved that smile on his lips.
****
Mateo expected Ella to leave him to finish washing, but instead she sunk down to her knees and reached over him.
He took another sip of the hot chocolate.
He still would have loved a whiskey, but she had gone to the effort of making this for him, and he was not going to spoil it, and it helped that it did, in fact, taste damn good.
He took another long sip as she lathered up the sponge with some soap.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?” she asked.
Mateo took another drink of his hot chocolate and contemplated telling her.
“When I took over, I dealt with one of the Bratva outfits that were making deals with my father. I didn’t like the way they did business, and after I killed him, the deals were still in place.
They refused to pack up. So, I had no choice but to threaten.
They attempted to get me arrested. Tried to plant drugs in some of my nightclubs.
There was even one time they tried to put drugs in my car. ”
“They can do that?”
“Babe, they can do whatever they like. As it happens, I may have been the bastard son of a mafia boss, but guess what, this guy has people that like him.”
Ella laughed. “I don’t think I can imagine you’re high up on many people’s Christmas card list. You’re so grumpy. You were always grumpy at work.”
He reached out and stroked one of her curls.
She was the only woman to talk to him like he was a real person.
She didn’t try to sugarcoat anything. He recalled throughout her time working in his bar, she always advised him that he should attempt to smile more.
It might make him feel a little happier if he practiced positive techniques.
If it had been anyone else, he would have fucking killed them on the spot.
No one told him he was fucking grumpy and lived to tell the tale. Ella was a special person.
“Still, I made their lives a little easier. Dad was a traitor and not to be trusted. Some of the cops he had on his books, when he was bored with them and felt they knew too much, he killed them. I made sure a couple of men didn’t get hurt.
They knew it was coming and were able to be elsewhere.
They were also able to find the means of staying alive. ”
“They now work for you?”
“Yeah, in a way. It was what kept the cops off my back. Whenever something was called in about me, they were the ones on the scene. They would find the drugs and take them. Anyway, I got so sick of it that I went to one of their warehouses and blew it up.”
She pulled back from washing his body. “You’re serious?”
“Yeah, I might also want to point out that being the bastard son of a mafia boss, I don’t exactly follow proper etiquette when it comes to dealing with enemies. I see a target, and I take care of it. It’s what I do.”
“Will you stop that?” she asked.
“Stop what?”
“Calling yourself that name?” She gave him a pointed look.
“It’s what I am.”
“No, it’s not. You’re Mateo Cole. Stop wondering what your dad would think. He’s gone now, and you’re your own man. Your own boss. Don’t let him continue to dictate who you are from beyond the grave.” She finished washing his body, and he looked at her.
“It doesn’t change who I am.”
“And I’m an unwanted kid, Mateo. You want me to keep saying that? I’m the unwanted kid of a drug addict. I don’t know who my father is. He didn’t stick around long enough to find out.” She raised both of her brows.
“Have you ever been curious to find out?”
“No,” Ella said. “Some stuff you don’t need to know. Some things are better left dead and buried.”
She reached over and touched his cheek. “I’m going to grab the first aid kit.”
He didn’t even have to tell her where it was, as she went to the cupboard under the sink, pulling out the red box. She came back to him, and she took out a plain white sterilized wipe. He held himself perfectly still as she got to work cleaning the cut.
“Do you want to tell me what happened today?” she asked.
“Yeah, the Bratva I took care of has a new leader. Some man named Han. Don’t know his last name. They had a shipment of girls come into a warehouse that had my name on it. The cops intercepted and I got the call.”
“Girls? Like actual living girls?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Like I said, it was one part of the deal my father made that I didn’t like.”
“Trafficking?”
“Yep.”
“And you don’t do it?”
“Fuck, no. Trust me, there are a lot of women willing to work in brothels selling their pussy for good money. You don’t need to go kidnapping women off the street, drugging them up, and forcing them to do shit they don’t want to do.
” He rubbed his temples. “See, another reason I was not considered the ideal son.”
“But a lot of people that wanted you to be in charge?”
“True, but they also didn’t like the fact I had ... standards.” And then, he couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m a guy that kills people without feeling, and I have standards.” He rubbed his temple.
“There’s nothing wrong being that way,” Ella said. “You can do bad things and be a good person.” She shrugged. “Life takes it out of all of us. Some of us fall, others rise. You didn’t fall, Mateo. You rose up and took matters into your own hands.”
“You can dress it up any way you need to, babe. It doesn’t change who I am.”
“As it happens, I quite like who you are.”
And she continued to fix the cut on the side of his face.