Mafia Kings & Wedding Rings 2: The Finale

1. Staten Marek

Staten Marek

T he shattered look on Cambrie’s face broke something inside me.

I’d suspected what I called Rossi out on not long after I heard Cambrie talking to her father.

I didn’t want the shit to be true, but just knowing it could be meant it jeopardized what was happening between us.

Hyperventilating and using the wall to support herself, she sank to her knees with her hand pressed into her chest, trying to inhale.

“Shit!” Sol hissed, rushing around the counter to go to her.

She’d offered to help with the dishes when Cambrie left the room, and the glass she held slipped from her hand.

“Cam, it’s OK, sweetie.” Kneeling, she grabbed her arm and looked her in her eyes, which were wide as two saucers, as she motioned to her throat. “Get me a paper bag!” Sol yelled over her shoulder.

Sprinting over to a drawer where I knew I kept bags for sack lunches, I reached in for a white paper bag and took it over to her. “Cam, take this.” Sol snapped the bag open and put it up to Cambrie’s face.

She grabbed both sides of it with her hands and held it to her mouth to take deep breaths.

Within a minute or so, her breathing had returned to normal, but her glossy eyes were filled with pain.

Resting her head against the side of the door frame, her hand dropped to her lap, still gripping the paper bag as Rossi wheeled herself around the counter to join us.

“How are you feeling?” Sol asked, stroking her knee with concern.

Cambrie continued to pant, those deep, almond-shaped eyes drifting to mine as I stood behind my auntie. The doubt and fear residing in that gaze had my heart throbbing against my chest, waiting for her to speak. Licking her lips, she caught her breath and gripped the paper bag tighter in her hand.

“Did you know?” she asked, voice just a whisper as it cracked. “All this time?”

“Cam—” I inched forward.

“Answer the question.” This time, she was stern, and fire blazed behind her orbs.

“I didn’t know at first,” I admitted. “I heard you that night with your pops and I suspected, but I wasn’t sure, and honestly . . . I didn’t want to be. I didn’t want to be the reason you got that look in your eyes right now.”

She blinked away tears and sniffled as Sol held her hands out for her.

“Come on, let’s get you on your feet,” my aunt insisted.

Cambrie reluctantly accepted her help just as Nadia, Tavi, and Saga strolled up behind her.

In a matter of minutes, I’d forgotten that she was here and that was the reason I’d come in the kitchen going off on my mama.

The hurt lingering in Cambrie’s eyes hit me harder than I ever expected, and all I wanted to do was take it away.

That’s what she did for me. She made everything better with a glimpse, a touch, just walking into the fucking room.

Confusion marred both Tavi and Saga’s faces.

“What’s wrong with her?” Nadia asked, turning up her nose.

There was no empathy or concern, and it was obvious that Cambrie was shaken up about something. Nadia only saw who she thought was her enemy. Worry lingered over my son’s face as he narrowed his eyes.

“You OK, Cambrie?” Saga queried.

“I think . . . I need some air.” Pivoting quickly, she marched to the front of the house.

I heard her snatch up her keys from the hook near the front entrance before bursting outside.

“I’ll check on her.” Sol sprinted off behind her, and I brought my fingers to my forehead to massage the stress lines growing.

“Fuck!” I bellowed, slamming my fist against the counter.

“Okay, what is going on?” Nadia raised her hands in the air and looked between me and my mama.

“None of your fucking business.”

“Excuse you? You do not have to be rude, Staten! Despite whatever you feel, I am still the mother to your children!” she spat.

“Daddy, you’re always telling us not to be mean.

Mommy just asked a question,” Tavi vocalized.

Ignoring them, I turned to my mother, head down, completely guilt ridden as she should be.

Kneeling so that we could be eye level, my jaw locked when I rested a hand against the arm of her chair.

I’d never been disrespectful to her, but she’d crossed the line today.

“You happy now?” I asked in a low growl.

“Staten, I?—”

“Are you happy now!” I repeated, startling her and everyone else in the room.

I tried to remain even tempered most of the time.

It wasn’t until a muhfucka pushed me did I have to go there and show that other dark, vengeful side of myself.

Honestly, I didn’t like how that shit made me feel.

Like I was drowning in darkness or ready to be swallowed into the abyss.

I shielded my kids from that part of me because I never wanted any of them to look at me differently.

I didn’t grow up the way that they did. My brothers and I came up in the same house but had very different parents and childhoods.

Being the oldest meant I saw and heard it all.

I’d watched my father take a man’s life when I was nine years old.

Even back then, it made sense when Justus broke it down to me.

He said that every man he’d killed was dead so that someone he cared about could live.

“This wasn’t what I wanted,” Rossi responded, a flicker of regret in her eyes that never broke away from mine. “But it’s public record, Staten. If she wanted to find out, she very well could have. Maybe not now, but at some point. At least she knows.”

“That’s what you have to say?” I lifted both brows, and she lowered her gaze to her fidgeting hands in her lap.

“Isn’t it better that she knows now? I told you I didn’t think it was a good idea to hire her. It was too damn close for comfort.”

“What exactly did I miss here?” Nadia tucked her arms across her chest and waited for an explanation. “What’s a matter of public record, and why do we care about this clearly unstable woman?”

“Is Cambrie leaving?” Saga’s thick brows drew together.

“Let me make something clear right now.” I grabbed both arms of Rossi’s chair and got in her face.

She reared her neck, but I didn’t budge.

“This is the last time you interfere in something that has nothing to do with you. This is my house, my family, my life. You don’t control shit or get a say in what happens around here. Are we clear?”

Clearing her throat, a hard glare lingered in her typically warm amber eyes, bouncing around mine. I know it was hard for her to accept defeat, especially when she thought she was right.

“Fine. I’ll be heading back to the house now.” I backed off and watched her use the lever on her chair to maneuver around me to the hallway.

“Goodnight, Grandma,” Tavi and Saga addressed her as she somberly rolled past them.

I stepped around the island and focused on the glass that had shattered on the floor that needed to be swept up.

Sighing, I dropped down to start gathering all the broken pieces when Tavi came over to help.

Saga grabbed a broom, and Nadia lingered on the other side of the counter, looking around the kitchen.

Slowly standing with a heavy sigh, I leaned against the counter while the two of them cleaned up the rest of the broken pieces.

My mind remained on Cambrie. Until I knew she was good, it was going to fuck with me.

When the kids were done, they came back to the counter and watched me as Nadia moved toward the sink to complete the dishes.

“Is there something else you need us to do?” Tavi queried, unusually helpful now that her mama was here.

“Pop, is Cambrie coming back?” Saga piped up.

“Why do you even care?” Tavi side-eyed him then rolled her eyes.

“Mama’s here now, Saga.” She perked up and exchanged a grin with Nadia as she prepared to wash the remaining dishes.

Looking her over, there was no denying that my baby mama was beautiful, but I learned a long time ago that everything that looked good wasn’t necessarily good for you.

When my phone vibrated in my pocket, I quickly dug it out, hoping it was Cambrie. Instead, I found a text from Sol.

Auntie: I got her. She needs a little time.

Me: Thank you. Keep me updated.

Auntie: Will do.

A bit more relaxed, I was about to pocket the device again when I caught Nadia glaring at me just as another message came through from Brick.

Some shit had gone down with him and Six at this event, and he had me and Ivo on alert, along with some of our men.

We met up briefly at the lodge just as Sol was leaving, but he told us to get suited up so we could regroup at the bunker while he gathered more intel.

This was his girl, so it was his show. It was obvious that his relationship with Six was more than even he could grasp.

When I was gone, Brick made sure to do quarterly checkups and had never switched up on me.

So it meant something to be able to be there for him now.

I know that he never wanted me to leave, but he was one of the few who didn’t hold it against me when I did.

Unlike Ivo, he understood the need to get from under Justus’s thumb.

“Is that another phone? Do I have that number?” Nadia had the nerve to ask.

“No, and you don’t need it.” I skimmed the message from Brick saying he had eyes on the truck that Six took off in.