Chapter Fourteen #2
Giovanni nodded, and then he was able to make his way down toward the end of the garden, where he heard a small growl coming from her shed.
The shed was designed to look like a small house on the outside, and it still looked the same.
Some might consider it a child’s playhouse, but it wasn’t.
It was a luxury shed, one he gave her so she could have her own space.
Married life for mafia women could be overwhelming, and he wanted her to have the best. Unlike most sheds, this was fully heated, well-insulated, and he had made sure to get an electrician to install some outlets so she could have whatever her heart desired out there.
There was no television, but there was a small beauty space, along with a music player as well.
They couldn’t seem to get past this nonsense, and it was driving him crazy. It didn’t matter what he did or said, it was like she couldn’t hear him. Standing at the doorway of her shed, he looked inside and stared at her.
“Are you ... redecorating?” he asked.
Mia looked toward him, a little red in the face. She wore a pair of jeans and an overly large flannel shirt.
“I’m doing a pre-spring cleaning. Do you think I can go to the DIY store?” she asked.
“What do you need?”
“Paint and brushes, and whatever else I think of that will change this space.”
“Mia, why are you doing this?” he asked.
“Because it’s time. I’m not going to have that old stuff there. It’s time for new.”
Giovanni had no interest in going to the DIY store. There was a reason he hired interior designers, so he didn’t have to deal with any of that shit.
He liked killing people. He liked taking care of his sector.
Do-It-Yourself maintenance was not him, and he certainly was not a nine-to-five kind of guy.
But even though he had a lot of men at Mia’s disposal, he found himself agreeing to go with her.
At first, she tried to tell him she could find someone else, which he fucking hated.
If anyone was going to take his wife anywhere, it was going to be him. End of fucking story.
Once in the car, he kept his annoyance at bay, and Mia sat beside him, arms folded, and stared out the window.
He didn’t have a clue what to say to her.
There was this distance between them he couldn’t seem to cross.
He never had difficulty communicating with anyone, not even fucking rats or snitches.
He was an expert in getting whatever shit he wanted out of people.
Only, right now, he felt like a fucking failure.
“It’s a good day,” he said, looking for anything to fill the silence.
“Spring’s nearly here,” Mia said.
Spring! That was a change of season. “Is there anything you’d like to do to ... you know, celebrate?” He glanced over to her, then returned his attention back to the road.
“Nah, it’s okay,” she said. “No one needs a spring party, especially with Easter around the corner.”
There was a time she would have been all over it, and now she was giving him the cold shoulder, and he was struggling with it.
“Are we hosting Easter?” he asked.
They hosted most events.
“No.”
“Look, Mia, you can have any party you want. All you’ve got to do is name the time and place.”
“Liana’s hosting Easter this year,” Mia said. “We’re going to theirs.”
And that was it, conversation terminated.
They were going to their friend’s place.
He should have known. His grip tightened on the steering wheel as he tried to fill the silence once again.
There was a time Mia didn’t need any help in filling the gap.
She could talk about anything. It’s strange how he suddenly missed her excessive talking.
He would give anything to have her talk about the day, or the clouds.
“Isn’t Liana pregnant?” he asked.
He felt Mia’s gaze on him.
“Yes.”
“Do you think it is wise that she should host Easter for us, when we’re quite capable of doing it ourselves?” he asked, hoping to extend the olive branch.
“I, Clarissa, and Tatiana will be with her. We’re all helping and chipping in. You don’t need to worry about Liana’s health. We’re all going to take care of her.”
That would mean their husbands were going to be present.
“That’s nice,” Giovanni said.
“I thought so. She was so excited when she talked about it.”
He had hoped that conversation would spark a deeper one. Only, after Mia said her final part, that was it. Back to arms folded, she sat staring out the window, and he just drove her to the damn DIY store.
Four of his men had joined them in the car behind.
Since the recent threat to the Colombo Mafia, this would be how they traveled until they were sure all threats were eliminated.
Last year they had a group of thugs who had come together, distributing a drug that looked like Colombo product but was causing people to die.
They had taken care of the scientists and the people behind it, but there were always threats.
So far, everything had been quiet. He didn’t trust the quiet. That was when bad things tended to happen.
It was why he knew if he didn’t get his wife talking to him soon, bad shit was going to go down. He didn’t want to be in a bad marriage. He ... liked his wife.
Mia didn’t wait for him to open the door. She climbed out of the car the moment he put it in “park,” and he had to run to keep up with her. He saw she had already grabbed a cart, and they were heading toward the painting section.
She was full of surprises today, especially as she grabbed a can of magnolia and black paint. Next were cushions, also black and brown. His bright, colorful wife was creating herself a space that was cold, artless, and not what he had expected.
There was nothing she chose that matched Mia’s personality. Everything was cold. And he hated it. He knew the damage he had done was not yet repaired, but he didn’t have a clue how to change it. He was at a loss for how to make his wife whole again.
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End of sample chapter