Saved By the Monster

Chapter One

“You know that is an ugly-ass dress you’re wearing. Who the fuck picked that out?”

Adelina Ferri smiled. It was probably a strange response to someone criticizing your dress, but when it came to Massimo Salvatore, she knew there was no real malice to it. Maybe to anyone else, but not her.

She turned toward him and saw he was already holding a drink. Her glass was filled with water, as the waiters had been informed to only serve her water. She wasn’t allowed any food, wine, or anything that resembled fun.

“You don’t like the tent I’m wearing?” she asked.

“Tell me you didn’t choose that?”

She couldn’t help but smile. It was hard to pinpoint when exactly she had developed a friendship with this man.

It could have possibly been because of their mutual dislike of fake functions, like the one they were at now.

There was no real purpose for this party, just a lot of rich, wealthy, scary men coming together to revel in their reputations and egos.

Oh, and daughters to be flaunted like cattle at a market.

Only, her family considered her a true cow.

“No, I didn’t get the luxury of choosing this.”

Her family never allowed her to do anything, or choose anything.

It was a miracle they allowed her to talk to Massimo, seeing as he was the Russo Mafia’s top monster.

There was so much gossip and fear around this man.

She knew men feared him, women wanted him, and of course feared him.

There were times she wondered if she was defective, because she didn’t fear him.

“I believe congratulations are in order,” she said, offering him a smile. “I was told you’d recently snapped a man’s neck with your bare hands. Everyone seems impressed with the story.”

This was not the first time Massimo’s name had been used in some form or other about attacks on the enemy.

He didn’t smile. “Don’t believe everything you hear.”

She had a feeling there was more to that than he wanted her to know.

“This is fucking boring as shit, isn’t it?” he asked.

Once again, Adelina smiled. She couldn’t help it. Men were always cussing, but it was like Massimo always took it to the next level. There were some men in the Russo Mafia who didn’t cuss at all, like her father.

She turned toward the man himself, her father, who was currently hanging onto Diego Bruno’s every word. She tried not to shiver, but it was impossible.

“Are you cold?” he asked.

She turned toward the man beside her and shook her head. “No, I’m not cold.”

“Don’t you ever wonder if they get bored of the same old shit? It’s like fucking kill me now.” He took a long drink of his whiskey.

“Well, I might be in luck. This could be one of the few I get to attend.”

She saw the frown on his face.

“What?” he asked.

“Didn’t you hear the news? I’m engaged to be married to Diego Bruno, and you and I know I will be his eighth wife, right?

I don’t think the rumors about him are fake.

Wives and mistresses don’t last long. He’s got a lot of kills under his belt, and well, most of them are the women in his life. ” She sighed.

Ever since her parents had informed her of the union, she had come to accept her fate. She was going to die. She probably wasn’t going to make it to her twenty-second birthday. It was a miracle her family hadn’t killed her already. She was one of the oldest daughters who was not yet married.

Her brother wasn’t much help. Her whole family was against her and considered her a burden.

Diego was a horrible man, cruel and manipulative, but her family was impressed by his title, his fortune, and everything associated with him. There was no getting away from it. She was trapped.

It was strange, she had expected to want to fight.

Only, she was done fighting. The only real pleasure she got was at these boring parties where a lot of men preened and bragged about their latest conquest or title within war.

Massimo was who she looked forward to. No one else.

These little chats helped sustain her until the next one.

Diego’s wives never went to another function once they were married. Rumor had it, they tended to be too bruised and bloodied.

“What kind of fucking horseshit is that?” Massimo asked.

She turned toward him. “It is what it is. This is my fate, and like my family has said to me, what do I expect? I’m an embarrassment to them.

I’m no great beauty.” She shrugged. “At least I know I won’t have to put up with it long.

” She took a sip of her water. “I guess we should be finding a suitable excuse for you, or perhaps I can look for someone for you to talk to while I’m gone.

” She started to look through the crowd, attempting to avoid the look her father was sending her.

It was unfortunate, but there was no way she would be able to ignore her father.

“I must go, but remember, you need to find someone to talk to.” She had no doubt he had plenty of people he could use, and there were times she was sure he took pity on her.

At most parties, she stood in the corner, as far away from everyone as physically possible. This was not her decision. This was just where she had been placed when she was sixteen years old, and where she would remain indefinitely, well, not indefinitely anymore.

She would be dead in six months, but with the way Diego was looking at her in distaste, he might bring her death down to three months.

****

Massimo Salvatore stormed into his father’s home and immediately went to the office. Even though this was his father’s residence, he was the one who had complete control over it.

No one knew about his father’s accident, the duel he had got himself into, and that had rendered a scar down his face. Rather than embrace the mark, his father had become a recluse in the house, leaving Massimo to handle everything else.

His father was sitting behind his desk, working. The man was always working.

Massimo had taken care of the man who had scarred his father.

The plastic surgeons had only been able to do so much, but the truth was, his father was incredibly vain.

The man who had scarred his father was long since dead.

He had killed that bastard and made him suffer.

It was one in a long line of deaths that had secured his legacy.

Only, that kill had nothing to do with the Russo Mafia and everything to do with his family’s honor.

He was not going to allow some fool to take the Salvatore name and thrust it into the mud. Unlike his father who had been able to get through life on his good looks and intelligence, Massimo had worked on the third—his strength.

He knew he had his father’s good looks and intelligence. However, he had never allowed a woman to cloud his judgement, at least until now. Right now, it was really fucking clouded, and he couldn’t seem to get past the look on Adelina’s face as she approached her fiancé.

Diego Bruno was bad news. He was a fucking coward, as most of his kills came from the women he tortured and murdered. He was a piece of shit.

Adelina didn’t deserve that. He didn’t know why her parents were marrying her off to that ... filth. Anger consumed him.

“What’s the matter, son?” his father asked.

He looked toward him, and there was only one solution he could come up with.

“Were you aware of the engagement between Adelina Ferri and Diego Bruno?” he asked.

“Of course. The wedding ceremony is here.” He rummaged about on the desk. “Ah, here it is. Yes, three weeks’ time.”

Massimo thought about Adelina. He had never meant to start up a friendship with her.

The truth was, he hated most of the families that were part of the Russo Mafia.

The Ferris were bloodsuckers. They were not well-off.

They were poor and inconsequential. Everyone thought they were a joke, but they had been riding anyone and anything that would get them power.

Diego Bruno had wealth. He had power. He was a piece of shit who preyed on the weak. He’d gone through so many wives and mistresses. There were even rumors that he used the women who worked for him, beating them up when the need arose inside him. He was a brute.

Massimo knew he was not one to judge, seeing as he himself was a monster. There had been few women he killed, mainly because he was not afraid of men.

Running a hand down his face, he couldn’t forget the sadness of Adelina’s eyes.

This could be one of the last times he saw her.

The only reason he continued to go to those fucking parties was because of Adelina.

He didn’t not want to go to them. This pissed him off.

There was just no way. There was only one solution.

“I need you to arrange a union between me and Adelina Ferri,” he said.

His father burst out laughing. “That is a good one, son. I don’t know what has gotten into you tonight, but you’re funny.”

“Do I look like I’m laughing?” Massimo asked, and the laughter died instantly on his father’s face.

“But Massimo, she is completely out of your league. She is not even within your station. You could do better. She is a horrible, fat bitch.”

Massimo reacted, by grabbing his father around the neck and pressing him against the nearest wall.

In all the years of dealing with his father’s mess, he had never lashed out, never hurt this man.

He accepted him for the fuckup he was. When his mother was alive, his parents had been very much in love.

He was aware of the story of their love.

It was one that had been admired by everyone within the Russo Mafia.

Arranged marriages were often fraught with fear and hatred.

Not his parents. From the moment they met on their wedding day, it had been love.

That love had bloomed into a very long marriage.

They were the odd couple. They were strong.

People hated them, yet wanted to be them at the same time.

They had two children together, and Massimo believed his mother was pregnant with the third when she was taken during a gang war at a damn petrol station.

She had stopped to go to the bathroom. On the way out, she had gotten shot.

It had killed his father, who had gone on a warpath, killing anyone associated with either gang, and none of them had anything to do with the Russo Mafia. It had been a dark day.

His father, broken, had succumbed to alcohol and women. Lots of women. One of those women had been the cause of his facial deformity. She had been the wife of some dodgy businessman.

Deep down, Massimo knew his father had been playing with fire, and it had cost him greatly. He could not allow that mark to besmirch the Salvatore name, so he had taken care of it.

“Do not ever say that shit about her again. Do you understand me?”

His father nodded, looking a little red in the face as he struggled to gain breath.

It would be so easy to kill him. The reason he had to go to these damn functions in the first place was because of his father.

This was where he first met Adelina. He couldn’t stand the thought of never seeing her again, or worse, her ending up dead. She didn’t deserve that life.

Diego would kill her. There was no doubt about it. The man loved to hurt women.

He let go of his father’s neck. “I don’t give a fuck what you had planned. I told you, when the time was right, I would marry who I saw fit. That is the arrangement we made. Now, you make this work. Do you understand me?” he asked.

His father nodded. “Good.”

There was no way he was going to let Adelina suffer at the hands of that man. He would deal with Diego.

The Ferri family would jump for joy at the prospect of being connected to the Salvatores.