Chapter Five
The last of their serving staff left, and Giovanni looked at Mia. Her lips were still plump from his kisses, and there was a sparkle to her eyes.
He didn’t know if it was the drug or Mia letting down her guard, but he didn’t give a shit. The last twenty-four hours had been one of the best of his marriage, and he wanted to work with that. This was the closest they had been since he had fucked up.
There had been a few times in between what happened and now, but nothing like this. It was like Mia had finally forgiven him.
She took some pieces of fruit, and he noticed she was quiet since they had come downstairs after they spent all morning having sex.
“Is there something on your mind?” Giovanni asked.
“That drug,” Mia said.
“What about it?”
“What if ... some of what happened last night was the drug?” Mia asked.
Giovanni didn’t like this. He liked to think maybe the drug had loosened up his wife enough to forgive him.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Okay, so the drug makes a woman ... placid. We know technically it knocks her out completely, but here is the thing, I was aware when you got home. I was lying there in that chair, unable to move. I mean, it was scary, and then when you entered, it was ... I felt safe. I knew you weren’t going to do anything.
” She licked her lips. “And then when I was able to move, it was like a switch, and when I saw you, it magnified. I went from feeling safe to aroused, very fast.”
Giovanni took a bite of some fruit and looked at Mia. He didn’t like where this was going.
“You said that list described some of the women in the Colombo Mafia?” Mia asked.
He nodded.
“What if they are planning to kidnap and humiliate not just the women but the men as well?” Mia frowned. “I know this sounds completely crazy, but our virginity—our purity—is one of our most prized assets.”
He really didn’t like where this was going. “So, they kidnap our women, the drug keeps them pliant, and when they wake up, there is a chance of a highly aroused state, then the men take advantage?”
“Possibly filming it and ruining the woman’s reputation, but the men as well.”
Giovanni didn’t like this. He got to his feet and immediately left the dining room without saying another word. If Mia was correct, that would mean there was potentially a dark web somewhere, and this would be uploaded.
That wasn’t what angered him. He shouldn’t have touched Mia last night. He should have known something wasn’t right.
“Giovanni?” Mia asked.
He kept his back to her. “I have some calls I need to make. I’m working off a hunch that you could be right.”
“But—”
“I need to make this call, Mia, and you need to go and finish your breakfast,” he said. He didn’t want to be with Mia right now. He needed to be alone.
Picking up his office phone, he waited for the door to close a moment later. There was no one for him to call from his office. He just needed a fucking moment, because he was pissed off.
There was only one person who could verify the effects of this fucking drug. He hadn’t killed Julio. They had him tied up in the basement of the casino.
Leaving his office, he went straight to the front door, and Mia came to the dining room door, but he didn’t look at her. He couldn’t look at her. He had possibly taken advantage of his wife last night, and it pissed him off that he didn’t try harder to resist.
The truth was, he would give anything to be close to his wife again.
He had talked absolute fucking shit that night at the party with the guys.
Yes, he had been pissed about the party, because he was a selfish bastard, and the only person he wanted to spend any kind of time with was his wife.
He wanted Mia all to himself, and the fact he had to leave her and do jobs pissed him off all the freaking time.
Giovanni had never felt this way about anyone. Mia was the only one he cared about. The only one he ever truly wanted. A lot of women over the years attempted to throw themselves at him. Before he was engaged to Mia, he had enjoyed fucking women, like a fun, joyful sport.
The moment he was engaged, women had failed to mean anything to him. He knew he was not obligated to be faithful to her until after the wedding, but he had been. They were engaged to be married and that meant he would not stray. He never had, and he never would. He was devoted to Mia.
So, the night of the party, when he said she was childish, he was being a fucking baby himself. He didn’t want to have a party where he had to share her with anyone. Mia was special. She still had this love about the world. She hadn’t been fucked over by it, unlike some of the others. Like him.
He knew the world was cruel. It was why her idea wasn’t quite so far-fetched. The Colombo Mafia had many enemies, and there were always people attempting to pull them down. They had to fight to constantly stay in control.
Arriving at his casino, he climbed out of his car and made his way down toward the basement. Their guest had been fed, watered, and taken to necessary bathroom breaks. However, Giovanni was not feeling quite so forgiving right now.
“Tell me how the drug works,” he said.
“I have told you how it works, and you have seen how it works.”
Giovanni was done playing games, so he reached into his ankle and pulled out his small hunting knife.
It was just a tiny blade, smooth and sharp, but designed to do a lot of damage.
He reached out and slammed it into Julio’s thigh.
Pulling it out, he did it again, stabbing him twice in one leg and an additional two times in the other.
“Tell me how the drug works,” he said.
He was not entertained. He was ready to kill, but he was more than happy to hold out and make sure he caused a lot of pain.
Julio screamed. “I don’t know, man, fuck, I don’t know!”
Again, he embedded the knife, only this time he started to twist it slowly, painfully, making each moment count.
He watched the pain on Julio’s face, and it made him feel a little better.
In his mind flashed the pleasure that came across Mia’s face, and Giovanni didn’t know if it was a lie or the truth.
How was he going to be able to touch his wife now, knowing what he had done?
Giovanni had no choice, he had to get to the bottom of this drug, and the missing girls.
****
Three Weeks Later
Mia entered the party on Giovanni’s arm, but it may as well have been a stranger’s.
This was her parents’ home, a family get-together, and if they didn’t attend it would cause a scandal. She didn’t want to attend, but she knew she had no choice.
All eyes were on her right now, because she had been married to Giovanni long enough to have given him a child, and she hadn’t done so.
At least she wasn’t dressed in some elaborate gown.
That was exactly what had happened at one of her family’s dinner parties.
No one else had attended in gowns, it had been business suits and casual wear.
She had stuck out like a sore thumb and looked like a fucking idiot.
Her brothers had called her a child. Her family had done the same.
Her parents had looked at her with such disapproval.
Tonight, they would not. After the first week and not seeing Giovanni, Mia had taken the hint.
She had seen the way he looked at that woman he was meeting in the nightclub, so she had gone out and changed her entire wardrobe.
There were no more bright clothes, summery dresses, or long skirts.
She hadn’t trashed them, but she had boxed them up with no intention of wearing them again.
If this is what Giovanni wanted, then she would dress accordingly. Ironically, as they entered her parents’ home, she saw instantly that once again she had dressed incorrectly. Most people were in gowns and tuxedos.
Giovanni let go of her arm and made his way across the room without another word.
Mia felt so alone. That closeness they had shared weeks ago was long gone. An entire night and some part of the day, and now it was gone.
Mia spotted her friends, thankful they had arrived at her parents’ party. She immediately hugged each of them in turn. She hadn’t told them anything about the drug, or what it meant to take it. She hadn’t confided in them, because Giovanni had told her not to.
“What’s going on?” Liana asked.
“Nothing.”
“Mia, you would have loved a party like this,” Clarissa said.
She smiled at her friends, but the truth was, she was close to breaking down and sobbing. How could she miss something she had enjoyed only a short time?
“I guess we all change.”
The suit she wore wasn’t exactly comfortable. It was the very opposite of comfort. She wanted to wriggle in it, but instead, she stood and grabbed a glass of champagne from a nearby waiter.
Only, she caught her mother’s eye, who looked disapprovingly at the glass. Of course, she hadn’t done what they wanted. She wasn’t pregnant. Her brothers were also present at the party, and it was just a firm reminder of how much of a failure she was.
Mia put the glass back on the tray and excused herself from her friends. She had no idea what to do or where to go, so she made her escape, intent on getting to her old bedroom.
She had not come back here since the wedding. Opening her old bedroom door, Mia couldn’t even believe she was surprised. Her bedroom was gone. There was no bed, no furniture. The room was empty. The pink walls were gone. Any trace of her living at home was completely gone.
“How do you think it looks on your husband when you leave a party like that?” her mother asked.
Mia turned to look at her mother who was just staring at her. “What happened to all my stuff?”
Her mother’s frown deepened. Mia was so used to seeing her like this, it didn’t even make her flinch.
“You represent our family, Mia, and not being by your husband’s side is an embarrassment. You have a duty to provide him a son, and you are not doing your job.” She shook her head.
All her life, her mother had always told her what she hadn’t done right, how wrong she was about everything. It was like stepping back in time, with no way of escaping.
Giovanni didn’t want anything to do with her, and her mother was just constantly reminding her of her faults.
“I am such a disappointment, aren’t I?” Mia nodded. “It doesn’t matter what I do, or how I dress, it is just not good enough. Did you have to pay Giovanni to marry me? Bribe him?”
“Mia, how dare you—”
She couldn’t listen to anything else. She had to get out of this room and out of this house. It had never felt like home, and it didn’t now.
“Mia, are you okay?” Tatiana asked.
She didn’t answer, but went in the opposite direction, making her way out into the garden. She needed to get some fresh air and just leave.
There were guards outside. There was always someone watching. They were always seeing her humiliation.
Tears filled her eyes. This was a nightmare.
She just needed to break free. Giovanni must have realized she was a problem. A big child he needed to babysit. She must have embarrassed herself at the way she had thrown herself at him. She was a fool.
Kicking off her pumps, she ran across the lawn and just kept running.
Her parents’ property was large, not as big as Giovanni’s, but she was able to make her way down toward the bottom of the garden where there was a small woodland.
It was only a few random trees, but when life at home got hard, this was where she hid.
She just needed to clear her mind, to figure out what she was supposed to do.
How could she have a baby when Giovanni wouldn’t even come near her?
She hadn’t gone to her room but laid in the bed they were meant to share together.
He never came to bed. Maybe he was having an affair, and that was why she never saw him.
Tears fell from her eyes, as she got to the end of the yard and just collapsed to the ground in the stupid pencil skirt with a small slit up the back, which didn’t give any real movement away.
Mia didn’t know how long she sat there, alone, staring across the yard—a minute, ten, it didn’t matter. She heard some movement, and she quickly glanced behind her to see Giovanni approaching.
“You don’t have to be here. I’m going to make one of the guards take me back,” Mia said.
“You’re not going to get the guards to take you back.” Giovanni rounded the tree and then crouched down in front of her so they were at eye level. “Do you want to tell me what is going on?”
“No, I just ... I want to go home, okay? That is what I want.”
“I saw you leave the party,” Giovanni said. “And I saw your mother leave the party.”
She snorted. “And?”
“What happened?”
Mia didn’t want to say anything. Complaining would just make her sound like a freaking child. This was so frustrating. What didn’t make her a child?
“I’m not good enough. I’m failing them as a daughter and you as a wife. I’m nothing but a big, fat, childish failure.” She shrugged.
“Mia—”
“No, it’s fine. I mean, I should accept it, right?
You can’t stand my childish traits, so no wonder we can’t make a child.
You can’t even stand to touch me.” She pressed her lips together, or at least attempted to keep her pain at bay, but nothing was working.
It was like the dam had burst, and there was no way to keep it all in.
The tears kept falling, and she hated it.
“What did I do wrong this time?” she asked.
“I ... we ... the sex was good. It was great, but you haven’t touched me in three weeks, and yes, I guess that makes me childish because I counted.
I remember these small little details.” She was even more mortified.
“What is wrong with me?” she all but screamed at him.
Mia was expecting him to walk away, to look down on her, to do something her parents and brothers had done.
Instead, Giovanni cupped her face and tilted her head back. “It’s time you and I had a conversation.”