Married to the mafia boss Series

I wake up feeling groggy. I can hardly keep my eyes open. My head is pounding and my eyelids feel too heavy. I try to move my body but can’t, that’s when I realize my hands are tied behind my back and I’m not in bed-but in a hard wooden chair. The room smells like cleaning products and makes me suddenly gag.

As hard as I try to regain consciousness, I’m still in a sleepy daze. I know something is wrong but panicking doesn’t seem to be an option. I feel mellow and relaxed in the chair as if my fight or flight response system has been shut down completely. I know I’m in danger but don’t have the energy to react or think rationally enough.

Where is Antonio? I had fallen asleep next to him in our bed. I didn’t feel him leave the bed this morning. Is he here with me? Am I in a hospital because I lost the baby and they put me on strong drugs?

A rush of energy floods my system and I open my eyes wide and scan my surrounding. The room is darkly lit but the white tile walls make things bright enough. The floor is concrete with stains scattered below me-I fear it’s blood from previous victims. The chair I’m sitting in is bolted underneath me keeping me in place along with rope binding my arms and legs together.

A large man enters the room, seeing as there are surveillance cameras in the top corner of the room they were watching, waiting for me to wake up.

“Liliana Moretti,” the man says in a thick Russian accent. “We’ve been waiting to get our hands on you.”

Antonio

I hate being in New York. I hate this city but not as much as I hate the people here. Fucking Ricci’s with their corrupt and psychopathic ways.

The only person I hate more than Luca is Marco and sitting with both of them at their main headquarters made me want to pull out my pistol and waste both of them right here, right now.

We are discussing strategy plans regarding the Bratva. They have been interfering with drug and guns shipment we’ve been receiving from the cartel down in Mexico. Men are turning up dead at shipment checkpoints. The Outfit is low with men and even with the last batch of New York soldiers it’s still not enough. We’re losing more and more every week.

Just the other day the Bratva raided one of our warehouses, we lost a shit ton of money and some good men. Since ties with New York have been good since Luca got his bride and Marco shipped his daughter off to marry me, they’ve been pretty lenient with sending me more soldiers.

As grateful as I am, I don’t trust this willingness to hand me over men. They’re going to want something and I haven’t figured it out yet-but I will.

My mind wanders off to thoughts of my wife. I left her peacefully sleeping in bed this morning. She didn’t even stir she was so exhausted. Liliana cried most of the night as I held her and let her. She was distraught over what her father said to her and distraught at the treatment Arabella is receiving from her brother. I hate seeing her so stressed and it worries me regarding the baby. I read on some website for pregnant parents stress is horrible and can cause miscarriages and, in some cases, even affect the child’s development in their early or even later life.

I thought it was better for her to let it all out. She seemed relieved after. I can tell when something is worrying her by the way she bites at her bottom lip, fidgets with her hands and has a strong crease between her eyebrows. Her body usually stays tense like that until she purged her feelings. So, I’d rather her cry at night to me then hold it in.

Luca’s cell phone ringing causes me to lose train of my thought and thrusts me back into reality.

“Yeah?” Luca answers with annoyance. “Are you sure?… Okay… I’ll tell him.” He slams his phone down and looks me in the eyes. Liliana is missing.”

I stand up abruptly. “What do you mean she’s missing!?”

“Arabella says she can’t find her anywhere in the apartment. She’s been looking for over an hour.”

I take out my phone ready to call her seeing if maybe she just left to go into the city and forgot to tell anyone.

Luca shakes his head. “She said she called Lily, her phone is still in the guest room.”

“She wouldn’t leave without her phone. She was taken!” I run my hands through my hair. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. “How the hell did this happen? Don’t you have security? Who could’ve gotten in without setting off alarms or getting past your bodyguard-who is supposed to be watching them!”

“Antonio, calm down,” Marco says in a calm voice. “We will find her. This isn’t the first kidnapping in the mafia and this isn’t the first time Lily has been taken.”

I wanted to ring his neck because I know at least one of those times she was kidnapped it was because her father was trying to teach his sons a lesson about not caring.

“Don’t you have security cameras?” I ask Luca.

He silently grabs his laptop, opens it and turns the screen toward me. He hits the play button and we see the hallways where the guest room is. I watch as the video play me exiting the room in my suit and heading down to the main lobby where I met with Luca. We don’t see any sign of Liliana, she must have still been sleeping at this time. He fast forwards until static shows.

“Tampered with,” Marco grumbles under his breath.

I grab my suit jacket and put it on as I race out of the room. I tell one of Luca’s men waiting outside to pull the car around front. Luca and Marco catch up to me and it’s Luca who looks most annoyed.

“We still have business to finish,” he reminds me.

“My wife is missing. I think this is more important,” I growl through clenched teeth.

“I thought you were the type of man to put the Famiglia before anyone else,” Marco replied snidely.

“How stupid of me to actually think either of you would care that your sister-your daughter, was taken by our enemies,”

“It looks like the great Antonio Moretti finally has a weakness,” Marco says as I push past him as I see my car has arrived. “And it’s blinding him!”

When I pile into the backseat, I’m agitated by the fact that Luca follows suit. Luca flashes me an untrustworthy grin that makes me uneasy and as soon as possible I’m leaving this fucking city. “We’re going to the same place, aren’t we? No need to waste another car.” I don’t trust the Ricci’s and I don’t trust their reaction to Liliana’s disappearance.

At Luca’s penthouse Arabella is a wreck. Her eyes are bloodshot and her hands trembling. Luca looks annoyed with his wife and by the clenching of his fist I can tell he wants to hit her.

“I need you to tell me everything,” I say calmly to my cousin. I touch her shoulder and lead her over to the couch to sit as I take the seat next to her.

“It was around eleven that I was worried. I thought maybe she was jet-lagged and needed some sleep. I thought that she was just exhausted but she was gone. I swear I didn’t hear anyone enter. I had breakfast and then went back to my room to read a book. I didn’t hear anyone enter! I don’t know how it happened,” Arabella becomes hysterical. She plants her face into her hands and her shoulders shake with every sob.

I check my watch. “So she’s been missing for a few hours?” Arabella nods her head. “Fuck. I want men out looking for her and checking all of the Bratva’s warehouses.”

“Hang on just a minute. You may be Capo in the Outfit but here these men are for my father and I to control. We don’t even know if the Bratva took her so why risk my men on missions we aren’t certain of?” Luca says from the threshold of the kitchen holding a bottle of bourbon in one hand and a glass in the other.

“We can’t see here and do nothing! We need to send spies to see what they know or if they know anything already!” I shout my frustration.

“If this happened in Chicago it was your wife, I would send my men looking for her.”

Luca shrugs. “That just proves once again that you are weak and incompetent to be Capo. You rule with your heart. You’re too blinded by love to realize that you’re willing to risk too much of the Famiglia to get back some girl.”

“That girl is your sister,” my teeth are clenched.

“And if it were my wife, mother, or daughter I wouldn’t care either way. I’m not risking men to search our enemies warehouses when we aren’t sure she is there. There is no sign of forced entry, for all I know she left on her own accord to escape you and made it look like a kidnapping. It’s plausible that my bitch of sister would pull a stunt like that.”

“You May have known her all of her life but I know for a fact she wouldn’t do something like this.” Especially not while pregnant with my child.

“Antonio is right,” Arabella chimes in. “Liliana wouldn’t do something like that.”

“You’re dismissed, Arabella,” Luca shouts angrily. “We do not need your input in men’s business.”

“But she’s my friend too!”

Luca enters to kitchen and returns without the bottle of glass in his hand. As he storms toward Arabella she cowers when he raises his hand and slaps her across the face with a loud smack.

“Enough!” I shout and pull Arabella away from him. “She may be your property but I’m not going to watch you abuse my cousin in front of me. You can do it later when I’m not around. You’re going to sit here and figure out a way to get Liliana back.”

Luca’s jaw ticks. “I don’t have to anything you say.”

“Go upstairs, Arabella,” I murmur to her and she obliges.

I wait until I can no longer hear footsteps to grab Luca by his collar and slam him against the wall. “Listen to me,” I say inches away from his face. “This is my wife and as far as I’m concerned as guests from the Outfit we are under your protection and your sister has just been kidnapped in your apartment. You’ll help and if you don’t well then, I guess I’ll expect the worst.”

“That she left you?”

“No, that you’re responsible. And if you’re responsible then I am at liberty to kill you but it won’t be quick. I will take my time skinning you alive until you are begging for death. Even then I won’t grant you death, I will cut off every piece of you that I can while you are conscious and I am going to feed them to you-that includes your dick.”

Luca keeps his same furrowed eyebrows and dark eyes but it’s the hard swallow and the new sweat beading at his forehead that tells me he’s afraid.

“Fine. I’ll call my men and have them on the lookout. I’ll see if my spies know anything about a kidnapping from the Bratva. That’s the best I can do,” he shoves me off and pulls out his burner phone from his front pocket to make those calls.

I head upstairs and into the guest room to see if anything was taken or moved around from last I saw. It doesn’t look like a struggle and it doesn’t look like she changed into day clothes. There is no sign of the nightgown she wore last night which leads me to believe that she was taken before she woke up. I walk over to the bed and smell her pillow to get the scent of vanilla along with… I sniff again. Chloroform?

The kidnappers must’ve put the chemical on a cloth and put over her mouth while she was sleeping to render her unconscious. There wouldn’t have been a fight and it would make sense that Arabella didn’t hear anything.

Still questions about this scene of crime burn in my mind. How did they get in? Who has access to Luca’s penthouse? Why weren’t the bodyguards monitoring the girls or the hallways where they sleep?

When I make my way downstairs, I see Benedetto holding a box and talking to Luca. I hear Benedetto ask what to do with it and Luca whispers his response.

“What’s that?” I nod my head at the box.

“A box,” Luca grabs the box from his guard. “I was going to check it first in case whatever is inside is too disturbing for you to see.” I raise an eyebrow. “It’s addressed to you, Moretti.”

“Give it to me,” I walk down the last few steps of stairs and forcefully snatch the box out of his hands. I walk over to the kitchen to set the box down. Luca and Benedetto hover looking over my shoulder anticipating what is inside. “Do you both mind?”

“This box came to my house, I’d like to see what’s inside. Especially if it is pertaining to my sister.”

Now he cares, I roll my eyes.

The box is lighter than expected given the size of it. So, I doubt it’s a bomb. I waste no more time opening it to see a letter on top of various items below it.

Mr. Moretti,

Congratulations! You’re a father. We’re having our own little baby shower with your wife a little-gender reveal party. It was much fun. Liliana cried when she found out it was a girl. Enclosed is a gift for your daughter from us. Enclosed is also a warning. If you don’t step down there will be worse body parts to find in a brown box.

The letter ends without being signed by whoever took her. My throat closes with an overwhelming flood of emotions. I’m going to have a daughter. I hold back the smile wanting to make itself present when I remember the words body part. Dread fills my stomach at all the possibilities of what could be in the box. Her ear, a finger, a toe, a piece of skin, locks of hair, an eyeball…

When I look into the box, I see a pink pair of baby booties and a short slender finger-her pinky. The color tells me it was recently taken. Fuck. I need to find her and fast because there is no way in hell I’m stepping down as Capo.

Why would the Bratva want me to step down? Do they have another choice-one more corrupt? No, it can’t be. The possibility that it’s someone in the Famiglia is probable, someone who wants me gone and wants to take over.

How could they know Liliana is pregnant? No man would notice, sure she has a small bump but it’s hardly noticeable, anyone could think she’s simply fat. Maybe she told them so they would go easy on her? My heart rate picks up as a I think of her scared and begging for her life, begging for them not to do anything that would bring harm to our daughter. The pain she must have felt as they took her finger.

She’s not accustomed to pain like Made Men are, there are hardly any marks, scars or blemishes on her perfect creamy skin. I toss the box across the room and yell out my frustration, my anger. Yell at how unfair this is and how all my fucking life I promised not to get close so this exact scenario would never happen and yet I let my guard down. I allowed myself to feel an ounce of pleasure and love and now it’s screwing me over. My enemies know my weakness and they are winning because I would do anything to get Liliana back.

She is my weakness.

Weakness.

It looks like the great Antonio Moretti finally has a weakness, Marco’s voice rings in my head.

Any of my men would know that I don’t partially care much for my wife, I make it that way so I don’t show my weakness. I don’t mention my wife to any of the members in the Outfit and when I do, they’re lies to make it seem like I don’t care. The only four people who would ever know that Liliana is becoming a weakness for me is Rocco, Angelo, Luca and Marco and two of those people I can cross off my list. The other two…

I pull out my pistol so quick that Luca and Benedetto don’t have any time to draw. “How loyal are you?” I ask his guard.

“I would die for Luca,” he bites back.

With that answer I shoot him directly between the eyes. His body falls with a thud.

“Now that’s not very nice,” Luca frowns.

“Where is she?”NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

“Where is who?” He plays stupid. “Oh, your sister. I haven’t a clue,” he shrugs.

I aim the gun at his kneecap and he falls to the floor screaming next to Benedetto’s corpse. “I’m going to ask again, where is my wife?”

“You stupid fucker! Can’t see you see she is manipulating you and making you weak. Choosing that fucking cunt of the Famiglia.”

I punch him hard enough to knock him unconscious. I pull his body into one of the dining room chairs and tie him with duct tape and rope I find in a supply closet to be safe. I tie each wrist to the arms of the chair and do the same to his ankles. Arabella comes down the stairs warily and shrieks when she sees her dead bodyguard.

“I need you to stay in your room, okay?” I ask her.

Her eyes stare at Luca. “Are you going to kill him? Is he dead?”

“I need some information from him. He knows where Lily is and I’d bet all my money that Marco is with her now.”

“What? Why?”

“That’s what I’m going to find out. I need you to lock yourself in your room and don’t come out until I tell you it’s okay. If something goes south and I’m dead and Luca comes after you. I want you to be ready upstairs waiting, take one of Luca’s guns and shoot him or Marco or anyone who isn’t me. I need you to call Rocco tell him they have Liliana. If I’m dead you need to get back to Chicago and stay safe. Okay?”

She nods frantically and takes one of the burner phones in the kitchen drawer and scurries upstairs.

I pace around waiting for Luca to wake up, this is going to be a long night but I intend to gather every piece of information about Liliana’s whereabouts and their planning and reasoning.

“Fucker,” Luca curses as he comes to. He moves his body and groans in pain probably remembering that a bullet went through his kneecap.

“Where is my wife?” I ask as I cross my arms and lean against the kitchen waiter.

“Why would I ever tell you?”

“Wrong answer. What should I start with? Your pinky?” Seems fitting. My wife lost hers, it’s only fair that her brother behind the attack should too.

I grab a sharp knife from one of the kitchen drawers. I kneel so I’m level with his hand now flailing trying to get out of the tape around his wrist. I hold him steady as I slowly slice into the skin and keep going until the entire finger is dislodged from his body.

Luca grits his teeth and bites his tongue trying not to scream out. “You’re going to pay for this,” he exhales deeply as I hold his pinky into the air.

“And I think I remember saying that you were going to eat every body part I cut off?”

Luca’s face goes pale but he doesn’t say anything back. He just keeps his mouth shut. Something he should’ve done a long time ago.

“Where is my wife?” I ask again.

“Fuck. You.”

My hand goes to his jaw forcing his mouth open as I shove his pinky into his mouth. Luca gags and tries to spit it back up. “Where is my wife?”

With no answer I grab the knife and cut off his other pinky finger. “You have eight more fingers left until I move onto your toes. I heard the big toe hurts the worst. I’ll save that for last.”

“You think your tough torturing me?” He groans. The blood from his pinky is dripping out of his mouth. He spit the finger onto the floor and I let him, there are much more productive ways to get him to talk. After all his fingers and toes are gone, I think I’ll go for his dick considering it’s what he thinks with the most.

Threaten someone’s manhood and they’re likely to talk.

“Nothing?” I cock my head and wait. Nothing.

Bye-bye middle fingers.

I do this until both of his hands are fingerless and Luca is pale to the point of passing out. You can’t go too hard fast. You want them conscious when you’re torturing. I let him recover while I talk to him.

“I know your father is with him. Where?”

“Not gonna say. That bitch deserves whatever is coming to her. Maybe her death will finally strengthen you. Doubtful considering the Outfit has been weak for decades.”

I squint my eyes at Luca. “Is that why you want me to step down because I’m weak.” I slice my knife down his bicep which will surely scar.

“You were never supposed to take over. The day Lorenzo died you and Rocco were supposed to die as well. Plan went wrong so Dad had to make a few adjustments.”

My eyes go dark and my blood boils. “The Bratva killed my father.”

“My father paid the Bratva to take out the entire Moretti family.”

I drop the knife and punch him across the face, my knuckles land on his nose and with a crack I know I’ve broken it. “Son of a bitch.” I’m so out of my mind with rage I punch him again and nearly break his jaw.

“The Outfit has always been the weakest link of the Famiglia. It’s time new leadership took over,” he spits out blood on the floor.

“Where is my wife?”

“None if your goddamn business. You can torture me all you want, you can kill me but my father is still alive and he has big plans,” his laugh is maniacal. “You can kill me but that won’t stop my father from killing you wife and unborn child or from dethroning your pathetic ass.”

“Oh you’re going to die alright, but first you’re going to tell me everything,” I dig through more utensils in the kitchen until I see something that catches my eyes. I smirk as I hold it up. “Do you think this melon ball scooper can scoop an eyeball out of its socket?”

Luca’s breath picks up and he shifts in his seat once more trying to worm his way out of the rope and tape.

“Even if it doesn’t work, I can still take it out the good old fashion way,” a vindictive smile splash across my face, “with my thumb.”