Mafia's Devil part 19

KARINE

“We will see about that,” my father seethes.

He forgets all about the gun at his feet and pulls out his phone, which at the moment seems like a more dangerous weapon.

He’s calling Maksim. It’s over. The two families will clash so loudly that this city will crumble.

“What did you do, Luciano?” I run my hands through my sleep-rattled hair.

“This is your fault.” He crosses his arms over his chest, not wincing from the bullet wound and staring stoically as if the hole in his Armani suit and arm is a nuisance he can just shrug away.

“You’re bleeding the fuck out and still dare to look at me smugly? God, how I wish dad had better aim and gave you a third eye. What do you mean this is my fault? I thought we left on peaceful terms last time I saw you. Why are you back!”

“It is a scrape, not a bullet hole. And to answer your question, I’m back because…” he clears his throat and stands taller. “Because you did not finish your job.”

“Oh, but I’ll finish the job of killing you, you son of a bitch,” my father interjects.

I release my hair. “Stop. Dad, stay here.”

I take Luciano’s arm and drag him outside to separate the two.

“Maksim is on his way,” my father reminds us.

“You seem to forget I’m also a mafia boss, old man. Maksim can bring all his dogs and I won’t bend.” Luciano continues to antagonize.

I push my father inside and slam the door shut. Then, I turn to Luciano. “What do you mean when you said I ddn’t finish my job? What job?”

“I still have a fever. So I’m here to take you home so you may finish what you started. You were ignoring my messages, and I have no time to waste so I’m here to personally hold you accountable.”

I want to throttle him until a fever and bullet wound is the last of his worries.

“You still have a fever? Well, here’s to hoping that scrape gets infected and gives you gangrene, too.”

He looks unimpressed by my callousness. “Let’s go. I’ve wasted enough time already.”

“Go where?” I scoff. “No way. I’m not a doctor, so if you’re still sick, then there’s nothing I can do.”

“I can’t hire one,” he quickly says. “It would be an unnecessary expense.”

“Spare me the bull. We both know you can afford a whole university of doctors.”

He looks frustrated because things aren’t going his way.

“If I go with you, my dad will really lose it. You should get going before Maksim shows up. I’ll do my best to keep him back.”

My father takes that as his cue to open the door and step outside. “Better listen to her. Maksim is coming. I don’t know what obsession you have with my daughter, but she and her fiance don’t appreciate it.”

It feels like the bullet that only scraped Luciano’s arm made a u-turn and pierced my left lung.

“Fiance?” Luciano and I echo. Well, I kind of wheeze.

“Don’t look at me like that, Karine. You’re an adult and I began searching for a man of a respectable status the day you turned twenty-one. You need a husband to protect you because I won’t be here forever.”

A bomb has detonated.

I thought I had more time to trick Luciano into marriage, but things become a hell of a lot more complicated when my dad is counting down the days to hand me to another man.

I knew arranged marriage was in my future. I just didn’t know the future was right around the corner.

Wheels squeal in the distance. Maksim and his men are coming.

Luciano reads the desperate expression on my face and responds with, “I’m not running from your cousin like a bitch.”

In that case, I’ll do the running. It’s the only way to get Luciano away from the scene. He’ll follow. I know he will.

Picking up my nightgown’s skirt, I haul it out of there with the bitter realization that the nightgown has little dogs printed all over it, and I’m running like one with a tail tucked between her legs.

“Karine, get back here!”

I run around the house, scratch my ankle as I hop a fence, and run across the neighbor’s yard.

Pounding footsteps come behind me. I know it’s Luciano because my dad can’t run that quick. Thinking fast, I run between a house and a brick wall. The space is so narrow that Maksim’s broad shoulders will never fit like mine.

For once, I’m happy to be built like a rag doll.

I scrape my arms a bit, but I’m able to leave Luciano calling my name in the distance.

— LUCIANO —

She got away. She had been right within my grasp, but slid between my fingers.

I’m back home now. My men are on high alert, awaiting Maksim’s retaliation. It has been an hour without any signs of him, so I’m assuming Karine calmed him down.

It’s of no consequence. I have the manpower and balls to handle Maksim. I can only wish the same could be said about Karine.

I stare at the private investigator sitting across my desk. I’ve worked with him a few times before. He’s good, and I need his services again.

“You’re looking for men he has been in contact recently. Young men,” I instruct and point to the photograph of Karine’s father.

If Karine is engaged, then I’m going to find out who the fuck she’s tied to. The amount of rage I feel over her being betrothed pisses me off. I want to kick something, namely her fiance.

I’m not ready to question why I feel this way. I want Karine’s undivided attention, and I will get it. Anything else is irrelevant.

“I understand. Is there anything else that will help me identify what men you’re looking for?”

“They’re looking for marriage.”

My private investigator quirks an eyebrow. Great. Now he thinks I’m into men.

“Can you do it, or not?”

“Yes. This is easy work. I’ll have a list of contacts by tomorrow,” he assures. “By the way, this is out of line, but you should get that injury checked over. Did you want me to call a doctor?”

I think of another set of hands touching my forehead, touching my kitchen as they cook soup, welcoming themselves to my bed, shoving me around.

The answer comes easily.

“No.”