Owning the Mafia Don

Proserpina

I swallowed hard, my face turning pale as I met my husband’s eyes. He had the look of a man who was doing his best to control his temper. His thick fists were clenched tight as he held himself rigidly.

‘Woman’ he growled,’ I want to talk to Schwartz.

And as I opened my mouth to speak, he said, his voice a roar,

‘Get the f*ck away from here, woman. I said NOW!’

I stepped back, hurt by his tone, and turned. I fled inside, trying not to cry.

That he had judged me without listening to me hurt me deeply. After those torrid nights of passion we spent, did he still not understand how I felt about him?

That for me, as long as I lived, no other man mattered but Lucien Delano?

***

Lucien

He had watched them from the windows of his study. Somehow, he never felt comfortable when his wife was with Handsome James who was his best friend.

F*ck, he could not tolerate seeing his wife with ANY man.

But this day, it was different. Proserpina was looking as lovely and youthful as ever, with no makeup, her hair in a high ponytail with tendrils falling around her face, adding to the appeal she carried around unconsciously. Her T-shirt was large but she had casually knotted it, unaware that it brought out the heaviness of her full breasts. Lucien’s breathing had quickened as he watched the small, curvaceous figure in the cutoff jeans. It had not helped when Simon DeCosta, a new dealer, who had been with him in the study, had asked him, in some interest, who the young woman was.

When Lucien had growled and told him it was his wife, the look of disbelief on the man’s face was almost comical.

Lucien had sent him away abruptly, holding back the urge to throttle the man.

That was when he saw Schwartz stroll across to Proserpina. The body language between the two spoke volumes. He had always known that Schwartz had a thing for Proserpina. But as he watched his young wife, dimpling up at him, he felt the jealous rage grow in him.

“Damn. Why did she have to look so welcoming?’ he thought angrily. As he stepped off the porch of his study to join them, he saw the way his wife reached up to the tall, attractive man, to kiss him; He felt his blood boil over as he watched Schwartz grab her and kiss her.

It was a brief one, but the wealth of passion in the gesture unsettled him. Her reaction? She moved back as if scalded; which reassured him; Proserpina had been caught unawares.

But did she care for Schwartz? asked the little green devil in his heart. As he crossed the lawn, soundlessly and unobserved, since the two people were lost in their emotional web, he heard Proserpina say in a husky voice,

”James, you know how I feel about you…’

He faced his friend, his face a cold mask.

Schwartz stood his ground.

“Mate,’ he said wearily, ‘it’s not what you think at all…’

‘And how do you know what I think?’ snarled Lucien, keeping his tone under control as he did not want to distress his children. Ria had turned to look when she heard him, and now there was a look of puzzlement as she studied him.

He smiled and consciously relaxed his shoulders.

“Mate,’ Schwartz went on, his hands raking his hair, a gesture that he had when he was upset. ‘I came to bring her this gift…’

Lucien glanced at the photograph and felt himself stiffen. The look on his wife’s face, her youthful innocence. He felt his anger rise.

He had plucked her when she was eighteen; yes, she must be tired of an old man like him now. He had seen his face in the mirror in their dressing room this morning as she sat before him, humming as she dried her hair. She had looked so gloriously fresh and pretty, that he had felt jaded. It had been another reminder of how young she was, while he had a head of grey hair and was older than her by almost two decades…

‘Get out of my house.’ He growled, ‘Now.’

Schwartz turned and walked away, his usually jaunty stride a rigid walk.

Lucien looked up to the bedroom of his house, where he knew his wife would be. Grimly, he turned to enter the house. Ria raced across and picked up the forgotten photograph. Piers joined her and then she piped up,

‘Pappa, you look so scary. Mumma looks beautiful and so young!’

And then, lowering the photograph, she asked solemnly,

“Pappa, are you very, very old?’

Lucien turned to look at his beloved daughter.

He took a deep breath and squatted down to reach her at eye level. He knew his guards were about and they would rather he went into the house but he gathered his child into his arms and growled,

“Why do you ask, poppet?’Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

Ria threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.

“Promise you won’t get angry.’ She murmured.

Lucien smiled inwardly. She had been up to some mischief and was trying to bail out.

“Go on,’ he grunted.

“I think I broke Alfred’s nose.’ She whispered guiltily, peeking up at him from beneath her lashes.

Lucien’s brow furrowed. Now, who the hell was Alfred?

‘One of the boys who works in the grounds’ Piers chimed in helpfully.

Lucien frowned. “And why did you do that, young lady?’ he asked, pretending to be angry.

Ria looked up crossly and said indignantly, her small face red with anger,

“Pappa, he said you were too old for my Mumma.’ She crossed her arms in a defiant manner ‘I heard him and when I asked him, he laughed so I hit him with my bat…’

Unsure whether he wanted to break a couple of Alfred’s teeth too or shake his recalcitrant daughter, who was slyly observing him, Lucien turned to Piers. The boy was calm and could be trusted to tell him the truth.

“So what happened, young man?’ he asked.

Piers glanced at his sister and said,

“Alfred was rude. He said Mumma was young and pretty and you were too old for her.’

Rising to his feet, Lucien bellowed at the guards who came trotting across, their weapons at the ready.

‘Throw the fellow named Alfred out of the grounds, NOW!’

One of them hurried away and came back in a few seconds.

“He had a minor skirmish with…uh..’ he glanced furtively at Ria, who stood, hands on hips, daring him to say more.

‘He has been taken to the hospital. I believe he was hit on the face with a …umm…baseball bat…’

The man glanced uneasily at Ria again.

Lucien grunted and looked down at his daughter in grudging admiration. She showed the same spunk that he had had as a child.

He smiled reluctantly, and Ria immediately seized the chance to grab him and hug him fervently. Swinging her into his arms, he strode into the house with Piers trotting along beside them.

And he remembered that he had to meet his woman and settle matters with her.