The Badass Mafia Boss Queen

“This whole thing is a mess, Maxine. I don’t think I want this.”

He shrugged. “Your words aren’t laced with certainty. You’re still thinking. So…”

“Hollis fucking gave me a ring!” I let out with quivering lips, bringing out the gorgeous beauty from the pocket of my pants.

Maxine stared at the ring, refusing to touch it even when I pushed it towards him. “He gave you that ring?” I nodded. “Wow! That belongs to my family.” He appeared speechless for a while. “Maybe he wants everything to look more convincing.” He finally said. “That can be the only reason.”Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

“Don’t say that.” I told him and he nodded.

“We should get back to training.” Maxine, a man of few words said and this time, I nodded, becoming the speechless one among us.

We spent hours practicing together, focusing on assault and defense techniques that pushed my limits and expanded my repertoire of moves. Maxine’s instructions were precise and demanding, ‘free your mind, channel all that feeling into each move.’

“Now that’s more like It.” He bellowed.

He kept dishing out more instructions as we went on. “Focus, U. You must anticipate your opponent’s moves before they make them.”

I absorbed his teachings with a fierce determination, eager to master every new challenge he presented to me.

“You’re a natural,” He remarked, a hint of pride in his voice while my chest heaved with exertion, but a smile did play on my lips.

“Thank you, Max, can I call you that?”

“You can.” He nodded. “My brother is not a bad person,” he continued as I washed my hands in a nearby sink.

“He’s been all about your safety since he met you. You might not want to be here, you might want your freedom, but that’s exactly what he wants for you too. He wants you to be free, to be able to go out there without fear. His method of ensuring that might look crude to you, but it’s for the best, I assure you.” I heard Maxine say.

“This is the first time my brother has ever gone out of his way this much, for a woman, any woman. I need no soothsayer to tell me that he likes you, a lot too and he’s happy, Ugo. If protecting you, keeping you safe,makes him happy, then you’d better understand that you’re now a priority to not just him, but to me too. Because, I want my brother’s happiness. Now, I need a favor from you.”

I turned away from the sink to look at him. “What?”

“Do what he asks, be who he wants you to be, you’ll definitely walk out of here pretty soon , I’ll make sure of that. He’s not out to hurt you, so don’t hurt him in any way. And, I swear to you, no harm whatsoever will ever befall you, your family, friends, everybody connected to you. Just make Hollis happy.”

The plea in his voice, the desperation, I felt it but I had no idea why they were there.

“I’m not an easy person to be with. He’ll get fed up with me in no time.” I found myself saying.

“Not being an easy person to be with is perfect. I figured that part from the first day we met and I like that. Don’t make it easy for him.” Maxine giggled. “Do we have a deal?”

“I’ll think about it.” I said, taking a seat on one of the benches in the dojo. “We’re seeing your parents this weekend, it would do me some good if you could tell me what to expect.”

Maxine laughed that cynical laughter and shook his head. “Mum is a perfect sweetheart, Dad is a bitch. You would have to be fearless and act like a real Boss wife to survive him. Can you do that and put up with it for as long as necessary.

I nodded, a picture of what I needed to do already in my head. “I can handle that.” I said.