The Mafia’s Forbidden Desire

ROSALINDA.

Today was birthday, and as planned, the party had already begun downstairs.

I was dressed in a neon orange fitted dress with my raven black hair packed in a tight bun, accentuating my facial features.This content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .

“Mommy. No. I want the blue one.” Carlo whined as he stared at the white shirt in my hand.

I was in his room, dressing him up for the party.

“The blue one it is, then.” I smiled sweetly as I leapt to my feet and trudged to his wardrobe to drop the white shirt.

He giggled happily as I returned with the blue shirt, and I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my lips.

“Mommy, is Uncle Antonio coming?” He asked, reminding me of the wound I had been trying to close.

Antonio hadn’t reached out since that night, and it hurt like hell. He told me that he’d explain everything to me when he got the full details, but that explanation never came. I guess I expected too much from a mafia lord. How absurd.

I got to hear a little bit of what happened from Sofia, though. Oliver called her that same night to assure her that he was okay. He also told her that he was Nikolai Petrov’s son, which was insanely surprising.

His family were the deadliest Russian Mafia family, but he knew nothing about the Mafia. On the plus side, he and Sofia now finally have a chance to be together. I knew my dad; he’d want to exploit that opportunity to form an alliance with Petrov.

“Mommy?” Carlo called, pulling me back to reality, and I quickly painted a smile on my lips.

“I don’t know, baby. But I think he would.” I replied, adjusting the suit jacket I wore on him.

“You look beautiful, Mommy.” He beamed, surprising me.

An overwhelming warmth filled my heart, and tears threatened to spill out of my eyes. “Thank you, baby. You look handsome as well.”

He was so sweet and adorable. I couldn’t wait to watch him grow into a handsome gentleman.

Mary came in a few moments later, and I handed Carlo to her to look after him all through the event.

With that, I went downstairs to where the party was happening.

“Hello, cousin.” A familiar voice sounded from behind me, and I turned to see Giovanni, a face-splitting grin tugging his lips apart.

“Gio.” I addressed him with a smile.

He hooked his arm. “Shall we?”

Nodding, I placed my hand on it, and side by side, we ventured into the garden filled with elegantly dressed but dangerous individuals.

“Ouu, who’s the lady in the red dress?” He suddenly said, casting a flirtatious look at one of the ladies in the garden.

I just knew he was about to leave me.

“Excuse me.” He smiled apologetically as he unhooked his arm and walked away from me. As expected.

I was left alone. Not knowing what to do next. I had just arrived at the party, and I was bored already. If Papà hadn’t made my presence mandatory, I would have been on my bed, chilling.

Looking around, I spotted the buffet stand, and I immediately decided to appease my boredom with food.

A cupcake was the first thing I started munching on from the food stand. It was so fluffy and yummy that I didn’t even know when I finished two pieces.

While on my third piece of cupcake, someone suddenly towered behind me, and I froze, wondering who it was.

“Beautiful, as always.” His annoying voice sounded, and my stomach tightened in displeasure.

The previously yummy cupcake suddenly tasted gross, and my throat threatened to puke it out. I was beyond irritated, thanks to Lorenzo.

“Thank you.” I forced the bite of cupcake already in my mouth down my throat.

His arm suddenly snaked around my waist, and I stiffened, holding my breath.

“I missed you.” He slid his hand down a bit, slightly brushing my butt cheeks disgustingly.

“Please, can you-” I wanted to politely ask him to get his filthy hand off me when another hand suddenly yanked it off my waist.

“Get your hand off her!” He growled.

My eyes widened in surprise as I turned to see Antonio holding his hand midair, a deep frown slated on his face.

Lorenzo snatched his hand from Antonio’s grip. “Why? Do you have eyes for her also?”

“Does that bother you?” Antonio fired back with fury.

“You know that’s a dead end, right? Because she’s mine.” Lorenzo declared, intensifying Antonio’s rage. “And you can never have her.”

In his dreams.

Antonio’s jaw tightened, his eyes blazing with fury as he charged towards Lorenzo, but I quickly stepped between them, stopping him.

“Antonio!” I cautioned with a firm voice.

Murmurs erupted, and I could feel everyone’s gazes on us. Not good.

Antonio’s facial features twitched in intense rage as he glared at Lorenzo with murderous intent. Suddenly, he turned around and just dashed out of the scene.

“It’s quite funny how he’s into you when he just recently got out of an engagement with your sister. Don’t you think?” Lorenzo tried to start a conversation with me after Antonio left.

He looked well composed, as if that hadn’t just happened.

“Excuse me.” I swallowed and whisked out of his presence before he could utter another word.

Lord knows that I would have snapped if I stayed a second longer with his disgustingly annoying ass.

I was livid, and I was barely looking at where I was going when I inadvertently bumped into someone.

“Sorry.” I quickly apologized.

Hoisting my head up to look at the person, I gasped.

“Surprise.” He beamed cheerfully.

“Oliver.” I chuckled.

I was surprised to see him. But I was not as surprised when I learned of his father’s identity.

“My father was invited, so I tagged along.” He explained, smiling.

I figured.

“How are you?” I asked. My gaze swept over the impressive Navy blue suit he had on. “You look good.”

“You look better.” He returned the compliment, and I laughed softly.

“Thank you.”

“Uhm,” he said, slightly scratching his temple with a finger. “I can’t seem to find Sofia anywhere. Her phone’s not reachable, and I didn’t tell her I was coming. I wanted to surprise her.”

“I could help you look for her.” I offered.

He smiled, grateful. “That would be awesome. Thank you.”

“Excuse me.” I told him before walking away from him and heading into the building.

Sofia could be in her room, lazying around, so I decided to check there first. She was lucky. She could use the pregnancy as an excuse for not being present at the party. Everyone knows that pregnant women can feel sick unexpectedly. I, on the other hand, had no excuse at all, and my experience at the party has been terribly bad so far. It was safe to say I envied her.

She was nowhere in her room when I got there, and I wondered where she was. I hadn’t seen her at the boring party outside either.

Blowing out an exasperated breath, I trudged out of her room, only to stop in my tracks and freeze when I saw the person standing outside her room. His back was against a wall, and his hands dipped inside his pockets with his legs crossed. Antonio.

I swallowed as I began to walk hastily past him, determined to ignore him.

But jokes on me. His hand gripped my arm, swiftly flipping me around and pulling me closer to him.

“Let me go.” I groaned.

“Why?” He questioned, his brows raised.

Was he seriously asking me that?

“I’ll tell you if you want to play ignorance. You lied to me!” I blurted out, gritting my teeth.

Exhaling sharply, he said the words I least expected him to say. “I’m sorry, Rosa. I shouldn’t have lied to you.”

That felt better. But I was still mad at him.

“You didn’t reach out since then.” I complained again.

“I have been busy. But that’s not an excuse, Kitty. I am sorry.” He brushed his fingers across my cheeks, and I couldn’t stop the smile that crept to my lips.

Just like that, the heap of pent-up anger that was burning within melted to nothing with just an apology and a little touch. Fuck! He was so damn irresistible.

Leaning in, he planted a soft kiss on my neck and traced those kisses up my ear, causing a satisfying shiver to travel up my spine.

“Why were you with him? Lorenzo.” He asked, jealousy thick in his voice.

“Are you jealous?” I teased.

“No.” He denied, pulling me closer than I already was, crashing his lips hungrily against mine.

I reciprocated with equal hunger as we smothered our lips against each other with intense passion.

I missed him.

“I would never let anyone else have you. You are mine.” He declared possessively as he pulled away from the kiss. “I would make sure of that.”

A pleasing smile touched my lips as I stared at him with admiration. “That’s exactly what I desire.”

My contortion suddenly changed to a sad one when I remembered the attack from the amusement park. I had been pondering over it, wondering how Antonio would deal with the whole Diego issue. I was the reason he was in that mess in the first place.

“About Diego. How do you intend to tackle the issue?” I asked.

“Diego wasn’t the one who attacked that day.” He told me, and my brows drew together in perplexity.

“What? Then who?” I blink repeatedly.

“I think I found the culprit. A few minutes ago.”