Romeo The Mafia Casanova

Rebeka sat in a chair in her bedroom, looking out over the backyard. It had been nine days since she’d been shot, and the doctor told her she was healing well and had taken the stitches out.

She asked the man if he was the one who ordered her to stay in her room.

“No, dear. Your husband gave me that order. He’s afraid for you.”

He had a funny way of showing it. She hadn’t seen him since the morning after she got hurt, and she’d never forgotten the cold look on his face. It was like he blamed her for being shot. As her husband, shouldn’t he be the one to take care of her and not his mother, the maids, and the sisters? They had taken turns staying with her until she felt stronger.

“Thank you. Doctor.”

“You’re welcome. Call if you need me, and just try to take it easy for a while.”

“I will.”

She watched the man walk out and had been sitting in the chair ever since. Besides being a bit sore, she felt fine and didn’t want to spend another moment in her room.

Rebeka stood and walked into the bathroom. She showered, dried her hair, and got dressed before she went downstairs.

“Oh, my,” Aria said when she looked up to see her in her office doorway. She rushed to her, took her arm, led her to the sofa, and sat beside her. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel good. The doctor took the stitches out and said I’m doing great.”

“I’m so glad. Are you sure you feel up to being out of the room?”

“Aria, I’ve been ready to leave the room for six days. I’m going nuts. I need something to do.”

“You know I could always use help. I’ve set up an office just down the hall. You’ll need to put your touches on it, but it has the basics.”

Rebeka smiled. “That’s wonderful.”

“Does Dominic know you’re out of the room?” Aria asked.

“No. I don’t think he knows I exist anymore.”

Aria’s brows puckered. “Why do you say that?”

“The last time I saw him was the morning after I got shot, and I’ve never seen him look that cold before. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he hated me, but I just don’t know why.”

Aria patted her hand. “Oh, honey, he doesn’t hate you. I know he loves you.”

“I don’t think so. He’s never told me how he felt, and it seems like he’d been pushing me away lately.”

“Men are strange creatures. When they get scared, they get angry, and I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty that my son was more scared than he’d ever been when he found out you were hurt. They don’t like feeling that deeply at first, but eventually, they get used to it and stop being idiots.”

Rebeka shook her head. “It wasn’t fear I saw but loathing.”

“Just give him a little time, honey.”

“I’ve got nothing but time.”

Aria smiled. “How about we go check out your office? I hope you like it.”

“I’d love that.”

The room was bigger than she thought it would be. It had a beautiful desk and chair with a loveseat, table, and chair in the middle of the room. One wall had empty shelves that she’d need to fill. The walls were cream-colored, and the carpet was a shade darker. It was a room she could see herself sitting in for many years and being happy.

“This is wonderful, Aria.”

“I’m glad you like it. You’ll have to pick out everything else. I left a new laptop and a phone on the desk. If there’s anything you want to change, just tell me.”

Rebeka shook her head and smiled. “No, I think everything’s perfect.”

“Order whatever you want online. I put the information for the family business credit card on your desk. I haven’t put anything besides that on your desk, so you’ll need to order the basics. too.”

“I’ll do that this morning.”

Aria hugged her. “Call the number eight on your phone, and that gets you directly to me and vice versa.”

“Thank you, Aria. You’ve made me so happy.”

“I’m glad. This is your home. I want it to be everything you ever dreamed of.”

Rebeka sat at her desk and made a list of the things she’d need and even went so far as to find a lamp and a picture she loved.

A maid had brought in a stack of mail that she was slowly going through when she heard her door close.

She was shocked to see her husband standing there and even more shocked at the resentful expression on his face.

“Hello, husband.”

If anything, his expression darkened further.

“Don’t call me that.”

She tried to act blase and sat back. “Why? Are you not my husband any longer, and you forgot to tell me?”

He ignored her question. “What are you doing out of our room?”

“I’ve been up there for nine days, Dominic. How much longer do you want to punish me?”

He looked surprised. “Punish you?”

“I was fine three days after I was shot, but you gave the order to keep me in our room. I thought it was because you were concerned for me, but now I think it was because you didn’t want to have to look at me. Am I right?”

He scowled. “If I give you an order, you will follow it.”

She stared at him for a moment. “Why do you want me in our room?”

“You were shot,” he yelled.

“Yes, but I’m feeling good, just extremely bored and going out of my mind. The doctor took the stitches out and told me I was healing very well and to just take it easy for a few days. Tell me the truth. It has nothing to do with me being hurt, so what is it?”

He paced back and forth and then stopped and looked at her. “I think you know.”

“You just don’t want to look at me?”

“Yes,” he barked.

God, this pain was so much worse than being shot, and she was fighting to hold back her tears. “May I ask why?”

“I just don’t.”

“Why have you stayed away?”

“Because I don’t want to be with you.”

She inhaled and pressed a hand to her stomach. “I see. What did I do to deserve this?”

“Fuck.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “You exist.”

Jesus. She hadn’t thought the pain could get worse. She couldn’t prevent the tear from falling and refused to wipe it away. She saw a shadow of emotion in his eyes before they went blank.

“So, where does this leave us?” she asked.

“You follow my orders. That’s all I want from you.”

“Should I look into a divorce?”

She thought he was going to lose it, but he pulled back.

“You’re mine, and you’ll always be mine.”

“But if you can’t stand to be with me or even look at me, what’s the point?”

“God damn you. There doesn’t have to be a point,” he bellowed. “You’ll do what I say.”

She relaxed back and stayed silent because she had no idea what to say to that. She had no idea what she did, but she knew she deserved better.

“Did you hear me?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Go back to our room and stay there.”

She stood, walked past him without looking at him, and opened the office door to see Aria, Angelica, and Faith. She wondered how much they’d heard and felt her face heat with embarrassment as she walked past them.

Only when the bedroom door closed behind her did she let the tears fall.

Dominic watched her walk away and felt his emotions swell at the devastation on her face that he’d put there. He just didn’t know how to pull himself back. He used his antagonism to cover his fear, and she was taking the brunt of it.

Fuck, the things he’d said to her were horrible, and he hated himself for saying them, especially when he didn’t mean any of them.

When he caught sight of his mother and a few of his sisters, he felt a shame, unlike anything he’d ever felt. He gritted his teeth and stiffened.

The girls entered the room, and Faith closed the door and leaned against it.

“I’d like to know what that was about,” Aria said.

“Stay out of it, Mother.”

She shook her head. “I can’t. That woman has done nothing to deserve your hatred and abuse.”

“I don’t fucking hate her, and I’m not abusing her.”

“The hell you aren’t, brother,” Angelica said.

“Every word I heard sounded hateful,” Faith said. “I know firsthand because our father liked to make us feel like dirt.”

Aria sighed. “Honey, I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I have to say one thing.”

“What?’ he asked.

“I would rather be hit than have the words you used with her any day. You’ve got to understand that with women, words can do so much damage, and it’s hard to forget. If you asked her if being shot was the worst or what you just put her through, I can guarantee she’d rather be shot.”

“Goddammit.”

“When a woman is told by the man she loves that he can’t stand to look at her, how do you think that feels?”

He walked over to the window and stared out of it. “You guys don’t understand.”

“What I understand, honey is that you just might have lost the best thing that ever happened to you. Come along, girls.”

He heard the door close behind him. Shock grew when he realized tears were falling from his eyes. He couldn’t remember the last time he cried.

Dominic got his emotions under control. At the moment, he needed to concentrate on finding Marino and wiping him from the face of the earth. He walked out of the house and slid into his car. His phone rang as he was pulling out of the driveway.

“Hey, boss, I think we found Marino,” Nico said.

Fuck. Good. It was exactly what he needed. “Tell me where he is.”

Nico gave him the address.

“Round up all the guys and have them meet me at our warehouse.”

“You got it.”

Dominic didn’t have to stand there long before ten guys drove up in two different cars. He waited until they were all standing in front of him. “Tonight, we’re going to take out the man who hurt my wife, not once but twice.”

They all nodded and then spent the next hour going over strategies.

“I want him alive, guys, if possible. If we have to take him out, we will. Let’s go in two cars.”Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

They drove to a restaurant that had illegal gambling in the basement. It would be harder to take him in this situation, but he didn’t want to wait. His emotions were so volatile after his fight with his wife that he felt like he could take on the world.

“Watch your backs.” He went in at the back door and down some stairs. The bouncer at the bottom took one look at them, moved to the side, and then raced up the stairs.

Dominic checked his men one more time and then opened the door. He pointed his gun to the ceiling and pulled the trigger, getting everyone’s attention.

“I don’t have a beef with anyone except Marino, so I want all of you out now.”

Dominic looked around and couldn’t see the bastard. He grabbed one of the guys trying to leave. “Is Marino here?”

The guy hesitantly nodded toward another door.

“Thanks.”

The room cleared before he made his way to the door. He was cautious about opening it and ducked when a shot rang out. He slammed himself against the doorjamb and quickly peeked into the room, dodging another bullet.

“I can see four men. Marino is on the right. Leave him to me.”

His men nodded.

“Grab one of those small square wooden tables. We’ll use it as a barrier to getting into the room. Peter and Nico, hold it in front of us, and we’ll be right behind you.”

They got into position, and he counted down. “Three, two, one, go.”

They burst into the room with bullets flying at them, but they quickly took out the three men and injured Marino.

Dominic checked around the room. “Okay. Let’s get Marino wrapped up and out of here.”

“Boss, watch out,” Ricky yelled.

Dominic turned in time to see Marino pull another gun from his boot and aim. A shot rang out, and then another right after, and he thought for sure he was going to get hit, but he just saw Marino collapse to the ground. Another man fell.

“That guy came out of nowhere and shot Marino. We took him out because we thought he was aiming at you. He saved your life.”

Dominic nodded, walked over to the man, and flipped him onto his back with his foot. “It’s my wife’s cousin.”

“Fuck,” Buzz said.

Dominic didn’t know how he felt about it. He knew Rebeka hated the man for what he did to her, but he didn’t know how she would feel to know he was shot and was now dead.

“Let’s get out of here before the cops come,” Dominic said before he looked around the room one more time.

He and his men filed out and ran back toward the cars.

“Head on back to the lounges after you drop me off at my car. We’ll have a meeting in the next few days.”

They all nodded.