Veiled Vows: An age gap, marriage of convenience, secret pregnancy, mafia romance (Mafia Lords of Sin)

The news of Jasmine’s father’s death arrives a few days later in the form of an abrupt text message. Few details are released publicly, and Jasmine doesn’t respond to my texts. I try to give her time and space, but the risk that this was my father’s doing is too great and I need to see her.

So, a week later I turn up at her door with the intent of getting the truth from her. Fearing my father and brother made a move without telling me led me to confront my father, but he refused to give me an answer. Instead, he gleefully stated that with Enzo out of the way, he had a clear shot at killing Jasmine and her mother, and if I didn’t make a decision soon, he’d make good on his threat.

Choosing between my decades-long plan to avenge my mother, and the woman I’m falling in love with has been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I have no plan in mind when facing Jasmine, only a desire to try and salvage something out of this mess.

And keep her alive.

“I’m sorry, the place is a mess,” Jasmine says as she wipes invisible dust off the mantelpiece and picks up a lace cardigan from the back of one of the couches. “It’s been a bit crazy here.”

“You don’t need to apologize or explain yourself,” I say softly. I ache to reach out to her and comfort her, to hold her in my arms and soothe her over the loss of my father, but she rejected my first touch at the front door and I’m not going to push it.

“Sorry I haven’t called either,” she says, her gaze down as she folds the cardigan. “Funeral plans, y’know.”

“Jasmine, I’m so sorry.”

She stops dead, her hands hovering in the air. She nods once and swallows audibly, then she looks up at me with huge tears in her gigantic eyes. “He’s dead,” she says brokenly. “My dad. He’s just … gone.”

I can’t hold back any longer. I reach her in two steps and she collapses in my arms, sobbing desperately. I can’t imagine how she’s been holding herself together this past week, but the seams have split and the grief pours from her in large, wet sobs. She clutches at my shirt and weeps, sometimes trying to talk, but her words get swallowed up as she cries.

Each sob and noise of pain is a dagger to my heart. If my family did this, I’m going to kill them. No more waiting.

“I’m sorry,” I say, fighting tears of my own that rise in response to her pain. “I’m so sorry. I wish I could take this pain from you. I truly do.”

“No, you don’t apologize,” she sniffles, eventually pulling away from me. “But your fucking brother does.”

“What?” My blood runs cold. “What are you saying?”

“He might not have killed him, but he sure as fuck had a hand in it.” Jasmine drags both hands through her hair, sniffling as she tries to control her tears. “I was blind, so fucking blind.”

“Jasmine, I need you to tell me what you mean. Please.” My heart races faster and faster as I watch her, aching to comfort her more, but she’s created distance between us so I can’t.

“Your brother. He was in contact with my mom. For weeks, maybe even months. I couldn’t stomach reading it all yet. Since the gala at the very least. He befriended her, got close to her, and gave her all the complimentary shit that she likes, then he started feeding her stuff.”

“What stuff?” I ask hoarsely while my mind races trying to put it all together.

“Stuff about you. How dangerous you were. How you would torture me when we were married, and she would lose me. He fed into her fears and kept trying to persuade her to call off the wedding. So she tried. She argued and argued with my father about it, thinking she was saving me, but he never listened, so she … she made him listen. And now he’s gone and she thinks she’s done an amazing thing to save me and I—” She cuts herself off with one hand on her abdomen.

This … all of this was Alto?

“I think he wanted her to call off the wedding because it would be the perfect excuse to amp up the war or whatever fucking bullshit.”

Alto.

Motherfucking Alto.

Jasmine stands before me with tears clinging to her lashes, visible pain on her face and utter distress in her voice. She’s falling apart and as I stare at her, the answer to my father’s threat becomes crystal clear in my mind.

There is no winning with him. No matter what I choose, it will never be enough. Jasmine will never be safe. And I can’t keep her safe so long as he and my cockroach of a brother still walk this earth.

But there’s only one way I can get close to my father to kill him now.

One way.noveldrama

The realization brings one final epiphany.

I love Jasmine. I love her in the deepest parts of my soul.

And I have to break her heart.

It’s the only way I can keep her safe.

In a single second, her safety becomes the single most important thing in my life, and the only way I can ensure she is safe is to do what I’ve been planning to do from the start. I need to wipe out every last Gatti. She and my mother’s memory both deserve that.

But the only way I’ll get close to Santino is to make him think I’ve chosen him.

Which means Jasmine needs to hate me. Visibly hate me. He won’t believe anything else.

“Well?” Jasmine gasps. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

God I want to. I want to tell her I love her. I want to tell her she’s the strongest and most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. That her friends and family are lucky to have her. That I’m honored to have been given even a touch of her affection, and that if we lived in a perfect world, I would sweep her away and give her the fantasy life she deserves.

But I can’t.

Reality is cruel.

“It was me.”

“What?” She stares at me with open confusion. “What was you?”

“Those messages to your mother weren’t from Alto. They were from me.” The lie tastes like burnt copper in my mouth and pain spears across my gut, but I stand firm.

“I don’t understand,” she says hoarsely, frowning. “That doesn’t make … make any sense. Why are you saying that?”

“It was part of my plan from the start. I knew your mother was a weak link. Getting close to you was handed to me on a platter with the Mancinis, but the plan with your mother was already in motion. Woo the daughter and manipulate the mother.”

“No,” Jasmine whispers. “Stop it. Stop saying those things!”

“Santino tasked me to bring you down from the inside, dismantle everything so you’d be weak for a complete take over.”

“Stop it!” she screams. “Stop it, you’re lying!”

“No I’m not, Jasmine. You have to believe me. You know it’s true.”

“No, it’s not true. It’s not. You’re my … you’re supposed to be on my side. This doesn’t make any sense.”

“Yes it does!” I yell suddenly, fighting my own heartbreak. “Think about it, why would I be interested in you? I mean really, you’re young. Stupid. So fucking naive. So you shouldn’t trust me, do you hear me? You shouldn’t trust any one of us. My entire family is dangerous and we’re out to get you, Jasmine. We’re coming, so if you know what’s good for you, you’ll lock down and make sure no Gatti comes near you ever again, understand?”

I have to make her angry. I have to make her so angry that she goes into overdrive and protects herself. It’s the only way I can make sure she’s safe until I get back to my father and end his life once and for all.

Because if Alto has been in communication with her mother, then there’s no telling what other traps he’s been laying for her, or what plans are already in motion to hurt her. My very presence here could be just as dangerous.

“No!” Jasmine yells back. “It’s not true. Why would you come here, huh? Why would you even tell me all of this?”

She makes a good point and I’m running out of steam. Maybe in another life, once Santino and Alto and all their cronies lie dead, I will have time to explain things, but not now. Not with Alto so deeply manipulating things I’ve been blind to.

“Because I like the thrill of the hunt,” I say tightly. “You have no idea who to trust. I’ve been talking to your mother for months and God knows what else is in play, so think of this as the moment you realize you’re all alone, Jasmine. You can’t trust anyone, so what are you going to do? Sit there and wait for me to really come for you? Or make it interesting and try and get new security?” I scoff darkly. “As if there’s anyone who can really stop me.”

Jasmine’s eyes dart back and forth as she gasps, hyperventilating slightly as she stumbles away from me. Her tears continue to fall, but her sobs appear to catch in her throat.

“Get out,” she croaks.

“What, you don’t want to keep playing?” I press, trying to stoke her anger. “You don’t want to hear who else I’ve been talking to while distracting you with my dick?”

“Get the fuck out!” she screams. “Get out! Get out!” In a rush she’s behind the desk and she pulls a handgun from the drawer, aiming it right at me.

I almost want her to pull the trigger. The heartbreak on her face kills me.

“Get. Out. And if I ever see even a single hair of yours again, I’ll kill you. Understand? I’ll fucking kill you. Now get out!”