Wrath (Part I): A Mafia Romance (Esposito Series Book 1)

by Fariah Zaidi

  “Is that a new maid?” the girl feigned whispering in Stefan’s ear, clearly intending for me to hear it.

  Stefan didn’t say anything. A slight pang of hurt rose in my chest but I crushed it.

  “Hello, maid.” the girl sneered.

  Blatantly ignoring her greeting, I turned to Stefan with an easy smile, “Good morning, Satan.”

  I caught the flash of shock in his eyes but I didn’t stay long enough to think anything of it. Instead I turned around and sauntered my way towards the kitchen.

  Ria stood by the kitchen door, and with the gleeful smile plastered on her face, it was evident that she had caught our interaction.

  “Did you just call him Satan to his face?” she asked in between laughs. I joined in her contagious amusement and giggled loudly in affirmation.

  We both headed inside and climbed on the kitchen island stools, at once hit by the aroma of bacon and eggs being fried.

  “Who is she, by the way?” I asked, sneaking a piece of bacon from the plate, earning a sharp look from Mama Bella.

  “That is Kandi, with a K.” Ria answers, copying my moves and almost getting smacked by the spatula in the process.

  “She used to be Stefan’s girlfriend.” Mama Bella enters the conversation, handing me a bowl of fruits to cube.

  Ria rolls her eyes and turns to me, “They were fuck buddies, Zara.”

  “Are you okay?” Mama asks, concerned at once.

  “Why wouldn’t I be okay?” I feign surprise.

  She rolls her eyes, “Come on. A few days ago he was leaving work early so he could come home to you and now he’s with Moaning Myrtle over there?”

  Her Harry Potter reference brings a sudden laugh from both myself and Ria. She picks up a jug and begins filing it with juice.

  “To be honest, even I don’t know what the hell happened to him.” I muttered, bringing the knife down on the apple with a little more force than necessary.

  “Tell us from the beginning.” Ria orders.

  I sigh deeply, and begin relaying to them everything from the day I’d walked into Stefan’s art room. “In my defense, it was an innocent mistake. I wasn’t aiming on invading his privacy.” I told them, taking in their sympathetic faces.

  “He yelled at me to get out.” I continue, feeling worse after seeing their expressions, “He even completely ignored me when I tried to apologize to him the next morning.”

  I rub both my hands down my face in frustration as I finish telling my story, “The next thing I know, he is making out with Kandi.”

  I don’t tell them about last night’s conversation with Stefan. I don’t know why, but I just don’t.

  Mama Bella turns off the heat and rounds the island, taking both my hands in hers, “Listen to me honey. I know Stefan. And believe me when I tell you that he likes you a lot.”

  “Well, he has a great way of showing it.” I mutter, looking away.

  “No, no. This is not him. He would never hurt you like this.” she says gently, “Maybe someone said something to him or maybe he just got scared.”

  “Why? I mean, it is very clear that I like him.” I ramble in frustration, “And if he could just stop being a stubborn asshole for one goddamn second, maybe he would come to his senses.”

  I pause when I realize that this is the first time that I have admitted my feelings for Stefan out loud. Mama Bella and Ria smile widely at my admission, making me turn red.

  “What are you going to do now?” Ria asks.

  “I don’t know.” I sigh, popping a piece of apple in my mouth, “But I’m definitely not going to let him or his Kandi treat me like shit.”

  It was just after lunch and I was sitting in the living room, flipping through makeup tutorials on YouTube when Rafael walked in,

  “Hey.” he greeted, plopping down on the couch next to me, “What’s up?”

  “Nothing.” I sighed, “There is absolutely nothing to do in the house and I am bored out of my mind.”

  “I can see that since you’ve resorted to watching these.” he motions to the TV where a woman is teaching the top hacks for getting the perfect winged eyeliner.

  I roll my eyes, “Even Ria ditched me today. Vincent and she are getting it on in her room.”

  He laughs lightly, and then turns to me, “Well, I too have some work to do right now. But how about we have a movie night?”

  I instantly perked up, “Really?”

  “Sure.” he grins, “Also, I’m pretty sure you’re tired of Mama’s Italian cooking, no offense to her. So how about I get a ton of Chinese today and we all have a movie marathon?” he suggests.

  “That sounds great!” I clap my hands excitedly, “Thank you so much, Rafael.”

  “Okay then. I’ll see you tonight.” he says, getting off the couch. Sending me one last wink, he exits the room.

  It was about ten o’clock at night.

  Everything was set. I had told Ria and Vincent about the plan, we had set up the living room with lots of pillows and blankets, and two large bowls of popcorn and some chilled beers were waiting for us downstairs. Rafael had called to say that he was running a little late but he would soon be here with the food.

  I was currently in my room, folding up the laundry and putting it away in the closet. The door suddenly opened and in walked the person that I was avoiding the whole day.

  “Ever heard of knocking?” I ask, annoyed at how he thinks he owns the world.

  “It is my house. I don’t need any permissions.” is his reply as he comes to stand in the middle of the room.

  “What do you want?” I sigh exasperatedly.

  “I just wanted you to know that someone from the Lombardi family will be coming tomorrow.” he said, finally looking at me, face blank as always, “There are some documents regarding your inheritance that you need to sign.”

  “Okay. Anything else?” I ask.

  He opens his mouth to say something when there is a knock on the door. Rafael walks in and pauses a little when his eyes land on Stefan.

  “Hey Boss.” he nods curtly. Stefan just nods at him but I can see his curiosity is piqued when Rafael turns to me.

  “Zara, the dinner’s here. Are you coming?”

  I can’t help but notice how Stefan’s fist clenches tightly.

  “I’ll be right down. Just have to put these in the closet.” I tell him, patting the pile of clothes next to me. He gives me a brief smile and leaves the room.

  “What’s he talking about?” Stefan practically spits out his question and I am taken aback by his accusatory tone.

  “We’re going to watch a movie downstairs.” I reply, folding the last of my clothes.

  “Why with him?” he grits.

  “What’s with you?” I ask, my irritation spiking, “It’s just a movie.”

  He looks at me a moment, his eyes filled with a sudden disgust, “That’s a cheap shot, Zara. That’s even below you.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” I throw my hands up in frustration.

  “Flirting with my underboss to make me jealous? Oldest trick in the book.” he yells back, his eyes filled of so much loathe.

  I am stunned by his accusation and at once I open my mouth to refute it.

  But then again, I don’t need to justify anything to him. I’ve done nothing wrong. So instead of presenting him with a reply, I turn around and head for the door, looking over my shoulder long enough to say, “Go to hell Stefan.”

  “I don’t need my men distracted by you whoring around with them. So just stay away from them.”

  I halt mid-step and slowly turn around to face him. Did he actually just say that? Did he?

  “What did you just call me?” I ask, my voice so low, it felt dangerous to even me.

  “You heard me.” he says, having the audacity to shrug.

  Rage shot through me and I picked up the heavy metal vase from the nightstand and launched it straight towards him. He easily dodges it and the vase goes flying at the window, breaking
it in the process.

  Stefan looks at me as if I am deranged. Maybe I had gone crazy.

  “Get out.” I hiss, my heart aching, echoing his words over and over again, “Get the fuck out!”

  To his credit, he wordlessly walks towards the door, slamming it shut behind him.

  I’m fuming, absolutely furious at him. The sudden ache in my heart shoots up again and I crumple to the floor as loud sobs rack through my body.

  And I sat there on the floor, knees pulled up to my chest and arms hugging my body wondering how it all went wrong just when I was finally happy.

  Chapter 21: Money

  Zara

  Rage, pain, anger, hurt.

  All these emotions created a whirlwind, storming through me, leaving me with heartache so deep I had to rub my chest in a desperate attempt to ease the pain.

  And the worst part was I had no one to go to. I had no one to hold me and tell me to be strong.

  It was Stefan who made me forget how abandoned my life was. In between those kisses, those hugs, those late night conversations, he carried me back to my life where I was a happy, cheerful girl who loved cooking and sarcasm, who loved her life.

  But now, it’s the same Stefan who has thrown me back into the horrors of the past years. He snatched away the few moments of bliss that he gave me, by calling me something that I never thought I would hear from him.

  Whore.

  And I want to laugh at how naïve I am.

  Of course we didn’t have anything. Of course he thinks of me as a whore. I am not innocent anymore. I’m tainted, tainted with the memories and horrors of all that had happened.

  But what he doesn’t know is that I’m much stronger now than I ever was before. Holding myself to the vow that I wasn’t going to let him treat me like shit, I get up from the floor, wiping away the tears. With each second that passed, I willed my pain to dissipate and just let the anger control me for once.

  And with that, I marched out of my room and straight towards Stefan’s, slamming his door open with force.

  He was standing by the window, and when he turned around, I stumbled a little when I saw the regret brewing in his eyes. But his harsh words played in my head on a loop, so I walked up to him and looked him right in the eye.

  “I know I don’t have to justify myself to you, especially after what you said to me. But here’s something, asshole. You are the first person that I allowed to get close to me, the first person that I allowed to touch me. And no matter how many times you got angry, no matter how many times you locked yourself in your room or your office, throwing tantrums like a fucking child, I waited for you. I let open my heart for you, Stefan. I could lie and tell you right now that I don’t feel anything for you, but I won’t, because unlike you, I’m mature enough to accept and own my feelings. What I should have known is that a douchebag like you can’t even be bothered to do that.”

  I spat out my spiel, moving closer to him with each word.

  “At least I didn’t go around banging the first girl that came my way, especially my ex.” I took a deep breath and leaned even closer, pressing my finger hard into his chest “So if anyone’s whoring around, Stefan, it’s not me. It’s you.”

  With my head held high, I turned around and walked out.

  I held my tears until I was back in my room and locked the door behind me. And it was then that I broke down curling myself with my back pressed against the door.

  The chilling winter air travelled through the trashed window making me shiver. But I sat there, curled into my own body.

  When my tears had finally stopped, my eyes were burning, begging for sleep. I got up from the floor and climbed inside the bed, pulling the comforter over myself.

  The movie was forgotten and so was the Chinese food.

  With a chaotic mind and a heavy heart, I soon drifted off, hoping and praying that nightmares of a green eyed monster don’t haunt me tonight.

  Still somber and forlorn the next morning, I opened my door and walked out. The best possible cure right now for my heartache was food. And I was intent on stuffing my stomach with lots of it.

  As I walked down the hallway, I came face to face with Enzo near the stairs.

  To be honest, he was the only one with whom I had minimal contact in this house. He was always silent; he smiled rarely and was extremely short tempered from what I had heard. But I knew for a fact that he was a great fighter.

  It had been a couple of weeks since I’d acquired a deep desire to learn how to fight. And with the threat of Valentin looming heavily on our heads, it now seemed necessary.

  So I caught up with Enzo on the middle of the stairs, calling out his name. He stopped and turned around, raising at me a questioning eyebrow.

  “Good morning.” I greeted him, smiling despite my miserable state.

  “Morning.” he mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets.

  “I need to talk to you about something.” I said, wringing my fingers together, “Ask you something, actually.”

  He looks surprised at first but then nods, motioning for me to go on.

  “I was… um… thinking that... um...” I mumbled, “Maybe... you could... uh... If, if you’re free...”

  “Just ask already.” he sighs, closing his eyes.

  “I was hoping you could teach me to fight. If you’re free. Maybe. No pressure.” I rambled quickly, cringing at my high-pitched voice.

  He looks at me for a few moments, as if debating the answer.

  “I don’t have time during the day.” he finally answers.

  My shoulders droop and I feel deflated at the rejection. Just as I start to move past him, he speaks up again.

  “So meet me at the front door every night at eleven o’clock.”

  With that he turns around, leaving me with a growing smile on my face.

  About two in the afternoon, someone came from the Lombardi family. He was a short, chubby man who went by the name Fitz and wore a fedora over his bald head. He was clearly not here for courtesies and from the grave expression on his face, the bearer of bad news.

  Stefan led us upstairs to his office, shutting the door behind us. He half-heartedly offered Fitz some whiskey which the latter waved off, instead busying himself with taking out documents and whatnot from his briefcase.

  Stefan and I stood in opposite corners of the room, desperately trying to ignore the tension that hung heavily between us. I could feel him staring at me but never once did I raise my eyes and look at his face.

  “So,” Fitz clapped his hands, “the good news is that I was able to get hold of all the documents required to prove that you’re the Lombardi heir. After you sign those, you will have complete access to the family fortune in just about a week.”

  “And the bad news?” Stefan asked.