by Jolie Damman
Subduing my Queen
An Arranged Marriage Dark Mafia Romance
Jolie Damman
Subduing my Queen Copyright © 2020 by Jolie Damman. All Rights Reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Cover designed by Jolie Damman
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
“Nobody has ever looked at me the way he’s looking at me at this moment. Like I’m his possession. Like if anyone else were to touch me, he’d break both their legs and an arm for good measure.”
— A. Zavarelli, Crow
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Elsa’s Epilogue
Eduardo’s Epilogue
More from Jolie Damman
Beyond Forgiving: A Dark Mafia Captive Romance
Chapter 1
The Make-or-Break Mission
Eduardo
Itook my gun and checked it out. Alright, I gotta do this. The moment that was going to define my life from now on. I didn’t want to do this, but I was left with no other choice. Uncle… why did you have to betray everyone?
The building he lived in looked deserted, as if no one had never lived in it. I knew he was there, probably smoking his favorite cigarette and wondering when his life was going to change, turn around for the best.
Well, here I was. I was going to be the change his life needed.
I breathed out hard before opening the door to his building and getting in. I was assaulted by the familiarity of the place. I had been in it a bunch of times when I was young. Much younger, to be more precise.
Outside, mostly silence filled the void. My ears picked up faint sounds of cars driving in the distance, but nothing more. I knew why I was chosen for this. My first real assignment. Even if I fucked this up real bad, escape would still be possible.
But I needed to do this. This one thing. End his path, his career, his life. This was what it took to make it in life.
I took the stairs to the floor he was on. I didn’t want to announce my arrival to him, though he would probably think it was someone else who maybe lived here. Did uncle even leave his apartment room a couple of times every month?
I got into the hallway and now he was only one door away from meeting me, from meeting his definitive end. Once again, I checked my gun. I needed to make sure it was going to work, and that I didn’t leave it locked, like that one time I was going to train my aiming…
The hallway looked like something taken straight from a horror movie. There were no light bulbs, and the only light coming in originated from a window on the other side. The walls and floors begged to be repainted, fixed, and I wondered how many years this building still had before it would crumble down.
Slowly, carefully, I walked down the hallway. I knew his room number. How could I not? I was here so often before. Not anymore, but even though I changed, uncle didn’t, and he still lived in this same old place, where memories of my past haunted me.
I stopped in front of his door, and breathed out. I gotta do this. I gotta end his life, and be done with it. I needed this and everything I was going to get from it. I couldn’t go on anymore thinking he was a good man.
Uncle never was a good man, and as for me…
I took a step back and was going to kick his door open when I noticed a gap, and light coming through it. He left it open. Uncle didn’t bother locking his door tonight. How… convenient.
Slowly, I opened the door and found him sitting on his enormous, comfortable, chair. It looked almost as old as he did.
Uncle looked ancient. Wrinkles infested his face, his hair was long gone, and his eyes fought to stay open. But he wasn’t dead, and he most certainly wasn’t going to give up. He wasn’t caught off guard at all. He knew I was coming.
In his hand, he had a gun. It looked like mine, and it was aimed at me.
Uncle didn’t think this was going to be his last day, and there was something else I didn’t quite get before. His eyes were filled with a powerful rage. I thought he wouldn’t care one bit about being killed, but it seemed… I was wrong.
He knew his day was coming. He always knew someone was going to come for him. He tried to end his life so many times before. A coward he was, and still, I looked up to him before when I was a kid. What was I thinking back then?
I closed the door behind me slowly, and he said, “Eduardo, what a nice surprise to see you here.”
A moment of excruciating pause. “It’s no surprise at all, is it?”
I flickered my eyes over to his gun, and then back to his cold eyes. He smirked. “You know I am never going down without a fight.”
“It’s over, uncle. You’ve betrayed everyone.”
“You know nothing.”
“I know enough.”
A moment of silence as my mind ruminated what to do. I couldn’t point my gun and shoot him. He had the advantage. I needed to keep him talking, and then he would make a mistake. I knew he would. He was an old man, after all.
He smirked. “Look at you. You’ve grown up.”
“Shut up.”
“You’ve become a man.”
“Shut up.”
“And I’m so proud of you.”
“Shut up! Shut the fuck up!”
Panting, I almost aimed my Colt and committed the worst mistake of my life. I could have done it, could have announced to everyone in the vicinity something terrible was happening here, and that they should call the police.
“You are not a man for this, Eduardo. Turn around, go back to your parents, and leave me here.”
I calmed down a little. I needed to. I couldn’t let him get under my skin again.
“I’m not leaving until it’s done.”
“Then, what are you waiting for? Kill me.”
A moment of pause. He was toying with me. The moment I raised my gun, he would shoot. I knew he would. Uncle could have loved me before, but all that love was now gone. Despite being an old man who tried to end his life before, he was different, and he wasn’t going to let someone else kill him in his own place.
“You know what? I don’t think you’ve got what it takes. You can’t even kill someone like me. Can’t bring yourself to point that shiny new gun at me,” he taunted.
“You know nothing about me. I’ve changed.”
“Maybe. A little. You don’t even have a beard on that face of yours. Almost like a baby’s skin…”
“And you are one step away from going to the grave.”
He chuckled. “I see that you don’t miss some details.”
He coughed, and then coughed some more, his gun lowering, pointing away from me, giving me the chance to do it. Immediately, I raised my gun and pointed it at him. I was going to pull the trigger, but the seconds given to me weren’t enough to do it.
“My
my, Eduardo. You didn’t think it was going to be that easy, did you?”
“I just need to pull the trigger. I could do it faster than you.”
“Then, why don’t you?”
A moment of silence, and he continued, “I know why. You still like me, don’t you? You like the man that betrayed your family. You think I can be redeemed or some bullshit like that.”
“No, I don’t think you can.”
✽ ✽ ✽
I did it. I finished the assignment, and I got the one thing I needed to prove I did so. His golden ring. A precious thing, and one my boss was going to love seeing.
I pulled the car over in front of his building, where he kept his headquarters and ran most of the operations. Romano Russo had been waiting this whole time for me to come, and he was going to be happy I did it.
From now on, I was going to be part of his family, and I was never going to be like everyone else anymore. His family was what I needed. The only thing I had. The thing that was going to guarantee food for me and my parents.
I looked out the side window of my car. His building was run down, though in better condition than the one my uncle was in. My eyes caught sight of some Russo members patrolling the perimeter, and I knew he would be awake. Ever since I got here, he thought I had potential, and so he was eagerly waiting for me to come back.
I got out of the car, closing the door behind me, and then entered the building. I nodded and waved my hand to some of the guys in the building. They were people I knew well. This was far from one of the first times I had come here.
I entered the elevator, and it took me to the last floor of the building. I got to his door, where two guards protected it. “It’s me, Eduardo,” I said, and they nodded, stepping aside.
I opened the door, and my eyes laid on him. Romano was sitting on his chair, smoking his cigarette, and looking out the large windows of his room.
He turned his chair to face me, revealing me his smirk once his eyes laid on the ring I held in my hand. “Boss, it’s done. He’s dead.”
“Good,” he said, his eyes locking with mine. “Then, you are one of ours now. Go to your parents. They will love to hear the good news.”
✽ ✽ ✽
I pulled the car in front of a small, old house. Light came through one of the windows. I checked the time on my wristwatch, learning it was just past two in the morning. Gosh, I needed some sleep now.
After doing it - finishing my assignment - I wasn’t sure I could sleep. There were so many memories I shared with my uncle, and now, he was gone. As if he had never existed in the first place… His existence never meant much to the world, and his absence meant even less.
Mom and dad were going to be surprised, and I could just imagine what their faces were going to be like when they learned I made it. I was a Russo now, and everything was going to be okay from now on. The Russo ruled over Milan, after all.
What I needed - desired - I got. I was never the kind of man to give up, and after learning normal life wasn’t for me, that I would end up working a dead-end job for years without ever making enough, all I knew was that I needed something else.
And that something else was becoming a member of the Russo, of the Italian Mafia.
I breathed out. Mom and dad didn’t know much about what was happening, though they knew enough to understand I wasn’t working night shifts. I never told them much about what I was doing - that I was working for the Mafia - and I did so because I wanted to keep them safe.
I didn’t know if Romano would accept me as one of his own, even after ending my uncle’s life. Now that I knew I was a Russo, and with the grace of the boss himself, I had no reason to keep hiding the truth from my parents anymore.
I knew they wouldn’t be surprised, but I also knew they would be happy to know money wasn’t going to be a problem for us anymore.
Dad had always been a mechanic. He didn’t make much money, but he made enough to keep our family afloat. Mom worked as a maid before, though not anymore. We really, really needed the money from the Russo family, and we were going to have it.
I got out of the car and opened the door. Mom and dad were watching TV, and it was turned off the moment they noticed I had come back. They could have been sharing a nice, intimate moment if they weren’t so concerned about what I was doing at this time of the night.
Mom and dad both bit their bottom lip when they noticed me coming in, but I was going to prove to them they had no reason to think I was in danger anymore.
I opened a wide, victorious smile. “Mom and dad, I did it!”
Dad got up and approached me, mom stayed on the couch. “I made it into the Russo family. I am part of the Mafia.”
His face paled. “You did what?”
“I am going to bring us money, every single day, and we will never have to worry about it again from now on. I am going to make us fucking rich!”
✽ ✽ ✽
I thought they were going to be happy with what I did, but they were… concerned, and worried that I was going to be killed. “Your life, my son, isn’t what I wanted for you,” my mom said, and I couldn’t help but think she was wrong.
They were wrong. They were all thinking I was doing something terrible. But the Mafia wasn’t like the other gangs. The Mafia was different, and they were the best of the best. Even if mom and dad didn’t like it, I was still going to bring them money.
“Dad and mom, I don’t think you understand it. We are going to be rich!”
“At what cost?” My dad was saying, “do you know the kind of things you are going to do for them?”
“I know enough, and I have been working for them for a long time now, though without being considered one of theirs.”
“If you have, then where is the money you keep mentioning all the time?”
“I wasn’t part of them per see before. I finished a mission for them tonight, and now the boss made me part of his family.”
My dad looked down, almost in shame. “I can’t believe you’ve chosen this life for you. I thought I taught you better.”
“You did,” I said, settling my hands on his shoulders. “You taught me I can’t live a meaningless life.”
His hands brushed mine aside, and he stepped backward, distancing himself from me. “I don’t like this one bit, but I like you more than I disapprove of your choice. I’m not going to continue this discussion.”
And with that said, he entered his bedroom. My mom stood up and walked over to me. “Son, I don’t think you understand it. The Mafia is too dangerous.”
“Mom…”
“I’ve said enough. I’m going with your father. I’m just… happy he didn’t kick you out. Think about that. He loves you so much, and if you can, choose something else for your life.”
She turned and walked to their bedroom, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I imagined they were going to be happy. I thought they were going to be jubilant I finally had a proper job. I was so tired of the ones I had before. Working in a grocery store, fixing electronics, calling people from a call center - that stuff wasn’t for me.
I watched as she closed the door. I didn’t hate them. How could I? I knew they would come around, eventually. Mom and dad loved me, and nothing was going to change that. I should have been more cautious and less happy about the announcement, but that didn’t matter one bit anymore, and I had something more important to do now.
My life from now on was going to be wildly different, and I needed a good night’s sleep before showing up there again. I was sure Romano was going to have a lot for me to do.
✽ ✽ ✽
My eyes fluttered open, and I was graced by a dead morning outside. No sun, only clouds. More and more clouds, all joining up to become one, blocking most of the light of the sun. All the colors felt washed out, as if the world hated me.
And I had something to confess. I sat on the edge of the bed I was sleeping on, and beside me was the woman of my life. I loved her, but I couldn’t continue this anymore.
She didn’t know one important thing about me.
It was something I hid. Years passed since I made it into the Mafia, ended my uncle’s life, and some time since then, I found out I had lung cancer. Shouldn’t have smoked as much as I did. But how could I not?
The life of a Mafia goon, which was what I was, wasn’t an easy one. I was fooled by some of my ‘friends’. They all said I would have all the money I could ever wish for, and that I wouldn’t have anything to worry about ever again in my life.
They were fools. Blood money came with a curse, and I hated it.
The cancer was nothing but a punishment for what I did. My uncle died believing I was going to be a great man. He smiled when I shot him, almost looking relieved and grateful I was the one who did it.
Luckily, I was cured, but at a great cost. I couldn’t make a woman pregnant. My testicles still produced sperm, but it wasn’t enough. The volume and density weren’t sufficient to make a woman bear a child of mine.