Subduing my Queen: An Arranged Marriage Dark Mafia Romance (The Underworld Book 3)

by Jolie Damman

  I thought I had overcome her death, but this attack and that pang of pain made me remember every little detail of her death. When I was running away with her, her cries, her sudden silence, and my eyes landing on the line of blood coming out of the hole in the baby basket…

  I felt another jolt of pain, my legs wobbling and my hand going for my belly again. This couldn’t go on for much longer. I wasn’t going to resist it.

  “Woman, you ar-” He was saying before another bullet cut through the air, blood spilling onto my face. I looked behind and found him falling over, losing his balance, a bloody hole in his forehead.

  I heard his body falling over alongside those of his friends. Ed came running at me after tucking his gun underneath his pants, his arms enveloping me as he asked, “Are you okay?”

  I looked into his eyes and was reminded of how much he loved me. “I thin-”

  I screamed as another bang of pain struck my belly, making me bend over a little again. My face puckered.

  “Elsa!”

  I breathed in and out, calming down. The worst was over. Those men were all dead, and now could focus on what to do. But I was still worried. The thought that I was about to miscarry or that the little one had been deeply affected by their attack were things I would rather forget.

  My life wouldn’t go back to what it was before I met him. It just wouldn’t.

  His eyes were looking into mine as he waited for me to get my bearings back. I straightened back up, and when I was going to tell him I felt better, another bang of pain exploded in my belly, and darkness quickly enveloped my vision…

  Eduardo

  Elsa didn’t die. For hours, though, I thought she would. The baby was safe as well. I really thought he wouldn’t make it. She was still in the hospital, the machines around her beeping and making some weird noises.

  The doctors and nurses allowed me to sit with her, to keep her company. I held her hand in mine most of the time whenever I was here. She didn’t go into a coma or anything like that, but she suffered a lot and she needed to rest now.

  This moment now, alone, made me think about some things. I wasn’t going to stop being part of the Mafia - it was the only thing I knew how to be, after all. However, I couldn’t continue being her lover, even after the marriage.

  I knew that thinking such a thing was crazy, insane, but that attack cleared some things up in my mind. I was a danger to her, but more than that, if she ever lost the baby for any reason, if he was killed, I would never be able to make her pregnant again.

  I made her pregnant once, but that was by pure luck. One in a million chance. There was only one thing that could make a woman like her happy, and that was a man who wasn’t like me. She needed a child to complete her life.

  For now, things were going to return to normal, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility of losing the baby and never being able to gift her another. Maybe I could ignore all the things that were happening, had happened so far and focus on my life with her, but that attack shook up things I thought I had long forgotten.

  I squeezed her hand a little, and when I thought this was going to be another day she wouldn’t wake up, her eyes finally fluttered open.

  Elsa

  Ed took me back, and I laid down on my bed, thinking. He got out, and I had a lot to think about. I once thought I could marry him and pretend he wasn’t a member of the Mafia, but now, I knew better. It didn’t matter how good he was at his ‘job’; his life would always be a danger to me.

  And I couldn’t lose another baby. Not him. It was the only thing I begged for.

  Ed saved me and I loved him still, but we needed to think if our life together was going to work. That attack wasn’t the first I suffered, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

  Time passed, and most of the wounds from that attack were healed. I felt better, but distant from Ed a bit.

  We were sitting in front of the fireplace, the flames crackling. He sipped from a glass of mine, and I continued to watch the flames as they burned the firewood. I hadn’t stopped thinking about our future, but Ed, on the other hand, now seemed determined. He knew what he wanted.

  I thought the attack also shook his foundations regarding our marriage, the baby and our life together, but whatever happened during the first days since we got through it, it was now gone. In his eyes, I could only see the look of a man willing to do anything possible to get everything his way.

  His arm was around my shoulders, his hand caressing my arm. He kept me close to him, and he wasn’t willing to let me out of the mansion again ever since the attempt to kidnap me and kill him.

  His boss sent more men here days after the attack happened, and now it was as if nothing had changed. Even if he was acting as if we now had a normal life again, I couldn’t pretend I felt the same way.

  I was determined about one thing now. I needed to convince him to drop the Mafia thing and get away from it all, with me by his side. We could have a normal life together somewhere here in America. I didn’t care if we wouldn’t live in a mansion like this one, but I needed that. I needed a reason to think my baby would be safe.

  But I also couldn’t tell him that right now. I knew it would piss him off, and I didn’t want to ruin this cozy moment. The night outside was silent, and I didn’t want to make him think I didn’t like him anymore.

  But even though he caressed me now, kept on trying to make me think things were okay, I couldn’t feel at peace with my current life.

  The fire crackled more loudly than normal now, and he stirred, settling his half-filled glass of wine on the table next to our couch.

  “I think it’s about time we begin to plan for Valter’s arrival,” he said, looking at the fireplace.

  We had decided on the name for our little one, and it felt like we had done so a long time ago. Not that much time had passed since their attack, and we were still trying to figure out who ordered it, though.

  But time enough had passed for our minds to calm down, and we had a spare night where we chose the name for the baby. We had also made some plans for the marriage, which was going to happen as soon as the war in Italy was over.

  This moment felt rather awkward. I had something much more important to tell him, but how could I do that when he seemed so certain about what he needed to do?

  But still, I needed to say something. He would figure out that something bothered me if I didn’t do so.

  “Let’s go out tomorrow to buy some things for him.”

  His head snapped to me, his eyes alert and wide. “No. I can’t risk those people kidnapping you. You will be safe in here.”

  I sighed. I couldn’t stand being locked up in here again. I knew he had good intentions, but nothing was going to change my mind about one thing. In here or out there, I would always be at risk.

  “Hon, I think you’ve got this wrong. If you really want to keep me safe, we need to get out of here?”

  The atmosphere had fiery up already, making me hate where it was going to.

  And so, I said, “Fine, I won’t go out, but you need to promise me you won’t put yourself ever in danger again.”

  His hand enfolded mine. “How do you want me to live here, work here, without doing all the things I need to do?”

  I looked into his eyes. He wasn’t drunk. He was lucid and very well aware of the things he was telling me.

  “I don’t know. All I know is that I can’t live like this for the rest of my life.”

  We didn’t talk much after getting here, sitting on this couch. We hadn’t had a fiery, intimate moment like the ones we grew used to after that incident, and I knew what that meant. Something deep and personal had changed in us, and now, I needed to figure out where to lead my life.

  I couldn’t continue pretending things were still fine between us, though I wasn’t going to get up and walk away right now. I thought about waiting to see if he would get better and realize he needed to change. His life was overwhelming him, and soon, it would destroy
him.

  And so, the minutes passed, and we eventually finished drinking the bottle of wine together. It was very old and so good. One of the best in the market, I was sure. I was glad he bought it just for us, but it didn’t do me much good. My mind was still thinking about coping with my current life.

  We stood up and I went on my toes to kiss him. His lips looked for mine, and while he was kissing me impatiently, I couldn’t do the same. I kept on thinking another dreadful thing would happen to our lives.

  Still, when the kiss ended and I stopped standing on my toes, I looked into his eyes. “Good night, love.”

  “Good night,” he said, his hand caressing mine.

  And I walked away from him. The realization that our fire of love was becoming less intense overtime squeezed my heart so tightly. I didn’t want to think I was losing him, but the conflict still consumed my mind. I needed to do something to make him change his decision, but would he ever?

  Or would he change mine again? I didn’t think that was possible, but I also couldn’t know what the future held in store for me.

  I walked back into our bedroom and plopped down on the bed. He slept with me now, but he had work things to worry about tonight.

  I closed my eyes and calmed down, my mind thinking about one thing only. The only topic that I could think about right now, the one that consumed me and made me feel like the foulest woman in the whole world.

  Eduardo

  I knew she was growing distant from me, though I wasn’t going to let that continue to happen without me doing anything about it. Since that attack, she changed. She thought I couldn’t keep her safe. She didn’t think I could continue being who I was, and that I needed to change.

  But change to what? Become who? This was my life. I would never let down Romano.

  I sighed and wrote some notes on the sheets of paper in front of me. I sat at my desk, my mind also thinking about some plans I needed to put into practice. There was one other thing that bothered me. I needed to find out who sent those men here to kill us.

  That was easier thought than done, but I knew I would find some links. No one was untraceable.

  But back to the topic of Elsa, I was set to meet her again, and I was going to make it up for her. I was going to make her see that I was everything she needed, not including our dear Valter, who would come a couple of months from now.

  Her belly was bigger now, but she still looked her stunning self. Elsa would never stop being the woman I fell in love with. Of that, I was sure.

  Time passed, and I continued to work on these plans, and then I went to sleep. I still thought about her, and tomorrow we would swim together. We had the swimming pool and everything else ready. I decided to take the day off and focus only on her.

  Chapter 10

  Mending Things

  Elsa

  The water shifted so lazily, almost telling me I didn’t have anything to worry about. My belly wasn’t huge, though it was clear I would, a couple of months from now, give birth to our dear Valter.

  I wore my pink bikini, and Ed, his pair of black swim shorts. They were nothing fancy, and to be honest, I didn’t need that to make my day better. Just being with him, alone and remembering that he took this day off was enough to make one thing clear to me.

  Ed was still the same man that seized my heart, and he would do anything to protect me. The only thing that worried me was that probably not being enough, but still, this moment made me feel like pushing those thoughts away and focusing on him.

  “Ready for a swim race?” He questioned, wiggling his eyebrows and looking very different from his normal self.

  I smiled. “I can’t win against you. You know that.”

  He smiled, took my head in his hand, and kissed me for a minute. His eyes looked into mine before he said that he loved me, and he then jumped into the water, making it splash in all directions, wetting the tiles around the swimming pool.

  I giggled. He tried to impress me whenever he could, and when he dove into the water, he impressed me. It almost looked like he was a professional swimmer and that he had done that kind of dive many times in his life.

  I sat down by the water, and dipped my feet into it. I could see where he was now, coming to me, swimming under the surface of the clear water. The sun wasn’t hot and I could stay here, like this, without having to worry about applying sunscreen.

  He surfaced, his head popping out of the water, and a smile painted an expression of cheerfulness on his gorgeous face. I wished I could be that joyful and carefree right now, but that… wouldn’t change unless he made a better choice for us.

  And I just hated myself once again, biting my lower lip until it hurt. I couldn’t believe I thought about that right now. This was supposed to be a moment where he and I wouldn’t worry about anything, and yet, I kept on doing the opposite.

  His smile faded, and I knew he read what I was thinking.

  Eduardo

  There was no denying something was consuming her thoughts. I popped my head out of the water, thinking that everything was alright, but there were a couple of things about her behavior that bugged me right now.

  She didn’t come with me into the water. Not a lot of time passed since we got here, but she should be looking happy. She wasn’t. I knew she was faking it.

  Elsa needed me to do that one thing for her. She wanted me to tell Romano I was done being his subordinate and run away with her so far away nobody would ever find us. But she didn’t know how much being in the Mafia meant to me. The danger wasn’t something that frightened me. I knew it was part of this life, and I never pretended it wasn’t.

  Right now, I was only faking it. I was faking I was 100% happy with how things were going between us. And I suddenly found myself hating the fact I was having these thoughts. I shouldn’t be having them!

  But I couldn’t control myself, and there was something I needed to talk to her about. Tonight, when she would be feeling better…

  I smiled, and said, “You sure you don’t want to come?”

  “Not right now, no,” she said, slightly shaking her head.

  I swam backward, doing all the things I knew to keep her feeling impressed. The water was warm and comfortable to soothe my thoughts. I wasn’t worried about the other Mafia gangs in the city, but of her stopping being the nice woman I learned to love.

  Some time passed, and slowly, almost as if she was afraid of it, she got into the water. I felt her body shifting it, and I then swam to her. Her eyes found mine, and I could almost swear her love for me exhaled off her body.

  I hugged her and we began to play in the water, making it splash and ending the serenity that previously kept us company. She laughed and smiled, and I kissed her whenever I could. I couldn’t have enough of her. Elsa was the love of my life.

  All of a sudden, she pushed me down into the water, obviously faking that she was drowning me. I looked up and found her smile. She was only joking and pretending she was stronger than me.

  I quickly got back up and pushed her into the water. But instead of shoving her again, I dove into the water until my face was level with hers. Her shocked expression told me one thing. She didn’t think I would do that.

  Elsa opened her mouth, thinking she could actually say something to me in the water, when I pulled her to me and kissed her. Her eyes shot so wide I thought they would pop out of her head.

  I kissed her eagerly, hungrily, telling her one thing she needed to know. I wouldn’t give up on her. If she thought I didn’t love her enough, I was showing her otherwise right now.

  The kiss lasted for one minute - maybe even more - before she pulled away and swam back to the surface. I chased her, and as I held her hand, I said, “Don’t you think for one moment I wouldn’t do anything for you.”

  She smiled, kissing me again, but this time, there was something different about it. Something she didn’t want to reveal to me right away.

  Elsa

  “I love you, and you are the only man I need in
this world,” I verbalized.

  Pointing his finger under the water at my growing belly, he said, “And Valter. Don’t forget him.”

  I chuckled, kissing him once again one more. “And him. He is the most precious thing in this world for me.”

  Even though we were being like this, lovely and playing around with each other in the swimming pool, there was no denying I couldn’t make that fire I had for him light up again.

  We continued playing, joking and being friendly to each other in the swimming pool until our eyes noticed the sun setting on the horizon. Wow, I didn’t think I would end up spending hours in this swimming pool with him.

  When I got out of the water, my skin on my fingers looked wrinkled. Ed came to me and said, “These wrinkles will take some time to go away.”