by Posey Parks
He sipped his coffee.
“I knew it.”
“Carmen, do you want to hear me out or what?”
I swallowed. “Yes.”
His forehead creased. “I wouldn’t leave you to run off with another woman.”
Deep down I knew he wouldn’t.
I sipped the strong piping hot coffee.
Dominic, scrolled through his social media account.
“Remember the pic from last night?”
“Yeah.”
“Check it out.”
I stared at the screen.
“I posted it.”
The caption read. ‘My beautiful wife Dr. Carmen Magarelli.’
I blushed. “That’s sweet.”
“We’ll take a few pics later. I’ll post those too. My grandfather asked why I was in New York, which meant he knew we were married. He wasn’t happy nor was my dad about the prenup situation.”
He polished off his omelet. “No more living in the shadows. Everyone knows we’re married now. People will ask all kinds of questions.” He waved the waitress over and placed a one-hundred-dollar bill on the table.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
CARMEN
Fifteen minutes later, Dominic grabbed a cooler out of the trunk. We headed further down the beach. We sat under a large umbrella in two blue lounge chairs.
I peeked behind me. The tall, brooding guards dressed in gray suits held their hands in front of them scanning the beach.
“The guards. Are they from New Jersey?”
“Yes. I cannot hire outside people. These men are vetted. Can you grab me a beer out of the cooler please?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll tell you everything, Carmen.
I arrived at my grandfather’s in the middle of the night. He wasn’t there, but Tornado his bodyguard was. He said your brother is alive. I thought it was bullshit. He said my father flew to Portland. That’s all we knew at the time. Tornado drove me to the safe house. Immediately I knew something was wrong. The safe house meant we were at war. Once inside there isn’t any outside communication. No one knew of our relationship so I had to believe you were safe. My grandfather and I had a deep conversation. Like I said before he didn’t like that you didn’t sign a prenup. He also didn’t understand why we didn’t have a big Italian wedding. Again, not happy. He said we will have a big reception.”
My eyes widened.
“The next day, I talked to my dad. He shared minimal information of what happened once he found Dillon. He said Dillon would tell me the rest. My father had someone report to him from the casino and inform him of our wedding. Anyway, I told him not to tell Dillon about our marriage. I said I’d tell him later.
My brother walked into the house. There was an emotional union between him and our family. I didn’t want anything to do with him. I was pissed. He and my cousin Tony faked their deaths because they didn’t want us to go to war. Honestly, I understood why. My uncle Johnny Tony’s father was killed because we were at war. I’m not trying to frighten you. But this is my life, Carmen.”
My eyes dropped to the sand. All of the information was so overwhelming. Caused my stomach to flip. I could lose my husband if someone retaliated against the Magarelli’s.
“I’ll continue. Filippo a boss from the Bertozzi family had an altercation with my uncle Mick and killed him. He tried to kill Dillon. Tony and Dillon devised a plan to disappear. To protect us. I understood their thought process, but their actions didn’t alleviate the pain. I feel we should have gone to war then. Now fourteen years later, we still had to go to war.”
He sighed then chugged his beer. “Filippo shot Dillon then kidnapped his fiancée Sierra.”
“Oh my god! How is he doing?”
“He’s recovering. He’s a tough son of a bitch.” He chuckled.
“My dad, Sebastian, Tony, Dillon, and a few others helped rescue Sierra.”
“Wait are you talking about the same Sebastian you assisted in rescuing his baby?”
“Yes.”
“How did Sebastian get involved?”
“Sebastian knew Dillon as Jeff Westbrook. They had a housing development deal in the works. He didn’t know who he was at first. But Sebastian’s a hacker so he dug into Dillon’s life. He promised not to reveal his secret.”
I held my head. “This is all like a movie.”
“It is. I haven’t even told you the best part. Dillon and Sierra stabbed Filippo to death.”
“Fuck!” My hand flew over my mouth.
“That bitch had it coming. He killed my uncle, tried to kill my brother, and tried to rape Sierra.”
My eyes narrowed. “You’re right he did have it coming.”
“The kicker was after all I learned from my grandfather. My brother still became the new Don of the Magarelli family.”
Shit! I knew that didn’t sit well with Dominic.
“But you sacrificed so much for your family and this was how they repaid you?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I lost it. Fucking full on went crazy. My brother and I argued. He told grandfather I was going to work at his side no matter what. Grandfather said I would become the boss one day. Honestly, I doubt it. They want me to become the next governor of New Jersey.”
I didn’t know how to feel. On one hand I was relieved he wasn’t the boss, but that didn’t cut down on the level of danger he’d face.
He sipped his beer. “The killing of Filippo meant a full-blown war. After being fitted for new suits Dillon and I had a shoot-out.”
“Jesus, Dominic.” The tiny hairs stood all over my body. Fuck, I’m married to a real live gangster.
“The four families had a meeting. Dillon announced he was the boss. We all agreed to take out the entire Bertozzi family except women and kids. The man who witnessed uncle Mick’s murder told the four families what happened. We can discuss that situation another time.
Later, that night we sat in a van in close proximity to the Bertozzi compound. I asked Sebastian for a burner phone and called Hugo. Baby, I could not call you. You were safer not knowing what happened at the time. Hugo told me you were upset and worried.” He grabbed my hand.
“I’m sorry, I never wanted you to go through this.”
I clutched his hand, then released it.
“There was no outside communication after that moment. You weren’t the only wife or fiancée who couldn’t contact us. The only difference was they knew what we were up against. They were afraid we wouldn’t return.
We had to flush Filippo’s son out of hiding. We killed so many men, Carmen. We’d been shot at too many times to count. Finally, we tracked down Jr. He was in Staten Island. It took two weeks to find that fucker. The men were on edge being away from their women. It was no picnic.”
My finger tips grazed the fine hairs on his arm.
“We stormed the home where Jr. hid. We finally killed that piece of shit! Let me clear up the first strip club situation. That was a cover. We needed an alibi.”
“Shit, Dominic, really?” I smoothed my hand along my hair.
“Yeah, sometimes I go to the strip club. But that wasn’t a time I was there for a show.”
I rolled my eyes.
“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t desire to visit the strip club anymore. Unfortunately, I still have to frequent those establishments for work purposes. The following day after we ended Jr., we had one more meeting at a private strip club. We informed the other bosses Filippo Jr. and all of his crew had been dismantled, destroyed, blown to smithereens.”
I gaped again.
“That’s it. I returned home and you wanted nothing to do with me. You just knew I was out there fucking other women.”
“Dominic. I thought you didn’t care to call me.”
“Baby, all those other times I called. Every situation is different. I cannot stress that enough. I need you to trust me and know if I don’t call, I have a damn good reason.”
Resting my head back on the chair, I star
ed at his face.
“You missed the welcome home party Ryan mention my mom organized. I wanted you to meet Sierra. I fractured my fucking hand slamming it through the wall. At night, I have to wear a brace. It still hurts like a motherfucker.”
“I figured that’s why you played volleyball with one hand.”
“Yeah.”
“Again, Dominic, I didn’t know how to handle the situation. Next time, I’ll ask for a time out, but you have to honor it. You can be overbearing sometimes.”
He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “I will try.”
“Can you admit you painted me in a corner?”
“Um, no.” He smirked.
“You also missed Dillon and Sierra’s wedding the day after the party.”
I felt like shit. “Wow, I missed everything.”
“Yup. They are away on their honeymoon, but you’ll meet them later this summer. We’re moving to Jersey in August.”
He placed his cell in my hand. “Look at all the pictures.”
My eyes lit up. “Your brother is handsome.” Dominic and Dillon stood side by side in a pic. Smirks not smiles.
“Those thick brows are a family trait.”
Dominic laughed.
I glanced at a pic of the wedding party. Dillon smiled bright holding his new bride in his arms. “They make a pretty couple. You both married black women.”
“Yeah, you love who you love. Color should never be a factor.”
I smiled. “It shouldn’t.”
We are here. And we are going to make the best of this time, Carmen.”
I caressed his cheek and nuzzled my face in the crease of his neck. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions and didn’t hear you out. I love you.”
“I know.”
I smiled caressing his chest.
“One more thing. Angelita was at Dillon’s welcome home party. She’s been holding this fucked up torch for me all these years. She wanted us to be ‘mafia royalty.’ His fingers formed air quotes.
“Her eyes almost popped out of her head when I told her I married you. She remembered you and she was pissed. I told her to get a fucking life. In the beginning when she tried telling me we belonged together, I told her marriage wouldn’t ever happen. She didn’t believe me. Too fucking bad. Grandfather asked me to date her for business reasons. Sometimes I wonder did he want me to marry her to merge two families. I hate when people try to force my hand. I never told you, she lost it when I broke it off with her years ago. I’m not even sure what I was breaking off because we weren’t a couple. I wanted to make it clear we wouldn’t date anymore. If I hadn’t been in the café with her that day, there’s no telling what would have happened between you and I.”
“We probably would be celebrating our wedding anniversary.” I grinned.
He smiled. “Probably. What matters is I have you now.”
Dominic reached into his pocket and retrieved a small box. He opened the box.
“My ring. You brought it with you?”
“Yeah, I planned to take you on mini dates until you’d hear me out. I had no idea we’d see each other so soon. I wasn’t going to stop until I had you back. I was willing to take baby steps again to have my wife in my life.
Every morning, I stared at this ring. It’s a symbol of our special union.” He slid my wedding rings on my finger.
“Don’t take off your rings again, Carmen.”
I leaned in pressing my lips against his. Breathlessly. “I won’t, babe.”
He pulled me into his arms. “You have no idea what I went through. Out there in the trenches not being able to call you. Your words played on repeat, ‘I won’t make it if you don’t call me while you’re away.’ Letting you down was the last thing I wanted to do.”
“I hate we had to be apart and you were stressed. We’ll be fine, Dominic. I’m happy I joined Paisley this week. I got my husband back.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
DOMINIC
Our toes mingled in the sand. We strolled hand and hand absorbing the sun rays.
“While we were apart all I did was work. The only way I could keep my mind off of us was to research. I locked myself in our bedroom. The floor was lined with pages of notes I jotted down. Hugo thinks I worked for forty-eight hours straight. He told me you loved me and that he told you, you did good choosing me as your wife.”
I smiled, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. “He sure did.”
“I gave him a hard time. I was so angry.”
My lips melted against her temple. “When we return home, you can search for buildings to purchase for your research labs.”
“Great, I have several more ideas for new products. My recent project is a form of birth control contraceptive for women that will combat against certain sexually transmitted diseases.”
“I love how intelligent you are.”
She rested her head on my shoulder.
“When are you studying for the Bar Exam?”
“I’ve studied here and there. Once we return home I’ll buckle down.”
“I know what would be cool. A Hollywood tour.” Her eyes lit up.
“Sure, babe.”
An hour later we sat on the rooftop of a double decker bus listening to our tour guide as we rode through the Hollywood hills. Mansions encompassed the block.
Carmen snapped hundreds of photos.
That evening we walked in the door of a cozy research lab.
“Whose lab is this?” She studied the various vials on the white countertops.
“This is a famous scientist research lab.”
I never heard of the guy, but Carmen had his name plastered on the corner of her desk. Worked out his lab was in L.A. They turned his lab into a private museum of sorts. Basically, for the right price you could walk through and touch everything.
“Oh my god! Oh my god!” she shouted, dancing in place with her hands glued over her mouth.
My eyes widened. “What’s wrong?”
“This is Oliver Grundson’s personal research lab.” Her voice shook. “He’s my favorite scientist,” she cried. “You did this for me?”
I wrapped my arms around her and stared into those beautiful fucking brown eyes. “I did.”
“This is the best day of my life. I mean next to us getting married.”
We chuckled.
“I understand, Carmen. Take your time. Maybe this visit will spark more inspiration.”
She nodded. “Ok.” Her eyes took in the room. She was like a kid in a candy store.
I stepped into the next room. Sat on a black stone bench, and studied.
Carmen was so wired after her visit. She typed a shit load of notes on her phone while I drove to Ryan’s. We said our goodbyes then drove to Terranea an oceanfront resort. The luxury villa was private. Which was exactly what I wanted.
Hardwood floors throughout. The villa opened up to a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean from every room. A long cream sofa and three oversized gray chairs completed the living room.
“This is beautiful. How long are we staying?”
She plopped on the sofa, kicking off her shoes.
“Through the fourth of July.”
“Good, I want to relax with you. We deserve this time.”
I sat next to her, pulling her feet into my lap. I’ll order take out tonight. Tomorrow we’ll explore.”
“Sounds good. “Can you order a fancy large California salad for me. Those two hot dogs from that cute little food truck earlier were filling.”
I placed my hand over my face, releasing a loud chuckle.
“Don’t worry you’ll love Jersey City. You can eat all the hot dogs and carnival food you love.”
She licked her lips. “I can’t wait. I’m sure you and Alexandria will give me the best tour.”
“Yeah, we won’t let you eat before we leave the house. We are eating all day.” I placed our takeout order through a restaurant app.
“Come on, Dominic, lets dip our feet in th
e pool.”
We strolled on to the long patio. She peeled off her dress revealing a gold string bikini. Carmen tossed the dress onto a nearby lounge chair. She sat hooking her legs over the edge. I sat beside her. She pushed my T-shirt over my head.
“No, suits, Dominic. I want you to dress carefree for once. When you enter the courtroom and become the governor of New Jersey then you can wear suits.” She smiled bright, looping her arm through mine.
“You deserve to live a little. Tomorrow we are going surfing.”
“That will be cool.”
“But first things first.” She slipped into the water, sinking under. She zipped to the top, wiping the excess water from her face. She stepped closer and spread my legs.
“What are you doing?” I smirked.
She unzipped my shorts and freed my cock.