The Hitman Takes A Bride: A Mafia Romance (Carlotta Family Book 2)

by Eden Rose

  “Do you have any pride?” I blurt out without even realizing that I’m about to explode. “We’re in the hospital right now and you’re flirting with your friend’s married father! Do you have any news on Calista or not?”

  Her eyes flutter wider and she glares at me. “Don’t be jealous, Mr. You!”

  “Are you done flirting with my husband?” Savannah asks with venom dripping in her voice. I can see where Calista’s jealous streak comes from.

  “I have good news, she’s out of surgery and being wheeled into a private room. They are going to monitor her to make sure she’s all right before allowing anyone in the room.”

  “We need a doctor!” Someone yelled over the intercom shaking us from our melancholy.

  “Fuck!” I yell and start running for the door. Finding the person who did this has long left my mind and being there for Calista is the only thing that matters to me right now.

  The people who did this are going to fuck up and let me know who they are and where they are. Everyone leaves a footprint. You just have to know where to look.

  Amanda

  I knew the minute I lost Victor. I knew that he is in love with the doctor without him even telling me. You can tell when someone’s hooking up just by how they act.

  The way he’s all googly eyes at her and wanting her around. I had a feeling he would find someone new while I was gone but I never realized how much it would hurt.

  While I was being raped and used, he found someone real and perfect for him. He was only with me because he thought I was pregnant. There was no baby. I’ve never been pregnant and I don’t know how to tell him that.

  He will be so angry with me when I tell him but it is the only way to get him to realize he doesn’t have to be honorable by staying with me.

  I rub my forehead and try to think of a way to not break his heart too much.

  “How are you doing?” A nurse leans in and asks me.

  I shrug. “I’m stressed but I think I’m doing okay. Have you seen my doctor?” I haven’t seen my doctor all day and normally doctors stay with their patients as much as they can.

  The nurse shifts on her feet and looks outside as if she’s nervous. “Uh, she’s not here today.”

  After everything that I have been through, I know she’s lying to me. “Why are you lying?”

  Again, she shifts her feet. “Look, I can’t say anything. Are you comfortable? Do need anything?”

  “Is the counselor still available?” I need to speak to someone regarding all these different feelings in my heart and brain. My heart and brain are conflicting with their own thoughts. One half of me is begging to tell Victor the truth and the other half wants to keep him.

  The nurse looks at me for a moment before deciding what to do. I can see she’s torn between listening to my request and remembering I have never asked to speak to a counselor before.

  She raises an eyebrow. “You are entitled to a counselor, Amanda. Let me see if one is available right now.”

  The nurse is sweet and nice, everything I don’t deserve right now.

  I hang my head low and try to think about what to do next. It’s true most of everything that has happened has happened because of Victor and me. If he never would have gotten involved with the Carlotta Family, I never would have been kidnapped.

  Why did I fake a pregnancy? There’s many reasons why women fake pregnancies and there’s many reasons why I did it. I could tell you I did it to make him pay attention to me or to trap him. The last part is right. I did want to trap him. I wanted Victor to never leave me… Having a baby was the only way to do it.

  At first, I started off by poking holes into condoms for him to think they busted while we were having sex. After four months of doing this, I realized I needed to step up my game. I contemplated stealing a baby to see if that would trap him and then I never could do it. Every time I was about to steal a baby, I couldn’t work up the courage to do so.

  The next logical decision would be to make up a pregnancy until I actually got pregnant. As soon as the lie came out of my mouth, I knew I sealed my fate. Logically, what was I supposed to do when it came to going to the doctors? Hell, how was I supposed to show when I wasn’t even pregnant to begin with.

  I knew I had to come up with something. I finally decided that I would meet with someone who was supposed to give me something to make me actually pregnant. When they fell through, I ended up owing them a lot of money for their services.

  The nurse winces at me and looks outside of the room. She smiles at Victor who then returns the smile.

  “Why does he look so nervous?” I question.

  “Well, you are probably going to get a new doctor. Unfortunately, your doctor has to take some time off of work for a little while.”

  My blood runs cold. “Why?” This couldn’t be a coincidence. My heartbeat begins to quicken making me sweat. “What happened?”

  “You have to calm down,” the nurse tries to tell me.

  I shake my head. “I need to speak to Victor. Right now!”

  Whatever happened to that doctor happened because of me. Because I owed someone money and then I ran away from the kidnappers. When I ran away, my debt was never finished and now someone had to take my debt.

  “Are you sure?” She asks.

  “Yes, please.”

  Victor

  “Victor, your wife would like to see you,” Sheila calls out to me as I hover over the door to Calista’s room.

  Hearing her refer to Amanda as my wife is doing something awful to my heart and mind. There’s a heaviness I can’t explain.

  “Could you tell her that I’m busy?” I try to not sound stressed out but I have Sal coming soon and I need to make sure I’m ready for the information he’s about to give to me.

  She shakes her head. “Something’s not right with her.”

  Well, no shit. She was kidnapped for how many years and is coming off some serious drugs? I would say she’s not right.

  “Fine!” I bark.

  Leaving Savannah and Vincent’s perch as they watch Calista being worked on, is killing me. I know in my heart that I need to be with her. Plus, the evil look in their eyes as I leave their sides is enough to make anyone know they fucked up.

  Amanda’s perched on the bed with tears rolling down her cheeks. “What happened?” I ask with my eyebrows raised.

  “We need to talk.”

  “About what?”

  “Can you sit down?” She asks and points to the chair across from the bed.

  I take a seat on the plastic unpadded chair. “What’ going on?”

  “Are you seeing the doctor?”

  I feel something in my heart flutter and then a slamming in my chest. How am I supposed to answer this question without breaking her heart? “Which doctor?”

  She smiles and shakes her head. “I already know you’ve moved on. I should have expected you would. You’re a man with needs that need to be met. I should have known.”

  “Amanda, I thought you were dead. What was I supposed to do?”

  Hearing my wife call me out on my infidelity is killing me. I seriously thought she was dead. I’m not like the other men in the family who have two to three different families. I value marriage and the constitution of it; I would never have cheated on her purpose.

  She leans over and grabs my hand. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Victor. You were living your life.”

  I feel my chest constrict. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want you to think you mean anything less to me.”

  I’m one of the most feared hitmen in the underworld but I feel like crying in front of my wife. The woman I vowed to love and protect forever but I’m not in love with her. I’ve fallen in love with Calista and want to be with her.

  Amanda smiles. “I don’t think anything less of you. You did what you had to do and there’s nothing less. I know you’ve moved on and I’m telling you it is okay. You have my permission to move on.”

  I shake my head and stand up
from the seat. “No, Amanda! I’ve vowed to love and honor you.”

  “I know you loved me but you don’t anymore. It’s okay, Victor. I know you meant well and would have tried anything. Our time has passed.”

  “It’s my fault. Everything is my fault, Amanda. I’m the reason why you were kidnapped and pumped full of drugs. I’m the reason for everything that has happened to you. It’s all on me.”

  For some reason, I can’t get it out of my mind that she’s saying goodbye to me. Where the fuck does she think she’s going to go?

  Tears roll down her cheeks. “Victor, there was no baby. I was never pregnant.”

  My heart drops out of my chest. “What are you talking about?”

  She’s crying harder now. “I’m so sorry but I was never pregnant. I faked the whole thing to get you to stay with me.”

  I jump out of the chair and march over to her side. Once I’m standing over her, I lean into her face. “You mean to tell me you lied about being pregnant? I fucking can’t believe this, Amanda!” I yell at her.

  Her face drops when she realizes what she’s done to me. She has ruined my fucking life again. After her being taken and my thinking our baby was dead, mourning over a baby that never existed…

  And everything was a lie. What type of sick person would do this to someone they supposedly loved?

  “I wanted to make sure you would stay with me no matter what! I had to do something!”

  “You had to do something and then ruined my life? Did it ever occur to you what I went through while you were gone? Did you think for one second what it felt like not knowing if my child was alive or dead?”

  “Excuse me,” Sheila calls from the door. “We need you to keep it down!”

  I didn’t even realize I was screaming. Fuck.

  “Were you even taken?”

  She whips her head around. “Of course I was taken!”

  “You faked being pregnant, what else have you faked?”

  Never in my life have I felt this out of control. I have the sudden urge to punch her in the face to make myself feel better. But that won’t solve anything. Amanda will still have broken my heart and caused me more pain than I could ever imagine.

  “I’m so sorry, Victor. I was taken because I couldn’t afford to pay them off.”

  “Pay who off?”

  “The Dice. I owed them money because they were supposed to give me something to make me look and be pregnant. I didn’t have the money to pay them off and then they took me. They pumped me full of drugs and made me a prostitute! What was I supposed to do?”

  Suddenly, everything made crystal fucking sense. She’s the reason why the love of my life is fighting for her life. Amanda has fucking ruined everything. “You are the reason they attacked Calista, aren’t you? Because you ran away, they had to redirect their anger on someone else. Am I right?”

  “They probably attacked her to get back at me… or you.”

  I stand straight up and look at her in the eyes. “Amanda, you hear me when I say this to you. I never want to see you again. If I see you, I’m going to kill you. Do you understand me?”

  Amanda’s tears roll down her cheeks leaving big tracks. “I’m so sorry, Victor. I’m so, so, sorry!”

  I turn to walk out of the room leaving her behind. I meant what I said, I never want to see her again. I have punished myself for all of these years on not knowing where she is. I have worried about her and what has happened to a baby which never existed.

  Amanda has broken my heart, time and time again.

  Calista

  “If you don’t marry her, she’s going to remain a target, Victor.”

  “I’m not just going to slide a ring down her finger because I need to keep her safe. I love her, Vincent.”

  “Guys, don’t be making plans without waiting for Calista to wake up. She could wake up at any moment.”

  I feel a dull vibration run through my body and the sound of the oxygen mask rising and falling from my face. I can make out that I’m in the hospital but I don’t know why.

  My whole body is numb. So numb I can’t even feel the clothes on me. My eyes are feeling heavy as if cement were on them. I can’t move my limbs and I begin to panic.

  What happened? Why am I at the hospital?

  Against the weight, I manage to open my eyes. The room is bright with the fluorescent lights shining above me. A fog I didn’t know I had, hangs over me but I fight through it. I can smell three different scents and all three of them belong to people I care about.

  “Pussycat! Thank god you are okay!” Victor yells before showering my face with kisses. His beard isn’t as wellkept as it normally is. I stare at his brown eyes that are shining with love. “I love you, pussycat. I’m so sorry.”

  I nod my head as much as I can. “What happened?”

  “You don’t remember, darling?” My mom asks me.

  “No, I don’t. What am I doing here?”

  “You were in an accident, pumpkin,” my dad rushes to say.

  Both Victor and my mom look at my dad as if he’s crazy. I lift my hand to touch my face to see if I feel the same. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a big diamond ring.

  The ring is so big and dirty that it probably needs its own zip code. “What is this?” I’m staring at the ring hoping there’s some clues in it. ANything that will tell me why I’m wearing an engagement ring.

  The last thing I remember is being in the shower after Victor left me to go see Amanda. I don’t remember anything after the mind blowing sex and crying in the shower.

  “Pussycat, we have a lot to discuss but I love you and I want to marry you.”

  I look at him as if he’s crazy because surely he is. “Aren’t you already married? I’m in a hospital! What the fuck are you talking about?”

  He leans over and brushes the hair away from my face. I feel the hospital grime caked in on my skin making me feel dirty. Not attractive at all.

  Plus, I’m fighting the urge to let Victor back in to break my heart. He utterly broke it when he left to go see Amanda after having sex with me.

  “There’s no one else in this world that I love more than you,” he murmurs while leaning over to kill me.

  His lips are soft, delicate… unsure of my reaction to being kissed by him.

  “Calista, there’s a lot of things that we have to discuss before you get married,” my dad says.

  I furrow my eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”

  “Your mom and I aren’t what you think we are,” my dad informs me.

  My heart kicks into full gear in my chest as I think about what he’s saying. “I don’t understand.”

  “Everything will make sense as soon as we leave here.”

  I look over at Victor who smiles at me. “Pussycat, will you marry me?”

  Amanda

  “ I need you to come pick me up,” I whisper into the phone.

  “Are you fucking kidding me? You fucking bailed on me! What was I supposed to do?” Dean depans.

  “I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt,” I say truthfully.

  “You mean to tell me that you want to come back and… what? Get caught up in the trade again?” Dean’s rich voice asks.

  I shake my head but know he can’t see me. I feel awful for coming clean to Victor and telling him how fucked up I truly am. I can just imagine how much he hates me right now and I have to figure out how to make it right. Somehow.

  “I need to go back.”

  “You want me to take you back to the people who kidnapped you? Who pumped you full of drugs? Are you fucking with me?”

  “I need to make things right with Victor. They are taking everything out on his girlfriend and I can’t do that to her. She can’t go through what I went through. She’s too pure.”

  “You are just going to knock on the door for Dice and ask to be kidnapped again?”

  “Fuck! Why are you making this so much harder than it needs to be?” I demand.

  He chuckles. “I
worked so hard to get you out of there and now you want to go back? You might as well put a needle in your arm and knock on their door naked. Fuck!”

  I hang up the phone knowing Dean won’t help me. The only person that can help me is calling The Dice myself. I don’t want to go back but this is the only way to atone for my wrong doings. I feel so bad for what happened to the doctor and knowing I caused it, that’s more than I can stand.