Until Forever Ends: A Dark Mafia Romance

by Adelaide Forrest

  He touched my fingers to the burned flesh on his arm, the red mess still hot to the touch as he moved his cock inside me. "Will you forget that you're mine now?" he asked, kissing me lightly as his eyes held mine. With slow and easy thrusts, he made love to me while he soothed the pain he'd caused, morphing it with pleasure as the initial agony faded.

  "I never did," I protested with a whisper, wrapping my legs around his hips to pull him deeper. He grabbed my arm carefully, lifting it so I had no choice but to stare at the words seared into my skin.

  The angry red flesh looked like the devil himself. El Diablo owned me.

  He always had.

  "My wife does not disobey me, and men do not think to touch what is mine without my permission." He thrust into me, slipping a hand between our bodies to touch my clit as he dropped his lips to my breast and drew a nipple into his mouth. He nipped it sharply, drawing a moan from me as my orgasm built higher and higher. "Now anyone who looks at you will be reminded of what happens to men who touch what is mine," he growled, bringing his lips back to mine as his fingers worked my clit harder.

  I came suddenly, his mouth swallowing my screams as he pushed deep and rode out his own climax inside me. I was too exhausted to move as he pulled out and gathered me in his arms to move us to the sofa. I fell asleep with his hands in my hair, his fingers running through the strands as he stared down at me like I mattered.

  Like I was everything.

  I slept the rest of the day after Rafe wrapped a bandage around my brand and put ointment on the marks on my ass from the riding crop. I slept through the night and late into the next morning, with him watching over me. By the time he forced me to get out of bed, it was already past noon. After a quick lunch with Regina, he took my hand and guided me to his office.

  Nothing good ever happened in his office.

  He sat me down in one of the chairs in front of the very same desk he'd branded me on. The same one he'd tattooed me on. Taking the one next to me, he wordlessly grabbed the folder off the surface and handed it to me.

  The weight of his stare felt ominous. He'd been oddly quiet all morning, brooding over something, and yet still attentive to me physically and the fact that I needed his intimacy in the wake of all that he'd done to me the day before. I needed to know he loved me, because his actions weren't those of a man in love.

  But of a man obsessed with something he owned.

  I glanced down at the folder as I took it from his hands, pulling the cover open and staring down at the gruesome photo in front of me. A man sat in an office chair, his head tilted to the side and a hole in the side of his head where blood trickled out. I closed the folder immediately, looking up at Rafael in confusion.

  "Why are you showing me this?" I asked, handing it back to him.

  "That—" he paused, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees as he set the folder on the desk "—is the officer who filed your accident report after you nearly drowned."

  "You killed him?" I asked, swallowing back bile. "Why?"

  "That photo is from a week after your accident," he answered, reaching forward to touch his fingers to the bandage that covered my arm. He didn't touch the spot where the brand itself was, but the area around it stung with the pressure of his hand. "They called it a suicide, but I think we both know it wasn't."

  "I don't know what you're talking about," I said, pushing to stand up. His hands came down on my knees, shoving me back into my chair while he glared at me.

  "I've been very patient with you," he said. I snorted. "I've been patient with you about this, but enough is enough, Isa."

  "What difference does it fucking make what happened? It was over a decade ago," I said, shaking my head.

  "Your sister wronged you in a way that I take very seriously. I am your fucking husband," he growled. "It is my job to keep you safe and to kill the people who would put you in harm's way. Should I just kill Odina instead? Would that be simpler for you?"

  "No!" I yelled, glaring at him. "You're being ridiculous."

  "And you are stalling," he said, picking up his cellphone. "All it would take is one phone call, Princesa. One call to end her life, and I wouldn't even have to leave your side to pull the trigger. We both know she deserves it after what she did to you."

  I glared at the phone in his hand, unable to voice the secret that plagued me. I already knew how Rafael would react. I'd heard it all before. It wasn't your fault.

  But it was, and nothing would ever change that.

  "This isn't about what Odina did. This is about you wanting everything. You have some fucking nerve. You branded me! You do not get to bring me in here and make more demands. Why can't I just have one thing that's mine?" I growled, slapping the phone out of his hand. He left it where it fell, reaching forward to run his thumb over my bottom lip.

  "Because you're mine. Every single part of you is mine. Whatever happened made you who you are, and it made you fucking leave me even though you're so fucking in love with me you can't see straight," he accused, dragging my bottom lip to the side as I gaped up at him. "This has power over you. It has power over us, and I will do whatever it takes to understand fucking why," he warned, standing from his seat to grab his phone off the floor.

  “Fuck you,” I snarled as he bent to grab it. Kicking his hand away, I stood and grabbed his chin between my fingers. He tilted his head up to mine, possession swirling in his gaze as he studied me standing in front of him. “Leave it alone, Rafael.”

  He moved suddenly, snatching the phone in his grip and entering in his passcode while he kept his eyes on mine. He stood, extending his limbs as I moved for the phone and wrapping me up in his arm to clutch my back against his body and hold me still. I stomped on his foot, wishing I had heels to stab him with.

  He grunted as he dialed a number, lifting the phone to his ear behind me as I swallowed back the urge to vomit.

  Tears streamed down my face, pulling from the darkest part of me as he spoke. "Why does Odina hate you so badly, Isa?" he asked before speaking into the phone in Spanish as my lungs heaved. Desperation like I'd never known made me want to keep my secret safely tucked away, but I couldn't let her die for me.

  I already had once.

  "Because I killed her!" I yelled, my lungs heaving with the weight of the confession as it tore free from my soul. "It was my fault," I sobbed, leaning forward against his arm to try to get free. He released me, letting me fall to the floor at his feet as his mouth dropped open and he moved around my body to stare down at me.

  I dropped my gaze to the floor, unable to look him in the eye, and I knew when I finally did…

  He would never look at me the same.

  33

  Rafael

  I ended the call, watching as Isa huddled in on herself. Whatever I'd expected to come from her when she finally had no choice but to tell me the truth, that hadn't been it. I tossed my phone onto the sofa, dropping to my knees in front of Isa and grasping her chin with a gentle finger. She darted her eyes away, refusing to look at me as I leaned in and touched my forehead to hers.

  "I'm sure that's not true," I murmured, raising my hand to stroke the skin under her eye as I willed her to give me her stare. I'd rather she rage against me for forcing the truth from her than this desolate inversion of herself. "You were just a child. Whatever happened can't change that."

  "She never would have been in that river if it hadn't been for me," she whispered, her eyes finally meeting mine as she subtly shook her head.

  "Tell me," I prodded, hoping that the answers would come easier now that her guilt was out there for me to see. With me already knowing the worst of it, hopefully the pieces could come together.

  "There was a man," she whispered, a sob catching in her throat. "Mom was talking to a friend we bumped into on our walk, and he came up to us while we were playing. He said—" She paused, sniffling and turning her head away from mine. I forced her eyes back to mine with a stern grip on her chin, holding her steady as she drew in a
deep breath. "He said there were kittens stuck in the bushes next to the water. He asked if we would help him get them out safely because there were too many for him. Odina didn't want to go. She begged me and said there was something scary about him."

  "But you went with him anyway," I said, realization dawning.

  She nodded. "He said that I had kind eyes, and that he knew I would help when he saw me. Odina followed us because she didn't want to leave me alone. We bent into the bushes and looked for the kittens, but we couldn't find them. When I crawled out to tell him, he grabbed my jacket with both hands."

  "And he threw you in the river," I finished for her, watching as she nodded slowly. "Did he say why?"

  "Not to me," Isa said. "Odina said that she screamed when she saw him throw me, and he mumbled something about the bitch not deserving two daughters before he threw her in after me."

  "Does your mother have any enemies who would want to hurt you?" I asked, furrowing my brow as she shook her head. "That's why Odina hates you? Because you made a mistake as a child?"

  "Partially," Isa admitted. She bit her bottom lip, closing her eyes before she continued on. "We were both in the water by the time Mom realized we weren't where she'd left us. It all happened so quickly. The current pulled me into the barbed wire," she said, her hand drifting down to absently brush against the scar on her thigh. "But it kept pulling Odina down river. We were too far apart, and she knew she wouldn't be able to get to us both in time." Isa swallowed back tears, exhaling as her eyes opened. "She had to make an impossible choice. She could only save one of us, because there just wasn't enough time."

  I stared at Isa as my lips pursed together. I couldn't begin to imagine the pain of choosing which child would live and which would die. "She chose me," Isa whispered, her voice cracking with the words. "I lost consciousness before she pulled me out, but Odina said she remembers watching our mother swim for me. She remembers that moment where her own mother left her to drown, and it haunts her, Rafael."

  "How did she survive?" I asked, moving to sit in the chair and drawing her into my lap. I knew she needed my assurance in the wake of her confession, but I needed all the answers first. I needed to understand.

  "She stopped fighting the current apparently. She just gave up. A man pulled her out a couple of minutes after me, but she was already gone. They brought her back, but the sister I knew died that day. My parents already lost one daughter because of my bad choices, and now they've lost me too. That is why I had to go home even though I fell in love with you," she whispered, looking up at me as she said the words for the first time. "I owe them that to make up for what I did."

  She curled into me, seeking the reassurance that I would still love her despite what must have felt like a horrible revelation to her. She couldn't see that she'd only been a child. That the only person who was responsible for what had happened was the man who threw her into the river in the first place.

  "Did you tell the police about the man?" I asked, needing the verbal confirmation.

  "Of course. If you've seen the police report, then you must have already known this," she mumbled.

  "There's no mention of any of this on the report, mi reina. According to that report, you and Odina simply fell into the river when your mother wasn't looking. The man never existed," I said, cupping her face in my hand as she stared down at me, dumbfounded.

  "But I told the officer about him. I don't understand."

  "It would seem that the man who threw you into the river had friends in high places. I'll find him now that I know the truth. I promise he'll suffer for what he's done," I told her, leaning forward to touch my lips to hers.

  She returned my kiss, sinking further into my embrace as a bittersweet smile took over. "Because that's your job as my husband?"

  "Exactly," I murmured against her mouth. Soothing the wounds of her confession and the pain that came along with it.

  I'd spend the rest of the day reassuring her that nothing could make me stop loving her.

  With Isa occupied in the kitchen the next morning, with Regina teaching her to make ensaimada to distract Isa from the insecure way she'd acted since her confession, I retreated to my office. Grabbing the phone off my desk, I texted Ryker to update him with the confirmation that Isa had been pushed into that river.

  I wanted a fucking name.

  Alejandro stepped into the office, taking advantage of one of the first moments I'd had without Isa in my arms since our conversation the afternoon before. "What do you want?" I asked, moving behind my desk as he met my eyes.

  "Is she okay?" Alejandro asked tentatively. "She seems...off."

  "She told me about the accident finally. She's apparently feeling a little vulnerable after that. I think that's to be expected, given she blames herself for what happened," I said, stopping from telling him more. I suspected Isa wouldn't be happy to have another man know the intimate details of her life and what she thought was her greatest shame.

  Even if it shouldn't have been.

  He caught on quickly, clearing his throat before moving on with business. He dropped a photo on my desk, Pavel's second son's face staring up from the blurry capture from a security camera. "Maxim was spotted in Barcelona."

  "And what was Pavel's new heir doing in Spain?" I asked, my lips tipping up into a smile.

  "He paid a visit to your Uncle, who called to let you know this morning, but you were busy with Reina," he said. I studied him as I thought over my options. As much as I hated to admit it, Isa was in no place for me to leave her again so soon, but allowing Maxim to stroll into my country without consequence couldn't be tolerated either. "What will you do?"

  "Tell Regina to pack a bag for Isa. We'll leave tonight," I said.

  "You're taking her with you?" Alejandro asked, raising an eyebrow. "You really think that's wise."

  "I think I put two trackers in her body. If she tries to get away, she won't get far." I shrugged, smirking at him as I picked my phone up off the desk and texted Joaquin to get himself and a team ready. "Get the boat ready."

  He nodded, retreating from the room as I stared out the door and into the hallway. Isa might have been vulnerable following the admission and thought herself a killer, but the timing would never be perfect to push her to become the Queen she was always meant to be.

  We'd know if she could handle the devil she'd married in a matter of hours.

  34

  Isa

  It was late evening by the time Rafael's yacht docked. I'd spent the trip lounging in the sun next to the dip pool. The cushioned platform was covered with pillows and the perfect place to curl up with a book and a chess board, relaxing with the warmth of the sun on my skin. Rafael sat in a chair next to the lounge bed I occupied, his face buried in his phone as he worked frantically to make arrangements for whatever was so urgent we had to leave El Infierno immediately. Every now and then he’d glance up and smirk at me studying chess strategy so I could eventually beat him.

  He was quiet about the reason for the trip, but despite the sinking dread I felt that something was about to go down, I couldn't seem to focus on that sense of premonition within me.

  I was off the island for the first time. I could have the opportunity to escape, and I didn't know what to do with that. I couldn't imagine my life without Rafael, but I also didn't want to insinuate that everything he'd done was okay.

  None of it was. But even if I left him, I could never go home. Not when it was the first place he would look, so where would I even go? There was also the minor detail where I'd admitted I loved him. In the heat of the moment, it had seemed like the appropriate thing to do, but I couldn't help but feel like I'd signed my soul to the devil with those words.

  Like he would use them against me, and manipulate me into becoming whatever it was he thought his wife should be. Like he'd own the last pieces of me.

  I didn't want to give them to him.

  He shoved his phone into his pocket, somehow looking relaxed and comfortable in his
suit despite the heat. He shrugged on his jacket as he stood and the boat came to a halt at the dock, reaching out a hand to help me out of the lounge. "Leave your book," he said. "We'll sleep on the yacht tonight." I unfolded my limbs carefully so I wouldn't flash the crew my underwear, letting Rafe pull me to stand. The back of the yellow wrap dress was longer than the front, where it was cut perfectly to reveal the scar on my thigh.

  With my tattoo and brand open to view, I felt like I had more scars and marks on my skin than I knew what to do with. The faint outline of Rafe's teeth still graced my shoulder, and it was fortunate that no one could see the pink welts on my ass from when he'd whipped me with the riding crop. Regina had all but forced jewelry on me as she helped me dress, a mix of moonstones and turquoise necklaces and bracelets layered on my neck and the left arm that was free of tattoos.

  I’d never worn jewelry—not because I didn't like it, but because we hadn't had the money to waste on such things. The metal against my skin felt itchy and uncomfortable just because I wasn't used to it. Rafe brought me through the cabin and down the steps to the lower level at the back, and we stepped onto the boat dock. Two men stood at the other end on land, greeting Rafael with hesitant smiles.

  "Who are they?" I asked, grasping him around the elbow and leaning into his side more. Aside from the people he couldn't avoid introducing me to, Rafe seemed content to keep me entirely isolated.

  "My cousins," he said, turning a soft look down to me as I stumbled.

  "Your cousins?" I hissed. "And you didn't think to tell me you were taking me to meet your family?"

  "I knew you'd stress out. Now you have approximately ten seconds of freaking out before it's over and done with." The casual tone to his voice set my nerves even more on edge as we closed the distance between us. "Isa, these are my cousins, Sebastian and Thiago," he said. "This is Isa. My wife." They widened their eyes briefly, before nodding with bright smiles that seemed so different than the darkness that always clung to Rafe like a cloak.