Strapped: A Second Chance Mafia Romance (18 page)

I
hate leaving
Sophia in bed like that after getting such devastating news, but she needs some time to sleep off the grief, and I have some questions that I absolutely need answering. I can’t be much use to her when she’s not conscious anyway, so if there’s ever been a time to get this sorted – it’s now.

My head is just reeling with all of it. I can’t understand why any of this has happened – it seems like everyone is the enemy now, and I have no idea how to deal with that. A few short weeks ago, I knew exactly where I stood, I knew who I could trust and who I couldn’t, I knew who needed to be targeted and who didn’t, but now I feel like I don’t know anything.

The only person who can do anything to negate that, the only person who can help me at the moment is my dad. If anyone knows anything, it’ll be him.

I stalk into my family home and I push past everyone that’s standing in my way. Of course this house is busy, it always has been, but today I don’t need that. I don’t want to be making small talk with anyone! There’s an intense frustration and anger coursing through me and it’s making me feel a little crazy.

“Dad?” I yell out, wanting him to come to me. I’m up to my limit with all that I can handle, and I could explode at any moment. “Are you here?”

“What the fuck are you screaming about?” He bursts from the nearest room, and yanks me inside. “Why are you yelling about the place?”

“I just… I want to know what the hell is going on,” I start, already starting to lose myself to the emotion. “This is all too much, Sophia and I got married to keep peace and now someone has died? Who did it? You must know? We need to sort this fucking mess out before it gets out of control…”

“Okay, son,” he speaks calmly, as if I’m a very young child. “You need to sit down so we can discuss it properly like adults.”

I want to scream and yell and punch everything in sight, but I don’t because I know that it won’t help anyone. I do exactly as I’m told, and I sit meekly in the nearest chair. My dad’s commanding nature has always had this effect on me – there’s no reason that this time should be any different.

“Now, I want you to understand that this situation isn’t normal,” he tells me. “So I need you to actually sit and listen to me without interrupting and going nuts, okay?”

“Okay.” I reply resignedly, knowing that I’m obviously not going to like what I’m about to hear.

“Now, I’ve been obviously doing a lot of research into this because it wrecks our entire peace treaty that I worked so hard to achieve, and of course I’m not going to be very happy about that. But of course no one is biting, no one is willing to tell me anything…”

“I…”

He holds his hand up, stopping me before I can get into a full-blown rant. I zip my lips shut quickly, trying my hardest to keep my promise to listen. “No, I asked you to listen. Of course I know someone isn’t going to just confess like that. They all know how I feel about them disobeying me. But… what I
have
found is very interesting. It wasn’t actually us that did the killing, it was an inside job because a few members of the Irish mafia didn’t agree with the peace treaty.”

What?
It doesn’t even make any sense, this is insane! I’ve been internally trying to work out who the loose cannon is, and now I’m learning that it’s no one.

“I’m led to believe that it was his second in command – Aiden Doyle. His hatred for us overshadowed his love for Patrick. Now he’s in charge. He’s running the show, which is of course going to be an issue.”

“What does that mean for us?” I gasp, too stunned to really comprehend this properly. “What happens now?”

“Well, I have looked at it from every single angle, and I can really only see one way out of this. We threaten them, we strike back, we let them know that we aren’t going to take this lying down.” He stares into my eyes, trying to gauge my reaction on this one. “And we have one of them right under our roof.” He’s waiting for me to get it, and I’m not, I’m really not. “Sophia.”

Sophia?!

“No,” I instantly jump up from my seat, anger coursing through my veins. “No, she’s innocent, she had nothing to do with any of this. We can’t hurt her…”

“Son, don’t be silly. It’s the only choice we have. She’s an easy target, we have her already. We need to really injure her, to show them who they’re messing with – it’ll send a really great message...”

“To who?” I scream. “There’s no one left. Her dad is dead, the guy who killed him is in charge so he won’t care… two of the Irish came for her today, they bashed her up pretty badly.”

“See? They know that she’s important. They know what you can’t seem to see.” He then tries a different tactic. “Why do you care anyway? You don’t even know the girl, it isn’t like you married her for love! She’s only your wife for some dumb political move.”

My heart stops at that moment. I don’t know how the hell to respond to that, I can’t admit that there’s really something there and that feelings are developing because that will lead to no end of trouble. I need to get him around it, and to go for a different angle. I need to distract him.

“No, it was more like they didn’t care about her… and they wanted her dead, out of the way. I think you would have much more success attacking them head on. If this Aiden guy is the problem, then maybe that’s who we need to get out of the picture. Maybe we can get the peace treaty back on…”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” my dad says. “The peace treaty might be done forever. But you might be right. Aiden might be the one we need to attack.”

“Yeah, I think so…” relief floods through me. If he’s focused on Aiden, then Sophia will be the furthest thing from his mind…

“But that woman, Sophia, she’s the enemy now.” Obviously not – that was wishful thinking on my behalf. “Your marriage is done. Luckily you haven’t consummated the marriage yet, so an annulment won’t be an issue. She needs to be gone; I don’t want her in the picture anymore.”

What do I say to that one? Should I tell him that he’s wrong, and that we’re now legally married? Or will that wind him up even more? I don’t think that doing anything that will attract his attention towards Sophia is a good idea, so I try to drag him back into what really matters.

“So shall we arrange meetings? Set up a plan? We don’t want to wait too long before we do anything, do we?” My heart is pounding painfully in my chest. I’m scared now for Sophia, and I can’t help but panic about her home alone, without me there to protect her. I locked the door properly and I told her to ignore it no matter what, but now both sides of the mafia groups are out to get her, and I’m terrified for her safety.

I need to get back there, to look after her. She needs me.

“Sure,” my dad waves his arms dismissing me. “Go and get it all sorted your end. I’ll be in touch with what’s happening as soon as I know.”

“Okay,” I stand up, hopping from foot to foot for a second, wondering what I can say to make all of this that much better, but I’m not sure that I can. So in the end, I spin on my heels and I race from the room. I need to get back to my wife now, to ensure that she’s okay, but there’s someone that I need to talk to first, and I’m pretty sure that he’s here somewhere.

Diego
.

I pace through the rooms until I spot his face, then I quickly drag him to one side where we can talk in private. I don’t want to be overheard, not by anyone, not while I’m so untrusting of everyone and anyone.

“What’s going on, bro?” He asks me, with a panicked look in his eye. Clearly this has affected him too. “All I know is that the Irish guy got killed… do you know what happened?”

I glance from side to side, unsure of how public this information is just yet. I don’t want to start to rumor mill running without my father’s permission. Deciding that we’re safe, I lean in and whisper. “Apparently it was an inside job. The new guy that has taken over did it because he hates us… and now he’s after us like crazy. My dad is obviously going nuts and planning his next attack.”

“Right, and what do we have to do?” Diego is instantly all business, which is exactly where I need him to be. But not because I’m particularly planning an attack exactly, but because I need someone on my side. It’s weird how my priorities have changed so much – before I would have been going at this with all guns blazing, but now I’m only worried about my girl.

But I can’t tell Diego that. I don’t think he’ll understand… in fact, I’m sure that he won’t. He only knows me as a playboy, and as a killer. He won’t know how to deal with this new information, and it might lead him to not trust me.

“Right now, our biggest asset is Sophia,” I tell him confidentially, “and from what’s happened this morning, the Irish want her bad. They attacked my home and I caught them trying to kidnap her.” I’m lying about my reasoning for this, but I don’t feel bad about it. I’ll do anything I need to do to look after her. If Diego thinks that this is because she’s a pawn, he’ll be much more likely to be on my side. “I don’t want that to happen, I don’t want to lose her – not when she’s all we’ve really got.”

“Of course, of course,” he understands that right away, which is great.

“So we need to have someone watching her
at all times
, okay? Whenever I’m not there, I need someone watching out for her. I don’t want them to get her, no matter what happens.”

“Okay, of course, I get it.” He looks at me curiously for a second. “And then what? Do we have a plan yet?”

“I’m working on it,” I lie. “I need to coordinate with my dad and come up with a suitable strategy. We can’t fuck this up, this will be the most important battle yet.”

“Of course, sounds good.” He looks more nervous than he’s letting on, which means that he really understands the magnitude of it all. He’s used to violence and war, so this proves how bad it really is.

“Okay, I’m going back home now, to check on Sophia. I’ll be in touch with you soon about everything.”

“See you soon, man,” we clap hands together, then I exit the building with my head all over the place. I don’t really know anything any more, only that I need to keep my wife safe. I need to keep her out of all of this – she’s so innocent, so pure, she doesn’t deserve anything.

And now, without her father around anymore, I’m the only one who can protect her.

I
don’t know
how long I’m asleep for, but when I wake up, I don’t feel any better at all. The morose, intense sadness is still there, as is a fogginess in my brain. All I know for sure is that nothing makes sense anymore. I need to speak to someone, anyone, who can help me muddle through everything that’s going on in my mind, and I cannot do that stuck here in this apartment just waiting for either Enzo to come back, or for someone to come and get me. I’m still really shaken up from what Ben and Max did to me, and it’s messing with my mind. It’s all a total and confusing mess, and I really need to put an end to this.

I don’t really want to talk to
her
, since she did nothing to stop everything that happened to me, but I don’t see that I have any other option. She’s the only one with a link to my old life, and although she might not know much, she’s bound to know something.

I pick up my phone, and I dial my mother’s number, with a fear in my heart.

“He… hello?” I can instantly tell that she’s a sobbing mess, which makes me feel very guilty. We might have never been on the best of terms, but she’s still my family, and I feel sorry for her now that she’s lost her anchor to the world. I don’t even think she knows how to function without my father, so how will she live a whole life by herself? “Sophia? Is that you? Have you heard?”

I should have called her right away. I don’t know why I allowed myself to get so swallowed up in my own grief… that was really selfish of me.

“It’s me, mom,” I tell her. “I heard. Are you okay? What’s going on?”

She pauses for a few beats, which has my heart hammering loudly. What’s going on? Is she safe? What if she’s been kidnapped? No one is safe anymore, especially not anyone in the Murphy family!

“Aiden has taken over for the time being” she finally tells me. “He’s trying to find the Italian scum that did this to your dad. He’s been over to see me already, he’s really on a mission. I think if anyone can do it, it’s him.”

I don’t know how I feel about that – it’s all too intense and I’m far too deeply involved to know what the best course of action is here. If the Irish and the Italians fight, then we’re all screwed. But I don’t want my dad’s death to be ignored either.

“Do you know anything about what happened? Was it…?” I gulp down the thick ball of emotion that lodges in my throat. “Was it really bad?”

“I don’t know,” she admits. “I heard that he was stabbed in the back, but that it wasn’t long and drawn out. He died quickly.”

Okay, so he didn’t suffer too much – that has to be a good thing…

“Are you okay? Are you safe?” I panic, knowing that I’ll have to get to her right away if there’s any chance of her getting hurt too. I don’t want to lose both of my parents in such a short time – I wouldn’t be able to cope with that!

“I’m okay, Freddie is here with me. He’s been put on watch. There’s no one that can get to me…”

“Can I speak to him?” I ask, wanting to have a conversation with someone who is more in the know. Mom will only be told so much, and I know Freddie well. We have a good relationship so I’m sure that he’ll be willing to tell me more. I’ve known him for a long time, so I feel confident that it’ll be okay to talk to him.

“Hello?” His sharp voice comes on the other end of the line, and I can’t help but feel a little better. Freddie has always had this terrifying sound to him, one that most people are afraid of, but I know that he’s as soft as a teddy bear deep down. At least that hasn’t changed, at least something has remained the same in the ever-changing crazy world around me. “Sophia? Where are you?”

“I’m okay,” I tell him, avoiding the question. I’m not sure if my phone is being hacked, and after what happened this morning I don’t want to give anyone else an excuse to come after me. I need to be smart if I’m going to keep myself safe, especially when I have no idea who I can really trust anymore. “What’s going on? Is everyone alright there?”

“Honestly? It’s about as insane as you can imagine,” he admits. “But I’m not worrying about everyone else – they can look after themselves – I’m worried about you. You’re there in their territory, with no one protecting you. We’re all doing our best to get you out of there…”

I wonder if I should mention Ben and Max, and their very heavy-handed way of doing things. If they were only trying to protect me, then why didn’t they just say so? I might have been more likely to go along with them if they’d just explained what was going on. They didn’t even tell me that my dad had been killed, which thinking about it now is very odd.

Something isn’t right here… I feel like I’m missing something important.

“Can you leave? Are you being held?” Freddie asks, sounding a little hopeful now. Maybe he really does care about me, and his intentions are pure.

I glance around Enzo’s apartment, considering the prosperous nature of that statement. I’m being cared for, looked after, and there’s certainly nothing that’s keeping me here. I’m not locked in or anything! If he needs me to come to him, to help me look after mom, then that’s definitely achievable.

“I’m alone, I can leave,” I tell him. “Why?”

“Aiden
really
wants to meet with you,” he replies, shocking me – I wasn’t expecting that at all. “He has some information for you, and he’s waiting at your father’s headquarters, hoping that one of us can bring you to him.”

“Really?” I gasp. I know Aiden well, he’s been my father’s best friend forever, and now that I know that he has stuff to tell me, I really want to see him. He’s always been around, throughout my whole life, like an uncle or something, and I know for a fact that he has my best interests at heart.

Maybe he knows who killed my dad.

Maybe he has some reason why I shouldn’t be here with Enzo.

Whatever it is, I need to know. I need to get to him to find out for sure.

“Okay, tell him that I’m on the way now – you do mean at the gentleman’s club, right?” I ask him. People always seem to think that I was aware of all of my dad’s business, but to be honest I barely paid it any attention – all my focus was on getting away. I hated it, and I still do, especially now that I’ve been proven right!

“Right, I’ll let him know that you’re on the way. Would you like a car sent for you?”

For some reason, I still feel the need to protect Enzo and his home, so I disagree right away. “No, I’m fine thank you. I already have transport arranged. I’ll see you soon, okay?”

As soon as I hang up the phone, I race into the bedroom, grabbing my bag of my belongings. I need to get changed before I face all of this, I can’t go there in clothes that I’ve slept in – that’s too gross for words. I really want a shower too, but I know that I don’t have time for that. People will understand if I don’t look one hundred percent anyway, my father has just died after all!

I still can’t get my head around that. How can the man who has overshadowed my whole life just be… gone? It doesn’t make any sense. He was one of those presences that you never expect to have to live without, and although things got a little complex towards the end, I still love him dearly. I still remember all of the good times we had, the times when we were close, and I don’t know what I’m going to do without him in my life.

It’s going to be very hard, that’s for sure, but for now I need to focus on how this was allowed to happen. Who did it? And how are they going to be punished?

But as I walk through the door, I manage to bash right into Enzo’s body, as he practically runs indoors.

“Oh… whoa… hi…” I stammer, feeling my face heat up. I was expecting to just be able to walk out of here, without any worries, but it seems like I was wrong. “Are you… what are you…?”

“Where are you going?” He asks, grabbing onto my shoulders to hold me in place. “You can’t leave! Do you understand the danger that you’re in?” He pushes me back inside the door, and an indignant rage starts to overtake me.

What the hell is he playing at?

Am I in danger here? Is Enzo going to attack me?

“What are you doing?” I whine. “I’m going out to see Aiden, to work out what the hell happened to my dad.”

“You can’t,” he shakes his head vigorously. “You’re in danger, the Irish are after you. Aiden isn’t your friend – he wants you dead…”

“Wait,” I interrupt his bizarre rant, starting to grow increasingly frustrated with his attitude. “What are you on about? What do you know? Aiden has been in my life forever… I’ve only known you for a few days. Why on Earth would you think that I would trust you over him?”

“Just trust me,” he insisted. “I have your best interests at heart. He doesn’t.”

“Don’t act like you know about everything!” I yell, starting to lose my shit. Who the fuck does Enzo think he is? His insistence for me not to see Aiden has me feeling very suspicious.

“Look, Aiden isn’t who you think he is. Just trust me on this one…”

“Stop trying to turn me against everyone,” I warn him. “I’ve got my own damn mind, and I’ll do whatever the hell I want!”

But as I try to walk out, he grabs onto my arm and he holds me in place. “You aren’t going anywhere,” he tells me, with an intense seriousness in his eyes. “You can think that I’m being a dick or whatever, but I’m doing this for your own good. You’re mine now, and I have to protect you. You might not be able to see the danger but I can. You’ll thank me for this in the end – I can promise you that much.”

I stare him down, waiting for him to give in, but he isn’t going to. He’s determined to stick to this, and with his body weight compared to mine, and from what I saw earlier, I know that I don’t stand a chance. I can’t fight off someone like Enzo, no matter how hard I try. If he wants me to stay here, and he’s serious about that, then I’m screwed.

So I storm off, racing toward his bedroom where he left me sleeping earlier. I know there’s a lock on that door, and I want to be shut in somewhere that he cannot get to me. I don’t want Enzo anywhere near me, and this is the best way I can achieve that.

I hate him!
I think to myself as I slam the door and I click the lock.
What a dickhead! How dare he?

But then the emotion gets to me, and the anger subsides, giving in to sadness. The reality of my dad dying really hits.

He’s gone, and he’s never coming back.

With that one thought in my mind, I collapse onto the bed and I allow the sobs to consume me.