Vengeful Matrimony | ✔️

Chapter 8

The look of pure panic on Giselle's face when the car pulled up in the driveway was my highlight of tonight so far.

See, I didn't have a problem with the way Giselle was dressed. She looked stunning, and I was a firm believer in letting people dress how they wanted to, but my relatives? Not so much.

The impending insults weren't even what bothered me. It was the fact that a few of these men were perverts who'd be elated to feast their eyes on her body.

At least that would be a good enough reason to kill one of my stronzo uncles. It was part of the commandments. You never looked at the wife of a made man - especially a don - except you wanted to get a bullet between your eyes.

"Niko!" Daniella exclaimed when we walked through the front door, throwing her arms open.

She wrapped me in a bear hug for a few seconds before pulling away. She beamed at Giselle, doing the same with her.

"I didn't think you two would make it," she said. "I'm Daniella. Matteo's mother. You have met him, yes?"

"Yes. He's a lovely young man," Giselle replied with a smile I couldn't tell if it was fake or not, but her answer sure was.

She had only exchanged three words with him, and he automatically became a 'lovely young man'.

"Matteo told me you have some business to handle," Daniella said to me. "Go deal with that. Giselle can come with me to the kitchen."

Giselle's eyes bulged out of her head. Understandably. She didn't know how to cook, and my family was big on sharing recipes and foods from time to time. They'd expect the same from Giselle.

Daniella clamped her hand down on Giselle's wrist, dragging her to the kitchen. I stood in the foyer, watching Giselle shoot me a pleading look as my aunt dragged her away.

When she concluded I wouldn't help her, she glared at me before allowing herself to be dragged to the kitchen.

When they were gone, I made my way to the dining hall where everyone was gathered - well, everyone I could think of.

I took my seat at the other end of the table, waiting for one of them to speak up. That turned into a five-minute wait as each man looked everywhere but me. So Matteo had filled them in on what was going on.

"Well?" I prompted. "Is someone going to tell me how the D'Onofrios found out we had an issue with the FBI?"

"We're just as surprised as you, Niko," Rocco, Matteo's father, finally said.

I pulled my gun out, placing it on the table in front of me. "You know why things weren't looking good for us when my dead father was the head of this family? Take a quick guess people."

"Disloyalty and dishonesty," Evander replied.

"First, I find out some pezzo di merda has been fucking me over for what? Two months. Like that wasn't bad enough, our rivals got information about that. I have to deal with the dishonesty, disloyalty, and embarrassment of my soldiers.

"Don't be fooled, people. Sure, the five Families are in harmony, but the moment they sense a power shift, things are going to change. The underdogs are going to come out of their hiding holes. Fabiano doesn't need ammunition against this Family."

Fabiano D'Onofrio owed no one loyalty. He was Capo dei Capi, and that meant he was going to do everything to remain in power even though it meant throwing his "allies" under the bus.

"It won't happen again," Matteo said. "Right?" He asked, getting murmurs of agreement from our cousins and uncles.

I leaned back in my chair, shoving my gun back into my pants. "It better not."

I rose to my feet, making my way out of the dining hall. Cazzo, I needed a drink. Just because they said the slip-up wouldn't happen again didn't mean it wouldn't happen. I had a feeling in my gut that Ivan wasn't the only snitch.

We had another rat, but I couldn't tell who it was. I made my way to the garden where I knew from experience that I wouldn't get disturbed before lighting up a cigarette.

For all I knew, it could all just be paranoia after everything that happened with Ivan, a man I trusted.

"I don't think your aunts like me very much."

I stiffened momentarily before relaxing. "Why are you here, Giselle?"

She rounded the corner before coming to sit next to me under the gazebo. "You smoke?"

"Nice try. Don't deflect my question."

"Daniella asked me to call you. Dinner has been served."

"You can go. Tell them I'll join them in a few minutes."

"I'll wait for you."

I looked down at her with a frown. "I just said I'll join the table in a few minutes."

"And I said I'll wait for you."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not comfortable around your family."

And she thought I'd be a source of comfort for her around them? I studied her face for a long minute. What was wrong with her? Why was she acting like we were a couple?

Just like she did in the car, she reached for my hand, threading her fingers through mine. I couldn't help but notice how perfectly they fit together, her smaller ones looking even more delicate in my much larger ones.

Maybe she wasn't the one who was screwed in the head. What the fuck was that shit about how delicate her hands were? I squashed my cigarette underneath my shoe. Maybe that was what was fucking with my head.

"Now is the perfect time to talk about our relationship, don't you think?"

"We do not have a relationship." I yanked my hand out of her grasp, standing over her. What the heck was wrong with me? I was supposed to make her suffer, not hold hands with her in a gazebo. "Get that into your head."

She chuckled, rising to her feet, too. "Sooner or later, you're bound to let go of that anger," she said before walking away.

My lips curled up in anger. Let go of my anger, my ass. I was going to make her pay for killing Gianna before she got to fulfill her dreams. That was my only reason for marrying her.

Nothing else mattered. Not even the fact that I wanted her to paint my cock red with that lipstick of hers.

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