MARKED BY THE MAFIA
Marked By The Mafia – Episode 33&34
[…BOUND BY DUTY…]
GENRE: Dark Romance
TAGS: MAFIAS, OBSESSION, POSSESSIVE, LOVE, STEAMY, LOVE TRIANGLE, EMPIRE, BETRAYAL, CRIME, VIOLENCE, DEATHS AND MANY MORE…
✧༺✰༻✧
✮{…THE ANNOUNCEMENT…}✮
His lips brushed her ear as he whispered hoarsely, “I’m sorry… wifey”
Aurora froze in his embrace, her heart slamming against her chest, torn between confusion and a feeling she dared not name.
___
Aurora pushed him back slightly, her brows furrowing as she tried to process the weight of his words. Her voice came out unsteady, tinged with disbelief.
“You locked me up all day… and now you’re apologising?”
Matteo’s lips twitched into something between a grimace and a smirk. “Damn… you’re so stubborn”
Aurora’s eyes darted toward the bed, where the silver pendant lay glinting faintly under the dim light.
She pointed at it.
“For the last time, Matteo,who’s Bianca to you?”
Silence.
His jaw tightened, but no answer came. He turned his face away, dismissing her with his silence.
Aurora’s chest rose and fell with frustration. Her eyes burned, but she refused to let him see her break. With an angry breath, she spun on her heel and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Matteo stood frozen for a moment, the echo of her footsteps fading down the hall. Slowly, he turned back to the bed.
The pendant still gleamed there, mocking him with memories he had buried deep.
He picked it up carefully, his thumb brushing over the engraved name as if it were fragile. His eyes darkened, thoughts swirling in the silence, before he slipped it into his pocket.
•••
SAME NIGHT, AT THE RIVERSIDE*
Bianca crouched by the water’s edge, her trembling hands clutching a handful of pebbles. With a choked breath, she hurled one into the river. It skipped once before vanishing beneath the surface.
“Move on, he said…” she whispered bitterly, her voice breaking against the emptiness.
Another pebble left her fingers, harder this time. It hit the water with a violent plop, spraying cold droplets on her skin. She didn’t even flinch.
Tears blurred her vision, but she kept throwing, stone after stone, as if punishing the river for the ache clawing through her chest.
“I loved you, Matty… I gave you everything” she sobbed, the words drowned by the restless current.
Her strength finally gave out, and the last pebble slipped uselessly from her hand. She stared at the widening ripples until they disappeared, just as Matteo had vanished from her life all those years ago.
The infinity tattoo above her heart burned with every breath. She pressed her palm against it, whispering hoarsely to the night—
“I’ll never move on…”
The river carried her vow away, but she knew it was already carved into her soul.
Her tears fell harder as memories clawed their way back, raw and unforgiving.
Bianca remembered the night she realized she was pregnant. Her whole body had trembled not out of fear, but out of hope. Hope that maybe, just maybe, Matteo would protect her, would claim her, would finally prove that what they shared wasn’t just fleeting lust but love.
But Matteo never came back.
Instead, the whispers spread through the club. The boss found out, and her disgust was louder than any slap.
“A stripper carrying a bastard? Get the hell out of my club, Bianca. You’re a liability”
The humiliation had burned worse than fire. In one night, she lost her job, her dignity, and the fragile illusion of belonging. She was tossed out like trash, left standing in the rain with nothing but a broken heart and a baby she hadn’t even felt yet.
She had thought of keeping it, she wanted to keep it. She would’ve carried a piece of him, her Matty, even if he had abandoned her. But reality was cruel. She had no family, no money and no safe place to raise a child.
Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “How would we have survived?” she choked, staring at the rushing current as though it held the answers she never found.
So she did the unthinkable. She took her last scraps of money and paid for an abortion. She bled alone in a dingy room, her cries swallowed by the dark. When it was over, part of her soul had died with that child.
And now…years later, Matteo had looked her in the eyes and told her to move on.
Her body shook with rage and grief.
She grabbed another pebble and hurled it into the river with all her strength.
“Move on indeed!” she screamed out, her voice shattering the stillness of the night.
Her knees gave out, and she sank into the dirt, clutching her stomach as though the ghost of that unborn child still lived inside her.
The shame never left her. The loss never left her. And now, his rejection cut deeper than any wound she had ever carried.
Bianca wiped her tears roughly, her expression hardening in the silver glow of the moon.
If Matteo thought she would disappear quietly again, he was wrong.
This time, she wasn’t running.
This time, she would make him remember.
Her breathing was still ragged, tears drying against her cheeks, when the sharp buzz of her phone broke the silence.
She fumbled it out of her pocket, her fingers trembling, and glanced at the screen.
Mother Superior.
For a heartbeat, Bianca considered ignoring it. But her thumb betrayed her, and she answered.
“Daughter Bianca,” came the familiar, gentle voice. “How is your relative? You told us she was ill. And when will you be returning to the convent? The sisters have been praying for your swift return.
Bianca’s throat tightened, her eyes burning again but this time not with sorrow but with fury.
She looked at the rushing river, at the moon’s reflection shattered across the water.
Her voice came out cold and final.
“I’m never coming back”
There was a stunned silence on the other end of the line. “Bianca? My child, what do you—”
The call ended with a sharp click.
Bianca dropped the phone into her lap, her chest heaving.
She tilted her head back, closing her eyes as a bitter smile curled her lips.
The nun was dead.
What stood at the riverside now… was a woman with nothing left to lose.
•••
AT THE EMPIRE*
The door to her suite creaked open, and Vixen stepped out, perfume trailing in her wake like a trap.
Across the corridor, Viper emerged at the same time.
Their eyes met.
They hissed at each other under their breath, before tearing their gazes away, ignoring one another as if the other didn’t exist.
Both continued down the hallway, answering a call no one in the empire dared disobey.
Ace had summoned them.
Inside the grand inner chamber, silence reigned.
Ace stepped forward from the shadows.
His voice cut through the stillness, cold and sharp.
“In three days, we move” he continued.
“Our destination is Paris. Our mission is vengeance”
The room stilled.
“The ghost who murdered our boss’s mother has been found. He thought he could vanish into the City of Lights. He thought wrong”
Viper’s lips curved faintly and Rocco’s knuckles cracked while Rosa’s blades gleamed faintly in her grip.
“We have seventy-two hours to prepare. Arm yourselves. Say your prayers. Burn your sins if you must. ” you are reading from www.mhiztaemy.com.ng” Because once we land in Paris…” He paused, letting the silence choke them. “…there will be no mercy. Not for him and not for anyone who stands in our way”
They didn’t speak.
Three days.
And then Paris would bleed.
“That’s all from boss for now. As you were”
They all left one after the other. Ace eyes followed the sway of Vixen’s hips as she stepped toward the exit.
He moved quickly, catching up with her. “How about we take a walk?” he asked, his voice lower than usual.
Vixen didn’t even slow down. She turned her head slightly, her crimson lips curving into a smirk that didn’t reach her eyes.
“Walk with yourself” And just like that, she was gone.
From the corner, Rosa had been watching.
When Ace turned, their eyes met. She stepped closer, her voice a quiet purr. “Let’s go take that walk instead”
For a moment, it seemed like he might consider it. But his expression shut down, colder than before.
“Not interested”
He brushed past her, his pace quick, his fists tight at his sides.
Rosa’s smile faltered and then, laughter from nowhere.
Blade leaned casually against the wall, flipping his butterfly knife between his fingers, his grin wide and mocking.
“Life isn’t balanced, Rosa,” he drawled. “The one you like, likes someone else. And the someone he likes, doesn’t like him. Round and round it goes, the beautiful, fucked-up circle of love”
Rosa shot him a glare sharp enough to cut, but Blade only chuckled, spinning the knife one last time before slipping it back into his pocket.
“Don’t take it too hard,” he added with a wink. “At least rejection keeps life interesting”
Rosa turned on her heel and walked off, her silence louder than words.
Blade stayed leaning against the wall, still grinning to himself.
“Ah,” he murmured, staring after them. “This empire bleeds more from love than bullets”
“Paris here I come!”
•••
NEXT MORNING, MATTEO’S MANSION*
Aurora stirred awake, the faint glow of the morning filtering through the curtains. Her body ached with exhaustion, but sleep had done little to ease the storm in her chest. She dragged herself out of bed, slipped on a robe, and padded quietly down the stairs.
The kitchen was silent, save for the hum of the coffee machine as she brewed herself a cup.
Mug in hand, she walked toward the sitting room only to stop short.
Matteo sat there, sharp in black, his focus pinned to the glowing screen of his laptop. His fingers tapped quickly against the keys, his face a mask of concentration.
He didn’t look up when he spoke. His tone was clipped, businesslike.
“We leave for Paris in two days. Get ready”
Aurora sipped her coffee, watching him carefully. The caffeine burned warm down her throat, steadying her nerves.
“What’s the mission? I’m down for anything”
Finally, his eyes lifted to meet hers.
“We’re hunting down a dangerous man,” Matteo said evenly. “And it won’t be quick. We could be in Paris for weeks before this ends”
Aurora set her mug down on the glass table.
“And what exactly is your plan, Matteo? You think you’ll just walk into a powerful man’s house and take him down? What’s your angle?”
Matteo leaned back in his chair, his fingers steepled under his chin.
“We don’t walk in,” he said slowly. “We infiltrate. Gain trust. Peel his empire apart from the inside”
Aurora’s brows furrowed. “And how do you plan to do that?”
A faint, dangerous smile tugged at his lips. “He’s looking for a wife for his son. That’s our door in”
Aurora crossed her arms, her tone laced with defiance.
“So who’s the unlucky woman you’re planning to throw to the wolves? Who’s supposed to play the doting bride while secretly spying on this family?”
Matteo’s gaze lingered on Aurora, the words you nearly slipping past his lips.
But then… he thought of Bianca. She was sharper, untamed, perfect for a game like this.
He leaned back slowly, masking the shift in his thoughts with a casual shrug.
“Let’s see” he murmured.
Suddenly, Aurora bolted upright as if a rope had been snapped inside her. The stairs were a blur beneath her bare feet as she climbed. Matteo looked up from the laptop, frown carving deeper as the sound hit him through the quiet house.
She came back pale, hair loose, robe clinging to her like a damp shadow. Her face was washed raw with nausea and fatigue. She put a trembling hand to her mouth and swallowed as if tasting something sour that wouldn’t leave.
Matteo didn’t move at first… only watched her, the cool line of his jaw tightening.
“What was that?” he asked finally, the question small and dangerous.
She shook her head. “I don’t know”
He stood, crossing the room in three long strides until he was close enough for her to feel the cold of him. His thumb pressed against her wrist like a soft reprimand.
“It better not be what I’m thinking,” he said, the words clipped, clipped like a blade. “If it is…then you abort it. Now is the wrong time”
Aurora’s tired eyes suddenly blazed. She yanked her wrist out of his grasp, her voice cracking through the silence like thunder.
“Abort it? Are you out of your damn mind, Matteo? You locked me up, punish me as you like, but this child is mine, and I won’t let you decide its fate. That’s if I’m truly pregnant”
Her chest heaved, fury sharpening every word. “You don’t own me, and you don’t own this body. Don’t you dare tell me what to do with it”
The porcelain mug on the table rattled as she slammed her hand down, the echo vibrating through the room.
“I’m not some mission you can control. If there’s a life inside me… then it’s mine, Matteo. Mine and not yours to erase just because it doesn’t fit into your perfect damn plans”
“You don’t get to choose this time”
“Being pregnant at this period is a wrong idea, Aurora. We’re going on a mission for crying out loud. A deadly one. Do you even realize what that means?”
Aurora’s lips trembled before curling into a bitter smile. She met his gaze with burning eyes, fury lacing every word.
“I don’t wish to carry your child either,” she spat, her voice cutting like glass. “I hope it turns out to be nothing more than malaria”
Before Matteo could reply, she spun around, her robe flaring with the force of her movement, and stormed inside, the door slamming behind her.
Matteo stood there, then his phone buzzed against the table.
It was the number Bianca used in calling him days ago.
For a long second, he just stared at it. His thumb hovered, hesitating. He almost let it ring out. Almost.
Finally, he swiped to answer.
“Matteo—” her voice cracked through the line.
He cut her off instantly, his tone cold and commanding.
“Let’s meet. We need to discuss something important”
There was a pause on the other end.
“Where?”
Matteo’s gaze flicked toward the closed door Aurora had disappeared behind, his eyes darkening.
“I’ll send you the location”
And without another word, he hung up.
•
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TBC😈
