Chapter 2; My Husband is a Mafia Boss

The car turned onto the winding road leading to Vincenzo's fortress, she couldn't help but feel a mix of fear and nervousness. This was her first time visiting a big city like Italy, and to top it off, she was about to step into a grand mansion that seemed to emerge straight from a fairy tale,a contrast to the life of poverty she was born and raised in.

She couldn't contain her awe as she approached his fortress. The grandeur of the mansion, resembling a castle, left her speechless. She made sure to hide her astonishment, not wanting to appear too overwhelmed in front of his men.

As Eleanorah stepped out of the car and into the fortress, trailing his and his men's footsteps, she couldn't help but feel a wave of apprehension.

The beauty of her surroundings contrasted sharply with the heaviness in her heart. She was now a married woman in name only, but bound a captive to a man whose reputation preceded him.

The feeling of being trapped in a world she didn't belong to, surrounded by people whose loyalty lay with the man beside her.

She hit one of the men she followed closely, but was quick in retreating back, sensing that Vincenzo had paused while she was lost.

She watched as he was made way to sit on the couch. It's intricate designs suggested that it was expensive, and would take her probably till the day of her death to be able to buy one.

She watched a man emerge from one of the doors. He carried and briefcase and Vincenzo extended his hand out to him and was handed a paper.

"Sign this, and I will take you to your room after" one of the men went, showing no atom of emotions in the way they had brought her from the world she had known all her life.

He collected the papers from Vincenzo and handed it over to her.

"Don't I deserve a seat too? Am I that unworthy of one?" She questioned, seeing that she stood like his other men, while Vincenzo sat alone on the sofa.

" I am becoming your bride. Even though it is in paper and for only a year, at least, masters gave their captives a good life and treated them like humans since they found them worthy of being collected. Am I not worthy enough to sit on one of your chairs?" She stopped talking when she saw that no one replied her questions.

The man who seemed like his most trusted did not too, Vincenzo gave him no signs to, like he always did before.

She signed and began to read the paper in her hand.

It was a court agreement.

She was surprised at how fast everything around him was done. It wasn't up to an hour when he asked her to be his contract bride for a Year, and here it was already written, for her to sign, and ofcourse with the rules she was meant to obey.

She scuffed. "Much for being a billionaire Mafia boss" she muttered to herself, a bitter acknowledgment of the reality she found herself in now—a world where power and wealth dictated everything, even the terms of her existence for the next year.

Her eyes read off all that concerned the Non-disclosure agreement which was first on the list.

He must have valued himself and his illegal dealings. If he was afraid of them getting disclosed, why then was he still indulging in them. She questioned herself.

Her eyes read off the security orders as well, and about how she was expected to go to all places she's told to go with Dmitri, the head of the enforcers, like it was written.

She found nothing wrong with it. Afterall, he needed to know what she was up to and perhaps ways to punish her if she thought of betraying him, but more than all, she found it good for herself as he would serve as her security from his enemies.

Her heart stopped when she reached the fourth clause...

The third about strictly obeying all of Vincenzo's commands were already known to her.

He was her captor, and she his captive, regardless of how he termed it being his bride.

Would she dare disobey him when her family's lives were in his hands?

But when she read the "Restricted Communication Clause" and about how her family had been sent to Rome, she paused and reread it countless times to make it sink in.

Her family had been sent to Rome, the first people she would be guilty of communicating with. So if she tried to communicate with other people, her family in Rome would be punished by the mafia's men for it.

"No, why did you send them to Rome" she began, disobeying the third clause she had just finished reading.

"They know no one in Rome, what do you expect them to do in Rome, they know no one in Rome" she started sobbing but the man paid no attentions to her sobs.

She watched him stand up and made way to leave.

She had not seen him, his hat still covered his face.

Perhaps it covered his heart too and made him blind to the plight of others, she thought.

As he made way to leave and she bent to continue crying, she noticed a liquid substance touching her almost immediately.

Raising her head to check what it was, she found out that it was blood.

The man that stood closest to her had been shot down.

Vincenzo's fortress was under attack!

Her eyes popped out of her eye sockets.

"Protect the Don!!!" She heard one scream.

Using her belly, she crawled under the chair that Vincenzo had sat on before.

Even if the attackers were to come into the room, they would be unable to find her there because the room was dark and cold, and devoid of any ornaments or artifacts like most billionaires in movies decorated their houses with.

She covered her ears as Vincenzo's men began to shoot too.

It was new to her. It all. Being attacked in the dead of the night was new to her. Being attacked by guns that came from different directions.

She prayed for it all to end as the blood that splashed all over the marble floor scared her.

She hated blood, but now she had to watch a significant amount of it flow down to where she was hiding, and without being able to do anything about it. She closed her ears and continued to wish for it all to end.

Vincent sat on a wooden chair in his study by the side of the living room as he watched the shootings unfold.

He was used to it.

They were just unskilled assassin's that were sent probably by his half brother to attack him and his new bride. News travel fast huh.

He must have picked it up from his spies.

He was smoking a cigar he held in his hand as he made movements with his leg, counting.

As he was counting, he saw the girl he had brought crawling under the couch.

She mirrored his life.

She mirrored his ten year old self and he hated it.

For years he had caged all and destroyed everything that reminded him of his ten year old helpless self but this lady brought pieces of them back without much difficulty.

The sofa was his hiding place. From witnessing the brutality of his father against his mom, and the ruthlessness of the Mafia world he was raised in, he always hid under the sofa.

Watching her hide there too, he could only remember his Ten year old self, and how fearful of a child he had been.

"Twenty" he muttered and Dmitri sent a bullet to the head of the last of the attackers still alive.

The chaos subsided and the silence that resonated around the fortress returned to it once again.

"You can come on out now, Signorina" Dmitri said and extended his hand to Eleanorah', whom he knew hid under the couch.

She came out but did not take the hand he had offered him.

Her mouth were struck aghast with shock and disbelief as she looked all over the place.

Everywhere sparkled, leaving no evidence of what had happened minutes ago.

She started breathing heavily.

If something were to happen to her, no one would find out, and no one could.

Her death would be masked also, it would be manipulated and concealed with ease just like those that had gotten shot earlier, just minutes ago she hid under the couch.

Her body would be taken care of and all evidence would be destroyed within a matter of seconds.

She shifted her gaze to where Vincent sat. She couldn't see his face, except his lips that he smoked with.

He put off the cigar and stood up to leave, saying nothing and to no one.

All the men followed him except Dmitri, who stayed back with Eleanorah, signifying that he had started his duty.

"I will take you to your room now, Signorina" he said and carried her up, sensing that she has yet to come in terms with everything she has witnessed the night.

Eleanorah's eyes were already red.

She left her arms dangle as Dmitri carried her across the long passage.

She had signed up for her nightmare with her own hands. She had signed up for this on her own accord. This was more than she bargained for.

Would she die at the hands of the Mafia boss before the year was completed or would she be killed in one of the attacks orchestrated by one of his enemies?.

As she was carried through the fortress, her mind raced with questions and doubts, she felt life being suffocated out of her.

Her heart became heavy with the realization that her life was now woven to Vincenzo's, for better or for worse