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The Mafia's Crazy Obsession 80
AbelI was dreaming.It was one of those dreams where nothing basically happens. One of those dreams you feel your legs can't touch the ground. You feel as though you're drifting in space, not recalling anything. Not seeing, nor feeling anything but fire in your side.And then you hear voices. They sound so far away, bold, spoken words that sound like the faintest whispers. And then you're falling from space. And then you catch glimpses of the incidents that led to you having that terrible burn in your side.And then you make out one of the voices talking to belong to the only woman you had ever loved.The monitors bleeped like an endless, buzzing swarm of bees. I heard the doctor asking Lana to go home and get some rest, but she was adamant. I heard her refer to me as stubborn, and it made me smile all the time. Whenever I managed to drift back to consciousness, she was there, sitting by my side and holding my hand. Sometimes she cried, and I knew it wasn't tears of sadness. At first
The Mafia's Crazy Obsession 81
AbelLana walked them out then returned to me shortly. “Frank is mischievous.”“Yes, he is. He's Andrew's son through and through. Which is why I'm staying away from that pea soup. I don't trust that kid.”The room returned to it's revered solitude as our smiles faded. Her eyes glazed over, and I could have felt like I imagined the tears if she hadn't subtly raised a finger to dab them off.“I thought I had lost you too. I couldn't feel your pulse. I couldn't feel you breathe, and you were so still. So calm. The blood was all over...oh God...” she trailed off, her voice breaking, eyes filled with tears.I was so close to crying too. Reaching up to touch her face, although my arm felt sore even with that small, gentle movement, I whispered with a nervous chuckle. “Takes more than one gunshot to kill me off. A Stravkos never dies that easily.”She sniffled, a hint of a smile on her lips. “You have no idea how grateful I am to death for not taking you. You've become my whole world, Abel.
The Mafia's Crazy Obsession 82
SolanaAbel moved into the guest room downstairs while he recovered. The doctor was against him stressing himself, and climbing stairs would be fatal to his health since he was still very much fragile. I moved into the room with him and slept beside him, taking extreme care not to touch the still tender spot the bullet had ripped into. I knew he still felt pain, but insisted on less and less medication, saying he could wing it. After a day of being home, he could walk to the bathroom and house entrance on his own, although it wore him out.“This is sickening,” he complained a week later after one of his visits to the bathroom. I looked up at him from where I was sitting on the bed. “I hate being weak. That's not the Stravkos way.”He lay back down and I helped him tuck the blanket up to his waist. “Stop whining. You're getting stronger everyday. I can feel it.”“Well I can't feel anything but my weak bones and side. I'm not healing fast enough.”“You are, but you won't notice because
The Mafia's Crazy Obsession 83
AbelFulfilling my promise to Lana had got to be the most liberating thing I'd ever done.It took away the guilt I'd felt on that day I saw her for the first time; star-strucked by those bright-eyes that dimmed when her father announced the purpose of our visit with tears in his eyes. It took away the feeling of possessiveness — the need to control her. It took away a lot of things I wasn't proud about, and left me with a warm glow in my chest. What it didn't take away, however, was my ever-increasing love for her.Andre came over to the house the following morning, and handed me the initial contract she and I had signed. I couldn't look at it — I set it aside, and had him draw up a new one. This one wrote off any debt the Williams family owed any Stravkos, real or perceived, and the two families were no longer bound in any way. In any form. I also directed him, to make that part possible to be overturned in the future at any time.I signed it immediately and had a copy sent to Helen
The Mafia's Crazy Obsession Epilogue
AbelWe didn't speak for the rest of the drive. There were so many things to say, so many demons to confront, and they hovered right above up, making the air thick with a dense foreboding. Once we reached the mansion, I climbed out of the car, and straightened my shirt, clutching the envelope containing the new contract. It was not necessary getting Father to sign it — his signature mattered less — but for closure to be properly achieved, I had to do it this way.“Ready, sweetheart?”Before I could nod and respond, Lana wound her arm through mine. Since I got shot, we'd gotten much closer to each other. We enjoyed each other's company, craved each other's opinions and bodies, and when she did stuff like this, touching me like this, it made me feel lucky, special. It made my heartbeat quicken, my heart filling with a joy I'd never thought possible.I pulled her back. “You don't have to go in with me. I won't waste any time. Once he signs it, I'm getting right out of there.” I watched h
The Mafia's Crazy Obsession 1
Abel “Here,” Father huffed, grabbing the contract papers from the attorney and sliding them across the Lucite glass table in our midst. I lifted my gaze to meet his harsh, unyielding eyes. “Quit looking at me and sign the damn papers already. We've got a lot of other things to get to.”I nodded nervously, skimming over the papers quickly, my pen poised over the signature line. It would be fatal to defy my father. Norman Stravkos was a no nonsense man. The head of a powerful underground Mafia gang. A pesky drug lord that evaded the hands of the law like sudden lightening. His word was law, and his actions — unbred chaos.Taking in a deep breath, I scribbled my signature down on the contract papers, pressing so hard that the track of my signature left a groove on the sheet of paper. Setting the pen down, I slid the papers across the table. Only this time, I wasn't passing it to my father but her.Solana.Guilt spiked in my veins as I braved myself to look at her briefly before turning
The Mafia's Crazy Obsession 2
SolanaSix years later.Tuscany, ItalyThe last time I'd been in church was when I was a baby. My parents were not religious, but Mother had wanted me to have a baptism. It was held in this same cathedral, and Mother told me how proud she felt holding me close to her bosom as she followed the priest to the altar. How afraid, yet confident, that Father walked beside her. How a massive crowd of friends and business associates had turned out, just for me.I would always be her favourite child. Always.Shortly after my baptism, my father tended his resignation letter to Steele Corp — the app developing company he'd worked in for thirty solid years, and struck out on his own, with the help of Norman Stravkos; who became his new master. He stopped going to church, started sleeping around town with girls, and treated my mother like shit. All for the money. All for the fame. All for the glory. All for everything that would ruin him and his generations to come.Today, as I followed his casket
The Mafia's Crazy Obsession 3
SolanaI straightened, masking my grief briefly behind a wall of indifference before letting my gaze travel up his face. Mother had taught me how to hide my feelings well over the years. She was always at the door whenever Father came back late from work with stuffy excuses of being stuck with traffic or intentionally staying back to finish up some files that had to be turned in the next day. She'd smile, and pat his shoulder as though in understanding. But when he took his clothes off in the bedroom, I watched her sniff them for the faintest smell of a cologne different from his. Her eyes would water, but she'd blink them off the minute she saw me looking. She'd toss the clothes aside and crouch with a million-dollar smile that never seemed to reach her eyes if you knew her well enough.She was the strongest woman I'd ever seen. The strongest.My heart clanged hard against my chest, as I inhaled in shallow, breathy intakes. Time seemed to slow down, the world tilting, a splash of bla
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