All Chapters of One Year with the Mafia Boss: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

IsayannaGrandma has been watching me for two days straight. Not the soft watching, the kind that comes with love and warm tea. This is the sharp kind. The kind that peels your skin back and looks at your bones.Jaydon came by yesterday. He stood in our tiny living room, all six feet of expensive cologne and cold confidence, and told her he plans to marry me in two weeks.She did not scream. She did not cry. She just stopped breathing for a second, and then her eyes locked onto me like a trap snapping shut.Now she says nothing. That is the worst part. The silence is louder than any yelling she could ever do.I feel it crawling under my skin as I sit on my bed, pretending to read a paperback. The title mocks me from the cover. 'The Billionaire's Unwanted Bride'. I picked it up at the bookstore yesterday because it felt like a sign. Now it just feels like a warning.What is Grandma thinking? Does she see the truth? Does she know I am lying through my teeth every time I smile and say Ja

IsayannaThe bass from the dive bar throbbed in my chest, a low, dirty vibration that matched the heat under my skin. I tossed my tote onto a sticky stool and scanned the room. The air smelled like stale beer and cheap cologne, but I didn’t see Julie behind the main bar. That meant she was in the back, in the clubhouse, probably rubbing elbows with the bikers and high rollers for a fat tip.My pulse was jagged. I was a mess of nerves and pure, unadulterated fury. What she did wasn't just a mistake. It was a hit to the ribs when I wasn't looking.I hadn't told her over the phone that I’d decided to become Jaydon’s wife. I wanted to see her face. I wanted to see that proud, wicked spark in her eyes when I told her I was doing it—that I was going to spend a year living like a queen, a billionaire’s plaything in name only. She was the one who talked me into it. She’d coached me, hyped me up, told me I was born for the silk sheets and the power.And then she went behind my back to see him.

IsayannaThe screen goes black. The movie I was actually enjoying dies instantly. Grandma drops the remote on the wooden stool with a hollow thud and stares at me. The silence in the living room is heavy, smelling of burnt butter and the salt from the popcorn bowl resting on my lap."Isayanna," she says.I crunch one last kernel, the sound way too loud in the quiet room. I let the bowl slide onto the cushion next to me. I try to look innocent. I try to look like a girl who isn’t hiding a life-altering lie. "I need you to spill it," she says. Her voice is sharp. It cuts right through my act. "The real reason. Why are you tying the knot?"I furrow my brows. I lean into the confusion, hoping my face doesn't betray the heat crawling up my neck. "Why am I getting married? Gran, we already did this.""We talked," she says. She leans forward, her eyes narrowing into slits. "But I’m not buying a word of it. Something is wrong, Isayanna. You’re holding back."She stares at me like she’s waiti

IsayannaThe air in the church is cool, but the lace of my dress feels like it’s suffocating me. I walk toward the altar without a maid of honor. I don’t have a best woman. I only have Grandma, her arm linked with mine, her small hand trembling slightly with pride.Jaydon stands at the wedding arbor. He is perfectly still. He is waiting for his bride, but I feel like a lamb walking toward a blade.A sheer veil hangs over my face, blurring the world into soft, white shadows. I keep my head down. My neck aches from the weight of my own shame. This isn't the dream. In the version I played in my head as a girl, I wasn't shaking with the urge to run. I was walking toward a man who actually wanted me. A man who loved me enough to make the air feel light.Instead, I’m walking toward a contract.Guilt is a physical weight in my stomach. I lied to Grandma. I lied until my throat went dry. I told her Julie was out of town for a job interview. I told her my only friend couldn't make it because s

Isayanna"Grandma!" My voice breaks. I lift my head, meeting a face so flushed with rage it looks bruised. The sight of her fury is a physical blow. I gasp as a hot tear carves a path down my cheek."Isayanna, how dare you lie to me?" she screams. Her voice cracks and splinters under the weight of her anger. Her hands are shaking, and tears stream from her eyes, soaking into the wrinkles of her skin.Before I can even find my breath, Jaydon steps forward. "Grandma," he says. His tone is calm, but it has a jagged, protective edge that makes my skin prickle. He moves to my side, his presence a wall of heat just as the sting in my cheek begins to thrum with a dull, steady beat.I look at Julie through a blur of tears. She is smirking. Her lips curl into a slow, satisfied grin before she actually has the nerve to wink at me. Bitch.My hands clench into fists at my sides. I want to scream, but my grandmother turns on Jaydon before I can find the words. Her focus shifts like a storm moving