~ Niamh ~
"I would never. Ever. Marry this monster," I bit out, pointing my fingers at Massimo who reddened with anger.
"Don't call me that," he warned, his voice thick with a low, dangerous rumble.
"I will, because that's exactly what you are. A monster," I jutted my chin forward, daring him to do something about it.
"I'm not a monster," he snarled.
"Niamh.."
"Don't call me!" I wheeled on Marietta with a burning gaze. "I'm not marrying him and that's my final decision. In fact, I'm leaving with my son now."
"You can't leave," Massimo said, getting to his feet immediately, his large frame casting a long shadow across the room.
"You can't stop me," I shot back and began making my way to the exit Luis had left with Matteo to find my son.
Massimo blocked my path, his chest like a wall of granite.
"Move," I warned, glaring up at him. From this close, I could pick his scent—that same dark, spicy mix of bay leaves and cedar that had lured me in five years ago.
"I'm not gonna sit back and watch you make a rash decision that will put you and my son in danger," he stared me down.
"Oh, now all of a sudden you want to marry me?" I scoffed. "Where was the man that didn't want to take things further?"
"I'll do anything to ensure my son and his mother are safe, even if it involves marrying you against your will," Massimo declared.
"I'd rather be with the Romanovs than marry you," I spat and attempted to go past him.
He didn't budge. Anger and something else—was it hurt?—flared in his eyes.
"I want to have a moment alone with Niamh," Massimo declared, staring boldly at his family like a man who knew his place in the command chain.
"Y'all should leave." He glanced at the Don and added reluctantly, "Please."
I looked at the others and saw them staring at the Don, waiting for his consent. Don Giacomo pinned Massimo with a heavy stare.
"You both take your time. You have tonight to sort things out and come up with a decision tomorrow morning at breakfast," he shifted his gaze to me, and somehow it hardened. "I hope you make the right decision, Niamh."
I swallowed as the Don slowly rose to his feet and walked away. The threat in his voice was like sunshine.
He might as well have said, "Make the right decision, Niamh, or I'll make it for you." To him, my fate was already sealed as far as his grandson was concerned; I would marry his son, and my agreement was just a formality.
I balled my fists as I watched him leave. I won't be pushed around and treated like a pawn who didn't have a say in any matter.
Especially when it was a decision that involved a lifetime commitment to a monster.
"Massimo, don't keep her up too long. I believe she had a long day and needs to rest," Juliette admonished her son as she came to stand beside us.
She looked at me and offered that motherly smile that reminded me so much of my mother's when she was still alive. "Niamh, we have had dinner already, so I'll have Luis make something delicious for you while Cecilia prepares a room for you, okay?"
I nodded and tried a little smile. It was difficult not to. The women in this family seemed to be of a different breed compared to the men.
Juliette patted my cheek and left the room, and the others followed closely behind to get on with their lives.
Cristiano, of course, didn't leave without making a scene.
He flicked my hair as he walked past us and turned around after a couple of steps to wink at me.
Massimo hissed and looked ready to punch his brother as he glared at Cristiano who sauntered away, effortlessly exuding charismatic nonchalance with a glass of whiskey still swirling in his hand.
My lips twitched subtly. Cristiano seemed like the perfect tool to constantly annoy Massimo, and I was willing to exploit it.
I know I shouldn't be thinking of him as a tool, but well…
"Look, Niamh," Massimo interrupted my thoughts, obviously done with hating his brother. "I'm sorry you had to raise our son on your own for the past four years. I didn't…"
"Shut up," I snapped, cutting him off. "Just shut up. Apologizing for being an asshole won't change anything, so stop it."
Massimo's eyes were wide with shock, and the look on his face told me it had been a long time since someone shut him up.
But I didn't care.
I projected the fury burning inside me into my gaze as I looked him in the eyes. "And you should know that I didn't raise him alone. He was surrounded by people that loved and protected him, so you weren't ever needed."
A vein pulsed on his temple, and his dark eyes gleamed with barely contained anger.
"Well, now he's mine to protect," he bit out icily.
"No, he's not," I countered, matching his tone.
"He is, and you too, because I'm the only one that can protect both of you now. That's why you must marry me," he stated.
"And I said I won't marry you," I retorted.
"Can't you just set your feelings aside for once and think straight?" His frustration was evident now. "Two mafia syndicates are gunning for you and your son's life, and you are rejecting the only protection you can get because of your flimsy hatred for me?"
"Flimsy hatred?" I echoed, my eyes wide and my hands balled into fists. "Did you just say flimsy hatred?"
I took a step closer, leaning on my toes in my heels to get closer to his height and glare directly into his eyes.
Massimo had the decency to look a bit ashamed, but it quickly morphed into something else as his eyes slid down to my chest, where the dress barely covered my breasts, showing a lot of cleavage.
A burning sensation spread from my chest all over my body as it reacted instantly to his gaze.
His eyes slowly drifted back up to look at me, and my breath hitched. The air in the room was suddenly charged with an overwhelming mix of sexual tension, anger, and frustration.
He had the same look in his eyes—that dark, intense heat that hadn't just made me follow a stranger to his bed five years ago, but made me care less about him not wearing a condom when he slid into me.
"Let me protect you and our son, Niamh," Massimo's voice was low and rough with heat, the sound of it making all the sensitive spots in my body tingle. "I abandoned you once, and I won't do it again, not when my bloodline is in danger too."
"That's the reason, huh? Your son. That's why you're acting like I matter to you all of a sudden," I said, hating that my voice cracked a little.
"Niamh…" Massimo tried to grab my arm, but I flinched and took a couple of steps back.
"Tell me, if you found out that I was in danger without a son for you, would you have saved me?" I looked him straight in the eyes.
He hesitated for a moment, as if considering the question, and I shook my head, gritting my teeth.
I didn't want to hear his answer anymore.
"You don't have to answer; I already know what you will say," I held up my hand when he tried to talk. "Without a son for you, I'm not valuable enough to cause a war between three mafia syndicates. Like you said, you never intended to take things further."
"It doesn't matter. What matters now is that you and your son are in danger and the only way for you both to be safe is for you to marry me," he said, reverting back to his cold self.
"It doesn't matter?" My voice was louder now with anger and disgust.
"Come on, Niamh, let the past remain in the past," he raised his voice too, his frustration boiling over.
"Just like that?" I barely resisted the urge to slap him. "I should forget how you ruined my life five years ago because I need to focus on the present and bury the past?"
"So what the bloody hell do you want to do?" He placed his hands on his hips and stared at me like I was a stubborn twelve-year-old kid who refused to be controlled.
"What I want to do is take my son and get out of this den without looking back and never see you ever in my life again," I bit out.
He snorted at my last words. "Well, you won't. Because the moment you leave, you'll die. You and our son."
"I will protect him," I said.
"That's the point, Niamh—you can't!" He roared, and I flinched. "Don't you get it? Do you know what will happen to you and Matteo the second you leave the border of San Antonio? Matteo will be killed and you? You'll be punished for the escape, and trust me, you don't want to know what your punishment will be.
"Don't you want to watch your son grow up? Don't you want him to have the good life his father can afford him? Don't you want your son to be safe?"
"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" I jabbed a finger at his face. "You don't know what I went through to bring your son into this world and raise him to this point, so don't you fucking dare talk to me like I'm a selfish mother who doesn't want the best for her son."
"Well, if you don't agree to the marriage, the only way to keep that son safe, then it's difficult not to think that way," Massimo stated icily. "What do you think Matteo will think of you if he finds out that you risked his life and chose to be a sex slave to a bunch of savage Russians instead of giving him a better life with his father in the picture? Do you think he'll be happy with you? Do you think he'll be proud of you?"
Hot tears began rolling down my cheeks as Massimo bombarded me with truths that I didn't want to face.
The anger, frustration, and fear that I had been holding in finally overwhelmed me.
When he put it like that, he was right. I was doing my son no good if I didn't agree.
Wasn't love all about sacrifice? If I loved my son, I would sacrifice my hatred for his father for his sake.
But to ignore what this man did to me…
The sharp ringing of his phone tore through the air, breaking our gaze as he dug it out from his pocket.
His jaw clenched as he frowned at the screen before slowly answering the call, making it obvious it was an unknown caller.
"Who's this?" he clipped, and the hairs on the back of my neck rose.
Were the Irish and Russian syndicates coming for us already?
If so, then I needed to agree to the marriage no matter how much of a nightmare it was. I loathed Massimo; I couldn't imagine being married to the man.
But I also couldn't watch my son die.