Chapter Two
She had married a killer.
Patience stared down at her ring as she stood at his apartment window. It had been twenty-four hours since she had agreed to marry a man to save her parents. She rolled the ring around her finger, wishing for some way out of it. There wasn’t. She hadn’t been able to see her parents even though they had seen her get married, as well as the man who gave her the proposition.
To marry or die.
“I made pasta,” Cade said.
She saw his reflection in the mirror.
Part of her wished she could be rude, but that wasn’t going to happen. It wasn’t Cade’s fault that her parents had taken money, and it was up to her to get them out of the trouble they had found themselves in.
Stepping toward the table, he placed the bowl near the head of the table and pulled out a chair.
Sliding into the chair, he helped her slide beneath the table, and she found that one action really sweet.
He’s a killer.
He’s not killed me.
Cade took a seat beside her, handing her a fork. She took it, and said thank you as she did.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said.
“You told me you were a killer. What if one day you don’t like being married to me, and you get rid of me?” Suddenly, being married to Cade didn’t look all that great.
How could she have sacrificed herself for her parents. Even as she thought it, she knew without a doubt that she wouldn’t have had it any other way.
She did love her parents. Even if at times she plotted their death.
They were the only two people she had in this world.
“That’s not going to happen,” he said.
“What?”
“I’m not going to kill you, Patience. I’m not a monster, at least not to you.”
If that was meant to soothe her, it didn’t work. Nibbling her lip, she pierced her fork into the pasta and twirled it around.
She could do this. Get through dinner, lunch, and everything else. Patience didn’t know how long this marriage would last, or what he expected of her.
“What’s your favorite color?” she asked, blurting out the question.
“Yellow.” His answer surprised her.
“Yellow?”
“It’s the color of sunshine.” He began to chuckle. “You clearly weren’t expecting that for an answer.”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“I like summer. I love bright colors. My life is involved in the dark, and I don’t like that side of my soul. I never have.”
His life.
What life had she entered?
“I can see that everything that has happened is confusing, and so I’m going to clear some things up for you. First, you can’t go to the police. We have men on the force, and we’ll know if you go. If you decide to tell about what happened, I cannot protect you.”
She hadn’t even thought about going to the police. “I don’t—”
“The man you spoke to, he’s my boss, and if you go to the cops with a complaint your and your parents’ lives are as good as over.”
“Oh.”
“I work for the mafia, Patience. That means you cannot go anywhere, nor do anything without my say-so.”
“I’ve got work.”
“Work has finished for you. We’ll talk more, and I will try to help you acclimate to your new life. You cannot leave this apartment unless I have someone to take care of you.”
“This is a cage,” she said. “You’re locking me up, and as good as throwing away the key.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. You’ll find that you’ll get to do a lot more now than ever before.”
She snorted. The sound was horrible, but she was too upset to even be embarrassed by it.
The only life she’d ever known was gone, and now she lived in a luxury apartment, bigger than anything she’d ever lived in, only to be told she was now stuck here.
“There will be a guard on your door, and he won’t let you leave. If you try, I’ll be notified of it as well.”
“I guess now you want a pint of blood as well. I mean, you’ve had everything else.”
“Not everything. I believe more blood is to be spilled.”
His gaze traveled down her body, and she tensed up. She refused to believe that he knew her virgin status. Did he hear her muttering on the stairwell? Ignoring his intense gaze, she took a fork full of the pasta and tried to think of something else to say or complain about. Anything that didn’t remind her of her current state of affairs.
“Will I ever be able to talk to my parents again?”
“For your sake, you should hope not. They put your life at risk, and I don’t like that you were willing to give up your life for theirs.”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t watch them die. What I don’t get is why you’re not angry about this. Your boss ordered me to marry you, and now you’re saddled with me. Aren’t you the least bit pissed about that?”
“Nope, not in the slightest.” He finished his bowl of pasta. “I’ve got to head out. I’ll be back. Make yourself at home, and I’ll be late so don’t wait up.”
He moved toward her, and Patience couldn’t help but tense up. His lips brushed her temple.
“Try and see what has happened as a good thing, Patience. You never know, you may come to love it.”
She listened to him as he left the apartment. Once the door closed, she stood up, and moved down the long hallway to the door. A guy stood outside, she saw through the small peephole. She stood in front of the windows and cursed. It was too far down to attempt to escape.
There was no way out for her.
She was stuck.
****
Cade walked into Alfero’s office, and he didn’t know if he wanted to hug his friend or beat the shit out of him.
“Ah, my best friend. I’m surprised to see you here. I thought you’d be getting down and dirty and busy!” Alfero shook his hips and burst out laughing.
“Why did you do it?” Cade asked.
“Do what?” Alfero leaned against the desk.
Cade had been friends with Alfero for many years. They had grown up together, both of them making a name for themselves. He’d always been Alfero’s guard, right hand man, and best friend.
They had done a lot of crazy shit in their world. A lot of the stuff he never wanted to remember, but stuff that needed to be done. They were two of the most feared men in the mafia. If they came to call, then people knew blood would be spilled.
“Why did you have to bribe her like that? Where are her parents?”
“They’re working off their debt.” Alfero laughed. “They really thought that they’d gotten away with stealing my money. I did what I did because you wouldn’t do it, and I was tired of you spending your time panting after her like a little puppy. One look was all it took for you to realize that you wanted her. Now that you have her, do you even want her? Should I pass her off to another soldier?”
“Don’t touch her.”
Alfero held his hands up. “I don’t see what the problem is.”
“She thinks this is just another trap. A cage. I didn’t want her to think or to feel that, and yet that is exactly what has happened. This wasn’t what I wanted.” He ran fingers through his hair and dropped down into the chair in front of the desk, resting his head in his hands. “I didn’t want it to happen like this. I don’t want her afraid of me.”
“Then don’t do anything that will make her scared. This is a hard world, Cade. Accept what I give you, and be happy that no one else demanded blood.”
Cade sat for several moments not saying a word. On the way over, he’d been ready to hurt his best friend. He hadn’t been thinking in roles of boss and employee. To the rest of the world, they were merely that: an employee, a soldier. His job was to protect Alfero. Cade would have no choice but to keep his mouth shut if he disagreed with anything his friend said. He’d wait until they were alone, like this, where he could speak freely.
In all the years they’d worked together, since they were boys of ten years old, and now men in their forties, they had been friends.
Nothing had divided them, and nothing would ever change that. Not even his obsession with Patience.
“I need some time off,” Cade said.
“Are you asking me as your boss?” Alfero asked.
Cade shook his head. “No, I’m asking as your friend.”
Alfero folded his arms and smirked. “You know I’ve given you a wife who also happens to be the woman you’ve been stalking for some time now. I was expecting … something.”
“I’m not going to say thank you. I told you I’d deal with my feelings for Patience in my own time.”
“Her parents were the ones that brought everything forward. I just saw a way to give my friend a gift. Consider Patience my very early birthday present. You know I hate those things. You have three weeks off. I wish I could give you more time, but with everything going down right now, be happy with three.”
Cade hadn’t taken any time off in years, and he’d been hoping or a little longer vacation, mostly to help Patience with this new way of life, and to also bring her into his world slowly.
“You better make sure she knows the ropes, Cade. Our enemies are everywhere, all around, and will do anything to weaken us. I would hate to see a mistake cost you the woman you love.”
He nodded at his friend, shaking Alfero’s hand. His friend pulled him into a hug, slapping him on the back as he did.
This was as close to brotherly love as they’d ever get. Neither of them really spoke of their feelings.
Alfero only knew about his obsession with Patience because he’d caught him in the act. His constant stalking and watching of her. Cade had hated that. It had shown a weakness in his armor and in this world, that never happened. He didn’t believe in weakness.
Driving back to his apartment, he nodded at the new soldier waiting and entered his apartment. Being Alfero’s main man, he had to have a guard just like the boss, or at least his woman did.
Alfero had a wife that he kept locked away from the world, but she was happy with that. His friend also kept several mistresses, which Cade didn’t want to do.
He didn’t hear a sound when he entered his apartment, and found Patience curled up on the sofa, wearing one of his large shirts.
Pleasure swept through him at the sight of her, and he found it to be the cutest thing.
Kneeling down before her, he reached out, stroking her hair back from her face.
In sleep she looked so peaceful.
From the first moment he saw her, every instinct inside him told him to take care of her, to love her. To wipe the pain from her face, and to show her exactly how amazing the world could be.
Patience was the one person he was going to be selfish with. He shouldn’t want her. The life he lived was way too dangerous, but he couldn’t be without her.
He would always be thankful for Alfero for giving her to him.
Cade only hoped that he’d not condemned her to death.