“What are you thinking about?” Thomas asks from the chair across hers, a glass of scotch in his hand.“Nothing.”“Are you thinking about him?” he asks before taking a sip of his drink. Melina doesn’t need him to say the name to figure out who the “him” is.“No,” she says, wondering why he’s asking.“You should learn to do a better job at lying.” “I’m sorry,” she says, hoping he doesn’t make a big deal out of it.“How did you guys meet?” Did he just ask her that? “Tell me,” he says, taking a sip of his drink. “I want to know everything since we are going back to where it all started. You guys were high school sweethearts, right?” he leans back in his seat, eager to hear what she has to say.“Yes,” Melina doesn’t like that he’s curious about how she and James met. Anything she says could set him off, and she doesn't have much room to hide on the plane.“Fell in love when you were both 16 and
THOMASThomas is startled awake by the sound of someone groaning in pain. He looks around the plane, trying to find the source. Thomas sees Melina asleep in the chair, sweating profusely, and her face tense with pain. He wonders why she didn’t go inside to sleep in the bedroom. Moving closer, he observes her mouth moving. He puts his ear close to her lips to hear what she's saying.“Please leave me alone, Matteo; I didn’t tell Thomas to emasculate you,” Melina says, clenching her fist. Thomas immediately realizes she’s dreaming about what happened and begins to wake her up.“Melina, open your eyes,” he says softly, gently tapping her shoulder.“No, please stop. Please do not rape me,” screams Melina, startling Thomas. Panicking, he shakes her shoulders viciously, yelling her name.“Fucking open your eyes!”“No!” she yells louder, thrashing in her seat.“Melina!” Thomas yells, forcing her body to remain still.“Thomas,” Melina calls, with her eyes still closed“Yes, it’s me. I’m here.”
Melina and Thomas walk into the restaurant, trailed by his bodyguards. All eyes turn to face them as they walk in. Melina didn’t even want to imagine the theories going through their heads right now. She bets most of them are wondering what she’s doing with men with ink all over their skin; it’s not that having tattoos is bad, but we all know how the world misjudges people with tattoos like theirs. And in this case, they are right because they are people you shouldn’t mess with; if she had known this as well, she might not be here today.Thomas is the only one whose tattoos aren't visible, but he's also the most frightening of the bunch. As a businessman, he made certain that his tattoos were only drawn in places where his clothes could cover them.Thomas and Melina take their seats at the first empty table they come across, while the bodyguards stand around them. Melina is puzzled as to why he went into the restaurant with his bodyguards today. While they were dating, Thomas never we
THOMASA few days have passed since they arrived in Chicago. They are staying in Thomas’ family’s hotel in Chicago even though they have a mafia house here. He’s going out a lot to deal with the Mexicans, and he doesn’t trust the soldiers in the house not try to fuck Melina while he’s away. Thomas walks out to the terrace in their suite to call his brother.“Hello brother, how is it going with the Mexicans?” Stefano says once he picks up“As expected, fucked up.”“Rafael is really out to get us, isn’t he?” Rafael is the don of one of the most powerful Mexican cartels in the world. He’s also the one causing problems for the Costanzo mafia. He has a beef with Thomas.“Yes,” Thomas sighs, running his hand through his hair.“You know this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't fucking banged his wife?”“How the fuck was I supposed to know she was his wife? She was fucking in our club.” The Mexican cartels never enter clubs owned by Italians. They have a long history of beefing with each ot
“She slapped me, Thomas,” Kimberly whines like a child. Melina looks at her, astonished she’s going to play that card right now.“You did what?” Thomas shouts, arching his eyebrows at Melina.Fear grips Melina as she realizes that slapping Kimberly back might not have been the best idea.“She slapped me first,” Melina tries to defend herself. She knows it won't help, but she’s still willing to try.“And that makes you think you have the fucking right to hit her back?”As his words register in Melina's brain, a stray bullet enters her heart. Melina has never felt more betrayed by Thomas than she does right now. Melina knows she shouldn’t expect him to take her side, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.“No, it doesn’t.” Tear fill her eyes.“Apologize to her.”“What?” Melina knows he won’t take her side, but this is too much. Her heart breaks a million times more. She couldn’t believe he’d do this to her.“Fucking apologize to her.” The tears escape her eyes, flinching as he yells.
Melina can’t take her eyes off Thomas as Leo drives them back to the hotel. Her feet bounce off the ground quickly as she bites her nails and stares at him. He was just released from the station. Fortunately, her sister did not arrive before then. Thomas hasn’t said a single word to Melina since he was released, and he hasn't even given her his signature glare when he's angry with her. Not knowing what's going on in his head is killing her. It’s the most heinous form of torture ever. Not knowing when your doom would come. Melina can only hope he believes her and that she had nothing to do with his arrest. But who will believe her? She’s going to die tonight.They step out of the car once it arrives at the hotel. Melina doesn’t even dare to walk in front of him as they step inside. They walk straight to the elevator and take it to their floor. She wishes the elevator would just stop, and they would never arrive.“Leo, ask the staff to
Thomas drags her down to the basement of an unfamiliar house. The place is enormous and filled with scary-looking men with tattoos and scars on their bodies. His grip on her hand is firm. A bruise will definitely form by tomorrow. She bites her lower lip to keep from wincing. They stop in front of two holding cells. Why does he have a holding cell in the house? Melina looks at the two men in each cell and realizes that her suffering is nothing compared to theirs. Her hands fly to cover her mouth as one raises his head. His face is badly beaten, and she can bet people who know him will no longer recognize him. Looking at Thomas, she wonders why they are standing in front of these two battered men.“Pick,” he says.“Huh,” she asks, confused.“Pick one,” Thomas growls at her.She wishes to ask why but knows he won’t tell her. Melina looks at the two men in front of her, who are already at heaven’s gate. They’ve both been badly beaten. She wonders if he’s asking her to pick the one she fe
THOMASThomas looks at Melina as she stares at the ground, oblivious to what’s happening around her. This is how she has been for the past three days. She no longer speaks, eats, or displays any emotion. Thomas roughly passes his hands through his head, cursing loudly as he paces the room.“Maledetto!” Fuck.He knows it’s because of what he did. He didn’t mean to hurt her in this way. He just wanted to fucking scare her, but it blew up in his face. Thomas didn’t like Melina like this; he fucking hated it. He approaches her by the couch she is sitting on near the bed and takes her hand in his.“Melina,” he says softly. She doesn’t say anything and simply turns to face him with that blank look she’s had for the past three days.“Are you hungry?” Thomas asks. She shakes her head.“You haven’t eaten in days; you need to fucking eat something,” his grip on her hand tightens. He quickly let’s go of her hand as she winces slightly. “I didn’t mean to hold on too tight.” Melina pulls her hand