The sound of Grace's footsteps became closer and closer. I started to panic, my palms turned sweaty as I looked between the door and Nikolai's feral eyes.

I was sitting on the countertop, and Nikolai was standing between my parted legs with his hand fisting my hair and gripping my neck. And his fiancée was right outside the kitchen door.

"Stop right where you are, Grace, do not take another step," Nikolai ordered, and the footsteps stopped almost instantly.

I sucked in a breath, Nikolai's eyes were trained on me. His eyes narrowed from the edges as rage flashed through. My heartbeat accelerated, and my breathing became shallow.

"Grace, if I told you to never fucking speak again, would you do it?" he asked her while his eyes were focused on me, his fingertips burning in the side of my neck.

"I would..." came her light voice from right outside the door.

"If I asked you to strip naked right the fuck now, would you do it?"

"Yes..." her voice was absolute like she had no doubt or hesitation in following his commands.

A flare of arrogance crossed his face, and a self-satisfied smirk crept up as his grip on my hair tightened painfully.

"If I asked you to take off your panties and shove them in your fucking mouth right now, would you do it?"

"Yes..." her words came out as a breath. "Yes, yes, Niko, I would."

Was his psychotic talk turning her on?

He pulled my face closer to his and I turned my head to the side. His nose grazed my cheek, and I shuddered. I felt him smile against my skin in triumph.

"Grace, if I fucked my whores right in front of you. Would it bother you?"

He dragged the word whore longer than he should have. My blood boiled, it was clear what he was trying to say. He was hitting two birds with one stone, he was talking about fucking me in front of his wife.

"I will do what a good mafia wife should do, Niko..." came her voice.

Her words annoyed me, how can she just stand there and take the insults he was throwing her way? And the fact that he was standing here between my legs made this whole situation even uglier. It was utterly disrespectful to her, I would rather die than be in Grace's place right now.

Nikolai's tongue darted out of his mouth as he took my ear lobe into his mouth and then released it with a pop.

"And what should a good mafia wife do?" he asked.

His hand left my neck and hair and then slowly trailed down my arms leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake. His large warm hands rested on either one of my thighs, parting them as much as he possibly could.

"I'd support you, Niko, no matter what."

"That's disgusting," I said to him, my voice low.

Nikolai chuckled. "Go to your room, Grace."

"Yes, Niko..."

Then I heard her footsteps receding until they faded out altogether. His hand gripped my face and he roughly turned it towards him, making me look directly into his eyes. He was so close to me, that I suddenly remembered how it felt like to kiss him. Our noses were inches apart, we were breathing each other's air. If I leaned in even a little bit, our lips will be pressed together.

"You see, Evangeline. This is why you could never compare to Grace, she's too submissive, a perfect mob wife. You, on the other hand, are a disrespectful spoiled little brat," saying that he shoved my face back. Both of my hands landed on the countertop behind me to save myself from falling backward.

"Gym, eight a.m." saying that he strode straight out of the kitchen as I kept staring at his back.

I got off the counter and just stood there for a couple of minutes, letting Nikolai's words seep in.

“You, on the other hand, are a disrespectful spoiled little brat”

I swallowed and picked up the water bottle once again, taking huge gulps. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, my legs were shaking, my muscles were numb and my heartbeat was completely out of control.

I walked back to my room with my thoughts in a jumble, the inner turmoil consuming me. I sat back down on my bed and wrapped both of my arms around my knees bringing them closer to my chest. My eyes teared up, and my nose wrinkled.

You can not control your heart or your feelings. You can not control the way your body feels around a certain someone.

There were some guys from my brief visit to the college, then there were Scott and Nikolai's cousins. There were his soldiers. Men were all around me but the only one that affected me was Nikolai. He messed with my nerves and my sanity. His single touch was enough to drive me mad, to light my body on fire.

And he was the only one I couldn't have.

He was a mob boss. He wasn't perfect in any way. He was incredibly flawed, heck, he was a ruthless killer, a psychopathic murderer. He had spent his whole life doing illegal and bad stuff without any remorse or guilt.

And even after knowing everything about him, I couldn't control my feelings for him. Who was I kidding? I was trying so hard to convince myself that I felt nothing for Nikolai Costello. I have spent months, telling myself that I don't like him like that. It is just infatuation, and physical attraction because he is the first man to introduce me into this world but no, I can't lie to myself anymore.

I love him.

I love Nikolai Costello.

And he belongs to someone else.

His submissive, perfect mob wife.

He made it clear to me that someone like me would never take Grace's place. I was nothing but a spoiled brat in his eyes.

I hated myself for feeling this way about Nikolai. I know I shouldn't and after everything that just happened between us, I should just run away from this life, away from him.

He was right. I could never compare to Grace. I would never tolerate Nikolai with another woman. I could never tolerate my husband having an affair. What Grace said shook me to my core, it disgusted me. So, Nikolai was right. I was not made for this. She was perfect for him and the sooner I accept that, the better.

But what I don't get was my staged engagement with Scott. If Nikolai doesn't respect Grace in any way then why did he hide the fact that I was living with him? I thought he wanted Grace not to get the wrong idea when she sees me living here in his husband's home but from what I have seen Nikolai didn't care one bit about Grace. He could parade his mistresses around the house and I'm sure Grace will still respect him, and love him. Then why the whole act?" 

I didn't sleep afterward. I couldn't. I cried, wiped my tears, and then told myself to woman up and stop crying after a taken man.

In a blink of an eye, a few hours passed by and it was seven a.m. already. I lazily did my daily routine and changed into workout clothes.

I went downstairs only to hear loud chatter from the dining room. I peeked at them only to see Grace laughing out loud over something Nikolai had said, Nikolai wasn't even funny. I decided to go to the gym because I had completely lost my appetite. I don't know if it was because of Grace's laughter or Nikolai's words from last night.

I turned to go to the gym when I heard a familiar female voice calling my name. "Evangeline! come join us for breakfast"

I closed my eyes. "Shit!" I cursed under my breath. Taking a deep breath and plastering a sickly-sweet smile on my face, I turned, facing her. "I'm not really hungry..."

"So, you're gonna work out without even eating anything? Jesus, I'd die," she laughed and turned to Scott. "And what kind of a husband are you? Ask your wife to join you for breakfast!"

Scott stopped eating, he glanced at Nikolai and then at me before he cleared his throat and patted the seat beside him. "Come here, wife."

"No, I—"

"Jesus, for once just do what you're told!" Nikolai snapped at me.

I flinched at the harsh edge of his tone. His words resounded in my ears. With hesitant steps, I walked to the dining table and settled beside Scott.

Grace looked at me with sympathetic eyes and then gave me a weak smile. "You are marrying Scott Mancini, you will get used to it."

God! why was she being nice to me? It would be easier to hate her if she was mean to me.

Nikolai scoffed and then gave his head a shake. He was sitting at the head of the table, leisurely reclining back in his chair and drinking Coffee.

Scott just focused on his breakfast, ignoring the conversation at hand 

"Getting scolded?" I asked with a feeble smile.

"Oh, honey, getting scolded should be the least of your worries. Scott told me that you're new to our world, consider yourself lucky because I know all about it. I'll teach you," she announced excitedly.

If by teaching she meant tolerating all the things the men of the Cosa Nostra put their women through, then no thank you. I'd rather hang myself.

"Teach me?"

She nodded. "Yes, it's not easy being a mob wife or girlfriend. Be prepared to take some good slaps from him, from time to time. Don't say I didn't tell you!" she said the words oh so causally.

I furrowed my eyebrows. I wasn't really going to marry Scott but still, her words scared and disgusted me at the same time.

I glanced at Scott. "Slaps?"

Scott's gaze met mine. "Have I ever hit you?"

I shook my head immediately no matter how much of a jerk Scott is, he had never hit me in an abusive way. Yes, he likes to spank my butt a little too much for my liking but other than that he didn't hurt me physically. "No..."

"Then you have nothing to worry about, sweet cheeks"

"Oh, look at Scott being so sweet," Grace laughed and Scott shot her an annoyed look. "You must have kept him happy."

I looked at Scott and he did the same. Given our history and how messed up our relationship had been, Grace's words sounded so funny to me and I'm sure he felt the same because he was trying hard to hide his smile.

"Well, Evangeline, my mother gave me some advice and I'm gonna it to you. She said, “Gracie, you need to be very determined and very submissive but at the same time you should be ready to fight like a lioness for La Famiglia” did I use that word right?" she turned to Nikolai.

That made me take a look at Nikolai, my breath got caught in my throat as I saw his glare directed towards me. "Yes, you did..." he answered to Grace all the while keeping his eyes on me.

I tore my eyes away from him and smiled at Grace. "I'll remember that."

But instead of leaving the topic, Grace continued to advise me on what I should or shouldn't do. Nikolai and Scott remained silent throughout the conversation.

I chewed on a piece of toast as she rambled on and on. "For a Made Man, it is very important that his wife or girlfriend be very beautiful. She should be capable to keep any secret. She should be ready anytime for sex especially when he comes home agitated. Doesn't matter if it's the middle of the night or early in the morning. Especially, after a quarrel or settlement of mafia accounts, she should know how to calm him down"

"Oh..." was all I could say.

It was clear she was trying to prove to Nikolai how much of a good wife she will be. I couldn't do half of the things she mentioned, I had a very low level of tolerance compared to her.

"Honestly, Evangeline, you should consider yourself lucky that Scott doesn't hit you. Because when you're a mob girl, getting smacked around is a way of life—"

"Grace..." Nikolai voiced and she finally closed her mouth to listen to what he had to say. "I have no idea how your father treated you and your mother, but we don't hit our women. Most of the men in my family have never raised their hands on their women" saying that he got up. "It's past eight a.m," he announced sharply.

Past eight a.m...

I squeezed my eyes shut. I know who he had said that to, Grace looked at him with stars in her eyes as he headed toward the gym while I was scared to follow behind him.

══════════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ══════════