Escaping: A Mafia Romance (The O'Keefe Family Collection #2) Read online

  “Yes,” Fallyn responded without blinking, enraptured by the mere sight of him. The world could up and leave her, but she realized that the one person she needed standing with her on the biggest day of her life was beaming at her with unfettered adoration. She knew in the charm of his smile and the blue of his eyes that she finally had all that she needed to get married.

  Vince’s palms were sweaty, for once feeling like a virgin in this uncharted territory. “I’ve got the license and all the paperwork we need. Angelo’s going to be my witness. Joey and Tony are here, so that’s everyone.”

  Angelo caught Fallyn’s eye and motioned to the dress that had caused her so much upset the night before. He pressed his hand to his heart and mouthed, Beautiful.

  Fallyn returned his smile with a tender beam that he had taken the time to get to know her, and bothered to care about the little things that were big to her.

  Vince turned to Jen and shook her hand, taking her natural distrust and fear of him in stride. “Thanks for showing up for Fallyn today. It means a lot to the both of us.”

  “Of course. A little notice would’ve been nice, but I love Fallyn, even if she loves you.” She shook his hand with the hint of a threat in the motion. “Congratulations on the best thing that’ll ever happen to you.”

  “Without a doubt.” Vince grinned at the dig, enjoying the genuine nature of his fiancée’s friend. His eyes naturally found their way back to Fallyn, unable to pry his gaze away for more than a few seconds. He cleared his throat and stood straighter. “So the dress is your something new, I had them tie the flowers with a blue ribbon, so something blue.” He pulled a necklace out of his pocket, dangling the white gold thin strand before her. Fallyn reached out and fingered the oval locket on the end with curiosity. Vince swallowed hard before speaking. “This was my mother’s that she saved for my wife someday, so it’s your something old. I didn’t get you something borrowed. Couldn’t think of anything.”

  Fallyn leaned in to reveal the scandal she’d been up to before breakfast. “I already borrowed a little wedding gift from Carrigan this morning.” She smirked up at Vince. “His starter’s in my trunk. He’ll be taking the bus for a few days.”

  “That’s my girl.”

  Fallyn pried open the locket, her breath catching and emotion welling at the black and white image of Papa D with Mama Antonia on their wedding day. On the other side was a snap Vince had taken on his phone of the two of them under their tree that summer, grins bared as they laughed into the camera, his arm snaked around her waist. Fallyn’s eyes flickered to Mama Antonia’s gentle smile, and then up to Vince. “Do you think Mama Antonia would’ve been happy to see us together?”

  He reached out and touched a delicate curl, amazed at how impressive his almost wife looked with no professional assistance to get ready on their special day. “Oh, miele. I know she would. Papa, too.”

  Fallyn looked up at him through her thick lashes, in awe of the man who would do something so thoughtful for her. “This is what you want? You want to marry me?”

  Vince’s gaze hardened as he led her away from the small group so they could speak privately. “This is the only thing I’ll ever want. But if you’re having second thoughts, now’s the time for that.”

  Fallyn reached up and stroked his clean-shaven cheek, the locket and her flowers clutched in her other hand. She marveled up at him, wondering how she’d ever imagined any life without his doting smile. “No second thoughts. I just don’t understand why you’d risk it all for me. I mean, it’s you. You could choose any woman, and she’d stay with you forever. You’re incredible. I don’t know how I got so lucky.”

  Vince’s relief was palpable. “Last night I heard you crying when you thought I was asleep. I was worried you were rethinking this whole thing.”

  “Not even a little bit. I’m sorry I woke you, though.”

  He traced the slope of her cheekbone. “I’m sorry you cry.”

  “It’s just my brothers, not you. You only make me better. This is what I want, Vince. I want you. See me now? No tears. I’m ready to be your wife.” The moment she spoke the last word, her eyes widened. “Whoa. I’m going to be a wife. Like, a wife, Vince.”

  Vince chuckled. “Is that just now dawning on you?”

  Fallyn grinned, a bit of her nerves creeping up on her as she ducked her head sheepishly. “Maybe.”

  Vince’s blue eyes softened as he took in her blushing beauty. “Kiss me before you find out you’re going to be a missus, too.”

  Fallyn shook her head, stepping back as if the deal was off. “Hold up, no one explained anything about that to me. I thought being married was about you rubbing my feet every day and bringing me presents. Now you’re throwing around all this adult vocabulary, and none of it sounds anything like presents and foot rubs.”

  “Marry me.” Vince’s smoldering gaze pierced through the jokes, giving them both the chills. “Be my wife.”

  “Well, I’m already your bride. I guess I can do that, since I’m wearing the dress and all.” She leaned up and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I love you.”

  “Sounds even better in the white dress. Shall we?” He proffered his arm to her after affixing the locket around her neck, beaming that she would soon be his, legally on paper, and he, hers.

  Nineteen.

  Finances and First Times

  “It happened so quickly. I can’t believe it. I mean, ten minutes and we’re married? That can’t be right. Waiting in line at the DMV took loads longer.” Fallyn was still in shock as she sat in the airplane with Vince, her eyes bugged at the big life change she had made on her own. “It doesn’t feel real.”

  Vince lifted her hand to kiss her ring finger. “It’s real, dolcezza. It’s all real. Did we rush it?”

  “No. We just don’t like to waste time when we know what we want.”

  Vince shifted in his vinyl seat, groaning for the third time since the flight had taken off hours ago. “I can’t believe they announced where we were going. I thought I was so clever blindfolding you in the airport. Made it all the way onto the plane, and then it’s all ‘Enjoy your flight to Italy’. So close.”

  “What does it matter when I’m surprised? Floored me when the flight attendant said it. Did I not do a good enough freakout?”

  “Still, I wanted you to step out of the plane and be surrounded by Italy. There’s nothing like it, bella. You’ll never want to leave.”

  Fallyn beamed the same grin at the thought that kept occurring to her at least thirty times every hour. “We did it. We actually did it! We got married, Vince! I’m your wife! Mrs. Fallyn D’Amato. Nothing bad happened. No one broke up the wedding. No one stopped us from getting on the plane. Jen and Loretta are handling the bakery while I’m away. We’re married. Like, totally legally married.”

  He mimicked her, but added a valley girl spin to it. “Like, totally legally married, for sure.” He face sobered marginally. “Are you rethinking it all right now?”

  “Only when you make fun of me.”

  “Then I should probably knock it off. Tell you I’m glad you didn’t change out of your white dress.”

  Fallyn cast him a flirty sideways glance. “I thought I’d let you take it off for me. Isn’t that the marital rite of passage, the job of the groom? Though, why you’re putting off our naked time for hours and hours until the end of this plane ride, I’ll never know.”

  Vince’s gaze traveled over her form, not holding back the lust he’d tried to mute to be a gentleman when they’d been dating. “Maybe I should’ve rented a room in the nearest roach motel for tonight, then took us to Italy.”

  “You say the sweetest things. Please always promise me a lifetime filled with skeezy motels.”

  Vince smirked at his wife. “I think you’ll like the one we’re staying at.”

  “Will you be there?”

  “That’s the thing about honeymoons.”

  Fallyn sifted her fingers through his. “Then I think I’ll like it just fi
ne.”

  Vince managed to drift off to sleep an hour later, but Fallyn was too giddy to close her eyes. She was a married woman going on her honeymoon to Italy for four entire weeks. That thought kept her smile in place throughout the plane ride all the way until they touched down, grabbed their bags and drew in their first breath of true Italian air. Fallyn’s eyes rolled back in her head, taking a step back to lean against Vince, who had never looked younger or more alive. She took in trees with more lifetimes under their belts than most of the people there. The slight current of crisp autumn air brought freshly baked bread, olives and flowers to their senses from the nearby market.

  The green was so lush and so beautiful, Fallyn could scarcely imagine why Papa D moved his family away from the sheer exuberance of life that felt more pure and natural than any landscape she had ever experienced. There seemed to be a steady, enticing heartbeat that thrummed in the nature surrounding her, and she longed to roll in the green so she could experience what it must be to exist as a true thing of lasting beauty.

  Vince held onto Fallyn’s hand with a charming smile that reminded his bride of every reason she’d fallen so hard in love with the brutal man. “We can hold hands now. In public. For anyone to see.” He brought her wrist to his lips and kissed the tender creamy flesh there. “No one’s going to stop us here.”

  She turned in his arms and blinked up at him. His face was the only sight worth tearing her eyes away from the beauty that enthralled her. “You married me, Vince. We don’t have to hold back anymore for anyone ever again.”

  Vince’s kiss was laced with only a portion of the lust he’d been trying to remain polite about. He grinned into her lips when he felt her swoon and her knees weaken. “Into the cab with you, wife. No matter how married we are, I don’t think any country’s going to be thrilled with us if I take you right here outside the airport.” He raised his finger to summon a cab and tucked Fallyn inside, loading up their luggage in the back before sliding in next to her.

  When they arrived at the lavish hotel, Fallyn’s mouth fell open at the white marble opulence that was framed with hints of gold and nature. There were grape leaves winding around the thick columns framing the entrance, with gold-painted leaves etched into the doors.

  Fallyn kept her gaping confined to a dropped jaw as they moved inside, finally snapping to attention when the concierge addressed her as Mrs. D’Amato. She beamed through her blush, but then raised her eyebrow at the bill that was entirely in Italian. “I didn’t know we were coming here, or I would’ve brought traveler’s checks or something to chip in.” She looked up at the intricate mural that was painted on the ceiling stories above. Everything was cream and gold, down to the banisters and pillars that all looked ornately carved. The cream pillars had gold leaf designs creeping around and around like decadent vines to match the real ones just outside.

  Even the reception desk had a marble top and looked like it was fit for some grand occasion, not a daily task of checking in gawking honeymooners. Fallyn swallowed, feeling small amidst the grand magnificence. “This is a really nice place, Vince. Are you sure you don’t want to stay somewhere we can actually afford?”

  Vince finished up his conversation in Italian with the hotel receptionist and chuckled at Fallyn’s worry. “Chip in. You’re funny.” His fingers laced through hers as the bellhop led them forward, taking their things up to their room on the top floor. “Affordable is for when we have five children and have to drive our minivan to the Grand Canyon. This is our honeymoon, dolcezza. You’ve been cooped up too long. Time to live a little with me.” He squeezed her hand.

  “Sure, but I don’t want to go into debt for a vacation.”

  Vince slowed, curious at her sudden fretting. “Do you really think I’d do that to us? Blow all our money in a month?”

  “How could you not be doing exactly that? This place is…” Her eyes fell on a painting she’d studied in college, and she stopped midsentence. “Vince, look! Oh, can we see the Palazzo Pitti?”

  “Of course. We can see it all.”

  Fallyn waited until the bellhop left them in their room, which was bigger than the first floor of her house. There were large paintings of winged angels, and one of a man and woman mid-seduction, each framed in gold. There was a kitchenette with a marble bar, the bedroom in its own area off to the side, and a balcony with an elegant table and chairs, already set for dinner. Each chair looked like its own hand-carved work of art. The ceiling was tall, and when Fallyn looked up, she gasped at the gold leaf patterns that outlined grape clusters held by voluptuous women, all with a look of coy seduction about them. “We… We can’t stay here, Vince. I’m serious. This is too nice a place.”

  “Don’t tell me you actually wanted a roach motel.” Vince took her hands and led her, awestruck, to the elegant baby blue sofa with gold trim near the center of the room. “Are you happy?”

  Fallyn’s hand covered her opened mouth as she fought to take in the utter lavishness of the beauty she couldn’t quite wrap her mind around. “Happy? How could anyone not be happy here? I can’t remember any problems ever.” She pointed to the balcony. “Are those white poppies and lilies?” Then in the next breath she shifted back to, “We can’t stay here.”

  “Why do you keep saying that? Don’t you like it?”

  “Like it? Vince, there isn’t a word for how much I love this place. But the plane tickets alone must’ve set you back a couple grand. This place for a month? No. No, no. No. It’s too much.” She pointed to the ceiling again, utterly flummoxed that a room could come with such decadent art. The curvy women looking down on her with their grape clusters smiled in their frozen state, seemingly amused at Fallyn’s shock and awe.

  Vince smirked at her flabbergast, which kept coming in stuttering waves. “I guess now’s as good a time as any to talk about our finances. We’re married now, so there’s no point in keeping net worth a secret.”

  “I can’t pay for a place like this,” Fallyn ruled without question. “I mean, our family does fine. Loan sharking’s an easy business to make money in, but you know I’m not in the family business. I don’t have any debt. Daddy was strict on none of us having credit cards or anything.”

  “Sure. He’s a loan shark.”

  “Exactly. Learned the value of never borrowing.” She spoke to Vince without looking at him, her eyes still wide as they tried to process the extravagance she still could not comprehend. “The bakery’s turning a decent profit so far, so I can take care of myself just fine.” She gestured around to the ornate hotel room, her eyes like saucers as her wonder turned with the beginnings of panic. “But I can’t afford a place like this.”

  Vince pressed his lips lightly to hers. The simple kiss kept unfolding, building up a delicate thrum of seduction on the thinly padded couch. “Paddy O’Keefe did a great job on you guys. Eight kids is a long way to stretch a fortune. Papa D only had the three of us and Angelo.” He ran his hand from Fallyn’s knee up her thigh, revving up with the lust he’d put on hold until he was certain it was the right moment. “Fally, we’re all millionaires several times over. Too many times over.”

  Fallyn pulled back, taken off-guard. “What?”

  “The family house was paid off long before I hit puberty, Papa did a decent job of acquiring businesses with the drug money, and they rake in more than we’ll ever be able to spend, especially now that the dealers are gone and commerce is actually picking back up.”

  “You’re joking,” she accused. “Joey’s not a millionaire.”

  “Well, technically he is. Tony and Angelo, too. I manage Joey and Tony’s money, though, so they don’t blow it all. Cut Tony off when he started doing cocaine. But he’s clean now, so he works for me and gets a stipend.”

  “I can’t tell if you’re joking. You’re kidding, right?”

  Vince sighed. “No. I’m not kidding. That’s one of the reasons I wanted our neighborhood cleaned up. The safety, sure, but we own so much of the city, it hurts our bottom line to hav
e that many crackheads causing problems and driving down property values. Since last month, business is up by nine percent across the board.”

  “Oh, you with the sexy talk. Say more things like ‘business’ and ‘across the board’.”

  “Profit margin.” Vince pulled her onto his lap, parting her legs so she straddled him, her dress hiking up to reveal her creamy thighs. “Bottom line,” he said in a husky voice, licking his lips. His hand reached under her white dress and squeezed her backside. Now that he was allowed to touch her there, a nice handful brought him a thrill of instant gratification.

  “My, my. That’s some sexy talk you’ve got going on there.”

  “Here’s some more for you. I actually planned on doing a little business while we’re here. Hope you don’t mind.” He kissed her again.

  “What kind of business?” She slowly unbuttoned his white shirt that had wrinkled on the plane, rolling it off his shoulders and down his arms. “Not the bloody kind, I hope.”

  “Papa owns a vineyard here he passed down to me. I have to come to Italy once a year to check in on things.”

  Fallyn pretended to be exasperated. “If I have to come to Italy every year with you and drink wine, so be it. I mean, if you can’t live without me on your yearly business trips, I’ll just have to deal with that.”

  “I can’t live without you,” he muttered, his lips mashing to hers as his hands made themselves at home cupping and gripping her perfect posterior. He lifted the hem of her dress up past her thighs, moaning when he caught a glimpse of her white lacy panties. He kissed a trail down her neck and then whispered in her ear, “We’re on our honeymoon.”

  “I thought we were on a business trip,” Fallyn teased, reaching behind her to unzip her wedding dress. When she stood to let her gown fall to the floor, she watched Vince’s blatant lust sweep over him as he took in her form. It was the exact way she’d always hoped her husband would see her.