MARKED BY THE MAFIA
Marked By The Mafia – Episode 25&26
[…BOUND BY DUTY…]
GENRE: Dark Romance
TAGS: MAFIAS, OBSESSION, POSSESSIVE, LOVE, STEAMY, LOVE TRIANGLE, EMPIRE, BETRAYAL, CRIME, VIOLENCE, DEATHS AND MANY MORE…
✧༺✰༻✧
✮{…HELLO,MATTY…}✮
“Drop,” he breathed, his voice gravel-dark. “On all fours… before I forget what little control I have left”
___
Aurora’s lips curved into a daring smirk as she closed the space between them, her body brushing deliberately against his.
Her hand slid from the hard plane of his chest… lower… until her fingers hovered dangerously close to his belt. She leaned in, her breath hot against his ear, her voice a molten whisper.
“I’ll go down on all fours…” she teased, “…but on my own terms. You don’t get to talk to me or treat me like I’m nothing. I’m your wife”
For a heartbeat, silence. Matteo’s jaw flexed, his control unraveling strand by strand.
Then his hand snapped around her wrist, stopping her descent, his grip firm but searing. His mouth brushed her ear, his tone deadly, possessive.
“I’m your boss right now, piccola bellezza,” he growled. “And if you’re wise, you’ll obey me before I decide to teach you what disobedience costs”
Aurora’s chin lifted, her eyes glittering with defiance.
“I’m not doing shit” she repeated.
Matteo’s lips twitched, not into a smile but something far more dangerous.
“You’ve grown wings, huh?” he murmured, his grip on her wrist tightening just enough to make her pulse quicken.
His other hand slid up, catching her jaw, tilting her face to his until their breaths collided.
“Careful, piccola,” he rasped, his eyes boring into hers. “Wings burn fast when they fly too close to fire…”
Aurora didn’t flinch. If anything, her smirk deepened, the dare blazing in her eyes.
“Then let me burn”
Matteo’s patience snapped and in one swift motion, he shoved Aurora against the wall, his hand pinning her wrist above her head, his body caging hers completely.
Her breath caught and she gasped slowly.
“You think you can test me?” he hissed, his mouth hovering a breath away from hers. His lips brushed, almost touching…
Knock.
The sound cracked through the charged silence like a gunshot.
Matteo froze and his jaw clenched, fury flashing in his eyes. Aurora’s lips parted, her chest heaving, but she didn’t move.
The knock came again, bolder this time.
Matteo turned his head slowly toward the door, a low growl rumbling in his throat. “Who the fuck dares—”
His words cut off, his grip still iron on Aurora, his eyes burning with a storm caught between desire and rage.
Aurora smirked faintly, whispering just loud enough for him to hear. “Saved by the knock…”
His gaze snapped back to hers, darker than ever. “Don’t be so sure, Piccolina”
The knock became persistent.
“Enter” he barked.
The door creaked open and Ace stepped in, head bowed low, posture respectful.
“Apologies for the interruption, Boss, but this is… important”
Matteo’s gaze cut back to Aurora, his hand still firm on her waist.
“Leave us”
Aurora’s chin lifted, her defiance refusing to bow even as she slipped from his grip. She turned, walking past Ace without another word.
But just as she stepped into the hallway, she collided with someone.
Viper.
She smirked, her eyes flicking from Aurora’s flushed face to the door she’d just walked out of.
“Oh…” Viper’s tone dripped with mockery. “Boss’s wife”
Aurora arched a brow. “Viper, right?”
“You got that right” Viper said, falling into step beside her, her smirk never faltering.
“I’m quite good with names, yunno” Aurora winked.
Viper’s eyes narrowed. “Let it stick to your brain that just because you won the fight with Rosa, you’re not stronger than us all”
Aurora tilted her head, her smirk curling wider, deliberately unbothered. “Funny… I don’t remember asking for your approval”
“Careful, Boss’s wife,” Viper drawled, her voice laced with venom. “Respect isn’t earned in the ring once. Around here, you bleed for it. Every damn day”
Aurora stopped walking, and turned to face Viper fully.
“Then maybe you should stop wasting your breath reminding me,” she said coolly, “and start worrying about keeping up”
For a beat, silence. The two women stood inches apart, eyes locked like blades poised to strike.
Viper smirked coldly, but her jaw tightened as she leaned in, her whisper sharp enough to cut.
“You might be his wife… but you’ll never be one of us”
“That’s fine,” she murmured, brushing past her. “I wasn’t planning on being one of you anyway”
Viper’s eyes followed her, dark with resentment, her fists clenching at her sides.
Aurora left Viper behind and she rounded the corner only to find Blade lounging against the wall, arms folded, that boyish smirk already plastered on his face.
“Rough day, princess?” he quipped, pushing off the wall.
Aurora groaned instantly. “Blade, don’t start. And quit calling me that”
He only grinned wider, falling into step beside her with a casual swagger.
“What, ‘princess’ doesn’t suit you? Feels right to me. Matteo’s queen, our princess… makes sense”
Aurora shot him a look sharp enough to cut steel. “You’re twenty, Blade. Act your age”
“I am,” he said with a shrug, mischief glinting in his eyes. “Which means I get to annoy you as much as I want”
Aurora’s jaw clenched, but the corner of her mouth betrayed the tiniest twitch.
“You’re lucky Matteo thinks of you as the clan’s baby, otherwise you’d have been buried already”
Blade chuckled, brushing imaginary dust off his jacket.
“What can I say? I’m the favorite little brother around here.” His grin softened just slightly, tone dipping into something sincere for a moment. You are reading from www.mhiztaemy.com.ng “Doesn’t mean I don’t look out for you too, princess”
Aurora’s lips parted, but before she could reply, Blade was already smirking again, winking. “Don’t glare at me like that. Save it for Matteo”
She rolled her eyes, exhaling sharply, but she didn’t argue.
“You do realize if Matteo sees you hanging around me like this, he might end your life without thinking?”
Blade only threw his head back and laughed, carefree and cocky. “Oh, I know. But hey, someone’s gotta keep you entertained, right, princess?”
Aurora shook her head, exasperated but not entirely immune to the faint smile tugging her lips. She leaned in slightly, her voice dropping into something conspiratorial.
“Tell me something, Blade… do you know anyone named Bianca in Matteo’s life?”
His brows furrowed. “Bianca?” He shook his head firmly. “No. Never heard of her. Why?”
She lowered her voice further, almost a whisper. “Then help me find out. Quietly. Don’t breathe a word of this to anyone”
Blade studied her face for a long beat, curiosity flickering, but he nodded once. “Alright. I’ve got your back”
Before she could answer, Aurora’s phone buzzed sharply in her hand. She glanced at the screen and she frowned a bit.
Mother.
Of all people.
Her lips parted slightly before she quickly turned away. “I have to take this,” she muttered, already stepping off down the hall.
Blade watched her go, frown deepening, unease shadowing his usual smirk.
•••
THE BELLANTI’S ESTATE, ELENA’S ROOM*
Aurora pushed the door open slowly.
Her mother lay there, sprawled across the bed, her body small against the wide mattress, her skin bruised and her breath shallow.
Elena’s cheekbone was swollen, her lip split, her wrists mottled purple where rough hands had gripped too hard.
Aurora’s chest tightened and her stomach churned.
It was like stepping back in time.
This wasn’t the first time she’d walked in on this sight. Her whole childhood had been painted with the sound of her father’s fury, the slaps, the belts, the ropes. The nights when Elena tried to stay quiet so the children wouldn’t hear, but they always did. They always heard.
Aurora had grown up watching her mother endure it all, because she had no choice. Because leaving was never an option. Because power bound tighter than any rope.
And when her father’s rage spilled beyond Elena, it came for them too.
Aurora still remembered the night she had tried to stand between them, trembling but determined, only to be struck down harder than she thought she could survive. Nobody stopped him. Nobody cared. She wasn’t the favored one. She never had been.
Valentina was.
Valentina, who was trained, sharpened, molded into his heir. Valentina, who was called strong while Aurora was dismissed as weak, unworthy, too soft. Her father never saw her as capable, never thought she was worth the same sweat and blood he poured into her sister.
But Aurora had endured too.
Different scars. Invisible ones.
Her throat burned with the weight of those memories as she crossed the room.
“Mamma” she whispered, her voice cracking as she sat beside her on the bed.
Elena stirred, forcing her eyes open, and when she saw Aurora, a faint smile softened her bruised face. “Aurora… my sweet girl”
Her mother’s trembling fingers reached for her hand, clutching weakly.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Elena whispered, her voice tired. “This isn’t new. I’ve lived with it… always. And I endured, because I had to”
Aurora swallowed hard, fury lashing against her ribs. Endured? That’s what they called survival here?
She tightened her grip on her mother’s hand.
“Not anymore,” she said quietly, steel hardening her voice. “I won’t let him keep doing this. Not to you. Not again”
Her mother’s eyes softened, but there was sorrow in them too. “Careful, figlia mia… your father breaks everything he can’t control”
Aurora’s gaze darkened, and her chest rose with a sharp inhale.
“Then let him try”
Aurora’s gaze darkened, and her chest rose with a sharp inhale.
The door clicked open and Valentina stepped in. She took in the scene of their mother lying battered, Aurora sitting close, hand clasped in hers.
Her lips curled, not into sympathy, but something colder.
“How touching,” Valentina drawled, crossing her arms. “The forgotten daughter playing savior. Again”
Aurora stiffened, her jaw tightening as she turned her head slowly.
“Valentina” she muttered.
Valentina’s gaze flicked over Elena briefly, then landed squarely on Aurora, her eyes gleaming with that familiar resentment.
“You always act like you’re different, Aurora. Like you care more. But we both know the truth that Mamma stayed because of me, not you. She endured for her heiress” She smirked, tilting her head. “And she would again”
Aurora’s stomach knotted, but she refused to let Valentina see her falter. She rose to her feet, her shadow falling over her sister.
“Funny, because for someone who was supposed to marry Matteo, you sound an awful lot like the bitter one left behind”
Valentina jaw clenched.
Elena’s weak voice cut between them, strained and tired. “Stop it. Both of you. I can’t… not right now”
Aurora tore her eyes from her sister, kneeling back beside her mother, but Valentina’s glare burned hot across the room like an open wound.
The door creaked again, heavier this time.
Vincenzo Bellanti stepped in without warning, his presence swallowing the room whole. Elena’s breath hitched, Valentina straightened like a soldier, and Aurora’s fists curled into themselves.
His cold eyes swept over them before settling on Elena, sprawled weak and bruised against the pillows. A muscle ticked in his jaw, but his voice came low and commanding.
“Leave us. All of you”
Valentina was already halfway to the door, head bowed. Elena shrank further into the sheets but Aurora didn’t move.
She rose slowly, her chin lifting. “No”
Vincenzo’s gaze snapped to her, his face hardening. The next second, his palm cracked across her cheek, the sound loud and violent in the quiet room.
Elena gasped. Valentina smirked, but Aurora… Aurora barely flinched. Her head turned back, her eyes blazing, fire licking where the sting burned her skin.
“You think that scares me? All my life, you’ve broken her down piece by piece while we watched. You made me feel weak, useless, because I wasn’t Valentina. You thought beating me would silence me. But here I am, still standing” she spat, her voice trembling with fury, not fear.
His nostrils flared, his hand twitching as though itching to strike again.
Aurora stepped closer.”You can keep beating her. You can keep pretending you’re a man by breaking what’s already fragile. But one day, Vincenzo… one day, the devil you bow to will come to collect. And when he does, it won’t be me, or Mamma, or Valentina who pays. It’ll be you”
She didn’t wait for a response and didn’t even give him the chance. Her heart pounded as she turned and strode to the door, her chin high, the sting of his slap burning hotter with every step.
Behind her, his voice thundered through the walls.
“Come back here!”
But Aurora was already gone.
She pushed past the threshold, down the staircase, out into the cool air where her car waited. And leaning casually against it, with that same cocky smile he’d had since the day they met, was Enzo.
“Took you long enough,” he grinned, hands tucked into his pockets, eyes glinting with mischief and relief all at once.
Aurora stopped.
She didn’t hesitate as she rushed straight into his arms, hugging him tightly.
Enzo chuckled softly against her hair, his voice teasing but edged with something real.
“You totally forgot about me, huh? Just because you’re married now?”
Aurora pulled back slightly, rolling her eyes, though her lips twitched.
“It’s not like that… that marriage is complicated, okay?”
Enzo arched a brow, his grin lopsided. “Complicated how?”
Aurora’s mouth opened, but no words came out. Instead, her thoughts betrayed her… Matteo. His touch, his fire, his control. She was supposed to hate him, and yet part of her still… wanted. Part of her still burned with the urge to understand him, to peel back the shadows he carried.
Unconsciously, her lips curved, the faintest smile tugging at them.
Enzo narrowed his eyes, tilting his head. “Why are you smiling?”
Aurora blinked, startled, and quickly shook her head.
“Me? Smile? Nah, you saw wrong”
But she didn’t notice the figure standing not too far away.
Valentina.
Leaning against the balcony rail, arms folded, a smirk playing on her lips as she watched the scene unfold.
•••
BACK AT THE EMPIRE, MATTEO’S OFFICE*
Matteo sat behind his desk, elbow propped against the wood, his hand curled against his jaw. His gaze was fixed on nothing but just the emptiness ahead of him.
Ace had left an hour ago. Since then, Matteo hadn’t moved. Not once. His mind churned, a storm of thoughts he couldn’t leash, his body still but his head anything but.
The shrill buzz of his phone shattered the silence.
He didn’t glance at the screen. Just reached, lifted, pressed it to his ear.
“Hello?”
A pause.
“Hello, Matty” came the voice from the other end.
His breath hitched, the faintest flicker breaking through his iron composure. His eyes widened, just slightly, but enough.
Because only one person ever called him that.
•
•
•
TBC😈
Leave a Reply