Mafia's Final Play (Mafia's Obsession #3) - Summer Cooper Page 0,14

the door.

“Fuck, Anton’s here.” Matteo slowly pulled away his eyes sealed to Marie’s with heat tempered by regret. “Later, we’ll finish this later.”

“Oh, we will, baby.” Marie grinned and got up to rearrange her clothes. “I’ll let him in. You get dressed.”

“Thanks.”

She walked down to open the door and let the large man into the apartment. “Want a drink?”

“No, thanks, Marie.” He shuffled in the doorway, his eyes down on the floor. “Is Matteo home?”

“Yeah, he’ll be out in a minute. I hear we’re going on an adventure?”

“That we are. You all packed?” His only movement was to shove his hands in his pockets.

Marie grinned when she realized he wasn’t the asshole she’d taken him for the few times she’d met him in the past. She’d thought he was gruff to the point of rudeness, but it finally dawned on her that the man was painfully shy around her. She smothered a laugh of delight and stepped back a few more feet.

“Yeah, we’re all packed up and ready to go. I can’t wait to leave these walls behind and get some fresh air. Where are we going? He told me to pack warm clothes, and it’s still warm in most places.” She leaned against the wall, nonchalant and careful to try to put the man at ease.

He actually shuffled his foot on the carpet before he looked up quickly, then right back down. “I guess you are ready for some fresh air. About where we’re going. It’s a place up in Montana. Up in the mountains. It can be pretty cold at night up there, but not so bad during the day. Um…”

He’d stopped to take a deep breath and Marie figured he was trying to think of something to say. Matteo saved him from having to talk to Marie by coming out of the bedroom with several pieces of their luggage. “Hi, Anton, what do you know?”

“Flight’s in two hours, private plane, paid for with cash. I’ve rented a car, so we’ll have transport once we get there.”

“Good, good.”

Marie didn’t really pay much attention after that, she was too busy staring at the door. The door that was about to open and take her to fresh air and freedom. The men didn’t waste too much time and Matteo soon ushered her out of the building and down to the car Anton had chosen to drive them to the airport.

She could feel the heat in the parking garage, despite the green maxi dress she wore, so when she got in the car to find it was a bit warm, she cracked the window a fraction of an inch. She held her face up to the tinted window and let the tiny crack of air blow over her hair and face as the air conditioner started to work. It was so good to feel that air, to breathe it in, and Marie felt relief as an almost physical sensation on her skin and in her brain.

Freedom, even if she was in a car. She was free of that penthouse, free of the overwhelming oppression of being locked away again. She remembered not that long ago she’d decided to have it out with Matteo, to demand he take her outside somewhere. She would have to show him she was his match, she’d decided. But between the moment of that decision and the point where he came home, her mind had shut down those thoughts.

She’d spent so much of her life being in someone’s prison, first her mother’s and then Matteo’s, that she’d learned to just deal with the moments as they came along. He hadn’t kept her in to control her, that was the difference now, she thought as the car pulled into the airport. He’d kept her in to keep her safe. The thing he didn’t seem to understand was that she only felt safe when she was with him.

Even with those guards outside the door, she felt unsafe every moment of the day until Matteo came home. That’s when she came back to life. Even when Trina came to visit her, she was still on autopilot, just taking one breath at a time until that moment when he walked through the door.

“Keep your eyes peeled, Anton,” she heard Matteo mutter and looked at him more closely as they walked to the jet that waited for them.

“Always, boss,” Anton replied.

Marie didn’t really pay too much attention to that, though, she was finally looking at her husband and saw that tension drew