Mafia's Final Play (Mafia's Obsession #3) - Summer Cooper Page 0,47

was lucky, wasn’t I?” he whispered, but she heard him.

“Were you?” she asked with a pointed look. “Celeste doesn’t sound like she was much better.”

“Does that mean I’m still in denial?” He tried to laugh it off, but she looked away as if she was trying to hold something back. “I had everything I wanted: all the toys, the cars, the clothes, I was allowed to go out…”

“But were you given love, Matteo?” she interrupted and he could hear the anger in her voice now. “Celeste gave you items, belongings, but she denied you love. She was cruel to you. Was that any better than what my mother did?”

She was breathing hard and her cheeks were flushed. He didn’t realize she cared so much. Maybe because nobody ever had before, not like Marie did. It was hard to recognize now.

“I suppose you have a point.” He sat back, his focus on driving but his thoughts racing. “Yeah, I see your point.”

“I’m sorry you had it so rough, Matteo. I want to make that all better for you,” she said and he could hear the emotion that strangled her voice. “I don’t want to make it worse.”

“You could never do that, Marie.” He pulled into the restaurant they had a reservation at and parked up. With a quick move, he turned to her, took her face in his hands, and looked into her eyes. His eyes were so full of emotion they almost glowed as he stared at her intently. “You are my home, remember?”

“I remember,” she whispered with a watery smile. “And you’re mine.”

She clutched at the necklace he’d given her and her smile strengthened. “Okay, this was supposed to be a fun, carefree night. Let’s stop being grownups now and play a little bit.”

“I think that sounds like the best idea I’ve heard in a long time. Let’s go.”

The dinner went well and before long, they were standing in line to get popcorn and drinks at the snack counter of the theater. Matteo watched her as she looked around.

“Oh my, they have hotdogs, and all that candy…” Her voice trailed off as she looked at the rows and rows of overpriced candy. “It’s so amazing.”

“It is nice, the whole experience,” he agreed, but the charm had worn off for him a long time ago. “I’m looking forward to the movie, it looks like it’s going to be good in the trailers.”

“Let’s hope it’s not one of those where they show the best parts in the trailer and the rest is terrible,” she laughed as they moved up the line.

Before long, they were settled into their seats and he watched as she gazed around the room they were in. “There are so many people.”

She whispered it to him, so he whispered back. “Hopefully they’ve turned their phones off.”

“I hope so.”

The movie started then, and thankfully, the room went quiet. Matteo wanted to watch the movie, but his mind was on other things. She’d missed out on so much. She’d basically been her mother’s prisoner. The only times she’d gone out was to go to school, to go to meetings with social services, and then later, to go on errands for her mother.

Matteo knew how her mother had treated her. She’d opened up to him about some of the things her mother used to tell her, he’d heard it once. Ruby had made Marie her prisoner, her slave, and though he hadn’t made her a slave, he was keeping her prisoner. She was alive right now, as she watched the movie and absently shoved popcorn into her mouth. She was experiencing something he’d come to take for granted.

He’d denied her the chance to go out and do the things she’d wanted. Yeah, he’d done it to keep her safe, but was that any better than what her mother had done to her? He sighed deeply and she turned to him with a quirked eyebrow. He smiled in answer and took her hand.

For a moment, he remembered being a child and how he’d loved to go to the Sunday matinee with his real mother before Celeste took him away. His real mother was someone he rarely thought about now. He’d loved her dearly when he was little and had only wanted to go home to her once Celeste took him. But over the years, after many, many punishments, he’d learned to stop asking for her.

She’d become an alcoholic over time. She’d learned to hide her pain behind a haze of alcohol. It