Chapter 22

Z A R A

I did see Alejandro the next morning, but, shockingly, both of us ignored each other. I was half expecting him to slam me against the couch, violating every inch of my body yet again but he didn't. He didn't even glance over in my direction.

This went on for a whole week and a half. The same routine: we would cross paths in the morning, but he wouldn't acknowledge my presence, and neither would I acknowledge his. At night, he would come home late and go straight to his room or wouldn't come home at all.

However, our eyes met just once one morning, in the middle of the week. He looked extremely tired, the shadow under his eyes was dark enough for anyone to notice at a glance. His lips looked dry and thin, his cheeks sunken in, his hair messy compared to it is never out of place, and his usual clean shaven face has a 5 o'clock shadow.

He looked rough.

As he should after everything he did to me

This morning isn't any different, in fact, I'm starting to enjoy this. I can live the rest of my life just like this. This way, I might actually stay sane. If looked at it from one perspective, being on no-speaking terms seems unhealthy but in our case, it's nice; in our case, it might actually be better.

As I'm eating breakfast, Alejandro is standing near the exit putting on his shoes to leave for the day.

"Charlotte, it's tonight," he says before shutting the door.

"Understood, Boss," she slightly bows as he leaves.

I stare at Charlotte, blinking in confusion, "What's tonight?"

"The Notte Drago ball that you two will be attending," she says. "The event is sponsored by Boss' nightclub, La Notte Drago, so the both of you are important guests."

"By two, you can't possibly mean Alejandro and me?" I raise a brow.

She nods, "He asked me to have you dressed and ready to go before he comes home."

"He hasn't spoken to me in almost two weeks. In fact, if I remember correctly, he almost broke all 206 of my bones because of a stupid argument, yet he expects me to go to this ball with him voluntarily acting like the perfect fiancée?" I roll my eyes.

Charlotte looks at me apologetically, "I'm sorry, I'm just supposed to do what I'm told."

I sigh, "Of course, this isn't your fault, Charlotte. I also ruined your chance of attending, didn't I?"

She shakes her head with a small smile on her face, "Boss informed me last week that I'm still to attend and even sent me out to shop for appropriate attire."

"Oh my God!" I squeal excitedly. "Why didn't you inform me beforehand?"

"I thought it would be a nice surprise," she grins.

"It's the best surprise. This calms my nerves so much!" I say excitedly.

"If it makes you feel any better, Boss would never let his anger get out of hand in public. His image is everything to him. And since there will be various important people there tonight, you may expect the best behavior from him," she explains.

I know Alejandro is very good at masking his anger when he needs to. There are times when he's infuriatingly good at it. No matter how much you want to push his buttons, he doesn't budge. Instead, he has a calm, blank expression on his face, as if he didn't even hear you or you're not important enough for him to listen to.

Suddenly, the doorbell rings.

"Are we expecting someone?" I ask Charlotte.

She looks just as confused as me, "I don't think so?"

She clicks the intercom button that shows who's standing outside of the door. Once she sees it, she rushes to open the door.

"Mr. Wang, we weren't informed of your visit," Charlotte says nervously.

He pushes past her after dropping a few bags on the ground.

I scramble to grab a scarf I had lying on the couch to quickly wrap around my head.

"I'll let you two speak in private," Charlotte excuses herself.

"Marcus? What are doing here?" There's a clear shock in my tone of voice.

"I'm here to make sure you don't fuck anything up tonight because apparently, that's all you're good at," he's as rude as ever but, he's also as handsome as ever.

There's no denying that he's an eye-catcher. Not only do his tattoos catch the eye, but his chiseled face and tall frame also add to his beauty. His expression is always cold, stoic, and uninterested but, somehow, that makes him look even more attractive. But his personality completely ruins him for me. He should do something about that horrible attitude of his.

"Don't worry, I have no intentions to mess with anyone night... unless, of course, someone forces my hand," I say.

"This attitude of yours did a number on you the other day and you dragged me into it too, while you were at it," he grits his teeth in frustration.

My attitude?

"You? What did I–oh," I did bring him into it. Knowing Alejandro, he probably went extra hard on Marcus for what I said. "I'm sorry! It was the heat of the moment. Alejandro was being infuriated and I couldn't—"

"You couldn't help but mention how you enjoyed watching me instead?" Marcus takes a few more strides to close the space between him and the wall behind me. He slams his hand against the wall beside my head, making me gasp, "What? I thought I had you mesmerized. How about I show you—"

"Stop it, Marcus!" I push Marcus away with all the strength I have. "You're being insane!"

"I'm being insane? Because of what you said, I can barely walk straight," he yells.

I give him a look over, he doesn't seem to have any injuries—

Oh, I see.

"He took everything out on Amelia and me that day. Plus, hasn't fucking stopped taking it out on me, apparently. And it's all thanks to you," he lets out a sarcastic scoff.

"It's not my fault you chose that psychopath as the man you want to sleep around with! He can rip apart your ass for all I care!" I yell back.

Surprisingly, Marcus chuckles, "Oh, trust me, doll. I wouldn't mind anything that man does to me but I see that some of his characteristics have rubbed off on you."

I act like I'm gagging at his comment and roll my eyes, "Why are you normalizing his behavior? He's a fucked up guy, there's nothing but bad things to say about him!"

"And you're a fucked up coward for letting all this happen to you," he rolls his eyes.

"I'm a what? You're blaming me?" I chuckle in disbelief. He's literally victim-blaming! "Why the hell do you hate me so much? You hated me the second you laid eyes on me and both you and I know it."

"You're pathetic and absolutely obnoxious. It's pretty easy to hate you, doll," he shrugs his shoulders. I hate that he calls me a doll, it feels almost degrading because of the tone he uses.

"It's actually pretty obnoxious how easily you defend someone like Alejandro," I sigh. "What? Are you in love with him or something?"

There's a flash of something that crosses Marcus' face, his expressions are always hard to read because of how quickly he can change them. But the expression lingered long enough for it to answer the question. I didn't need to pry any further for the question I asked as a joke.

"Your attire for tonight is in those bags," he ignores my question and points over to the bags he dropped earlier. "Again, don't fuck it up tonight. It's a big night for him and for you as well. You'll be transitioning into the crime family as the fiancée of one of the most powerful men in the Cosa nostra. Everyone's eyes will definitely be on you and if you mess up, Alejandro won't be pleased, which is never good for anyone."

I didn't realize but I found myself agreeing with him. He's right, I can't make a scene because it won't be good for anyone, not just me.

Just as he was about to leave, I stop him, "Marcus, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for..."

What was I sorry for? For bringing him into this the other day? For taking away Alejandro from him? I don't know, I genuinely don't know but I have this guilt building up in the pit of my stomach. Is it guilt though? Or just pity? Can I afford to pity someone else when I'm in a pitiable situation myself?

"I'm sorry for everything," I didn't have an exact reason to apologize for, it was a mix of many things. He doesn't turn around to look at me, he doesn't even follow up with a rude comment. Instead, he just simply says,

"There's nothing to apologize for. We're all battling something," and then, he just quietly leaves. Surprisingly, I think Marcus gets it. He understands that I might've dropped his name in a desperate attempt to fight Alejandro back. But I still feel horrible about it.

What's done is done, I tell myself.

Charlotte peaks her head out, "Shall we get started?"

"Did you hear everything?" I whisper.

She nods and points in the direction of my room. I don't question her any further so we walk to my room together.

"I did hear everything," she admits once we reach my room. "Your room doesn't have a security camera, so I thought I'd admit it here."

"What's Marcus' deal?" I ask.

"Boss and Mr. Wang have known each other for more than half of their lives. Mr. Wang is actually an ex-member of the Chinese Triad," she explains.

"Chinese Triad?" I think I heard Amelia say something of this sort.

"Chinese underground mafia. They're even more secretive than the Sicilian mafia," she continues.

"Oh," I think about how Marcus must've grown up in horribly violent conditions as well.

"Though I should refrain from informing you about unconfirmed comments, but rumors have it that when Mr. Wang came to the U.S to study over 10 years ago, that's when he met Boss. Mr. Wang was supposedly in hot waters with the Triad, he was physically and mentally in a very dark state. Boss pulled him out of it and had Mr. Wang cut off all his ties with the Triad,"

"But... it couldn't have been easy to cut off ties with such a maliciously secretive group?" I ask, wondering what lengths Alejandro went through to make sure Marcus wouldn't have to go back.

She sighs, "Again, these are rumors but apparently Boss went to lengths of Hell and back to make sure Mr. Wang never had to go back again." She answers my question as if she read my mind. "This includes a sort of war between Boss, himself, and some influential members of the Triad. In the end, Boss prevailed and Mr. Wang was free... or free as he can be because he ended up working for Boss. I guess you can never really escape this lifestyle..."

"So, there was bloodshed?" I ask.

"Lots," she nods. "Too much for me to recount. It wasn't even a fight that involved any of the crime families or the Cosa nostra in general so the elders were very disapproving towards Alejandro's reason to fight."

"Do you know anything about them being... lovers?" The words leave my mouth carefully.

Charlotte chokes, "Uh..."

"I'm sorry! You don't have to say anything else!" I reassure her. But I really want to know the tea, I want Charlotte to spill it.

"No, no. It's okay. I guess it's fine if I say it..." she starts. "Boss never really dated, or at least none of his relationships lasted for more than a couple of months or so. He does have multiple 'lovers', I suppose. Ms. [Amelia] Lucchese and Mr. Wang are the ones who he trusts the most, but, from what I know, it's a no-strings-attached type of situation."

Oh... so he really trusts those two, huh...

"I wouldn't be able to tell you when his rendezvous with the two began because I have no clue myself. Mr. Wang and Ms. Lucchese aren't the only people he sleeps around with though, he—" she quickly cups her mouth. "Oh my God, I said too much. I'm so sorry! It slipped my mind that you're his... I'm so so so sorry!"

I shake my head with a small smile, "No! It's totally fine. I asked for you to tell me, I had an idea of what you would say. Please, continue." I pause for a second before asking, "I'm not sure if you would even know the answer to this but does Alejandro prefer Marcus more than Amelia or vice versa?"

"Are you asking if he prefers a man or a woman more?" She asks me to clarify.

I nod.

"I wouldn't know but from knowing him for so long, it probably doesn't matter to him," she says. "He's brought home both men and women over the years. One didn't stand out more than the other."

"Does the mafia allow this?" I pry further.

"The elders are extremely disapproving of this and are against Boss' activities with men but they wouldn't dare speak a word against him now," She looks out the window. "Maybe Boss started this as a way to rebel but now, it's become a part of his lifestyle."

The more I know, the better, I guess.

"Anything else you'd want to know?" Charlotte asks.

I shake my head, "Not currently. Thank you for filling me in, though." I pick up one of the Chanel bags, "Shall we get started?"

- - -

• Marcus, sweetie, you need a find yourself a new homeboy. This homeboy ain't it, pls. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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