The Mafia Don’s little Con Artist

16- Truth

Aleks POV:

In just a few days we are attending a very high profile wedding of the daughter of an allied Irish Don: Ian McGriffin. It’s not the type of event that I particularly look forward to, but it cannot be avoided. My absence could be viewed as a sign of disrespect, and this is not the time to test allegiances.

Plus, I’ll have another opportunity to take my girl out and show her off. It still amazes me how reserved she is about me spending money on her. Her hesitance and caution of my spoiling her is comical to me, and quite refreshing. All of the women I’ve dated or entertained in the past didn’t blink, or think twice, about adding charges to my accounts once I gave them permission. Which is why I decided to give Sophia her own money, so that she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable having to ask me for it if there was something she wanted or needed.

I’m hoping she will finally spend some of that money on a new dress for the wedding. I’m also hoping it lifts her spirits.

It’s been a couple of days since she and her sister visited the Doctor together. Both of their demeanors changed considerably afterwards and I tried not to pressure Sophia into sharing what she wasn’t comfortable with sharing. I know she will tell me when she is ready.

After all, there are many things she doesn’t know about me, and many things I may never be able to tell her. So I will be patient with my butterfly.

For now, my attention is on much more delicate matters.

Shipping and delivery issues have become more than a one time occurrence, and my businesses cannot allow such failures. Word got back to my grandfather about these mishaps, so now it is not just me who the employees have to deal with.

And my old grandfather isn’t as sweet and mild as he was with Sophia. The exact opposite actually. It was entirely too weird seeing his character flip when he was around her. She has a mysterious effect on all who are around her. Even my men seem more pliable in her presence.

He visited one of the warehouses with me last night, despite my efforts to have him stay home and rest, and he killed a man with his bare hands for speaking out of turn. It was the fools’ own fault for opening his thoughtless mouth though.

There’s more going on regarding the problems occurring with the business, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it. One way or another, someone is going to pay for daring to interfere with our affairs. The amount of times it’s happened now, eliminate the possibility of coincidence. It’s clear to us now that someone is deliberately tampering with the system. MY system.

I’ll have a trusted colleague investigate my employees at the docks. Despite having undergone vigorous background checks, someone has managed to slip through the cracks and I intend on discovering who they are before they can inflict any more damage.

I am supposed to arrange a meeting with the Italian families, particularly Don Dorelli.

My grandfather isn’t the only person I was attempting to placate with this whole ‘fake fiancé’ nonsense. Don Dorelli has been in cahoots with my grandfather for years trying to arrange my marriage to his granddaughter. Tensions between our two families has been tedious at best, and I’ll admit there would be much to gain by merging them, but none of that matters now.

I don’t want Dorelli’s scheming whóre of a grandchild, and my grandfather can find other ways to mend bad blood with other Dons. I’ve got my own plans now, involving a certain someone who’s just walked through the door.

-

Sophia POV:

I push through the doors of Aleks’ office here in the mansion.

“Hey, Ivan said you wanted to see me?”

“Come, sit.” He instructs me by patting his leg.

I blush, but walk over and obey his direction, taking a seat on his lap and crossing my legs.

“Whaaat’s going on?”

“Tell me about you.” He says.

“Huh?”

“Tell me about your life.”

“What do you want to know?” I asked.

“Everything.”

So I started talking about my life and what I went through with Liz.

“We were so little, and our world was thrown into a tailspin in the middle of the night. We moved from house to house for several years, until we landed one particularly bad home in Florida..”

I hesitate to continue, but he swipes the tear that slid down my cheek and encourages me to go on.

I know he felt my scars the night we had s*x for the first time, and I thanked god he never brought it up, asked about it or made me feel bad about it. His hand simply paused as it brushed against my skin, feeling the bumps of raised skin along my back. He kept his hands away from the scars for the rest of the night, but I somehow knew it wasn’t out of disgust or discomfort.. he just wanted me to feel safe.

“His name was Mark.” I sigh. “He had an awful drinking habit and a terrible anger problem. He looked for any excuse to take that anger out on Liz and I, so I did my best to absorb the majority of his frustration myself. He would slap us for talking too much, too quiet, too loud or without permission. If we were caught trying to get food from the kitchen, on account of they withheld food from us, we’d be locked in the room for unknown amounts of time.

Some days, for no reason known to me, Mark would come home from work and drag me up the stairs to our room, remove his belt and just start..hitting me. He tore through so many of my shirts, and his wife Joanne, tell him to leave a mark so I ‘would learn my lesson’.”

“I’ll kill them, Babochka, I’ll kill them for what they did to you.” Aleks promises, cupping my face with his heavily tattooed hands.

Tears were falling freely down my face now.

“Liz and I were sick there all the time, the physical abuse started to get even worse, so we finally gathered the few things we could carry and ran away in the middle of the night.” I paused to sniffled.

“You both were sick?” Aleks asks.

And then I realize I had a choice to make..do I lie and protect this small secret of my failing health due to my neglectful caretakers? Or do I lean into this new and strange relationship with the truth? I know what I want to do. With everything I’ve said so far, he doesn’t seem like he’s gunna kick me to the curb. Not yet anyway.