MAFIA'S WILD OBSESSION (18+)

CHAPTER 18: BETTER OR WORSE

CHRISTIAN'S POV:
The men's section was empty. The cameras were setup strategically, but there were still a few blind spots from my observation.

Good.

Todd led us right to the center of the elaborate room, stacked high at the four corners were luxury cabinets for male accessories, display glass boxes for shoes, and fashionable male mannequins. Everything was suave and opulent.

"Here we are, sir- I mean, Christian. Is there anything specifically you'd like?" He gestured to a few of the mannequins.

"A tie. I'm thinking something...colorful." I walked past him to the collection of ties displayed in a glass showcase, illuminated on the inside. I lifted the lid and picked out the first that caught my attention. "Maybe red?"

Todd was by my side in seconds. He regarded my choice seriously through pensive eyes, as if he was thinking up the solution to world hunger.

"I don't know... What about pink? No offense, but it might help to keep you in touch with your feminine side. You just seem so...monochrome, and red might look threatening on you. It'd scare the ladies."

Damn, and here I thought I looked cuddly.

I let out a deep chuckle, first because I was amused by the audacity of this moron and secondly because it was the only option other than forcing the tie down his throat.

"God forbid I scare the ladies. Where's the chivalry in that?" I returned the red one, then scanned through for another. "Speaking of ladies, you seem smitten by her."

"Who?"

"Don't act clueless." I pulled out a pink tie, stretching out it's full-length and sampling the texture. Good quality.

"W-well, yeah. She is really beautiful."

Tell me something I don't know.

"Hmm." I mused. "The kind of girl you'd love to have?"

"Yeah...I guess. She's sweet, funny and...sexy. That's my dream girl right there."

"Really?"

"Yes. If I'm lucky, I might ask her out on a date, get her flowers and I don't know... kiss her?" He laughed nervously, flushed to his toes.

Just fucking adorable.

Something about that hopeful tone snaps hard on my restraints. My back goes rigid as I turned to him. The pent-up rage bled through my façade, easing itself into my cutting stare.

"You have it all planned out – I'm impressed." My voice was amused, confining my irritation by a thin thread.

"Mhm, that's why I got her number." He paused to consider me and after a moment, he adjusted himself, clearing his throat a little. "Do you like the tie, sir?"

I glanced at it, barely being able to see beyond the violent flashes that clouded my vision. My fingers clenched tightly over the material and I looked back at Todd with a devious grin.

"Very much." I took daunting steps forward. "But do you know what I admire even more?"

He eyed our proximity cautiously. "No..."

That was my cue.

My hands shot to him, grabbing his throat in an iron-grip, digging my fingers hard, excruciatingly, into his flesh – I hoped to permanently seize his flow of blood. I hoped his veins split under the immense pressure I exerted over them.

"The fucking nerve you have talking about my wife like that." I hissed, poison and disgust coating my words. The last trace of amusement dissolved into something far more menacing, bloodthirsty.

Somehow, it wasn't enough to see him swollen red on the face, veins popping as he struggled dearly to release my grip on him. I wanted to count the seconds till the life drains from his body, till he's sputtering blood and his tense muscles go limp under my fingers.

"S-stop- Stop! Security-" He wheezed out, and I wanted to laugh. Security? Not even his mom could save him from this.

I slammed his back hard against the wall by the corner and when that pained groan shot out of him, I realized just how long I'd wanted to do that.

The pink tie was wrapped around his neck like a noose, then I tightened it in opposite directions, constricting and constricting till he was choking and ugly tears were rushing down his cheeks at an alarming speed.

Now, I smiled. "Tell me, how do you want this staged? An idiot who slipped down the stairs and smashed his head to death? Or, hmm, something a bit more poetic – like said idiot throwing himself off the roof?"

Snot ran down his nose as he bawled his eyes out. Todd coughed, shaking his head dreadfully.

"I-I didn't know! I didn't know she was m-married. She said- She said you were her body guard. T-there was no ring on her finger."

What? Her bodyguard? That woman-

I dragged the leash harder, multiplying the raw agony he was stuck in. Anger pumped through my veins. It was begged me to snuff the life from him even though I knew a large amount of those emotions was directed at Angel.

"Allow me to introduce myself, Todd. I'm the man who gets to fucking take her out on dates, buy her bouquets, and kiss those lips till they're stained red. Do you want to die today, Todd?"

He shook his head profusely, eyes wide.

"Then you'd do well to erase every trace of my wife from your mind, including that number you have on your phone. If you as little as breathe her name, I will find you and I will enjoy every second of watching you bleed. Am I clear?"

"Yes – yes! Yes, you a-are, Mister Sir."

My glare didn't falter for a second, still tightening my grip. His eyes were pleading, red-rimmed and desperate. He never even put up a fight. No challenge, no grit – just Todd and his red face. I dropped him in disgust.

He collapsed to the ground and scrambled away to a corner where he heaved in breaths, choking on tears and cradling himself. That was when I noticed the trail of fluid on the ground, directly leaving a wet patch on his pants.

He peed himself.

I couldn't even pretend to be surprised.

Walking back to the tie showcase, I picked out a black one and a suit jacket from one of the mannequins. I was in front of the large mirror as I buttoned up the suit, reflecting on the man staring back at me with empty gray eyes.

Christian De Novo; the man I'd become.

Long gone were his soft edges, his 'heart of gold' as someone had often said, his bright smiles. I'd been told that losing those things would make everything easier; the blood, the violence and the deaths. It would make me stronger.

There was a thin line, however, between being strong and creating a monstrous savage. No one wants a king with tears in his eyes. No one truly wants strong.

'Smile, boy, you're a hero now!'

So, as the age long tradition demanded, I let out a cold smile – one that tore the corners of my lips and left them permanently scarred.

Minutes later, I left Todd shaking in the men's section. Someone might need to call an ambulance for him. Before returning to the lady's section, I made a stop at the showcase for glamorous jewelry. Todd's words returned to me.

'...there was no ring on her finger.'

True, and I had to fix that – at least before another moron dies in my hands this time. The selection was a thorough one. My gaze swept through one display box to another, searching for the perfect nuptial band that called out the most to me.

The last time I had gone ring hunting, it had been easier because I knew the woman like she was only an extension of my own soul. Then, I'd picked out the sapphire blue halo ring, mostly for the fact that they reminded me so much of her eyes.

She never got them though.

I never found out if she'd have truly loved the ring as much as I did.

For Angel, I decided on an antique diamond ring, cut perfectly in rose gold. It was striking, delicate-looking but without a doubt, impossible to break – just like her. She might not know it yet, but that righteous fire buried within her depths would raze nations.

Together, I was most certain that we will.

I returned to the lady's section, feeling like a new man. My rage had been satiated and I had a ring. That was enough for now. Over at a corner where the beauticians worked, there she was; my Angel. My beautiful redemption.

A plastic smile was glued to her face as she seemed to be stuck in a one-sided conversation with no other than Cherry. Angel's eyes twitched on multiple occasions and at that point, she looked like she was just itching to be put out of her misery.

I got up to them and on spotting me, her face brightened up – surprisingly. I guess that even I could be better company than Cherry.

"Christian!" Angel shot up from where she was seated, a desperate look on her face.

She was no longer in the previous dress, instead she was now wearing an embellished purple off-shoulder. It gripped hard to her body with a side split that only stopped midthigh this time. Her hair had also been done and a light glam lit up her face.

Todd had been right about one thing; she was a goddess.

"You just spoke to me," I said with a little smile.

Angel frowned, as if my words confused her, then her eyes enlarged when it hit.

"Fuck. I was going to go a year." She shut her eyes in frustration, then opened them to a little scowl. "Whatever, I'll do better next time."

I rose my brow in mild amusement. "Is this supposed to be your superpower now? A game for 6-year olds?"

"Maybe. You're more unbearable than you think." Sweet flattery. She glanced behind me, her brows drawing deeper. "Where is Todd?"

"He left."

I hated how the concern seeped into her gaze. "What? Why?"

"You actually think I'd care."

Angel regarded me with tight brows, the wheels in her pretty head spinning. It took a moment before her focus drifted to my suit jacket. Her gaze narrowed, and if Sherlock Holmes ever needed a female counterpart, it'd be her right fucking now.

"That's funny; you getting a new jacket just when you left coincidentally the same time as him."

"Groundbreaking discovery, Detective. Do you want me to bake you a cake for the effort?"

"Todd wouldn't just leave without saying goodbye."

"And you've known the boy for how many seconds again?"

"I just know her won't. He's a decent guy..." who peed himself. She glowered at me. "Unless you did something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know..." Angel stepped closer, her wary eyes scanning the vicinity before she rushed out her words in a hush. "...pointed a gun at him?"

"Now, that's just barbaric. Why would I engage callously with an innocent civilian?" I frowned earnestly. My virtuous high-morals would never.

"Ha-ha, Christian. I saw the look you kept giving him."
"What look?"

"Like you'd murder him in his sleep."

Yet again, I'm insulted.

"That's hardly creative."

She gasped. "What did you do to him?"

I rolled my eyes. "Todd is fine. I got you something."

"Don't change the subject. You hurt him, didn't you?"

It was getting annoying, the fact that she wouldn't let this go. Todd was gone; I was here now.

"Always quick to paint me as your villain." Without her permission, I took up her hand, for a moment admiring how perfectly they fit into mine.

"Aren't you?"

"At least that would mean that I'm yours." I pulled the ring box from my pocket.

Angel's gaze lingered on the box, then straight into my eyes. I held them with an intensity that seemed to silence her. A red tint raced to her cheek. She looked away a second after.

"That doesn't matter; I know I'd never feel the same way about you. If that is what this is even called – feeling. It would imply that you are capable of anything other than evil."

And giving you earth-shattering orgasms, Angel – don't forget the orgasms.

I chuckled, dropping a kiss over the back of her hand. "You're about to find out that how you feel holds little weight when it comes to this arrangement, mio caro."

Or when it comes to the lengths I'm willing to go to keep you as my wife.

The ring was out of the box and carefully, intentionally, I slipped it onto her wedding finger. This little act stirred something within me, an overwhelming ache that underscored the fact that I was dragging her down the depths of hell with me.

Her breaths staggered and she never once looked away from the ring on her finger. There were no smiles, no excitement, only this distant pain rooted in her. I wished I could say that it mattered, or that I felt a sliver of guilt for tying her against her will - but that would be a heinous lie.

Come better, or worse, or death, or father, she'd be mine.

This time.

~
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