Taken By The Mafia Lord

Arianna was fuming in the backyard's vegetable garden. There were a lot of gardens here anyway thanks to the large land mass, Marcel even has a vineyard, the one she ran through the night she danced at Victor's party, hoping to escape him weeks ago, although the escape was an epic failure.

So she choose the smaller garden where there would be less company, although she had a feeling Luca was watching her somewhere. At first, it had been creepy having the male follow her everywhere, but she had gotten used to his presence and he wasn't a bad company anyway. However, watching her from the shadows was still weird.

Arianna squatted down in front of the small raised tomato garden bed, about four-by-four feet. She imagined the unripe tomato as Marcel's head and ranted to it, transferring all of her aggression to the imaginary Marcel. It was a habit she learned from Mimi and at the moment, it suited her mood.

"Stupid male!" Arianna hit the top of the tomato with the small stick she had in hand, "Why can't you ever listen to me for once?! Or is it that hard listening to a woman's idea," She rolled her eyes towards heaven.

If people thought toxic feminism was prevalent in society, then they haven't met the underworld where women are meant to keep quiet, subservient, and submissive in the midst of male aggression and domination. It was annoying, and that was why Arianna never wanted to be with Marcel in the first place, she had to give up everything she loved and dreamed to be, just to be by his side.

As his lover, she was meant to support Marcel's ambitions, but what about hers? Instead, the little contribution she makes to Marcel's "ambition" was rejected and thrown away as if it didn't matter - as if it was stupid and unappreciated! Fine, she would stand by the sideline this time and watch his plan fail. Arianna hopes he doesn't come crying to her when he finds out in the end that her plan was the best.

"You egoistic jerk! Does your damn pride matter to you more than a clear plan! Or you think I would be there to kiss your booboo when you fail?" She huffed, "In your dreams!" Her smile was wicked this time, "I'll make sure that you suffer and go down on your knees begging me for forgiveness this time!" She decided.

"Does that make you feel better?"

Somebody said from behind and Arianna turned around immediately only to see that it was Victor and she released a sigh, someone has infiltrated her sanctuary. She turned back without saying a word to him; Victor was not welcomed here.

Victor came up and squatted down as well beside her before staring at the bruised tomato in the middle and raised a questioning brow, amusement tugging at the corner of his lips,

"Is that Marcel?"

Arianna looked at him in surprise, "How did you know?"

"Mimi," He smiled.

"Oh." Arianna nodded. Of course, Victor was dating Mimi and it was expected that he noticed all of her quirks already.

She turned to him with brows drawn, her interrogative mode on, "What are your plans for my friend? I know you, Victor and I know my friend, Mimi and I hope the both of you aren't into casual dating because I swear to God, if you dare to hurt my friend, Marcel's cousin or not, I'll rip you apart and make sure there's isn't a trace of your bone left after I'm done with - "

"Whoah, whoah, calm down, alpha queen," Victor chuckled at her sudden aggressiveness. Of course, it was admirable the extent she would go for her friend. But then, if he was an enemy, Victor already knew Mimi was her trigger.

Arianna took a deep breath, calming her nerves before confessing, "Mimi is the only family I have left. Just the same way, Marcel is putting everything on the line for his sister, I would do the same for Mimi."

"I know and I can assure you that there's no need to go to the extent of ripping my bones apart till there's not even the bone left.." He winced at the gory imagination.

Victor opened his mouth to say something but words failed him, instead, he ran his hand through his hair while Arianna stared at him in confusion.

"What?"

Victor looked at her for a long time and Arianna blinked at him, silently urging him to open up.

"I think I want to marry Mimi," He blurted out, going red in the face.

"What?" Arianna was dumbfounded for about a second until a genuine smile spread across her face, "That is good news!"

"Not exactly," Victor didn't share the same excitement as her, "Mimi doesn't exactly want to settle down yet."

"Oh." It dawned on her. It was true.

The last thing Mimi wanted was to be tied down by a man, that was why she never dated for long, moving quickly to the next relationship, although most of her exes were douches. Honestly, Victor was the only person she had seen Mimi date the longest. Perhaps, it was the fact Victor was in the Mafia and she didn't want to make an enemy of him by dumping him coldly?

No, Arianna shook her head. She had seen Mimi and her friend was definitely in love with Victor even if she hadn't realized it or doesn't want to admit it. Why was her friend this way? Arianna had no idea nor did she judge her. Everyone had their lifestyle and a reason for it.

If her parents were divorced, then it would make perfect sense to Arianna why Mimi behaved that way, she was afraid of making the same mistake as her parents. But no, Mimi's parents were very much together and a rare marriage in this fast-paced world where broken homes were becoming the order of the day. But Arianna suspected it was the thrill, just as men claim to be polygamous in nature, Mimi wanted options.

She told Victor, "If that's the case, then you need to work extra hard to make her exclusively yours," Arianna added under her breath, "Then you pray to God for a miracle."