Between The Mafias (Malibu Mafia #2)

This is the second book of The Mafia series, this is not a stand-alone. You will need to read the first book, The Mafia Entanglement, to understand this book.

My Ken was silent until he finally said. "I will pick you up, we will talk about this in person. I'm actually near your place right now. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

After ending the call, I decided to take a quick shower. He would wait for me if he arrived sooner. I felt so damn tired and I just needed to freshen up. I had too many emotional rollercoasters in the last couple of days. I quickly got dressed, but I was not feeling it. I didn't want to go out.

When I got out of my room Max was already there. He was talking to Amber, then stopped mid-sentence when he turned and looked at me. I lost the will to let him come to me. Instead, I started walking towards him. He closed our gap and finally hugged me tight. I took in his warmth, his familiar scent, and suddenly I felt safe in his arms. Home.

"I miss you so much, Emilie. I love you. Why aren't you dressed? Do you want to stay in?" He asked me, looking worried.

"Yeah, I'm tired. Do you mind? We could just order in."

"Maybe you should stay in. We will leave you two alone. Come, Celia, you can join us for a girls' night and give them some privacy," Amber suggested. I thanked my girls for today and said my goodbyes to them. I promised that I'd text them in our group chat later. Ivan followed the girls and went outside of the apartment, telling his boss that he was going to do a perimeter check.

"I'm sorry we can't meet at my place. Anischka is staying there. It's a complete mess from my father's side. I'm still working on it. In the meantime, I'm staying at a hotel. I just couldn't face her. God Em... We should be happy. You're pregnant with our baby. I should be marrying you," He took my hand and kissed it.

I brushed away his suggestive proposal. I just didn't care anymore. I just want him to stay here with me. Forever. The hell with his family. The hell to the rest of the world.

"I missed you, Max." I entwined our fingers, stepped closer, and kissed his lips. "I didn't realize that I was pregnant until Amber questioned me after I wasted my lunch on the toilet this afternoon. I was going to wait for you. But now, I don't know if I can do this without you, Max." I leaned in when he stroked my cheek and lowered his lips to mine. His kiss was soft and loving. It was perfect.

He ordered pasta from a nearby bistro. I was not in any mood for dinner. But I have to eat for our baby's sake.

"We will make it through this. I love you, Emilie. I believe in us. We will be together. Our baby will have my last name. I won't have it any other way." He convinced me and followed me to the living area. He sat on the sofa while I got him a bottle of beer from the fridge. He looked like he needed it. I fetched a glass of water for myself and joined him on the sofa. He pulled me to sit on his lap.

I miss this.

"My father has a personal debt with Anischka's father. Now, he's claiming it as he needs protection for his family. Another rising Russian mafia family is gunning each member of his family. His daughter is the only heir he has left. So, the best thing for me to do is to eliminate his enemy. Then, I can be free of her since there's no reason for my protection. There's no set date for the wedding. His enemy knows that Anischka is under my protection. She's safe for now. I'm doing this as fast as I can, Emilie."

"Max, I need you to be safe. For me, for the baby. I am not liking this situation." I was truly scared for his life. If those people could eliminate so many members of Anischka's family, then... Max's life could also be in danger. I know that this is his livelihood. He might seem confident and experienced enough to take down the enemy.

But still...

When our dinner came, the cheesy smell suddenly triggered my urge to throw up. It looked like there would be no cheese for me for the next few months. Max called Ivan to take our meals away and told him to get us some Chinese food instead.

"One thing for sure, the baby doesn't like Italian food. I'd say we're off to a good start." He grinned at me, making me laugh.

We were watching TV when Ivan came. He dismissed himself after dropping us the Chinese dinner menu. I slowly eat the chicken porridge. It was acceptable. The baby approved. I smiled.

Chinese it is then, little one.

"What?"

"Baby likes Chinese. This afternoon, we were having steaks, and it all went down the toilet." I laughed and he smiled at me.

"I missed this, Barbie. I missed us." He fed me the chicken dumplings and I nodded my head up and down, telling him with my full mouth to put all his dumplings onto my plate.

"Baby likes and baby wants more. Baby wants chilies with that." He laughed and kissed the top of my head. He transferred all his dumplings to my plate and added some chilies on top.

I moaned. "Oh my god! I've been struggling for days. I couldn't get any food down. Thank you for ordering this, Ken. I know you're good for something."

"Hey," He interrupted though he sounded far from offended. He pecked my cheek and fed me more dumplings. "We should elope, and live happily ever after. But I'm worried about Anischka. Her father is one ruthless bastard who makes her go through all this. I should smack his head and be done with it."

I couldn't even object to his words since I did meet Anischka and she did say that she didn't mean to come between us.

But still...

We finished dinner. Max was tidying up while I made him a cup of coffee and hot tea for myself. I hadn't felt this relaxed in days. Although in the back of my mind, I knew that he would be gone in a couple of hours, I would cherish the moment. For as long as I could.

"Come here, Barbie. So, I've been holding on to this since we got back from our last island getaway. I've been waiting for the right moment. But things are all over the place right now and I was hoping to give you in a more romantic setting. But now that you're pregnant, please take this as my promise to one day marry you. I need to be sure that you will wait for me. Please, Emilie. Wait for me and have this baby with me. I love you. You know I do." He was on his knee while I leaned on the kitchen counter.

My tears started to trail down my cheeks. "Happy tears, Ken. Yes. Yes, I will wait for you. I love you too."

He put on the ring for me. "I don't care what my father said. You have my heart and my love, Emilie, and you're carrying our baby. I will marry you. I'm just going to help Anischka first because she's innocent and she's in a tough spot. Ivan will make sure you are safe. I may not be reachable from time to time, but you can check with Ivan. He knows how to contact me in case there's an emergency."

Must be the hormones. I was so happy that my tears fell freely, and I laughed as he kissed them all away.

Angelica: So much emotion in chapter one 😭

Ivan: Ange babe, you need to calm down.