Mafia Husband: Arranged Marriage Pregnancy Romance Read online

  How am I supposed to fall out of love with my husband...when making me pregnant has become his number one priority?

  I am done with my loveless marriage, but since I also know it won't be easy convincing Mr. Ex Greek Mafia Royalty here to let me go—-

  I tell my husband I want a baby, thinking he'd ask for a divorce...but instead he says we can start making one right now?!

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  About the Book

  Mafia Husband

  The Flying Lady

  The Grudge

  Eye for an eye

  De rigueur

  Monsters from the same pod

  "Dude"

  Two more days

  Are You there, God?

  She's dead.

  "Husband"

  Special

  A dream come true

  Planting seeds

  Taste this

  Checks and balances

  Shots fired, Pt. 1

  Shots fired, Pt. 2

  Shots fired, Pt. 3

  Wheelbarrow

  Epilogue

  About the Book

  "Hello, wife."

  Oh, dear Lord.

  Please save me from the diabolically sweet voice purring into my ear.

  I excuse myself from my friends and walk out of the library before answering him. "Yo, dude."

  Stelios sighs, and even though I know he's just faking it, I'm still tempted to delude myself into thinking it's all real, and that Mr. Billionaire here is genuinely disappointed I never call him 'husband' in return.

  "Are you still in school?"

  "That's a rhetorical question, isn't it?"

  "Why would you say that?"

  "Because you're like Theía."

  "Cunning?"

  "Controlling."

  "I object, wife." His denial is immediate and expected, and somebody please give this wickedly sexy man an Oscar because he even manages to sound offended. "I believe what you always mean to say is 'protective'."

  "Hmm. Let me see. Two bodyguards shadowing me wherever I go, a female bodyguard enrolled in my university to keep an eye on me while in class, and a GPS tracker embedded in my wedding ring. Is that your definition of 'protective'?"

  "Do you want my honest opinion?"

  "Always."

  "My definition of 'protective' also includes having three bodyguards working incognito—-"

  A choked laugh escapes me. "You really are the most controlling—-"

  "Again, wife—-I think what you mean is 'protective'."

  "—-and freakishly obsessive guy in the world. Aren't you?"

  "I am."

  I only mean to tease him, but when I hear Stelios' too-casual tone, I know right away he's taking me way more seriously than he should, and my heart aches even as I force myself to cluck my tongue. "Don't be so cocky, Mr. Diamandis. You may be the most controlling guy in the world, but the jury's still out on whether you can be just as bad as my theía."

  A moment passes, and then I hear Stelios drawl, "Is that so?"

  His tone is now more lazy than casual, and I bite back a sigh of relief.

  "You know it's so, but I honestly don't mind because I know it's just her being—-"

  "A pseudopsycopath?"

  "Protective."

  My husband snorts, and I'm barely able to suppress my smile. I'd never have imagined I'd be one day married to a man like Stelios Diamandis, but what's honestly surprised me even more since then is how we became each other's best friend...and because of Theía, of all people.

  I would have taken offense if anyone else had referred to the older girl as a psycopath. Stelios is the only exception, and it's because I know he's the one person in this world who knows better than to judge my aunt for her condition.

  "What time can you get home?" Stelios asks.

  "Late?"

  "Is that right?"

  Since I've been married to him long enough to recognize that the mildness of his tone is a warning in itself—-

  "What I mean to say is, I'll be home in time for dinner—-"

  "And exactly what time would that be?"

  "Seven-ish?"

  "Not a minute past seven then."

  "Yes, sir."

  "I mean it, wife."

  The possessiveness in his tone is enough to make butterflies in my stomach flutter their wings, but because I also know that's just who he is rather than being an indication of the billionaire having feelings for me—-

  "Gotta go, dude."

  The last thing I hear before hanging up is Stelios swearing in Greek—-

  Don't let him get to you, B!

  Stelios and Theía may have a lot of things in common, but I can't let myself forget that they're not exactly the same. While I truly believe that neither of them will ever want to hurt me, I also know one of them can without meaning to...and that's what's different between them.

  I love Theía, and my aunt loves me back...while I'm in love with my husband, but there's no way he's in love with me, too.

  Mafia Husband

  Arranged Marriage Pregnancy Romance

  Billionaires of Strakh # 3

  by Marian Tee

  Copyright 2023 by Marian Piñera

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  The Flying Lady

  There's a brisk knock on my bedroom door before it opens, and of course it's Theía not respecting my privacy like usual.

  She enters my room, and her face immediately twists into a grimace. It's not enough to make her ugly (I don't think there's anything in this world that can), but it does get the message across.

  Theía still thinks my room sucks, which is totally understandable. Her taste has always run along the three Cs of interior design: concise, contemporary, and IMHO—-completely characterless.

  My room, on the other hand, is all about French country. Patterned fabric bed sheets and cushions, vintage leather-bound classics stacked irregularly on a shelf, a super-comfy Louis XVI armchair by the window, and a full-length gilded mirror propped against the wall.

  It's the total opposite of Theía's preferences is what I'm saying, which is why I can only roll my eyes when she wrinkles her nose upon facing me.

  "Now that you're done silently dissing my room—-"

  The other girl cuts me off, saying, "Get dressed."

  "Huh?" It's a Saturday, and Theía hates going out on weekends. "Why?"

  "We're going out." Theía checks the time on the horseshoe clock on my desk. "Think you can be ready in fifteen?"

  I sit up at that. "You haven't even told me where we're going—-"

  Theía brushes my words away with a wave of her hand. "Just look nice, okay?"

  "Jeans-nice or dress-nice?"

  The older girl shrugs. "Just nice nice."

  Riiiight.

  I keep forgetting Theía could care less about fashion, and I think that probably has a lot to do with how gorgeous my aunt is. I've honestly lost count of the number of times she's literally caused men to unconsciously drool at the sight of her. It's probably as many times as those same guys think Theía's lying when she tells them plain-Jane-me is her niece.

  "Bailey?" Theía's tone is impatient. "I asked if you can be ready in fifteen."

  "Nope."

  "Great. I'll wait for you in the car then."

  "Theía!" When will she realize that having a shower under an hour is not normal? "I need more time—-"

  My aunt is already heading for the door when she tosses out her parting shot over her shoulder. "13.5 minutes left, kid. Get moving."

  Grrr.

  I hate it when she calls me that. Since I'm already nineteen, and she's only twenty-four, calling me a 'kid' is really stretching it.

  But since Theía being my aunt makes her the tyrant in this household-—

  This "kid" can only hurry as unreasonably ordered, and I'm forced to make do with just a quick shampoo-and-bath-gel sesh before squeezing into the first black dress I grab out of my closet.

  Theía's trusty chauffeur steps on the gas as soon as I join her in the backseat, and I can't help feeling a little suspicious since the older girl only uses her Rolls Royce when she needs to look particularly badass.

  "Please don't tell me where we're going has to do with the family business?"

  "It does." Theía looks at me reprovingly when I groan. "You can't make a habit of avoiding family, Bailey."

  "Easy for you to say," I grumble.

  In "families" like ours, girls can only be useful in two ways: you either marry an enemy to keep the peace...or you marry an ally, also to keep the peace. Unicorns like my aunt - aka females with actual jobs and high-ranking positions in the family business - don't count, and it's why I'll remain a disappointment in everyone's eyes for as long as I'm unmarried and childless.

  A pair of hotel employees is already rushing forward as we cruise up the driveway, and I'm startled to see them respectfully lowering their heads as soon as Theía and I step out of the car.

  "What's that about?" I ask uneasily as we walk away.

  "It's fine."

  "You're sure?"
The one time my parents forgot to keep a low profile, they ended up...dead.

  Theía waits until we're inside the elevator before looking at me. "Everyone here is like us."

  "Half-Greek?"

  "Criminal."

  The Grudge

  This is bad...

  The thought flashes in my mind the moment Theía and I enter the hotel's penthouse conference room, and I realize right away this meeting isn't just about our family business.

  There's this huge executive table in the middle of the room that's easily the length of a standard-sized Olympic pool, and seated around it are the patriarchs and matriarchs of every prominent Greek mafia family in America.

  My grandfather is one of them, and a discussion among our elders commences as soon as my aunt and I take our place behind him.

  Vengeance does not excuse members from breaking this group's rules...

  Translation: gunning enemies down is standard practice, death by faking an overdose is most preferred, but what's not acceptable at all is taking a page straight out of Jack the Ripper's handbook, which is what Theía did when she finally managed to hunt down the people who abducted and killed my parents.

  Kayra shall not be expelled from this organization in light of her condition.

  Translation: Theía is still the Familia's most skilled tracker, and so they're going to use my aunt's "condition" to give her a free pass.

  Steps must be taken to prevent this from happening again.

  Translation: they still need to exact some form of punishment on my family, and so...

  "It has not escaped our attention how protective Kayra feels towards her niece."

  Why do I have a feeling the Familia's about to turn me into their sacrificial lamb?

  "If something were to happen to Bailey, it might trigger the exact same reaction in Kayra—-"

  "Just get to the damn point," my grandfather growls.

  A silver-haired lady with a string of pearls circled around her neck shakes her head at Papou from across the table. "We are not here to fight with you, Astro."

  Helene isn't just the matriarch of the Cholevas clan. She's also the woman whose feelings my grandfather spurned not once but twice, and even though she's been saying all these years their failed romance is water under the bridge—-

  Yeah right.

  The way my grandfather's face has already hardened tells me we're thinking the same thing. Helene has never really forgiven Papou for not having feelings for her, and she's been trying to make him pay for it every sneaky chance she gets.

  "This meeting is for your family's benefit, Astro. Kayra will always be one of this organization's most valuable assets, and her safety is as much as our priority as it is yours."

  Helene may be saying all the right words, but I'm not buying it at all, and I'd have called bull on it, too...if I wasn't so sure it would earn me a bullet hole in the head.

  "Preventive measures must and will be taken, and if we do not want Kayra to be provoked in such a manner ever again, we need to eliminate potential triggers—-"

  While I'm sure they don't mean to sound threatening, 'elimination' kinda sorta takes a whole new meaning when it's the mafia that's talking.

  "And that's why the majority of us has come into a decision—-"

  Papou sputters in outrage. "You've all casted your votes without me?"

  But Helene acts like she hasn't heard a word from him. "Every family that is a member of this organization has been asked to present their most eligible sons."

  My grandfather surges to his feet. "What the hell?"

  "Bailey must find a husband among our kind within the day—-"

  "Are you out of your mind?" Papou bellows.

  Helene only smiles coldly at this. "You can choose her husband for her. Or let Kayra make the choice or even Bailey herself, if you are the type to leave such decisions to one so young. We don't care how you do it as long as she's married before sundown."

  Eye for an eye

  STRAKH.

  While the word translated to 'fear' in English, the past several years had seen the Russian term turn into a symbol of hope for hapless victims around the world. People that had been abandoned or betrayed by their own flesh and blood. People that even the most powerful governments hadn't been able to save. These people would not be alive today...if not for them.

  Strakh Incorporated.

  A faceless entity that no one had been able to unmask, a secret organization made up of tech-savvy Robin Hoods who were relentless in their pursuit of justice.

  Strakh Inc. had been known to show mercy to those who deserved a second chance, but they were just as feared for being monstrously ruthless when on a quest to destroy their targets.

  Fan fiction inspired by Strakh Inc. had been steadily on the rise, and while their most devoted and romantic of fans loved to think of them as a brotherhood of billionaires who were Batman, Christian Grey, and John Wick all rolled into one—-

  None of them really believed this to be true...even though it was.

  SHEENA WAS NERVOUS.

  This was her first time to attend a meeting of Strakh, and it was just one of those surreal moments in life where truth did seem stranger than fiction. Nobody would ever guess that it was the Devil and his friends behind Strakh Incorporated, and things became even more surreal as she listened to Tahey, the only other female member of the group, outline their newest mission with a series of slides.

  "These guys use cryptocurrency scams to lure people into debt."

  Click.

  "This is the amount of money they've already stolen from their victims."

  Click.

  "The worst thing about this scheme is when would-be victims fit a particular profile: attractive females below forty years old, credit rating below 500, and no known immediate relatives that could stir up trouble."

  Click.

  "These women are invited to special investor meetings where they're then drugged, abducted, and sold off to the highest bidder."

  The meeting went on a quick break when Stelios excused himself to take a call, and upon the Greek billionaire's return—-

  "You're getting what?"

  "Married," Stelios drawled. "I haven't tried it personally, but I hear it has the phenomenal ability to expose a man's deepest secrets...like actually having dimples."

  Sheena blinked.

  Did Stelios just say...dimples?

  The Devil had once told her that Stelios had the most twisted sense of humor among them, and Sheena did find it rather hard to tell if the other man was being serious or not. But when she glanced at Tahey and saw how the other girl was suddenly busy avoiding her husband's gaze—-

  Oh!

  Dmitry bit back an expletive when he saw Sheena looking at him in shock.

  "You have dimples?"

  The other guys started to snicker, Stelios included, and the sight had Dmitry looking at his Greek friend before saying quite pleasantly—-

  "Fuck you."

  But Stelios only shrugged. "I don't swing that way, unfortunately. And it might've been better if I did, since that would at least give me a valid excuse not to get married."

  Sasha was incredulous. "You're actually serious? You stepped out to take a phone call, and you come back fucking engaged?"

  Stelios' tone was bland as he told his friends the reason he had to excuse himself earlier from the meeting.

  "Kayra Petinos?" Drake was ex-FBI, and he recalled coming across the girl's name several times in the past. "She's like you, isn't she?"

  "Mafia?"

  "Mental."

  Stelios only grinned. "Touché."

  Bastien shook his head. "How the fuck can you be joking about this? Are you really going to get married because of a blood debt?"

  "Selling off my shares in the family business doesn't change who I am. Her parents died because of my parents. I owe them," Stelios said simply, "and now I have to pay them back."

  Dmitry waited until Stelios had left before asking Drake what he knew of the family Stelios was about to marry into.

  "They're one of the 'nicer' families. Wealth is mainly from illegal gambling, and they've never been involved in the drug trade or anything that could've gotten them in Strakh's radar."

  "Wouldn't that make them seem weak?" Bastien questioned with a frown.