A Forced Contract Marriage with the Devil novel Chapter 131

Chapter 131

ALESSANDRO’S POV

This meeting was exactly how I expected it to be. Boring and until now quite unsuccessful. With no call or message from Nikolai, I endured every single conversation with people I either didn’t remember or didn’t like. My phone stayed cold and silent in my pocket, and with every passing second, my patience thinned, like ice beneath a simmering fire.

It was tradition that every year all the mafia leaders met in peace to create new alliances or sort out a problem. However, Leah and her father weren’t present today, which wasn’t a good sign. Their absence wasn’t just a breach of etiquette it was a declaration, a warning cloaked in silence. You could feel the shift in the atmosphere, the way men leaned in closer, voices dropping just slightly lower, the way eyes flicked toward the empty chairs at the northern end of the room.

My family wouldn’t have been the most powerful and wealthiest mafia without good allies. We had a ton of allies, that preferred cooperating with us instead of being our enemies. And they were wise to do so. Crossing me or my bloodline had never ended well for anyone foolish enough to try. But loyalty was a fragile thing in this world. Easily bought. Easily betrayed.

To keep those alliances going, it was our duty to be present during this really boring get together, that honestly only stressed me out. But as the leader I was the one that was responsible to represent our family and sadly not my parents anymore.

Until now, those meetings always went by quite peaceful, which was a big surprise to me every year, thinking about the fact that we were all coming from different mafias and some of us were bloody rivals. Still, I always took my best men with me, because you never knew, if this year wouldn’t be different from the previous ones. I didn’t trust peace. Peace was a fragile lie we told ourselves to make it through the next power play. My instincts always whispered the same thing: be ready. And I was.

My life was kinda messed up because of the Salvatores. I was meant to marry Leah but because of Nikolai, it was no longer possible. Nikolai. Just the thought of him made my jaw tense. He was both the storm and the calm that followed. The reason my plans were in ruins and the reason I now had something, someone, I didn’t want to let go of. What a beautiful mess he was.

While talking to a rather important partner I had to suppress a yawn, because everything he and his wife said was uninteresting and again boring. But I guess it wasn’t entirely their fault. I would prefer laying in my warm and cozy bed with Nikolai in my arms right now. His skin, his scent, the way his body curled instinctively toward mine in sleep, it was the only place that ever truly felt like peace.

I know he challenged me hours ago but I knew it that soon I will teach him how to behave when he is with me. Nikolai was reckless and proud, but I was the flame that burned hotter. He’d learn, in time, that no matter how hard he tried to provoke me, he’d never be able to shake the bond we were forging, always submissive to me.

“Did you hear that, Honey?” Mr. Jones‘ wife, a 60–year–old woman with dyed red hair and an expensive coat, suddenly exclaimed worried, placing her hand over her mouth. Her voice sliced through the air like a whip, drawing attention like a magnet.

At first, I thought it was just another false alarm, paranoia getting the best of someone far too removed from the real brutality of our world. But then I heard it.

Gunfire.

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