The Mafia’s Good Wife
Chapter 16

~ Violet ~

"It's never too late for me," Damon whispered through the kiss. "Three years, thirty years, or three hundred even. I'll still spend all my life waiting for you,"

"Damon..." Violet let out a soft sigh as she stared into his eyes. His gaze was warm, but unrelenting. He wasn't just saying these things and she knew it. There was nothing in the world that he loves more than her. This was the answer she was looking for three years ago. It took her a while, but she finally understood.

"I still mean what I said to you, sweet girl," he continued. "You're the only one for me. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you. I wanna wake up every day next to you. I don't wanna live a life without in it,"

Damon's hand rested gently on her cheek and he stroked her skin with his thumb. Violet's eyes glazed over as the truth hit her. She should've stayed three years ago. She should've believed in him instead of running away.

"I still want you to be my wife," he said, and Violet burst into tears. She couldn't hold it back anymore. All that guilt was taking over.

Right in front of her, she had the most amazing man who loves her so greatly, but instead of seeing that, she only saw everything that was wrong with him. He gave her his heart and she shot it to pieces. Almost literally.

"Hey, don't cry," Damon cooed, pulling her gently into his chest. Violet could hear the sound of his heartbeat and it only made her cry more.

I almost... made his heart stop beating...

"I'm... sorry... for what I did to you three years ago..." she sobbed. "I shouldn't have done that..."

"Sssh, it's okay," he said reassuringly. "At that moment in time, you needed to do that and that's okay. At least now you know,"

I shot him and he says it's okay?

It took Violet a while before she finally stopped crying. She was overwhelmed with regret and shame. For the longest time, she could only bury her face into his chest and let her tears run down. Damon patiently held her and stroked her hair, still whispering that it's all okay.

The way he loves me... I don't deserve this man.

"Hey, what's done is done. What matters is that you're here with me now,"

Violet had stopped crying, but she kept her head down, feeling undeserving to look into his eyes. Damon let out a smile and tilted her face up, letting her see his beautiful, piercing eyes.

"Stay with me, okay?" he said. "Whatever it is that you want, I'll make it happen. So just tell me, what do you need? What is it that made you doubt me before? Let's talk about it,"

Violet took a deep breath and gathered herself. This was it. The talk. The talk that they should've had three years ago, but instead they're doing it now. But like Damon said, nothing was too late.

"Damon, you know that I love you," she started to speak. "I also want to marry you and spend my life with you, but... I need to know that there's a way where we can have a stable life,"

"A stable life?" he raised an eyebrow.

Violet nodded her head.

"As much as I love you, I don't want to be trapped in here. I want to be near my family. I also want my own family someday and I don't want our kids to live a life like this..." she paused for a beat before adding, "I just want a little... normalcy for a change," Maybe some people would kill for the life that Violet could lead as the wife of the most powerful mafia in the country, but that was not who she was. She just wanted a simple life. A simple life with a very complicated man.

"What?" she asked him as he was narrowing his eyes at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You said our kids," he replied.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Someday, maybe we can have a couple of them?"

The biggest smile curved up his lips. Violet was worried about his reaction, but from everything she said, all he could focus on was the word 'kids'.

"I'd like that," he said.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah,"

"A boy or a girl?"

"Why not both?"

"Yeah," Violet giggled. "Why not?"

Damon then reached for her hand and clasped their fingers together. He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it gently.

"I'll make it happen," he said suddenly.

"What?" she gaped.

"You can be with me and not live this life,"

"How?"

Slowly, Damon pulled himself up and Violet followed instinctively. He reached for the bedside table and raided the first drawer. Violet waited in confusion as Damon fished out a small black card. He then gave her the card, which turned out to be a business card. Damon Van Zandt

CEO of Van Zandt Holdings LLC.

"I've been planning this since I proposed to you those years ago," he explained. "We're going to turn our businesses legitimate and after we're done with our last enemy, I'm leaving the mafia world for good,"

"What?" Violet's jaw fell to the floor. She was still holding onto the card in disbelief.

"I didn't wanna tell you this before because I don't wanna jinx it," he shrugged. "Plus, this is top secret stuff. Only Adrian and Liam know about this,"

"Wait... so... you're leaving the mafia...?" Violet was blinking rapidly, making sure she heard everything right.

"After I'm done with Hugo DeSantis, I'm gonna leave it all behind," Damon nodded his head reassuringly.

Violet couldn't hold back. She lunged herself to him and linked her arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug.

"Oh my God, Damon... that sounds... too good to be true!" she squeaked.

"But that's the truth," he chuckled. "We're on our way and we're really close,"

Violet felt warmth radiating from her chest and through her entire body. She was smiling from ear to ear as she pressed her face into his neck. She felt the biggest weight had been lifted off her shoulders. This was everything she ever wanted. This was it. This was the dream.

"This is what I've been trying to do since you came into my life," he told her. "I realized that I don't like my current one so much. I'm done with the politics, the games, and the killings. I just wanna be here next to you. Be a man that you can be proud to call a husband. And someday... a father,"

Violet choked on that word. Her heart skipped a beat and a knot twisted in her stomach.

"I love you, Damon," she murmured to his ear. "And I'm so proud of you. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me and I feel so dumb that I didn't believe in you sooner,"

"You're not dumb," he stifled a laugh. "Just a little slow maybe?"

"Hey!" she protested.

"Just kidding," he said as he held onto her chin. "You're a good, sweet girl. You're the best,"

Violet always loved it when he called her with that nickname. She couldn't drop her smile and Damon was smiling right back. Leaning closer, Damon closed their distance with a kiss and a whisper.

"My sweet and good wife,"

"Oh my God, Violet!"

Talia gasped in shock when she saw Violet walking down to the kitchen for breakfast the next morning. Violet had clean clothes on her back and she was chained to anything. For a moment, Talia thought she was seeing a ghost. "Talia!" Violet beamed, walking over to her best friend and they hugged each other.

"Oh my gosh, it's really you?" Talia put her hands on Violet's face and studied her expression. "Are you okay?"

"Yup, I'm great," Violet nodded.

"I've smacked him across the face for what he did to you. I'm sorry, I couldn't get you out sooner. I should've done more-"

"It's okay, Talia," Violet laughed, cutting off her rant.

"No, it's not okay!" Talia insisted. "I was mad at you for leaving too, but Damon shouldn't have done that! Now I understand why had you to shoot him. Sometimes he can be so-"

"What?" Damon appeared suddenly, walking right behind Violet.

"Stubbornly annoying and a cold-hearted sadist," Talia was unfazed, she said it while glaring at Damon. "Borderline psychopathic," she added.

"Alright, so I'm a psychopath. But so what? She loves me," Damon laughed and linked his arm around Violet's shoulder.

Talia stared in disbelief as Damon and Violet were being all lovey-dovey and showing some PDA. Who could blame her? Just a few days ago, Talia witnessed the cruelty of Damon's treatment of Violet. She was naked and in chains, being a hostage in this place. But this morning, here she was, walking around and kissing each other as if they were some love-struck teenagers. "Hey," Talia muttered under her breath. "Blink twice if you need help,"

Violet snorted a laugh. "Talia, I'm fine, really," she said.

Talia zeroed in on Damon before turning her gaze to Violet. She looked at them back and forth, looking for an answer. Damon just shrugged coolly while Violet smiled sheepishly.

"Wow," Talia said finally. "Well then, we have so much to talk about,"

"Over tea and coffee?" Violet replied.

"Let's go," Talia was quick to pull Violet's hand away. "We'll have breakfast at my place,"

Violet couldn't say no. Talia was already her pulling out the back door. She turned around and gave Damon a reassuring smile before disappearing through the door.

Talia spent the next few hours grilling Violet about everything that happened, starting from the morning of her wedding three years ago. Violet explained everything. How she started having doubts with Damon but she couldn't voice it out, then all the anxiety peaked that morning and she ended up shooting him so he would let her go. Talia listened patiently as Violet moved on to explain what happened the last three years, how Damon found her again, and how she ended up here right now. "So, are you sure this time?" Talia asked finally. "You're sure you're making the right choice?"

Violet paused to think of her answer. It was hard to know if this was the right choice or not. She was sure she made the right choice when she left three years ago, but one could never know for sure since hindsight was always 20/20. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that you're back," Talia continued. "But I know Damon and I completely understand if you want to leave..."

"No, I don't want to leave," Violet said firmly. "I don't know if this is the right choice or not, but... I don't care,"

Violet felt a sense of peace when she made this decision. Logically and morally speaking, this was not a good choice, but her feelings couldn't lie. This was what she wanted.

"I'm the girl who sold her virginity to a mafia boss. Making good choices is never what I'm known," she continued. "So even if this is the wrong choice, I still can't help it. This is exactly where I want to be,"

Violet spoke with such conviction. Talia's eyes were full of suspicion as she listened to Violet, but after what she just heard, her gaze softened and her lips curved up a smile.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Violet asked.

"To be honest, I didn't think you were ready for this life before. But looking at you now... I don't know, I think you finally got it," she said meaningfully.

Talia nodded her head. She knew exactly what Talia meant by that.

"I do," she admitted.

This is it for me.

This is the life.

Being next to him.

Being his wife.