The Mafia’s Good Wife
Chapter 28

~ Damon - ---One Week Later -

"Damon, looove?"

Celina's voice was heard ringing down the hallway. Damon was standing on one of the balconies on the second floor of Hugo's mansion, away from everyone on purpose. He had his phone out, about to call Adrian, but now he had to delay his plan. "Hey," he said as he turned around, finding Celina standing right before him. She was wearing a long red dress and a big smile on her face.

"What are you doing out here? Daddy's looking for you," she said as she strode over to him, putting her hands around his neck.

"Nothing, I was just... meditating," Damon forced out a smile. Behind his back, his hand was clutching his phone tightly. Celina had no clue though, and she just smiled back at him.

"Well, come on. Daddy wants to talk about the wedding," she beamed in excitement.

Damon's eyes softened as he nodded his head. Then he leaned down to kiss her cheek and whispered, "You go ahead. I need a quick minute. I'll be right there,"

"Mmm okay," Celina blushed as her body melted under his touch.

Damon hadn't even kissed her on the lips as she was already so excited. Every time Damon touched her arm or kiss her cheek, she had shivers going up and down her spine. Celina smiled at her fiance one last time and batted her eyelashes before turning her heels around, walking back down the hallway.

Damon watched as the girl disappeared in the distance before pulling his phone back out again. He had already dialed Adrian's number, but he didn't get a chance to say anything due to Celina's sudden appearance. On his phone screen, Damon saw that Adrian had picked up the call. He was probably listening in their conversation earlier.

"Hey," Damon said to the phone.

"You're not seriously doing this, are you?" Adrian replied instantly.

"The wedding's in two weeks, Adrian. I told you it's happening,"

"And you're really not gonna let us come there?"

"So you can stop me?" Damon snickered. "Besides, I need you in a safe place. Just in case anything happens to me. As you can tell, weddings aren't my strong suit,"

Damon's wedding to Celina was happening in two weeks and the news took the mafia world by storm. Adrian and Talia were obviously against it, but they couldn't do anything. Damon didn't even allow them to come to the wedding. He didn't want anything like the 'Red Wedding' to happen again, so he made sure that Adrian and Talia were safe back at the estate.

"Damon, you know that's not what I meant," Adrian protested.

"What?" Damon scoffed. "You know what happened to her. The only girl I wanna marry in this world, I'm not gonna get. So what do I have to lose by marrying this one?"

Adrian could taste the bitterness in Damon's words even though he was thousands of miles away. Adrian knew Damon was obviously still heartbroken over Violet leaving him. This wedding to Celina was Damon self-sabotaging himself. He used the alliance as a cover, when in fact, Damon was doing this to punish himself for losing Violet. That's the thing with self-inflicted wounds, it gave him the feeling of being in control- even though he wasn't.

"Damon, don't be like this," Adrian said with a long sigh. "We can think of another way to save our alliance-"

"We both know this is the only way," Damon cut him off quickly. "Hugo's already done with us. This wedding was the only thing that kept us together,"

"And what about fighting back?" Adrian was not normally into suggesting wars, but this time was an exception.

"Why do we need to lose lives when we don't have to?" Damon retorted back.

"Because it's too high of a cost," Adrian answered. "You're pretty much selling your life away, and for what?"

"For peace and prosperity," Damon replied. "It's best for everyone,"

"Damon-"

"Gotta go. I'll talk to you again in a few days,"

Damon turned off the call before Adrian could say anything else. The purpose of this call was only to update Adrian on the progress of his mission, and the purpose was accomplished. He didn't want to continue arguing with Adrian, because deep down inside, he knew Adrian was right.

Damon didn't want to marry Celina. He didn't want to marry anyone other than Violet. But since it was never going to happen for him, he lost all hope and he settled for a lesser love.

"A lesser love, peace, and a lot of power," Damon said himself as he made his way down the hallway.

He figured if he can't get Violet, at least he can get this: to be the most powerful mafia king the world has ever known. The man controls all of the western continent, Damon Van Zandt.

It was 2 AM in the morning when Damon finally finished his meeting with Hugo. They were talking about security details for the wedding. It was natural for Hugo to be concerned due to Damon's track record. In his first wedding, the Maranzano family opened fire and killed most of his family members. In his second wedding, he got shot by his bride and staged a fake funeral to kill most of his enemies. Now the remaining mafia families were obviously wary about attending Damon's third wedding. They asked Hugo for certainty that there will be peace.

Peace was something that Hugo offered the world by combining his family with Damon's. With all that power in his hands, he could control the western's hemisphere underworld with ease. This was his lifelong dream and he finally achieved it. Hugo was feeling on top of the world, but not Damon.

Every time he heard the word 'wedding', all he could think about was Violet. He put on a poker face so Hugo wouldn't suspect anything, but deep down inside, he felt like breaking down. In this situation, Damon did the only thing he could. He drank bottles of whiskey and bourbon to numb the pain. And once the meeting was done, Damon let out a huge sigh of relief as he walked back to his room.

Damon was staggering as he made his way into his room on the east wing of the mansion. He had too much to drink and it was affecting his motor skills. Once he reached his room, he opened the door to find a silhouette of a woman standing by the window. Damon narrowed his eyes at the figure. A part of him thought that it might be Violet, but no.

"Hey," Celina said to him.

"Oh, hey," he replied.

Somewhat ignoring her presence, Damon stepped inside and started removing his tie. Meanwhile, Celina strode over to him in a slow and sensual walk.

"Are you okay? You seem kinda off today," she said as she reached for his face.

"I'm fine," he said, taking a step back.

"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" she said with a worried look. "I'm a pretty good listener,"

"I'm fine, there's nothing wrong-"

"It's about Violet, isn't it? Do you still think about her?" she cut him off sharply.

Hearing Violet's name said out loud did something in his chest. Damon swallowed hard, but he quickly gathered himself. He didn't want Celina or anyone to know how much she was still affecting him.

"It's late, Celina. You should go to your room," he said, turning around to take off his suit jacket.

Celina wasn't fazed by Damon's rejection. Instead, she followed his steps, standing right behind him, and helped take off his suit.

"It's okay if you do, I understand," Celina whispered into his ear from behind his back. "And quite frankly, I don't mind..."

"What do you mean?" Damon narrowed his eyes and turned his face to the side.

Celina let out a smile and walked around him until she stood right in front of his face. "You're still in love with her right now, but that can change over time," she said reassuringly. "And I can help you change that,"

Damon furrowed his eyes further as Celina held a playful glint on her face. Suddenly and without warning, Celina stood on her tippy toes and crashed her face onto his. Her nails dug deep into his shirt as she pulled him closer. Damon's eyes jolted in shock, but his body couldn't move. And before he could say or do anything else, Celina pushed him back as hard as she could until he hit the bed and fell on top of it.

"What are you doing?" he gaped at her.

Celina just smiled as she stood before him. She didn't break eye contact as her hand reached to her back and her dress came down within seconds, revealing her naked body.

"Relax," she told him as she cleaned closer. "You don't have to do anything. I'll take care of you, daddy,"