Taken By The Mafia Lord

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“What is this?” Arianna asked when she saw the traditional dish – spaghetti sautéed with garlic in olive oil.

“Spaghetti Aglio e olio,” Marcel pronounced in one breath while she stared at him, stunned.

“What the hell?” Arianna burst into laughter. Honestly, she hadn’t gone through the foods on the menu and was more interested in the order of their serving. As usual, dessert was saved for the last and she was more interested in that one.

“Come on, say it,” Marcel urged her to pronounce it.

“No, it is too long,” She complained, shrinking back into the seat so he wouldn’t be able to grab her.

“Just give it a try,” Marcel tried to convince her.

“Fine,” Arianna gave in and then readjusted in her seat, clearing her throat. She said, “Spaghetti AGG-lee-oy ee OH-lee-oh,”

.....

Marcel burst into boisterous laughter that drew quite an attention, but he didn’t care. He already knew that Arianna would fail it but he never thought that it would be this funny.

“Stop laughing, it’s embarrassing!” Arianna glared at him, but the more Marcel stared at her lips, the memory kept playing in his head and he ended up laughing the more. However, Arianna pinched his arm painfully enough to shut him up, but the blank look on his face said it was only a matter of time.

“Fine,” Marcel gave up laughing, “Come on, let me teach you how to say that,” He drew closer and stared at her lips that became tempting enough to kiss. Shut up and concentrate, Marcel!

“The point is, you don’t go phonetic and say ‘AGG-lee-oy ee OH-lee-oh,” It took him a great will, not to laugh again because he was sure Arianna will stab him with that fork in her grip this time,

“That’s not the Italian way. Instead, say “AH-lyo,” then let the ‘e’ that follows slide in with the “OH-lyo,” and you’ll sound like you’re from Napoli.” He finished with a wink, “Now, pronounce it for me, baby,”

“Okay,” Arianna wet her lower lips with her tongue and was just about to say it, when, “Oh fuck,” left her lips instead.

“Don’t worry, I intend to fuck you just right when we got home,” Marcel was amused.

However, Arianna shook her head nervously glancing behind him and lowering her gaze at the same time as she whispered, “Clara is here,”

“Of course, Clara is.... Oh, fuck,” It dawned on Marcel that Arianna was not joking as all forms of a smile drained from his face. He was just about to turn around and confirm her presence when Arianna told him,

“No,” She stopped him, “Don’t turn around and alert her that we’ve noticed her. It would give us enough time to leave here.”

“Leave?” Marcel frowned, clearly not in support of that, “Why should we leave for her?! I’m not a coward that runs away from my problems.”

Arianna pressed closer to the table and held onto his gaze hoping that he saw reasons with her as she said firmly, “This is not a matter of being a coward or not, because from the murderous look on your fiancée’s face, she’s aiming for a public confrontation, probably to shame me and I’m not prepared for that, not while dressed in this floor length dress and stiletto heels!”

Marcel knew that she was right, a confrontation was inevitable and he couldn’t do anything to Clara, not while in public where anyone could record it and send the authorities to him. Even as powerful as he was, violence against women was still a huge issue and so were the powers of the netizens. People online would want him to pay for that, not realizing that he was merely defending himself – and Arianna.

But then, Marcel couldn’t leave just like that, with his tails in between his legs, it was way too embarrassing for his personality. Victor would laugh at him greatly if he dares to hear of this. However, his attention caught onto the orchestra playing a classical piano/violin rendition of the song “physical” and his lips curled up in excitement as a plan formed in his head.

“We leave with style then,” Marcel said, his eyes shining with mischief.

“Huh?”

Arianna didn’t have the chance to ask more questions as Marcel snagged her hand and pulled her up to her feet, veering her in the direction of the people waltzing on the dance floor, barely seconds before Clara reached them.

Clara gritted her teeth when she met Marcel’s empty seat instead and saw the both of them heading to the dance floor that had couples dancing on it. She knew that she couldn’t just storm up there, that would not only cause a scene but disrupt people’s good time as well and that might get her kicked out of here by the guards at the entrance.

She had to be strategic about this. Marcel thought he was smart, she would show him that she was smarter.

Hence Clara returned to her seat and pulled on one of her friend’s arms, startling her.

“Hey!”

“I just found my fiancé dancing with another woman and you are going to help me put her in her place,” Clara demanded, her nail digging into the girl’s arm.

“Ouch, you’re hurting me,” She complained, “Moreover, it’s your man cheating on you, why take it out on the poor girl?” She reasoned.

Clara shook her head as if in disbelief over what her friend said. However, the other one offered to go in her place and she let go of her arms in annoyance. She would deal with her bullshit later.

“What are you up to?” Arianna asked in suspicion when Marcel dragged her to the dance floor.

“We would escape after the dance, people wouldn’t think much of it, not after we give them a dazzling performance. I have no doubt you’re fluid at dancing.” Marcel smirked, issuing a challenge to her as he placed his right hand on her back, pulling her closer such that their bodies were pressed flush against each other.

Of course, Marcel was more worried about his pride and Arianna couldn’t see Clara anywhere, which was a good sign. She couldn’t cause a scene on the dance floor that would get her kicked out of here.

“You shouldn’t have asked,” Arianna answered to his challenge, her hands resting on his left hand on his shoulder with her right hand holding his. They both fell in tune with Arianna matching his step without stepping on his feet for once and that brought to his lips. This was his woman.

The both of them were lost in the music until Marcel lowered her into a dip, Arianna leaning back and moving in a circle, however, before she could get back up, something, or rather someone hit her in the head and she felt an instant headache.