Until Forever Ends: A Dark Mafia Romance by Adelaide Forrest (black books to read .txt) 📗

It was the best gift I'd ever be able to give them. The peace of believing their daughter was safe.

"Why would you do that? And why wouldn't you call?" my mom asked, her voice raising an octave as she tried to come to terms with what I'd done.

"I didn't know what to say," I admitted. That part felt like the truth, because I still didn't know what I could say to them to explain the drastic change in my life. I didn't think anyone could ever understand what pulsed between Rafael and me.

Not when I didn't even understand it myself.

"Just come home, Isa," my dad said, his voice cracking with the words. "We can make sense out of all of this once you're home."

"I'm not coming home, Dad. I need to get settled into my life here. I'll come visit when I can," I said.

"Isabel! You will get your ass on a plane right now and come home!" he snapped. "Your life is here. Your family is here."

Rafael's face darkened with anger as my father raised his voice to me, and I knew I had to do what I could to diffuse the situation before he got involved. Still, the words caught in my throat. "Rafael is my family now," I said, swallowing back bile at the harshness of my words. "I've never felt this way about anyone.” Whether I loved Rafael or not, he brought out all the parts of me I'd thought long dead.

"I don't understand," she said. "You've been gone for less than three weeks, Isa. It isn’t like you to act so rashly.”

"Please try to give me the benefit of the doubt. I don't make impulsive decisions, so trust that I made this one in the same way. I made the choice very carefully," I whispered, watching Rafael's posture relax slightly. “Is Grandmother there?” I asked.

“She’s at the center. She can’t bear to be here knowing you’re gone,” my mother said, trailing off as she struggled to find what else she could say.

"Mom!" a voice so similar to mine said in the background as I heard the front door close.

"We're in here, honey!" my mom called back to my sister.

"Odina's home?" I asked, my face dropping in my dejection.

"She came home shortly after you left for Ibiza. She seems...better," my mom said hesitantly. "Isa, please just come home. We can figure this out."

"Maybe this is for the best. Maybe without me there to get in the way, you can mend your relationship with her," I said, trying to fight back the hurt. But I'd always been in Odina's way. I'd always been a reminder to her of the day she died. "Everything happens for a reason, right?" I asked, trying to keep back the bitterness I felt at knowing that Odina had swept in the moment I was gone. That she'd moved to claim our family as hers alone with me gone.

I glared at Rafael, wondering if she'd somehow known I wouldn't be coming home. His face was a careful mask, designed to keep his secrets away from me.

"Isa, that's not fair," my mom said.

"Life's not fair," I said back, smiling despite the harsh words. "I'll call you soon. I love you," I said, ending the call with a stab to the phone screen. In my frustration, I hadn't even waited for them to say goodbye.

Maybe Rafael was my penance for what I'd done. The price I'd have to pay to make amends with Odina.

I'd gladly pay it.

But first, I needed to know why she'd thought it safe to come home.

27

Rafael

Isa's suspicious eyes landed on mine the moment she ended the call. The knowing glare in them only served to make my cock hard, to drive me further toward the edge of my own restlessness. In just a few moments, I'd have to leave her.

In just a few moments, I'd have no choice but to get in my helicopter and head for the plane I kept on the mainland. Pavel's eldest son had shown his face in Rome, and my allies there had been all too willing to share that information with my contacts. He could disappear at the drop of a hat, and I wouldn't even have time to fuck my wife one last time before I left if I wanted the best chance possible of catching him.

"You made the right choice, telling them what you did," I said, attempting to soothe the wars waging in her eyes.

She tossed my phone to the surface of the bed, cocking her head to the side as she stared at me. She stood slowly, unfolding her limbs carefully until her feet touched the floor between us. She gathered the hem of her dress in her hands, carefully tugging it further up her legs while I watched her pink panties peek out between her thighs.

Placing one knee in the chair beside me, she maneuvered herself up until she straddled my lap and stared down at me with her hair falling in a curtain around her. Other men might have described mi reina as an angel in that moment, with the sun shining on the right side of her face.

Those men didn't know shit about Isa.

Darkness swirled in her green eyes, vengeance dancing in a tempting play of edge against the sweet lines of her face. No one would ever suspect the demon that hid inside her when they looked at her. No one would think her capable of the things I knew I would push her to do at my side.

She touched a finger to my jawline, dragging her nail over the stubble on my face and moving it down to my throat. My hands grasped her around the waist as I pulled her down into my lap more firmly, desperate to feel the heat of her pussy against my cock.

She accommodated me with a mischievous smirk as she wrapped her hand around the