You Wanted an Ornament, You Got a Mafia Queen Chapter 04

You Wanted an Ornament, You Got a Mafia Queen Chapter 04

Mom and Dad came to pick me up at the airport.

They weren’t alone.

“Elysia. It’s been a long time.”

I blinked. For a moment, nothing clicked.

A rush of old memories.

“You’re… Adrian Valente?”

He gave a polite smile.

“Almost ten years. I didn’t think you’d remember me.”

Adrian took my suitcase without making it a thing.

“Elysia, you’ve lost so much weight.” Mom was already reaching for my face. “Come on, let’s get home. I’m going to feed you properly.”

I caught her hand before it reached my cheek, ignoring the tightness in my chest.

“I haven’t. You’ve just been gone too long.”

Dad spoke up:

“Adrian and our company are partnering on a big project. You’re going to need to step up and take point on this. Your mom and I want to retire someday.”

“Dad, I literally just landed. Can I breathe for two seconds?”

“You and your dramatics.”

The four of us laughed our way through the parking garage.

On the drive back to the estate, I opened Bianca’s account again.

[My boss had too much to drink, so I drove him home, but now he’s got my hand and won’t let me leave??? What do I do???]

Attached: Marco, eyes closed, sprawled across a bed, face flushed pink.

Top comment: [He’s making it pretty obvious! This is your shot! Cross that line tonight!]

Her reply: [I’m not trying to go there, I genuinely just need to take care of him. I should probably help him wash up, too…]

The replies below were all encouragement. Everyone was waiting for an update.

A laugh came out of me before I could stop it.

Adrian glanced over from the driver’s seat, a slight curve to his mouth. He didn’t say anything.

After sleeping off the jet lag, I was out in the yard playing with the dog.

“Elysia,” Adrian called from the living room, “your phone keeps going off. No-name call, looks like it’s from New York.”

I was chasing the dog around a shrub and waved a hand in his direction.

“Just pick it up for me!”

“Sure.”

A soft swipe. His voice, easy and calm:

“Hello, who’s calling, please?”

Back in New York, Marco stared at his phone as the call ended.

A man’s voice. He couldn’t place it.

Something snagged in his chest, unreasonable and dull.

Last night he’d drunk too much.

He’d woken up and found Bianca lying next to him.

“Marco, I’m so sorry. You were holding my hand all night and wouldn’t let go, so I ended up… staying. I helped clean you up…”

She’d looked up at him through her lashes, all bashful.

Something about it reminded him of Elysia.

He shut his eyes and pressed his knuckles to his forehead. Cleared his throat.

“Nothing happened. You can head out.”

Last night, the person he’d thought was beside him was Elysia.

That’s why he’d held on.

Bianca bit her lip, like she wanted to say more.

But Marco was already pulling out his phone. She left quietly.

He scrolled back through their message history.

She hadn’t texted him first in over a week.

Hadn’t replied to his messages either.

He thought about it.

She was still upset about the project.

He sighed.

She was perfect in every way, except she never let anything go.

When they were younger he hadn’t minded. He’d wanted to give her the world.

But things were different now.

He was running the family business. He had a position to maintain.

He couldn’t afford to look like he just followed her around like she owned him.

Taking Bianca to Vegas had been an impulse. And honestly, he’d needed to start making moves that didn’t depend entirely on the Monteiro family’s foundation.

That partnership had been built by their grandparents. Marco wanted to build something himself.

One business swap. That’s all it was.

He genuinely couldn’t understand why Elysia couldn’t get past it.

The more she pushed back, the more he dug in.

She wasn’t going to start dictating his decisions. He wasn’t going to be the guy who got walked over.

Bianca was a distraction. A fun one. A useful one. It had gotten Elysia’s attention, hadn’t it?

She needed to learn how to be a Donna, not a shadow. His world would always have other women in it. That was just reality.

It was called growing up.

He was done thinking about it. He tossed his phone on the bed and went to shower.

Two more days passed.

Elysia still hadn’t reached out.

Marco sat at his desk and found he couldn’t focus.

Grandfather had been cold to him lately too.

He kept thinking back to the birthday dinner, the way Elysia and Giovanni had looked at each other across the room. Like they were saying goodbye.

Something crept up the back of his neck.

He grabbed his phone and tried the number again.

A mechanical tone: “The number you’ve dialed is currently unavailable.”

She’d blocked him.