Married To The Mafia...?

I was at a total loss of words, my breath hitched somewhere I didn't even know existed and everything I tried to say faltered into absolute complete silence. My right palm stung from the impact, but I took comfort in the rising red welt upon the side of his face.

Ethan took a step closer to me and instinctively I took one further away. I couldn't believe the person before me, the man I was suppose to spend eternity with, the man who was suppose to be dead; was standing before me, his body visibly damaged and torn a part but very much breathing.

"Amelia-"

"How dare you." They were the first words I had muttered since seeing my husband for the only time in four months, a husband who was suppose to be dead and they left a bad taste on my mouth as tears welled and pooled.

"I can explain-"

"Explain?" My voice was raised and full of aggression. "How can you possibly explain this? You faked your own death, you let me believe I had lost you, that we all had. What for Ethan, to break our hearts? Because you completely achieved your goal in that case!"

Tears sprung from my eyes, my body completely trembling. It was the most heart breaking moment when I heard he had been killed, I'd lived in utter devastation and anguish for months believing I would never see my husband again, believing he'd been so horribly, violently stolen and ripped away. But nothing could describe the heaviness in my heart when I discovered it was all a complete lie, when he stood before me visibly damaged after almost four months.

"Amelia please." He stepped forward once more, his eyes warm and swimming with sorrow as my back hit the wall. "I couldn't tell you, I couldn't tell anybody. If somebody found out I would have been dead, for real. So would you."

"Don't you dare try and make this about protecting me! You being gone risked my life more than anything."

"You were never in danger Amelia. I made sure of that."

"What from Italy?" As soon as the words left my mouth an idea dawned on me. "He knew didn't he, Emmanuel knew this entire time."

"No." Ethan was quick to dismiss the idea, his eyes heavy with exhaustion. "Nobody knew, nobody apart from one person."

"Who?"

"The man who identified the body. That was it, to everyone else I was dead-" His words were cut off by my hand resurfacing against his cheek. The fury was almost too much to handle.

"Do you have absolutely any idea what we've been through? What I've been through? What you put me through Ethan?!"

"Amelia," His hand touched my arm gently and the feeling of his skin instantly self goosebumps across my skin, but just as quickly I slapped him away. "I'm sorry, if there had of been another way-"

With force that I didn't know belonged to me I shoved him backward, watching as he staggered slightly before watching me cautiously.

"How dare you do this. To your mother." I hit my fist against his chest, the forcing taking him back a step. "To your father." Another hit and another step backward. "To your brother. To your best friend." Ethan grasped my wrists in his hands gently as tears fell from my over flowing eyes. "How dare you do this to me. I'm your wife, I'm the person you're meant to spend the rest of your life with Ethan, the one you aren't allowed to keep secrets from!"

An onslaught of crying fell from my chest as he pulled me closer, his arms folding over my shoulders, my face buried into the old, musky smelling shirt that covered his chest. I scrunched the fabric into my small fists and let the bubble of hysteric burst completely.

"I hate you." It came out as a muffled sob but I knew he understood and his only reaction was to wrap his arms tighter around me and place a gentle kiss upon my head. Violently I pulled away, my palms flat upon his chest, "I hate you Ethan Radev, more than anyone in my life."

There was no room left for him to argue as I spun upon my heel, there was no patience left in my body to turn and pay attention as he called my name or fumbled to grasp my arm. There was only the sting of my heart as I stormed from the office, eyes wet with ache, body numb with emotion I didn't have a name for.