Royal Mafia Box Set: Books 1-4

by Bella J.

  A shriek left her lips, and all I saw was a line of crimson pooling on her shoulder, the man’s knife stained with her blood.

  He tilted his head, tightening his grip on her throat. “Does that feel like I’m fucking bluffing?”

  “Stop. I’ll do it.” Tears stung my eyes, a single drop slipping down my cheek. “Just don’t hurt her.”

  “Then get a fucking move on and do as I said.”

  I was used to fear. But this was different—fearing for someone’s life other than your own. It was more intense. More extreme. There was no doubt in my mind that I would gladly give myself to the devil rather than see Karina get hurt because of me.

  “I just…I just have one question. Is it him? Did he put you up to this?”

  The guy shrugged. “If by him you mean Vadik, then, yes. Rich bastard sure as fuck wants you back badly. He’s put out a reward for whoever returns his pretty, broken girl to him.” The grin on his face was filled with greed. “There’s a fuck-load of people looking for you, which means you’ll be returned to him sooner or later. But that reward is mine, so I’ll prefer sooner.”

  The man gestured toward the window. “Get a fucking move on. There’s a car waiting for you. Once you get to the bottom, you get your ass into that fucking car. Is that clear?”

  “Crystal.”

  I turned around, fear causing the blood to flow through my veins at a thousand beats per minute. I knew this would happen. I knew it was only a matter of time before he came for me. I knew it from the second I found out I had been stolen from him. And I had been a fool by letting myself believe I might have had a chance by escaping him. By being with Antonio.

  Every step I took toward the window, my feet grew heavier, my body reluctant to move. From the shuffling behind me, I knew he was dragging Karina while he followed me.

  “Doe, stop.” Karina’s voice was shaky, sounding desperate. “Don’t fucking do this. Don’t you dare do this.”

  “Shut the fuck up before I shove my cock into that big fucking mouth of yours. Actually, don’t shut up. Say something else so I have a reason to force my dick down your throat.”

  “Fuck you!” Karina sneered, then I heard a loud crack, what I assumed was him hitting her.

  “For that, you’re getting it up the fucking ass, Valenti tramp.”

  I stilled, my heart pounding like a jackhammer inside my chest. But his words. Those disgusting words that left his mouth, it morphed my fear into anger. The thought of him hurting Karina in a way I’d been hurt a hundred times, replaced the dread with rage. And while I stood there allowing the rage and anger to consume me, adrenaline rushing to every corner of my body, I closed my eyes and reached up, touching my necklace.

  “Why the fuck are you stopping? Did I stutter? Or are you mentally fucked as well? I said get your fucking ass out that window and down that fire escape now, broken girl.”

  My fingers wrapped around the necklace. “There’s only one problem,” I murmured.

  “Yeah, the problem is you’re not fucking walking.”

  I took a deep breath, steeled myself while I imagined Master V’s face, the victorious grin he would have once he managed to get his claws into me again.

  “No,” I started. “The problem is, I’m no longer his pretty, broken girl.”

  I turned, swung my arm, and then…blood. So much blood. A waterfall of crimson spilled from his throat, and in my hand was the blood-stained blade. He gurgled, choking on his own blood as he gasped for air. Falling to his knees, his hands reached up to the open wound around his throat, red seeping through between his fingers.

  I watched. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Off the life that was draining from his dying body. My vision zeroed in on the wound, the blood. My hearing blocked out every sound except that of him gagging and choking, his body shutting down fast. I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. The fear was gone. The terror disappeared. Even the anger had dissipated. There was nothing except…power.

  “Doe! Jesus!”

  It was only when I heard Antonio’s voice, feeling his strong arms wrap around my waist, pulling me away from the now dead corpse who lay face down on the ground, that reality started to seep back in.

  “Doe, are you okay?” His hands touched everywhere—my hair, my face, my shoulders.

  “I’m fine,” I answered softly, staring into the wild circles of his dark brown irises. “I’m fine, Antonio.”

  “Jesus.” Lorik came storming in, Dante shortly on his heel. He looked at the body on the floor. “One of Mancuso’s guys?”

  “Fuck me.” Dante pulled his hands through his hair, his gaze cutting from the dead body to the bloody blade I still held in my hand. “Antonio, what the fuck?”

  Antonio snatched the blade from my hand, grabbed my arm, and dragged me across the bathroom. “Lorik, get them out of here, now!”

  Dante shook his head. “This has Mancuso written all over it.”

  “It’s him. It’s one of Vadik’s men.” Lorik pulled Karina and me toward the door, and I tried to speak, to be heard while glancing over my shoulder. “Antonio, it’s Vadik. He’s come for me.”

  But we were out the door and rushed out of the club. There wasn’t time for me to say anything after that. There wasn’t time for me to ask why he wasn’t coming with us. Before I knew it, I was in the back of the SUV, tires screeching, Lorik swearing. It felt like the last few minutes passed with a big, black blur.

  There was blood. And then lights. Yellow lights as Lorik sped through the streets of Boston. All while the same sentence repeated over and over inside my head.

  I killed a man.

  Chapter 13

  Doe

  Dr. Ramirez was already waiting for us when Lorik parked the car inside the garage. As soon as the door opened, I got out, and the doctor grabbed my wrist to check my pulse.

  “I’m fine, Doctor.”

  He ignored me and flashed a light into my eyes before placing a stethoscope against my chest.

  “Doctor, I said I’m fine.” I looked at Karina, her eye already black and swollen. “Please. Take care of Karina first.”

  He took my hands in his. “Is this your blood?”

  “No.” I jerked my hands away. “It’s not. And I said I’m fine. Karina is the one who needs help.”

  She held up her hand as Lorik placed his arm around her waist, supporting her. “Let the doctor do his job, Doe. I’m sure my brother gave him orders to tend to you first.”

  The doctor tried to reach for my face, but I shoved his hand away. “I said I’m fucking fine.” My voice was laced with anger, my heart beating its way up my throat. “For the love of God, would you please take care of Karina? She’s the one who got hurt.”

  The doctor stilled, uncertainty clouding the gold specks in his eyes as he peered from me to Lorik. Lorik nodded.

  Dr. Ramirez glanced at me then picked up his medical bag. “Take Karina to your room.”

  Lorik waved toward two security guards who had just secured the garage door. “Take Doe up to Antonio’s room, but make sure you sweep it first. Make sure the door is locked and you stay outside that motherfucking door, you hear me? I don’t care if you need to take a piss, you do not fucking move.”

  They nodded, but when they tried to take me by the elbows, I jerked free. “Who is Mancuso?” I asked staring straight at Lorik. “You said what happened back at Vertigo had Mancuso written all over it. Who is he?”

  He rubbed the back of his neck, looking in every direction except at me. “Let’s just say he’s not a close friend of the family.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Look, you can ask Antonio when he gets back.”

  “I’m asking you now.”

  Lorik frowned. “Well, well, well, look who grew a pair of balls.” He shrugged. “I guess that’s what happens when you’re surrounded by a bunch of mobsters.”

  I squared my shoulders. “Lorik, it wasn’t Mancuso—whoever he is—back at the club. The guy…the guy I…” I st
ruggled to say it out loud.

  “The guy whose throat you slit.” Lorik completed my sentence for me.

  My heart pounded. “Yes. He works for Vadik. Well, worked for Vadik. He has finally made his move. His first move in getting me back.” My voice trailed off, and I dropped my gaze to the ground. Ice was slowly spreading through every bone in my body. The thought of Vadik getting close to me, getting close to the people I’d grown to love, was turning my stomach inside out.

  “Listen,” Lorik stepped closer, “Antonio will be home soon. Then we’ll figure this all out. But one thing I can tell you is I know Antonio. I know what a mean motherfucker he really is. And there is no way in hell he will let anyone hurt you. Okay?”

  I nodded, but then Lorik placed his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. “Okay?”

  I sucked on my bottom lip before murmuring, “Okay.”

  “Great.” He stepped back then looked at the men behind me. “Now, please get this woman behind a locked fucking door before Antonio castrates me.”

  The men led me out of the garage and through the house. The bedroom was swept and cleared within two minutes, and once they closed the door, locking me in, I finally took a breath. Everything felt hazy, surreal. Like I was caught in some fucking movie, watching from the outside. The silence that ensued was deafening. I couldn’t even hear my heartbeat anymore. Maybe it was because I didn’t have a heart. Who would kill someone and feel…nothing?

  Lifting my hands, I stared at the bloodstains on my skin. There was dry blood beneath my fingernails, and when I turned around, still staring at my hands, I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror.

  I stilled. The purple dress I wore was stained dark with blood, dried smears still on my cheek and forehead. I touched the tips of my braided hair. It was wet. It was blood. Dear God, it looked like I had been to the slaughterhouse, and I was the fucking butcher.

  Earlier that night, before we left for Vertigo, I didn’t recognize the woman in the mirror. But now, I did. I recognized her. Her face. Her lips. Her eyes.

  Her eyes. Dark eyes. Dark, wild, wicked eyes.

  I stepped closer, my reflection in the mirror becoming clearer. The woman I saw earlier was gone. There was no trace of her in the picture before me. Instead, I saw someone else. Someone I had dreamed about for so long. Every night while locked in my cage, waiting to be hurt, waiting for my body to be defiled again and again, I dreamed of this woman. A strong woman. A fierce woman. A woman brave and tough enough to punish those who deserved it. And finally, here she was, in the mirror, staring back at me.

  I closed my eyes, and I saw his face. The way blood poured from his body like a fountain of justice. His eyes glazed over, his skin pale, and mouth open while he choked on his own blood. I leaned my head to the side, and I could still hear the gurgling sounds that came from his throat. It was the same sound I heard the night Master V slit the throat of the girl I chose to share my food with. The same night he cut off my ear, mutilating me. And just like the man I killed tonight, her mouth fell open as well while she tried to gasp for air until…her dead body fell to the ground.

  The more I thought about that night, the more I started to smile. Because of me, the man whose throat I slit tonight felt that girl’s pain. He experienced the same death as that poor girl. It felt good, thinking about it that way. There wasn’t an ounce of regret anywhere inside me. Only relief…because justice was served.

  When the door slammed shut behind me, I opened my eyes and stared straight at Antonio’s reflection in the mirror.

  He was standing behind me, his eyes wild and dark. Our gazes remained locked as we watched each other in the mirror in front of me. After what happened tonight, I didn’t once think about the repercussions I would have to face when it came to Antonio. My master. I was too high on the adrenaline, the power…the bloodlust. But now the high was gone, and uncertainty had taken its place.

  “Antonio—”

  “You killed a man.”

  “I know. He wanted—”

  “How did it feel?” He took a step closer.

  I licked my lips. “I don’t—”

  “Speak the truth, Doe. How did it feel?”

  I swallowed, watching him as he moved closer, one calculated step at a time. There was no use denying it. The way he kept my gaze, his eyes cold and hard, he already knew the answer to his question. It was written in the stone expression on my face, I was sure.

  He stopped right behind me, breathing down my neck. “How. Did. It. Feel?”

  I leaned back against his chest and closed my eyes. “It felt…good.”

  A low growl came from his throat, and he grabbed my hips, forcing me forward until he pressed me face first against the wall. Greedy lips sucked at the nape of my neck while eager hands tore at my dress. Within seconds, the thousand-dollar dress I wore was nothing but tatters of cotton and silk scattered around our feet, our rapid breaths a filthy melody of primal need and lust.

  I peered over my shoulder and watched him tear his shirt, buttons clattering on the wooden floors. My breathing became more labored, my core tightening with anticipation.

  Naked, needy, turbulent and rough, Antonio grabbed my wrists and slammed my arms against the wall above my head. His grip was tight. It hurt, burning my skin. But I didn’t care. In fact, I welcomed it. The adrenaline that still lingered in my veins from the kill embraced the pain, loving the bittersweet taste of revenge mixed with the ardent passion of uncontrollable lust.

  He rolled his hips, and I felt his cock against my ass. “This is so fucked up.”

  “Which part?”

  “The part where I know I should be losing my shit over the fact that I almost lost you tonight.” Teeth grazed against the skin of my shoulders, and I moaned. “But seeing another man’s blood on your hands, knowing you killed the fucker who tried to take you from me, it’s fucking with my head.”

  “How?” My voice was a whisper, a mere swoosh of air while he rubbed his cock up and down my ass.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to fuck you as badly as I want to right now. Just the thought of you cutting that fucker’s throat has every inch of my cock aching like a motherfucker. Push out your hips.”

  I obeyed while his hands still covered mine, pressing them hard against the cold wall. Another moan ripped from my throat when he pushed his cock in between my thighs, his shaft rubbing against my swollen, sensitive flesh. Every thrust, every stroke had me anticipating being filled by him, my body so fucking ready.

  His fingers twined with mine, his hot breath searing my skin while he dragged his nose down the back of my neck. “I knew you had it in you. I knew you were strong. Resilient. I just didn’t count on it fucking with my resolve.”

  I moved my ass against him, wishing he would enter me. Fuck me. Use me. “What resolve?” I asked between panting breaths.

  “My resolve to not lose my shit with you.” He bit into my shoulder, and I cried out. “To not hurt you while I fuck you so hard your body will feel like it’s being torn in half.”

  Soft whimpers turned into panting gasps. “I want that.”

  One hand slipped down my arm, fingers tracing around my shoulder, cupping my breast. “What do you want, Doe? Tell me.”

  “I want you to take me. I want you to use me like you want to.”

  His hips dipped low as he pushed his cock between my legs again, his shaft already coated with my desire. I hadn’t even climaxed yet, and already I could feel it pool between my thighs.

  With a jerk, he spun me around and slammed my back against the wall, his lips on mine, kissing me like it would mean death if he didn’t.

  He reached between us and guided his cock between my legs, spreading my sensitive folds, the head of his cock nudging at my entrance. I wanted to scream. I wanted to yell. I wanted to beg him to fuck me. My body was already standing at the edge, waiting to take the plunge. It was torture being teased, being denied.

  As he pulled his lips from mine, he gra
bbed my braided hair, yanking me forward as he gripped my arm before twisting it behind my back. My elbow ached, my neck painfully bent to the side. But the pain only fueled the need already threatening to incinerate me from the inside out.

  Nothing about his touch was gentle, the way he dragged me across the room, forcing me on the bed with a violent shove. He grabbed my ankles, twisting me on my back before I had a chance to move.

  I looked up at him and sucked in a breath when I saw the darkness in his eyes as his gaze raked over my naked body.

  I squirmed on top of the silk sheets. “Do you want to hurt me?”

  He fisted his cock. “What do you think?”

  “I think you’re right. Everything about us is so fucked up.”

  A smirk tugged at the corners of his lips. “We’re a beautiful catastrophe just waiting to happen.”

  I grabbed the sheets beneath me, my body weeping with the need to be filled.

  Still fisting his cock with one hand, he held a blade in the other. The blade I used to cut a man’s throat. The blade that pulled the switch inside me, turning me from a timid slave into a fierce woman who had a score to settle.

  “There’s no turning back now, Doe.” He eased onto the bed, climbing over me, his skin brushing against mine, my body trembling. Gently, he clicked the blade back into its place on the necklace around my neck, and then he kissed me—hard—before climbing off, leaving me panting and needy.

  I watched as he walked to the bedside cabinet, pulling out two pairs of handcuffs.

  “Touch yourself,” he ordered, standing at the edge of the bed. “Spread those lips and let me see you touch yourself.”

  I hesitated. I hesitated for one second too long, and his eyes went from dark to black, a malicious grin spreading across his face. “I knew you’d be a deviant queen.”

  There was no time for me to think when he grabbed my right ankle and wrist, pulling me toward the edge of the bed, forcing my leg up, bent at the knee.

  “Antonio—” The cold steel of the cuffs bit into the flesh as it joined my ankle and wrist. I tried to pull, tried to fight against it, but to no avail. Strong arms grabbed my waist as he climbed over me, reaching for my left wrist. Another click. The feel of cold steel, and within seconds I was bound. Wrist to ankle. Knees bent. Spread open.