I shove another spoonful of gelato into my mouth as I ponder the scenarios.
None of them are good.
And the gravity of the situation is no longer being diluted by the flavors dancing around in my mouth.
I’m fucked.
The Doc pats me on the arm. “You will figure it out, Ant. Let this die down a bit. You’re safe here. Get some rest tonight. You and Julia can stay in the apartment downstairs.” He smiles. “I’m going to check on Tommy.”
I lean against the back of the chair, stretching my arms overhead. I stare at the clock. It’s been almost an hour since I texted Alek and asked him to have his geek squad review the live stream feeds from the Dark Web to see if Elia…I swallow hard. I don’t even want to think it, but she needs to know for sure, one way or another, regardless of the bullshit Elia fed her or the results of Doc’s exam. I stare into space for what feels like hours before my burner phone rings and startles the shit out of me.
Alek.
I grab it, my voice low. “Yeah?”
“My tech guys viewed the live stream, Ant. The sick motherfucker jerked off maybe a hundred times while watching her sleep, but he never raped her. “Came damn close, though. All over her, just not in her.”
“I’ve got it,” I say, interrupting him. I fist my hair. “You’re sure, Alek? Nothing?”
“Nope. He had her play the violin a few times when she was lucid enough, but for the most part, she was down for the count. Oh, and your girl put up quite a fight not too long before you guys showed up to save her. Elia had a knife, threatened her with it probably just to scare her, but he never used it. She managed to grab it while he was jerking off. Stabbed him in the side. Pretty badass shit.”
“Did you get anything else?”
“Yeah, he did a lot of ranting, too,” Alek says. “My guys were watching the footage for any signs of physical and sexual abuse, but it was hard to ignore the shit he was saying…about Nic, about his mother, about taking over the organization with Julia by his side. He made a lot of threats and had a long list of targets he promised to hit. And Christ, if you saw his fits of rage, the shit he did while she was incapacitated…let’s just say thank fuck you got her out of there when you did. He was about to snap, Ant. If you hadn’t shown up when you did, I don’t know what would have happened. He’s gonna lose his shit. And sooner rather than later.”
“I know that, Alek!” I slam my fist on the table. “Look, just tell me what he said. Julia told me some of it, but I need the whole story. I need to know what I’m up against here so I can figure out a way to stop him.”
“You’re not thinking of going after him, are you?”
“If I don’t, he’ll find a way back to her. I can’t take that risk.”
“You can’t go after him alone. You’re good, but not that good.”
“I’ll have to be enough,” I grumble. “So tell me. What do I need to know?”
Chapter Fifteen
Elia
Scalding water courses over my prickled skin, electrifying my arousal. Her fingernails dig deep into my thighs, raking up and down as her tongue teases the head of my throbbing dick with a slow and maddening precision. She takes me deeper, stroking the sides with her hot, wet mouth. My fingers tangle in her long, dark hair, fisting it as I drive my hips forward, fucking her beautiful face, urging her to take me deeper. Her lips tighten around my shaft, her hands moving to my ass, gripping it tight as she sucks, teasing my slit with her tongue to drive me right over the brink of sanity.
“Fuck me with that dirty mouth, Julia,” I grunt, my heart thumping harder and faster as my hand slides up and down my rock hard cock. My breath hitches, my one good eye squeezed shut as I stroke my length, cum spilling from the tip. I tug harder, sliding my hand up and down faster and faster, coating my dick with my thick hot seed.
I collapse against the cool tiles, my breaths short and sharp as I give myself a few more good strokes before loosening my hand.
A shuddering sigh makes my shoulders sag, and I rinse off my hand before reaching behind me to shut off the shower spray, effectively ending the fantasy.
But I know that soon enough, it won’t be just another fantasy.
It will be our reality.
It was interrupted earlier when the Marcones fucked up my immediate plans. But you can’t fight fate forever.
And Julia and I were meant to be.
I grab a thick towel from the rack next to the shower and rub it over my head, careful not to disturb the thick bandage covering my injured eye. Luckily, the violin bow didn’t go that deep. I wince as I carefully pat the area around the bandage. Cleaning the area with alcohol hurt like a bitch, but my plans don’t leave time for a hospital visit. I dab the towel over the other bandaged area on my side where Julia stabbed me. Battle scars. Not like they’re the first ones I’ve ever gotten and they sure as hell won’t be the last.
The pain I’ve known in my life goes deeper and is more damaging than any fucking stabbing could ever be.
I finish patting myself dry before dropping the towel onto the floor. I run a hand through my longish dark hair, eyeing myself in the mirror. Sculpted muscles, dark, angry-looking ink covering most of my chest and arms with a single line creeping up the side of my neck.
It represents my mother, the one stream of light rising out of the darkness otherwise known as my life.
At least, what it had become once she was taken from me.
Murdered, in cold blood. Right before my eyes.
I grit my teeth, gripping the sides of the sink.
My mother was the only thing good in my life.
Until she restored some semblance of hope with Julia.
I know my mother sent her to me as a guiding light, a ray of sunshine in an otherwise murky existence. She knew I needed someone by my side, someone who could help me to find the happiness I was sure had been lost.
I knew it the first time I heard Julia drag that bow over the strings of her violin at a concert in Vienna. My father ordered me to follow her, to learn about her, to keep track of her — everything about her. His goal was to use her as bait for the Marcones and the Grazianis, and I went along with it, patiently waiting for my chance to destroy him. I didn’t give a fuck about his grand plans to take over the world. I was just biding my time before I put my own plans to cripple his organization in motion. She was never a factor.
And then I saw her…her long, lush hair, ample tits, and bright eyes that glowed with a fire that had the power and intensity to singe me all the way from the stage of that concert hall. But it wasn’t just her looks that captivated me.
It was the haunting melody that floated into the air as she leaped and pirouetted across that stage. It was as if she was playing directly to me, like my mother was speaking to me through Julia’s music.
I knew in that second that we were meant to be together and even though they were the most unlikely of circumstances, I was certain she’d grow to love me if she saw how perfect we’d be for each other, that I would give her the world if she let me.
How ironic that my father, of all people, is the one who commissioned me to take her in the first place to satisfy his own selfish bastard needs.
It was those needs that killed my mother in the first place.
At his hand.
He thinks I don’t know.
He’s going to find out very soon just how wrong he is.
I walk out of the bathroom and open a few drawers, letting the air dry my skin. A soft whimpering sound comes from the corner of my darkened bedroom. I glance at the figure crumpled up against the wall.
My insurance policy.
“It’s almost over,” I say, throwing back the covers on my bed and sinking into the plush mattress, my hand palming my thickening cock as I think about sinking into her soft, tight pussy, stretching her wide, her juices flowing over my dick…
I close my eyes, rubbing, tugging, and squeezing.
They thought they could stop me.
But you can’t prevent the inevitable, which is a hard lesson that Antonio Marcone will have to learn.
Tomorrow, I will get her father’s blessing.
Tomorrow, she will be mine.
Forever.
Chapter Sixteen
Antonio
My head spins like a top as I walk down the stairs toward the apartment door. Alek’s words ring between my ears.
…fits of rage…Elia’s rants…about to snap…sick and twisted…gonna lose his shit…
But, interestingly, his hatred isn’t directed at our family.
Alek made it pretty clear that based on the video feeds, the fury he’s about to unleash is directed at one person — his father.
Everyone knew Elia saw his mother murdered in front of him.
Nobody knew it was Nic Fortunato who ordered the hit.
No wonder why he’s so fucked in the head. How could that knowledge not rot every part of your brain and make you batshit crazy?
And all of the crap about how he and Julia meant to be together, how they were destined to take over Nic’s organization after justice is done?
Luckily for us, Elia is an exhibitionist so everywhere he goes, he live streams this nonsense for his ‘fans.’ But since Tommy blew up the graveyard house, he was forced to move. I have no delusions about the fact that he survived that explosion.
Evil never dies.
But Alek’s Dark Web hacker hotshots found Elia once, so I’m sure they’ll come up with a new location soon enough.
He’s laying low right now, staying quiet.
And that makes me fucking nervous.
I’d rather him make some noise so we can find him before he finds us.
I take a deep breath and twist the doorknob, pushing open the door and popping my head inside.
Julia lets out a loud yelp as she jumps off the bed, the fluffy white towel slipping open and drifting to the floor.
“Shit,” I groan, twisting around to avoid what I’m sure will be the inevitable jaw drop.
How many times am I going to have to see this girl naked? It’s like the universe is trying to torture me.
You can look, but you can’t touch…
“I’m sorry,” I say, my back now to her. “I should have knocked. I just figured you’d have been out of the shower for a while.”
“It’s fine,” she says with a giggle. “I mean, you’ve already seen me without my clothes on, right?”
I swallow hard. Yeah. And the image is forever burned into my memory and one day when I’m not being hunted by psychopathic killers, I’m gonna revisit it. Over and over and over. “I, ah, just wanted to tell you the good news.”
She runs over to me. “What? Did you hear something? Is Elia dead?”
“Unfortunately, no to the dead part. All in good time, though.” I slowly turn to face her, my breath hitching. Her skin is pink from the shower, her clear green eyes are the brightest that I’ve seen since we got her out of that hell hole. They are open wide, flecks of gold glimmering in the centers. She reaches out, her hands grazing my arms, sending chills slithering across my prickled skin.
“Tell me,” she says, her long, dark hair hanging in wet strands around her face, making her curious eyes pop even more.
“Alek called. His guys traced the live stream and they had a team go through the feeds over the past few days.” My mouth stretches into a smile. “He drugged you plenty but never once touched you while you were out of it.” I narrow my eyes, leaving out the part about him whacking it on her while she slept.
“He had a knife.” She twists a strand of her hair. “He didn’t use it, but I was afraid he was going to so I grabbed it and stabbed him in the side. That was one of my more lucid moments. It made him angry, but he still didn’t hurt me.”
I nod. “That makes sense since he did say over and over again how much he loved you and wanted you to feel the same way, how you were destined to be together, that you were sent to him by his dead mother. That kind of stuff.” I pause for a second before continuing. “So what you heard at the house was right. Elia does have a plan to take over his father’s organization and he wants to make a family for himself, the family that his father stole away from him.”
Julia’s brow furrows. “Stole how?”
“Nic is the one who ordered the hit on his wife. Elia’s mother. In one of Elia’s rantings, he said that he’s not actually Nic’s kid, that his mother was in love with someone in his crew. But Nic wouldn’t ever admit to that. It’d have been a big blow to his overinflated ego to admit he couldn’t please his wife. So he disposed of the evidence.”
“Elia told me his father killed his mother, but that’s all I knew,” Julia whispers. “And now he wants to recreate the once-happy family thing that he missed out on?”
I nod. “Uh, yeah. With you.”
Julia bites down on her lower lip, pacing the room. She rubs her arms over her shoulders. “I can remember little things he’d say when I was awake for long enough. How his mother played the violin to him when he was little, how he felt connected to her through me, how she spoke to him through my music, how he wanted to feel complete with a wife and a baby, that she sent me to him so he could finally be happy.”
“Yep, basically,” I say, shaking my head. “I knew he was a nut, but Christ, this takes delusional to a whole new level.”
“Ant, he told me over and over that he wanted me to have his baby,” Julia says, chewing on her fingernails. “That he wanted me to submit to him, which I never did. He’s not going to stop until he finds me and tries to make his warped fantasy a reality.”
I put my hands on her shoulders and dip my head lower. “Julia, I’m never going to let that happen. He won’t ever lay a finger on you again. You have my word.” But even as I say those words, I know I can’t be a hundred-percent certain that I can deliver on them.
Especially since now I am the one big ass obstacle standing in Elia’s way of fulfilling his crackpot dreams.
She steps closer into me, her arms wrapped around my waist. She tilts her head, her green eyes hooded. “I’m going to hold you to that promise, Antonio. Because you’re the only one who can make my fantasies a reality. And I need to make sure that you’re able to deliver,” she whispers.
The lump in my throat is so damn big right now that I can barely squeeze out a breath. My fingers long to grab the edges of her towel and pull it open so I can run my hands over her velvety soft skin. But a tiny part of me knows that this is all stress-induced. She’s scared, she’s emotional, she’s in shock, for fuck’s sake.
If she wants me, it’s because she needs comfort and security.
And maybe a mind-bending orgasm, and fuck me, I’d be more than happy to comply.
But I won’t take advantage of her. She’s too special, too precious, too fragile.
Her hands travel up and down the sides of my torso and my spine stiffens, along with some other body parts.
So much has happened to this woman over the past few days.
She’s been traumatized.
She has so much to process — guilt, anger, remorse.
I can’t do it!
Her hands navigate farther south and my cock twitches.
I won’t!
But even as I think it, I know my resolve is faltering more and more by the second.
She closes the space between us, rising up on her tiptoes, her lips so close to mine…
Fuck it.
I reach around the back of her head and crush my lips against hers. My fingers tangle in her damp hair, our teeth cracking together, bodies giving in to the pent-up lust that’s been crackling between us. It rages through me, igniting my soul the way I knew it would if I ever had a chance to taste her perfect pink lips.
Julia presses her fingertips into my back as our tongues tangle and coil with an insatiable hunger that I’ve never felt for any other woman.
I’ve never felt it because my emotions are always in check.
Bottled-up tigh
t.
Buried down deep.
But this woman unleashed all of them with a simple look and smile.
That was all it took for me to realize that I, too, had been given a glimpse into what my future could be if I opened myself up to it.
Maybe Julia was sent to me.
Maybe that’s why our story wasn’t finished when I walked away from her that night at the airport, why she’s in my arms right now.
Sorry not sorry, Elia.
You’ve already lost on so many levels.
Something you’re gonna realize soon enough.
I pull slightly away, breathless as I stare down at her glowing face. “Julia,” I murmur. “I don’t want to do this. I mean, yeah, I want to do this, but not…look, you’re confused and upset and scared, and I don’t want to take advantage of that.”
She flashes me an incredulous look. “You just keep on surprising me, Antonio. Here I was thinking you’d jump at the chance to burn off some stress, and you’re turning me down. While I’m standing in front of you wrapped in a towel.” She smirks. “I guess I really had you pegged all wrong. Shame on me for letting you go that night at the airport.”
I snicker. “There isn’t a single cell in my body that doesn’t want to rip off that towel right now, so don’t give me too much credit.” My smile fades, and I drag a fingertip down the side of her face. “But I don’t want this to happen because we’re ‘burning off stress.’” I shake my head. “You’re too good for that. And you’re not a stress reliever, by the way. Since I’ve met you, you’ve given me plenty of stress. Just so we’re clear on that.” I drop a kiss onto her lips.
“Noted.” She giggles against my mouth, hugging me tight around the neck. “How’s Tommy?” she says, walking around the bed toward the pile of clothes she left by the nightstand.
“Last I heard, still sleeping. I’m going to check on him again. Do you need anything?” I ask as she slides a t-shirt over her head, her taut nipples pebbling under the thin fabric.
I run a hand through my hair and turn toward the door before I lose complete control and launch myself at her half-naked body.
Coveted: Men of Mayhem: Book Two Page 15