Devil You Know: A Dark Mafia Enemies to Lovers Romance (The Diavolo Crime Family Book 2)

by J. L. Beck

  I walk out of the room and head toward his office. When I poke my head in the door, he’s alone at his desk, writing in his ledger.

  “You can come in,” he says before I even make a sound. Of course, he’d catch me lingering at his door, acting like a weirdo.

  I give him a smile as I enter, walking slowly so he can look at me in the dress. His gaze tracks from my head, slowly over my breasts and down to my bare feet.

  “You look beautiful. Did you come in here just to show me that dress? Because I could get used to this.”

  I shake my head. “No, I came to ask you a favor.”

  He shifts forward at his desk and studies me differently. “What do you need?”

  While I walk toward him, I run over the script I made in my mind. Words I’d lined up neatly are scattered under the heated look he gives me. “Well, I want to talk to Lucas.”

  Immediately, he says, “No.” Without even thinking about it.

  “But you haven’t even listened to why I want to speak to him.”

  He drops his gaze back to his work, and it feels like a dismissal. More than that, it grates on me. How can he look at me the way he did and then just stop?

  “I don’t need to listen because I’ve already made my decision. Not only has he betrayed my trust, but I also don’t know that you will be safe with him, and I can’t risk it.”

  I approach him, stopping at the corner of his desk. “But what if you came with me? You could make sure I’m safe, and you could monitor everything he says and does.”

  Again, he shakes his head. “No. I’ve made my decision. You’re not seeing him, not until I’ve calmed down some from his actions, and until he shows a little remorse for what he did to you and to me.”

  I scoff, my anger rising. Not only because he is completely ignoring me now, but because he’s still trying to control me. “That’s rich. You are talking of remorse. What did he do to you, may I ask? You weren’t the one who got smacked in the head, knocked out, and dragged halfway across the city.”

  He settles back in his chair, finally turning his gaze to mine again. “He skipped out on his responsibilities to our business, and he stole my property, which cost me millions and several clients.”

  “Property,” I whisper.

  “I’ve made it very clear that you belong to me.”

  His answer spurs me to my backup plan. I step forward, drag his hand from the edge of the desk to my hip. “Well, we could make some kind of deal, can’t we?”

  A smile tilts the edge of his mouth like I’ve finally gotten his full interest. “A deal, hmm? Are you ready to make a deal with the devil, stellina? I promise you; I always collect.”

  His tone promises dark things, all kinds of dark things I think I want.

  “Well, you want me to give myself to you, so that’s what I offer. You have free rein over my body. I’ll do whatever you want.”

  “Oh, you’ll do whatever I want, hmmm? Come here.” He drags me onto his knee and angles me, so my legs hang between his thighs.

  “Yes, anything you want.” I bat my lashes and feel like an idiot trying to entice him—the man who always takes what he wants, anyway.

  He laughs, and my smile wilts. “You realize that I already have free rein over your body? I can do whatever I want, anytime I want because you’re mine.”

  “But you want me to give myself to you.”

  His fingers slip around the nape of my neck, and he drags our foreheads together. “Yes, I do what you to give yourself to me, but not just your body. I want your mind. I want your heart. And when you give me those things, I’ll be happy. But they aren’t something you’re ready to give yet, as you’ve already told me. I doubt me granting your request will help me in that area.”

  “But…” My plan is crashing and burning and blowing away in the wind.

  “Do you have something else to offer me?” Now, his tone is teasing, as if he’s curious what else I’ll say.

  I jerk my head from his grip and shake my head. “What else could I possibly give you? You keep me locked up in the house. I don’t have my own money, no access to the outside world. All I have is my body to bargain with.”

  Just saying it makes me feel dirty.

  “Manipulation with sex is a nuanced business. If you want to entice me that way, you need to work on your delivery.”

  “I wasn’t trying to manipulate you.”

  He tugs the hem of the dress up over my knee. “This fucking dress is one-hundred percent cotton manipulation. I want to take it off with my teeth. If I were a weaker man, you might have gotten what you want.”

  Now I feel guilty. I’d been trying to manipulate him, and I hate myself a little for it. “So, what do I do now then?”

  He shrugs. “If you have nothing else to offer, then you lift your chin and walk away from negotiations until you have something the other party can use.”

  “Manipulation 101 from an expert?” I regret my words even as I say them.

  His eyes go icy as he stares down at me, his fingers flexing in my hair. “I am an expert, don’t forget that, stellina. I always get what I want when I negotiate, and I always come out ahead.”

  I try to tug myself off his lap, but he holds me tight, not letting me move an inch. “We aren’t done talking.”

  “You’re the one who said walk away until I can offer you something you actually want. If you don’t want me, I’ll go back to the bedroom.”

  “I didn’t say I don’t want you. Only that I don’t need to make a deal to have you.”

  I jerk my chin up and level him with a glare. “What do you want, then? What’s out there that you, a man with everything, might want?”

  In a hard voice, he says, “Your father’s head on a spike in my front lawn.”

  It takes a moment for his words to sink in, and then I gasp. “No, why would you say that to me?”

  “It’s not a secret. You’re very aware of how much I want your father dead. Pretending I’m a good man won’t change the fact that soon I’ll murder him and get the vengeance I’ve been waiting years to acquire.”

  Again, I try to climb off his lap, but he refuses to let me leave. “Let me go. I’m done talking about this.”

  He hugs me against him tighter, making me gasp. “No. We are going to talk about this because you’ve been avoiding the discussion, and I won’t let it come between us.”

  “It’s coming between us right now. I told you I can never give you what you want while you keep dreaming about murdering my father. Even if he deserves it. When I look at you, all I’ll see is his blood on your hands.”

  “How about we review the blood on your father’s hands?” He nuzzles his face into my neck and delivers a kiss there. “How about we review the fact that he murdered my parents and my oldest brother in cold blood while my youngest brother watched? Tell me how it’s any different? I don’t look at you and see his blood running through your veins. Your relationship to him isn’t stopping me from making you mine.”

  His words make me consider, for the first time, his actions balanced with my father’s. It would be so easy to call him a liar, to believe that he’s spinning tales to make me hate my father for whatever nefarious purpose he’s cooked up.

  But none of it matters because the facts remain. He wants to kill my father, and I won’t be able to look at him if he does it. Not without my answers. Besides, his professing ownership of me every five minutes doesn’t say he cares, only that he likes to lay claim. He likes to own people, and for people to owe him. More than anything, he enjoys the power of his position, even if he doesn’t rub it in other’s faces.

  “You only want me for right now. I’m a novelty to you, revenge, as you said before. When I look at you, I see how much you want me, but it won’t be long until you get bored and cast me aside. Where will I be then?”

  I get a pang of guilt for saying it, but I shove it down and meet him square in the eye. “You like the idea of owning me. Of owning your enemy’s daughter. It doe
sn’t mean you want me or even know anything about me.”

  “You’re right. I don’t know anything about you. Tell me something.”

  I shove at his chest, but of course, he doesn’t budge. “No. You don’t get to pretend to care when I call you on your bullshit, either. The only thing you want from me is obedience. You want me to say yes and spread my legs. But that’s it.”

  The look on his face would have scared me a few days ago. Now it only makes me angry.

  “Have I not made you comfortable? Have I not tried to engage you in conversation? You’re the one who keeps bringing up Lucas, or your father, or your family. Can’t you understand I don’t want to talk about those things? Not when all of them bring to mind the image of my mother’s blood spilling across the kitchen floor. My father’s blood caked into the grout.”

  I stop struggling in his grip and stare into his eyes. He’s cleared the emotion from his face, presenting the mask he always did before… except now, I see something else in his eyes. Pain. So much pain he must be drowning in it.

  I cup his cheeks and shake my head. “I need to talk about these things because they aren’t settled. All of them are stacked up, creating this barrier between us. If you want me to give myself to you, we have to clear them out of the way. No matter how painful it is. Until then, I can’t give you what you want from me.”

  His hands grip my hips, but I wiggle free and put a few steps between us.

  As he narrows his eyes, I shake my head. “You said no to my deal, so I’ll go back to our room now.” I turn to the door to leave.

  “Stop,” his voice rings out in the room.

  But I don’t listen, increasing my pace to clear the threshold.

  I don’t get far before I hear the heavy thud of his steps on the hardwood as he gives chase.

  13

  Nic

  “You can’t get away from me,” I call, not bothering to walk faster since there’s nowhere in the house she’ll be able to hide.

  Her bare feet slap on the hardwood ahead of me before going silent, which means she either stopped or shifted over to the hallway with the runner. I turn the corner and spot the ends of her hair as she ducks into her old bedroom.

  I brace my hands on the open doorway and peer into the darkened room. Once I moved her to mine, I had the staff clear this one out, so she had no option to return. All that’s left inside is the bare furniture and heavy curtains across the windows.

  “Princess? You can’t hide from me. Come out now, and I’ll make this easier on you.”

  I listen hard, focusing on any movement or sound. The bathroom door is closed, so I don’t think she made it in there before I got to the door.

  If she won’t come out, I’ll have to go in after her and show her exactly what happens when she defies me.

  It takes seconds to find her hiding behind one of the curtains, her bare toes peeking out from the edge of the steel gray drapery. I tug back the curtain to find her staring up at me, her hands curled around the edge of the windowsill like it might anchor her.

  “What do you think I should do to you, princess? You not only tried to manipulate me, but then you ran and didn’t come out when I ordered. I think that deserves a punishment.”

  Her pulse pounds in the column of her neck, and she swallows heavily. “Punishment?”

  I capture her neck in my hand and gently ease her toward me. “Just because you belong to me now doesn’t mean you can act any way you please.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Unlike before, she doesn’t look scared now, curious maybe, nervous even… “Unbuckle my belt,” I order.

  She locks our gazes for a heartbeat before reaching to my buckle and quickly completing the task, leaving the belt hanging from the loops.

  “Take it off me.”

  Her heavy swallow is loud enough for me to hear as she slowly slides the leather from the loops of my pants.

  “Good girl. Place it in my hand and then lay over the end of the bed.”

  Her eyes widen as she figures out my plan. But she doesn’t hesitate as she steps around me to drape herself over the end of the bed. “You’re behaving now, stellina. It makes me think you like this more than you let on.”

  My cock is straining at the waistband of my pants, looking at her like this. That fucking dress flowing over her curves, waiting for me to rip it off her.

  I ease up behind her and drag her hips up so I can rub against them for a moment. It’s not part of the punishment; it’s just for me—a moment looking down as the dress billows around my pant legs.

  She sucks in a breath and hides her face into the mattress.

  “Are you ready, princess?”

  Instead of answering, she eases her thighs apart slightly, squaring her feet on the floor.

  “I’m not doing this to hurt you, just to teach you a lesson. So, we’ll start with three blows. If you can manage that, then I’ll forgive you.” I add nothing about her not being able to handle it because I know even though this is her punishment, she wants it.

  Her toes are curled into the floor, her breathing is ragged and strained. As is mine. I grip the belt tight in my palm and reach to the hem of her dress to drag it up around her hips.

  “Fuck.” The curse slips out before I can stop it. The little brat didn’t wear any panties before she came to my office. She really thought she could walk in and seduce me.

  I tuck the dress around her lower back to keep it out of the way.

  There’s no warning when I bring the leather down onto the softest part of her ass. At the strike, she lets out a soft hiss but then goes silent. It isn’t a hard hit. We haven’t done anything like this before. I don’t know how much she can tolerate and how many makes her wet.

  A pink line bisects her left ass cheek in a fat bar. Almost matching the color of her dress.

  Holy hell, it looks good on her. I don’t know if I’ll make it to the third blow before I take her. My pulse is thundering in my ears.

  “How are you feeling, princess?”

  When she doesn’t answer, I lean my hips into hers and chafe my hand over her pink skin. Her whimper belies the way she lifts her hips into mine to get the friction she wants.

  “More?” I whisper and ease off her.

  “Please,” she says so softly I can barely hear her.

  “Please, stop?” I prompt, knowing she doesn’t want that, just as I know she’s begging for more than my belt.

  “No, again.”

  I smile down at her. Fucking hell, my princess is so perfect. “Say it again, and I’ll give you everything you want and more. Beg me to punish you, and I’ll fuck you until you come all over me.”

  Her ragged answer is everything I hope for. “Please, do it again.”

  Fuck yes, she does, and she deserves her reward afterward. I’m stunned by her. In awe of the way she’s growing under my care, the way she’s changing into the woman she is meant to become. My fucking princess will be my queen.

  The next blow causes her to whimper, biting her lip afterward as if she tries to stifle it. The smack a loud crack in the silent room. A matching mark decorates her skin alongside the other. “Just fucking beautiful.”

  She’s grinding her hips into the mattress, so I seize them to halt her movements. “No, princess. Your pain belongs to me, and so does your pleasure. Don’t move.”

  I drop the belt to the floor with a clatter and work my fly open. She wiggles back toward me, and I groan as I wrap my hand around my cock.

  I force myself to stop and take a deep breath. Then I step forward and run myself along the seam of her ass. “Where do you want me, princess? You took your punishment so beautifully. I’m in the mind to reward you. Do you want me in your ass or in your pussy?”

  She doesn’t answer, so I rub her raw skin, drawing her attention. “Say it, princess, or you can’t have me, and I’ll put you on your knees and fuck your pretty lips instead.”

  “Pu…Pussy,” she stutters.

 
; “Good girl. That wasn’t so hard, was it? Next time, answer me when I ask you a question.”

  I dip myself down between her thighs. Fuck, she’s so wet. I slide between her legs so easily. But that’s not all I want. Before I ease both our aches, I want a taste of her.

  I drop to my knees behind her and drag her ass into my face, spreading her open more as I spear my tongue into the moisture gathering between her thighs. So sweet and all for me.

  She gasps and presses back into me, trying to give me better access—greedy little brat.

  I lick her in long strokes as I wrap my fingers into her upper thighs to keep hold of her. She’s squirming against me, against the bed, writhing for more.

  When I can’t wait any longer, I stand again, angling her hips to make it easier for me to slip inside her. Our height difference makes this position tricky, but she’s so light I can lift her easily to make sure we fit together perfectly.

  I nudge her entrance, carefully sliding inside her, one inch at a time. But she isn’t as patient as I am, easing toward me as I glide forward. “You’re not in charge here, princess. Stay still so I can fuck you properly. When you wiggle and squirm, as hot as it fucking is, I can’t keep the angles I want to make sure you’re properly taken care of.”

  She doesn’t speak but goes still in my hands. It seems like she’s willing to listen to my orders when they benefit her. A queen indeed.

  I angle her hips up, lifting her effortlessly so I can fit her back into me, sink all the way inside her. When she shifts again, I pause, letting her get used to the feel of me filling her up. Sex is new to her, and she can’t stretch around me easily yet. Her cunt is a tight grip around my cock, making it difficult to concentrate.

  Carefully, I ease out of her until just the tip of me is inside her. I stare down at where our bodies join and enjoy the pink streaks from my belt in the view. Then I arch forward, pushing all the way inside again. She’s stretching around me, this pass is wetter, her body taking me like it’s made for me.