His Mafioso Princess

by Terri Anne Browning

  He stood and took her hand. “Come dance with me,” he commanded in a low, deep voice with all the hunger none of us were blind to.

  She smiled sweetly up at him and went like a blind sheep about to be devoured by a very hungry lion.

  Anya shifted beside me, drinking her tequila over ice with just a little twist of lime tossed in. “You know what would make this night even better?” she told me with a sly half-smile.

  “What, tesoro?” Cristiano asked distractedly from her other side. He was doing something on his phone, only half paying attention to us. I could see it was annoying Anya.

  “Strippers,” she said with a serious face then tossed back what little of her drink was left. Leaning forward she poured herself another, not bothering with the dish of lemon and limes among our assortment of drinks.

  “Sounds fun,” my brother muttered. I was pretty sure he hadn’t heard her.

  “Male strippers,” she amended, narrowing her eyes on him, but he never lifted his gaze from the phone.

  “Mmhmm.”

  “And I could get a lap dance … with their dicks in my face.”

  “Yeah, baby. That sounds—” His head snapped up from the phone, lightning and fire flashing deep in his eyes. “What the fuck did you just say about dicks?”

  “If you had been paying attention, you would have known what I said,” she muttered, scooting away from him, which meant I had to scoot over, too, leaving no room for Allegra whenever she returned. “Who are you texting, anyway?”

  “It’s work,” he said, quickly putting his phone in his pocket. Turning, he draped his arm along the back of the couch in the VIP area roped off from the rest of the club. No one else was with us, despite the fact that I had seen several celebrities on our way through the club earlier. “Sorry, Annie. I had to take care of something for Pop. I’m all yours now, baby.”

  She glared up at him, her nose flaring in irritation. “If I see your phone out again, I’m taking it and you won’t ever see it again. If you want me to be here with you, then be present.”

  He caught her hand and tugged her toward him, folding his arm around her as he tucked her close. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” He skimmed his lips over hers, but when he started to deepen the kiss, I cleared my throat loudly. His head snapped up, and it was like he had actually forgotten I was there for a moment. “Why are you here again?”

  I shrugged. “Hell if I know. Dante made me come.”

  “I want her here,” Anya told him. She turned in his arms so her back was cushioned against his chest and his arms were folded over her waist. She gave me a warm smile, which I knew she didn’t bestow on just anyone. “I’m glad you came, even if De Stefano had to drag your ass out of the house.”

  I glanced over at the dance floor, my eyes easily finding Dante, who had Allegra molded against him like a second skin. My cousin was staring up at him with her heart in her eyes, but so was his. Seeing how happy she was with him right then was worth coming out, even if I hadn’t felt up to it.

  “Yeah,” I murmured. “Me, too.”

  ***

  After a few hours of dancing with my brother and friends, I was in desperate need of the bathroom. Since Allegra needed to go, as well, Dante walked with us. There was a long line for the stalls, and I nearly whimpered in pain at how full my bladder was.

  I started bouncing from one foot to another. Fuck, I shouldn’t have had so many margaritas, but they had helped dull some of the crap swirling inside me, and I had even found myself laughing earlier. I hadn’t laughed in so long it was a wonder I still remembered how.

  “I can clear out the men’s room, and you can use that while I stand guard,” Dante offered.

  Allegra and I both gave him a grossed-out look. “No way. Men’s rooms are disgusting. I’m not even going to walk in there, let alone pee in one of their stalls.”

  He lifted his hands in exasperation. “All right, just remember I offered.”

  The woman in front of me turned to look at us and giggled drunkenly, pulling our attention to her. “You can go in front of me, hon, if you want.” There were only two more in front of the woman.

  I smiled thankfully at her. “That’s so nice of you. Thanks.”

  When I switched places with her, she instantly turned her eyes on Dante. Allegra shifted away from him when the woman touched her hand to his chest. With his dress shirt under his jacket only half buttoned, she could put her hand against his skin.

  He stepped back and pulled Allegra in front of him, keeping one hand on her hip and the other over her waist, locking her in place against him.

  Luckily three stalls opened right then, and I practically sprinted to the last one. I might have moaned as I was able to relieve myself, and I heard Dante chuckle, which made me grin. Once I was done, I left the small stall and went to wash my hands.

  Allegra walked by me to the stall I had just opened up for her, her eyes full of concern. “You’re looking flushed. Check your blood sugar.”

  I didn’t want to do it right there in a bathroom full of nosy eyes, but it would have been even worse if I had to do it on the couch in front of the full club. Sighing, I pulled out my meter and quickly checked my blood. Seeing the angry number that popped up, I filled a syringe with insulin and pulled up my skirt just enough so I could find a good place in my right thigh to give myself the shot since I didn’t want to pull my dress all the way up to put it in my belly.

  As I was pulling the needle free, someone bumped into me, nearly causing me to drop the syringe.

  My head snapped around when I didn’t hear an apology. “Watch it, bitch,” I called after the brunette on her way to a stall.

  As she glanced at me from over her shoulder, the first thing I noticed was that her eyes were bloodshot, her pupils dilated to the point that there was only blackness in them. She was high as a kite. Then I took in the rest of her and froze with the used syringe still in my hand as realization hit me square in the face.

  This was Klara. I was sure of it, even though I had only seen her once. There was no way I wouldn’t have recognized her again. She was so damn beautiful and that freaking rock on her hand was a dead giveaway, even if her face hadn’t been.

  Allegra came out of the stall and eased past her, pulling my attention away from Adrian’s model beautiful wife. As she stopped beside me to wash her hands, she kept her gaze on me, concern darkening her eyes.

  “Hey, are you okay? You need to go home?”

  I opened my mouth, but the only thing that came out was a pitiful, “I … I …”

  She took the used needle from my fingers and replaced the protective cap. Stuffing all my things back into my purse, she then took my hand and pulled me out of the bathroom.

  Dante had stepped back outside the bathroom and was waiting for us to come out. The moment he saw Allegra pulling me behind her, he stepped forward.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know,” she told him. “She was looking flushed, so I suggested she check her blood sugar while I was using the bathroom. When I came out, she had already given herself a shot of insulin, but she looked like she had seen a ghost.”

  Dante moved so he was standing right in front of me. He pressed his hand to my cheek, then checked my pulse. Bending his knees, he looked into my eyes, as if they could tell him what was wrong with me.

  I still couldn’t find the words, couldn’t remember how to make my voice box work so I could tell him I only wanted to go home.

  Then I felt someone purposely bump my shoulder as they walked past us and my eyes landed on Klara’s hate-filled eyes as she gave me a sneer before walking away.

  Tears filled my eyes. She had every right to hate me.

  Dante, having seen the exchange, quickly pulled my head against his chest. I wrapped my arms around him and silently let the tears fall.

  “Let’s go home,” he murmured close to my ear. “Allegra, baby, you ready?”<
br />
  Instead of making me walk through the packed crowd, he pulled me out a back exit then texted the driver to pick us up. While we waited, he called Cristiano to let him know we were leaving.

  As we rode in the back of the limo through the busy city, my tears were still falling. I was a horrible person. I had gotten mixed up with a married man.

  But the worst part was that I still loved him with every breath that I breathed.

  Chapter 21

  Victoria

  Present Day

  I blinked back the memories of the last several weeks and clenched my hands together as Adrian drove through the darkened city. It was hard to believe that it had only been a matter of weeks since all that had happened. It had felt like it had taken several lifetimes to reach this moment, and each of those lifetimes hadn’t been kind to me.

  I had missed him so damn much. Had ached for him every single night.

  I knew it was wrong to still want him, to love him as deeply as I still did but there was no turn off switch for love once it was turned on.

  The ride to his house took just as long as it would have for me to get home, only in the opposite direction. Adrian was quiet while he drove, not even turning on the radio. Therefore, the car was silent except for the rumble of the engine, and with the alcohol still working through my body, I nearly drifted off to sleep.

  As soon as he slowed and I heard a gate opening, my eyes widened. The house I had grown up in had over ten bedrooms and sat on over thirty acres of fenced in property in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the entire state. This house was just as big, if not more so. I couldn’t see much of the grounds, except for the courtyard and driveway, but what I could see was fenced and probably just as secure as my father’s house.

  As he drove through the gates and around behind the house to park in one of the eight individual bayed garage, I spotted at least six men in bulky jacketed suits that did nothing to hide the fact they were packing some serious ammo underneath.

  “How long have you had this house?” I asked after the garage door closed behind us.

  He didn’t immediately move to get out. Instead, he turned toward me, his eyes eating up the sight of me. Mine were just as glued to him.

  He was dressed in a plain, black T-shirt and a pair of jeans. The watch on his right wrist was worth almost as much as his car, but it didn’t distract from the ink on his hands. The ink that told people how much time he had done in prison.

  The letters волк on four of the fingers on his left hand meant wolf in Russian, and that was exactly what he was. A predator who had me in his hungry sights. But he should have known I was no one’s prey, least of all his.

  “I’ve had this place for about ten years,” he finally told me.

  His answer surprised me.

  “But your family doesn’t live here?” If they did, I was going to vomit. I wouldn’t be able to keep the bile down. The thought of being in the same house as his wife—his beautiful wife who had given him a son—made my stomach churn. This was the kind of house that deserved a family living inside its four walls. To fill it with love and laughter.

  His jaw tensed for a moment before he finally shook his head. “Klara and Theo have the apartment in the city. They don’t come here. Ever. I wouldn’t be against Theo eventually living here with us, but Klara will never be allowed past the gate.”

  “But she’s your … wife.” The word felt like it cut my throat on its way out, but I swallowed the slicing pain and held on to my purse a little tighter.

  “On paper.”

  His answer only confused me.

  I shifted away from him, pressing my clutch to my chest. I didn’t want to know about his marriage.

  “Are we going to sit in the car all night?”

  Adrian’s lips twitched with amusement at my snippy tone. “I’m just savoring having you here. And I accomplished it without even a drop of blood being spilled.”

  I lowered my eyes to my lap. “Anya’s a really good friend. I don’t know what I would have done the last few weeks without her.”

  “Then I’m glad you’ve had her.” He shifted then and opened the driver’s door.

  I reached for my own door, but when he shot me a stern look, I dropped my hand. In a matter of seconds, he was out of the car and around to my side, opening the door for me. When he offered me one of his inked hands, I hesitated, knowing how my body would respond to even that innocent of a touch.

  “I have all night, kotyonok.”

  Keeping my purse close, I gave him my right hand and stepped out of the car. As soon as I was out, I pulled my hand away, hating that I could still feel him like a ghost caressing my entire arm.

  If I thought he would let me get far, I was wrong. He touched the small of my back as he guided me into the house. I held myself as stiff as I could as we entered a side door through the garage that took us into the back of the house.

  A man dressed in the same bulky jacketed suit as those patrolling the grounds outside stood beside the door. He gave Adrian a curt nod before his gaze flickered to me, but there was no surprise in his gaze. They were cold, completely emotionless. Just like the men who worked for my father.

  From outside, I thought I heard the rumblings of thunder, and wished I was home so I could watch the rain and lightning. Although, my mind was full of its own storm right then.

  As we walked through the house, I fell a little in love with it. It was huge and beautiful, and if it had been my home, I knew exactly how I would want to decorate it.

  But it wasn’t my home. And Adrian wasn’t mine. Neither belonged to me, and they never would.

  That realization cut through layers of tissue and bone, straight down to my very soul, killing it a little more.

  Upstairs, he guided me into a huge master bedroom with a gigantic four poster bed. The duvet was plush and a dark masculine color that suited Adrian.

  My heels sank deeply into the carpet, and I kicked them off before I could take more than a handful of steps inside.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked, watching me from across the room where he was leaning back against the now closed door, as if he thought I might try to make a break for it if he didn’t block it.

  “No, thank you.” I placed my clutch on a vanity table that looked oddly out of place in such a masculine room, as if it had been placed there recently.

  For me? Or did it belong to Klara?

  I didn’t know if I really wanted an answer to that particular question, so I pressed my lips closed. I was exhausted and needed to check my glucose levels, but I didn’t want to do it in front of him. It made me feel vulnerable, less of a woman. My illness was something I had learned to live with, but I didn’t want him to see how much it controlled my life.

  “How about a drink?”

  “No.” I pushed my hair back from my face and forced myself to finally look up at him. “Actually, I’m tired. I would really like to just go to bed.”

  He pushed away from the door. “Of course, kotyonok.”

  As he walked toward me, I backed up. “Alone.”

  His eyes darkened, but he kept coming toward me. “No. In our home, you will sleep in our bed … with me.”

  I put my hands on my hips, glaring up at him, which was a significantly longer way up now that I was out of my heels. “This isn’t my home, Adrian. It should be where your family lives, and I’m not your family.”

  His face tightened at my words, but he still didn’t stop. Reaching me, he lifted his hands, bringing one to my hip and the other to my neck. His thumb bit firmly into my flesh, forcing me to keep my chin lifted so he could look down into my face. “You are my everything.”

  “No.” The word was almost moaned out. What he just said touched a part of my heart that wished with everything inside me that it could be true. But it wasn’t.

  “Yes,” he growled.

  He skimmed his thumb along my jaw, trying to melt my resolve, but I
couldn’t give in.

  I lifted my hands, pressing them against his hard chest, and tried to push him away. He was unmovable. Under my fingertips, though, I could feel how fast his heart was pounding.

  I lowered my lashes, trying to protect my thoughts from his watchful eyes. “I need the bathroom.” I wasn’t giving in; I just needed a moment to myself. Needed to catch my breath and gather my scattered thoughts, which I couldn’t do with him holding me so possessively like he was right then. In his arms, I felt like I belonged to him.

  He pressed his lips to the center of my forehead before he seemed to force himself to step back. “Take your time, kotyonok.”

  On shaky legs, I grabbed my purse and went into the bathroom. Once the door was safely shut behind me, I locked it then slowly slid down it until I was sitting on the cold, marble floor.

  I pulled out my phone, along with my blood glucose tester and started to test my blood even as I hit connect on Anya’s name.

  It rang half a dozen times before she finally answered.

  “Are you finally home? I was starting to worry,” she said as way of greeting.

  “Anya, I’m not home,” I whispered.

  “Why the fuck not?”

  “Adrian followed me. He stopped my cab and put me in his car. Now I’m in his house.”

  My tester beeped, and I looked down at it with a groan. Shit, I was going to have to take a shot. Perfect. Not that I wasn’t expecting it. I could tell my levels were too high.

  “Wait, you mean the apartment, right?”

  “No.” I pulled out my bottle of insulin and a new syringe. Filling it with my usual dose, I grabbed an alcohol swab then pulled up my skirt up past my waist to find a good place in my lower belly for the shot. “I mean his house.”

  “But he never goes there.” I couldn’t tell if she was talking to me or herself.

  After the dose of insulin, I leaned back and closed my eyes. “He said it was our house.” I couldn’t help the quiver in my voice. Those words had equally shattered and touched my heart, because I wished they could be true.