She lifted a brow. “What are you talking about?”
He grinned. “You passed out from the pain. I figured you would endure it. Honestly, I expected you to not utter even a peep.” Aldo looked crestfallen. “You were weak.”
She had definitely overdone the acting. Struggling to appear nonchalant, she lifted a shoulder. “We all have our frail moments. Let’s see you go through something like that without anesthetic and find out how long you last.” Raking him with a dismissive glance, she waved a hand. “There’s no point though. We both already know you’re feeble, Aldo. That’s why you like to molest young girls and impose your will on those who are weaker.”
His mouth tightened. “Same old bitchy Mia. I’d hoped O’Mara might have tamed that tongue a bit.”
It was insanity, but she couldn’t resist the impulse to reply. “He put my tongue to all kinds of uses, but never tamed it. And he’s nowhere near as weak as you.”
Aldo punched her in the chest. Mia bent forward as she gasped for air, trying to shove him off her when he loomed over her. His fists rained down on her back until she stumbled, falling to the mattress. As he continued beating her, she managed a tiny smile of satisfaction. He was so enraged that he hadn’t bothered to use any of his torture toys on her. While he might kill her with his fists, it didn’t sound as bad as letting him cut her, beat her with paddles, rods, and whips, or pierce her with needles.
He shoved her face into the mattress, and she couldn’t breathe. Fear filled her for a moment, but she almost welcomed death. It would be preferable to die this way than to suffer for months or years at his hands.
She stilled when he shoved the nightgown over her hips. Due to her position on her knees underneath him, the satin slithered down to her breasts, leaving her exposed below the waist. Mia struggled to turn her head enough to take in a deep breath, and he loosened his hold slightly. He must be regaining control, but she didn’t think that necessarily boded well for her.
“Do you remember the first time I fucked you in the ass?” To emphasize his question, he slid the head of his cock between her cheeks. “You were about fifteen, I think. Sweet little thing.”
“I was almost fourteen, and I remember every horrible moment.” She blinked back tears as memories of the assault threatened to overwhelm her. Almost worse was recalling the confrontation with her father the following morning, when he’d made it clear Aldo was more important than her.
“Do you remember how I teased your little cunt first?” He arched his hips to push his cockhead against her sore opening. “I dipped in just a bit. Do you remember?”
As he repeated his past motions, she gritted her teeth and vowed not to give him the satisfaction of a response.
“I tested your sweet little passage.” He surged in a bit deeper and groaned. “Fuck me, but I think you’re tighter now than you were then.”
“Postsurgical swelling, you asshole.” Yeah, she’d have to work on keeping thoughts to herself.
He ignored that as he thrust shallowly in and out of her. “I wanted you so much that night, bitch. I’d been wanting you for months, ever since I saw you in that sweet little pink dress at the wedding. I wanted to bend you over the nearest pew and fuck you until your virginal blood stained the pretty pink ruffles.”
She shuddered. “You’re sick, Aldo.”
“I’ve always had a thing for virgins.” He withdrew from her opening to slide his cock back to her rear passage. “They’re so tight and hot. Nothing makes me hotter than the sight of blood on my dick after popping a cherry.” With a sudden lunge, he surged inside her ass, forcing his way in as her body clenched and tried to resist him. “I’ll just have to pretend this blood is from your virgin pussy, huh, sweet sister?”
She screamed despite her resolve not to show a response as he brutalized her tender passage without lubrication. “You sick bastard. I’m not your sister.”
“Let me tell you a secret, Mia.” He increased his thrusts as he fisted her hair and dragged her head back so her ear was near his mouth. “I wouldn’t care if you were my biological sister. It would make it that much hotter, and I would have done this years ago. I wouldn’t have been able to stand not marking my property if you had the same last name as me.”
Hot tears blurred her vision as he pulled her hair harder, forcing her back to bow to change the angle of her buttocks for his increasingly painful thrusts. “You’re even worse than I thought you were. I’m going to kill you, Aldo.”
He laughed as his dick twitched inside her. “Only one of us will survive this relationship, I’m sure, Mia, but it won’t be you. I’m going to fuck you until you’re broken, and when I’m tired of you, I’ll get rid of you.” His cum filled her back channel as he found release.
She trembled as he withdrew, not looking at him. He leaned over her, at first appearing to want to kiss her. She turned her face away, but his lips rested near her ear, intent on imparting another secret.
“You could have been my wife and stood at my side when I deposed that doddering old fool Sal. It won’t be long now before Gio does his part with the cartel, and my plans come to fruition. He’ll soon be dead, and I’ll be the don. You would have commanded respect as my wife. My queen, if you will.”
If she’d been able to speak, she would have openly mocked him. Pain made it impossible to gather her thoughts or conquer the ability to verbalize at the moment.
“I would have honored you as the mother of my children and shown you due reverence. Instead, you ran away from that gift, and then you spoiled yourself with that Irish filth. You were once worthy to be at my side, but now you’ll find your proper place under my foot, and then in the ground.”
Pain still shot through her tender areas, but she managed a deep breath and a shaky reply. “In that case, I’m glad to have spoiled myself in your eyes.” The thought of being forced to be his wife was as repugnant as it had ever been. Maybe even more so in light of his incestuous confessions. If she had been forced to give him daughters… Mia shuddered at the thought.
“You have a lot to make up for, Mia. You owe me, and I’m going to collect the debt with interest.”
His words eerily mirrored what Shane had said to her that first night he’d kidnapped her, but the terror Aldo’s words inspired was so much worse than she’d felt with him. Even at his worst, she had never felt as fearful of Shane as she did Aldo. Knowing how sweet Shane could be to temper his dark side made her ache with longing for him.
She clung to the mental image of his face, speaking his name into the mattress without sound as Aldo walked away from her. Mia didn’t have the energy or inclination to track his progress across the small room, but her bowels quivered with dread when she heard the soft rustle of leather against wood.
Nerves stretched taut as a bow, she might have thought she couldn’t startle, but she was wrong. The first painful lick of the leather whip against her back made her jump. By the third, she was screaming and didn’t give a fuck about remaining quiet or hiding her response. She couldn’t conceal or hold back in the face of such overwhelming pain, and she called out for Shane.
“Even now, knowing he was the cause of your defilement and suffering, you want him instead of me?” Another forceful lash across her back accompanied the angry words before he stopped.
Mia hoped for a brief moment that he would leave her alone for a time to regain his control. She knew he didn’t want his toy broken too quickly. Apparently, his rage was greater than his desire to prolong her suffering, because he soon returned. The first thud of the cane against her lower back induced another round of screaming. After that, she lost track as a haze of agony consumed her.
She must have started hallucinating, because she swore she saw a small cadre of dark-suited men burst into the room as Aldo brought the cane forcefully against the back of her skull. Stars exploded behind her eyes, and she slipped into darkness gratefully, hoping she would never wake up if this was her fate.
Chapter Twenty-One
; Sofia was a tiny little woman with a head full of white hair and dark eyes that appeared to catch everything. “More tea, Mr. O’Mara?”
He shook his head as he handed back his bone china cup to the woman. She must have been in her early fifties, but there was an air of fragility about her that made her seem older. Instinctively, he had treated her gently and with full respect, somehow biting back his impatience at her insistence on social niceties as he pried delicately to determine if she knew her nephew’s whereabouts. “No, thank you. As I mentioned when you first agreed to see me, I need to find Aldo. It’s urgent.”
“Yes, you said.” She folded her hands together on her lap and examined him. “What is your business with my dear nephew?”
He cleared his throat, trying to find an honest answer that wasn’t too honest. “I need his help to find my girlfriend.”
“Have you misplaced her, dear?” she asked with a twinkle of her dark eyes.
He bit back a sigh. “No, she was kidnapped. I think Aldo might have the contacts to help me find her.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “How distressing. I lost a lover once. Papa didn’t approve of him, so…” With a slicing motion that was incongruous with her elderly lady appearance, she took her finger across her throat. “I was upset then, but I understand now it was the right choice.” She sipped her tea. “He was never meant to be mine, you see.”
“Ah, that must have been difficult.” Shane strove for patience. “Do you have any idea where Aldo might be?”
“Who is your girlfriend, dear?”
He hesitated, but remembering how fond Mia had been of Stefania and probably was of Sofia, he said, “Mia Kasilli, Aldo’s stepsister.” It left a foul taste in his mouth to utter the word, but he struggled to hide his disgust. Surely, the older woman would be more eager to help now.
She dropped her teacup onto the saucer with a clatter. “Little Mia?” Sofia scowled. “I had no idea she had disappeared. No one tells me anything.”
“It just happened, so perhaps Vadim and Aldo haven’t heard yet.”
“Please don’t mention that foul man’s name in my home, Mr. O’Mara.” Sofia grimaced. “Kasilli is a monster. He murdered his first wife, and he accelerated my sister’s decline with his brutish temper and many abuses.”
“Yes, he’s a terrible person, but he isn’t why I’m here.”
“Of course.” She stood up. “No, dear, sit there. I’m going to fetch something. I think it will help the situation.”
Shane tried not to fidget as the old dear shuffled around his chair and toward the desk behind him. What could she possibly be searching for as she rustled papers? His heart accelerated at the thought of her giving him an address for some kind of retreat. He already knew Aldo wasn’t at his large estate, because Shane had burned it to the ground earlier in the evening after ascertaining no one was inside—especially not Mia or the worthless, sadistic bastard he hunted.
“Here we are. This should be of assistance.”
Shane started to turn, and his body went rigid at the white-hot pain exploding in his shoulder. At first, he couldn’t understand what had happened and assumed the gunshot wound in his chest had caused the pain. Only when he looked down to see the tip of a blade protruding from his flesh did he realize the sweet old lady had stabbed him.
“What the fuck?” Shane staggered upright as she pulled out the knife with more strength than she should possess. He evaded her when she waved it at him, but his balance was off, and he sprawled on the floor. “Are you crazy?”
“I’m helping my nephew.” Her dark eyes were beady like a vulture’s now, and just as cold as an avian’s. “Mia belongs to him. He’s loved her for years.”
“She’s in danger from him.”
“Because she’s a whore.” She glared at him, thrusting the knife toward him as he started to get to his feet. “She squandered his love and left him. Many times he cried in my arms as I comforted him, shedding tears for the girl who had left him. I tried to be Mia for him, but a young man wants a young woman, and I could only do so much.”
Nausea hit him as the implication behind her words penetrated his brain. “You’re as sick as he is.”
“The gall of you, coming here to my home and demanding I help you find my nephew so you can steal Mia from him again?” She wagged the knife again. “If I had been faster, you would be dead now, you filthy Mick.”
Shane scooted backward until there were several feet between them. Finally, he lurched to his feet, his hand curving around his gun in a familiar, comforting way. “I don’t want to have to kill an old lady, so get the fuck out of my way. Make a move toward me, and I’ll shoot you. I should anyway.”
She stood near him, hand trembling as she held the knife, but Sofia didn’t try to lunge for him. Once again, she was the frail old lady she had been at the start, but he wasn’t fooled this time. He kept her in his sights as he went to the closed door of the parlor to call in Bruno.
The big man stared at his bleeding shoulder for a moment, clearly shocked. “What happened, boss?”
“Her resemblance to Stefania must have been greatly exaggerated. Tie up the old bag, and let’s get out of here.”
Bruno took the knife, and she let it go meekly. Sofia shuffled back to her seat and didn’t protest when the large man used the curtain ties to restrain her. She appeared to be deep in thought—or asleep—as they started to leave.
“He’ll have taken what’s his by now, Mick. And he’s very good at taking.” She purred the words with a disturbing sexual undertone. “Your little Mia will be split in half and bleeding to death from her cunt by now. You’ll probably never find her, but if you do, it will be nothing more than a body with a gaping hole between the legs.”
Bruno slammed the door behind them to muffle her mad cackling. “She’s nuts, boss.”
“Yeah, no kidding. Psycho runs in this family, Bruno.” Shane jerked a doily off a nearby table and stuffed it into the knife wound. Breath hissed between his teeth as fire flared in the wound at the intrusion.
Bruno looked pale. “You probably need to see a doc, boss. I know you want to find Mia, but you gotta get some stitches before you bleed out.”
He arched a brow. “I don’t think it’s that bad.” As he took a step forward, his head spun, and he had to pause. “Well, maybe a few stitches. We’ll get the limo and go for the doc. He can stitch me up in the back while you drive.”
They stepped out of Sofia’s modest little home on a quiet residential street. He shook his head, amazed that she was so good at covering her true nature. She’d taken him in, and he felt like a gigantic ass—with a throbbing stab wound.
As they headed toward his sports car, his phone rang. Shane took it from his pocket with his good arm, recognizing Patrick Murphy’s number as he accepted the call. “Hello.”
“I’m at the Kasilli warehouse. You know the one?”
Shane scrunched his brow, thinking. “Where they store the human cargo from Russia before resell?”
“Yeah, usually, but they’re between shipments. I need you here at the meeting.”
“Why?” Shane braced himself to go rogue if Patrick rescinded his tacit permission to find Mia however was necessary.
“Mia’s on her way here, and things will be decided. Get here as soon as you can.”
Shane stared at phone for a long second after Murphy hung up.
“Boss?” Bruno nudged his arm. “You gonna call the doc?”
“No, there’s no time for that now.” Shane stuffed the phone back in his pocket. “Send Cormac a text telling him to meet us at the Kasilli warehouse, and get me there as fast as you can.” It sounded like everything depended upon what went down at the warehouse.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Mia’s vision was blurry, and her body ached from head to toe. Snippets of memories returned in brief flashes that made her head spin harder when she tried to concentrate on them. After several minutes of drifting in and out of consciousness, she had pieced tog
ether enough to remember she was Aldo’s captive, and he had beaten her after anally raping her.
She blinked her eyes several times, struggling to focus as she evaluated her position. She seemed to be tied to a chair, her arms confined behind her back painfully with thin plastic straps. Zip ties? She knew they were a favorite method of confining people from seeing her father’s goons stuff them in pockets by the handful over the years.
As though thinking about him had summoned him, his face filled her vision when she finally managed the simultaneously difficult task of opening her eyes, keeping her lids up, and focusing on an object for more than a second. Mia blinked and lost focus again for several seconds. When her vision sharpened, and Vadim was still there, she scowled. “The fuck you here?”
His expression showed confusion for a second, but nothing else. Was she that incoherent?
Cautiously, Mia turned her head slightly, gasping when pain flared, and her tentative vision faded again for several seconds. Finally, a new face came into focus, and she didn’t recognize him. He was somewhere between thirty-five and forty-five, with russet hair, a thin beard along his jawline, and hazel eyes that looked kinder than any she had seen for the past…how many ever hours or days it had been since Selena took her. “Who? Why…”
The man gave her a small smile. “You’re okay for now.”
That wasn’t terribly reassuring, but at least he wasn’t actively trying to hurt her. “Where’s Aldo?” Mia couldn’t hide her fear.
“My grandson is regaining control of his temper, Mia.”
The voice was vaguely familiar, and she already knew it was Sal by the time she managed to look in his direction and focus her hazy vision. He’d been an infrequent visitor to the Kasilli estate when Stefania was alive, and she had never developed any warm feelings for him. She certainly didn’t consider him her grandfather in any sense.
The memory of several men in dark suits storming the room suddenly came back to her. “How did I get here?”
MAFIA: Dark Romance Collection Page 19