Becoming his Mistress: A Zanetti Famiglia Novel

by Faiman, Hayley

  He allows it, and I know that’s exactly what he does, because if he wanted to keep me there, he could. Arlo is stronger and faster than I am. He could best me in an instant.

  Stepping back from him, I bring my hand to my mouth. Chewing on the corner of my lip, wondering just what I’ve gotten myself into, wondering if there’s any way out of it at all.

  “Controlling you?” he chuckles. “No. If I wanted to do that, I would. There’d be a guard on you at all times, reporting to me your every fucking move. You wouldn’t leave this apartment without my permission. That would be controlling you, Lenora,” he says. His voice is cool and calm, collected, but I can tell his eyes are alight with fire.

  My lips tremble as I look at him. He shakes his head, standing to his feet. He crowds me in an instant and I find it hard to breathe. Not because I’m frightened of him, but because I see something inside of him that he’s never shown me before.

  He’s scared.

  “Carlo?”

  He lifts his hands, cupping my cheeks before he dips his chin and brushes his lips against mine. He inhales deeply, then lifts his face, exhaling as his eyes search my own. He doesn’t say anything right away and I find that I’m holding my own breath, waiting for him to speak.

  “I would never control you like that, Lenora. You are beautiful in your independence. I admire your business, your work ethic and just the way that you are. When I tell you that I want to help you reestablish your store, it’s not because I want to control you. It’s because I know that the reason your shop was destroyed is because of me and my situation. I want to fix it.”

  Fix.

  Fix.

  Fix.

  He can’t fix anything, not really. Everything is completely fucked up, but the way he’s looking at me, the way he is practically begging with his eyes to fix what he can, it makes me soften even more toward him.

  “The only way I’ll allow it is in the form of a loan. I’ll pay you back once insurance and income start to flow. I couldn’t just take money from you, Carlo. Just like I couldn’t from Luca. And the only reason I’m even considering this is because I know the insurance will pay out eventually, and I will actually be able to pay you back, plus I don’t want to owe Chloe.”

  “But you’ll owe me?” he asks with a twitch of his lips.

  “I don’t want to owe anyone,” I whisper. “I never have.”

  His arms reach out, his hands wrapping around my waist and he tugs me against his chest. Arlo dips his chin. “You don’t owe me for this, Lenora. I give it freely with no expectation of payment in return, of any kind.”

  “Why is this so hard?” I exhale.

  “What?”

  Inhaling through my nose, I let out my breath with a long exhale through my mouth. “Everything. You and me. This whole situation.”

  He shakes his head, “It isn’t, tesoro, not really. What it is, is a bump in this road called life. The only way the road is paved with smooth asphalt, is when you don’t take risks, don’t take chances.”

  “Are you saying it will always be this bumpy?” I chance asking.

  He smiles, it’s genuine, and it even reaches his eyes. “With me, it will always have bumps, some larger than others. But I swear, Lennie, I will always make up for those bumps with the sweet parts of life. Always.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  He shrugs a shoulder. “Because we have love, Lenora.”

  God, if his words weren’t so sweet, if he didn’t look so damn sincere, I could really dislike him. But I can’t. Because he looks just that, completely and totally sincere in every word that he’s just spoken. Closing my eyes, I decide to accept his gesture to fix my business situation.

  It doesn’t fix everything, it doesn’t change what he did, but damn, I need something in my life right now to take my mind off of everything that’s happened the past few weeks and a new store will do just that.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  ARLO

  After giving Lenora a sleep aid, I stay with her until she finally falls asleep. She’s so exhausted I don’t think that she could have ever closed her eyes on her own. Once she’s completely out, I leave her alone in the master bedroom, closing the door behind me and fishing my phone out of my pocket.

  “How is she?” Massimo asks.

  “Not your concern,” I grunt.

  There’s a moment of silence before he sighs. “If she wanted me, I’d try to get in there, but let’s be honest, Arlo. She doesn’t want me. That doesn’t mean that I don’t care about her as a friend, and nothing more.”

  “Better not be anything more,” I grind out.

  I’m sure he’s rolling his eyes at me, but I don’t give a fuck, I want to make sure he knows without a doubt that Lenora is off of the table. She always has been, always will be.

  “What do you want? Or is this call just to piss on your prize?” he asks.

  I grunt. “Yes and no,” I chuckle. “Have you found anything out about the Columbians?” I ask.

  There’s a moment of silence before he speaks. “I don’t have anything. Benicio is supposed to be gathering intel, but this is so fucking weird, Arlo.”

  “Agreed. Wynter and her father knew something they shouldn’t have, and they were both ready to talk as soon as they were taken down. I was standing right there, Massimo. They were assassinated in front of us, me and Gavino never saw a soul. Paul was in Gavino’s car, sitting in the driver’s seat and didn’t see shit either. Something just isn’t right.”

  “It must have been a hit, nothing else makes sense. But why? They knew something, we just need to follow their breadcrumbs.”

  “Wynter’s hired hand and lover is gone too. I just don’t know who to turn to for information,” I confess.

  “There is nothing on the streets about gold and the Columbians. They’re keeping this whole operation hush. I think you should contact someone in charge.”

  I hum. “Not sure Vino wants to even open dialogue with them, especially after today.”

  A few breaths of silence fill the phone, then Massimo speaks again. “Kade. Use him, use his resource. You still have him, yeah?”

  Kade is probably only still alive because he’s in one of the rooms at the casino under lock and key. Otherwise he would probably be as dead as Wynter and the senator.

  “Let me know when you hear anything.”

  “Take care of her, Arlo. She deserves better.”

  “She does,” I agree before I end the call.

  Next, I dial Gavino. “Kade is the key in all of this. He’s still locked up?” I ask.

  Gavino clears his throat. “I was just delivered his home security footage. I’m about to watch it if you want to come by,” he offers.

  I look back at the closed bedroom door. I need to be here when Lenora wakes up, but this is business and this could potentially mean life or death for us.

  “Let me get Luca and Chloe over here to stay with Lenora. I’ll be right over,” I say before I end the call.

  Luca answers on the first ring. Groggily, he agrees that he will be over as soon as possible. I feel badly for waking him, but I can’t ignore this and I need to see for myself exactly what Kade has gotten us into. Pacing, I wait for Luca and Chloe to appear.

  Making my way to the balcony, I reach into my pocket and pull a cigarette out. Holding it to my lips, I light it and inhale a deep breath before letting it out. Closing my eyes, I drop my chin and try to ease the tension in my neck as I lift my free hand and massage the back of my neck.

  I hear the sliding glass door open and I spin around to see Lenora standing in nothing but one of my button-up shirts. Her hair is tumbled around her shoulders, glinting in the sunlight. She’s stunning, but she looks so fucking exhausted.

  “I thought you were coming to bed?” she asks sweetly, lethargically, the sleep aid obviously not strong enough to keep her mind from working.

  Shaking my head, I take another drag from my cigarette. “I can’t, tesoro. There’s some busine
ss I need to handle down at the casino. I didn’t want to wake you. Luca and Chloe are on their way over to stay with you while I’m gone.”

  “But you’re not controlling me?” she asks, arching a brow.

  Shaking my head, I massage my neck a bit harder. “I’m not. What I am is protecting you. I don’t know what Wynter set into motion, and I’m not about to allow you to be an unprotected target.”

  She nods, sucking her lips in and rolling them around. “Tell me the dangers, Arlo,” she softly begs.

  Releasing my hand from my neck, I lean back against the railing and watch her. She’s standing with her shoulder against the doorjamb, her bare legs on display and looking so innocent, and naively, beautiful.

  I’m afraid that when I tell her, she’s going to lose some of that naivete. I love it, I absolutely fucking adore that about her, I don’t want her to lose an ounce of it.

  “Wynter was shot in the head in front of me. Her father, the same. She hired that man to break into your shop, but he’s dead, tesoro. So, I don’t know who she hired to torch your place.”

  She gasps, her hand flying to her mouth as her eyes widen. “Carlo,” she breathes. “What on earth.”

  “Exactly why I never wanted you to know who and what I am, Lenora.”

  “You’re not upset about Wynter?”

  I shake my head once. “I’m not. She was inches away from me, I watched the life leave her body, and I felt absolutely nothing when it did, except for two things.”

  “What’s that?” she asks.

  “Fear for your safety and relief.”

  My cards, they’re on the table, have been since I confessed my love to her. But now she knows the truth. She knows that I don’t have much regard for human life, at least not my own wife’s. Hesitantly, she takes a step toward me, then another.

  Throwing my smoke to the ground, I grind my heel into the embers as she continues to close the distance between us. She tilts her head back when her body is so close to mine that it’s almost touching. Wordlessly, she lifts her arms and wraps her hands around the sides of my neck.

  “Thank you for worrying about me, for protecting me. I didn’t know,” she murmurs.

  “That was the point. I didn’t want you to know.”

  “That’s why you sent Massimo. Even when I refused to talk to you, even when I wanted nothing to do with you, you sent him to watch me.”

  “To protect you.”

  Her body shifts, she rises to her toes and her lips touch mine. “I should not love you as much as I do, Carlo,” she whispers.

  “No, you shouldn’t.”

  “But I do,” she breathes. “You should terrify me.”

  “I should.”

  “But you don’t.”

  My hands grab ahold of the shirt at her waist and I tug her closer to me, needing to feel her soft curves against my body. “When it’s over, this bump, I’ll make it up to you—for hours, for days, for years,” I swear.

  She smiles against my mouth, it’s the most wonderful sensation that I’ve felt in days. “I’ll hold you to that.”

  “Please fucking do,” I growl as my lips slam against her own.

  ELENORA

  Carlo’s lips are against mine, his tongue fills my mouth and I can taste the smoke, which should be gross, but it’s not. I don’t know if it’s because it’s mixed with his natural taste or not, but it all just makes me want to straddle him and beg him to fuck me.

  I don’t like myself, my needy body, right now. I’m fighting with my head about being with him, fighting against my body, but my body is winning. I have a feeling that this staying away from him, it won’t last long. Not with the way that I feel right now.

  We both freeze when we hear a loud knock on the door. Arlo growls, then releases me, stepping to the side. I watch his ass for a moment in his tailored trousers as he walks toward the door to the apartment. Slowly, I make my way back inside, closing and locking the balcony door behind me.

  I hear men’s voices as I approach Arlo’s back. Lifting my hand, I place it on Arlo’s shoulder as he blocks the doorway.

  “Arlo, let them in,” I say with a frown.

  He looks back at me from over his shoulder, a funny expression on his face. He steps to the side, but it isn’t Luca who passes through the opened door. Instead, it’s a man who rivals, Arlo in looks. Except his eyes are brown. But everything else about him looks exactly like Arlo, twenty years in the future.

  I blink, then I gasp as I take a step back. I’m almost completely naked, or at least I feel as though I am. I’m not wearing a bra or panties, and I’m covered in only one of Arlo’s shirts.

  “I’ll just, I’ll just go change,” I mutter as I turn around and practically sprint to the bedroom.

  I hear Arlo hiss out a curse behind me, but I can’t stop, I can’t let his dad see me like this. I’m pulling on a pair of pants when the door flies open and Carlo is standing there.

  My eyes widen, but he doesn’t say anything before he takes another step inside then closes the door behind. Locking it, he turns to me, something unreadable crossing his features.

  “I’m sorry. He just showed up,” he explains.

  “Your father?” I ask as I button my jeans.

  Arlo nods, his feet carrying him even closer to me. He lifts his hand and wraps his fingers around the back of my head, his eyes focused nowhere but my own.

  God, he’s beautiful.

  I lick my lips which causes his own to turn up into a grin.

  “My father is here. He’s going to stay with you until Luca and Chloe arrive, then he’s going to stay the rest of the day. I trust him more than I trust anybody else in the famiglia. He will protect you with his life,” he explains.

  I nod, as his mouth touches my own before he straightens his back. “Now, does that kiss earlier mean you’ll be letting me in tonight?” he asks with a wink.

  “Arlo,” I warn.

  He shakes his head with a chuckle. “You can’t blame a man for trying, tesoro. I’ve missed you.”

  I blink, trying to keep the tears at bay from his words. I want him too, so bad. Taking a step toward him, I reach out and touch the top button of his shirt as I tip my head back.

  “Is there a rule where we can’t be together and still work on everything?” I ask.

  He smiles, but it looks sad. It doesn’t reach his eyes. “There is. But for me, I need you to forgive me before I allow our relationship to continue that way. I need to prove to you that this is real. I need you to believe that.”

  Without another word, he dips his chin, brushing his lips across my own before he releases me and takes a step back. “Call me if you need me. My father will be here as will Luca and Chloe. Also, if you feel like it, my father knows who I used as a real estate agent, why don’t you see what you can find for the store. Maybe, Brooklyn?”

  Without realizing it, I scrunch my nose at the idea of my high-end lingerie store in Brooklyn. Then I shake the look off my face when I realize I’m being a stuck-up bitch. Arlo smiles at me, this time it reaches is eyes and he shakes his head as if he thinks I’m cute.

  “How about Lower Manhattan, the East Village?”

  “Are you trying to keep me close to Brooklyn for a reason?” I ask.

  He smirks, biting his bottom lip before he speaks. “This is forever for me, tesoro. The casino and my office are in Brooklyn, which means I have to be there every day. I’d like to live fairly close.”

  “But not here?” I ask.

  “Here is good, I just figured you wouldn’t want the bad memories. I was going to put both places on the market. Let you shop for a new house to call ours. Think about it. No budget for the shop, pick what you want. I need to get going.”

  Arlo bends down slightly, his lips touch mine then he stands, turns around and he’s gone before his words have fully registered with me.

  No budget.

  A new place to call our own.

  This. Is. Forever.

  Holy shit.


  Chapter Thirty-Two

  ELENORA

  Once Arlo leaves, I hurry and put on a bra and a t-shirt. Throwing my hair into a ponytail, I make my way back into the living room. I’m nervous. I’ve never met Arlo’s father before and he’s here. Not only is he here, but he saw me in nothing but Arlo’s shirt and Arlo has just left.

  “Come, mimma,” he calls out.

  I don’t know how he knew that I even walked into the room. He’s standing at one of the large windows looking out at the water ahead of him.

  Shakily, I take another step toward him, my entire body, a ball of nerves. He chuckles, sounding so much like Arlo, it’s not even funny.

  Turning around, my breath is taken away, again at the sight of him. He smiles, his face having a few more lines than Arlo, showing that he’s lived a lifetime longer than him.

  “You’re what’s got my Carlo so tied up in knots, yeah?”

  I feel my face go warm at his question. His smile only deepens, as do his wrinkles. “You’re exactly what I pictured for my son.”

  “Pardon?”

  He grins, giving me a wink as he walks over to a chair and slowly sinks down. I make my way to the sofa and do the same. It should feel weird to be sitting across from this man, this complete stranger, but it doesn’t. In fact, just seeing his kind eyes, and his easy smile, I feel safe.

  “My Carlo, he’s always had a thing for blondes. You fit him, mimma.”

  “He has?” I ask with a frown.

  He chuckles. “Since he was a boy. He would always gravitate toward pretty blondes. Figured he was in for deep trouble, since most of the marriage matches for him weren’t blonde. But here he is,” he says, waving his hand.

  “His wife isn’t blonde,” I whisper.

  “Not his wife anymore, God rest her soul,” he mutters, making the sign of the cross.

  I chew on my bottom lip nervously, sure that I said something completely wrong. He reaches forward and wraps his fingers around my wrist. Lifting my gaze to his, my breath hitches at the emotion that fills his features.