Clearing my throat, I look at the men again. I don’t say anything right away, instead I watch them. A few are looking around in confusion, some are just looking straight forward in anticipation of what’s to come, and then there are the ones who have their arms crossed over their chests waiting for a fucking challenge.
Smirking, I lick my dry lips before I begin my speech. “The boss that you once knew is gone. His son, gone as well. This famiglia has been taken over by the Zanetti famiglia. I am part of them, I am loyal to Gavino Santoro and his entire famiglia. I am also loyal to the Ricci famiglia. We are now under the Zanetti umbrella. You may not like that, you may hate it, but that’s the way that it is.”
One man jerks his chin, and I wait for a moment, allowing him to speak. He’s in the will follow me group, so I’m curious to see how well Costa knows these men.
“What does this mean for us? We’re loyal to the famiglia, no matter the umbrella. But how does this affect our families, our money, our stability?” he asks.
Dipping my chin, I nod once. “This doesn’t affect you much. Things will stay relatively the same. I’m working closely with who is left of the Ricci famiglia to ensure a smooth transition. Santoro doesn’t want much to change. He still has his business holdings and I’ll be running the ones here. Basically, if it ain’t broke, we ain’t fixin’ it.”
There are some low murmurings, but nothing extreme. I can’t tell if the men are in shock, or they expected their boss to be taken out. I wait for a moment, observing the room.
“What’s Nicola doin’ here?” a guy asks.
He’s younger, around her own age of twenty if I had to guess. He’s watching her, his eyes focused on her tits as he waits for me to answer.
“Miss Ricci,” I say, making it clear that she will be addressed as such with a long pause. “Will be helping me with some of the traditions and procedures of the Ricci famiglia to aide in ensuring that the transition goes as smoothly as possible.”
It’s not the man who asked the question, but someone in the crowd shouts under a cough. “I just bet she will.”
Inside, anger fills me at the blatant disrespect. I don’t show it though, I swallow it down. Instead, I arch a brow and smirk. “Miss Ricci and her personal life are not your concern. Right now, everyone needs to be concerned with making it out of this shed alive,” I inform.
The room goes deathly quiet. I don’t act as though I notice the shift in the mood. Instead, I continue on with my speech.
“If you cannot vow your loyalty to me, to this famiglia and to the Zanetti famiglia, then you know what that means. I don’t think that I need to explain that to you.”
“How do you want this, in blood?” a man on the never-gonna-happen, side asks.
I snort. “I think I’ve been part of this life long enough to know who is truly going to accept me as their boss and who won’t.”
Turning my back to them, I catch Nicola’s eyes with my own. She stands up a little straighter and takes a step toward me.
“How many of these men do you know?” I ask.
She tilts her head to the side, her eyes flicking from me to the crowd, then back to me. “How many do I know, or how many have I fucked?” she asks.
I hate the question. Fucking hate it. Pressing my lips together, I refuse to actually ask. To say the fucking words aloud.
“None. These men are soldiers, Benicio. My father only did that with men that could give him something, men who had impressed him and were made Capos and men that he needed on his side. Never with men he thought were beneath me.”
“Me?” I ask, curious as fuck.
She smirks and shakes her head once, slowly. “He liked you, Benicio. He also thought that you had potential. He wanted to poach you from the Zanettis, after you gave all your secrets away about them. You had a purpose.”
I’m not surprised at her words, then again, I kind of am. I didn’t anticipate her saying that Mauro wanted to poach me. I figured he wanted me indebted to him for some reason or another, but never for that purpose.
When I walked away from Mauro Ricci, away from Nicola, I never once gave him an opportunity to try and take me for himself.
I told him that if he even attempted to contact me again, I would slit his throat only after I told my boss what he’d done so that he could deal with his pieces of shit son and daughter.
The old man was a fucking pussy, he never once tried to explain shit. He just nodded and let me go. Not that it would have mattered, except maybe if he’d opened his mouth, I would have been the one to kill him then, instead of him dying eighteen months later.
“Let’s get to work,” I grunt, jerking my head toward Ermanno and then Costa.
That’s exactly what we do too. We get to work weeding out the men who will never pledge their loyalty from those who will.
I don’t ask why they’re willing to be loyal to me, I don’t really fucking care. All I want to know is that I can trust them to do their fucking jobs.
Chapter Eight
NICOLA
After a night of blood and guts, I don’t sleep. I don’t know if a person can sleep after they’ve seen that amount of carnage. I certainly didn’t. Instead, I paced.
Every single minute that ticks by, I feel my muscles growing tighter. Every single memory that pops into my head, my stomach clenches and my head aches.
I need to find my release, a way to get all of this tension and pain out of my body. That can only happen through one man… Q. I don’t want to be dependent on him for anything.
He kind of frightens me. I don’t know anything about him, not even what he looks like beneath his mask. But he’s been a godsend, he’s saved me and I’ll forever be indebted to him for that.
Glancing at the clock, I let out a breath. It’s noon. Only twelve more hours until I’ll be able to find my sweet relief. Twelve hours that I know will feel like watching molasses drip on a cold day if I don’t get out of this room and do something.
A knock on the door causes me to jump. Glancing down at my clothes, I frown. I’m not prepared for a guest, for company. I’m wearing a pair of satin pajama pants, slippers, and a long sleeve cotton shirt, sans bra.
“It’s me, Nicola,” a familiar voice calls out.
A too familiar voice.
Inhaling a shaky breath, I make my way toward the door and gently tug it open. I try not to allow him entrance, but he doesn’t accept that.
He pushes the door open, forcing me to take a couple steps backward and allow him his forced access into my space. I hate it, I want to tell him to leave, but I can’t.
This is his home. The famiglia owns it. Therefore, he owns it.
“May I help you?” I ask, arching a brow as I cross my arms over my chest to hide the fact that I’m braless.
I watch as his lips twitch into a smirk, his eyes focused on my breasts. Obviously, he’s figured out that I’m not wearing a bra and he has no intention of being a gentleman and ignoring that fact or avoiding my nipples with his gaze.
No, Benicio Martinelli just brazenly stares at my nipples. And my stupid body, my whore nipples, they harden at that fact, which only makes his smile widen.
Cocky bastard.
“Oh, I have a million things that you could help me with,” he says as he reaches down and crudely adjusts his dick.
Unfortunately, the sight causes me to think about that dick and how it was the last one that I had inside of me. I think about how he felt when he was buried deep, when his eyes would focus on mine, when he would look at me like I was the only woman on the planet.
Forcing the sweet thoughts out of my mind, I shake my head with a smirk. “I’m sure,” I drawl. “But why are you in my room at this very moment?” I ask.
His smile doesn’t die, in fact, it stays intact as he lifts his eyes to mine and watches me for a moment. “I’m here because I wanted to make sure that you’re okay after everything earlier this morning.”
“You mean after you killed dozens of men?”
He takes a step toward me, then another, closing the distance between us. Lifting his hand, he cups my cheek and I watch as he softens right before my eyes. His gaze travels with his thumb as he slides it across my bottom lip.
If I were a different woman, and he were a different man, then I would taste that thumb with my tongue. That’s not the case though, and I am not a different woman. He certainly is not a different man, either.
“Yeah, Nicci, after I’ve killed dozens of men in front of you. Are you okay?”
His voice is soft, his eyes the same and I want to lean into him, to fall into him. I inhale through my nose, wondering what is going to happen in this moment between us.
I know what I want. It’s been eighteen months since I’ve had a man and this is the one that I’ve been pining over for that long.
But he’s not the same man that he was when I loved him and I am certainly not the same woman, either. We’re changed and maybe that means that there will never be any hope for us. Maybe that means that we’re just lost souls traveling this earth and we’ll never be at peace, never be truly happy.
“It’s not the first time I’ve seen men die,” I inform him.
He shakes his head once, his eyes never leaving mine. “I think that it’s the first time you’ve witnessed it the way that you did just twelve hours ago. The way that you did the day before that in my office.”
Clearing my throat, I debate taking a step back from him, but I don’t. Maybe it’s because I like the way he’s touching me. Maybe it’s because I want more of him, more of this version of him, this gentle man that I remember from the past.
My Benny.
I shrug a shoulder. “Yeah, it was intense,” I agree.
His eyes continue to search mine. I don’t know what he’s looking for, but the way he’s taking me in, I know that it’s something.
I don’t know that he’ll find it, but I can’t deny that I kind of hope he looks for a while. Just having his eyes on me this way, holding me this way, it feels better than I ever remembered.
Slowly, his hand moves down to wrap around the side of my throat. His fingers track the movement and I watch as he licks his lips. His thumb slides up and down the column of my throat, the same thumb that gently traced my bottom lip.
“Why do I want you so fucking bad, Nicola? Why do I want to be inside of you the way that I do? Why can’t I just hate you and sell you off?”
I don’t hide the shiver that races up my spine from his questions. The way he says sell me off, it sends a sense of dread immediately throughout my entire body. He could do that, he told me that I would have my freedom, but this one sentence tells me the truth.
He’s going to use me and sell me, turn me into a whore no matter what. He’s exactly like my father.
I fucking hate him.
But I’m not about to lie back and take it.
I refuse to accept it. I’ll figure a way out of this house, out of his grasp, away from him—away from the famiglia altogether.
BENICIO
Lowering my head, I do the one thing that I said I wouldn’t anymore. I told myself, promised myself that I wouldn’t kiss her anymore. She doesn’t deserve it. She doesn’t deserve a fucking thing. Christ, do I want to give it all to her though.
Touching my mouth to hers, I’m unable to hold back the moan at her taste. She’s always been the sweetest sin that I’ve ever tasted. My tongue fills her, swirling around to consume her. Own her. Claim her.
“Benny,” she breathes when I rip my mouth from hers.
I grunt, my fingers wrapping around her ass, tugging her hips closer to mine. Grinding my cock against her belly, I let out a groan. “Need to be inside of you, Nicci. All that blood, all that killing, fuck.”
I watch her lips part, her lids lower, looking sexy as fucking shit. Tugging her pajama pants down, I slip my hands beneath her panties and growl as I grab ahold of her bare ass and pick her up.
“Benny,” she squeals as I walk her backward to the bed.
I think about sinking down to my knees and tasting her, making her come on my tongue, but I don’t, I don’t want to reward her. Fuck, this whole thing is so fucked up. I expect her to try and push me away when we reach the side of her bed.
She doesn’t.
She reaches between us, wrapping her fingers around the hem of her shirt and quickly pulls it off, tossing it somewhere in the room.
Tugging my shirt out of my pants, I quickly unbutton it. Nicola glides her hands up my chest to my shoulders then pulls my shirt down my arms, her eyes never leaving mine.
Lifting my hand, I touch her nipple, circling it with my fingertip. Lowering my head, I rest my forehead against hers.
“I need you, Nicci, and I don’t want to need you,” I admit.
She waits a breath. I don’t expect her to speak, but when she does, I swear to fuck it hurts my goddamn heart.
“I’ve always needed you, Benny. I’ve missed you so much.”
Reaching for her panties, I grab ahold of the sides at her hips and pull them hard, ripping the lace. Releasing her scraps of fabric, I reach for my pants and quickly shed them, along with my underwear.
Dipping my chin, I touch my mouth to hers, my fingers circle her nipple and I pinch it before tugging on the hardened bud. She whimpers, arching her back toward me. She lifts her hand, wrapping her fingers around my bicep and holds on, digging her nails into my skin.
It feels good, feels fucking amazing and my cock bobs, begging to be buried inside of its home. I curse myself for thinking that, for thinking of her body as my home, but fuck me, it is just that.
“Please, Benny. I need more,” she begs.
I should deny her. I should leave her wanting more, craving it. But I don’t. I couldn’t do that to her, shouldn’t. As much as she pisses me off, I can’t deny her that.
“Did you like seeing me in control tonight, in charge?” I ask as I slip my fingers from her tit, sliding them down until they’re between her legs.
I groan when I feel how wet she is, how wet I make her. Her legs widen slightly as I slip two fingers inside of her wet center. My lips travel to her jaw, and slowly I move them up to just behind her ear as I begin to pump my fingers in and out of her warm center.
“So many people died,” she whispers. “So many assholes,” she growls. Lifting my head, I blink as I look at her. “Don’t stop,” she begs.
My fingers continue working in and out of her, curling inside of her each time I bury them deep. Her hips shift, moving to the rhythm of my fingers. Her nails grip my biceps harder, no doubt leaving crescent-shaped divots in my skin.
“Tell me you liked seeing me in control, Nicci. Tell me you liked that their lives were at my fingertips.”
She doesn’t say anything right away, she only moves, searching for her climax. I can feel that she’s close, her pussy flutters around my fingers, but I don’t give her what she needs. Instead, I stop completely and wait for her to answer me, my silent demand for an answer.
“You looked like my father up there,” she snaps.
I smirk. “I’m nothing like Mauro Ricci, Nicola, and you know it,” I growl.
She shakes her head, her eyes wide and wild. “You’re exactly like him, and you know it. You enjoyed having those men’s lives in your grasp, their future at your fingertips. You enjoy holding things over their heads. Enjoy the power and control. You’re hungry the same way that he was and you’ll never be satisfied. I hated him and I never thought that it might be possible, but I could see myself hating you too,” she yells.
My entire body jerks. “You think that I’m like him?” I ask. She doesn’t speak right away. “You think that I’m like him?” I roar, removing my fingers from between her legs.
I watch as her body trembles. “When are you selling me? The woman that you promised to free once you got all of the information and pussy you wanted from her, when are you selling me, Benicio?” she demands.
I press my lips together, hating that I
said those words. I did say them though and they aren’t a lie. I will sell her, in one way or another. That’s just the way of this world, of our world and she knows it.
“I’m tired of being a whore,” she whispers. Her voice is so small that I almost don’t hear her words.
“You haven’t been one for almost two years, at least that’s what you told me.”
She shakes her head. “I’ve always been a whore, my partners just changed. Instead of spreading my legs, I signed my name allowing my father to use me just the same, whoring myself for him.”
“Nicci, don’t,” I snap.
Her head jerks and her eyes lift to meet mine.
“Stop with the fucking pity party. Nobody has had an easy life, a perfect life. You’ve had some fucked up things happen to you, but you’re an adult now.”
She doesn’t speak right away. Instead, she takes a step backward and climbs onto the bed. I watch, wondering what she’s going to do, or say, next. She lays down on the bed, spreading her thighs wide before she turns her head to face me.
“What are you waiting for, Benicio?” she asks.
My cock had gone soft, but the look in her eyes, the way her pussy glistens, it hardens almost immediately, again. I don’t act on my needs, not right now. I take a step back, then another.
“I’m waiting for you to grow the fuck up, Nicola. When you decide to act like a woman and stop acting like a goddamn spoiled brat, you let me know. I have time to wait, so don’t think that you’re going to avoid me by continuing to be goddamn pitiful.”
Without another word, I turn from her, completely naked and stomp out of her room, slamming her bedroom door behind me. Lifting my hand, I run my fingers through my hair, tugging on the strands.
“Fuck,” I hiss.
I deserve every goddamn part of her and she straight up pisses me the fuck off. I should have taken what she offered, every fucking square inch of her. I am owed her.
After everything I’ve been through when it comes to her and her family, the least I deserve is to sink inside of her warmth. Throw in the fact that I just plain want her.
Becoming his Possession: A Zanetti Famiglia Novel Page 7