Mafia Princess

by Bella J

  “I can’t tell you, Antonio.” I stepped back. “Not now.”

  “Did he touch you? Did he hurt you?” He moved forward, his eyes growing darker as determination starts to set in.

  I shake my head while I moved back. “I told you last night it’s not what you think.”

  “Then what did he do?”

  “Please, Antonio. I can’t talk about it now.” I feel fresh tears start to sting my eyes, and I had to bit the inside of my cheek to keep them from falling.

  And then something happened which I never could have anticipated. Antonio crouched down with his face in his palms and screamed. He screamed at the top of his fucking lungs, like a howling wolf crying out in pain. That sound tore right through my chest and I was no longer able to hold back the tears. I started crying uncontrollably as I joined him on the floor. Antonio wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer.

  “Let me make it right for you, Karina.”

  “Antonio…”

  “Please, whatever he did, I want to make it right. I need to make it right.”

  I wiped my tears with the back of my hand and leaned back, but I don’t look at him. I can’t. I can’t look at him with what I’m about to tell him.

  I glanced around the garage, up at the ceiling, basically everywhere, trying to come up with the right way of telling him. But the truth was there is no right way. I just have to say it like it is.

  “Four years ago,” I started and Antonio leaned back while he stared at me. “I was out with a few friends, and there was this guy who immediately took interest in me.”

  Antonio scoffed like he already knew where this story was headed, and I scowl at him.

  “I took interest in him, too. The whole night we kept on sneaking glances at each other until he finally approached me and introduced himself only as Enzio.” I looked at Antonio questioningly. I’m waiting for him to explode or to lose his shit, but he doesn’t. He just continues to stare at me, giving me the opportunity to tell my story.

  “We hit it off right away. That entire night we sat at the table talking and laughing like we had known each other our entire lives. By the end of the night when we said goodbye, he didn’t kiss me. He was a complete gentleman. He just asked for my number, and I gave it to him.”

  I pulled my legs out from beneath me and sat down on the floor. “He called me the next day and we went on our first date. When we arrived at the restaurant he told the waiter that the reservation was for Enzio Mancuso. I immediately recognized the surname.” I smiled half-heartedly, thinking about how stupid I was. “But I didn’t care. I didn’t give a crap about the fact that he was a Mancuso. The way I saw it was that you and Dad were at war with his dad. Enzio and I had nothing to do with this stupid war.” I looked down at my hands as I twirled my thumbs around each other. “But I was wrong.”

  “Why?” Antonio straightened.

  I shrugged. “Turns out Enzio and I had everything to do with this war between our two families.”

  Antonio pinched his nose with his thumb and forefinger, squeezing his eyes closed. He already knew how my story was going to end.

  I wiped a tear off my cheek. “I continued to see him in secret. We managed to be together every chance we got. Enzio was romantic, and gentle, and just everything I thought I wanted. I didn’t understand why you and Dad hated him and his family so much, because surely if he was so nice, how could his family not be?”

  “Karina…”

  “Two months went by until I finally…” I choked up, my heartache suddenly lodged inside my throat. “After two months of dating we finally…I finally made the decision to sleep with him.”

  “Goddamit!” Antonio slammed his fist into Dante’s car, leaving a large dent on the back passenger side door. More tears started to stream down my face as I witnessed the anger that suddenly consumed my big brother.

  I placed my hand in front of my mouth and started to weep as memories of betrayal and deceit all came rushing back. “I didn’t know. I had no idea that he had planned it all along.”

  Antonio looked at me questioningly. “What did he plan?”

  “After…after it happened—”

  “After you had sex with him?” He didn’t even try to hide the disgust in his voice.

  I nodded, wiping more tears off my face. “We were at his family’s beach house the night it happened. He was so romantic. Dinner, candles, music—think of every cliché in the book, that’s how perfectly he planned that evening.” I snorted, thinking about how blind I was back then. But Enzio played the role of a soft, gentle lover so damn well. Every girl I ever spoke to about their first time had told me how horrible it was. That wasn’t the case with me and Enzio. He took it slow while he gradually coaxed me to relax and to let him take the lead. While he took my virginity, claiming me, it was the best experience of my life…until it all just crashed and burned.

  “Karina?” Antonio placed his hand on mine, pulling me back from my thoughts.

  I inhaled deeply. “After it was all over, it was like he flipped a switch and became someone completely different from the Enzio I had just given myself to. He was still between my legs when he looked down at me and said, ‘You’re such a pathetic little lamb.’” The pain slammed against my chest as I said the words—the words that had haunted me for so long.

  “What happened then?”

  “He got up and started laughing. I didn’t know what the hell was going on. He just laughed like a damn psychopath. And then his father came walking into the room with a victorious grin on his face.”

  “Carlo?”

  “Yes.” My jaw started ticking as I recall every goddamn second. “That’s when Enzio told me that they had everything on tape. His father had been in the room next door watching and taping while Enzio took from me what I can never get back.”

  “Motherfucker!” Another fist against Dante’s Audi, but I didn’t even flinch. I was too caught up in the memory, in the pain and the embarrassment of what they stole from me that day. My soul, my dignity…my virginity.

  Antonio bolted upright. “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch! I swear to fucking God, that motherfucker will pay with his goddamn blood. Fuck!”

  While Antonio continued to lose his shit, and rightfully so, I just stayed flat on my ass on the ground, exactly where I deserved to be. It’s like I was feeling every ounce of pain all over again, experiencing that bone deep betrayal that crushed every last bit of hope I ever had. I loved Enzio with all my heart, and back then I had convinced myself that he was the one. There were days that I constantly daydreamed about sharing a life with him. We would have the house, the white picket fence, a little girl running around in the garden. It was all there in my dreams, my heart’s desires crammed into a big box labeled Karina Mancuso. Insane, I know. But back then I was convinced there was no one for me but him. I believed with my entire heart that we would get married and be together forever.

  Stupid, naïve little lamb.

  Antonio crouched down in front of me, took my face in his palms and stared at me, resolve beaming from his dark eyes. “That tape, he’s blackmailing you, isn’t he?”

  “No, not yet.”

  Antonio narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean not yet?”

  “Enzio said there would come a day when he would collect, when he would use the tape to get what he needed from me.” I swallowed the bile as it crept up my throat, my stomach twisted in knots of nausea.

  “And what exactly is it that he’ll need from you?”

  I studied Antonio’s face, witnessing how I have just made my heartache my brother’s burden. All I could do was shrug my shoulders as I answered him, completely defeated. “I don’t know…yet.”

  Chapter 15

  LORIK

  Sitting at the dinner table with my parents, one would never guess that I had been at a gruesome murder scene just that morning. Now the reason I’m currently picking at my food wasn’t because of the images of Gio’s brain splattered all over
the green garbage bin behind him. It was partly because of a certain Italian woman who somehow managed to engrave herself in my fucking cerebral cortex. And then there’s the fact that her family was now linked to Gio’s murder. The wolf symbol that had been carved out on Gio’s chest looked exactly like the tattoos all the Valenti men sported on their hands. Coincidence? I think not.

  “Lorik, stop picking at your food.”

  I glanced up at my mother while she scowled at me. Even though I’m a grown-ass man she still had the ability to make me feel like I’m ten years old.

  “I’m sorry, nënë. I’m just not that hungry tonight.”

  Immediately my mother leaned over the table and placed her hand against my forehead. “Are you ill?”

  “No, I’m not ill.” I gently pushed her hand away from my face. “I just had a very big breakfast.” That’s if you count being buried to the hilt in Italian pussy breakfast.

  My mom leaned back in her chair. “Breakfast was hours ago.”

  Don’t remind me. My cock is doing a swell job already reminding me that it has been hours since I fucked Karina, and that I really, really want to do it again.

  “Nënë, I’m really not that hungry.” I turned to Dad, whose plate was already empty. But everyone knew he just chowed down everything in his place so he could get to dessert. Mom always made dessert on Sunday. It was like his little reward for being good in avoiding sugar during the week with his diabetes and all.

  “So Dad, did you watch the football game?”

  “You lost weight,” my mom chimed in, completely disregarding the fact that I was trying to have a conversation with my dad.

  I frowned. “No, I haven’t.”

  “You haven’t been eating well, have you? I don’t know why you don’t visit more often. At least come for a decent meal twice a week.”

  God, this woman can fuss. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mother. I’d kill for her, die for her—but the woman is a menace when it comes to smothering her children. She has that down to a fucking T.

  “Nënë—” I heard the message tone of my phone, and immediately my cock shoots his ugly head up. That tone was the very distinct sound of my Facebook messenger app—which I installed right after Karina left this morning. Completely forgetting what I was about to say, I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and swiped the screen. Now here’s the part where my cock would be doing backflips if he had been detached from my body…because there’s that little pop-up head of Karina’s beautiful face, right there at the side of the screen.

  ‘Your place, ten minutes.’

  Okay, so I’m an asshole. Everyone knows this—which is why I message her back.

  ‘What happened to only once?’ And then I have the audacity to send her the wink icon. While I heard my mother in the background lecturing me about my eating habits, I watched as Karina’s little message bubble with the dots appeared. With every passing second my heart started to beat faster and I became more and more impatient. My leg was already jittery beneath the table, bouncing up and down while I waited and waited and waited for her damn message. And then it popped up.

  ‘Once died when you stuck your cock inside me for the second time.’

  Man, you got to love Italian women and their dirty mouths.

  ‘Your once only rule sucked. Maybe you should leave the rule making to the big boys.’

  ‘Since I have the pussy, I make the rules.’

  I smiled while I typed. ‘Since I’m the one with the cock, I fuck the rules.’

  ‘Then I suggest you get your ass over to your apartment because I’m about to make more rules.’

  Wait. What? ‘How do you know I’m not at my apartment?’

  The text bubble appeared, and my cock twitched while I waited for her response. It took for-fucking-ever…not really. It was probably just like ten seconds, but it felt like ten damn hours.

  ‘Because your truck isn’t here.’

  Holy shit, she was already there. ‘I’m on my way.’

  I jumped up and my chair skidded across the dining room. “Sorry, I have to go.”

  My mom shoots me that scowl that had the power to make me shrink almost ten inches. “Where are you going?”

  While tucking my phone back in my pocket, I grabbed another piece of chicken, shoved it in my mouth before I walked around the table to kiss her on the cheek. “I have a case I need to work on. Love you.”

  I walked behind my dad and patted him on the shoulder. “See ya, Dad. Go easy on dessert.” I winked at him and rushed out of the house. There was no fucking dinner on the face of the earth that would keep me from meeting up with Karina. I’ve been craving her the entire damn day. Since Anderson only did me a favor by allowing me on the scene this morning, I wasn’t permitted to take part in the investigation. This meant I had nothing to preoccupy my mind with. Not even a dead Gio, whose murder was possibly connected to the Valentis, could stop me from thinking about that dark haired beauty.

  And all I kept thinking about was why I never buried my face between her legs when I had the chance. Oh that’s right, because my cock was one greedy motherfucker and wanted that pussy all for himself. Well, I’m about to change that—tonight.

  ***

  KARINA

  I have no idea why I’m doing this—again. It wasn’t my intention to come here. I just needed to get out of the fucking house since the atmosphere in there was nothing short of toxic the entire day. Antonio was stomping around like a lion with a sore paw. My dad looked beyond pissed at Antonio of all people. Fuck knows what happened there. And Dante kept on giving me suspicious glances like he was extracting little pieces of info from my mind, putting together the puzzle of yet another one of my fuck-ups. Like I said, if anyone was going to figure out what the hell I did last night with Lorik it would be Dante. So I just had to get out of there. And twenty minutes later, I found myself in front of Lorik’s apartment wanting nothing more than to escape the whirlpool of shit that was my life and to indulge in another epic sex marathon with Boston’s most arrogant, yet hot as hell cop.

  After I messaged Lorik like a damn booty call, I sat in my car for about five minutes when I noticed a black Bentley parked down the road. For some reason I had this prickle of warning in the back of my neck, like someone was watching me through the dark tinted windows. The feeling didn’t sit well with me, especially after the altercation I had with Enzio the night before. After what he did to me four years ago, I never made the mistake of underestimating him. There was no line that bastard wouldn’t cross, no rule he wouldn’t break to get what he wanted. For four years I’ve waited for the day that he would finally use that tape against me, to get what he wanted from me. The only problem was I had no idea what he could possibly want from me since I have nothing to do with my family’s business. I have no clue about the shit that they run, or the politics behind the Valenti slash Mancuso war. So why would he go so far to get a huge bargaining chip against me?

  I narrowed my eyes as I stared at the black car and decided that it would probably be better for me to go into the apartment building rather than sit and wait in my car like bait.

  Grabbing my purse, I got out of my car and glanced at the Bentley while I walked toward the building. The feeling of someone watching me intensified and I had to fight the urge to run. It’s like when you were ten years old and you had to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. With every step you take down the dark hall adrenaline starts to pump through your veins, your spine tingling while your body’s instinct to run sets in. That’s how I’m feeling right now, like I need to run.

  Once inside the building I inhaled sharply, trying to get my rapidly beating heart to slow down to a normal pace. That was so weird. My back was still tingling with suspicion. Maybe I’m just paranoid over what happened last night.

  I reached the stairs, but glanced back at the entrance one more time. Nothing. Fuck, I need to calm the hell down.

  While I’m walking up the stairs with clicking heels I still exper
ienced the odd sense that someone was watching me, walking behind me. I’m so fucking paranoid that I even start hearing heavy footsteps behind me, which caused me to move up the stairs faster. My heart started to hammer against my ribs, my spine turning into ice while it felt like I no longer had control over my own damn legs as I sprinted up the stairs.

  Finally I reached Lorik’s floor, and I looked behind me before I started moving down the hall. His apartment door was right at the end—of course it was—and my body and mind was overcome with the suspicion that whoever was behind me was closing in on me fast.

  Shit. There really is someone behind me.

  The faster I moved, the closer I got to Lorik’s apartment door. But then I realized he wasn’t there yet. Every survival instinct inside me set in and I searched around me trying to find anything I could use to defend myself with. I spotted the fire alarm about two doors from Lorik’s and figured pulling that alarm was about the only thing I could do right now.

  The sound of heavy footsteps got louder, and the faster I walked, the faster those footsteps moved. There was no way I was going to look behind me, I’m too fucking scared. Whoever it was, I didn’t want to look at him or her. Seeing their face would make the fear pulsing through my chest too damn real.

  I was just about two feet away from the fire alarm when a hand reached around me and covered my mouth. The scream that I let out was all muffled by the large, warm hand holding my mouth closed. He pushed me against the wall with his body and his hand found the hem of my black pencil skirt. That’s when I smelled it, the familiar spicy scent that only belonged to one person.

  “I’ve been thinking about you the whole goddamn day, princess.”

  I closed my eyes as the fear I felt mere seconds ago evaporated instantly. With his hand still covering my mouth, he started to move my skirt up my thighs. My spine was no longer ice, but rather electrified as his warm hand moved up, and up, and up, until my skirt wound up around my waist.