Beautiful Carnage: A Dark Mafia Bully Romance (The Boys of Sinners Bay Book 1)

by Caroline Peckham

  A frown pulled at her brow in response to that threat, but it wasn’t accompanied by any signs that she feared I’d truly do it like she should. Maybe she didn’t believe me. Or maybe she just didn’t hold her life in high enough esteem.

  I took a blanket from the back of the couch and passed it to her, followed by the mug of coffee and she stared at me like I’d had a personality transplant.

  I dropped into the chair beside hers and eyed her as she drank her coffee and ate her toast, watching the way she swiped her tongue across those plump lips and imagining all the unspeakable things I’d like to do to her mouth.

  “I didn’t think I could hate anyone more than I hate you,” she breathed as the silence stretched between us.

  A dark laugh escaped me and I leaned forward in my chair, moving so close to her that she had no choice but to turn and look at me.

  “I don’t think that’s true, bella,” I said in a low voice.

  “You don’t think I hate you?” she asked, arching an eyebrow at me like I was insane.

  “I think you hate me so hard, it eats you up. You hate me so hard you dream about me and all the awful things I might do to you. But I think that in those dreams you don’t actually hate it so much when I do them…”

  Her lips parted and I shifted closer to her, our breath mingling and the memory of the way I’d kissed her outside the hardware store stirring the air between us.

  “You’re deluded,” Sloan breathed, but she hadn’t moved back.

  “Is that so?” I mocked, moving closer again.

  I reached out slowly, pushing my fingertips into her hair and skimming them along the side of her face as she watched me.

  “Is this what you want, bella? Do you want to find a soft side to me hiding somewhere beneath the mask you see?”

  “You don’t have a soft side, Rocco,” she growled and the heat in her voice was enough to make me hard for her already. When she did bow to the desire she felt for me, I was going to be so far past ready for her that she wouldn’t know what hit her.

  I smiled darkly, my fingers pushing deeper into her hair until I twisted it around and my grip tightened.

  “You don’t want me to, do you?” I breathed in surprise. “It’s not soft you’re after, is it?”

  She didn’t respond but I could have sworn the look in her eyes was something of a plea in itself. If we were in any other situation I’d have taken her then, shown her exactly what it was she was aching to find out. But as it was, it was going to have to come from her. She was my captive, my property, my Sloan. But if she wanted to find out the depths of what that could mean for her, she’d have to ask for it. And when she did, I’d take hold of her so hard she’d never even think about escaping again.

  I fisted my hand in her hair, yanking sharply and she moaned in a way that was so damn sexual, it was a wonder I didn’t just rip her sweatpants off and fuck her on her knees right here and now in front of the fire.

  “You see, baby,” I purred, painting a line across those full lips with my other thumb as I kept her immobilised by my hold on her hair. “I can make you sin so bad you won’t know which way is up.”

  Her lips parted and there was something of a dare in her eyes that set my pulse racing. She wanted to know what that felt like, wanted to feel every inch of me taking her whole body hostage. I knew it. She knew it. All she had to do was speak the dare on her lips and I’d do it.

  “Fuck you,” she hissed, a fire burning in her gaze.

  “Oh, you will,” I purred.

  A thud came from upstairs before she could answer and I cursed internally as I released my grip on her, leaning back in my chair as if nothing had happened.

  But as Sloan’s gaze slid to the hard ridge of my cock straining against my sweatpants, we both knew there was no denying it.

  She bit that full lip I’d been daydreaming about and I watched the rise and fall of her perfect tits beneath the oversized sweater she was wearing as she damn near panted for me.

  “Come on, Cinderella,” I growled as I got to my feet. “Time to go back to the cellar.”

  Sloan glanced up at the ceiling as another thud came from upstairs and by the fear that lit her gaze, I was fairly sure she was just pleased to be getting away from Guido.

  She walked ahead of me to the cellar door and I paused in the hallway, grabbing Mamma’s fur coat from the hook where Sloan had left it after our trip into town the other day and handing it to her.

  “Thank you,” Sloan breathed as she accepted it, her gaze trailing over me like she couldn’t work out what to think. But that was the second time she’d thanked me this morning. She was already falling for me even if she hadn’t admitted it to herself yet.

  She hesitated at the top of the cellar stairs, her breath rising before her.

  I stepped close behind her, my front pressing to her back as I leaned forward to flick the lights on and her ass was driven up against the urgent swell of my dick. She should have stepped away instantly but she leaned back, grinding against me in a way that had my balls aching as she turned her head to speak to me.

  “Is Guido staying here much longer?” she breathed, turning those wide eyes on me and making me want to fuck the innocence right out of her.

  “Hopefully not,” I replied. Papa had been intentionally vague about their plans last night so I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. “While you wait for them to leave, you can daydream about all the naughty things you want to do to me once you’re back sleeping in my bed again.”

  “You wish, Rocco,” she said hollowly, pushing her ass against me one last time before walking away down the stairs as if she wasn’t aching for me to fuck her just as hard as I was aching to do it.

  I watched her walk away from me and growled my frustration loud enough for her to hear before closing the door with a hard snap.

  I locked it and double checked it before turning and walking back to the living room. Frankie appeared yawning and shirtless a moment later and I left him to keep an eye on Sloan’s door as I headed up for a cold shower. Or possibly to jerk off. Maybe even both. Because if I didn’t end up nine inches deep in Sloan Calabresi soon, this frustration was gonna eat me alive.

  ***

  “Nicoli Vitoli, didn’t heed your warning,” Papa said casually as he finished his lunch.

  We’d brought Sloan up to cook for us and my stomach sang happily as I filled it with what may have been the best spaghetti I’d ever eaten.

  She was back down in the cellar again now that she’d finished cleaning the kitchen after herself. Her own lunch had consisted of two slices of bread and butter and a banana that was on the turn - thanks to Aunt Clarissa’s input. I was the asshole who had given her dog food for dinner on her first night here, but I still didn’t think it was necessary to make her cook for us and not let her eat it too. Not that I’d voiced that opinion.

  Guido sat at the end of the table. His broken nose re-set by his mother but the two blazing black eyes I’d given him a clear testament to which Romero had come out on top between us.

  I flexed my fingers, relishing the pain of my split knuckles as I remembered pounding them into his flesh.

  “The Calabresi Principessa is going to have to pay the price you promised,” Papa added.

  “You want me to punish her now?” I offered, my mind considering the twisted things I could subject her to in payment for her fiancé’s failings. I wanted to watch her heart break as she realised his hunt for her had caused this. I wanted to watch her faith in him shatter as she found out what was done to her in payment for his crimes.

  “Not yet,” Papa said with a cruel smile. “I think we’re going to lay a trap for the Calabresi wannabe. Nicoli Vitoli is about to find out what happens when he raids a Romero property and finds the owners at home.”

  I pushed to my feet with my brothers either side of me, just as keen to get to work.

  “Are we leaving soon?” Enzo asked enthusiastically and I couldn’t help but laugh.


  “I assumed you’d be staying here, Rocco,” Papa said as he stood too. “Or would you rather Guido stay to watch your captive?”

  Guido practically ejaculated in his pants at that suggestion and I swear saliva even ran down his chin.

  I snarled at him, baring my teeth to remind him of the beast that lay beneath my flesh and just who Sloan belonged to.

  “That fucker isn’t going to stay here with her,” I growled.

  “Well unless one of your brothers wishes to volunteer for the role, I guess it’ll be you then,” Papa said with a shrug.

  “Or we just do ourselves out of the bother of keeping the wretch and kill her now. That will send the message loud and clear,” Aunt Clarissa suggested as she plucked a piece of lint from her sleeve.

  My fist clenched hard enough to cause the skin on my knuckles to split open again and I opened my mouth to bite her fucking head off, but Frankie interrupted before I could.

  “Think about it, Rocco,” he said, slapping a hand on my shoulder which was as much of a warning as it was a sign of solidarity. “You get to stay here alone with the Principessa and think up plenty of fun ways to torture her. And who knows, with the house to yourself for the afternoon you might even figure out a way to win that bet we made.”

  I flicked my gaze to him as Enzo chuckled.

  “You could certainly make sure I win with an afternoon of freedom,” Enzo added, winking at me like a dirty old man. No doubt he’d love to get back here and find out I’d fucked her and he was the winner.

  Frankie clearly thought that subjecting Sloan to my winning personality one on one for a few hours was enough to put her off of me for life and make him the winner, but I knew better. The little principessa was tired of playing her role as the good little girl her papa had forced her to be. She was looking to break the rules and I’d been living my whole life without any. If it was freedom she wanted then I could give her a taste of living in the wild. Of course, when all was said and done she’d still belong to me, but I’d hazard a guess that being owned by Rocco Romero tasted a whole lot freer than being bought and sold like a prize pig at a fair and traded off as Nicoli’s bride.

  I snorted a laugh and the fight went out of me. Papa ignored our talk of bets, taking zero interest in the games the three of us played as usual. He didn’t care how we got our jobs done, only that we did.

  Guido seemed much more curious, but I ignored him as if he didn’t exist.

  “Fine,” I bit out, sounding none too happy about staying behind. Though as I considered it, it probably wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to me.

  Sloan would need a shower and I was starting to think letting Enzo win the bet wouldn’t be the most terrible tragedy in the world. With the right amount of effort, I could probably have her panting beneath me within the hour.

  Though as much as that idea appealed to me, I wanted more than that. If she gave in and fucked me, it might stay with her, confuse her, make her look back on her time in captivity and think she’d gone temporarily insane. But if I got her to love me, she’d never be able to move on from it when I destroyed her.

  I’d stay with her forever, haunting her dreams and her memories, scarring her so deeply that it could never be healed. If I rushed her into sex, it might ruin that plan. I wanted her begging for me mind, body and soul. And when she was desperate for even the slightest bit of my attention, I’d take her body and ruin her so thoroughly she’d dream about me forever more.

  Sloan’s whispered words had seared themselves across my heart and scarred the flesh there irrevocably. I need you.

  And I wasn’t going to let her down.

  The line had been patchy at best, but I’d heard a few of her desperate words. Snow, trees, huge house, cellar, the three Romero brothers. It wasn’t much to go on, but it had helped me to narrow down my hunt. There were only five properties left on my list which completely fit the bill. And to make things even easier for me, my men had reliably informed me that Frankie and Enzo Romero had been spotted out near one of their largest houses on the outskirts of town.

  This was it. I was certain of it. I had twenty men and Coco with me. And I was going to save my bride from the Romeros and kill the lot of them in one fell swoop.

  They wouldn’t see me coming. We would charge in like an unstoppable force and they’d rue the day they ever stood against the Calabresis.

  We’d parked the cars up on a street to the north of the huge farmhouse and we stalked through the woods as the snow poured down on us. It had been difficult to even drive up here in this blizzard, but I’d refused to wait it out. Every day they held Sloan was another day she might be tortured, abused, degraded by those monsters. I wouldn’t let it stand a moment longer. I was getting her out of their clutches tonight.

  The house was dark but a dim glow behind one of the curtains made me feel sure at least one person was home. And I was certain they’d try to hide their presence wherever they’d chosen to hold her. They would be quaking in their boots at the mere idea of us coming for them. And so they should be.

  I held a pistol in my grip and had a small bag on my back where Coco sat with his head poking out as he sniffed the cold air and scouted for Romeros. I’d never thought I’d be the type to want a dog, but I had to admit the little brute had won me over. He was the only one as invested as I was in this hunt and I’d grown rather fond of his stalwart company.

  My heart thumped a violent rhythm in my chest as I paused before the pristine layer of snow which coated the lawn. It was over a foot deep and completely untouched, but around the front of the house it had been cleared and two cars sat on the drive. They were here. I could feel it in my gut.

  I looked either side of me where my men awaited my word from the shadows.

  With a firm nod, I stepped out onto the snow.

  The world was quiet and snow fell so thickly it obscured my vision, but the house stood like a silent shadow, beckoning us on.

  I raised my gun and stalked forward, the freezing wind battering and biting against the exposed skin of my face.

  The silence stretched as we closed in on the house, and a prickle of anticipation ran down my spine.

  Coco growled a deathly warning in my ear and I froze as I spotted movement by one of the upstairs windows.

  “Fall back!” I bellowed, but it was already too late.

  Gunfire rang out and my men screamed as bullets flew. I took aim at the window where someone was firing down on us with a rifle, unloading my clip and shattering the glass as panic tore through me.

  My men fell screaming in agony and blood splattered the snow.

  I ran out of ammo just as everything around me fell deathly still and cruel laughter carried on the breeze. My men were begging, bleeding, all shot in the legs so that they couldn’t walk or even think straight enough to fight on and I was the only one left standing.

  The glaring red light of a laser blinded me as someone aimed a rifle right at my forehead and I glared up at the house, raising my chin and facing death like a man. I’d failed her. And if this was my punishment, then it was the least I deserved.

  “Hello, Nicoli!” a man called from somewhere inside the house and the sound of a door opening drew my attention. “Why don’t you come on in for a drink and a chat?”

  I scowled and Coco trembled in the bag on my back. They held my life in their hands and I was little more than a puppet on a string.

  “If you do anything foolish, your bride will pay the price!” a booming voice came next and I recognised Martello Romero. Head of their family and ruler of their clan of miscreants.

  He’d said the only thing that would make me cooperate and I gritted my teeth as I tossed my gun aside.

  I took a step towards the house, but the first voice called out again to halt me.

  “Sorry, sweetheart, but I don’t trust you not to have a knife hidden in your petticoat. Why don’t you lose the bag and the coat?” he suggested firmly.

  I bit my tongue as I drew the bag
off of my back and lowered it to the ground. My gaze met with Coco’s for a moment and the little white dog looked up at me like I was abandoning him. But this was the best I could offer. Once I walked inside that house, I doubted I’d be walking out again and if the dog was to have a shot at survival, he’d be better off out here in the snow than inside with the monsters.

  I shrugged out of my coat next, tossing it down too.

  “Lose the shirt and boots too,” he added and I did so with a growl of irritation. I unbuckled my pants before they could demand that as well and dropped them, striding towards the house in my boxers.

  The front door swung wide as I reached it and I strode straight in, refusing to balk. They may have had me beaten, but they’d never have me broken.

  “Who ordered the stripper?” Enzo Romero called cheerily as he stepped into my path with a hunting knife held in his grip.

  His brother Frankie appeared on the huge wooden staircase behind him with a rifle pointed straight at my forehead and a wide smile on his face.

  “Oh fratello, you know how I like ‘em flat chested and brawny,” he cooed, giving me a once over as I glowered at the two of them.

  “What say you give us a little show, bella?” Enzo asked suggestively. “Give us a twirl so we can check you haven’t stashed anything up your ass.”

  Frankie laughed, raising his rifle an inch in warning so that I was given no choice but to turn around for them.

  Enzo whistled at me like I was a hooker on a street corner and Frankie’s boyish laughter rang out again. They were actually having fun here. No doubt the third brother would appear at any moment to complete the party.

  I turned back to look at them once they were satisfied I hadn’t stashed any weapons. “So what now?” I demanded.

  “Well, now we’re going to make sure you learn a little lesson. And then we’re going to teach it to your pretty Sloan too,” Frankie said with a grin.

  “After you,” Enzo added, pointing at a door on my right.