I nodded, and she moved so quickly there was little hope of me understanding what she'd done. Somehow, she'd twisted his arm around and gotten him down to his knees and facing away from her. When she released him, Mike stood back up. "Can you slow it down?" I asked.
Mike grabbed her wrist again, rolling his eyes at the petite woman who looked like having the ability to force a man to his knees meant nothing to her. I couldn't imagine feeling that kind of power, that kind of ability to take my power back in such a physical way. To never have to be afraid of Connor again.
I couldn't explain what that would mean to me.
"You're going to take your other hand and curl it over his fingers, right at the knuckles. That will give just enough hold so he can't slip away easily, okay?"
"I got it," I agreed.
"Then you swing toward the opposite side of your body. It will twist his arm around, and when that happens you grab hold of his wrist. Ready to watch?" And I did, I watched her and saw the way his arm twisted at the shoulder until he had no choice but to rotate his body and face the ground. "Once he's here, push forward. You use his arm to drive him to the ground, and he'll go to his knees. At that point, you can hold him and call for help, or you can run. It won't buy you a ton of time, but we'll get there."
"Okay." I nodded.
“She doesn’t need this,” Emilio interjected. “She has me to protect her.”
“And Ivory had Scar,” Sadie returned, shaking her head in frustration. “Shit happens, at least this way if she ever finds herself without help, she stands a chance.”
I nodded, because that was all I wanted. To have a chance to protect myself if the worst happened, and I was on my own. “I just hope I don’t freeze up in fear.”
“Courage doesn’t mean you aren’t scared. It just means you do it anyway. Now, try on me first," Sadie said, and grabbed hold of my wrist. "Take your time, go slow. I'm not going to fight back. We'll worry about speeding it up after we've got the foundations down." So I did as she said and took my time to drive her to her knees, but I did it and didn't miss a step. "You're a natural," she reassured me even if it felt like a throwaway compliment that I hadn't earned yet. I would earn it in time. "Again," she murmured.
So I did.
Again, and again, and again.
Until it became muscle memory, and no one would ever grab my arm again without me fighting back.
Thirty-Three
Lino
Matteo and I were settled into our seats in his office by the time Don led my father inside. I knew it pained Matteo to have Gabriele in his home, in Ivory’s home, after the shit he’d pulled with her in the past, but the show of power was necessary.
The reminder that Matteo occupied the Bellandi Estate, and not my father, wasn’t one that would go over his head. The Estate had been the seat of our operation for generations, and it had never belonged to my father, and it never would.
“Take a seat,” Matteo grunted, gesturing to the chairs in front of his desk. I relaxed, leaning against the back of the couch that I knew Ivory worked in when she could, but her workload had reduced when she hired a social media manager.
Now all she did was the cooking and photos, the parts she loved, and she let someone else handle all the obnoxious part of her business that she’d once hated.
“Lino tells me you disrespected Samara,” he continued, leaning forward to tent his hands as he stared my father down. The man had never been the brightest bulb when it came to recognizing just what kind of monster Matteo hid beneath the surface, but that had changed the day Matteo shot him.
My father’s face paled when confronted with what was clearly a mounting frustration for Matteo. “I’ve already stripped you of all your authority within the organization. I’ve allowed you to remain in Chicago against my better judgment. If you do not find a way to become supportive of Samara and Ivory’s positions in our lives as our wives, then you will no longer be permitted to live in the city. I hear Florida is popular among aging men. Perhaps you should consider retiring there.”
“Chicago is my home,” Gabriele grunted, and his face twisted. “I have given my life to this city and this organization. You cannot remove me because you found a pussy you like.”
Matteo sighed, standing from behind his desk and stepping around to glare at him. “I can, and I will. It is only out of respect for the men in our operation who respect you that you still breathe after you pulled a gun on my wife. If you do not plan to show them respect, then don’t think of them at all. They’re none of your concern. If I hear that you’re badmouthing them in any way, you’ll be banished from the city. If anything happens to either one of them, I’ll hold you personally accountable. I suggest you keep that in mind and consider fixing your attitude. We’re entering into a new generation, one that doesn’t believe that blood is the ultimate bond. Our family exists because of loyalty, and you have no place in that.”
“Go home,” I added. “Go home and live out your years in peace in the city that you love so much. Stay out of our homes, stay away from our wives, and stay out of our business. We won’t be tainted by the likes of you any longer.”
My father stood from his chair, glaring over at me. The faint sign of bruises at the top of the column of his throat gave me a surge of pleasure, even if it was sick to enjoy the sight of an injury so similar to Samara’s.
The man had marked me more times than I could count as a child. It seemed appropriate I finally returned the favor.
“I’ll do my best to quiet my hatred for your wives and the way you’ve sullied the bloodline,” he spat, turning on his heel and walking out the office door. Matteo sighed, leaning over the chair and squeezing the back tightly.
“He’s going to be a problem.”
“Yep,” I agreed.
He always had.
Thirty-Four
Samara
Sitting across from Linda’s smiling face at the bistro made me want to sigh with contentment. “Oh honey,” she whispered. “It’s so good to see you smile.”
“You too!” I said back, raising a brow at her. She worried about me too much, and I very much looked forward to making the point that she no longer needed to. Her eyes went to my throat, examining for any trace of the injury she’d last seen me with. “I’m good. Really,” I grinned.
“Divorced?” she asked, but her eyes dropped to my rings.
“Married, but not to Connor anymore,” I whispered, glancing up to thank the waitress who dropped a glass of water on the table. When he left, Linda gave me a knowing smile.
“Lino, I suspect?”
I nodded, feeling a blush rise to my cheeks. “How did you guess?”
“I was there when he came for you. I’m sure that you remember very little of it, considering the painkillers I gave you, but I remember the look on his face very vividly. He loves you. I suspect he always has,” she said, sipping her white wine delicately.
“A few weeks ago, I’d have said you were crazy,” I sighed, glancing out the window on my side. Emilio’s reflection in the window where he sat at the bar as he watched me made me uncomfortable, but I persevered. “But now.” I smiled. “Now I hope you’re right.”
“He hasn’t told you?” she asked.
I shook my head, thinking it over. “Not in so many words, but it’s all the little things, you know? He shows me how much I mean to him, and he touches me constantly like he can’t get enough, and he takes care of me, and he calls me his life.”
The waitress returned, giving an apologetic smile that she’d interrupted. “Are you ready to order, miss?”
“Just the salad with grilled chicken and the balsamic, please.”
“Sure thing,” she grinned, darting away. I turned my attention back to Linda where she smiled at me knowingly.
“Have you told him how you feel?” she asked, giving me a pointed look that told me she didn’t really need to ask.
“Not yet,” I admitted. “I don’t want to think about what happens i
f I say it and he doesn’t say it back. I’m happy, for the first time in a long time. I just want to hold on to that for a little while before I shake things up.”
She reached across the table to take my hand in hers. “And there is nothing wrong with clinging to happiness after what you’ve gone through. He’s your husband now. You have all the time in the world to figure it out. You should just let things move at their own pace and enjoy them for what they are instead of forcing it.”
I sighed, nodding back at her and feeling like the lunch had been everything I didn’t know I needed. I’d worried that seeing Linda would remind me of all the times she held ice to my bruises after Connor hit me, or the way it felt to have her fingers washing blood from my hair and pulling glass from my feet.
But instead, it felt like finally closing the book on that chapter of my life. Even with Connor still out there, he would never touch me again.
Lino would make sure of that. Connor was unfortunately Lino’s problem now.
Not mine.
✽✽✽
I really wanted him to get the Hell away from my desk. Under normal circumstances, I had no difficulties dismissing men who showed interest, but when it was one of Jasper's most wealthy clients who invested millions of dollars annually, I hesitated to be as outright about it as I might have been with a stranger.
I'd tried politely hinting that I needed to finish up my work for the day. I'd tried insinuating that Jasper wasn't a fan of people who used desks as furniture. I'd tried not engaging in the conversation aside from brief yes or no answers.
And yet his ass remained perched on my desk. Normally, Jasper might have waded in to rescue me by asking me to do something urgent for him that required me to go elsewhere or asking to see me in his office, but he was wrapped up in a meeting with his last client of the day, and this jerk off had been sitting on my desk since his own meeting ended nearly an hour ago.
My patience ran thin, even before he reached out a hand to touch my waist when I stood to go straighten out the waiting area. I spun, ready to tell him off myself, but Lino's deep, dangerous voice spoke too calmly before I could.
"I dare you to touch her again." There was no inflection to his voice, nothing that would have hinted at him being angry, but the way he stood inside the open door with his body too still was also nothing like a normal man.
Lino was dangerous, in a way that most men could only pretend to be. Dangerous in a way that should send most people running in the other direction when his voice went too calm and his body vibrated with the effort to keep it still.
"Relax, man. No harm done," the client said, holding up two hands as if he'd been innocent. "I've known Samara a long time. Just getting to know each other better." He obviously had no sense of self-preservation, because he touched my shoulder briefly before moving to stand from the desk.
I watched Lino's body tense, the way he prowled forward like a predator stalking an oblivious prey. The menace in every step he took was only enhanced by the way his suit clung to his body in a perfect fit, showcasing all the flawless, lean muscle of his thighs and his broad shoulders. "Do you know what happens to people who put their hands on my wife without her permission? Without my permission?" I went to his side, taking his hand in mine and looking to reassure him. While the touch hadn't been innocent—and would easily be described as harassment since I'd given him no indication of interest—he hadn't actually harmed me.
"Woah, man. Didn't know she was married. My bad." The client finally seemed to grasp a bit of self-preservation, but Lino was far beyond the ability to retain the beast that he'd awoken inside him. I wanted to remember that we were in my workplace, that it wasn't the time or place for Lino's display of possessiveness, but all I could focus on was how good it felt to have someone who wanted to claim me. Wanted to brand me with his name and tell everyone that I was his. Someone who was proud to have me as his own and would protect me, no matter what the consequences might be for either of us.
I felt lost in that feeling, lost in the need to wrap myself up in the unfamiliar sensation of being wanted.
Of being valued. Precious.
"If I ever see you look at her too long, let alone touch her, I'll put you in the ground myself. Do you understand me?"
"Lino!" I gasped, because even I knew that took it too far. Threatening death over a hand on the waist, that was a bit much, even for my twisted-up brain.
"You're crazy, dude," the investor laughed. "But okay, I'm not interested in another man's woman anyway. Plenty of fish in the sea." When he went to leave, Lino reached out a hand and pressed it into his chest to halt him in place. He looked down at where Lino touched him, raising a brow before hissing his own attempt to be intimidating. "Don't fucking put your hands on me."
"Like you did to my wife? Do you have any idea what kind of shit you just landed yourself in, Miller?" Lino asked, shocking me with his knowledge of the investor’s name.
Keeping my distance seemed smart, so I stayed just a little behind Lino where he'd left me when he stepped into Miller's path. "How the Hell do you know my name? Your little wife been talking about me?"
"We Bellandi's tend to know everything that happens with our wives, including what clients step into this office. I can safely say that Samara has never once mentioned your name, but you did come up as a flag on the file my security guy ran for me. You've got quite a reputation for putting your hands where they aren't wanted. Several women have filed harassment suits," Lino growled. "My wife will not be one of them, because I will ruin you and then bury you if you ever touch her again. Now tell me I'm crazy again, or are you finally taking me seriously?"
"I, yeah, Mr. Bellandi. You've got it."
"Mr. Miller, is there a problem?" Jasper finally asked, stepping out the door of his office and glaring at Lino's hand on his client with a glacial look that could kill.
"No, problem, Jasper. Mr. Miller was just leaving," Lino answered for the man who scurried around Lino's outstretched hand and fled through the open door. I smiled at Jasper awkwardly, and he just rolled his eyes at me before stepping back into his office. "Let's go," Lino grunted. "Time to go home."
"Let me just shut down and make a note for the morning," I agreed, stepping around him and going to my desk. Lino paced back and forth, and I sat in my chair with an amused smirk. "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were jealous," I noted, glancing up at him through my lashes. I chewed on the end of my pen, considering what I'd need to wrap up in the morning that I didn't accomplish today because of Mr. Miller's interference.
"You could at least not chew on your pen like you have an oral fixation, Samara. Fuck," he grunted in response. "I'm buying you new work clothes. Black potato sacks," he added as an afterthought. The comment made me glance down at my entirely appropriate long-sleeved black top and royal blue pencil skirt.
"I like my clothes," I argued.
"So does the entire male population that steps foot in this office," he grunted in dismay. Our conversation halted when Jasper stepped out of his office and escorted his last client to the door.
"Keep your testosterone out of my office, Bellandi. I mean it," Jasper said, pointing a finger at Lino bravely. I had to wonder if he felt like his connection to me protected him from Lino's wrath, since it would take one phone call and I knew Lino could dispose of Jasper in a heartbeat. "I told you that I couldn't have his bullshit affecting my business," he turned to me.
"I know—" I sighed, ready to apologize for the fact that Lino had been out of line.
Even if I liked it.
"He touched her. You're cool with that then?" Lino asked.
"Of course not, but Samara is entirely capable of handling the situation herself. She's done just fine over the last few years she's been working here." I grimaced, because fuck that had been the wrong thing to say.
"That happen a lot?" he asked.
"Not a lot, but I'm a young, female secretary. Men are pigs."
"Either you figure out a w
ay to handle this, or she'll have security up here with her all day, every day, Jasper. I need to know that you have her back," Lino hissed, taking my hand and pulling me up from my chair. Shoving my purse into my hands, he guided me toward the door.
"I'll handle it," Jasper sighed, pinching his nose between his fingers. "Even if you are being ridiculous."
"I can't wait for the day that you give a shit about a woman, and I can rub it in your face," Lino said with a grin. "The day comes for all of us, and I will very much look forward to telling you that I told you so." I waved goodbye as he led me out of the office.
"Lino—" I tried hesitantly.
"Nobody puts their hands on you. Do you understand me? If someone is giving you trouble, you call me or Emilio or I swear to God Samara—"
I leaned up, pressing my lips to his to silence his tirade. "Okay," I agreed.
He eyed me suspiciously, like he couldn't quite believe it had been that simple. I didn't know why. It wasn't like I was that difficult. "Nobody touches me as long as the same goes for you."
"Same goes for me, Little Dove," he agreed, kissing me again, and we continued down the hall to the elevators.
There was no urgency in his step, no desperation to get home. It felt like he had no clue what was coming, what seeing him defend me had done to me. I wanted him to turn all of that frustration on me. All of that possession.
Lino had been inside me every second he could since we'd started having sex, but he was always controlled. Always worried he might hurt me with the exception of the one night in the shower.
I wanted it. I wanted it to hurt and be uncontrolled.
I wanted all of him, including the parts of him he’d shown me a glimpse of that night.
And as we walked down the hall, I decided that was the night I would get it.
✽✽✽
I considered my plan all the way home. All the way through dinner.
Anxiety pulsed in my veins, even if I knew that what I was about to do had to happen. I needed to see everything that Lino was again, because if I couldn't meet the needs of that side of him, we would never be able to have a successful marriage.
Forgivable Sins: A Dark Mafia Romance (Bellandi Crime Syndicate Book 2) Page 23