“I was assigned to watch her”—he nodded to Katarina still peacefully sleeping—“as punishment.”
Lucca was a smart man, that was for sure. Forcing him to watch the sister of the one he’d almost killed was serendipitous in a way. Being constantly reminded of the thing you did wrong was a hard pill to swallow, especially when that pill came in the form of Katarina. That he knew all too well. You couldn’t hate her, no matter how hard you tried, and Lucca fucking knew that.
He took another step toward him, until his face was an inch away while not only his eyes breathed fire, but his mouth did too. “De Santis men don’t like to lose, but you lost her to him. Now… you are losing yourself.”
Amo could only nod.
He stepped away before opening the door. “Get your shit together and get the fuck out of my face.”
Closing that door on his nephew was hard, but closing that door on a soldier was easy.
Thirty-Five
One Day
Hearing the door close, Kat woke up to find Drago was finally home. She dreaded this moment of having to tell him about what she had said to Chloe. She didn’t regret saying the words, and that was exactly why she needed to tell him. Wanting to be upfront and honest about how she felt about Lucca, seeing that Drago saw the boogieman differently than she did. It wasn’t the bond she wanted to break between the two; she just wanted him to know she saw Lucca no differently than she saw her father.
“Drago I—”
“Oh good.” He came over to the couch. “You’re awake.”
Taking a breath, she needed to go ahead and get it off her chest. “Yeah I—”
“I have a surprise for you, Kat.” He smiled as he held out a hand for her to take.
Huh? She was confused but decided to take his hand, letting him lead her to the new dining room table.
He made her sit in front of a thick folder he had placed at the head of the table.
Staring down at the blank folder filled with papers, she grew even more confused, till she flipped it open revealing a bunch of numbers.
“Lucca has asked me to offer you the job of being the Carusos’ bookkeeper.” He took the empty seat beside her to look in her eyes. “And if you want to accept, then you will have your own office down the hall.”
Blinking for a minute straight, she didn’t know what to say at first, knowing the importance of the offer she was just given. Women were not given jobs in the mafia, especially when it involved their money. She stared down at the first page, seeing big numbers. “A-Are we talking on or off the books?”
“Whatever you are comfortable with,” he told her, not wanting to put any pressure on her. “You can strictly do the books that are legal, if you want.”
“Are you serious?” Kat asked, disbelieving of the words she was still hearing. She was a fucking Luciano, for Christ’s sake, and what she was staring at right now could bring the entire Caruso family down.
He nodded, in this moment looking at her as if she were a soldier. “Yes.”
They might not know what you’re capable of, but one day they will. The words had spoken to her before he’d walked her down the aisle echoed in her head.
Well, I’ll be damned.
Kat licked her dry lips. “Drago?”
“Yeah?” He sounded as if he expected to hear her accept or decline the offer, honestly anything but what she was about to say next.
“I need you…”—she could only hope that she wasn’t about to make another mistake—“to take me to Lucca.”
* * *
Asking to speak with him alone, she was unaccompanied as she crossed the threshold into Lucca’s office. One thing was for sure; it was much different standing in front of the boogieman when you were the one to seek him out.
She didn’t know how she’d pictured meeting with him, but seeing him behind the big wooden desk made it that much more daunting. Taking the seat in front of him, she watched him flip a silver lighter, turning it on and off as he curiously stared at her and waited for what she had to say.
“I told Chloe that you were powerful like my father.” Kat stared into those cold blue-green eyes finally seeing something different in them. “But the truth is, you are much more powerful than he ever was.”
The flame was left steady this time as he let it burn the end of a cigarette he had placed in his mouth. That flame illuminated his face with an orange glow, making him much more attractive than she had seen him before.
“My father kept me hidden in a basement for seventeen years, only letting me come out when he needed his money counted. My brothers were the only ones allowed to know I did that, because Lucifer would rather slit his own daughter’s throat than let anyone in the family know that I touched their money before he could disperse it.”
Smoke slowly trailed in and out of his mouth as he sat there listening to her.
“I was wrong about you, Lucca Caruso, but you were wrong about yourself too.” Kat’s lip turned up in one corner. “Deep, deep, deep down, there is a kindness in you that you only show people you respect. It is not lightly given, only to those who you feel can withstand what may come. Only to those who can serve a purpose for you down the road,” she told him, seeming to know exactly what he was preparing for. “But unlike my father, you give your respect not only to a man but to a woman.”
Hearing every word she spoke, he stared at her, mesmerized like he was for that moment in the apartment earlier.
“I will work for you, Lucca, but you must know one thing. The road you are going down will lead to my brother one day, and I will stand by Dominic’s side.”
A smile touched his lips before he nodded in understanding.
“There is something else you need to know…” Her devil eyes glared into his demon-colored ones, unafraid. “Dominic’s like you. He just hasn’t shown you yet. He won’t go down as easily as Lucifer did. I can promise you that.”
Lucca leaned forward, blowing the smoke he had inhaled to float against her soft skin. “Why did you really come here, Katarina?”
“I know your little secret…,” she told him, holding it in for just a second longer. “I know you didn’t kill him.”
Amused, he sat back in his chair. “What makes you think that?”
“There’s no way you let him die, not after what he did to her.”
A spark flashed in his eyes for a split second, letting her know she was exactly right. She had seen the way he looked at Chloe, and in a single look she could tell he had fallen for the broken girl at first sight. It was what some would consider true love.
True love shouldn’t have existed for them, as it didn’t exist for the unlucky ones, but Lucca and Chloe defied the odds, making what they had more than just true love. They could die a thousand deaths only to be reborn to find the other again. Whatever that love was didn’t have a name, as it was too powerful to give it one.
He stood and went to the other side of the desk to sit on the edge. “Katarina…”
An image popped into her head. He could so easily lean forward and take her throat in his hands for knowing his secret.
“Would you like to see what is left of him?”
Thirty-Six
Do You Believe in Heaven and Hell, Lucca?
The sound of that cold metal door sliding open would haunt her nightmares, and when the light trickled into that dirty dungeon of a room, she could see the body that sat halfway in the shadows.
It was an almost lifeless, mutated, scrawny body that only lived because his captor willed it so, keeping him on the edge of death that was halfway on this living plane and the other in Hell itself.
The image before her would haunt her till the day she died as what she saw shouldn’t even exist in fucking nightmares.
“Has Angel seen him yet?” she asked, not crossing the threshold.
“Yes.” He confirmed what she thought. “He asked me to keep him alive till his brothers could see him.”
She took her eyes off the body to look at
him. “You may think you deserve to get to be the one to kill him, but you don’t.”
“And who do you think does?”
Her eyes went back to the body. “That’s for Matthias and Dominic to decide.”
Lucca wouldn’t ever give her a promise such as that, but at least he heard it.
“Cassius though… you can’t let Cassius know he’s here….” They all might have devil blood in their veins, but Cassius was the true spawn of the devil. “Because I don’t know what he would do if he saw him like this.”
He nodded his head this time, seeming to give her at least that promise.
You could hear the shackles that bound him to the room stir as he started to wake.
“Do you believe in Heaven and Hell, Lucca?”
He thought a moment before he answered her honestly, “I’m not sure anymore.”
“It exists.” She watched the poor soul scoot deep into the shadows till the only thing you could hear was the rattling of the chains from his fear. “Hell existed in the house I grew up in, but now, you made it exist here.”
Lucca smiled. “And Heaven?”
“Heaven exists.” Taking one last look, she put her hand on the cold door as she began to slide it closed. “But people like us will never get to see it.”
“You didn’t want to go closer, so he could see you and you could talk to him?”…
…Kat was in her bedroom in the basement when she heard the door open and feet coming down the steps. She got up from her bed instantly after seeing her brother’s face. In her heart she knew something was very wrong.
Dominic wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him in a huge hug. It was the first time she’d seen him cry as he spoke the words she would never forget. “He’s dead. He’s finally dead.”
Her arms wrapped around him now, gripping him with force as her own tears began to fall. The two stood there together crying for what seemed like an eternity that paled in comparison to the eternity they’d had to spend with their father.
The tears the brother and sister shared weren’t for their loss; they were… for their freedom….
…Kat walked away from that door and would never look back. “I wouldn’t give him the fucking pleasure.”…
…Dominic took her hand and led her up the steps that she would never have to go back down ever again. The weight of their father leaving them the second she closed that basement door.
Taking her down the hall, he opened his bedroom door, and both of them sat down on his bed for the first time.
“You can have my room now. If there’s anything you want from yours, we can bring it up her—”
“No,” she stopped him harshly before she softened her voice and wiped some more tears away. “I don’t want anything from down there up here.”
Understanding, Dominic nodded.
The two sat there in the quiet for a long time seeming to be still numb from the news.
“What do I do now?” she asked, not knowing how to proceed with her own life. It was something she never got to have before. “I don’t even know who I am.”
His hazel eyes looked into hers, wanting her to grasp something. “You get to be and do whatever you want, Katarina.”
Kat looked down at herself, her finger picking up a piece of her pale blond hair. “Can I dye my hair?”
Her brother laughed, putting his arm over her shoulder to pull her close to him. “Yes, if you want.”
“What color do you think I should dye it?” she asked, smiling for the first time in what seemed like forever.
“Hmm.” Dominic thought for a moment as he stared down at her. “I’ve always liked you in pink.”
Thirty-Seven
Why Can’t You Just Fuck M-?
Katarina came down the steps with her hair still damp from the shower she’d had to take the second she got home. When she came back, Drago had given her space, somehow instinctively knowing she needed it, but seeing him in the kitchen finishing up his protein shake, she found herself heading toward him.
There was something about the way he was standing there alone that brought an ache to her chest. Walking up behind him, she hesitated before she broke the air of isolation that was so much a part of him. That he hadn’t turned around at her approach showed that he was beginning to trust to her. Drago didn’t let anyone come up behind his back; he always seemed to be prepared for someone to pull a gun on him.
Sliding her arms around his waist, she didn’t feel an ounce of fat underneath the expensive material of his shirt as she laid her cheek on the back of his suit jacket. She expected him to jerk away from her touch, but he didn’t.
Drago clamped a hand down on her wrist, pulling her around to face him. The flames in his eyes highlighted the hint of red slumbering in their depths “You okay, Kitty Kat?”
“Yes.” She just needed to feel something good.
“What happened to the pink?” he asked, picking up a thick strand of hair that was no longer the pale shade of pink he had always seen but now a pale shade of blond.
Lately, she hadn’t been using the pink conditioner in the shower that helped keep it that color. Not seeing one Caruso girl who looked and dressed like her, she’d started to feel more self-conscious of her look. “I thought you might like it better this way.”
“I like the blond.” He dropped the strand of hair, then leaned down close to her lips. “But I really liked the pink.”
Kat smiled as excitement coursed through her veins at being so close to him. She reached up. It was the first time she sought his lips with hers.
He let their kiss only last for a few seconds before his mouth had other plans, going to the base of her throat. His tongue twirled at the pulse that skipped a beat at how good it felt.
Quickly, she realized Drago didn’t have to use a gun against his enemies; his tongue was his real weapon. She felt his hands slide down to right below her ass, and found herself wrapping her legs around him as she was abruptly picked up high in the air and taken to the couch, then carefully placed down.
Kat didn’t care what he wanted to do to her next, only that he would do something to release the burn that was beginning to hurt between her legs. With her devil eyes staring into his, it was the most erotic thing she had ever experienced as he dragged her shorts and panties down.
Biting down on her bottom lip, she only closed her eyes for a second when the air left her lungs at the suddenness of warm heat latching on to her clit. Startled, she stared down to see Drago’s eyes watching her expression as he continued sucking. She felt like maybe she should feel slightly embarrassed to have a man between her legs for the first time, but she wasn’t. Instead, what she was letting Drago do only filled her with more pleasure, one she felt she could not escape while her body begged for more.
The red tint on his cheekbones showed that she wasn’t the only one affected. Drago might be older and more experienced than her, but that wasn’t boredom she saw in his eyes. He watched every movement she made as he dipped his tongue inside of her. Closing her eyes, she wasn’t able to watch him as he thrust his tongue inside before pulling it out, then thrusting it inside her again. Fucking her with his tongue, Katarina couldn’t prevent the whimpers that left her mouth.
Her body felt boneless, his mouth the only thing keeping her pinned to earth. Each bite, lick, and rub of his tongue made it irresistible to stay right where she was. If she stayed in the same place for the rest of her life, she wanted to stay right there with Drago.
A fissure of desire lanced through her when he inserted a finger inside of her, her thighs splaying wider voluntarily, giving Drago anything he wanted. His mouth lingered over her clit as his finger drove deeper inside of her.
She shuddered when he began moving it inside in a motion that had her biting down on her bottom lip to keep from screaming out loud.
The glide of his finger had her hips rising, yet again wanting more than he was giving her. The tingling ache was getting stronger and fiercer, building to
a point she wasn’t sure she could withstand.
“Drago!” Moaning, she twisted and turned as her nails tore at his hair. She didn’t want him to stop. What she did want was more, and Drago wasn’t giving it to her.
A swipe of his tongue on her clit had her shouting at him, “Please….”
His eyes flashed back to hers as his tongue swiped over her clit again, this time much slower.
That swipe had her bunching his hair in her hands.
Easing his fingers out of her, then pushing them inside again as he played with her clit was more than she could take. Strong pulses rippled through her channel as her muscles clamped down on his fingers as her climax consumed what was left of her thoughts, whirling her in a dance of desire that Drago expertly guided her through step-by-step.
It was only when he removed his fingers and mouth from her body that she realized it was over. Blinking at him dazedly, she watched as he stood up.
He’s not going to do this to me again, is he?!
She was still blinking at him soundlessly as he went to the kitchen sink to wash his hands.
Why can’t you just fuck m—?
Thirty-Eight
Back Out the Rabbit Hole
Lying in bed next to him, she felt an ache in her heart at seeing the small space between them. It was only a couple of inches that separated them, but it felt like a mile.
He had told her it was late and that they needed to get some rest, but she couldn’t help but feel there was a reason why he abruptly stopped himself from touching her—again.
Katarina had been willing to give herself to him, but he didn’t want to take it.
She wondered if she needed to help him take it. She had just been lying there, after all, while he was the one who gifted out the pleasure. That was probably what bugged her about it the most. She wanted him to feel what she felt, and he wasn’t even giving it a chance.
Drago: Made Men, #6 Page 14