The Rossi Crime Family: The Complete Five Book Mafia Series

by J. L. Beck

  “You kept your promise.” Her voice cracks.

  “Of course, I did. I let you down once, and It’s not going to happen again.”

  The smile wipes from her face, and a frown forms on her full lips. “You didn’t let me down, Ivan.”

  I clench my jaw, holding back my anger. She has no idea of the raging war of insanity that’s taking place inside my head.

  “I did let you down. I told you I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you and I broke that promise. I failed you, and that’s not okay. It’s just not.”

  She looks sad, and I don’t want her to feel bad for me, not at fucking all. She just got whipped with a belt, for Christ sakes.

  “Don’t be sad.” I rub a knuckle gently across her bruised cheek. “I don’t want you to feel bad. None of this is your fault. You didn’t ask to be brought here. I vowed to protect you until the auction, and I failed you. This is on me, and whatever misery I feel for failing you is my own. Let me feel bad, let me hate myself. I deserve to feel this way.”

  “Ivan.” She pushes up onto her arms. I can see the pain in her features as she moves closer to me, her body hovering above mine. “I’m just lucky that I found you that night when I got out of my cell. If I didn’t, I would already be dead, so while you’re wallowing in your misery, just remember that you saved my life that night, just like you did tonight.”

  I know she’s right. I fucking know it, but that doesn't mean I want to admit it. I open my mouth to respond but close it. There is nothing more for me to say. I would just have to keep a better eye on her, watch her cell at all times, unless… An idea enters my mind. I could get her a cell phone. Something she could keep just in case. I bet if I went down to my office, I could find a burner in one of my drawers. I usually always use one when contacting Rossi.

  “I can’t always be hanging around your cell, and I can’t keep you up here with me all the time, even though I want to. I have some burner phones down in my office. I’m going to give you one and have you keep it with you during the day.”

  I see a spark of excitement in her eyes.

  I pause, my eyes bleeding into hers. “Kitten, you have to promise you won’t call anybody but me. You need to trust me on this, just like you trusted me earlier to take the pill. I have a plan to get you out of here, but if you do something that could compromise it, I will not be able to protect you, or get you out alive.”

  Her eyes light up, like I’ve never seen them before. “You can really get me out of here?”

  “Yes, and I promise I will, but if someone finds out I gave you a phone, we are both as good as dead. This place is a fortress… a well-armed fortress. If someone alerted the police of this place, Rossi would know right away. He is connected, has people everywhere. He would burn this whole place down before the cops could get a strike team together. Do you understand me?” I can’t even begin to explain the importance of this to her.

  “Yes, I understand, but how are you going to get me out then?” She seems unsure, and she should be. I don’t know yet how I’m going to do it, but I’ve already killed for her and once Rossi discovers what I’ve done, he’ll have us both killed. There is no way around it.

  “There is no way I can just walk you out of here, but the place the auction is at is not this heavily protected. They still have tight security, but I know some people there. I can pay some guys off, call in some favors to get you out quietly, and if that doesn't work, then I’ll take you out by force. One way or another, I’ll get you out of this mess and together, we will go into hiding.”

  “Together?” She sits up a little straighter, her eyes wide, like she doesn’t believe what I’m saying. “You said…” She stumbles over her words. “Before, you said that you wouldn’t want to… keep me, even if you could.”

  I clench my fists against the sheets. “I know I said that, and it’s still true, partially.”

  She looks sad at my response, and I hate it. But she’s also acting like she expected more, like maybe I’d want her forever and though the thought is appealing, I’m not so sure I could keep her. She deserves better, a life where she doesn’t have to remain in the shadows.

  “I can’t keep you, Violet, and you wouldn’t want me anyway. There are things about me that you wouldn’t like and things I can’t share. This is temporary. A means to an end. I will save you and then you’ll be rid of me, free to do as you please.”

  “I just…” She averts her eyes down to the sheets. “Never mind, you’re right.” There’s a bitterness to her tone but I can’t force myself to think any further into it. I can’t admit to her how I feel, or the things I want to do to her.

  “Go take a shower, and I’ll go downstairs to my office and find a phone, okay?” I give her a soft smile, but she doesn’t look at me. She just moves away from the bed and toward the bathroom. All I can think as I watch her walk away is how if I could save her and keep her all to myself, I would.

  But I won’t subject her to a life on the run.

  She’s already broken enough, and the thought of hurting her, or putting her in a position where she could be hurt again, isn’t something I will let happen.

  Chapter Eleven

  Violet

  I don’t know how to feel about what Ivan told me. Freedom. A life without him. It seems like those things can’t coexist together… not anymore. Not after being locked inside this place for so many weeks. Weeks that feel like years. I try to imagine it. I couldn’t go back to my old life. I couldn’t just go home and put my sister in danger, pretending nothing happened. If I regain my freedom, I have to live somewhere else, far away from the only family I have left. I won’t be Violet anymore but a shell of my old self.

  I’ll have to remain hidden just like Ivan will.

  It should be easy for me to imagine being on my own, knowing Ivan doesn’t want me, not like I want him. I try and analyze the reasons I want him the way I do and none of them make sense. I tell myself it’s because he’s been the only sliver of light in the darkness surrounding me that makes me want him, want him in a deeper way, but I’m not so sure. I think maybe it’s the fact that deep down, I know he wants me, too. Though the circumstances of how we’ve come together are fucked up, I can see it, feel it in the way he touches me. But if he won’t admit it to himself, what can I do?

  I shake the thought away. If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t have trusted me to have a cell phone, knowing I could call anyone. He wouldn’t have killed that horrible man, and he wouldn’t bring me up to his room every night, holding me close to his body, telling me everything was going to be okay.

  It’s not that he doesn’t want me, it’s that he’s afraid to admit it. He’s afraid he’s not good enough, but he has no idea how good he truly is. At least in my eyes and I plan to show that to him, tonight. I know I don’t owe him anything for his kindness, but I do want to give him something that he’ll always have as a reminder of me.

  I sit in the cell alone, bored out of my mind, wondering if Ivan will take me up on my offer and what will happen if I actually do get out of this alive. Two days have passed since the checking, and I’m now back in my cell for the first time again. Ivan was able to keep me in his room all day yesterday and it was pure bliss, even after the conversation we had. He took care of me, making sure I was comfortable and had everything I needed. He even cooked for me.

  It made coming back down here this morning dreadful. The last thing I want is to spend more time in this room, especially after everything that happened here, but he did as he said he would and got me a phone. I keep it hidden in the sweatpants I’m wearing just as he instructed.

  It feels heavy in my pocket, giving me a sense of security. If someone comes in here to hurt me, I can call him. He set his number on up on speed dial and made me practice calling him, as if I didn’t know how to use a cell phone or something. If I need to, I can have the phone unlocked and his number dialed blindly within three seconds while keeping it in my pocket.

  The day seems to drag on as I w
ait for the last meal of the day. Thanks to the phone, I actually know what time it is. I go into the corner of the bathroom, where I know no one can see me and check the phone. It’s nearly six and Ivan said food is delivered around six, which means I won’t have to wait much longer to see him.

  I feel like a little kid waiting impatiently for Christmas morning. The minutes tick by slowly when I’m away from him, but when I’m in his arms, it seems like they won’t slow down. When I finally hear the food flap being opened and my tray being pushed through it, I almost tell the guy on the other side thank you. I take the tray and sit down on the mattress, chewing on the stale bread.

  Besides what Ivan made me, I’ve only had less than appetizing sandwiches, and I’m sure it’s starting to show. As soon as I get out of this place, I’m going to have a nice juicy burger. I visualize myself eating the burger and take a sip of water to wash it down.

  It doesn't take long until the door opens once more, and Ivan’s large frame appears. I jump up from the mattress and run straight into his arms. He hugs me briefly but then releases me, and I miss the warmth of his embrace with seconds.

  “We can’t linger, just in case someone comes down here for whatever reason. You know what to do, right?” He gives me a knowing look.

  “Keep my eyes closed and my mouth shut,” I confirm.

  He nods and picks me up, throwing me over his right shoulder. I hold on to the back of his shirt as he hurries up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I have no idea how he does this while carrying me on his back, let alone without breaking out into sweat, but somehow, he does.

  By the time we get to his place, I am dizzy from the fast movement while hanging upside down, but I could care less about my journey up here. All I care about is being here now… with him. Most of the marks on my back are nearly healed, the belt having not cut into my skin as badly as I thought.

  I think back to my thoughts earlier, of how I planned to prove to him how deserving of me he really is. He denied me once before, but I won’t let him deny me this time. If this is the only piece of myself I can give him, then I want him to have it.

  “Ivan…” I nervously stand in the middle of the living room while he’s in the kitchen getting me something to drink. “I want to… I mean…” I stumble over the words, unable to get them out. I’m a nervous wreck, wondering how he’ll respond to my request.

  Ivan returns from the kitchen and hands me a glass of orange juice. “What is it, Kitten?”

  I take the glass from his hands, suck in a quick breath, and try again to get the words out. “I still want you to be my first. I know you don’t think you deserve me, but you do. I want to have this experience together. I want to give that part of myself to you and not because I feel like I need to repay you, but because I want this. I want the choice. I want this memory.”

  Ivan shakes his head, taking a step backward. “You don’t know what you want, Violet. You don’t want me to be your first. You have no idea how stupid that sounds.”

  I should be angry at how harsh his words are but I’m not.

  “We’ve done other things. Why can’t we do this? Why can’t I have this choice? I want you, Ivan. I want you and only you. It’s only sex, right?”

  He lets out a harsh laugh. “No, it’s not just sex. It’s your virginity, your first fucking time. It should mean something. It should be with someone important. Not me. I’m not important. I’m part of the reason you’re in this place, the reason you’ve gotten hurt. This entire fucking ordeal leads back to me.”

  I place the cup he handed me on the table to my right and cross the space separating us. He wants me to see him as the devil, this evil man, but all he’s doing is his job. Yes, he knows it’s bad and wrong and yeah, that makes him fucked up, but it doesn’t make him unworthy. It doesn’t mean I can’t give myself to him. I stand so close to him that I have to crane my neck up to see his face, and he has to look down to meet my eyes.

  “Don’t try and make me see you as something you aren’t. The real monsters were the three men who attacked me. You saved me, Ivan. You cared about me, when no one else did. You show me compassion and yeah, you can try and hide it from yourself, but you can’t hide it from me. I know you care about me.”

  “Of course, I care about you, that’s why I don’t want to take this from you.” His voice cracks, and I know he wants this... wants me. He just needs to be pushed, coaxed to the edge.

  “You are not taking anything from me I don’t want to give to you. Please… you said yourself that if someone finds out about us, find the phone, or finds Yulie, that we are as good as dead. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the next week, Ivan. I don’t want to have any regrets, and I know I will regret it if I never have the chance to give this to you. I want you. No one else, regardless of any future. I want you.”

  Before he can answer, I grab the hem of my shirt and pull it over my head. I swallow nervously, watching as he clenches his fists, his eyes roaming over my chest. I’m so afraid he’ll reject me that I start to shake. Like the knight he is, he’s on me, pressing a hard kiss to my lips, owning every single piece of my heart.

  He pulls away, and his lips ghost against mine.

  “We’ll do this, but only because you want it so badly. I’m not a good man and this part of you shouldn't belong to me, but whatever you're giving me, I'll take, because it comes from you.”

  I get up on my tiptoes so I can press another kiss to his lip. This time, he picks me up and I wrap my legs around his waist, letting him carry me to the bedroom. He doesn't let go of me as he kicks off his shoes and gets on the bed to lay me down as he hovers right above me. I pull on his shirt, urging him to take it off and he does, throwing it down to the floor. He lowers himself again, so that there is only an inch of space between our bodies, and I can feel the electric charge between us. Pulling us together like magnets.

  He kisses my mouth sweetly before peppering kisses along my jawline, moving down my neck and over my collarbone, blazing a fiery path to my breasts.

  Once there, he sucks the hardened nipple into his mouth, and I come unglued.

  “Ivan,” I call out, not knowing what I need but knowing I need more of it. He kneads my other breast with his huge hand, and I arch my back, pushing my breasts into his face.

  “Fuck.” He releases my nipple with a loud pop that resonates through the room. “I want you so bad it hurts.” His lips move down my body, while both his hands hold onto my tits.

  “Then have me... please have me…” I whimper, afraid that he may come to his senses and end this before it even has a chance to begin.

  “Oh, I will, Kitten.” He looks up at me just as he reaches my panty line; his eyes are dark and filled with need. My chest heaves, and heat spreads through my center and outward. I'm ready. I want him. I need him, like I need my next breath.

  “Patience... I need you nice and wet so when I slip deep inside you, all you’ll feel is inch upon glorious inch of pleasure.”

  “I'm ready now...” I pant as he releases my breasts and grabs onto the sweatpants and my panties at my hips, pulling them down my legs ever so slowly.

  “Not ready enough. I need you soaked, drenched, Kitten. I need your sweet cream coating my hand and dripping down your thighs.”

  His dirty words make me moan, and I can't seem to get enough of him. I know after tonight, after this moment occurs between us, losing him will hurt like hell, but I'll take the pain for a small taste of pleasure. He nudges my legs apart and sits up, his body looming above mine.

  I drink him in, every delicious inch of his muscled torso. I reach up, running my fingers over his slick abs, his muscles rippling beneath my fingers. Each beautiful muscle looks as if it’s been cut from stone. My gaze drops to his stiffened cock, tenting his boxers.

  “You’re going to come on my hand before he comes anywhere near you.” His voice is thick with carnal need while his fingers trail over my mound and down between my wet folds.

  “Please…�
�� I look him straight in the eyes, sinking my nails into his flesh, leaving little half-moons behind. He smirks down at me, his thumb rubbing gently against my clit, teasing me. My eyes drift closed, and then I feel it. One thick digit slips inside. At first, he only goes knuckle deep, slowly plunging his finger in and out of my tightness. Coils of pleasure fill my belly and instantly, I want more, but of course, he is taking his time as if he is savoring every slip inside me.

  My body squirms underneath his touch and a soft gasp falls from my lips when he thrusts his finger past the knuckle, sinking deeper inside my channel. I claw at his abs, needing more, so much more. I spread my legs wider and gnaw on my bottom lip, the burning pleasure inside me building with each stroke. An electric current shoots through my veins, and I lift my hips, trying to meet the thrust of his finger. I pout, my inexperienced thrust not helping me get him any deeper. A soft chuckle fills the air and my eyes pop open, finding Ivan’s as if we’re two magnets, completely drawn to each other.

  We stare at each other for a long moment, the pressure builds deep inside me, and my chest rises and falls like I’m running in a marathon. He adds a second finger, moving the two in a scissoring motion, all while keeping eye contact with me.

  I lick my lips and feel the heat of my orgasm wash over me. My insides quiver, and my pussy clenches tightly around his thick fingers.

  “Ivan…” I scream his name, bucking my hips, grabbing onto his hand to hold it in my place. The pleasure is blinding, overtaking my heart, mind, body, and soul.

  Ivan doesn’t let up though; he keeps plunging deep inside me, stroking me until I start to feel a second orgasm build. He stretches my channel, preparing me for his thickness, and I watch through hooded eyes as he bites his bottom lip, watching his fingers dip in and out of me furiously.

  “Come for me again, Kitten. Make that virgin pussy come all over my hand again.” Ivan’s words are crude, naughty, and downright delicious. I follow his orders, my womb tightening, unraveling at the seams as another orgasm slams into me. My channel gushes, and I feel my release do exactly as he asked, and just as he asked I come all over his hand.