by Carina Blake
“I love you, Santino.” We kiss as if we don’t have an audience and honestly I don’t care who sees it. Before the judge leaves we filed all the necessary docs with the notarized and ready to be submitted for public record. We even made copies should something befall the judge before the documents are entered. Although I’m sure Santino won’t let that happen.
“Congratulations, Mrs. Benedetti.”
“Thank you, your honor.”
He leaves as we enjoy a small cake that Rita ordered along with some fine Italian cuisine from a local restaurant. The entire time, Santino can’t take his eyes off of me, and there’s always a hint of a smile on it with a wink or two even when he talks to the Russians.
“Giada, Giada,” Mom says, shaking me out of my memory.
“Oh no what’s going on?”
“Are you okay? We lost you there for a minute. He’s going to be okay. I’m sure of it.”
“Thank you. I was lost in a very happy memory.” We hug and wait for news.
Chapter Twenty-One
Santino
“Romo, what brings you here?” I ask as we step out of my office to go to the parking garage. I don’t want the media or my father to know that I’m alive, so this is the only way to go about it.
“I heard the call on the radio. Are you okay, Santino?”
I still can’t trust him, but I’m getting a little closer to it. The next few hours will tell me a lot about who he really is. “I am. Now’s not the time to retell what happened. He’s on the way to get my mother.”
“Then let’s go. I’ve already pinned those guys who were outside the building. I saw them lingering. One of them was the one at your house the other day, so they’re all on the way to the station.”
I remember that bastard. Faustino. I want to rip his eyeballs out and shove them down his throat. Giada told me what he said to her and what Rafael had planned once she gave him a baby, which gave me more pause. He would have killed her like he did Marie if she fucked anyone else. There’s no way he’d share. It’s just who these guys were. It had to be a setup to kill two birds with one stone.
Knowing he’s locked up means he doesn’t have eyes on the building to see us leave. “Thank fuck. I don’t want Marchetti to have a heads up that we’re coming for him.”
I jump in my vehicle with Joey at my side. I send Martin a message to take them to the safe room until I come back.
We pull up to the house and there’s Rafael Sr. waiting in his car with two guys. They’re armed.
We don’t get too close, and he doesn’t see me yet. “Mr. Marchetti, please step out of the car and put your hands up.” He surrenders easily, which takes me by surprise. “Mr. Marchetti, you’re under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, the attempted abduction of Mrs. Marchetti, and the unlawful imprisonment of Giada Avanti.”
“Her name is Marchetti.”
“Actually, let me correct both of you. Her name is Giada Benedetti. She’s my wife, legally.” He looks as if he sees a ghost. My shirt’s still splattered with blood, and I hadn’t thought of it until his haunted expression.
“Where’s Rafael?”
I smile and then suck in some air. “Oh shit. I’m going to have to break the news to Mom. Damn, she’s going to be crushed.” I watch as his face shifts from heartbroken to pure rage.
“You killed my son, you fucking bastard.”
“Yeah, well. It was either him or me. You bet on the wrong horse. Besides, you killed my father.”
“You’re a dead man.” He snarls, attempting to break free from the cuffs.
“You keep trying, and I’m not the one who’s going to be six feet under soon. I wonder if they’re going to let you out for his funeral. Well, I suppose someone needs to do the planning.” I shrug and smirk.
“You’ll pay for this.”
“I already have.” I walk away, hating how awful I’m being about my brother’s death. Despite it all, he was my brother. We grew up together, even though he hated me and I didn’t trust him.
I finally make it into the house and into the safe room. As soon as the door slides open, Giada is in my arms with her legs wrapped around my waist, kissing my face. “Baby. Baby. I’m okay.”
“We heard on the news that there was a shooting at an office building. And I saw Faustino outside the building, so I thought they came after you. Then Martin secured us in here.”
“They did come after me.” I hold up my hand to interrupt Giada. “Mom, I’m sorry, but Rafael is dead.”
“I know. I knew that only one of you would come out alive if something like this happened. It’s terrible, but I hoped it would be you.” She hugs me and sobs. For all that he was, he was still her son. Her baby just like I was. “I wish Rafael had done better with him. I wish he would have let me raise him as I raised you.”
“He needed someone to follow in his footsteps.”
“Oh goodness, he’s going to come here shooting up the house.”
“No. He’s been arrested outside the house. He was coming to get you.” She fell to the chair and sat down.
After a minute, she cries into her hands. “My heart aches so painfully. God, I cannot reconcile the feelings in me.”
“I’m sorry, Mom.” Giada moves to my mother and hugs her. I see the tears in my woman’s eyes, and I try not to let jealousy seep in.
“You can hate him. It’s okay, Giada,” my mother says.
“I’m not crying for him. I’m crying for you and the way this all could have been avoided.” I lean over and touch her shoulder. Both women separate and Giada clings to me. “I’m sorry for what you had to do.”
“Thank you, my love. I’m sorry, too. If only things had been different.”
“Santino, I hate to interrupt, but the police would like a word with you.”
“Which one?”
“Randall.”
“Martin, protect them with your life.” I give Giada a hard kiss and brush her stomach before walking out.
It takes me another twenty minutes with the officers and their questions. They want to talk to my mother and wife, but it will have to wait. I’m about to walk inside when a woman in a suit approaches us. “Hello, Mr. Benedetti, is it?”
“Yes, and you are?”
“Sorry. I’m DA Erin Lowe.” Joey appears next to me all of a sudden, and I see something different in his stance.
“Excuse me. I’m here to have a private conversation with Mr. Benedetti.”
“I’m his personal guard, so...”
“Whatever. We’ve reviewed the evidence on the scene and the police were given a copy of the audio from staff. A copy will be also given to the district attorney’s office. However, from the footage and the audio, it’s clear he came in to kill you and you fought over the weapon. We’ve decided that no charges will be filed against you.”
“Thank you.”
“But I must warn you that it’s not over yet. You and Mrs. Benedetti must be careful. There are still loyal puppies to the Marchettis and should Marchetti get out on bail, I expect him to find a way to get to you. We can provide you with additional security if needed.”
“No, I have plenty on my staff and frankly, I have less trust in the justice system than I do in actual crooks. Is there anything else I need to be made aware of?”
“Yes. This morning we discovered the bodies of six men and a woman in a mass grave just outside of the city limits. One of the men was Detective Morel, and the other men worked for your father and the woman was Marie O’Conner.”
“Rafael’s wife...”
“Yes, we heard the audio. I’m assuming both men committed the killings, but as of right now the audio only links Rafael Jr. Also, due to the conversation you had with Detective Morel, we are charging Rafael Sr. with the murder of both Morel and Santino Benedetti Sr.”
“My mother will be pleased.”
“That’s all for now, Mr. Benedetti.” She looks at Joey and scowls. “You stay out of trouble, Joseph.”
“Whatever, sweetheart.” He winks at her.
“Is there something I missed?”
“She’s the one who put me in prison and she’s the one who got me out, even if she won’t admit to it. I want to bend her sexy ass over and remind her of how good our one night was.”
“Oh shit. There’s a lot more to that, but I need to take a shower and comfort my wife.”
“Lucky bastard.” We walk inside the gate, and security shuts and locks it up. I’m tired and need to take out my confusion about what I’ve done with my mouth between my wife’s legs.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Giada
Two months later
It feels so good to be out of the house. We’ve only been out a handful of times since Rafael’s death. It’s not that safe, but we had enough and promised we’d take as many guards as Santino wanted as long as we can have a nice mother-daughter day. His mom has truly become like a real mother to me. I’m surrounded by wall-to-wall security, but Mom and I are getting our nails and feet done.
“I need to thank Santino for this special treat.”
“I know, right? I’m so happy right now. For months I’ve been locked up, and now I’m free and madly in love.” I giggle as we sit with our feet soaking in the hot water.
“Giada?” I look over and see my actual mother and a woman I don’t know. Well, woman is hardly an accurate description. She looks younger than me. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m getting my nails done. What does it look like?” The woman has a lot of nerve coming to even speak to me.
“Is that any way to talk to your mother?”
“You’re not my mother,” I remind her. She gave up that right the second she pawned me off on that monster.
“And this puttana is your mother? She married her husband’s murderer and helped him set up the D’Angelos. She belongs in prison too.” I jump out of my chair to knock this bitch out, but Santino’s mom puts her hand on my arm and shakes her head. I suppose she’s right.
“Ma’am, you’re going to have to leave.” One of my guards grabs her around the arm.
“We have an appointment.”
“Not anymore,” he adds.
He’s about to lead them out when Mom says, “Never mind. They can stay. I’m not going to let her, or anyone, get the better of me. She’s the one who sold her daughter into a violent, loveless marriage because she was having an affair with my soon-to-be ex-husband.”
She gasps, and I’m shocked. Nothing about Rafael Marchetti had been good looking, so how did he get all these women to cheat on their husbands? “You don’t know anything.”
I roll my eyes at her and let a guffaw slips past my lips. “Whatever. That expression on your face says enough, but young lady, I’d watch out. They traffic women. I know because I was one and this woman gave birth to me.” The young lady pulls away from my incubator and rushes out of the building. “One less victim, Mrs. Avanti?” I tease.
“Bitch, you will pay.”
“I already have.” She leaves in a rush. That poor girl needs to get far away before they catch her, and this time it won’t be some nice charity they do. She’ll be drugged and turned over quickly.
I call my guard over and say, “Please check on that young lady. I don’t want her injured too.” He nods and goes to find the young lady. I turn to my mother-in-law and apologize. “I’m sorry about her.”
“No, Giada. I’m the one who should be sorry for you. You had a terrible family and were forced to marry my son.”
“I know, but if it hadn’t been Rafael, it would have been one of the D’Angelos, and I would have never met Santino. I can’t change my past. I’ve decided that I can’t be a victim forever. Rafael’s just a bad relationship like many women have, or that’s the way I’m going to see it because I want to be happy with Santino and the past will only get in the way.”
“You’re so wise for your age.”
“I wish. I’m going to try to read more books and see where that goes. I only have a high school education, and I was homeschooled at that. My education was only so the state didn’t ask questions. They already sewed up my life the second I grew breasts.”
“Again. I’m so sorry, but I promise to be the mother and grandmother that they show on those sweet movies.”
“I’m sure you will. Now, enough of this stressful nonsense. Let’s enjoy being pampered.”
We spend the rest of the day out and about shopping and eating lunch at a nice café. It’s almost time for Santino to get out of work, so we head back to the house.
He comes home about an hour after we do, but he’s looking grumpy. I’m sure they told him about the run-in with my egg donor.
“What’s wrong, Santino?” I ask, brush my hand along his bicep.
“Nothing,” he grunts, kissing my cheek before moving to take off his suit jacket and shoes.
“That hardly looks like nothing.”
“I’m fine.”
Ha. I don’t believe him for a minute. “Bullshit.”
“What did I tell your pretty ass about swearing?”
“I don’t know. I think I need a reminder.”
With a growl, he scoops me up and takes the stairs two at a time to our room. “Clothes off now,” he barks as he quickly strips out of his own. He’s on me like a wild animal kissing and biting while pumping into me until I’m screaming his name over and over again.
We’re snuggling under the covers when I broach the subject of his mood when he came home. “So about this grumpiness?”
He leans on his elbow and forearm and says, “Denton, he shot Dimitri.”
“The guy you fired?”
He nods, feeling the weight of the blame. “Yes, but he didn’t do it to get at me. Denton was just looking for someone to take me out. Now it’s not me he’s got to worry about. It had to do with the Russians and their enemies. It was a ruse meant to have Alexei react and blame me, but their plan backfired because Bykov had common sense and a shrewdness about him that didn’t allow him to overreact without thinking things through.”
“Thankfully. Besides, he did seem like a nice guy when we met.” He went back and forth until Dimitri was well enough to travel. Dimitri came to visit us before going to Russia for a long vacation.
“He’s not a nice guy.” Santino growls out of jealousy.
“I mean that he kind of is a decent guy to you. He lent you the plane to come and get me.”
“You have a point,” he grumbles, but there’s a possessive glint in his eyes that just dares me to add fuel to that flame.
“He’s kind of good looking too.” He flips me onto my back and pins me to the bed just as I expected.
“Mrs. Benedetti, I’m afraid you’re in need of a reminder of who you belong to and what I’ll do to keep you with me forever.” He reaches over into our bedroom drawer and pulls out the cuffs.
“You wouldn’t,” I challenge as I feel my pussy clench with desire.
“You know I will. Hands.”
“No,” I refuse, shaking my head to the side. He flips me onto my belly and slides my arms behind my back.
“You know that’s going to cost you.”
“Yep.”
“You’re not supposed to enjoy your punishment, my love.”
“I enjoy everything with you.” He lifts my ass up, wrapping one strong hand on the cuffs, restraining my wrists while the other hand guides his thick cock deep inside in one fluid motion. I feel so full from this position and I want more. I push my ass back onto his abs as he thrusts hard over and over again.
“You’re mine, Giada. Now, tell me what I want to hear.”
“I’m yours, Santino. Only yours.”
“That’s good, baby. Now come on my dick. I want to feel your release milking every last creamy drop out of my balls.” He leans down, planting his hands on the mattress and his chest on my back. I curve my fingers and scratch at his belly, loving the way he gets so worked up.
“Give it to me,” he demands
, and my pussy does his bidding, coming hard on his length. He pumps hard, shooting his cum on my pulsing walls. “So beautiful. Giada, you are so beautiful.”
Epilogue
Santino
A year later
“The Marchetti Family had collapsed at the weight of the elder Rafael Marchetti’s arrest last year. Although no one is talking, there is speculation that the hit on Marchetti had come from another crime family on the East Coast. The body had been found floating in the ravine just off the New Jersey turnpike at the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Marchetti had been awaiting trial for the murder of at least six individuals, including New York Homicide Detective Michael Morel when he’d gone missing nearly a year ago. It was believed that he fled to Italy to avoid prosecution, but with the spring thaw, two Department of Transportation workers located the body during a routine inspection on the bridge.
“Detective Morel had been petitioning to open up the nineteen-ninety case of the murder of Santino Benedetti. The family details have been a sordid one straight out of a Hollywood movie. That’s it from outside the district attorney’s office, I’m Anita Perez for GBC Television.”
I click off the news and switch it to the weather. It’s going to be a great day today. Spring is here, and I’m home. The news cameras are already shining outside my door.
“Sir, do you want me to shoo them away?” Martin asks, coming to stand at my side. It’s been a busy morning, and I just got off the phone with the DA an hour ago before this report came on the air.
“No, I’ll address them briefly.” I walk out of the house with my security to the front gate. I won’t open it because this isn’t worth more than a minute of my time.
“Mr. Benedetti, Mr. Benedetti,” the reporters shout. I raise my hand to silence them.
“I won’t be taking more than a couple of questions, so make it count.”
I point to one of the men in the front. “Mr. Benedetti, how are you feeling with the news of your estranged stepfather’s death?”
“As most of you have heard, he’s the reason my real father isn’t here. My mother and I suffered a lifetime of abuse from him. So all I can say is, I’m glad the son of a bitch is dead. My family can breathe a little easier. Next question.”