Her mouth stays silent but the fires in her eyes still rage as I watch a myriad of emotions play across the beautiful porcelain skin before she turns back to look out the window at the passing traffic.
Sophia looks like her mother, at least from the pictures I’ve seen.She may have her dad’s dark Italian coloring, but her skin is so creamy it’s hard to resist caressing, if just to see if it’s as soft as it was the night in my car, or if it was merely a dream.“How much?”she asks quietly.
It’s not hard to know what she’s asking.“How much money did your father take when he had our trucks hijacked?”
Her eyes slowly find mine as she turns, looking genuinely surprised.“It’s not true.I would have known.There are protocols, rules we live by, you of all people should know that.Papa would never have done something that could be taken as an all-out start of war without preparing and safeguarding his daughters.We mean the world to him.Unlike you and your brothers and father, Papa is not a monster.”
“Yet he did, and now you must pay for his deeds.”
Her dark eyes flash a golden amber color as they graze me with their disdain and perhaps even hate.“You’ll be sorry you ever met me one day, and it will be one day in the very near future, Massimo.You mark my words.I will make you pay for the day you came uninvited into our home and took something that does not belong to you.”
I shift in my seat and tug at a diamond cuff link.“Your father consented, Sophia.You belong to me now.At least for as long as it takes.”
Her head whips around with anger.“I don’t now, nor will I ever, belong to you.You’re nothing but a two-bit hood who has the entire community believing you’re this great person who donates to worthy causes.They don’t know where your money comes from though, do they, Massimo?But I see you, the underground world you live in, I know you.”
It’s impossible not to lean in, or to stroke a finger down that creamy skin, grazing it over those voluptuous but impudent lips.“Shh… That mouth of yours is going to be your undoing, Sophia.”
She’s not impervious to the chemistry that runs between us, enemies or not.I felt it the other night and I feel it now too.The pulse on the side of her neck beats stronger and her cheeks heat an erotic shade of pink as her nipples pebble under her clingy tee, leaving imagined images of her nude body running through my mind, the very same way they did while tossing and turning in the night thinking about the dark-haired beauty.
Sophia should be grateful that for some innate reason I feel the need to protect her from the wrath of the warehouse, no doubt where my father believes that she, or more desirable yet to my father, her sister, will be taken.But, of course, Sophia doesn’t have a self-preserving bone in her body, only defiance in the face of certain defeat.“My father isn’t a liar.He isn’t a thief and he’s ten times the man you could ever hope to be.Fuck you and the entire Roselli family!”
Georgeo raises his eyebrows in the rearview mirror.It will never do to let her get away with that runaway mouth in front of the staff.Especially ones I do not know very well.If Jimmy weren’t tied up getting things ready, he would be here with me now.I suddenly regret not bringing him instead.All the new staff have eyes and ears and lips all too eager to whisper in my father’s ear these days.“I’ll deal with you when we get into the house,” I tell her as the sprawling white four-column mansion of my estate comes into view in the distance.
Sophia’s quiet as we drive through the gates, but the erratic rate of the tell-tale pulse on the column of her neck indicates her fear.But yet, she doesn’t let that stop her runaway mouth.“Fine, now we’ve arrived at the great Roselli estate.I should be shaking in my boots, scared to death of what you may do.”
“You should indeed.”
“You’re not going to do anything to me, because if you do, my father will kill you with his bare hands, and it will be painful and slow.”
My jaw locks tight as Georgeo watches the interaction from the front seat.I get out of the car and walk to the other side.When I pull open the door, she’s already removed her seat belt, which is going to make picking the mouthy little minx up and tossing her over my shoulder to cart upstairs and spank the sass out of her that much easier.
I reach in to grab her by the waist, but her long toned limb lodges the force of her foot right into my inner thigh, just narrowly missing my groin, causing my grip to loosen while she makes a run for it across the bright green manicured lawn and straight towards the woods.
My jaw shifts with annoyance, but it’s hard not to be impressed …
The soldiers around the front perimeter begin to follow, but I hold up a hand to stay their course.This I will take care of on my own, in my own way.Sophia has a head start, but she’s not going anywhere.Besides, the thrill of chasing her makes my dick harder than it’s ever been.
8
Sophia
The pounding of feet hitting the ground and sounds of breathing behind me tell me I have little to no time.I make one last ditch effort, darting into the surrounding trees, the lushness of the forestry giving me a sense of security, if only for a moment.
Until Massimo’s arms of steel close around me, tightening, pulling me against the rigid hardness of his body as he whispers with that deep throated gravelly voice in my ear.“You can run, but you can’t hide.I will always catch you, kitten.”
I try to slow my breathing, while he seems barely winded, effortlessly hoisting me into the air and over his shoulder as he stalks back toward the armed men who watch from a distance.
My throat burns, fearing I may have taken this too far, may have pushed him more than I should.So much for dignity and bravery.I know the stories about what happens to prisoners and they aren’t untrue.“I’ll go, willingly,” I whisper.
Massimo keeps one arm over my legs, his fingers pressed into my thigh while my face rests against the hardness of his back, as we walk back to his sprawling white estate.“As if you have a choice.”
I should scream, scratch or kick, anything to get myself free but his hold on me is as resolute as the steps he takes, marching me closer and closer to my new and unwelcome home.Yet the fresh scent of his soap invades my nostrils, and my cheek presses against the hardness of the muscles and the warmth of his body, and fierceness of the man as though a protector and not the devil himself.
Whether the feeling is spurred by the overwhelming desire caused by the run and chase, the way he held me tight and whispered in my ear, the feel of his dick that was pressed so hard against me in the woods, or simply because I know it will only make things worse, if I don’t?
It’s hard to say, and I doubt for one moment that the devil even cares.Maybe he did last week, but clearly not today.Things have changed and I would be wise to remember that in the future if I am to survive.
The next don of the Roselli crime family has completed the order no doubt issued by his father.One my papa would have given himself if wronged by a rival.But no wrong has been done, I simply can’t convince myself otherwise.Not while Papa is in charge.His daughters and wife before us have always been the priority.Family first has always been his motto.Yet here we are.
