Belonging to the Italian Mafia Boss: A Dark Mafia Arranged Marriage Romance (Possessive Mafia Kings Book 7)

I needed twenty minutes to regroup. Fucking her hadn’t been the plan. Not at all. But when she’d kissed me… I lost control. I needed to be inside of her, so I took what I wanted. Watching how she moaned and her eyes rolled back in her head sent me over an edge that I rarely crossed. I wanted to bottle up the sweet smell of her. I wanted to fuck her until she was in tears, begging me to let her finish one more time.

I thought that if I conceded, I’d be able to control myself. I expected the thoughts of her to fade, but still, all I could think about was the way her body arched up to meet mine.

“I’m ready.”

I hadn’t even noticed her come down the stairs, and as I looked at her, the memory of what we’d done seconds ago bore into me.

I needed to get control of myself. These thoughts needed to stop.

“Let’s go,” I said coldly, guiding her toward the black van. She sat in the passenger’s seat, and we took off wordlessly. I needed her to fear me just like everyone else, but she didn’t. I could see it in her eyes, and the way she entirely enjoyed me dominating her proved that.

“Where are we going?”

I wondered if my impulsive decision to bring her here had been a bad idea. At the moment, I wanted her to see the good my team did—to see that this wasn’t all bad. Maybe it would help her cooperate, I decided. If she saw that we weren’t monsters, maybe she’d want to help us for more reasons than her freedom.

At least that’s why I told myself I was bringing her here.

“What kinds of charity did your dad do?” I asked. I glanced over at her stunned expression. “Local hospitals? Halfway houses for men who swore their loyalty to him?”

She shook her head. “I saw him settle criminal disputes sometimes, but he charged a lot for doing something like that. I never saw him do anything charitable.”

“Most of us donate or have charity projects that we do with the money we earn from this. Being a boss is a million-, if not a billion-, dollar industry, and charity ensures that people stay silent about what they know. It helps get us important allies,” I explained to her. “I donate to the trauma department of the hospital monthly, and the doctors there use discretion when handling my men. We weren’t ever there, if you know what I mean.”

She nodded. “My father just let people die if they were injured. He was never a good man. I know you’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but…”

I nodded, knowing exactly where she was going with the statement, as I pulled into a construction zone and parked in the first spot. I reached into the back seat and passed her a yellow hard hat before putting one on for myself.

“This is a housing project for addicts and homeless around the city. Your father may not have known this, but homeless men and women are the most loyal to people who pull them off the street and give them a reliable source of income.” I gestured to the in-progress line of homes. “Beyond that, we use this project to launder money. It’s an effective means of money laundering and nearly impossible to be traced.”

She gaped at the place and pulled herself from the car, looking around. “Why did you bring me here?”

“I want you to spend the day with these people and help them however you can.”

***

It wasn’t that I’d expected her to complain or do half-ass work, but I had certainly not expected her to outwork half of the trained construction workers. She did all the tasks assigned to her, and she didn’t complain once. I watched her the entire day, and each time she gave someone one of her rare smiles, I couldn’t bring myself to look away.

I had to constantly remind myself that she was nobody to me and that I needed her for a purpose, but that reminder felt like a moot point when I looked at her and struggled to look away. Fuck. I should have never had this problem, but there was nothing I could do to stop it now.

At the end of the day, I strode over to her and looked her up and down, impressed by the sawdust and stains covering her entire sweater. The temperature had begun dropping below freezing, and the workday had almost ended. Winter approached Seattle quickly, and with it came shorter days and less time to work.

“Are you sure there’s nothing else I can help with?” she asked, looking around. “I like being out of my room.”

I hadn’t thought about how much time she’d spent in her room, and I winced at the realization. “It’s too cold for anyone to continue working this evening. Let’s go to the car and warm up.”

She looked at her gloved fingers and nodded slowly. “I am a little cold.”

We strode back to the car side-by-side, and I started it the second we got inside, waiting for the warm air to begin pulsing through the vents. I wondered if another day would be what I needed to feel a little better about using her the way I intended. “Did you enjoy yourself?”

She nodded, not speaking for a long moment before finally finding her words. “I thought everyone in this business was cruel and horrible. I didn’t realize that some of you use your wealth and power to make a difference.”

But I wasn’t good, and I didn’t want her to think that I was. “I do it so that it can help me bring in more money without getting on the feds’ radar. I don’t do it because I’m good.”

I wanted her to trust me and be willing to do things for me, but I didn’t need her to believe I was a saint or some shit. I didn’t want that. Through her eyes, though, I wondered what it was that she saw. “You’re not as bad a guy as you think, Bruce.”

I’d killed hundreds of people in the past fifteen years. My father took over the role of the boss when I was twenty, and I became his right-hand man and heir. By then, I’d already massacred my way to the top, knowing that my vision would outdo anyone else’s. In the fourteen years since, I’d only kept adding to the list of people I’d killed and tortured.

“You don’t know the things I’ve done,” I said, shaking my head. There was only one thing I knew I could say to completely change the subject, so I did. “I want to know what your father did to you.”

She froze and shifted her gaze to the front windshield. “It doesn’t matter. He’s dead.”

“And you didn’t seem to care about his death much. Tell me what he did.”

“Listen, he didn’t do anything. He didn’t regularly abuse me, and he didn’t sell me to the highest bidder. He used me to get what he wanted, and he wasn’t particularly a good father before that.” She shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “I’ve always been a prisoner in one form or another, and I think I prefer being a prisoner here more than I ever did there.”

I went to press harder. I believed her, but I wanted to know how she was a prisoner. Why did she prefer it here? But my phone rang, and I answered it through the car. “What,” I asked, my tone temperamental. I was in the middle of a serious conversation.

“The station of 64th is being held up,” the woman on the other end says. “Can you get here? I can’t get inside without being shot, and there are two of your guys on the ground.”

“Fuck,” I shouted, slamming the car into drive and looking at Sabrina. “I’ll be there in five minutes max. Call for backup. I have the key to the back, and I’ll go that way.”

I ended the call and looked at Sabrina as I took a turn at breakneck speed. She held on, and I kept going. “I don’t have time to drop you off. This is a hostile situation, and you’re going to stay in the car,” I demanded.

“But—”

“No,” I shouted, my voice echoing through the car. “You’re going to get down and wait until I come back out for you. I’m not putting you in danger. Do you understand?”

She nodded vigorously as I forced my breathing to calm.

“Do you have your gun?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t have anywhere to carry it, and I knew I’d be with you…”

“Fuck,” I shouted again, pounding the steering wheel. “Don’t let anyone see you.”

I peeled into the parking lot and came to a stop, slamming the car into the park and rushing out of it. I spared Sabrina one last glance as she dropped in front of her seat and did as I ordered by staying out of sight.

I’d do this quickly.

I slinked around the building toward the back entrance and unlocked it swiftly. I could hear the shouting voices the second I broke the seal on the door, and I rushed forward, palming my gun and aiming.

I moved around the corners swiftly, not sure which direction the man with the gun was pointing, and I got lucky when I found two of my guys standing with their hands up. They faced me, and relief shot through their eyes immediately. The other man had no idea who stood behind him, and I didn’t care to tell him.

I pulled the trigger three times, and all three shots hit home. The head, the heart, and one more for good measure.

He plopped on the ground right beside the two others that he’d shot. I didn’t recognize any of them, but I knew so few of the people beneath me that I didn’t feel a thing. Their losses would be a tragedy, but people would move on. It was the way the world worked in a business like this.

“Call a cleanup crew,” I ordered one of my guys, waving at the bodies on the floor. “And for God’s Sake, lock up until the job is done.”

They nodded mindlessly, and I knew that when I returned home, I’d be making a follow-up call to ensure the job was done correctly. The last thing we needed was dried blood in the cracked linoleum.

Despite the bodies resting in front of me, all I could think about was Sabrina in the car, so I quickly returned to it. I opened my door and looked down at her, finding her where I’d demanded her to stay. As her wide brown eyes met mine, I was hit with precisely how much I didn’t deserve a woman like her in my life.

But for now, she was stuck with me.