“You’re safe now. He can’t hurt you here.” I smoothed her hair away from her face, filling my nostrils with its smell before I gently drew back and cupped her face. “I promise you I’ll find him, and he’ll get what he deserves.”
Alarm crossed her eyes, and she swallowed. “I… I don’t want anybody to get hurt. I just want him to leave me alone.”
I smirked. “You’re so kind…even to your attacker.”
“Please, I—”
“You don’t have to worry about him anymore. I’ll take care of it, Angelina.” I dropped my hands and turned to Nicole. “As for your earlier concerns, I assure you Leo isn’t going to be here during your stay. I’ve called him this morning, and he understands. He’ll comply for your convenience and for his safety. After all, that scumbag threatened to hurt anyone interested in Angelina, not that he can do anything.”
Leo was happy I’d kept my end of the deal, and now it was his turn. He was going to be busy with his initiation, and after that he wouldn’t have time to even think about her. I’d make sure of it.
“Thank you, Mr. Bellomo, for everything.” Nicole’s voice cracked as her chin trembled. Her face was never grayer or more broken than now.
“You’ve done everything in your power to protect your sister, and you did the right thing, calling me this morning. You should be proud of yourself. As always.”
She lifted her chin, her eyes blinking away tears she’d never shed in front of people. She was one of the toughest girls I’d ever known. I hated that the first time she was about to crack in public was because of me.
“Andiamo. Let me show you to your rooms,” I prompted.
“One room is enough, Don Bellomo. We don’t wanna take the whole place,” Angel said.
That wasn’t going to work. At all. She had to have a room all by herself. So I could watch and visit and… I was tired of watching her through a screen. It was time I took our private chances to a new level. “Absolutely not. The mansion is big enough for a hundred people to live in. Each of you would have a room of her own with a private bathroom and a dressing room.”
“A dressing room?” Angel squealed, wiping her face, as if she hadn’t been weeping in distress a second ago.
“Certo. I think the rooms closest to the pool would suit you best, vero?”
“OMG, yes, vero.” Angel giggled. I loved the sound of that. I couldn’t wait for her to fill my house with her beautiful laughter every day.
And sweet moans.
I’d killed two birds with one stone with my new plan. Finally, my son was on the right path in the family and away from my girl. My sweet Angel was under my roof, trusting me with her life, where I could show her once and for all she did belong to me.
When I’m done with you, my sweet Angel, you’ll have no name but mine in your little heart, mind and soul.
Then when you know who I am, you’ll learn to forgive me for what I’ve done.
And what I’ll do.
Chapter 20
Lina
Awestruck, Nicky wandered around the room Don Sebastiano chose for me on the second floor, where the guest rooms were. He stayed on the top floor. “Can you believe the size of these rooms?”
My gaze traveled to the garden surrounding the indoor pool outside as I stood by the huge stained glass windows. “No.” Like I couldn’t believe any of the things that had been happening to me all my life.
Hands fell on my shoulders, and I flounced like a fish out of water, a yelp escaping me. My eyes landed on Nicky, her hands in the air.
“Hey, it’s me. Just me,” she said.
I nodded, shaking. “Yeah. Sorry. I… can you not do that when I can’t see you, please?”
“Of course.” Tears glistened in her eyes. “You shouldn’t say sorry. I’m the one who should apologize…for everything.”
“Nicky, it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not okay. You’ve told me so many times. I should’ve believed you. I should’ve done something about it way earlier. I should’ve protected you before he—”
“There’s nothing you could’ve done. He attacked me at school for God’s sake. The Bellomo vault like you call it.”
“But if I’d done something earlier, he wouldn’t have.”
“Yes, he would’ve. Stop torturing yourself.” She didn’t hear the way he spoke. She didn’t feel his possessive hands on her body. She didn’t know that nothing would have stopped him from finding me. Nothing would. Not even Sebastiano himself.
I didn’t agree to come here because the Mafia boss could find him. Hadn’t he been coming to his own school for five years, and no one even knew? He was hiding in plain sight. No one could find him if he didn’t want to be found.
The only reason I was here was to provoke him. The security at school had been doubled now, I no longer lived in the apartment he could easily break into or bug, and I was sleeping in the house of the boy he was jealous of, where he couldn’t break in without being shot on sight.
He was gonna flip and make a mistake. That was the only way he would be found even if he didn’t want to.
The only way to have him punished like he punished me.
“I haven’t tortured you yet, my sweet Angel. The spanking is for your lies only. I’ll make you pay later for your other mistakes.”
The sting of his swats on my butt reminded me of how stupid I’d been. I trusted he wouldn’t hurt me for fuck’s sake. I let him kiss me, and I kissed him back. My first kiss ever I’d given to a killer who was about to rape me.
I so fucking hated him.
“I don’t like to be lied to. When you tell me to let you go while all you want is for me to stay isn’t lying? When you ask me not to touch you while you’re dripping wet for me isn’t lying? When you say you hate me while you clearly don’t isn’t lying?”
I cringed, my tears falling.
“Hey.” Nicky rubbed my arms. “Lina, it’s okay. He’s never gonna touch you again.”
What if that was what terrified me the most? The way he said I was his sent a chill up my spine, but there was so much need in his voice. Possession. It was like he couldn’t live without me, and I didn’t know what to do with that except feeling the same way, too.
Like I was two people all at once. One that cringed at the thought of him and the things he had done, the things he wanted to do to me. The other couldn’t help but feeling cherished and loved under his extreme passion, couldn’t help but want him back.
“I need therapy, Nicky. Heavy therapy, not the casual thing they give us at school.”
“Anything you need, sweetie.”
“I know we can’t afford it. Do you think Abel Magwitch will chip in?”
She chuckled, getting the reference instantly. “I don’t know about that, but I can ask him.”
“How did you know it was him when he came to our place? I didn’t know who he was until Leo introduced us. You seemed to have already known how he looked like when we went to that restaurant on my birthday.”
“I’ve seen his picture in the newspaper before. There was this article about a huge funeral in San Francisco. They claimed it was Mafia related, and all the other Dons were at the funeral, including the Bellomos, Sebastiano and Leo. The woman who died was the mother of the Mafia boss there. Her name was Mary or Marta… Oh my God, her last name was Lanza.”