Chapter 31
I watch her sleep– Watch her dream. I’m unsure what exactly she’s dreaming about, but I know when it started. When her body went from relaxed to tense, I felt the shift next to me and woke up. Seeing how her eyes dance beneath her eyelids frantically confirm it.
This isn’t the first time she has dreamt or had nightmares, and I doubt that it will be the last. Whatever memories she keeps to herself haunt her continuously, and while I don’t like that she chooses to leave me in the dark, I have no control over it. This is the path that she’s taken, and I can only allow her to decide how she’ll come around.
I’m still waiting to hear back from Marino, who has been looking into her past since we brought her back to my house. It feels like all I’ve been doing lately is waiting. Waiting for something to happen, for answers, reprieve, relief, Echo to come around, my uncle to die, me to step into the role that I’m not sure I’m ready to fill.
Gio, who keeps in touch with Marino, claims he hasn’t had much luck. When he uncovers a piece of her past, it seems to disappear later.
As if someone is erasing any of her past that comes up.
Essentially making her a ghost….. Or more of one.
My eyes cut back to her when she lets out a sound that’s similar to a cry. I lean forward, waiting to see if she does it again or shows signs of distress.
In the last few months, I have woken numerous times to her tossing, turning, and kicking. Usually, I tuck her against me and wrap my arms around her front in a sort of cocoon until she relaxes. Once she falls asleep, I’ll allow myself a moment to get a few hours before my alarm blares.
The only difference this time is that I’m not asleep. For some reason, after the game she decided to play—the game that was too serious—I couldn’t bring myself to fall asleep comfortably.
Not with the memories of my past haunting me so happily.
Yes, I had been young and dumb when I’d been engaged and married to Amelia Rossi. Before the marriage, I had been naive enough to believe that The Council would permit me to marry Keyshia. I didn’t know what I expected our lives to look like if they did sanction the marriage, but I’d been hungry for her at that time.
Aside from our family ties, Amelia and I were engaged only because I had been too slow to stop my father from promising me to her. At thirteen, it wasn’t like I had much say about who I would be married to for the rest of my life, but when I grew up, I realized I didn’t like Amelia. Similar to her brothers, she was a gorgeous girl, I couldn’t deny that. Along with her beauty came a conniving, sharp mind to match and a deep hatred for me because she felt I would control her like her father had.
Instead of trying to be my ally, she chose to be my enemy from the start.
I’m sure that the rebound fucking which forced us to get married didn’t help in persuading her to like me. Even while I know that her father more than likely put her up to it all those years ago. The last thing they wanted was to break the alliance he and my father had agreed on.
Next to me, Echo makes another sound, but it’s closer to a groan. I ease myself down the bed to lay back on the pillows. Turning to my right side, I drape an arm around her midsection to pull her against me before nestling my chin on the top of her head. It takes a second before I feel her tense body start to relax into me more, and a deep breath seems to leave her.
Willing my body to do the same so I can sleep a few hours, a ping from my phone alerts me. I reach behind me and grab my phone. Temporarily blinded by the bright screen, I curse under my breath at the message I see from Gio.
****
I’m tired, and my head hurts with an intensity that matches the urge to sleep…. But I can’t.
Not until this business is taken care of….. Not until I handle Tommaso Rossi.
When I received Gio’s text message last night, I reluctantly disentangled myself from Echo’s body and came to my office in the condo to call him. I had holed myself in here, on call after call, not realizing how quickly time passed or how tired I was right away. Exhaustion had recently hit me, making sure I was fully aware of my recent lack of sleep and the stressful last few weeks that had taken a toll on my body since stepping in for my uncle.
Now, looking out of the smart glass window programmed to lighten with the sunrise, I can’t resist the sigh that exits my mouth. The view is beautiful and tranquil. Offering a peaceful glint over the city that erupted into chaos overnight while I tried to gain some normalcy.
Chaos that people are looking at me to fix.
“Damiano? Are you there?”
I’m brought out of my thoughts by Carmine’s question. My eyes move to the phone on speaker, and I murmur curses under my breath. “Si, I’m here,”
I say. “What were you saying?”
Carmine's groan reverberates across the lines, and I know if I were in front of the older man, he wouldn’t do that. He’s bold in his assumption that he will stay on the council once my uncle passes. I’ll kill him and make it appear like an accident before I allow him to disrespect me anymore.
Or I will simply kill him in front of the other council members so they know not to test my limits.
My uncle has always led with a fair but firm hand. I, on the other hand, am the son of Maximo Bianchi, and I think that they’ve forgotten how ruthless I was in my younger years. Maybe now that I’m more mature and decisive in my actions, they view that as docility.
They knew not to test my father.
They’ll know that same thing when I’m sworn in.
“This is a serious situation.”
Carmine chastises me. “Do you not understand the severity?”
I don’t roll my eyes like I want to, but I don’t hold back my thoughts. “Watch how you speak to me, Carmine. I understand exactly what’s going on. But if what you say is true, then we have no idea what the cause was or who started the fight between our families. It’s all speculation right now, and the fact that the cameras weren’t working makes it seem suspect at best. Faulty things occur all the time with technology.”
A soft knock sounds at the office door, and a second later, Echo enters. Her brown eyes move around the room for a second, then fall on me, and a smile comes across her face that’s so gorgeous my heart feels like it stops. Despite the fact that she has bags under her eyes from a restless sleep, she glows with a vibrant energy I can’t ignore.
Fuck, this woman will be the death of me.
“Hi.”
Her husky tone sounds like she just woke up, but her hair, out of the twists she put in last night before going to bed, shows she took them out before leaving the room.
I motion her in the room, watching her like a predatory animal as she enters wearing a shirt of mine that her curvy frame swims in. It takes her a second, but she finally makes it to me, stopping at the end of my desk mere inches from me.
“Cameras working or not, at this point, even witnesses are stating that the escalation started when our men entered the establishment.”
Fuck.
Frustrated, I angle my gaze at the phone. “Witnesses without proof are just that– We’ve had plenty of those before.”
I wonder why Carmine would even mention witnesses. “We all know exactly what happens when witnesses come forward. And we are not the only family involved in this altercation, whether we shifted the dynamic or not.”
I mute myself so Carmine can’t hear me. “Come.”
When I scoot back from the desk, Echo immediately moves to me. Rather than turn her back and sit on my lap like I expect her to, she straddles me. Her arms loop around my neck, and she rubs against me. Her lips touch my neck softly. “You didn’t sleep much,” she says.
I scoff. “I didn’t sleep at all.”
She doesn’t pull away from me. Instead, she continues to press kisses along my neck, her center rubbing against me. “Why not?”
She breathes, a tone that’s too low to ignore reaches my ears.
My hardening cock reacts beneath her with a mind of its own, begging me to loosen the buttons along my lounge pants and sheath myself just to feel her warmth. I nod towards the muted phone. “A war has possibly started. Carmine is updating me.”
She regards the sound of Carmine’s voice over her shoulder with an expression that mirrors how I feel about the older man.
Bothered.
All too soon, it’s gone, and she’s looking at me. A mischievous glint crosses her face that causes uncertainty to course through me.
Her right arm reaches back to hover over the mute button. Her eyes stay planted on mine. “First one to make noise cooks breakfast?”
I muse at her question. “Another game of yours?”
Her eyes darken at my response, and before she can tense up, my hand slides up her thigh underneath her shirt. Greeted by a consuming heat and bare skin, I lean back against the headrest with a resigned groan.
When I lift my head and open my eyes, the hungry glint in her eyes that stare at me almost makes me lose control. “Just the feel of you-”
I stop myself from exposing how weak and vulnerable she has me. Instead, I press my thumb into her, applying pressure to her sensitive nub that already feels engorged. Against me, Echo rolls her hips into my deliberate ministrations, her eyes stay locked on mine, her bottom lip crushed between her teeth. “Did you touch yourself this morning while you were showering?”
I ask her.
She moans in response. Sharply manicured fingers scrape down my chest, leaving raised red marks that battle with my tattoos to show, until Echo’s fingers loop into the elastic band of my pajama pants I hastily put on when I received Gio’s text. She slowly, achingly inches lower, testing my resolve and will to be quiet.
In the background, Carmine still talks.
“Did you imagine me fucking this tight pussy until you came around my cock?”
I insert a finger inside her, sliding inside her without any pushback, and she sucks in a deep, quiet breath that forces her stomach to cave inward. I kiss her tenderly, our lips meeting in short bursts, moans and noises as she rubs over my erection and I tease her core into submission.
“Let’s up the stakes, huh?”
I suggest, playing into her game. I push in another finger, stroking in and out, causing my palm to cover her mound and increase pressure on her clit. My other hand slinks up her front, closing over her sensitive breast briefly until I reach her neck. My hand wraps around it, and she bears down on me more, her wet center imprinting slickness over my pants while I finger fuck her.
It takes a second, maybe two, but she calms herself. “How?”
I smile. The ball is finally in my court. “No sounds, but if anybody comes, they lose.”
Her eyes light up, enjoying the challenge. “What isn’t allowed?”
My fingers push deeper into her, and she groans. Her grasp around me tightens, and I exhale at the grip that compels me almost to fill my pants before anything starts. “No noise or coming.”
A devilish grin parts her lips and tugs at my heartstrings. She pushes the unmute button, and Carmine's words return to focus. “At this point, I’m still getting calls from the other families confirming any casualties or who was hurt. Thankfully, it’s not a long list, but the families are angry. The club is neutral ground.”
Curving my fingers inward, I edge them inside Echo more, my palm still lavishing attention to her clit. Her breath silently hitches, her mouth opening slightly, and she undulates herself against me as her other hand snakes into my lounge pants to encircle me. Our eyes meet and the insatiable intensity in her depthless orbs spur me on. I allow her to release me from my pants, and she caresses my starving cock, stroking it with both hands.
“When I spoke with Gio, he mentioned that Ilya’s brother might have been there. Have you gotten word on that yet?”
I could ask about my men, but I already know who was injured or worse.
“No, I’ve reached out to Petrov’s council but was advised they would let us know when they do. The Council will have to meet about this–”
His words are ignored again. I turn my attention back to the hellion that’s astride me, both of her legs perched on the side of my hips while her center is naked and crying for me. I look down at her hands that still move up and down on me in perfect unison, coaxing me to flood her fingers with my cum. A thick wetness lands on my tip, and she rubs over it, coating my shaft with her saliva as her grip tightens.
I tune back into what Carmine is saying to control myself and roll my eyes at the mention of Tommaso wanting to meet with me.
Fuck that guy.
My hand that was on Echo’s neck trails down to her breast, purposefully being slow before I cup it roughly, almost sure that it will get a noise out of her. She bites her lip, her hands let go of me, and she braces them on the arms of the chair.
Fuck, she’s so gorgeous.
My fingers are still inside of her as she angles her core over me, giving me no choice but to pull them out so she can lower herself onto me.
I bear my gaze into her, taking her in as she has to lift herself to take me. Our breaths hitch, but we don’t make any noise. Mesmerized, I watch as she rolls her hips over me, her slick moisture covering my pulsing dick that it aching to be inside of her. As if they’re inviting me in, her lips part, and the mere sight of her flushed pink center causes me to lose sight of what she’s doing.
I fill her in one swift movement. My hips beckon me to move in and out of her, but I savor the moment. It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve been inside her, forever since I’ve lost the will to think correctly. And I realize that’s why I’ve avoided her as much as possible.
Echo not only causes me to feel too much, but she also gives me hope. Not the loud, crying out, evident hope that blares on television, or that those stupid fucking affirmations state. It’s a silent, shy hope. One that lingers in the background, growing and waiting patiently to spring forward and ruin me. It’s the type of hope beneath my exterior, despite the life I was raised in, that has molded me.
The hope I can be someone else with her.
The epiphany fills me with apprehension that infuriates me.
Without warning, I stand while still buried inside her. My left arm supports her weight while my right arm makes room on the desk by pushing stuff off. I’m not gentle when I drop her on the cold wood, but she doesn’t make a sound. Her eyes try to meet mine, and I avert her questioning stare.
“Damiano.”
I hear Carmine’s voice but don’t respond, hanging up on him instead.
Damn this game. I’m going to make her scream my name as she comes for me.
My attention returns to Echo, and my eyes take in her partially dressed state that still covers too much of her body. I say nothing, just force my cock back inside her to the hilt. Our hips crash against each other, pushing her up the desk some, and she bucks against me. Her face writhes in temporary discomfort but relaxes when I pull out before slamming back into her with a grunt.
Her mouth opens, her eyes closing on a sharp breath she takes in, and I feel her grow wetter than she already is as her body succumbs to the realization of what is about to happen.
I break our deal, not caring about the consequences. I’ll cook every breakfast for her if she asks me to. “Look at me.”
Our eyes meet, and for the first time, I see the same emotion that I feel reflected in hers. My heart skips a beat in trepidation, then sputters to catch up.
She’s just as frightened of the change in our dynamic as I am. While this started as a deal that we agreed on– She would get pregnant, and I would exact revenge on our enemies- it has changed into much more. Emotions have gotten tangled, and we have grown accustomed to each other. The two weeks in Italy seemed to throw everything off balance, leaving us to scramble to gain some semblance of normality. I distanced myself from her, thinking it would quell the ache and need to be around her. She grew angry at my decision and guarded herself against me.
But when we’re alone, all of those pretenses fall.
The heightened sense of her arousal consumes me, as I drive into her over and over, harder than before each time. Her moans grow louder, bouncing off the office walls and settling deep within me that I will be the last person, the only person that will ever make her feel this way.
That’s she’s mine as much as I am hers.
With her legs wrapped around my hips, crossed at the ankle, I cup her breast between our bodies. My fingers eagerly find her nipple, and I pinch it before twisting. Her chest arches into my touch, and to soothe her, I lean down to take it in my mouth through the shirt. The bud seems to grow inside my mouth and I suck on it roughly before taking it between my teeth and lightly biting down.
“Fuck.”
She gasps, her body bucking beneath me. I look up to see her biting her lip, then change tactics and cup her mound, massaging it.
My body stretches back over hers, and I lower my hand that was massaging her breast to her core. Still buried inside I edge two fingers in as well, and use my thumb to press her clit. Thrusting in and out of her, my fingers forcing her to the precipice of coming. When I feel her tighten around my shaft I pull my fingers from her, and press them into her mouth where she sucks on them. Her tongue circles my digits, breaking them apart to take her juices down, and I hook them over her bottom teeth to open her mouth.
“Fuck you look gorgeous like this, Bellissima.”
She smiles, and I love the glow she has even more. Despite being sick a lot right now, she has the most luxurious shimmer to her brown skin that makes her seem even more ethereal than before.
With her jaw hung open and her neck stretched out bare below me, I slow the movement of my hips as I enter into her, her core still clenching around me. My left hand clasps around her throat softly, my thumb wisping over her erratic pulse. Husky moans escape her. Her brown eyes, which are glazed over with a heady look of lust, call me to her.
Our lips touch, softly at first, like two uncertain teens sharing their first kiss. I give us a break, ghosting my tongue over her lips, that my fingers still have her jaw hooked in, then spit into her open mouth. Her eyes widen, the uncertainty of whether I actually did that shows in her orbs. I act before she can, diving back in to claim her mouth when my fingers release her jaw. Brutally, I take everything she’s offering me, her mouth, body, essence. From the position that we’re in over the desk, only our lower halves move as our mouths consume one another.
Again she tightens around me, her core gripping my cock in a way that feels different. “I’m coming.”
She throws her head back on the desk, her breathing labored and hot against me. “Ah, fuck.”
She screams in ecstasy, clamping down on me, and my release shoots out, taking me over the edge.
Our grunts and groans sound throughout the room, mingling with one another until a knock on my office door disturbs us.
Startled, I look up, and immediately jump to protecting her. Without thinking, I pull out of her, fixing my pants, then grab her and usher her into the bathroom hidden behind a bookshelf that’s disguised as a built-in. I don’t say anything, but am sure that whoever is on the other side of the door is well aware that there are at least two people in the room.
We weren’t being quiet because we didn’t have to be.
Quickly, I walk to the door and grab the gun that’s hidden inside the floating shelf to the left of it. The safety is never on, but I still rack the slide in case I have to use it. Cautious, I look back at the bathroom to make sure that Echo has the door closed, and am satisfied that she did.
“Damiano.”
I'm relieved by Gio’s voice.
Without hesitation, I pull open the office door to face my friend. He stands there with Marco Jr. and another of my men behind him. All of them have grim expressions that relax upon seeing me.
“Si?”
I peek out the doorway but don’t see they’ve brought more men inside.
Typically, my men stay in the condo just below mine and have a way to get to me in an emergency. I’m fully aware, though, that Gio probably only brought two because he knew I was here with Echo and told them I didn’t want to be disturbed.
“Carmine called. He was concerned because your call got disconnected, and he couldn’t reach your office or cell phone.”
I nod. “ I will call him back.”
Gio’s eyes fall on the clutter behind me, and his face blooms in knowing. “Is she happy now?”
I frown at his question when I hear my name from behind me. “Happy?”
Gio tells Marco Jr. and the other man to return downstairs, and they immediately do. “So?”
“We’re working on reconciling.”
I hear my name a second time and recognize it as Echo. “Si, Bellissima?”
I inch my head at Gio, telling him to come in, and then move to the bathroom. Gently, I push the book inward that works as a handle and see her standing over the sink, nervously washing her hands.
“Wha–”
My words die at the red streaks I witness running down her leg and the bloody footprints that cover my tile floors.
Her eyes fall on me, and the fear I see almost stops my heart. “Call Benicio.”