Chapter 14
DOMINIC
I’m supposed to hate this woman, not be tempted by her beauty. And she is beautiful. Not just sexy or hot, or one of those poorly constructed adjectives. She’s stunning, with the power to bring me to my knees if I allow her to get close enough. If I allow her to remind me of the past.
But I won’t.
She’ll never get under my skin. Chiara will always be kept at an arm’s length.
She’s nothing more than a means to an end. When I get what I want, she’ll be free to go.
And I always get what I want.
I should’ve tied her back up, but I can’t deny somewhere inside this broken man is a boy who’d turn the world upside down to see the girl he once loved love him back. No matter how much hurt I carry for what she did, there’s no way I’d ever hurt her, no matter what I want her to believe.
Seeing her bruised wrists hurt me enough. I hated what I did to her, and I don’t want to do it again. She’s a part of my past, sewn into the very depths of my soul, and there’s no way to erase her. No way to pretend we never were.
Reaching into my pocket, I retrieve my cell and press a few keys to access the cams I have set up at my home, including the ones in her room. It’s merely for her protection and mine. I have to keep an eye on my most valuable possession.
She’s lying in bed, her body barely covered at all, her long, tanned legs on full display. Tiny gray shorts ride up the insides of her thighs, a place I bet she’s warm and soft. Too soft for a man like me, even if I did allow myself to have a taste.
She’s in a loose-fitted tank top, the tops of her breasts pushed up. The desire to run my tongue over those perky tits has my cock throbbing.
When I saw her in the robe earlier, those hard beads of her breasts pushing against the soft fabric, I wanted nothing more than to tear open that flimsy piece of material and have every inch of her. I can’t stop thinking of her that way, even while knowing I shouldn’t.
Chiara Bianchi is more of an enemy to me than her own father. The way she destroyed our friendship is unforgivable. We may have been young back then, but not young enough for her not to know what she was doing.
I trusted her.
I loved her.
But she was nothing but a liar.
My focus right now is on her father though. I’ll worry about his precious daughter after I’m done with him.
There’s a light knock on my door before Dante walks into my office at work, with Enzo on his tail. They both take a seat on one of the black leather chairs before my desk.
“How’s your wife doing?” I ask Dante with an amused tone.
“Good.” He nods with a curve of a brow. “Considering Raquel has no idea what she’s gotten herself into.”
“Poor thing,” Enzo adds. “She could’ve had me but she gets you instead.”
“You may have the looks, baby bro.” Dante winks. “But I’ve got all the charm.”
Enzo scoffs. “Shit, I’ve got that in the bag too. She would’ve had a much better time with me.”
Dante clasps his shoulder. “Believe me, I know just how to keep my girl entertained. And how would you have made that work, with all the women you have coming and going from your place? Or did you think you could do both?”
Enzo narrows his eyes, thinking for a moment, and shrugs. “You’re right. I’d rather get all the pussy instead of one.”
Both of these morons have women flocking to them, but Enzo is the pretty boy with those green eyes and brown hair. If he wasn’t running the company with us, he could’ve been a model or some shit.
Dante got our father’s looks, dark brown hair, and equally brown eyes. His smile has women eating from the palm of his hand. You’d never know how dangerous he can be from looking at him.
Neither of my brothers are ever starving for company, but Enzo is a different breed.
At twenty-five and with more money than he knows what to do with, there are women going in and out of his house on a loop, usually together.
Threesomes, or even foursomes, are very much his thing.
He once fucked triplets at once. He’s very proud of himself.
Dante is only twenty-seven, but a lot more in control of his dick than Enzo.
I, too, supply my appetite. But I’m the oldest at twenty-eight, and the CEO of two brands, ours and Tomás’s, so I’m not about to get anyone pregnant. I can just see the tabloids.
“Are you even fucking her?” Enzo asks Dante, his voice saying if you’re not, you’re a pussy.
“We’ll get there.” A cocky smile appears on his face.
Just like I’ve been keeping tabs on Chiara, Dante has been doing the same with Raquel. She’s the perfect bargaining chip if we need to use one. Unlike Chiara’s father, Salvatore actually loves his daughter.
That’s been part of our plan: I take Chiara and he takes Raquel.
He’s been on her trail for a year now and has gotten to know everything he can possibly know, like the bar she likes to go to alone, especially when she’s upset.
And when he saw her storm out of her parents’ house after intercepting a call with Chiara, he knew just where she’d go and beat her to it.
Dante didn’t have to take her against her will. She agreed to his arrangement, which included a lot of money and a new identity, so she can run off without the man her parents want her to marry. The only condition is she must stay married to him for three months to help him with a business deal.
But he lied. He has no plans to divorce her. With the amount of hatred the Bianchis have for us, I’m sure there’s nothing worse to them than for their flesh and blood to breed with one of us. It’s a fate worse than death. Salvatore would never allow her to marry my brother.
But marrying off his daughter to the likes of Carlito? Well, I guess that’s okay. Dante took great pleasure in knowing he’ll have the daughter of a man who thought so low of our family once upon a time.
My, how the tables have turned.
We knew Raquel was supposed to marry someone she hated. It wasn’t a well-kept secret, even if Dante hadn’t been tailing her every move.
People talked, especially at strip clubs. And Carlito wasn’t shy about telling Dante how he’s going to make her suffer for not wanting him while he had a stripper grinding on his dick. The man would tell you his whole life story while he was drunk.
Dante became his friend at the club, making sure he was there when Carlito was. Sharing strippers, paying for his bill, anything to get close enough to learn everything we may not know.
My brothers turn to me.
“How’s your girl doing?” Dante asks. “I can’t believe she doesn’t remember you.”
Clenching my jaw, I pick up the decanter filled with whiskey and pour some into the glass beside it.
“Why would she?” I fire back, hating any talk of her. “I barely look anything like before.”
Like Enzo, I have green eyes. If she saw them, she’d know me instantly. That’s why I wear contacts. I can’t have her realize who I am yet. I need her scared, so she doesn’t run. If she does, she has no idea what she’ll be running into.
“I hope you’re making up for lost time,” Enzo says.
I grind my teeth. “You know that’s not what this is about.”
“It doesn't mean you can't have a little fun.” He wags his brows.
“Enough!” I bang my fist on the desk, causing the decanter to rattle.
They drop the conversation immediately, knowing me well.
I take a swig of my drink. “Be ready at three a.m. We hit the strip club, and we do what we did to the other places. Don’t forget your bulletproof vests. They’ll be expecting us.”
Enzo rubs his palms together and tilts forward, his elbows on his knees. “I can’t fucking wait.”
“Did Chiara do her part yet?” Dante asks, leaning back, cracking his knuckles.
A smile forms at the edge of my lips. “She will.”
The plan for the club has been carefully constructed like everything else, and she’s part of the key.
I arrive back home in time to feed her lunch, as promised. Balancing a tray on one hand, I unlock the door with the other.
As soon as she sees me walk in, Chiara sits up on the bed, her legs crossed at the ankles.
She’s still in the same clothes I saw her in during the livestream on my phone.
But the view up close is so much better.
Hardly anything is left for my imagination, except her ass parked on the bed, which I bet looks even better without those shorts on.
“Finally,” she huffs out, irritation simmering in her glare. “I’ve been starving. You didn’t even leave me water, you asshole!”
Shit. She’s right. I am an asshole.
If I were a better man, I’d apologize. But I’m not.
I pick up the breakfast tray, putting it on the floor, and place the new one on the nightstand.
“Drink.” I hand her a water bottle.
She opens it quickly and guzzles the entire thing. “Make sure you leave enough before you go. Maybe you’d like to get me a bowl too, so I can get on my hands and knees and drink like a dog, since that’s how you treat me.”
Her on her hands and knees...
I suck in a breath. There are so many things I could do to that curvy body.
I crack my neck, needing to curb the thought of grabbing her by that delicate throat and pinning her against the wall while I fuck her mercilessly.
“I’ll make sure you have water from now on. Anything else you’d like? Maybe some steak and lobster?”
She swings her feet off the bed and comes around to my side, swaying her hips until her tight little body is pressed against mine.
“How about fuck you?” she bites out as her gaze finds mine, her finger digging into the center of my chest.
I love a woman who fights back. And this right here would have any other woman tied to my bed and fucked so hard she’d remember who’s in charge.
I cup her chin roughly in the span of my palm and lean into her mouth, my lips hovering over hers. “You have a very big mouth on you, Chiara. If you’re not careful, I may find better ways to fill it.”
She gasps, not expecting the vulgarity. Her cheeks flush, and the temptation to mark her ass cheeks has my palm aching.
I narrow my eyes, leaning closer until her lips graze mine.
Her mouth falls into a quiet moan, one I know she didn’t mean to give me.
Fuck.
My dick hardens, wanting her.
What the hell am I doing?
I drop my hand, stepping back and creating an arm’s length of space between us. Why can’t I resist this temptation? I need her out of my mind for good.
I run a quick hand past my face, clenching my jaw.
“Do you have the phone numbers of all your employees at the club?” I ask, my voice harsh and cold now as I finally get to the real reason why I came.
She lifts a brow. “Why? Are you going to kidnap them too?”
I take out her cell from my pocket. “Tell me the code.”
“Excuse me?” Her brows bend with disbelief.
“You heard me. I wasn’t asking, Chiara. Code. Now.”
She crosses her arms over her chest and gives me her tough-girl face. “Swear you won’t hurt them, and I’ll give it to you.”
“They’re lucky you care so much,” I say, meaning it.
“Yeah, well, they’re my people.”
“I’m not out to hurt them. The opposite.”
She exhales a sigh. “Fine. I’m going to believe you. Zero, two, zero, two.” I can tell by her voice how hard that was for her. “What are you going to do to them?”
“Tell me all the names of your employees.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“I know. Now, tell me.”
She groans. “Fine! Go to my contacts. They’re all under the name ‘club.’ Happy?”
“Very,” I answer without looking up, finding the list of people and preparing the mass text I’m about to send.
Glancing up at her, I find the daggers in her eyes pointing right at me.
“How do you word a text when you send them one?”
Her features tighten with irritation. “What do you mean?”
“What the fuck do you write in it? You know, shit like, ‘Hey, it’s Chiara. I’m a shitty boss…’” I smile.
“Oh my God!” She throws her hands in the air. “You’re gonna pretend to be me? You’d better not hurt them! They’re good people.”
“I told you I won’t. I don’t like to repeat myself.”
“Just say, ‘Hey.’” She sits back on the bed, shaking her head as she stares ahead, not really looking at anything specific.
I write the text. They’d better fucking listen, or we’ll have a huge mess to clean up. None of us want anyone who doesn’t deserve it to die tonight.
Chiara
Hey. Stay home tonight. The club will be closed. I found a rat. You’ll be paid. Don’t worry.
Before sending it, I walk over to her and hold the phone before her face. “How’s this?”
She scans the text and looks up with confusion marring her features. Then suddenly, her eyes widen.
“Fuck. You’re the reason my father and uncles are in hiding, aren’t you?”
“I am.” I grin. Not a kind one, either. One that says I’m the monster behind the destruction and damn proud of it.
Today’s attack will inform Faro Bianchi that I reject the deal he offered me the day after we burned his warehouse. He thought he could stop the war, but I have no intention of ever taking the devil’s deal, no matter what I led him to believe.
The Bianchi men will pay with their blood. The battle will rage on until every last one of them is dead.