Matteo

Chapter 23 Matteo

MATTEO

I pull out and thrust back in again, watching her face scrunch up in the most delicious way.

“You look so pretty while you’re being fucked the way you deserve.”

“Oh fuck, Matteo,” she moans. “Harder.”

I smirk. “And here I was thinking you knew better than to taunt a mafioso.”

Thrust.

“How does it feel to have my cock inside you, Stella?”

Thrust.

“Does it make you want to whimper and cry out for more?”

Thrust.

“Yes,” she moans out loud. “Please, more.”

God, I love hearing her beg. I grin and lean over, pecking her lips and neck, leaving a trail of saliva and ownership.

Thrust.

“Does it make you want to come all over my cock?” I whisper into her ear.

“Fuck yes,” she murmurs, her eyes nearly rolling into the back of her head with the next thrust.

I lean up and bring my fingers down to her pussy so I can stroke her. Her wetness coats my length as I pound into her, and I slip my fingers down her slit and roll them around her clit while she writhes beneath me on the bed.

She bites her lip. “Oh God.”

I grin. “No God wants to watch you beg to me in his stead.”

I roll my fingers around her most sensitive spot until it begins to throb, and her back arches.

“Fuck, Matteo,” she moans.

I can feel her fall apart as her pussy squeezes my dick, and the feeling is beyond this world.

I slam into her and lower myself on top of her to steal another kiss mid-orgasm, and I thrust and thrust, her hips quaking with need as she slowly comes undone for a third time just from the fucking alone.

“I’m gonna come inside you, and you’re going to take every last drop of my cum like the naughty girl you are, Tesoro.”

Her face heats, cheeks as red as her lips as she searches for more kisses, drunk on my love. And I bury myself one final time inside her velvety pussy before I groan out loud and explode in pure bliss, getting my seed deep inside her.

I peck her cheeks, leaving kisses everywhere while we’re both panting after getting lost in sin. I just want to shower her in kisses, every single second of the day, if she would let me.

“Oh God,” she mutters.

I raise a brow. “Yes, Tesoro?”

She laughs and playfully slaps me on the shoulder. “Oh my God, you arrogant son of a bitch.”

I grab her hand and place kisses all over the top with a filthy smirk on my face. “Tell me I’m wrong, then.”

She rolls her eyes but still smiles. She and I both know she wanted nothing more than to be fucked raw by Matteo De Silva, and she finally got her wish.

I can only hope I’ve lived up to her expectations. That would be my wish.

That … and perhaps to make her forget she ever hated me to begin with.

Stella will always be my wife, after all. In good times and bad times, forevermore. She is mine. I just hope she’ll find it in her heart to forgive me for stealing her freedom … one day.

Stella

Matteo rolls off me and slowly breathes in and out while I stare at the ceiling, wondering how I let myself slip so far off the deep end that I let lust take control.

Fuck. We just had sex. I had sex with a Mafia lord. This can’t be more unreal.

If I told my past self that I’d be here, right now, in this bed, next to him, I thought I’d be lying.

I turn my head to look at the handsome, tattooed man next to me as he runs his fingers through his brown hair.

Could there ever be a chance for us to be something more than just a husband and wife who hate each other? We both wanted this so badly. Maybe there is a way forward through all of this insanity.

“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?” he asks.

“What?”

“You want to leave,” he says. It’s not a question. It’s an absolute statement, and it’s as if he can look into my head.

I place my hand on his cheek to gently caress him, and he smiles and places his hand on top of mine, leaning into it. “It’s okay,” he says. “I’m not going to be mad.” His nostrils flare. “I know you don’t want to be my wife.”

There’s a long pause as I think. “What if ...?”

“What is it, Tesoro?” he asks.

I swallow. “I want to ask you something, but you have to promise me you’ll answer truthfully and that you won’t get upset.”

He smiles again and brings my hand to his mouth to kiss it. “Anything for you, Tesoro.”

I clear my throat. “Will you kill Lucio for me?”

His brows furrow. “I don’t think that’s the conversation we should be having right now.”

I sit up in bed and pull the sheets up to cover myself. “Well, I think it is. Lucio is the only one who’s standing between us.”

He narrows his eyes. “I doubt that. The only thing standing between you and me is my stubbornness and your forgiveness,” he says, raising a brow. “Which I understand I don’t deserve, but I will work for it, I promise. I am as stubborn as a goat, after all.”

He winks and tries to kiss my hand again, but I pull it away.

“There’s something you can do to earn my forgiveness, you know,” I say. “I want Lucio dead. It’s the only way to fix this.”

He averts his gaze. “No, absolutely not.”

I’m not gonna let this slide that easily. “Why?”

“You know why,” he rasps.

“Because you want him to suffer. Okay, I get it. But we both know that in the end, you will actually kill him. It’s only a matter of time. So why not now? Hasn’t he suffered enough? You already cut off half his fingers.”

He throws me a damning look. “He will never suffer enough for what he did to me.”

“And me? What do I deserve when I’ve been snatched away from my own damn life? What do I deserve?”

Matteo’s face darkens. “Tesoro, you’re mad at me, and I understand. And you are free to take out all of your anger on me whenever you want. I will not stop you.”

Is he actually telling me that if I tried killing him now, he’d let me?

“But …” I mutter.

“But what?” he says.

But I don’t want him dead. Even after everything he’s done to me, I can’t. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. Slowly but surely, I’ve fallen in love with the monster. And I don’t know how to stop it from ruining me.

Tears well up in my eyes, and his face immediately softens as regret seeps in. His hand reaches for my face, and he wipes away the single tear that rolls down my cheek.

He sighs again. “Tesoro, please don’t cry. There’s nothing I hate more than watching you cry.” He leans in to press a kiss to my forehead. And then he whispers, “Tell me why you want Lucio dead so badly.”

I sniff and wipe away another tear, then look down at the bed sheets, trying to gather my thoughts.

Should I tell him the truth? Or will it bite me in the ass?

I glance at him.

Can I trust this man? I have to. There’s no other way. I can make sure my mother is safe. This is the only way.

Two years ago

“… cancer …”

It’s the only word in the sentence that the doctor spoke that I heard.

None of it matters.

Nothing he says.

Nothing changes the outcome.

Cancer.

My mother has cancer, and I’m going to lose her.

“There are treatments, right?” Mom asks the doctor, but my mind is completely fazed out of this world.

“Yes, but they are … expensive,” the doctor replies.

“We’ll make it work. Somehow.” Mom squeezes my hand. “I want to give it my all.”

She’s such a fighter. I just wish there was something I could do.

She doesn’t have health insurance and barely any money left after she divorced Dad. He took all the money with him years ago.

What can I do? My job barely pays enough to take care of my own bills.

I have no additional money saved and no extra fortune lying around. There’s only … my dad.

I swallow away the lump in my throat and pull my phone out of my pocket to look for the phone number I haven’t called in over a decade.

Maybe it’s about time I gave him a call.

In the rain, I wait in front of the screen until the gates to his property finally open, and I run up toward the mansion.

“Dad?!” I keep knocking on the door until finally a butler opens up.

“Miss Runner? What are you doing here?”

“I have to talk to my dad. Can I come in?”

The butler steps aside to let me pass, and I swiftly enter the house. The mansion is sickly white, completely devoid of any color, and I hate how sterile it smells.

My dad shuffles out of the living room, a newspaper tucked under his arm.

“Stella. How nice of you to finally show your face.” Sarcasm laces his voice, but I ignore it.

“Dad, I need your help.”

He rolls his eyes. “Of course you do.”

“You know I wouldn’t come here if it wasn’t important,” I say. “It’s because of Mom. She has cancer.”

He frowns and puts the paper on the cabinet in the hallway. “I’m sorry.”

“She doesn’t have insurance, and she can’t afford the bills for the medical procedures necessary to save her life,” I say. “Can you please, please help us?”

He stares at me for a moment, and I can’t tell at all what he’s thinking or feeling. All emotions have been drained out of his face.

“I could …”

My heart skips a beat.

“But I’ve been disappointed long enough to know it never pays me back.”

Wow.

“She was your wife.”

“And?”

The carelessness is astounding.

My brows furrow. “Doesn’t that mean anything?”

“It did, once.” He clears his throat. “Life is hard.”

I’m still dripping with rain, and not once has he offered me a towel. “She’s my mother. If you care about me, if you want me back in your life, please help her.”

He sucks in a breath through his nostrils and stares at me for a moment. “Fine. If you get a husband, I will.”

My jaw drops. “What?”

“You heard me. Marry someone decent, and give me an heir, and I might consider it.”

What the fuck?

“Are you serious?” I ask.

“Serious as can be. You’re my daughter, too, you know.”

My jaw tightens, and without saying another word, I turn around and walk back to the door.

“The offer is on the table, just so you know. I’m willing to pay for all of her expenses … as long as you do what I ask of you.”

What he’s asking of me is to throw myself into a marriage with a man he deems acceptable. This isn’t a proposal. It’s blackmail, and my heart is being pawned off to save my mother. But if it’s the only way I can save her, I have to try. She means more to me than my freedom.

Present

I swallow after telling him my story, and I avert my gaze in order to deal with the squeezing palpitations snaking around my heart.

“When my father told me to marry someone before he would help my mother, it felt like it was all a big joke to him, but there was nothing else I could do, no one else I could turn to. One of my friends knew Lucio, and she connected me with him. We dated for a while, and it didn’t end up in anything except arguments, but I did borrow money from him to help pay for my mother’s medical expenses. ”

I glance at Matteo. “I couldn’t lose my mother. You have to understand.”

Matteo gulps, visibly shaken by my story.

“I had a lousy job as a cashier, so I could never pay him back. Lucio knew too, yet he gave me the money anyway. I thought it was from the good of his heart, but he had ill intentions, and I should’ve realized sooner.

Apparently, one of his guys had talked to my mother and found out that my father was rich. ”

I squeeze the blanket beneath my fingers.

“He was extorting me. And when I told him I couldn’t pay it back, he threatened to kill me.

The only way to survive was for me to tell him that my father would give him all the money he wanted as long as I found a husband.

And Lucio inserted himself like the perfect boyfriend, forcing me to marry him so he could get his hands on my father’s wealth. And then you showed up …”

I bite my lip. “He won’t stop. He’ll never stop until he has me because he wants his money back, and then some.”

The panic begins to take hold of my body again as I shiver violently. Matteo grabs me and pulls me closer to him, squeezing me so tightly I can barely breathe.

“I’m sorry, Tesoro. If only I had known. If only I’d found you sooner. I would have helped you, no questions asked.”

More tears run down my cheeks, and the panic slowly begins to subside. Somehow, someway, Matteo always manages to calm me down. It’s as if being near him grounds me and makes me feel safe.

“You have to believe me, I say. “He will never stop.”

“I know, Tesoro. I just …” He sighs.

Suddenly, the door bursts open without even so much as a knock, and I scramble to grab the blanket and wrap it around my body before anyone sees me naked, while Matteo simply pulls up his underwear and sweatpants.

Franco barges in and stares at us for a good two seconds. “I’m so sorry, sir.”

“Goddammit, ever heard of knocking, Franco?” Matteo grumbles.

“I had to be quick. Lucio and his men are right outside the house.”

Matteo jolts up from the bed, and we both scream at the same time. “What?”