Chapter 9
Nine
Marchello
As I hustled down the hallway and to the study, I tried to control my raging desire for Lissia. What the hell am I thinking? This whole thing was a bad idea from the start.
I never should have allowed Milo to drag me over to them at the auction. If I had focused on selling the Porsche and getting my father home, none of this would be happening right now.
Fuck her for distracting me.
“Marchello!” She chased after me. “Don’t walk away from me.”
“Didn’t I tell you to clean up the kitchen?” I entered the study with her right behind me. Why can’t this woman listen?
“Didn’t I tell you I don’t listen?”
“We’re going to have to change that.” I whirled around and strode toward her. Gripping her arm, I pushed her against the wall. “You will learn to obey me.”
“I won’t.”
“Is this what you want?” I ran my fingers through her hair, grasping it in a firm hold. “Do you want me to show you how I’ll keep you in line while you’re here?”
“You’re barbaric.”
“You like when I’m this way.” I released her hair and traced my fingers over her erect nipples through her T-shirt. “Why else would you keep provoking me?”
“Trying to get you to be civilized to me is not provoking you.”
“Every time you open your mouth you provoke me.” I squeezed her breast as I leaned into her face. “I’m tired of it.”
“I’m tired of the way you treat me.”
“I don’t believe you.” I glided my hand down her stomach and between her legs. “This is exactly what you want. You like the chaos and the confrontation.”
She shook her head as she bumped my hand away.
“Then say you don’t want me to touch you. Tell me to stop, but be honest with yourself.” I rubbed her through her pants, running my finger along her covered slit. “Tell me you don’t think about me sliding my bare cock deep inside you and making you come.”
She bit her lip as I moved my hand inside her panties.
“If you can tell me that, I’ll stop.” I kissed her neck and pushed my fingers inside her hot, wet heat. “You don’t want this? Because your pussy says otherwise.”
“Ah…” she moaned as I fingered her.
“You’re ready for my cock, but can you take it all?”
“Mmm…”
“I still don’t hear you saying no.” I spread her legs with my knee. “You would let me take you right here, wouldn’t you?”
“No,” she whispered.
“You’re a liar.”
I kissed her, moving my tongue in the same slow rhythm as my finger. She rocked her hips in time with my tempo, forcing my finger to slip deeper into her sex. My cock ached to get inside her as she clenched around me.
When I gazed down, her beauty captivated me. Her eyes were half-shut, and her lips were parted. She ran her tongue along the edge of her upper teeth, and her arousal was even more apparent between her legs.
“Marchello…” She braced herself against my shoulder. “I want…”
“Tell me what you want, my captive little whore.”
“I want you to—”
The front door chimed, and someone entered before it slammed shut.
“Marchello,” Milo shouted.
“Fuck.” When I withdrew my hand from inside her panties, she gasped. “Maybe later.” I kissed her. “If you’re a good girl.”
“Marchello!” Milo called again.
“I’m in the study.” I took Lissia’s hand and guided her away from the wall. “Don’t act up in front of my brother.”
“Your brother is here?”
“Yes.” Milo came into the room. “And I’m wondering what the fuck you’re doing here.”
“Marchello kidnapped me.” Lissia kissed Milo’s cheek as if it was the most natural act for her. “He’s a caveman.”
I glared at her for kissing Milo. Didn’t I tell her not to act up?
“What brings you here, Milo?” I pointed at Lissia and then to the chair across from the desk. “Sit.”
“I’m not a dog.” She gritted her teeth. “I won’t be spoken to that way.”
“Then I won’t speak to you.” I gripped her shoulder and shoved her into the chair. “Don’t open your mouth again.”
“What were you thinking?” Milo asked me. “Were you thinking at all?”
“Not really.” I hated to admit that, but Lissia clouded my judgment. “It all happened so fast, and I just reacted. The next thing I knew, I had a hostage and we were on our way here.”
“Did you know that your hostage was promised to Danny Collins in an arranged marriage deal?” Milo banged his hand against the wall. “Do you know you fucking set off a mob war last night?”
“What?” I shouted at Lissia. “Why didn’t you tell me about the arrangement between your father and Collins?”
She stared at me but didn’t say anything.
“Answer me!”
She pressed her lips together and continued to study me.
“What are you doing?” I yelled.
“You told her to keep her mouth shut, remember?” Milo looked as if he might punch me. “This is ridiculous.”
“You pick now to fucking listen?” I lunged in her direction, swiftly taking her throat in my hand. “This is not a game. This is my family, my territory, my life.”
“I tried to tell you.” She tugged at my wrist. “You didn’t want to hear me. I came to you to help me get out of the arrangement, but you said I didn’t have anything to say that you wanted to hear.”
“Marchello,” Milo said. “You need to focus.”
“This is your fault.” I released her neck. “If you would have stayed away like I told you to, none of this would be happening. You provoked me, and now look at what you’ve made me do.”
“No one makes you do anything.” She stood. “Least of all me. You came after me last night because you wanted to. You took me hostage because it benefitted you.”
“I was protecting you, but if I had known about the arrangement, I would never have gone after you. I would have let Danny handle you.”
How could I have been so careless? How did I allow myself to get caught up in her drama?
“I told you to drop me off somewhere, but you wouldn’t let me go.” She pushed at my shoulder. “You made me your problem when you drove me here.”
“You’re going to wish you were someone else’s problem.” I advanced on her, but she backed away and ran toward Milo.
The rage unleashed within me when she sought out Milo’s protection. I knocked over the floor lamp, sending it smashing against the floor.
“That’s enough.” Milo stood in front of her. “We have bigger problems to deal with now.”
I couldn’t take my eyes away from Lissia. After I protected her from the arms dealer, she had the audacity to use my brother as her shield. From me?
“Ricardo,” Milo called into the hallway.
“You brought Ricardo?” I asked.
Ricardo had been on our security team for years, and his father served our father before that. He wasn’t the best guard we had because he possessed a softer side and couldn’t be trusted to shoot anyone in a pinch. And he definitely didn’t want to rough someone up. So we gave him easy tasks, like shopping and picking people up from the airport.
“Yes,” Milo said. “He is exactly who you need right now.”
“You’re probably right.” I nodded when Ricardo came to the doorway.
“Hello, Marchello.” His deep voice vibrated across the room. “Milo said I might be able to help with this particular situation.”
Despite Ricardo’s gentle nature, he was an imposing figure. He was taller than I was—probably about six feet and two inches—and his shoulders were wide while his solid body boasted muscle after muscle. He was a linebacker in college, but too many concussions had sidelined him. That was when he came to work for us.
“Ricardo,” Milo said. “This is Lissia.”
“Hello, Miss Lissia,” Ricardo said.
“Hi.” Lissia’s voice was soft and unsure. “Why exactly are you here?”
“We’re going to be fast friends, Miss Lissia.” Ricardo extended his hand. “I promise.”
Lissia looked at me as she shook Ricardo’s hand.
He’s not the one you need to be afraid of.
“I’m not going to help you, and don’t give Milo those innocent eyes either.” I glanced at Ricardo. “Get her out of my sight.”
Ricardo placed his hand on Lissia’s back and ushered her out of the room. She gazed over her shoulder before disappearing down the hall.
“What is wrong with you?” Milo asked.
“Me? I’m gone for twelve hours, and you think you’re in charge of this family now?”
“I’m trying to right this fucking ship that you’ve steered so far off course.” He went to the cabinet and took out the much-needed vodka. “Word on the street is not good.”
“What are they saying?” I leaned against the desk. “How bad is it?”
“Gian is making allies fast. Men who normally would have stood with Dad are now siding with the Gallanti family.”
“What? Why?”
“Because you kidnapped his daughter.” Milo poured two glasses of vodka. “You know that goes against the code. No family members.”
“If I didn’t intervene, Collins would have taken her. She was in trouble.”
I wanted to believe I took her because I saw an opportunity, but that wasn’t true. I snatched her because I wanted her, and I couldn’t stand seeing her with Collins.
“She wasn’t in trouble,” Milo said. “She was already promised to him. He was her problem, not yours.”
“She wouldn’t leave me alone.”
“If I had known this was going to happen, I never would have introduced the two of you.” He handed me a drink. “I thought you would fuck her and that would be the end of that. A way to silently stick it to Gian while you worked out some aggression.”
“I haven’t even fucked her.”
“That’s probably a good thing considering she’s supposed to get engaged in a few days.”
“Do you think she wants that?” As much as she irritated me, I didn’t want her to be forced into a relationship. Although, that was a bit ironic considering I forced her to be my hostage.
I tried to imagine her walking down the aisle in white with another man waiting to receive her. A man who didn’t deserve her.
“It doesn’t matter what she wants. The deal was made when you intervened.” He downed his vodka. “Gian has the backing of a man who will do anything to get her back from you. Danny will take out anyone in his way because the alliance with Gian grants him access to the ports and more power than he has on his own.”
Everything my brother said was true. This was a war we didn’t need.
“We’re losing allies,” Milo said. “We need these people to get Dad back. You know that.”
“If we could lose them that easily, maybe they were never on our side. Did you think of that?”
“You’re not thinking rationally.” Milo poured himself another. “Our job is to protect our territory while we clear the way for the old man to return.”
“The mission has changed, Milo.” I gazed out the window. “You need to see the bigger picture.”
“What do you think I’m missing?”
“If Gian and Danny form that alliance, that’s worse for us. As long as I have Lissia, they won’t seal their deal.”
“You don’t know that,” Milo said. “They’re already working together. Can you be sure your hostage isn’t working with them?”
“That thought crossed my mind yesterday.”
When I found Lissia with Danny last night, she didn’t want to go with him. She was too eager to come with me. I may have had a gun on her, but she wasn’t afraid of me when I drove off. She played the part of the spoiled child and pretended to resist, but I saw how she looked at me and responded to my touch.
“What changed your mind?” my brother asked.
The way she gives in when I kiss her. The look in her eyes when I threaten to take out my aggression on her.
“If she were here to spy for her father, she wouldn’t be so drawn to me. She’s not faking that.”
“This is no time for your ego.”
“I’m being serious. She asked for my help for a reason. Now I know what it is. I can work with that.”
“While you’re working with that, how are you going to help Dad get home?”
“They’re going to go hand in hand.” I gave him my glass, indicating I wanted another drink. “We can take out two entities at the same time and prove to the rest of the families that the Accetti family is stronger than ever.”
“Dad’s not going to like any of this.” He shrugged his shoulders. “You know how he feels about distractions, especially the opposite sex kind of distractions.”
Ever since our mother was murdered, our father became more ruthless. He cut himself off from relationships because he never wanted what happened to her to happen to another woman.
In turn, that left Milo and I numb to serious relationships. We didn’t do them.
“He’s not going to approve of your tactics when it comes to Lissia.”
“He’s not here right now,” I said. “I’m in charge, and I have to run this family as I see fit.”
“You’re leading with emotion.” Milo poured another round. “I can see the way you look at her. You’re more vested in her than you should be. That’s bad for business.”
“You’re wrong,” I said. “Taking her hostage was a business move.”
“I thought it was about helping her.”
“Why can’t it be both?” I threw my hands in the air. “Getting her away from Collins while throwing Gian off works to our advantage. You need to give this plan time to play out.”
“We don’t have time.” I slammed my fist against the desk. “The cartel needs their shipments moved. If you want them to trust everything is business as usual with Dad out of the country, we need to stay focused and do what the Accetti family has always done.”
“We are doing that.”
I hated that Milo made sense. I was the one who always stayed centered and in control. He was known for taking risks. Why did it feel like our roles were being reversed?
Lissia. That woman has me off-balance.
After I fucked her, I’d feel better. I’d take out my aggression and then get my head back in the game.
“No, we’re not doing what we should be.” Milo stepped closer to me, almost squaring up. “You might be the oldest, but we are in this together. I have just as much at stake as you do.”
“What do you propose we do, little brother?”
“We have to end this war before anyone has a chance to escalate it.”
“How do you want to do that?” I wasn’t going to like his answer.
“We have to stop what you started.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “You have to give her back.”