Chapter Five
Mateo’s house was everything Ella had ever dreamed of and more. It was a huge house with ten bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, game rooms, and living room, library, pool.
Ella had only ever wanted a modest home, three or four bedrooms. This place was a status symbol, and it made her realize exactly who she had married.
That alone was scary. Mateo was head of the mafia.
She didn’t know the name of the mafia, or exactly what that entailed.
She did know he had guards on the door and at the gates.
He had plenty of phone calls throughout the day, and there were times he got angry. Never did he direct that anger at her.
She didn’t know if she should search his name online. It was something she had never done. Even though he had given her a job, and she heard some of the whispers from other employees, she didn’t allow herself to be pulled in by gossip. All she did was listen to the man himself.
Mateo didn’t scare her. She was intrigued by him. Part of her wondered if she should ask him about his life, to figure out what she needed to do if any of his mafia relations came forward.
She glanced over at him, and he cut into his steak.
Lewis was an amazing cook. He wouldn’t allow her in the kitchen, and she was not going to lie, that kind of sucked on the dream of feeding her husband and kids.
It had been a week, and although she was tempted to get a pregnancy test, she hadn’t asked for one.
She didn’t want to know yet if she was pregnant.
“I’ve been in foster care since I was a kid,” Ella said.
She cut through her steak and it was like butter.
She didn’t eat it, just held it on her fork.
“From what I know, my mom was some kind of drug addict, and she had left me alone in our apartment. She had died of a drug overdose, and the landlord found me. Sent me to foster care, and that was me in the system. I think I was about three or four.” She put the steak into her mouth, chewed it, and then swallowed it, picking up the glass of water and taking a sip.
“It wasn’t always bad. I mean, there were bad things that happened.
Some of the foster parents were horrible.
They liked to use their belt or sticks to beat us into complying. ”
“Shit, Ella.”
“I think the worst punishment I ever got was being thrown into a cold, dark closet. No light, no way of knowing what time it was. I lost count of the numbers I would count. That was scary. I ran away a few times. I don’t know if you know any of this.
It was a rough time. Some of us had it better than others.
When I was sixteen, I got lucky. An elderly woman named Ruth opened up her home to me.
Changed everything. She passed away when I was twenty-one. ”
She licked her lips.
“Uh, I know you have connections to the mafia. Some people at work would speculate and I want to tell you I know the world is not all sunshine and rainbows, even though people want to say it is. Life is hard. There are a lot of bad people, and I don’t want you to think I can’t handle it,” she said.
Mateo sat back.
“What we are doing is not conventional, our agreement.” She frowned. “Well, I guess, in a strange way, it kind of is. I mean, people make deals and get married all the time. There is usually a lot more at stake.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t want you to keep me in the dark.”
He continued to look at her. Ella didn’t know if she had crossed some imaginary line, but she didn’t want any lies between them.
“Fifteen years ago, the mafia was known as the Alfonso Mafia. It was one of the most feared and respected in the whole state, even going back to Italy. My father was Romeo Alfonso,” Mateo said.
“My mother was Pamela Cole. She was not part of an Italian family. Not even linked to the mafia name. She met my father, fell in love, and became one of his many mistresses. She didn’t know this, of course.
She thought she was the love of his life. ”
She looked at Mateo as he glanced down at his plate before returning her gaze.
“My father had two other sons before he had me. They were the ones in line for his throne. I was known as the bastard son, only I took to killing and being a soldier in the mafia better than anyone. To make my mother proud and my father recognize me, I worked my ass off. I did everything they said I wasn’t capable of doing.
I handed them the fucking Bratva on the plate.
Our enemies ceased to be a problem, because I took care of it.
I commanded respect, and there was even talk among some of the capos that I was the true heir. ” He didn’t look away from her.
She stared at him.
“And my father murdered my mother for even daring to have me in the first place,” Mateo said.
This made her gasp.
“He didn’t just give her an easy death, he tortured her, made her scream for mercy.
I saw the video. What he got his men to do to her, including my brothers,” Mateo said.
“I was banished. He attempted to break me. Sent men after me, thought I was finally not his problem anymore. I killed every person he sent. No one returned, and he kept lying. Then, one by one, I killed the men that hurt my mother. I hunted the capos who voted for me to be outcast, to be killed. Until I got to my brothers, his wife, and finally, him. I took everything from him, broke the Alfonso name, and destroyed everything. As for the mafia’s possessions, I took them.
I inherited all the businesses, and those that wanted me to be their boss stayed as capos.
The Alfonso Mafia is gone, and now it is simply known as the mafia. ”
“You’re not going to change it to the Cole Mafia?” she asked.
He smiled. “That would be poetic, wouldn’t it? Taking the mafia from my dad and renaming it in honor of the woman he killed.”
“It’s your mafia now,” she said.
“Does my story not scare you?” he asked.
“No, it doesn’t.”
****
Mateo was not used to caring about anyone. For the longest time it had been about survival. Men and women alike had come to claim his title, to take the mafia from him, but he wouldn’t let that happen. Not on his watch. The mafia belonged to him. However, he had never truly staked his claim.
And his wife was not afraid after what he had told her.
He didn’t like the revelations she had told him.
He wanted to delve into her past and find the people responsible for hurting her.
After dinner, that was exactly what he had done.
He’d gone to one of the cops he trusted on his books and asked for a detailed history of all the places his wife lived while growing up.
Making his way upstairs, he didn’t feel tired.
As he got to his bedroom door, there was a slight temptation to go and find another room.
In the back of his mind, the memory of Ella’s scream and the pain in her eyes was so very real, and he couldn’t stand the fact he hurt her.
All he wanted to do was protect her. These feelings were not natural to him, not when most of his life he’d only been interested in hunting and killing.
He took one step in front of the other, as he came face to face with Ella. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, running a brush through her hair, which she stopped the moment he stepped into the room. Neither of them said a word.
She had already changed into a sleeveless t-shirt and long, flannel-looking pants. Ella got to her feet, and he closed the door behind him. Still, no words were spoken.
Then, he took another step, and another. Within seconds, he was right in front of her, wrapping his arms around her and taking possession of her mouth. He intended to be gentle. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her, or hurt her.
That one touch was like a switch in his brain, as he suddenly deepened the kiss, and he heard her gasp and moan, then he ran his hand down her back, squeezing her ass.
Breaking from the kiss, she released a moan, and he went straight to her pulse.
Another gasp came from her as he bit down, followed by another moan.
Running his hands up, he grabbed the edge of her shirt and started to pull the damn thing out of the way.
Tossing it to the floor, he leaned down and lifted one of her large breasts, sucking at the tight nipple.
Her pleasured cries echoed around the room, and he walked her back until her feet hit the bed and she toppled down.
Mateo went with her, then kissed down her body. He grabbed her flannel pants and started to peel them off her legs, thankful she wasn’t wearing any underwear. Spreading her thighs, he went straight to the lips of the sex and spread it open. Her clit was swollen, and her slit was soaking wet.
He slid one single finger inside her, going straight to the hilt.
Although he used his finger, he went to the knuckle, and he felt how tight she was.
Adding a second finger, he leaned down and flicked his tongue across her clit.
Just the tip of his tongue, as he wriggled his two fingers inside her, hoping to relieve the tightness.
There was no hope of that. She was so fucking tight. He wanted to fuck her hard.
Instead, he went to her clit, circling the bud as he fucked her with his fingers. He loved the sounds she was making, and she kept pressing her pussy up against his face. He wanted her dripping wet.
Taking her clit between his teeth, he sucked on the bud, using just a little pressure, then releasing it.
He pulled his fingers out of her and slid them back in.
Her pussy became wetter as he teased her clit.
He was so tempted to keep teasing and never let her reach orgasm, but there was only so much restraint he had, and the truth was, he wanted to fuck her.
He’d been craving her all week long, held himself back, and he didn’t fucking know the reason why. Now, he just wanted her.
Mateo focused on her clit, as he wanted her to orgasm, and the moment she went over that hill, he didn’t give her time to come down.
He pulled his fingers out of her cunt, kissed her clit, and then quickly dealt with his own pants.
He couldn’t believe he’d not already stripped naked.
Pushing them off his body, he quickly got ready, then slid his cock straight to the hilt within her.
At the same time, he looked into her eyes, waiting to see if he saw any signs of pain, only there wasn’t any.
He held himself deep within her, still feeling the aftershocks of her orgasm as her pussy squeezed his dick.
He felt every little pulse, and it was amazing.
Ella stared back at him, without a single hint of pain, and he took hold of her hands.
Kissing her lips, he pressed her hands on either side of her head and then started to rock inside her.
Going in deep, and then pulling out. Over and over, he did this, taking his sweet time.
He had no choice but to grit his teeth because he was so close to orgasm, but he didn’t want to stop.
He just wanted to keep going, to fuck her harder.
She was an addiction. Watching her as she looked up at him, he never wanted to look away.
He felt the moment she started to thrust up against him, and he loved it.
Speeding up his thrusts, changing from making love to fucking.
He heard her sounds, and every little noise was like sweet music to his ears.
He never wanted her to stop. Driving in harder and deeper, he leaned down, took possession of her lips, and then he came, thrusting to the hilt and spilling his seed deep inside her womb.
He wanted to get her pregnant.
He wanted more ownership over her.
There was no way he wanted to give her up.