Chapter 4
Francesca
A few months had gone by in what I could only describe as agonizingly slow torture. I’d taken over the business, finding my space as Matt progressively stayed away longer each time he left.
It was a dream come true for me, but the price was too steep to make me feel complete and happy about it.
My husband was gone. The scavenger hunt took priority, stealing him from me for weeks at a time. It was as if I’d made a deal with the devil and ended up with the short straw, masked as a great gift I’d spend my life only dreaming about.
I felt Matt slip further through my fingers each time he came back, and I was helpless, with no traction to hold on to him. To bring him back from the dark side that he’d purposefully entered.
He had been avoiding the discussion about his Don ceremony altogether, postponing scheduling a date like it was the plague. He wanted to see his vendetta through before officially taking on the title.
It was pure protocol. There wasn’t a soul who’d treat him as any less than a Don. The loyalty, respect, and sacrifice were all given without question. He was the Don.
I knew my husband. There was more than one reason pulling him back. First, the absence of the person who should be passing this down to him. Second, the guilt that came with wanting it despite it.
He needed to close that door. It was sending him into a corrosive and spiraling pit that consumed every piece of him. It was as if Matt had this open wound that needed healing, and Hiro was the knife that kept on stabbing.
An invisible one.
Hiro had gone completely underground since the shooting, and there was no trail leading his way. Matt had turned every damn stone and nothing. Even his own son, Jackson, was in the dark.
That was only making matters worse. The perception that his vendetta would go by unfulfilled was driving Matt to dig deeper each day, hardly coming up for a full breath.
Together with these new demons, Matt’s name and notability grew beyond measure. As did the space between us.
I tried as hard as I could to stand my ground and show up every damn day with an unfazed expression. Like I was in control. I wasn’t. I was a freaking wreck.
Still, I held that mask up with all my strength. I needed it. The business needed it. His men needed it.
I did my job to the best of my ability, yet not even that was enough. Not for me and certainly not for our clients. There’d always be the sexist stigma hanging over my head. It blinded them beyond measure, some of them risking unreasonable demands simply because I was me. A woman.
I was over it.
I was so fucking over it.
At this point, there was no other solution than to use force. Mental force. The one they never saw coming.
“Jonathan Hensley, from the store on the corner of 93rd and 37th Avenue, caught a whiff that Don Battaglia hasn’t been leading the business for some time now. He thinks the protection of his establishment has been compromised with you being in charge. He’s instigated a small rebellion. They are demanding a price decrease, claiming their businesses are at risk,” James informed me. It was almost the exact same words from a week ago. But this time, I was ready to strike back.
Nothing had changed for these assholes to be staking these claims. Yet somehow, a business led by a woman automatically implied failure or lower quality service.
Fuck them.
“Cut him off.” I curtly ordered, not even bothering to take my eyes off the stack of papers I was dealing with.
“What?” James asked, incredulous.
“I said cut him off. Was I not clear the first time?” I stood up, stalking towards the large window that oversaw the entirety of Dea Tacita. “All of them in fact. Cut them all off. This never was a fucking negotiation.”
“But–”
“I’m not going to say it a third time. Offer our services for free for two months as a trial to every single store around them. I want their names on my desk ASAP. Flag those businesses, making it clear that we’re no longer connected. Let nature take its course. Darwin knew what he was talking about when it came to natural selection. They’ll feel the effects of that theory.” I stopped, turning towards him, grinning as wide as the damn Cheshire cat. “In two months, not only will they be crawling back and begging for our protection, which we will be reluctant to provide due to high criminal activity, but we will ultimately accept, at a revised and inflated rate, as it will be a great hazard risk to our own people. We’ll have all the stores around them wanting to take us up on our offer, too, once the trial period ends.”
I explained, watching as James’ expression morphed into a mirrored one of mine.
“Get it done. That’s what you get for fucking with a Battaglia. That’s what you get for fucking with me.”
“Yes, Boss,” James replied, the smirk he wore not fading as he spoke.
“What?” I asked as he stood there staring at me.
“Nothing. My head's in a daze. That was fucking brilliant.”
“Thank you. You have carte blanche to do the same to any other fucker who dares to try the same stunt. Make it worse if they say it’s because I’m a woman.”
“Got it, Boss. With pleasure.”
I could see and feel his respect for me grow, too. I knew these men would always do what I ordered, and they would always respect me. It came with being Matt’s wife.
That was far from what I wanted. I wanted to earn their respect for who I was and not for who I was married to. I might have just taken the first step in that direction.
Liam was out of the business, meaning I had no sottocapo , no second in command. Not on paper, at least, because I’d been naturally relying more on Max than any other of the men. He was like a freaking shadow I couldn’t even shake at night. It had given us the opportunity to become friends, and my trust in him was unwavering.
I wanted to share the small victory with him, but he wasn’t here. That was a first.
“That was fucking hot!” The voice I’d been yearning to hear rang in my ears like a perfect harmony, followed shortly by the door slamming shut.
Matt’s deep voice made me shiver, electrical currents running down my back and goosebumps erupting all around my neck as he stalked towards me.
“How can my bodyguard just leave me unprotected like this? Just about anyone can get into this office,” I teased, watching Matt’s gray eyes pinning me in place with a promising glare that dripped with lust.
“I told him to get lost. I have some long overdue issues to discuss with the boss,” he whispered into my ear, making me shudder under his hushed voice while his fingers barely grazed the exposed skin on my arms.
“I’m not sure the boss can correctly register your words with a hazy brain.”
Before I could finish, he spun my chair around, holding out his hand to cradle mine. As soon as my skin touched his, Matt pulled me into his chest and buried his face in the crook of my neck, his nose running the length as he inhaled sharply.
“Fuck, I missed you.” He hissed, his teeth now grazing the sensitive flesh just under my ear. Long, tantalizing kisses devoured me there, his tongue warm on my skin. “Can you feel that?” He pressed his stone-hard erection into me, “That’s what your little strategy did to me. My wife is a brilliant badass boss.” I saw the smirk and the devilish glint that shone in his eyes just before his lips were consuming mine. Consuming me.
My stomach fluttered. A million and one butterflies setting off to fly inside, rapidly batting their wings in every possible direction. It was as if I was a teenager all over again, being kissed for the very first time.
Matt lifted me up, his hands firmly grasping the back of my thighs before setting me on top of the desk. With a swipe of his hand, he cleared all the paperwork from the surface, sending hundreds of sheets flying everywhere before pushing down on my shoulder so I was lying flat on the wooden surface.
“I need to be inside you.”
He undid the button and zipper on my pants, pulling them down, leaving them to hang around one of my ankles while the other was free, along with my thong. His pants and underwear followed, just shoved down his legs enough to free his hard erection.
He was desperate. No time for proper undressing today.
I could feel the need in his touch, the urgency under the pressure of his fingers, the greed in each earth-shattering kiss. No room for foreplay. No time for teasing.
But he wasn’t touching me anymore.
I lifted my head enough to look at him, his pause catching my attention. He had a hand wrapped around his cock, pumping as he took in the image of my bare pussy.
“I thought you needed to be inside of me.”
“I’m punishing myself for staying away so fucking long.” Another long pump that was punishing more than just him.
Matt pushed the crown of his dick up and down my slick lips, spreading my arousal from my entrance to my clit. He was so hard I wondered if he could drill right through me if he didn’t show some restraint. I was betting there was no space for that, either.
This man was fire. He was hell, and I would gladly burn alongside him.
“Fuck,” I hissed as he reached my clit again, the pressure setting me ablaze. “You’re punishing me, too. Fill me up already.”
“Are you bossing me, Gattina ?”
“Looks like I am.”
“It seems like you need to be reminded of your place. You might run the fucking business, but your pleasure? It’s mine to give, mine to control. Do you understand?”
Without easing into it, Matt thrust deep into me, filling and stretching me to accommodate his full length, cutting my words before they even reached my mouth. A blissful shot of pain tore through my core. Pain that mingled with pleasure, pleasure that warranted more pain.
Making love to Matt was incredible. It was the underline of all this, but now, on the surface, there was a raw and primal need for release and connection that we could only bring to each other.
“Harder,” I demanded, earning a hard pinch on my clit as punishment.
“Your place, Gattina. ” I knew what he meant, but I couldn’t give a damn. I wanted the punishment he craved to give.
Matt slowed his pace, his broad hand holding my throat down, squeezing just enough. My need for release morphed into anger for his slow torture. I wanted– no, needed– to be railed against this fucking desk. I needed him to bury all his damn demons so deep inside me that he’d never find them again.
“Fuck my place.” I groaned in frustration. “What are you going to do about that?”
“Punish you, my dear.”
“Do your worst. Just make sure to destroy me, or I’ll need to take matters into my own hands.”
“That’s some picture. But no one touches what’s mine.”
He thrust once. Hard, punishing, and unrelenting, the desk scraping forward against the wooden floor.
“Is this what you want? A raw fuck?”
“I want to feel you when you’re gone. Make me feel you, Matt.”
His fingers sunk deeper into the flesh of my throat, the other hand holding my hip and pulling on it to meet every ram of his cock inside me.
He fucked me within an inch of my life.
Raw. Primal. Hard and desperate.
Exactly what I needed.
“Mrs. Battaglia?” There was a knock on the door, my name being called over the muffled moans of my pleasure.
“Fuck off. The boss is busy,” Matt growled at the interruption.
The door wasn't even locked, the possibility of being caught adding to the sexual tension that already bristled in electricity.
“Eyes on me, Gattina ,” Matt grunted from above, his thrusts unrelenting, pulling my eyes from the door. “Business can wait for you to come.”
I closed them shut instead, my control over the growing pressure inside slipping as I gripped onto the desk as hard as I could, taking his cock like a fucking queen.
Matt stopped riding me, tightening his hold around my throat, “I said, eyes on me, Gattina , or I will not let you come.”
My eyes immediately flew open, looking straight into his, dark and dripping with lust.
“You’re so fucking close, your pretty cunt is squeezing me dry.”
“God, yes.” I moaned, not controlling the sounds that came out of my body anymore. Those words were enough to shove Matt right over the edge of his darkness, rendering me the punishment I was looking for.
“No other man’s name on your lips.”
Hard, balls-deep, paused thrusts mixed with words that incited a rebellion inside me, the sound of flesh hitting flesh bouncing off the walls.
Thrust.
“While I fuck,”
Thrust.
“The life,”
Thrust.
“Out,” thrust, “of,” thrust, “you.”
Thrust.
The freedom of this ultimate release made me moan and mumble his name as he spilled himself into me, his own grunts of pleasure feeding my orgasm.
Matt slumped forward, his head resting between my breasts while his cock was still buried inside me to the hilt. Exactly where it belonged.
“Fuck, you just sucked my soul out.”
“Glad to be of service.” I chuckled, my arms wrapping around him, pulling him into my chest as if he could physically fuse with my heart.
We stayed there for a while longer before Matt stood back up, slowly pulling out of me. “Now, as for your punishment.”
“What?” I sat up on the desk, surprised to hear those words.
He pulled out entirely, a gush of cum spilling out of me from his absence, pooling at the edge of the desk. Matt swiped a finger over it, bringing it to my lips, forcing entry.
“Suck.”
I did as he ordered, heat building back up inside me.
I thought seconds would be on the menu, but Matt had other ideas.
He pulled my underwear and pants up my free leg, helping me off the desk before pulling them all the way up.
“You’ll be sitting in my cum until you get home and shower. You wanted to feel me, Princess? This is how it’s gonna be. Each time you move, you’ll feel it coming out of you, and when there’s no more to spill, you’ll be begging me to fill you up all over again.”
That was fucking hot, but the punchline hurt like a gunshot wound being ripped open all over again.
“You’re leaving?”
“In a couple of minutes.” He pulled me into his arms, covering me with his broad body into a hug that reached my soul. “I miss you so much, Princess.”
I could feel the pain in those words. It was my pain, too.
“I miss you, too.”
“I’ll be back next week.”
I couldn’t help the rippling hurt from making me recoil into my chair. I knew he had to do this, but being here without him had been much more difficult, not to mention meaningless. I wanted my dream, but not at the expense of my relationship with my husband.
“Better get back to work then,” I replied, my hands fixing my hair to the best of my ability. It was a foolish attempt to conceal what had just happened. I’m sure the whole of Dea Tacita just heard me come.
“I’m sorry,” Matt said, melting my heart at the pained expression in his eyes.
“I’ll be okay,” I answered, a fake smile tilting my lips. “I better check what the guys need from me. Max knew you were here so it must be something important.”
I picked up the phone and called Max’s cell, waiting for him to answer “You needed to talk to me?” I asked as soon as he picked up.
“Yes.” His voice was deep and heavy, deafening silence filling my ears after that single word before the slash of dire reality brought my feet back to the ground. “You got another note.”