Page 30

Chapter 30

Nova

There's another shift between Massimo and me. Within me.

I want to believe him so badly, but I need to remind myself there is no future where he and I will live happily ever after.

At the end of this, I'm still a Mancini and he's still a Santoro. He'd never blend our families because that would mean aligning with a nest of vipers. And even if he did, his family wouldn't accept me.

I'm the daughter of a vile man who is responsible for horrendous things, including wrongs against the Santoro family.

But why can't you enjoy yourself in the meantime? Take the power piece off the chessboard and give your father and Julien Moreau the finger while getting more of that mind-blowing pleasure Massimo introduced you to.

My decision is made, my mind is the clearest it's ever been, and certainty cascades over me as I pull off my T-shirt. Massimo's eyes darken as I unclasp my bra and bare my breasts to him. The huge shaft that is standing proud jerks, and a pearl of liquid fills the slit in the top of its head.

A surge of power washes over me as I watch his reaction. In this moment—seeing the way Massimo looks at me, like I’m the only thing in the world and he’d give me anything I asked for—I feel like I have all the power and control.

The battered parts of my psyche try to warn me that this is a trap, a lesson, a test. But I push that away as heat flushes through my entire body when Massimo licks his lips and wraps his hand around the base of his shaft.

My hands shake with need and lust as I undo my jeans and push them and my underwear off in one movement. Stepping out of them, I stand there completely nude, but no vulnerability or shyness pushes in.

I love the way he's looking at me. It's addicting as hell.

"Come here, princess." He holds out a hand to me.

For once, I resist the conditioning to obey, and my feet remain still. "I want to see you."

His chest heaves as he looks like he's trying to control himself. Then he nods. "No sex tonight."

A smug little smile tilts the corner of my mouth because it sounds like he's reminding himself as much as me.

But my smile fades as he stands.

Christ on a bike, the man is huge—and not just his body. My eyes are glued to his long, thick erection that seems even larger now that he's standing.

There's no way that's going to fit, right? Even if he stretches me out somewhat with his fingers, that's going to hurt like hell.

"I'd never hurt you, Nova."

My eyes track upward to meet Massimo's dark brown ones. The heat and look within them…I could lose myself in it. I could fool myself into believing this might be real, that we could have a future, and that this isn't a monster set on destroying me.

"Don't say things you don't mean," I whisper.

His jaw stiffens, but rather than saying anything in response, he starts to undress. He undoes the buttons of his shirt and shrugs it off. The motion has his cock bobbing and slapping against his chiseled abs.

His arms, chest, and shoulders are just as defined and muscular as his abs. I was right about the tattoos; his arms, chest, and shoulders are covered with thick ink, completely hidden by his shirt.

He pushes his pants and boxers down his thick thighs, then kicks them off along with his shoes and socks. Then he stands straight to let me look at him .

It's as if angels craved him from granite. His body is beautiful, magnificent.

And should be scary as hell.

With his size and strength, I'm insignificant. I'd never stand any chance of fighting against this man. He could manhandle me and do what he wanted.

Yet…

I've never felt safer.

Even when I first met Massimo, and I was scared shitless, some inner part of me knew I didn't fear him like I've always feared my father, or my brothers and Mauro.

"Do you see me, Nova?"

"It's…" I wet my lips, still staring at him. "It's kinda hard not to see you."

His massive frame moves with his deep laugh, but then he sobers. "Everything you see here is yours to wield, princess."

He takes three steps to close the distance between us, cupping my face. I'm always shocked and awed by how someone his size—with who and what he is—can be so tender and gentle.

His words aren't tender or gentle, though. "I will destroy your father, princess. For his sins against me, but also for his sins against you."

Those words wrap around my heart, making me wish our reality was different. That I wasn't me, the Mancini Princess, a Mancini, the snake's spawn. They make me wish his words were true and not part of some monster's plot to break me.

Stupid, gullible fool, don't fall for him and his pretty words.

"I'm your weapon, Nova." His thumbs caress my cheeks. "For you, I'll bring your father to his knees and make him beg you for forgiveness before I destroy him."

A normal woman wouldn't swoon at his words. But I've been born and raised in this dark world; I hold no rose-colored glasses to it. And the thought of my father on his knees before me, begging, and at Massimo's mercy—at my mercy—is as potently addicting as it is darkly satisfying.

A rush of wetness coats my thighs, and I close my eyes. I'm so sick and twisted.

When I open my eyes, Massimo sinks to his knees before me.

"What are you doing?" I gasp.

He presses a kiss on my stomach, and it caves and quivers at his touch. "I'm on my knees to worship my queen."

My head swims as pleasure and joy mix with denial and disbelief.

Then it swims because I've been swung around and am now lying on the bed.

I push up onto my elbows as Massimo positions himself between my thighs, still kneeling on the floor. "What are—" I choke as he pushes his finger in to the knuckle.

"So fucking soaked, princess. My talking about ending your worst monster and making him pay, making him beg…"

My world seizes as Massimo slowly pushes an additional finger inside me, and my back arches from the pleasurable pressure and sensations.

"My princess wants her pound of flesh." He pushes in deeper as I stretch for him. Then he pulls his fingers out almost entirely before pushing them back in. "She wants blood." My back arches further. "She wants to right the scales of injustice against her." He moves in me again, harder, and the action steals every air molecule from my lungs. "She wants him shredded at her feet." His tongue licks my clit.

I jerk at the sensation and the slash of utter ecstasy that slices through me, and I scream, "Yes!"

"Tell me," he growls as his fingers pump into me with harder strokes. "Tell me, Nova."

"I want everything you said," I whimper, both at the darkness that's been unleashed in me and at the pleasure he's causing me and withholding from me. "I want my father destroyed, decimated. I want his empire in ruins."

Tears streak down my face, but they aren't tears of sadness. It’s as if voicing those words is a balm for my ravaged soul and psyche, allowing the years of torment, pain, and hard-learned lessons to begin to be purged.

"Good girl. My good fucking girl. You're going to drench my face now."

He attacks me before I can process what he means. His mouth, tongue, teeth , fingers, and hands are a madman's .

I've imagined someone pleasuring me this way, but to have it happen… and for it to be Massimo… it causes breaks another chain that has imprisoned me, as I give him another of my firsts.

The pleasure is out of this world.

The feel of his thick, soft hair clutched between my fingers is heavenly.

The sounds he's making is like a wild animal devouring his meal.

"Massimo," I moan, arching as his fingers thrust roughly into me, and he sucks my clit into his mouth. "Massimo," I cry, stiffening, on the cliff about to fall over.

He eases off, and I tumble away from the edge, whimpering in frustration.

"Give me your hand, Nova."

I immediately obey. Not because I've been conditioned to do so, but because, at this moment, I'll do whatever he asks of me.

"Touch yourself for me, princess." He places my hand on my inner thigh. "See how soaked you are; you're dripping and making such a beautiful mess on your thighs and the bed." He presses my hand to my sex, pushing my middle finger inside me and I gasp. "Feel your drenched pussy, princess."

I lift my head. He's kneeling on the floor between my spread knees with my feet propped on the bed, staring at where my finger moves in and out of me.

"Finger-fuck your tight little cunt. That's it."

I groan as my sex clenches at his filthy words.

He licks his lips, and I notice how they glisten, even the scruff on his chin looks wet. He licks his lips again. "I could feast on you forever."

I'm hot and flushed. My finger inside me feels amazing, but why have a burger when you can have Wagu beef? My hips move, seeking more.

"Please, Massimo," I keen, falling back on the bed and arching my back.

"Do you need me, princess?"

"Yes."

I sigh in relief and bliss when he pushes a finger in with mine .

"Follow my movements." Massimo pushes his finger deeper inside me, then glides it out before pushing back in. I mimic his movements and pace as we both finger-fuck me.

"That's it, sweetheart. You're doing so well. Perfect."

My walls clench at his praise. He growls, his breath hot against my sex as he leans in close but without touching me with his mouth.

"Good fucking girl." My pussy flutters, and his tongue licks my throbbing clit.

"Please, Massimo," I whimper, needing to come, but not knowing how to do it yet myself. I'm sure I could figure it out; however, I instinctively know any orgasm from Massimo will be better than anything I can give myself.

He licks up my thigh, like he's lapping up my taste, humming and growling while he repeats it on the other thigh.

"I'll always take care of you." He presses an open-mouthed kiss to my clit, and my hips jerk, lifting in offering to him. "We're going to make you come together. Feel how your tight pussy walls clench and spasm around our fingers. Imagine how it will feel stretched obscenely around my big cock very soon."

I'm already starting to clench as we thrust our fingers faster and faster.

My back arches and my head tilts back. "Massimo."

When he sucks my swollen clit into his mouth, I'm a goner.

It starts off as a small ripple, spreading wider and intensely. I clamp tight around our fingers and nearly sit up on the bed as my core seizes. For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction—one more powerful in this case—and when the pressure bursts, it's like I'm thrown back on the bed, and my back arches almost to the point of breaking.

"Massimo," I sob, unable to find any sort of solid footing as my world explodes with heat and bursts of brilliant white light.

Pleasure and ecstasy intermingle with happiness and joy as my pussy ripples and contracts, spasms and relaxes. My chest heaves as I struggle to breathe.

Then a heavy weight presses against me as Massimo wraps me in his arms, and the happiness and joy spike as the waves of pleasure and ecstasy slowly abate. His scruff is wet against my cheek, and when he presses his mouth to mine, his tongue dancing with mine, I taste myself.

Sweet and tangy. I moan into his mouth, chasing the taste and wanting more.

He rolls onto his back, taking me with him. I sit up, straddling his hips with his thick, hard length splitting my lips. I shift my hips, gliding my soaked core along his length. When I reach the end, his cock jerks, which positions the head perfectly. All I need to do is push back.

I start to, but he catches my hips. "I said no sex tonight, princess."

"Right. No babies with the snake's spawn." My words are out before I can stop them.

He rolls me onto my back—effortlessly manhandling me—and looms over me. He studies me, trying to see into my head. I try to turn away, but he won't let me.

"That's not what I meant, Nova. I have to leave in the morning, and I won't leave you feeling used."

"Where are you going?" I ask without thinking, as panic and fear flare inside me at the thought of Massimo leaving me.

And I silently reprimand myself for being so bold with Massimo. I would've never dreamed of questioning my father, or even my brothers or Mauro. And they would've never given me a heads-up about anything.

"Shh, princess." Massimo nuzzles my neck. "You'll be protected. Your father won't get his hands on you. Never again."

A breath shudders out of me, wanting so badly to believe Massimo's words and the intention behind them. But my past experience is screaming warnings at me not to be a fool.

"Gabe and his men will be here," he reassures me.

"You're the Don, Massimo. They should be with you."

"Concerned about me, princess?" He cocks a brow with a small, crooked smile.

"If something happens to you, then I have no protection against my father."

I wince. Those words sound so self-centered and calloused, but honestly, it's true.

If Massimo is to be believed that he'll protect me from my father and the likes of Julien Moreau, then if Massimo is no longer in the picture—the thought of him dying makes me feel ill, so I don't envision it further—then his family won't continue my protection.

Not after what the Mancinis are responsible for against them.

And why would they? Why should they?

Massimo's look darkens before it eases. "You'll be taken care of, princess, I swear it."

I swallow against the lump in my throat, staring up at the man looming above me. "How long will you be gone?"

He shifts to put his weight on one elbow and runs his knuckles along my cheek with his other one. "Just a few days. Gemma will come and spend some time with you. If that's okay?"

Gemma—the one who I thought was a friend, but she kidnapped me to bring me to this monster.

Much better than returning home to my father and the new hell waiting for me: Julien Moreau, heir to the French mafia, who has an online shopping addiction , buying people from auctions.

I shudder.

"Nova?" Massimo asks, concerned.

"It will…be nice to see Gemma."

Did I really just say that? And why do those words feel true?

"You'll have free rein of the house." He gently pushes my hair back from my face. "I just ask that if Gabe or Jerome need you to go to your room, please know it's for a good reason; you're not being punished. I'd like to let you go outside into the garden maze, but…"

I'm reminded I'm a prisoner, no matter how you look at it or that I was saved from a different more, hellish prison.

"Princess." His knuckles drag on my cheek again. "We need to keep your presence here under wraps, especially while I'm gone. I'm not trying to cage you, Nova."

I nod, turning back to him. "I understand."

He sighs. "Maybe I'm being paranoid thinking about the possibility of satellites or drones catching sight of you and proof that I have you…" He shakes his head and lowers his mouth to mine. "But I'm not risking you. "

I close my eyes as feelings war inside me. The swirling of desire, the blooming seeds of hope. The dread that I'm being stupid, gullible, and a damn fool.

Because if I don't watch myself, I could fall for the monster who could do what my father never could.

Utterly break me.