Page 15 of Runaway in the Mafia (The shadows of Cosa Nostra Chronicles #3)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

VITALE

A nnoyance bit into my vision. Mamma’s Cayenne was idling outside with Giuseppe loitering next to it, hands on his phone, cheeky music ringing out a winning game.

I didn’t know why that bothered me. Or even why I was back here while I’d sworn to stay away from this place.

I should have been in my own damn office, or at the very least, in one of my warehouses or my clubs.

Hell, maybe I should visit my usual brothel and get my dick sucked.

That would have been a nice change. But instead, my car took me in the opposite direction to this cursed, memory-ridden house in search of the woman tainting my dreams and pissing on my sanity.

“Why’s the Cayenne out here?”

Lia looked up guiltily from the dining table. Chairs were overrated when it came to Lia. She was seated on the table, legs crisscrossed and meddling with some vases. Lia and fragile things went as well as glass near a pool. It was bound to end up in pieces.

“Because it can’t be parked in the kitchen?” she mused.

My molars ground. Wasn’t in the mood for her smart mouth today. “How did Ahana go to work?”

Her eyes shot up to me. “You know about her working?”

Of course I did. I’d checked up the company and had a report thick enough to fill a file in my drawer about it.

Annoyingly, nothing morally grey about it.

A damn international PR company doing well.

Didn’t mean I had to like it. Each time I was here, runaway girl wasn’t.

She wasn’t hiding under her bed. I’d been in her room.

Laid on her bed. Nor her shower. Unfortunately.

She was sitting in some office, wearing tight ass clothes, working. Apparently.

I exhaled. Trying to calm the bristling annoyance itching up my skin. “Of course I know Lia. Now, how did she get to work?”

“By bus.” She went back to prod a vase.

“She took fucking public transport?”

“Huh, yes.”

“I thought Mamma sent her by car.” That’s why I had fucking men around here. To have my women fucking protected.

My words fell on deaf ears.

“Lia?”

“What?” She sat up with her hands on her waist. “Jesus, Vitale. What’s with the million questions?”

A growl and a threat were out of my mouth before I knew it. “Spit it out or I’m getting you married off.”

Her face twisted in anger. I knew what she would do before she reached for the nearest vase and smashed it across the room.

I didn’t even blink. Lia’s moods were hot and cold, with nothing in between.

My gaze rolled to my watch. “Tick tock, I heard the capo in Boston is looking for a wife.” A flicker of danger.

I looked up to catch the next vase a few inches from my face.

Frustration oozed out of her body. Nonchalance spilled out of mine.

“Fine, I’ll make the call.” I was already moving towards the door.

“Wait.” I stopped with my back to her. A loud sigh. “Mamma sends her in the car, and when they are around the corner, she makes Giuseppe drop her at the bus stop.”

I gritted my teeth. “Why?”

“Because she’s smart and independent and doesn’t want one of your goons running behind her. She’s really smart, you know.”

And a bad example to my baby sister. My jaw ticked. This. This was the reason she was a fucking runaway girl. She just couldn’t listen.

Two long strides and I was out of the kitchen.

“Wait, Vitale.” Lia lunged onto my elbow, trying to pull back with her body weight. “Don’t tell Mamma, okay? Please? She doesn’t know.”

Of course not. She was so obedient with Mamma. The perfect daughter in the making. The slight tilt of my lips must have been devious if Lia’s scowl and her fingers digging deep into my skin were of any indication. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, Vitale,” she warned.

“I always do what you wouldn’t.” I shrugged her off and stalked out. “And oh…” I threw over my shoulder, “You’re paying for those vases.”

So, if she didn’t want one of my goons taking her to work and back, I’d do it. I wasn’t one of my goons.

I dumped my coat in the back seat and rolled up my sleeves.

Fucking weather had got me all hot and itchy.

I lit the cigar, seeking comfort in old habits.

A puff filled my lungs with fresh nicotine and the air with grey smoke.

This girl wasn’t good for me. I’d lost count of the cigars I’d smoked in the last weeks.

At this rate, I might as well have taken a shovel and dug my own grave.

I didn’t care for the way she made me feel. I didn’t like the look on her face when I’d cornered her. She’d looked broken. Fragile. And she’d made something crack inside me.

I was right. The moment she rocked up to me in her towel, I had known it. She was trouble. But she was made to be mine. I didn’t have to touch her to know she’d fit me like a glove. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t right for me. The man above had sculpted her with only one intention. To be mine.

The sun glinted off the glass doors, and one-third into my cigar, they swung open to reveal the temptation to my will.

She was in one of those ass-showing tight skirts again.

Of course she was. And another silk top that revealed nothing but played with my cock.

The woman was born to walk a catwalk. Too bad she was meant for my eyes only.

With the sun on her, she was almost in front of me before she noticed me.

She came to a halt. Lips tight and her hands clutched around her phone.

Her face was a projector of emotions. Shock.

Surprise. Unease. Guilt? Then it shifted into determination, and fuck me if she didn’t ignore me and walk past.

“One more step and I’m throwing you over my shoulder.”

The click-clack of her pumps stopped. Our gazes collided when she flipped around. Hers burned with frustration. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Thought it was obvious.” I cocked my brows and rolled my shades off my face.

She frowned. I glared.

“Get in the car.”

“No.”

“Now. I am taking you home.”

“I’m perfectly capable of getting home without you.”

“Maybe.” I pushed off the car and took one step towards her. “But I am not capable of allowing you to.” I pulled the passenger door open. “Now get the fuck in the car.”

She hesitated, but something in my gaze must have screamed lunatic because she let out a huff and stomped to the car. “Can you at least move your arm away?”

With a snarl that was supposed to be a grin, I moved my arm and took a step back.

She slid into the car, her tight skirt working her ass and fuck me.

It had slits on the sides that went four inches past her knee.

“You work in an office or a brothel?” Her breath hitched, and her face went dark like I’d hit her.

Something told me I shouldn’t have kicked off the filter on my mouth.

She made to push out of the car and I blocked her path.

“Let me out.”

“Not going to happen.”

“You shouldn’t be tainting your car with a whore,” her tone was quiet. Dead.

I dropped to my haunches and gripped her chin before her next breath was out. “Don’t fucking put words in my mouth.”

“You are the one who said—”

“And I shouldn’t have. Jesus! I’m sorry.” I let go of her and rushed my hand through my hair. “I’m insane. Alright?” A harsh laugh spilled out of me. “You make me fucking insane.”

“Probably born like it,” she muttered to my soft laugh.

How was she talking to me like this and getting away with it? And why were her words sending heat to my dick? “Shut the fuck up.” My tone was too soft. Too sweet. She’d made a boomerang out of me.

I didn’t know what I did, because her lips tilted into a slight smile.

Fuck, she’s beautiful. She was barely wearing makeup.

Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her eyes stirred with delight.

Adrenaline rushed through my veins. She curled towards me, and a whiff of the wind carried her maddening smell.

Fucking intoxicating. It had seeped into my pores, and I couldn’t rid myself of it.

My heated gaze dropped to the dip in her blouse where her gold locket rested.

My eyes rolled down her blouse to her tight skirt, in search of the release on the side to show off her long, tanned legs.

Made to wrap around a man’s hips. I couldn’t help it as much as I couldn’t stop breathing.

My rough palm stroked where the slit ended.

Her skin was as smooth as velvet, and my hand felt like sandpaper running on it.

Instant electricity sparked between us. The air sizzled with tangible need.

Her breath hitched as my thumb slid just underneath her slit.

I hooked my gaze to hers, and it was clear as the sky was blue.

Lust. She wanted me as much as I did her, and Jesus, I wanted this woman.

A metal claw unclasped within my chest, and everything that was greedy spilled out of it.

I wanted this woman. It wasn’t her. It was me.

My need. My want. For this woman. Fuck. She was my fucking temptation.

I was up and standing at the back of the car in an instant.

Angry puffs of my cigar did nothing to calm the tension coiling inside me.

How was this happening? I didn’t want to be Carlo.

But an army wouldn’t be able to drag me off her if they had machine guns and a rocket artillery.

So what could I do then? Just a man put before this woman.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I didn’t need this shit in my life. Think of your future wife, Vitale.

I squeezed my eyes shut. For the life of me, I couldn’t come up with her name or what she looked like.

There’d been plenty of images with that contract.

The one I’d been carrying around like a burn on my palm, but I couldn’t remember if she had brown hair or black.

Not black like the woman sitting inside.

Not silky like hers. Nor long. I glanced back to find her with one foot out.

I didn’t fucking think so. I stalked over and lifted her foot with mine and shoved it inside.

The door slammed shut to her frustrated gasp, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.

Was too engrossed with the monster I’d tried so hard to hide.

It roared inside me. Rattled at his cage. There was no escaping it anymore.