Page 21 of Sin City Obsession (De Salvo Empire #1)

A necessary headache. Part of looking out for family meant finding places, when possible, to let them contribute. Carla was someone’s sister or cousin, close enough that she was family by extension. But it was a loose extension.

Rocco felt Alessa’s body stiffen and begin to lean to the side, as if she intended to step out of his reach.

So he pressed his fingers into her hip as he swung his head the other way, toward Carla’s already approaching figure.

“I’m only here for a minute, Carla,” he said. “Just came to pick up a couple things.”

She stepped directly into his path with all the feigned obliviousness he’d come to expect from her. “Some men came by and delivered a package earlier,” she said. “I thought it looked questionable—”

“I don’t pay you to worry about what my private security team does.”

Her smile tightened. “They wouldn’t tell me what it was, and given that you were marked as unavailable today, I thought it was best to have the entire thing moved off-site. ”

Alessa sucked in a breath.

“For the safety of the casino, and all of our guests, of course.”

Rocco felt his lip curl. “You should have fucking called.” He would almost undoubtedly have ignored her call, but he also knew she hadn’t made the effort.

“Your schedule was quite suddenly cleared for a full week,” Carla said, her expression morphing with alarming ease into puppy-eyed concern. “I didn’t want to bother you in the middle of whatever could be going on.”

“ Where ,” Alessa said, the word drawing out of her like scraping sandpaper. “Where the hell did you send my stuff?”

Carla blinked once in Alessa’s direction and her demeanor went cold. “I didn’t see any identification tags. I’m sure I would have remembered something labeled whore being carted into Mr. Cavallo’s office.”

Alessa’s arm shot forward so fast Rocco barely had time to register the spark of his own anger burning inside before the unmistakable sound of a hard, open-handed slap echoed through the office.

And for the life of him, all Rocco could feel as he watched Carla’s head whip to the side—her perfect posture shattered as she wobbled back a step—was pride.

So he didn’t resist when Alessa moved forward to close in on the other woman, and he held up a hand to stop the two security personnel who came running at the sound of a physical confrontation.

No one would interrupt whatever happened next.

“You have more nerve than your toothpick stilettos ought to be able to hold,” Alessa said, something in her voice like a growl. “Nerve, but not a damn lick of intelligence. ”

Carla backed up until her butt hit the edge of her desk, one hand cupping her cheek and her eyes wide. “You—how dare you! Who do you think you are?”

“I’m no whore.” Alessa stalked into her space but didn’t lower her voice. “I’ll bet you have no idea what you’ve done, you petty little bitch.”

From over Alessa’s shoulders, Rocco watched Carla’s brow twitch and saw her lowered fist clench.

Alessa didn’t stop. “It took a full fucking day for Rocco’s people to gather the items off my list and get them here.

A full. Fucking. Day.” She leaned forward, crowding Carla against her desk and snapping her words into the secretary’s face.

“Are you suggesting that I delay my plans for another full fucking day because you were uncomfortable ? You couldn’t sit near a suitcase for half an hour, so I should tell the Dragon that everything has to come to a complete stop while we wait.

Another full fucking day. Is that what you’re suggesting … Carla?”

A faint tremble had worked its way into Carla’s frame. “The Dragon…?” Her eyes darted past Alessa, out to Rocco. There was a plea for help in her stare.

Rocco tucked his hands into his pockets and stared right back. “The only man in the world my father bows his head to.”

Carla’s eyes widened and she went ghostly pale. “D-Don Cavallo…” Her gaze flicked back to Alessa.

“Where is my shit, Carla?” Alessa snapped.

Carla’s fist uncurled, her posture slackening. “I-I had my cousin throw it out. The truck’s already been by.”

Alessa cursed and shoved from the desk, restless anger wafting from her .

Rocco glared out at his fuck-up of an assistant. “Congratulations. Now you and your cousin will have to be punished for disobedience, and for endangering the family as a whole. How do you think we should handle that, Carla?”

Carla began shaking her head. “No, please, sir! I was just—”

Alessa brought a knee into the woman’s chest, just below her ribs, forcing Carla to double over and dropping her to the floor in a coughing fit.

Alessa followed her down, pressing her hand into the back of Carla’s neck.

“You don’t call him that. If you survive this, you call him ‘Mr. Cavallo’ from now until he ascends.

Then he’s your new Don. You fucking worship the ground he walks on if you want, but you do it from a distance and you don’t get so goddamn full of yourself.

” She shoved Carla’s face into the expensive carpet beneath them. “Got it?”

Carla whimpered.

Rocco bit down on the inside of his cheek to keep the smile off his face. That beautiful woman was just as fucked up as him. He glanced to the side, toward the nearer of the two guards who stood, gaping, at the opening of the hall. “Find her fucking cousin and have him detained.”

The man about jumped out of his skin at being addressed, but quickly scampered to comply.

Rocco dismissed the other with an order to lock down his entire corridor.

“All I have on me are zip-ties.”

He snapped his focus back to Alessa at the sound of her voice and found her still crouched beside the now-sobbing woman, holding a pair of orange zip-ties. And a series of terrible thoughts ran through his mind, pulling his smile forward .

She arched a brow at him. “What’s that look for?”

“Hold still a minute.” Rocco angled around the two, grabbed one of guest chairs from in front of Carla’s desk, and dragged it over.

He repositioned it until it was facing the space as a whole, effectively blocking the opening of the walkway.

Then he crouched down in front of Carla’s nearest shoulder, met Alessa’s watchful stare, and said, “Let’s get her in the chair. ”

“Okay….”

“P-please, Mr. Ca-Cavallo, sir—”

Alessa pinched something that made Carla cut herself off with a shriek. “What did I tell you?”

“You should listen to Alessa,” Rocco said as they physically hauled the sobbing woman toward the chair.

“She’s even considered there might be a world where this mistake doesn’t cost you everything.

” He dropped her into the seat, crowding her enough she couldn’t possibly hope to rise, and hardened his voice.

“But it’s absolutely cost you your job. You’re fucking fired, Carla. Don’t get confused about that.”

Alessa jerked Carla’s arms behind her, behind the chairback, and tied them together.

“N-no!”

Rocco tilted his head. The floor wasn’t entirely unoccupied.

If Carla’s shrills got much louder, that would be an issue.

He glanced around and spotted her sneakers that she always tucked off to the side, to change into after work.

Inside the sneakers he found balled-up socks.

Perfect. He rolled the two socks into one larger ball, grabbed the tape dispenser off the desk and with not too much effort, he’d created a decent gag.

He’d even been kind enough not to wind the tape all the way around her head like he would for most hostages.

Alessa stepped up to his side, her head tilted as she analyzed Carla’s state. “So, why did we tie her to the chair and gag her? I thought you’d haul her off or let me slit her throat.”

Somehow, Carla managed to lose more color.

Rocco turned to the side and pulled Alessa around to face him.

“We’ll haul her off, and her fate will be in your hands once everything else is settled.

” He skimmed his hands up her sides, rubbed his thumbs over her cheeks, then dropped his hands to her ass and tugged her tight against him.

“I thought first I could help you work off some of that restless aggression.”

Carla made a muted sound almost like an exclamation.

For a split-second, Alessa gaped up at him. She rolled her lips between her teeth and let out a breath. “Right here?”

“Right here.”

“We can’t go crazy.”

“Just a little.”

Alessa dipped her fingers over his waistband and lowered her voice to a breathy whisper. “Fuck me, sir.”

Rocco growled, slammed his lips to hers, and bucked uselessly against her as their tongues slid together.

She moaned into the kiss and wasted no time working on his belt, so he bunched up her shirt and let his fingers glide across her skin on their way to release her own pants.

She was right that they couldn’t indulge like they had previously, and part of him felt that was a damn shame.

But part of him recognized he’d lost his mind deciding to fuck her in the walk-in office of a busy fucking hotel .

He didn’t care.

Just like he didn’t care about the shit in his way when he shoved Carla’s crap off her desk to make a place for Alessa’s luscious ass.

He didn’t care if it was a little awkward with their pants, and shoes, and shirts.

He just needed to be as deep inside her hot pussy as possible.

And from the strength in Alessa’s hand when she stroked his dick, she was wholly on-board.

In the back of his mind, he registered Carla continuing to whimper or whine around her gag.

Making sounds of displeasure. Sounds of resistance.

That was more than fine. That was half the fucking point.

Rocco was no fool. He’d known for a while Carla wanted in his bed.

And while he’d never been the kind of man to put his lover-of-choice through any rigorous tests or trials, instinct had had him steering clear of her claws.

But driving home that she would never get what she’d wanted so badly?

Well, he wasn’t above that.

Alessa’s hands slid up, beneath his disheveled shirts, her nails scraping his skin, as he finally thrust inside. The kiss broke, both of them groaning, and she dropped her head back as her hips rolled forward. “Yes, yes ! Right there … Fuck, so deep … it’s so good, sir!”

He anchored his hands on her hips and trailed his lips over her throat. “That’s my good girl,” he murmured against her skin. “Tell me how much you like being railed by my dick. Tell me how bad you want to come.” She’d been so wet already, he’d hardly needed to touch her.

As if he needed any other proof for how perfect she was for him .

Alessa adjusted her grip to wind her arms around his shoulders, one hand sinking into his hair. Her pussy fluttered around him, flirting, but not where he needed her quite yet. “H-harder, sir,” she panted. “Please, don’t treat me like I’m— ung —fragile!”

This fucking woman.

Rocco nipped at her earlobe and clamped both hands on her ass, driving his dick as deep as it could go and grinding hard against her pussy.

He was rewarded by a full-bodied shudder and her almost strangled gasp as the orgasm teased.

He kissed the skin beneath her ear and fell into a merciless thrusting pace until he felt his own release cresting.

Then he angled his face over hers and growled the raw truth against her lips. “You are mine .”

He sucked her tongue into his mouth, bending over her and fucking into her hard enough to force her almost flat onto the desk. And her orgasm crashed.

Alessa cried, half shriek and half sob, into his mouth. Her nails dug into his skin and scalp and her body shook as her pussy clamped down on his dick.

The kiss broke with both of them gasping for breath.

Rocco caught himself before either of them could crash onto the hard desk, holding Alessa tight to his body.

To his chest. They were still joined, his dick still at half-mast, but she had been right when she’d said they couldn’t go too wild.

Once would have to be enough for the time being.

Alessa twisted her fingers in his shirt and turned her head, as if she were nuzzling into him.

Once would never be enough.