Page 15

Strangers.

PRESENT

S he’s been incessant about finding out the location of the cells we use to house the broken ones, and no matter how much I ignore her, she won’t stop. I practically wrapped my belt around her eyes and threw her over my shoulder after I finished my meal so she didn’t know how to get to the cells, and now I wish I just let her fucking see.

“Nera’s going to find out,” I say to Dante, who is sitting behind his desk.

His eyes shoot up, a fear I haven’t seen in them before. “How do you know?”

“One of them got loose,” I admit.

His fists thud onto the desk. “Fuck, I thought you said you had them under control, Raf. What the fuck are they doing out of their cells!?”

“It won’t happen again.”

“ Merda! ” He stands, swiping the contents of his table to the floor in a rage, and I grit my teeth at the outpour of anger.

“What’s gotten into you, huh?” I walk over to him as he leans on his desk with his hands, his head between his shoulders, looking down at the floor.

Standing, he wipes his face. “Nothing.”

“ Stronzate. ” I cross my arms, waiting for an answer. “We’ve known each other this long and you’re going to hide shit from me now?” The anger continues to bubble inside me, frustrated that he won’t share whatever the fuck he’s hiding. “Why won’t you just tell me?”

“Because! It’s not your fucking burden.” He glares at me, and my nails dig into my skin as I fist my hands. I’ve never said a damn word about how I’ve been feeling the last few months—fuck, the last few years—and now he wants to talk about me carrying burdens? I’ve lived for this family, and I’ve said I’d die for this family. I breathed their blood like it was my own because I wanted to feel like I was a part of something. I wanted to desperately belong somewhere, and no matter what I did or how hard I worked, I always felt inadequate.

“Burden!? All I’ve ever fucking felt was like a burden to your family.” I don’t mean to say it, but I do.

“What?” Shock evident on his face, he takes a step forward to me. “Dante thought of you as his son…How can you think that?”

I scoff. “You wouldn’t understand even if I tried to explain it. We lived different lives. Mine was a lot lonelier than yours.”

“I called you my brother.”

“And I called you mine, but that doesn’t make us blood relatives. You don’t get to choose your family.”

There’s a rap on the door and Nera walks in, glancing back and forth between us, no doubt sensing the tension in the air.

“And that’s my cue.” Before he can say anything else, I take my leave. I’d much rather be amongst the ones he calls animals than be in the same room with him right now.

Muttering under my breath, I pass Ezra on the phone outside near the fountain and I ignore his nod of recognition as I make my way up the path, past the shack and into the forest. Everything within me tells me to go into the cells and shoot every single one of those broken souls, but I know if I do that, I’d be sentencing myself and the entire Della Torre line to death. I think about heading to the greenhouse, and I don’t know why my feet don’t immediately take me there. Instead, I open the wooden doors to the church and step inside, cleaning the sand and mud off my boots on the mat before I walk down the aisle.

Why the fuck are you even here?

The voice sounds in my head again and I gaze up at the statue of Jesus.

Do you even believe in God anymore?

I did once. A long time ago, when Demetrio would teach me about the religion. I was fascinated by the stories he’d tell about Jesus and Moses. I almost smile at the memory of the first time he told me the story of how Moses parted the sea until I remember everything I had done.

God will forgive, son.

Dante’s voice echoes through my mind as I grasp the cross pendant and press it to my lips. I say a prayer, in the only way I know how when the doors to the church creak open. I don’t turn to check who it is because I already know.

“Come to repent for yesterday’s sins?” I tease as her soft footsteps become closer.

When she stands beside me, she doesn’t look at me. “Is that what you’re doing?”

A smile sneaks its way onto my lips at the one thing that fascinates me most about her. The way she isn’t afraid of the grey. Not even a tiny bit.

“What was that back at the manor?” She turns to me, and I grind my teeth at the reminder that Dante will no longer share his plans with me.

“Just a small disagreement.” I shrug, pulling out a cigarette and placing it between my lips. “Nothing of your concern.”

“Hmm.” She steps closer into me as I light the cigarette. “You think I’m concerned about you?”

“No. I think you came here with a purpose.” I take a drag and hold the cigarette to my side, leaning forward to drop my nose to hers. “I think you finally see how much you want me, too.”

She smiles, her eyes dropping to my nose, and the sight of her biting her lip makes my cock so fucking hard that I groan. Placing my forehead onto hers, I close my eyes to inhale her perfume. “Don’t do that,” I whisper.

“Do what?” she speaks softly, grabbing the collar of my shirt and pressing herself against me, my cock practically tenting at her touch.

“Don’t bite your lip at the thought of me fucking you.”

She giggles, turning to press her ass against me, and takes the cigarette from my fingers to take a drag for herself. “It’s fun to tease you.”

“Is that so?” Flicking the cigarette from her hand, I put it out with my boot and snake my fingers around her neck, holding her to my front. “Will it be fun if I took away the air you breathe as I fuck you inside your house of God?”

She grinds her hips over me, and I growl at her dare. As I walk us over to the statue of Jesus, footsteps sound just outside the door. Covering her mouth with one hand, I shield us behind it, pressing her front to the stone with my body. The heavy door thuds closed as boots thump on the floor of the church. There’s a moment of silence and then he speaks.

“Forgive me, Father,” Dante says as he begins his prayer, unaware that he isn’t alone.

Nera moves her hips, and my cock begins to dig into her. It hardens beneath my pants, making me want to take it out and stick it deep inside her to teach her a lesson.

Lifting her skirt, I caress my way over her hip to her pussy, my hand still covering her mouth.

Let’s see how you like to be teased.

I begin to rub my hand over her pussy, slowly over her underwear, and she tips her head back. I thoroughly enjoy watching her give in to me. She can’t make a sound, and judging by the dampness of the material between her legs, it’s turning her on even more. She rocks her hips, getting greedier the more I refrain from giving her what she wants. Grazing past the top of her pussy, I slide my hand beneath her panties and tug, the material tightening as it pulls against her clit.

I press my lips beneath her ear. “Don’t make a sound, or I stop,” I whisper, and she nods, silently begging me for more.

I tug a little harder and she bucks, grinding herself to the friction, and I smile at what she’s becoming. A needy little whore, desperate to be fucked. Dante remains quiet and I can only assume he’s finishing the prayer in silence as I slip my fingers into her panties to rub his sister’s clit.

Not many people can say their first time was memorable, but I’m going to make sure as fuck ours is. Her heat swallows two of my fingers as I push inside her, and she lets out a muffled moan. My hand tightens around her mouth, warning her to stay quiet, and she presses her eyes shut as I push deeper, her body squirming against mine.

The problem with sinning is once you start, it’s hard to stop. It’s like doing the same thing over and over without losing the endless craving. The more you do it, the more you want to do it, and it’s no different to touching her, feeling her body against mine, or just looking at her.

She presses her hips forward, with my fingers knuckle deep inside her. Curling them, I massage the delicate spot inside her and she opens her mouth, biting down on my hand, making my dick jerk. Retrieving my fingers from inside her pussy, I slowly unzip my pants and pull her panties down her legs until they’re a mess on the floor.

It makes me ravenous when she lifts her leg to prop it up onto the statue, inviting me in. Pulling out my cock, it throbs with the need to be buried inside her warmth. I stroke it, wiping her arousal over my crown before easing the tip in. I squeeze my eyes shut at her tightness, and the sting on my hand returns as she sinks her teeth into me. I know she wants to let it out, to scream or to moan in pleasure as I sink deeper into her. Prying my hand out of her mouth to grip the base of her hair, I hear footsteps recede from inside the church. When the doors shut, she lets out a breath.

“What’s stopping you, huh?” she says breathlessly, spurring me on further, daring me to take full control. “Fuck me like you actually mean it.”

A deep rumble forms in my chest, and I yank her hair harder, craning her neck. “I was giving you the grace I thought you wanted, Principessa . Slow, like the life you pretend to crave.” I ram into her, and she gasps, gripping onto the statue. “But if you want to be fucked like a desperate little slut,” I pull back and slam into her again, “I’ll have you shuddering on my cock until you can’t breathe.”

She chuckles, looking back at me through her lashes. “Promises, promises.” She grins and I’m lost in her eyes, ready to tell her to just have her way with me and leave because if she doesn’t, I don’t know if I’ll ever give her the chance again.