Page 33 of The Mastermind (Mafia Rivals #1)

MADDELENA

I pressed the keycard to the panel and entered my suite, the pulsing aches generously distributed all over my body dragging a lustful sigh. If nothing else, I would sleep like the dead tonight. Hopefully with no?—

‘Of all the guys in the world, Maddie? Seriously?’

‘ Jesus! ’

‘Nope, most definitely not him.’

I slapped my hand on the light switch, snatching at the ball of shame building in my gut before it had the chance to erupt. ‘First of all, would you stop creeping into my hotel room like some wannabe ninja and just come and knock like a normal person?’

From her position on the end of the living room sofa, she spread her arms wide. She was dressed in a jade-green lounger set that made her hair and eyes pop. ‘I did. You weren’t here, obviously.’

‘So you just broke in and sat in the dark?’

‘No, I told the nice receptionist downstairs that we’re sharing. And that you’d accidentally taken all keycards with you.’

I snorted. ‘Fat chance she believed you. And this room comes with a butler, who also would’ve known you were lying.’

The corners of her mouth turned down. ‘I’m hurt, sis. You don’t think we look alike enough to fool people?’

I stared askance at her, then shook my head.

Sofiya didn’t react well to attention being drawn to her astonishing beauty.

More than a few boys had collected bloody noses back in high school just for telling her she was pretty, and I would bet my whole bank balance she’d broken more than one dude’s nose since.

‘Doesn’t matter whether she believed me or not. Your butler took pity on me and let me in, obvs, so…’

‘Fine. To what do I owe the pleasure besides your obvious judgement?’

She watched me with eerie stillness. ‘What the hell’s going on, Mads?’

I swallowed and turned away to ease off my heels. It bought me a laughable ten seconds. ‘Should I not be asking you that? Apparently, I’m the last to know everything around here, including the plans being made for my fucking life.’

This time she wasn’t quick enough. I caught the tailcoats of guilt as it fled her face.

Her perfect eyebrows arched. ‘You’re turning this around on me? Nice.’

I tossed my purse on the bed and whirled to face her. ‘I love you, Sofiya. But seriously, could you drop the tough girl shit and have some damn compassion for a moment and tell me what the fuck is going on?’

Her expression sobered at the weariness and, yeah, my deep sadness I didn’t bother to hide.

‘You know what I’d wanted more than anything when we were growing up? For you and me to be best friends. To share everything, from nail polish to how shitty it was growing up in that gilded cage disguised as a home.’

She scowled faintly, taken aback. ‘You had Ciara.’

I shrugged. ‘Yeah, but her father was our junior lieutenant. I loved her but she had a grass-is-always-greener mentality I couldn’t shift.

She thought I was lucky to be Bonafacio’s first-born granddaughter and had it made.

’ My laughter seared my throat. ‘She had no idea I would’ve given anything to have a different surname.

But you, despite your nothing-can-touch-me-ness and…

’ I waved a hand at her, and her frown deepened.

‘You and I knew how bad things were. Are . Just as Giada and Jacinta understood eventually the life we’d been born into.

We had zero freedom as women, and complaining got us punished.

Or worse, got Mama punished for not doing enough to keep us in our place.

I thought you and I…’ I shook my head. ‘I thought you were a loner, but I know you’re not. Not with Ciso.’

She winced and her jaw set. ‘So I was a shitty sister who disappointed you because I didn’t want to be besties?’

I sighed. ‘I don’t… Look, I’m not sure why you don’t like me?—’

She blinked. ‘What? Of course I like you. You’re my sister.’

‘And yet you’ve never had my back. And you’ve never needed me to have yours. Why’s that?’

She reached up and tugged on a lock of hair at her nape. My eyes widened. I hadn’t seen her do that since she was about fifteen. ‘Maddie…’

‘It’s fine, Sof.’

‘Obviously it’s not or you wouldn’t be bringing it up,’ she griped under her breath. ‘Look, I just wasn’t… I had a different way of handling my shit, okay? And I… I didn’t know you wanted… that. You seem tight with Ciara. And Bona warned me not to get close because of…’ She cringed.

My heart bled. ‘Because I could blurt out family secrets on any given night?’ Having my suspicions confirmed hurt like the devil. But I crossed to the room to perch on the end of the bed. ‘Are you going to tell me why you’re really here? Why you came to my hotel room in Baku City, too?’

Her gaze swept to the side, and she stared out of the window for a long stretch. When she looked back at me, I spotted uncertainty on her face.

‘Sof?’

‘Yes. I wanted to warn you…’

My heart jumped into my throat, blocking any effort to speak until I forcefully cleared it and leaving the space in my chest a little numb. ‘About what?’

‘I think you know. Bonafacio has plans for you.’

The numbness was spreading like ice over a wound. But the thing was, it was temporary. Once the ice thawed, the devastation would wreck me. ‘But you didn’t tell me. Why?’

Her nose twitched with a thwarted grimace. ‘Because I wanted to buy you some time by dragging things out a little. I managed, by the way. Barely.’

My head felt too heavy to nod. But the question blazed in my eyes.

‘You and the heir have a history.’ She shrugged, crossed and recrossed her legs. ‘I thought maybe you wanted to have a little fun with him first, while everyone still thinks you’re working him to our advantage,’ she said, her eyes locked on my face. ‘Did you?’

Heat built, fast and furious, cutting through the numbness with a vivid replay of the filthy decadence Cesare had visited on me, and the eager abandon with which I’d welcomed it.

It was my turn to drop my gaze, to corral my fracturing composure. An almost impossible task when even now, I felt the insistent throb deep inside me at his rough possession. The screams he’d dragged from my soul.

‘And here I thought you wanted to be besties,’ Sofiya huffed after a minute, mistaking my silence for reluctance to answer.

‘Don’t besties share that sort of thing?

’ she asked, her tone attempting humour that fell flat.

Probably because she still hadn’t fully divulged what she’d come here to say. What I feared would shatter me.

‘I…’ I glanced down at my hand and grimaced. ‘Fun wouldn’t be how I’d describe it.’

Her sharp inhale snapped my head up. ‘He fucking hurt you?’

‘No! It wasn’t like that at all,’ I hastened to tell her. Then I cringed inwardly at my rabid defence of Cesare.

‘Okay. So then what was it like?’ she pressed, probably not realising she was leaning forward in her chair. Or that her eyes were sparkling with wild curiosity, not the judgement she’d first levelled on me when I entered.

My eyes widened. ‘You really want to know, don’t you?’

She tried to shrug it off, but her face pinked. And she fluttered her hand.

I smirked, absurdly happy to see my unflappable sister so flustered. And yes, I realised I was also grasping at any reason to delay opening the black door and confronting the bottomless chasm that awaited me in the form of an arranged, unwanted marriage.

‘Yeah, fine. So?’

My eyes widened further. ‘Sofiya… are you a virgin?’

She jumped to her feet, rushed to the French doors, threw them open and stepped out.

Laughing, I followed. ‘What, you’d rather throw yourself off the fifty-second floor than answer my question?’

She gripped the railing and peered over it. ‘Definitely thinking about it, yeah.’

I gently took her wrist and steered her around to face me. ‘I’m not a virgin, obviously. But if it helps, up until a couple of nights ago I was as good as one. And considering our background, I think it’s entirely understandable. There’s no judgement here, okay?’

She nodded after a few seconds.

I led her back into the suite.

Crossing over to the wine selection the butler had arranged on the cabinet, I plucked the first red – Sicilian, of course – and grabbed the electric opener.

It whined, then gave a satisfying pop. I let it breathe for all of a minute while Sofiya grabbed two glasses.

I poured and she raised her glass, eyeing me as she took a large gulp. ‘The night has taken a definite turn for the unexpected. So, spill.’

I cast around for appropriate words to describe my experience without divulging sordid details. Because yes, I intended to jealously guard them.

Leaning a hip against the cabinet, I winced when the movement reminded me just how sordid my night had been. ‘I can definitely say he is as much of a hotshot in the bedroom as he is on the racetrack. Pole position all the way.’

Her eyes searched mine and I didn’t mind the bite of jealousy I saw in her eyes. Sofiya was the prettiest Mancinelli granddaughter, after all. ‘It was that good?’

I smiled, knowing she would never admit Cesare’s talent in public, and especially not to Ciso. Recalling his hands, his teeth, his tongue, his delicious cock, I caught my bottom lip between my teeth to stifle a moan and nodded. ‘Better than good.’

She kept on staring for a stretch longer, then transferred her gaze to her glass. ‘He’s not my favourite person for obvious reasons, but… I’m glad he was good to you.’

And just like that, the reprieve was gone. I stopped my fingers from curling too tight around my glass. Lifting it, I drained it in three large gulps and set it down with a hard click. ‘Tell me, Sof.’

She braced one shoulder against the pillar next to the cabinet, running one finger along the glass rim, her gaze actively avoiding mine. ‘He’s found a husband for you. He plans to get you hitched by Christmas.’

I reached out to brace my hand on the cabinet.

Why now? Why didn’t you tell me? Why do you know and I don’t? Why, why ? —