Negotiation: A Mafia Love Story (Triple Threat Book 1) (8 page)

She moaned and pressed her mound tighter against his tongue, vaguely aware of losing herself to passion. She was too caught up in the sensation of his tongue licking rapidly against her clit to pay much attention to anything besides that sensation. She simply buried her fingers in his hair and rode his face as he licked and sucked her pussy until she came in his mouth a moment later. The release was rapid, but no less satisfying for its speed.

In record time, he had his pants open, and his cock slid into her slick heat. He paused briefly, holding her against him with his hands cupping her ass as he moved her toward the wall, allowing it to support part of her weight. His gaze locked with hers, and she struggled to focus on him through the passion making her hazy.

“Did you start birth-control like we discussed?”

She managed a jerky nod.

“Is it effective now?”

Again, she nodded even as she was arching against him and circling her hips to stimulate her clit against his shaft buried deep inside her.

“Thank fuck, because there’s no way I’m pulling out of this sweet pussy to put on a condom. I’m not leaving this slice of heaven at all until I have to.”

She clung to him as he thrust in and out of her rapidly, at times almost painfully, with her body slamming against the wall each time he took her deeply, with a hint of roughness. She clung to his shoulders and met each thrust eagerly, temporarily inured to the pain of bumping against the wall as he fucked her hard and deep, as though staking a claim. The first spasms of his cock twitching inside her brought on her own orgasm, and she clamped her thighs tightly around him as she clung to his shoulders and writhed against him, riding out the last waves of her orgasm as his cum filled her. It was a new sensation, but one she was anxious to feel again already, even as she was coming down from the first orgasm.

They never did make it to dinner that night, but they finally returned to his house a couple of hours later with her suitcases in tow. She was now officially Roman’s girlfriend rather than just his mistress. It was a strange turn of events, but she didn’t regret how it had played out. She certainly wasn’t in love with Roman—of course she wasn’t—but she was happy to see where the relationship might lead, and apparently he felt the same way. She might end up happy from the bargain they had negotiated. Happier, she mentally amended, as she cuddled into bed with him later that night.

***

Before she knew it, three weeks had passed, and they were three of the happiest weeks of her life, which should have been surprising, considering what Roman did, and how they had come together. Instead, they had settled into a simple routine, and in some ways, it felt like she had lived with him forever.

He showed no inclination of growing bored with her or her presence, and though neither of them had admitted to feeling anything more than attraction and pleasure in each other’s company, she was certain he was feeling something more intense. It was the same something she was feeling, especially when he held her in his arms, whether it was to snuggle while watching a movie, or following a particularly rough session of sex, when she was coming down from the blissful aftermath of being handcuffed, whipped, and fucked within an inch of her life—something she had discovered a dark fascination for, thanks to Roman’s tutelage.

The only dark spot on the horizon was that she had lost contact with Robbie. For more than a week, he hadn’t answered the telephone number he had given her, which had been in the room where he was staying in a small hotel. He wasn’t answering his cell phone either, though she wasn’t even certain he had taken it with him.

She had proposed that he leave it behind, because it would allow someone to track him easily, and he’d seemed agreeable to the idea, but she had never come across the phone while packing up the apartment to give up her lease. Robbie had been living on the foldout couch in her living room, and his possessions had taken up a shelf against that wall. She’d found nothing to indicate her brother was embarking on a life of crime, and she hadn’t stumbled across a cell phone either.

She was concerned about him, but each time she opened her mouth to ask Roman for help finding him, she remembered her lover’s plans for her brother. If he found Robbie, he would likely still want to send him some place far away where Roman’s spies could keep an eye on his every move. Perhaps that was the best idea, but she was still hesitant to betray her brother’s whereabouts. She didn’t think Roman would hurt him, but she was frightened of what might happen if Robbie was back in that lifestyle again, even under the watchful gaze of someone Roman trusted.

Not that he seemed to be faring any better on his own.

With a sigh, she pushed away from the café table where she had paused for a light lunch after a shopping trip. She was fully enjoying the summer vacation, feeling no pressure to find a part-time job as she had in previous years while enrolled in college, or after the first year teaching last year. With no rent to pay, she had enough money in the bank to allow the luxury of the summer off before returning to teach kindergarten in the fall.

She was still adamant about using her own money though, and she had fully funded today’s shopping trip. Roman had offered her a credit card she had refused to accept, and then he had demanded she keep it on her in case of emergencies. He had strongly encouraged her to use it for whatever her heart desired, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. The terms under which the relationship had begun were bad enough. She had no intention of doing anything to reinforce the original role of her being his mistress or remind him she’d sold herself to him to satisfy Robbie’s debt.

They seemed to have agreed without words to start over in a more normal way and try to set aside the agreement that had bound them in the beginning. No way was she going to jeopardize that by using his resources, or appearing greedy, or interested only in his money.

She had cash, so she didn’t have to wait for the bill as she walked away from the street side café. She would be back at Roman’s house in a few minutes, having chosen to walk and stretch her legs, though the driver had seemed disapproving of her decision to do so when he had dropped her off at the café to take her packages back to Roman’s house.

It was nice to stroll along without someone else’s presence, and she realized she hadn’t truly been alone outside of Roman’s house since she had moved in with him. There was always someone there, either Roman or his driver, and it was lovely to have a bit of peace and privacy, even from Roman for a brief moment. Conversely, she also missed him at the same time.

As she strolled, she decided she would have to face the consequences of whatever happened and ask Roman for help if she couldn’t get hold of Robbie by the time she got home. It had been more than a week now since he had fallen out of touch, and there was no telling what kind of mischief he was into this time.

He’d already shown himself incapable of making good decisions time and again, and she reluctantly admitted to herself that Roman was probably right when he had told her weeks ago that allowing her brother to go somewhere alone simply enabled him to get into a new scrape. She’d thought she was doing the right thing, but now, as she listened to his phone go straight to voicemail, as it had done for the past several days, before the annoying tinny voice of the operator told her the mailbox was full when she tried to leave a message, she conceded he was right.

She was only a couple of blocks from home when a car jumped the sidewalk and grazed her. The vehicle barely struck her, but it was enough to send her flying to the ground and leave her shaken. She looked up, expecting to see whomever had hit her rushing from the vehicle.

She didn’t grasp that it hadn’t been an accident until the driver stepped out from behind the tinted glass of the SUV and strode toward her slowly, but deliberately. As he towered over her where she lay on the ground, she abruptly recognized him as the man who had stolen the dance from her at the foundation charity event, the one who’d initiated the show of jealousy from Roman that had seemed to be the catalyst for moving their relationship forward.

“You,” she whispered, wincing as her body throbbed with agony. He had barely tapped her with the vehicle, but she was probably going to have bruises on the side where the SUV had struck her, and also on the hip where she had landed so painfully. “What do you want?”

“I wanted a meeting, but that didn’t happen, and so I’ll settle for you.”

His words were somewhat confusing, but as he bent and lifted her to throw her over his shoulder, and she found she was in too much pain to really offer more than a token resistance, the conversation that had taken place between Roman and Dominic a few weeks ago came to mind, and she was certain this person had a connection to Audra Vydūnas, the girl who had lured her idiot brother into ripping off Roman in the first place.

She opened her mouth to scream, and he seemed unconcerned. Apparently, so did all the urbanites walking the area. A few stopped and stared for a moment before hastily averting their eyes and moving on. She was appalled by their behavior, but not shocked by it.

He dumped her into the back of the SUV, slamming the door behind him before she could even gather her thoughts enough to think about trying to slide out or block his attempts, let alone encourage her body to actually perform the motions as pain flared in her anew when she collided with the supple leather seat.

A glance at the door revealed there was no handle on the inside, and when she turned her head to look at the other way, she was startled to see a petite brunette seated beside her. She wasn’t certain of the woman’s identity, but she tentatively identified her as Audra. Any tentativeness fled a moment later when the other woman lifted a hand holding a dirty white cloth and slammed it over her face. The hand was missing the pinky and ring fingers, confirming the other woman’s identity even as Sarah fought to hold her breath, and then fought against breathing in the sharp stink of the chemical lacing the rag. Inevitably, she had to draw in a deep breath and giddiness swept through her, quickly followed by unconsciousness when she was unable to pry the hand holding the cloth clamped over her face off in time to avoid continuing to breathe in the fumes from the soaked cloth.

She was late. Roman paced around the foyer, pausing every few steps to look at the door in hopes that she would magically appear and step inside. The driver had told him he left her at the café three hours ago, and she still wasn’t home. She’d had plenty of time to have a snack and walk home. Hell, she’d had plenty of time to have a seven-course meal and crawl home on her belly at this rate. Something was definitely wrong, especially since she wasn’t answering her phone. It simply rang and rang.

As he waited for his brothers to join him, having put out the call for their assistance a few minutes before, he decided to try her number again. He had pressed the speed dial so often that his thumb seemed to have the muscle memory required to make the call without his brain’s input. The phone rang in his ear, but this time, someone answered on the third ring.

“Hello,” said a sweetly feminine voice, but with a definite bite of anger.

“Who is this? Why do you have Sarah Hastings’s phone?”

“Sarah and I are having quite a good time.” She gave a girlish giggle, but it seemed faintly psychotic. “We’re just waiting for you to arrive, Roman. I’m going to hand the phone to my cousin. He can give you all the details.”

There was a brief silence, and then the sounds of screaming shattered it before a rough male voice invaded his ear. “Come to the Marina, Sloop Eight. We have business to attend to, Rinaldi. If you don’t come alone, we’ll gut your girl before you can ever hope to reach the boat.”

The line went dead without the person identifying himself, but judging from the faint accent, Roman was certain it was Benas Vydūnas. He was also positive the female voice had belonged to Audra. She hadn’t been attempting to sound so lighthearted the day he had captured her red-handed with his shipment, but he was sure it was her. She’d spent most of her time cursing and screaming that day, but there was still similarities in the voices, and he was certain Sarah was in the possession of two pissed-off Lithuanians.

His blood ran cold at the idea.

He raced from the house, scooping up the keys to his sports car on his way out. He had to get to Sarah as quickly as possible, because there was no telling what the Lithuanians were doing to her.

***

“Eeny, meeny, miney, moe…” The psychotic girl trailed off as she lightly touched each of Sarah’s fingers while chanting the familiar childhood rhyme.

Sarah tried to remain stoic, knowing what was coming. The girl had already cut off her thumb, and it had caused excruciating pain, the likes of which she had never experienced before and had hoped to never feel again, but was certain that hope would be denied.

As Audra’s rhyme ended with her pinky, and she braced herself to feel the slash of the sharp knife through her skin again, hacking through the bone, she prayed the other woman would be content to even the score and would stop with two fingers. Somehow, she doubted that.

The tall, dark-haired man stood nearby, watching impassively. After hanging up the phone with Roman a few moments ago, he had casually dropped it to the floor of the yacht and stomped it ruthlessly. He didn’t seem to care that he had severed his only connection to Roman and was clearly confident he would come for her. Sarah was confident herself, but she was also worried for him and tried to distract herself with fear for Roman from the burning pain in her finger a moment later as Audra hacked through bone and tissue to sever her pinky.

She screamed when the girl cauterized the wound a moment later with the side of the knife blade, which she had heated with a lighter right before removing her finger. At least she wouldn’t bleed to death, but she wasn’t certain that was necessarily a good thing under the circumstances. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Because you mean something to Rinaldi, and he owes Audra for taking her fingers.”

Through the haze of tears, she tried to focus on Benas as his feet scraped against the wooden deck when he moved closer to them. “She stole from him. You’re lucky he didn’t kill her as compensation.”

“Robbie stole from them,” said Audra with a hard look in her eyes. “He made me the patsy, but I had nothing to do with it.”

Sarah snorted her contempt. “Yeah, right. My brother, the genius mastermind behind all criminal activity.”

Audra slammed the knife down into the table, and unfortunately straight through the back of Sarah’s hand in the process, pinning her to the wood. Amid Sarah’s screams, she leaned closer, her rage evident. “That’s what he wants you to believe. He’s not naïve or foolish. We were barely involved. Robbie used me as a scapegoat so he could get away while Roman focused his anger on me. Your brother intended to steal that shipment and sell it right from the start. He only screwed up by not lining up a buyer soon enough and not protecting it well enough. Roman got it back, but Robbie got away. Thinking I was involved, he took my fingers as compensation. If I hadn’t had the goods to return to him, he would have killed me.”

She still couldn’t reconcile what she knew of Robbie with the version this girl was presenting, and she shook her head. “Robbie’s not dumb, but he’s not smart enough to do what you’re talking about.”

Audra snorted. “Take off your blinders, foolish girl. If I hadn’t made the mistake of starting to date Robbie, you would have been his patsy instead of me. As it was, he convinced you to trade yourself to Rinaldi and allow him a chance to escape. You’re a fool if you believe differently. Robbie’s a sociopath, and he cares nothing for you or anyone else.”

Audra’s expression was so sincere that it was difficult to doubt the girl at least believed her own words, even if Sarah couldn’t imagine how they could be true. A sharp sting of betrayal swept through her when she remembered how enthusiastic Robbie had been about her plan to offer herself, her 401k, and the proceeds of Grandma’s jewelry to buy his freedom. He’d never once tried to dissuade her.

In an attempt to distract herself from thoughts she didn’t want to think, she asked, “If that’s true, how do you know any of it?”

“Your brother likes to brag in bed. He told me all about how he was setting up his first job for Rinaldi so he could make off with the money, and he figured you would divert Rinaldi from him long enough for him to get away. He made it sound like a lot more than a hundred Gs, and when he offered me the opportunity to be his partner, I decided to go for it. I was tired of living the criminal life, and the picture he sold me of going somewhere far away, somewhere safe and tranquil, appealed to me. I was too stupid to realize he was setting me up so that he had a backup plan in case Roman caught him before we fled. He wanted it to seem like I had convinced him to steal the money, and I had seduced him. When I tried to tell your boyfriend the truth, Rinaldi refused to listen.”

Benas held up her hand, his anger visible even through the red haze of agony surrounding Sarah. “Instead, he cut off her fingers and told her she was lucky he was going by the old code. He refused to listen and sent her away, and neither he nor his brothers would meet with us to address our demand for justice and compensation. Now, he’ll meet with us if you mean anything to him.”

“What do you want from Roman?” she managed to ask as her entire body shuddered. Her hand was on fire, and her hip burned from its collision with the SUV earlier. She hurt everywhere, and she just wanted this agony to end, but she couldn’t suppress the fear of not knowing what they had planned for Roman.

“I want him to die,” said Audra.

Benas frowned at her. “But you know that’s impractical. If we go to war with the
Cosa Nostra
, they’ll wipe us out. This is simply to get compensation for the injustice shown to you.”

“Haven’t you done enough? Haven’t you gotten your revenge? You’ve taken my fingers, and you’ve hurt me. Why doesn’t that satisfy you yet, Audra?” Her breath felt raspy, and she couldn’t seem to keep from panting. She suspected it was a shock or panic, or perhaps a combination of the two, rather than true respiratory distress, but it only fueled her panic, which made it even more difficult to breathe.

“I’d like to see Robbie suffer most, but I’ll settle for watching his sister, and Rinaldi’s whore, pay for what they’ve done to me. My cousin wants to find a solution that doesn’t lead to a turf war, but I don’t believe such a solution as possible. This can only end with death—yours first, and then Rinaldi’s, even if it leads to mine and Benas’s later.”

Benas cursed in a language Sarah didn’t recognize. “I’ve already told you there will be no deaths today, Audra. I’ve contacted Dominic, and he’ll be arriving shortly. I called him before I ever called Roman. He will act as the mediator for our dispute resolution.”

A strange wave of giddiness swept over Sarah, and she couldn’t help laughing. “Is this the mob or Small Claims Court?” There was a touch of hysteria in her voice.

“Once upon a time, it was full of strong men who did what was right and necessary, but now they’ve all turned into a bunch of pussies.” Audra suddenly yanked the knife from her hand, seeming to enjoy Sarah’s renewed screams, as though they were the sweetest symphony filling a perfectly designed performance hall that maximized acoustics. “Now, it comes down to us to do what must be done. I will find my own justice.”

Sarah whimpered and closed her eyes when she felt the kiss of the blade against her neck, certain it would be only a matter of milliseconds before the sharp sting changed from a little pain to the worst anguish she had ever experienced, even worse than having her fingers cut off.

There was a soft popping sound, and it was nothing like the sound of a knife slicing through flesh, and nothing like she’d expected. In her surprise, she opened her eyes, and her mouth formed an O as blood blossomed on Audra’s shoulder. The knife fell to the wooden floor with a clunk, and the other woman looked down at her arm in shock mixed with outrage before turning to face the direction from where the shot had originated.

Sarah looked past her, unsurprised to see Roman standing on the deck of the boat. She blinked, realizing a second later that it wasn’t Roman. From his posture and stern demeanor, she immediately recognized Dominic instead. She almost laughed that she had once again mixed them up, after being certain she would never do so again. Of course, she was in a lot of pain and had been close to death just a moment before, so she supposed she deserved a free pass for that one. “Where’s Roman?” she asked in a raspy voice.

“He’s still on the dock with Luca. I convinced him it would be safer for you if he waited behind for a moment, and then I listened to the revelations shared here. My conclusion is Roman might have acted hastily, but there will be no compensation of any sort for you or the girl,” said Dominic as he turned his attention to Benas. “You’ve crossed the line here today. Spouses and children are not to be harmed during conflicts. What you’ve done to Roman’s girlfriend will make it difficult for me to persuade him to call this a wash. He’s going to clamor for your blood, and especially for Audra’s. I’ll attempt to make him see that vengeance has been served on both sides to no good, but I can’t promise he’ll abide by my command to leave this be.”

Audra screeched at him as she clutched her shoulder. “He stole my fingers, and you shot me. I demand justice. You owe me, and if you won’t pay with money and respect, you’ll pay with his whore’s blood.”

Dominic didn’t flinch. “If you make so much as a tiny step toward her, the next time I shoot you won’t be through the arm. You will not be standing next time, and you won’t survive. Do you understand me, girl? Your emotions are running high, and you seem entitled to some of your anger, though you’re overlooking the fact that you had knowledge of Robbie’s plan to rip off the Rinaldi family, and you mentioned it to no one. You aren’t exactly a blameless party in this, especially in light of how you made an innocent woman suffer. Benas, do you concur with what I say?” He asked the question of the other man without even glancing at him, his gaze never wavering from Audra.

“I do,” said Benas decisively, which elicited a gasp from his cousin. “This has gone far enough, Audra. Your demand for justice has been addressed, and Rinaldi now knows it wasn’t a plot by the Vydūnas family to steal money from him. Peace should return, and it will. If you countermand my orders, I’ll shoot you myself.”

Audra turned to look at her cousin, clearly shocked by his lack of support. After a moment, the girl seemed to crumple, and she nodded her head sullenly. As she drew in on herself, looking frail and pathetic, Sarah almost managed a shred of pity for the girl. Almost. If her fingers hadn’t throbbed with agony, she might have been able to summon more than a ghost of the emotion.

Abruptly, she realized she had just lost her fingers a few minutes before, and it might not be too late to reattach them. With that thought in mind, she turned her attention to Benas, using her no-nonsense teacher voice that always got her dawdling students scrambling. “Get me a cup of ice and put my fingers in it. They might still be salvageable.”

“No,” gasped Audra. “I have to live with my disfigurement. You must do the same. I insist.”

“I insist you fuck off,” said Sarah through gritted teeth as a wave of dizziness swept over her. She turned her attention to Dominic. “Get Roman for me now. Tell him I said no more violence, at least not for the moment. I just need to go to the hospital. Make him promise you he’ll do that, and then you can let him through.”

If Dominic was annoyed by her commanding tone, he didn’t show it. He simply nodded and called Roman’s name over his shoulder, his gun still remaining at his side, but clearly a second away from focusing on Audra again if the situation warranted it.