Salvatore: a Dark Mafia Romance (16 page)

I
stepped
out of the room when I saw Roman’s call come in and left Dr. Mooney to wrap Lucia’s leg. I was right; just a sprain, but painful nonetheless.

“Roman,” I said as I entered my study and shut the door.

“Well, you know how to make an entrance.”

“He kidnapped Jacob from the daycare. This is after he’d gone to Natalie’s house a few days ago, and she’d refused to let him in. He was sending a message, Roman. I wanted to be sure he received mine loud and clear.”

“Well, your father was pissed. You were gone for most of that, though.”

“Really? Franco Benedetti pissed at the son that’s not me for a change?”

“Franco can be pigheaded sometimes, Salvatore. We both know that. He’s tougher on you because he knows you’ll be the one replacing him, but he can’t ignore Dominic. Franco is more aware than you think of the potential threat Dominic presents, and this stunt with Jacob banished any doubts he may have still clung to.”

“Finally,” I said sarcastically.

“Either way, unless Dominic is stupid, he won’t go near Natalie or Jacob again. Franco’s gone out there himself to make sure she knows she and his grandson will have his protection.”

“Neither Dominic nor I hold a candle to Sergio, even in death.” I hated that I felt this pang of jealousy toward Sergio, as tiny as it was. I’d known this all my life, but it had never come between us. And I wouldn’t let it now. “Never have and never will.”

“The fact that Sergio is gone still hurts your father. He doesn’t love you any less. He’s just missing one child. He is human, after all.”

I didn’t comment.

“I want to talk to you about the DNA test, Salvatore.”

“Go on.” I hadn’t yet had a chance to read through the rest of the report to get a clearer understanding of the results.

“When the results came back, disqualifying Luke as the father, I used a sample from myself. Family shares DNA, in some cases more than in others, but there is always something.”

Roman had studied genealogy for a while and was in the process of compiling his family tree.

“What made you do that?” Was I ready to hear what he would tell me?

“A hunch. Effie DeMarco shares at least some of our DNA, Salvatore.”

I sat down. Hearing it was different than thinking it.

“I’m obviously not the little girl’s father, but I’m running more tests today. I took a sample from Dominic’s home.”

“What, did you swab him?” I chuckled, but there wasn’t any humor behind it.

“Took the hair off his brush.”

“When will you know for sure?”

“I’m hoping within twenty-four hours.”

“Does my father know anything about this?”

“No. Nothing. He won’t find out unless I’m one hundred percent certain.”

I leaned back, exhaling. “So Dominic’s been having an affair with Isabella DeMarco for five years?”

“That I don’t know.”

“Where do his loyalties lie, I wonder? And how does Luke DeMarco play into this? This just got a hell of a lot more complicated.”

“Talk to Lucia. See if you can glean any information at all. She may not be aware herself, Salvatore.”

“I think she’s innocent.” No, I knew it. And this knowledge would only hurt her.

“I’ll get back to you as soon as I know more.”

“Thank you, Roman.”

I made one more call to check on Natalie, who had called in sick to work and was spending the day with Jacob at home. She knew my father was on his way, and although not pleased about it, she seemed reasonably calm and promised to call me once he’d left.

When I returned to the living room, Dr. Mooney was just packing up his things.

“Just keep it iced and wrapped. You’ll be fine in no time. I’ve already ordered crutches. They’ll be here hopefully within the next hour or two.”

“How long will I need those?” Lucia asked.

“Only as long as you feel pain when putting any weight on your leg. I don’t think long, a week or two.”

“Thank you, Dr. Mooney.” I extended my hand and shook his.

“You’re welcome, Salvatore.” He turned back to Lucia and shook her hand as well. “It was nice to meet you, my dear. Call if you need anything at all.”

“I will. Thanks again.”

Rainey walked Dr. Mooney out, and I took a seat beside Lucia.

“I don’t want to talk to you right now.”

“I didn’t mean to upset you with my question, Lucia.”

“But you did, Salvatore. That’s the point. Ever hear the saying ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions?’”

“Let’s go sit by the pool before it gets too hot.”

“I said I don’t—”

Ignoring her, I lifted her into my arms and carried her out. Lucia simply sighed.

“Can you bring my lemonade at least?”

“Sure. Would you like something to eat?”

She gave me a cautious look. “I think I smelled cake.”

I had too. Rainey had been baking. “I’ll be right back.”

In the kitchen, I sliced two chunks of the still-warm cinnamon cake I found cooling on the counter and set them on a tray along with two fresh glasses of lemonade. Back outside, I handed one of the plates to Lucia and placed her lemonade on the table beside her lounge chair before taking the seat by hers.

“This is Rainey’s signature cake.” Not bothering with the fork, I picked up the fat chunk I’d sliced for myself and bit into it. “God, it’s delicious.”

“I’m going to get fat,” Lucia said through her mouthful.

“I’ll make sure you get enough exercise.”

She glanced at me from the corner of her eye, then returned her attention to the cake on her plate in her lap.

“We need to talk about last night.”

“I thought we had.”

“About what you overheard.”

Her wary gaze met mine. “She’s my sister, Salvatore.”

“Jacob was very afraid, Lucia. If Isabella had anything to do with that, I think it’s important I know.”

She rubbed her face with both hands then pushed her fingers into her hair and pulled at the roots. “I don’t know, Salvatore. What happened to that little boy, what Dominic did, was cruel. I hope to God my sister wasn’t involved in anything like that. The Izzy I knew wouldn’t be. She’d never hurt a child. And I know he wasn’t physically hurt, but taking him without his mom knowing? Freaking her out like that, and scaring the little boy? I just—”

She looked away and shook her head. When she turned back to me, her eyes glistened with tears.

“Thing is, I don’t know her anymore. I’ve shut everyone out for so long that I don’t even know who
I
am anymore. I thought this was black-and-white. I hated the Benedetti family. Period. But my sister involved in or even possibly orchestrating something like the kidnapping of a child?”

She shook her head again, her face lined with worry.

“She’s a mother herself. How…what’s happened to us?”

“Too much hate. Too much power,” I said. “Too much of a lust for blood and vengeance. War never makes friends out of enemies. The opposite. It solidifies that hate. The war between Benedetti and DeMarco may have been fought in our fathers’ time, but we inherit the hate, the bad blood. It doesn’t just go away. It carries down generation to generation.”

“I don’t hate you.”

“You have every right to.”

“I don’t. You’re not like them, Salvatore.”

But I was. I had killed. I had taken. I had lived off blood money. I’d shed that very blood with my own two hands. Standing up to my father after whipping Lucia, though, and then today—walking away, not giving a shit about what he thought—was I changing? Was I finally growing out of my father’s shadow and casting my own?

And would mine be as dark as his?

“I asked Roman to run a paternity test on Effie, Lucia.”

“I don’t want to know.”

She started to stand but then realized she couldn’t without my help. Which was precisely why I’d laid her on one of the lounge chairs rather than sitting her on a chair.

I touched her arm. “You have to know.”

She closed her eyes and reopened them after a minute but remained silent, waiting.

“Luke isn’t her father.”

From the look on her face, I had the feeling she knew that.

“She carries DNA from my family.” Christ, was I saying this out loud?

A tear rolled down each of Lucia’s cheeks, and I knew she knew.

“They’re testing Dominic’s DNA now. We’ll know for sure soon whether Dominic Benedetti fathered Effie DeMarco.”

It was a long moment before she spoke. I didn’t know how Lucia would take what I told her. On the one hand, she’d seen enough evidence to suspect the truth. She’d seen it herself before I told it. On the other hand, Isabella was still her sister, and I was still the enemy’s son. I was her keeper. The man who’d signed a contract, claiming ownership of her.

“What do you want out of this, Salvatore? When all is said and done, what do you want?”

I’d been straddling the seat and now… I lay back and looked out across the pool toward the forest. It was so quiet here. So still. So peaceful.

I turned back to her. “I want to live a quiet life. I don’t want to look over my shoulder at every turn. I don’t want to see an enemy in every set of eyes I meet, every hand I shake. I want the people I love to be safe. I want them be happy.” Strange. Six months ago, I would have added ‘I want my brother to be alive’ into that list, but something had shifted. Somehow, I’d come to accept that he was gone. Not the cruelty or the unfairness of the act, but the knowledge that he was gone. And that my life lay here.

She cleared her throat and blinked her pretty, innocent eyes, casting them somewhere in the space between us. I didn’t take my eyes off her.

Lucia was all the innocence in my life.

She was my redemption.

And I wanted her. Her presence here, us together, as tumultuous as it was, as wrong as I was for keeping her, it saved me.
She
saved me.

And that was why I would keep my promise and release her once I could. Once I knew she would be safe and out of harm’s way.

“What do
you
want, Lucia?”

She met my gaze, shrugged her shoulders, and gave me a tiny but sad smile. “Same things, I guess.”

“You’ll have them. I promise.”

Another promise to her. Another one I didn’t know I could keep. But I would try. I would try every day up until my last breath to give her what she wanted. A life. Simple, peaceful, beautiful.

Like her.

It was in that moment I realized I loved her. Somewhere, somehow, I’d fallen in love with her.

But my debt to her was greater than anything I felt, any hurt or loss I’d experience. And because of that debt, I would never say those words aloud, not to her, not to anyone. She’d been locked away most of her life. All of her brief adult life. I was the only man she’d known—a cruel trick of fate. If I said the words, I knew what would happen. Lucia would mistake survival for love. Because right now, she needed me to survive. To survive my family. To survive the war that I’d mistakenly thought over. I would stay alive for her. I would fight for her. I would do everything in my power to save her. Nothing else mattered, not even my own life. Everything from this point forward would be for her.

“I want to make love to you, Lucia.”

She looked at me, confused, although her body began to prepare. I could see it in the slight dilation of her pupils, the stiffening of her nipples, the parting of her lips.

“I want you to want it. I want you to give me the word. Up until now, I’ve taken it from you.”

“Salvatore—”

I held up my hand. “I’ve taken it.”

She touched my arm. “Salvatore—”

I moved to stop her from speaking. She combed her fingers into the hair at my forehead and tugged.

“You’re so damn stubborn.”

She leaned in to kiss me, her mouth soft, her tongue sweet as it probed my lips. She pulled back and looked at me, swallowing.

“I want it. I want you. Make love to me, Salvatore.”

I wrapped her in my arms and kissed her, lifting her up as I stood, cradling her to me, carrying her to the door of my study. Our lips still locked, we entered. I took her to the couch, sat her on it, and kneeled before her between her spread knees. Her eyes on mine, she pulled first her top, then her sports bra off, her round breasts settling into place, the nipples already tight. I worked her other shoe off her foot and then slipped my fingers into the waistband of her shorts and panties. She lifted up a little, allowing me to drag them down and off so she sat before me naked.

“Spread your legs wider and lean back,” I said, tugging my shirt off.

She did as I said, opening herself wide, leaning back, offering me her pussy. With my thumbs on either side of her lips, I opened her farther and brought my mouth to her, licking her length once before taking her clit into my mouth, still watching her as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

“Fuck, Salvatore, I love that.”

I sucked, pulling her toward me so her ass hung off the couch. I pushed one finger inside her, and when she tightened her muscles around it, I stopped sucking, licking her clit instead, teasing it. She opened her eyes.

“You like when I eat your pussy?”

She nodded and tried to drag my head back.

I smiled. “Greedy girl.” I stood, rid myself of my clothes, and stroked myself, loving how she watched me, her hungry eyes never leaving me.

“I want to suck your cock, Salvatore.”

Placing my knees on either side of her on the couch, I straddled her and brought myself to her mouth. She took my cock in her hands, sliding one beneath to cup me, and opened her mouth, licking the tip before taking me into her hot, wet mouth.

“Fuck, Lucia, I love you sucking my cock.” I rocked my hips against her, moving slowly, relishing the wet heat of her on my swelling dick until I needed to fuck her faster. I pulled out then and lay her on her back on the couch before taking the leg she hadn’t hurt and pushing it back so I could see all of her. “I love looking at you too, at your dripping pussy.” I rocked myself into her, sucking in a breath as I did. “Knowing it belongs to me.”

“Hard, please.”

I shook my head. “Not yet.” I moved slowly, taking my time, penetrating her deeply before sliding out, feeling every inch of her until she nearly screamed for me to make her come.