I felt the change in the house’s energy immediately. Something was going on. I’d lain in the silence of my basement cell for so long, it was no longer just silence. I could make out footsteps above, doors closing, and muffled conversations. I couldn’t make out the words, but the tone was clear. Something stressful was happening in the rest of Casa Nera.
I was recovering slowly with Carmella’s help. The older housekeeper had been tending me in a deliberate act of defiance against Silvio that was brave in a way few people were. Her silent, stoic refusal to be cowed, even when her face was bruised and her hair ripped out, showed an enduring kind of strength that I’d only seen in the women in my life.
An unbending spine of steel lay beneath her housecoat and apron.
Finally, I was well enough to move.
Now, in the thick of night, I was outside Sofia’s door.
Bending Angelo’s arm to free me and get me up here wasn’t difficult. He had a weak point to press on, and I knew how to press.
“Stand guard. Knock if someone comes,” I told him and took the key he was holding from him. There were only three, apparently, one for Sofia, one for her father, and one for the man Antonio trusted to protect her.
Angelo unlocked the door, looking conflicted. I slapped him on the shoulder.
“I told you not to worry about her anymore. It’s my job now. You worry about yourself and getting me the shit I need.”
Dismissing him, I entered Sofia’s room and shut the door behind me, locking it for good measure.
The room smelled like her, and I sucked great lungfuls of the sweet and spicy scent.
The room was dark, with only light from the row of windows illuminating the bulky furniture. A huge four-poster bed sat in the middle of the room, swathed in curtains. One was tied open, and there was a shape on the white sheets inside.
I approached, appreciating the sight of her relaxed and content for once. I looked as long as I wanted. She was so pristine and beautiful; it made me aware of the contrast between us. She deserved so much better than me, but that wasn’t an option anymore. We had worked too far under each other’s skin. There was no way back.
I moved away and headed for the private bathroom inside her room. My reflection was straight out of a horror movie. I was filthy with old blood, dirt, and grime. I was lucky Antonio was having me taken to the toilet twice a day. The high and mighty De Sanctis don mustn’t like the thought of a grown man shitting in the corner of one of his rooms, dungeon or not.
I turned the shower on and shucked off my dirty clothes. The shower was strong and luxurious. It rained down on my battered body, washing the old, crusted blood down the drain in a swirl of brown. It hurt and healed at the same time. I could have spent hours under there, washing and enjoying being free of the cramped position of the basement. But my attention was tugged at constantly by the woman in the next room.
I got out and wrapped a towel around my hips. I stared critically at my wounds. They weren’t nearly as bad as Silvio thought. Just like everything he did, even when beating a restrained man, he did a piss-poor job, luckily for me.
I couldn’t shave in case Silvio worked out that I’d been tended to more than was allowed. He was as thick as mince, but sometimes, even he worked things out.
Instead, I dried myself off as best I could, ignoring the bruises and the slight cuts that burned on my wrists, and made my way back to the bedroom.
I approached the bed.
Sofia was lying on her side, one hand under the pillow. I’d spent so long in the dark below ground that I was turning into a nocturnal creature, able to see in the dark. Her hair striped the pillow in ribbons, and I reached out and touched the satin strands. My heart felt heavy, the thump of the beat echoing in my bones. I stepped closer, slowly lowering my weight to the mattress, letting it dip and roll Sofia toward me.
Her lips parted, and she sighed, distracting me, just as she moved. It happened in a blur. One second, she was lying as peaceful as a sleeping princess, waiting for the prince’s kiss to wake her from her long slumber. The next, she was whipping her hand from beneath the pillow toward me, and the tiny amount of light in the room glinted off a knife.
The blade pressed against my neck before I could think to disarm her.
She kneeled on the bed, her lethal stiletto blade held tightly against my jugular. This time, there was the chance that she’d cut to kill. I didn’t know if she could see me in the dark.
I pulled at her arm, throwing her off balance. She fell into me, swearing, as her other hand came up to fight me. I bore her back easily. She was so petite. Despite her moves, which were impressive, she was half asleep, and her reactions were slowed.
We landed on the bed, and she gasped as I wrestled the knife from her. It was just like the first night at the cabin off the highway, except tonight, I would come inside her. We both knew it. This time, she turned somehow, and was lying with her face pressed to the bed, ass wriggling temptingly in front of me.
My hands went to her thin camisole slip and tugged at it. It tore up the back like gossamer wings. She gasped at my brutality, but I was already straddling her thighs. Once she was pinned down, I turned to the curtains and pulled one back further and reached for the lamp on the nightstand.
I leaned in and spoke in her ear. “Tonight, it’s my turn, prom queen. Fair’s fair. And I want to see you. Every single inch.”
She flushed, twisting her head so her eyes met mine. She wasn’t fighting me now. Not even a little.
“Fuck, you can’t be real,” I muttered. I turned my attention to her body, running a hand over her bare back. She was a work of art.
She arched as my hand landed on the round globes of her ass and pulled them roughly apart. My towel had slipped off in the tussle, and my cock was drooling pre-cum from the tip onto her ass cheeks.
“What are you doing?” she squealed, trying to wriggle away, embarrassed by my perusal.
I landed a reprimanding hand on her behind, the sound shockingly hot as it carried throughout the room. “Hold still, or I’ll give you ten more and make you count them.” I took her rounded cheeks and pulled them apart, kneeling over her thighs now. “I want to look at all the beautiful little holes I have the privilege of owning. I want to see all the places I’m going to leave my mark on you… my prize,” I murmured, draping across her back and kissing her neck.
She’d taken the Band-Aid off from behind her ear where I’d cut the tracker out more than a week ago. Wrapping her hair into a rope, I turned her head to give myself access to the tiny cut. With every kiss to the healing wound, I pressed an apology into her skin.
I moved down her back, kissing and biting at her spine. She was breathing hard, her whole body held effortlessly in place by my strength, and I enjoyed the control she gave me over her. Of course, I could just take it, but her sweet surrender was hotter than anything.
When I reached her ass, I did what I’d been waiting a lifetime to do, and bit her cheeks, sucking the odd love bite into her smooth skin.
“Are you trying to leave a mark?” she wondered, and tensed when I traced a finger down her wet cleft.
“Fuck, yes. I want to tattoo my name, right here,” I muttered, grabbing her full, bubble cheeks.
I spread them wide before leaning in and licking her. She tensed immediately, trying to push me away, but I didn’t allow her that much movement. Using my arms to pin the back of her thighs, I kept her spread before me and hummed against her skin.
“It’s my tongue or my cock, prom queen. You decide. Regardless, this ass is mine, and I’d prefer to break you in slowly.”
She shuddered beneath me but didn’t fight as I leaned in and slid my tongue up the length of her slit, from clit to ass. She had no idea that every single part of her turned me on. She twitched as I used my finger to play with her ass, my tongue fucking into her. I licked and sucked at her until she was a mess before turning her over and diving back into her pussy. I feasted on her clit until she came hard. When she burst in my mouth, I lapped up her juices and then leaned back, giving her time to recover.
Fuck, she made quite the sight, lying naked against the white sheets. Her olive skin and curves, the dark hair on her mound, and the dusky rose of her nipples all called me to consume her.
She leaned on her elbows, creasing her middle in half. Embarrassment blazed in her cheeks at my thorough perusal.
“You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” My voice was rough.
“The seamstress wanted me to lose five pounds,” she whispered after a moment.
A dismissive snort left me. “Tell me her name. I’ll kill her for you.”
A smile blazed across Sofia’s stunning face, and she shook her head. “Killing people can’t be your go-to method for fixing things.”
“Why not? It’s very effective. I’ll prove it to you when I kill your cousin,” I murmured. My hand fell to my cock, desperate to be touched, as I allowed my gaze to linger on all her curves and hollows.
“Are you really going to kill him?” Sofia asked, her eyes huge.
“Fuck, yes, and anyone else who gets in my way. Now, hold your knees apart for me,” I instructed her.
She flushed again, innocent as a fucking schoolgirl, despite being twenty-two. “Why?” she challenged, because Sofia had never heard a word from my mouth that she hadn’t wanted to argue with.
“Because I’m going to eat you again until you squirt all over this bed, and then I’m going to fuck you. This time, I’m in charge, and I don’t negotiate.”
“I’m on the pill, just so you know… in case you were worried.”
“Do I look like I was worried?” She cracked me up sometimes. She had no idea how long-term my intentions were with her.
She swallowed. “Most guys would be, I guess.”
“In case you haven’t realized, I’m not most guys, and while being on birth control is disappointing, it’s nothing that can’t be remedied in the future.”
My words sank through her. She looked shocked. “Meaning?”
“What do you think? Now, hold your knees apart or I’ll tie you down just how I want you, and I won’t let you loose for hours.”
She bit her lip, fighting a refusal, but pulled her knees up and spread herself wide open for me.
I grinned as I lowered my head again and licked up her center. “Good girl. That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”
“Fuck you, Nikolai,” she muttered, and groaned as I paused over her pussy and spit down on her twitching center, making her wetter.
“Oh, you are, lastochka, and you will be for the rest of the night.” I dove in, laving her clit and stretching her with my fingers.
She came when I had three buried inside her pussy and one in her ass, my tongue flicking her clit like a madman. She was loud when she came.
I pressed one last kiss to her twitching pussy and moved up her. “Keep it down. What will poor Angelo think?”
Sofia laughed breathlessly. “Angelo is the one helping you?”
“Your bodyguard is the only one as motivated as me to get the fuck out of this hellhole.”
I kissed her neck, sliding my cock just inside her. The muscles were so tight; it was an effort to part them. She was wet as hell from the tip fucking, and her tight muscles parted a little more with every second.
I lowered a hand to her clit to loosen her up more and another to her throat. I loved the feeling of her pulse pounding against my fingers. Showing me everything she really felt, even while her mouth denied my effect on her. Her heart knew the truth.
“Was the other night your first time, prom queen? Tell me the truth.”
She gasped, arching her back and scratching at my shoulders as I pressed deeper.
“It sounds like you already know,” she replied on an exhale.
“Well, it was hard to tell if it was my blood or yours in the morning,” I muttered, steadily entering her, even though her body seemed to be trying to push me out.
It felt better than anything I’d ever experienced. Knowing she hadn’t been with anyone else soothed the cut inside me caused by her and brother’s engagement.
While I’d been waiting for her, I never dreamed that she had waited for me. Of course, it could just have been Antonio’s measures of control that had stopped her from being with anyone else, but the dark, possessive part of me didn’t care about that. All it cared about was that this woman was mine, and only mine. She had no history to sigh over or remember fondly with other men. I was the only man she’d ever have inside her. Just the thought nearly had me coming when I was only three inches deep.
“You know what this means, Sofia?” I nudged my hips an inch or two, in and out, warming her up and stretching out her untried hole. No wonder she was tight as hell.
She bit her full bottom lip, staring at me with hazy eyes. She looked desperate to be fucked. I promised myself that one day, I’d capture that exact expression and hang the photograph on the wall of a house we lived in together.
“It means that you’re mine, and you have been for a long time. I’m all your firsts, and I’ll be your lasts. We are only ever for each other.”
“That sounds like a proposal, you lunatic,” she muttered.
I gently squeezed her neck to encourage her to answer me, resisting her desperate attempts to pull me deeper into her. “It does, doesn’t it? Let’s make it official.”
As I leaned down to swipe her knife from the sheets, my cock pressed deeper into her, and her muscles finally parted for me. I surged in, her tight channel threatening to wring every bit of blood from my length.
Holding the knife, I scored a twisting shallow cut on my palm and reached for Sofia’s. I moved quickly before she could be afraid. Her hand was tiny and supple in mine as I carefully cut her. Three neat lines. She cried out, and I rotated my hips, dragging my cock against all the secret places inside her, covering the pain with pleasure. She blinked up at me, her lust clearing to see me pressing our bleeding palms together.
“Marriage vows can’t contain all the things we are to each other. There is nothing that can, except this.”
Her fingers wound around mine, her expression half want, half horror. I was familiar with such a look. I knew what I was. A maniac, a monster, a damned man, through and through. Yet, I was her monster, and I always would be.
Tossing the knife aside, I finally lowered myself to her, my hips picking up their relentless pace, and driving into her. A hand to her clit as I leaned on one elbow, still holding her cut hand to mine, pinned by her head, had her moaning and gasping.
I kissed her hard, swallowing her words and little moans of pleasure, my heart filling with things I’d never felt before.
She was holding me to her, panting against me, pressing closer. I wanted to disappear inside her and live for days. I wasn’t going to last. It had been too long, and she felt too good. I hadn’t been with another woman since I’d met Sofia. I’d lost all interest in anyone but her. That was the way my brand of obsession worked. I’d met her, fallen into a black hole of want, and then gone to jail in Russia.
“Nikolai! You need to get back downstairs.” A sudden hiss through the door sent ice cascading down my back. Fuck.
Sofia tensed, looking over my shoulder. “Niko—” she started, worry clouding her features.
“Shh, I’m not going anywhere until you come,” I told her firmly, rubbing her clit harder so she gasped and wriggled against me.
Knowing I needed to finish up quickly, I rolled her back toward her pillow and pulled out. She protested softly as I laid her on her front.
“Relax. I’d never leave you hanging,” I chuckled against her ear as I lay across her back.
My wet dick slipped between her legs and right back into her pussy. She stifled a cry, and her hand flew to her mouth as I fucked her, prone from behind. I snaked a hand around her front, finding her clit and circling it quickly. The angle my dick was entering her hit the front wall of her cunt, and she moaned every single time I sank inside. She was so wet, the sound filled the air, a lewd wet smacking noise I wished I could record and play on a loop, it was so hot.
She was rising quickly now, her hips humping back to meet my hard thrusts. I rubbed viciously over her clit when her core clenched around me. She went rigid, her face buried in the pillows to be quiet, and her pussy tightened so hard that I had no choice but to follow her.
I exploded inside her, coming hard with long, hot ropes that filled her up and dripped out, running down her folds and against my balls where they nestled against her. Her entire pussy pulsed and milked my length. I came for so long that when the feeling ebbed, I wondered wildly how much time had passed. Minutes or hours? I had no real grasp of it. We’d gone somewhere outside of time, and now I was disoriented.
She was boneless when I slid out on a rush of cum. I fought the urge to find something to pop inside her to hold my spend in place, and instead enjoyed the sight of it welling out of her hole and down the tops of her thighs. I stood on shaky legs and pulled the covers over her naked body to her back. I planned to have the rest of my life to keep this woman filled up with my cum.
Her head was turned to the side, and her dark eyes watched me as I crossed the room and pulled my dirty captive clothes on, tucking my spent dick into my jeans. I crossed back to her.
“Niko,” Sofia whispered as I crouched near her face.
I smoothed her hair back off her sweaty neck. “Yes, prom queen?”
She wetted her lips, still catching her breath. Her eyes burned into mine. “Don’t die,” she muttered after a second.
I nodded, giving her my patented smirk, trying to ease her fears. I didn’t have to fake the elation I felt. Knowing she was lying there, full of my cum, about to fall back asleep, smelling like me, marked by me… it was more than a man like me could ever expect in this world. It was far more than I’d ever dared to dream.
“Yeah, well, I can’t make any promises,” I told her with another smirk and kissed her forehead. “Try to not piss anyone off either. I know it just comes naturally to you.”
She smirked at my teasing, and her eyes fluttered shut as I made for the door.
I left the room with a merry fucking skip to my step.
