Maybe I’ll take a turn with your pretty slut once we’ve buried you and Russo.
Once we’ve buried you.
We.
My enemy’s threat rattled through my mind with enough force to make my skull ache. The solitude of the twenty-minute bus ride from Cambridge to our neighborhood in the South End gave my brain too much time to simmer in what I’d done. I tried to focus on my family, but even staring at the texts that’d made me smile only minutes ago had begun to lose its power over my psyche. The image of Ashlyn’s pout blurred before my eyes, and all I could see was the man’s pale face, twisted with fear and hatred.
We. He hadn’t been acting alone. There were others who wanted us dead, too.
A copper tang painted my tongue as I gnashed my teeth hard enough to cut my cheek. I hadn’t gotten any answers out of the bastard. I’d lost control. I couldn’t hunt down the fuckers who threatened us, because I had no idea who they were.
Playing the gruesome scene through my mind once again, I noted that Ashlyn’s stalker had a Boston accent. His features hinted at Italian heritage like mine, but he’d been raised here, not in New York. He probably wasn’t associated with my former criminal family.
But why would anyone in Boston give a fuck about Joseph and me? We were exiles, shunned and shamed. We had no value, and even though Joseph was still on good terms with his father, that wasn’t general knowledge. Dominic Russo’s enduring affection for his only son wouldn’t do us or him any favors. He’d only just taken control of the mafia after Victor Lombardi’s recent death of natural causes. The last thing he needed while consolidating his power was rumors that he was still in contact with his pervert son.
Homosexuality was taboo in our world: a disgusting sign of weakness and a betrayal of the vicious masculinity that supposedly made us so tough and lethal. When Joseph’s cousin had discovered us in bed with Ashlyn, he hadn’t bothered to learn the nuances of our relationship. As far as everyone else was concerned, Joseph and I were poison to our organization, a perceived weakness that would make our allies into targets for bloodthirsty rivals.
Joseph and I had never judged anyone for their sexuality—we’d be fucking hypocrites to look down on anyone’s lifestyle choices. Our personal beliefs made us outliers in the mafia, as we had been in so many ways. Exile had been a blessing, freeing us from a life neither of us wanted, especially Joseph. He belonged in our new world, this normal, nonviolent life we’d created for ourselves in Boston.
Maybe I’ll take a turn with your pretty slut once we’ve buried you and Russo.
I gritted my teeth and embraced the rage that’d been ignited by the man’s disgusting threat. It hardened my resolve, fiery purpose burning through my dread at the prospect of what I had to do next.
There was only one person I could contact to get more information about the people hunting us; the one person I hated more than anyone else in the world.
I stepped off the bus at the stop closest to our house and dialed my father’s number. I’d erased his contact details months ago, as though that would somehow purge him from my mind, my blood. But the information was still readily available, his number memorized from hundreds of cold, resentful calls during the worst years of my life.
Leo De Luca picked up on the third ring. “Who the fuck is this?”
My muscles tensed as the familiar, cruel voice lashed me like a whip. Unlike him, I had a new number with a Boston area code. Although, I doubted he would’ve recognized my old one if it came up on caller ID. There wasn’t a chance in hell he’d have bothered to save the contact info. He’d thrown me out of New York with a curse on my name and enough money to make sure I’d never have any reason to return. I took the cash settlement as my due, payment for the thirty years of my life that I’d wasted serving him.
“Do you know anyone who might be targeting us in Boston?” I asked the question without announcing my identity. He’d end the call as soon as he heard my name. Blindsiding him was my only shot at shocking a response out of him.
“You’re still alive.” The statement dripped with contempt. “I don’t know anything about what’s happening in Boston. I don’t know anything about you. My son is dead. He died four months ago. Whatever happens to you now is none of my concern.”
My fingers curled almost tight enough to crush the phone in my hand. “I was dead to you long before that. Don’t pretend you’ve ever been a father to me.”
“You’re right.” The whip cracked across my chest again. “My son died when he was eleven years old. Along with my wife, whom he killed. After he killed his baby brother. You are poison, Marco.”
“And you will burn in hell right alongside me, you sadistic bastard,” I hissed, a curse and a vow.
Three low beeps sounded in my ear. The fucker had ended the call.
I ran a hand through my hair, tugging hard enough to prickle my scalp with an edge of pain. My lungs burned, and my chest heaved as though I’d just sprinted a mile.
A moment before I smashed my phone on the ground in a burst of rage, it vibrated with a text alert.
Joseph: Did you go all the way to Belgium for those fucking waffles? Hurry up! Ashlyn isn’t the only one suffering here.
A picture of our girl filled my screen. Her curvy little body was bound to our bed, her breasts and inner thighs painted bright red from Joseph’s wicked games. A pink satin blindfold covered her lovely eyes, and her lush lips parted on a wordless cry. Joseph’s hand was visible in the shot, his fingers hooked through a delicate chain that connected the pretty silver clamps on her nipples.
The heat of my fury evolved into something possessive and hungry, and my need for Ashlyn was suddenly fire in my veins.
Another text: There. Now you have blue balls too. Get your ass home.
No teasing emojis. Joseph was done with lighthearted banter. The kind of play he craved now was dark and nearly as savage as the need that sank its claws into my insides. Suddenly, I was running, my long strides closing the distance between us. I passed the bay windows set into the orange brick frontage of our townhouse, and our front door appeared before me. As I slid my key into the embossed brass lock, I briefly caught my reflection in the double windows set into the dark, aged wood. The art deco-style geometric patterns that bisected the glass refracted the harsh angles of my face, making me appear almost as beastly as I was on the inside.
The door flew open, and I slammed it shut behind me, dimly noting the click of the lock sliding back into place, securing our home. I raced across the black and white tile floor in our front hall, and the twine handles of the paper bag containing our waffles dropped from my fingers. I didn’t have room in my brain to worry over my babygirl’s ruined dessert. Nothing mattered except getting to Ashlyn and Joseph.
I shrugged out of my leather jacket and bounded up the curved staircase, yanking my shirt over my head. I stripped as I raced past my framed drawings of Ashlyn, making my way to our bedroom. I tossed the clothes aside somewhere in the hall, toeing off my boots at the same time. When I finally reached my family, I was down to just my jeans, and the confining pressure against my dick added an edge of pain to my burning need for Ashlyn.
The scene before me was exactly the same as the explicit photo that Joseph had sent me only a minute ago. Ashlyn was bound to our bed. Leather cuffs were locked around her wrists and ankles, secured to the carved mahogany bedposts by short lengths of chain. She was shackled in place, completely vulnerable to Joseph. And judging by the bright pink flush that colored her creamy skin, he’d been indulging his darkest desires.
Joseph caught sight of me watching them, and a wicked grin sharpened the defined lines of his handsome face. He was already naked, his cock hard for her. With her eyes covered by the pink satin blindfold, she couldn’t see that I’d arrived.
He leaned in close, whispering a warning in her ear: “Daddy’s home.”
I stared, completely entranced by the shudder that rolled through her delicate body. Her skin pebbled, and her cheeks colored an even deeper shade of pink. Savage desire knifed through my gut when her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “Daddy?”
I had no words, no capacity for rational speech. All I wanted was to drink her in, to stay in this impossibly erotic moment forever. My entire body went taut with anticipation, and a tremor raced through my own limbs as lust crashed over me.
Joseph’s gaze locked on mine for several racing heartbeats before he snapped the riding crop against her inner thigh. Her high shriek melted into a needy moan when he stroked her enflamed flesh with the whip’s smooth leather tongue.
His low chuckle was rich with merciless delight as he trailed the crop higher, teasing around her slick, swollen pussy. She whimpered and writhed, but she was thoroughly restrained, unable to seek the stimulation she craved.
“Are you aching, angel?” Joseph tugged on the chain that connected the silver nipple clamps. Her back arched on a ragged cry.
“It’s Marco’s turn to punish you now. I wonder if he’ll let you come before he gets started.” He shot me a sharp grin, a ruthlessly amused gleam flashing across his pale eyes. He knew I wouldn’t allow her to orgasm anytime soon, and he thrilled in toying with her. He was deep in his dominant headspace, drunk on his power over our beautiful girl. She was breathtaking in her total submission to even his most depraved needs, trusting him completely.
“Untie her,” I barked, advancing on them as I stripped off the last of my clothes.
He was reveling in teasing and tormenting her, but I couldn’t wait one more minute. He’d had plenty of time to play his deviant games; I needed to claim her immediately. I needed to mark her, like she’d left her mark deep in my soul. Ashlyn’s unconditional love for me was the only thing keeping my head above water. I needed her more than I needed oxygen, and without her light, I’d be sucked back down into the suffocating darkness of my past. I’d drown without her.
Joseph freed her from the leather cuffs, taking his damn time. The silvery buckles on each made delicate metallic sounds, almost like tiny bells ringing at an angelic pitch. As he removed the bonds, he brushed kisses on the insides of her wrists, her ankles.
I growled, wordlessly urging him to get on with it. His slightly cruel smile was directed at me this time. “It’s not fun waiting, is it?” he taunted.
Bastard. He was totally drunk on his power over her, but he didn’t hold power over me. He didn’t get to torment me. Only her. Only our sweet, trusting girl, who gave us everything we demanded of her. Everything we needed.
“Get her on her hands and knees.” My rough tone was almost inhuman. Joseph loved whispering filthy words in her ear, but I was so lost to my animal desire that I barely had the capacity to form full sentences.
His cocky expression transformed into a mask of hunger as he caught on to my feral energy. There would be no more teasing. No more waiting.
Blinded by the pink satin cloth over her eyes, Ashlyn was completely dependent on Joseph. His fist sank into her hair, guiding her to her knees in the center of the bed. His forefinger looped through the chain that connected her nipple clamps. “Down,” he ordered, his voice coming out in the deepest register that meant he’d become utterly absorbed in her. She released a soft cry when he applied gentle pressure to the chain, steadying her with his grip on her hair as she slowly found the mattress with her palms.
He released the chain and flicked it, another dark chuckle layering over her shuddering gasp as the clamps tugged at her trapped buds.
She faced the edge of the bed, her mouth perfectly positioned to worship his cock. Her pussy waited for me, glistening with her arousal. Without prompting, she spread her thighs and arched her back, offering herself to me.
A low grunt caught in my chest, and I was suddenly behind her, one hand grasping her hip while my other fisted my dick. I rubbed myself along her wet folds, gathering up her slick arousal until my cock was lubricated with her wetness. There would be no pleasure for my naughty girl. Not yet.
“You teased us, babygirl,” I reminded her. “Do you think you deserve a reward for that behavior?”
I pressed my cockhead against her asshole. “No, Daddy!” she gasped.
“No, you don’t think you deserve a reward? Or are you denying me access to your tight little asshole?”
I pressed forward, slowly penetrating her.
“Daddy…” she whined.
“Does it burn, princess?” I soothed even as I disciplined her.
“Yes,” she squeaked, burying her face against Joseph’s thigh.
He hissed. “A little to the left, angel. Open your mouth.”
She complied, offering herself to Joseph. His hard cock slid over her tongue, easing into her throat as I pushed a little deeper into her ass. Her whimper vibrated along his dick, and he bit out a curse.
“It’s supposed to burn, babygirl,” I explained. “You’re being punished. Naughty girls get their asses fucked. Daddy won’t play with your clit until you’re very sore and sorry for teasing us.” My hand cracked across her thigh for emphasis, and a wash of wet heat warmed my balls.
Fuck, my girl was so perfect. Even when we denied her pleasure, she reveled in my discipline. She craved the correction, the attention. She needed my particular, perverse brand of affection. “So perfect,” I rumbled, petting the heated skin where I’d spanked her. “Such a good girl, taking Daddy’s discipline. Joseph, I think our girl has something she wants to say to us.” I addressed him without diverting my attention from her. “Let her apologize.”
He tugged the blindfold from her eyes as he pulled out of her mouth. In the same breath, he removed the clamps from her nipples. She released a ragged cry, and I saw stars when her inner muscles contracted around my dick.
I stilled inside her, sucking in shallow breaths through bared teeth as I ruthlessly pushed back my orgasm. I wouldn’t come before she did, and I didn’t intend to allow her release just yet.
Joseph made soft shushing sounds as he soothed her throbbing nipples with featherlight caresses. A broken little sob hitched in her throat, and she clenched around me again. Another rush of heat over my thighs betrayed her intense arousal. She loved the pain Joseph gave her. She loved pleasing him, and she fully accepted every piece of his soul, even the dark parts.
She stared up at him, and his aquamarine eyes glittered with hunger as he looked down into her beatific face. “I’m sorry for teasing you, Sir,” she said softly, the words slightly slurred and lust-drunk. His fist tightened in her hair, and he direct her to turn her head, so I could see her in profile. Her lush lips parted on little panting breaths, and she met my eyes as best she could. “I’m sorry for teasing you, Daddy.”
I traced the length of her spine, communicating my satisfaction with her apology. “I forgive you, princess.”
“You’re being so good for us, angel.” Joseph redirected her mouth to his dick. “So good,” he groaned as she sucked him deep. Keeping his grip on her hair, he started fucking her face. She relaxed into his harsh hold, eagerly submitting to his every demand.
Desire flooded my body in a rush, and I penetrated her to the hilt. Joseph threw his head back on a roar, pushing into her throat as he came. She swallowed him down, greedy for everything he gave her. She quivered in my hold, and the sight of their ecstatic power exchange drove me to the brink.
My fingers sank into her hip, digging into her soft flesh hard enough to bruise. A feral snarl raked up my throat, and I drove into her hard and deep, claiming every part of her like a mindless, hungry beast.
Joseph withdrew from her mouth. His crystalline eyes were fixed on her lovely face, shining with awe as he stroked his long fingers through her silken hair. His chest rose and fell on heaving breaths in the aftermath of the exertion and intensity of fucking her.
He’d been cruel in his unyielding demands, but he was so tender with her now. Love glowed in his pale eyes like an incandescent, worshipful light. He belonged to her, completely and irrevocably.
And they both belonged to me. I needed them to belong to me. My family. My future. I wouldn’t allow anyone to take them from me. I wouldn’t allow anyone to take this perfect, peaceful joy from them.
A wave of possessiveness swelled, surging through me in a burst of aggressive strength. I slammed into Ashlyn’s petite body, and my burning gaze locked on Joseph like a vise. “Mine.”
A strangled cry burst from Ashlyn’s lips, and Joseph’s eyes flared with something I couldn’t comprehend. I was too far gone, lost in need and desperation to hold on to them both.
My grip on Ashlyn’s hip firmed, anchoring her in place for my harsh claim. Another rough shout rang through our bedroom, and her back arched as she released the animal cry. My fingers tangled in her hair, restraining her more tightly.
“Marco.” I didn’t register the urgency in Joseph’s low, fierce tone.
I kept him chained in my possessive stare, and dark pleasure gathered at the base of my spine. I released Ashlyn’s hip, grinding my thumb over her clit in a demanding rhythm to force the orgasm from her taut body.
She screamed out her climax, and her inner muscles contracted around my cock. Joseph’s jaw went slack as I roared out my release, lashing hot seed deep inside the woman I loved. Ashlyn went limp beneath me, and her broken moan wrapped around me, binding me to her.
I kept Joseph bound in my fierce, greedy gaze as I roughly rode out the last of my orgasm, giving them every last drop of my pleasure, even as I claimed them both.
I drove into Ashlyn’s trembling body one last time, finishing on a growl.
“Marco.” This time, Joseph barely breathed my name, as though it’d gotten crushed in his constricted lungs. His wide eyes flashed with something like pain before his slack jaw firmed, sharp enough to cut.
Realization slowly descended, a cascade of icy water that froze every inch of my heated flesh. When he’d said my name the first time, Joseph’s low tone had been a warning. His wide eyes had conveyed shock and concern. Now, that concern had darkened to worry as his attention dropped to Ashlyn. His full focus centered on her, shutting me out. He caressed her cheek and gently brushed her sweat-dampened hair back from her brow, lifting her face to inspect her.
The black beast that lived inside me sank its claws into my heart, tearing me apart. I gritted my teeth against the agony and slowly withdrew from her. My fingers had imprinted on her pale skin, and my chest hollowed out when I saw the bright red streak on my dick: evidence of the damage I’d inflicted on her delicate body.
Joseph’s sharp intake of breath sliced into my heart, and I couldn’t bear to meet his horrified gaze. I stumbled away from them, our bedroom spinning around me in a sickening blur. I forced my shaking legs to carry me into the bathroom, where I could wash away the evidence of my sin. Joseph’s voice wavered around my consciousness in steady, soothing tones as he comforted Ashlyn.
I shut the door behind me, putting a protective barrier between my darkness and their light. I’d told myself that I could draw on that darkness to keep them safe, but it’d consumed me the moment I surrendered to it. The toxic taint of my enemy’s blood on my hands burned deep into my bones. I stepped into the shower and cranked the water as hot as it would go, as though I could scour all my sins from my soul.