A couple of years ago
The years had been kind to him, thought Lucien Delano as he looked at his family around the table. It was dinner and he was enjoying the meal with his family. And of course, James Schwartz, who was more family than friend, who spent more than half of his life here, at Lucien’s mansion. Handsome James, who was still the only man he truly trusted, was his loyal friend who still wore his heart on his sleeve when he gazed at Proserpina.
“Get yourself a woman,’ thought Lucien in irritation. every time he caught Schwartz’s almost worshipful gaze resting on Proserpina. Though he knew that his wife would never think of Schwartz in any way but as a friend. He smiled to himself.
He would not let her, he thought, his eyes blazing. She belonged to HIM, only him.
Even after all these years, he could not keep his hands off her. The moment they were in bed, it was explosive. Just last night, she had been sobbing as he had finished pumping his seed into her again.
The sight of that damned navel piercing made him go mad. thought the Mafia Don as he stroked his chin, rough with the beard he now sported. The saucy way she walked around at night, naked under the transparent nightshirt that barely reached her plump mid thigh; revealing the tattoo on her round a*s cheek. All of it drove a man crazy and he could not stop rutting when he laid his hands on her soft body, till she begged him, breathlessly to have mercy.
His woman bore the marks of his beard burn on her soft breasts and between her thighs where he had eaten her pus*y last night, he thought, his staff automatically rising in reflex.
*
His eyes rested on her.
Proserpina Delano, his wife and the only woman he f*cked , was in her thirties now. She still made heads turn and he realised ruefully that she was in her prime, beautiful in the way old wine matures.
They still barely made it to bed on some occasions and he watched her, the full, heavy breasts thrusting out, wobbling slightly as she moved, serving her family; the full hips…
He growled as he felt his c*ck react.
Damn the woman, he thought in irritation, Just looking at her gave him a hard-on.
“Pappa.’
He turned to look at his eldest daughter, Ria who always sat on his right, beside him. She had grown into a beautiful young woman and had just entered her twenties now. Her eyes were twinkling mischievously, the way her mother did, he thought fondly, as she watched him.
Everyone knew that Lucien Delano could barely keep his hands off his delectable wife’s body and his children teased him about it too.
“Get a room, Pappa,’ his children would sigh when he kissed Proserpina in the dining room. It had taken some time for him to understand and respect the young people who now sat around his dining table. But he now reacted to such remarks with a mock angry growl and continued to kiss his wife, his hands roving over her despite his wife’s strenuous protests as she blushed and tried to stop him. He was in his fifties but he still maintained his regime, going to the gym and the occasional fights.
*
Now it was clear that Ria had an agenda as she leaned to him, all of sixteen years and already able to use her wiles to get her way, he thought drily.
‘I want to go to the Club with you.’ she announced with a smile and he frowned in displeasure. Piers, his eldest son, looked up too, raising an eyebrow quizzically.
He did not allow his children to come to the Club; it was, after all, a Gentleman’s Club. And he was aware of what went on within the walls of his sprawling, elite club where men came to seek pleasure and women offered themselves.
It served as a place where he could hold his meetings with men from all over the world, to discuss and conduct his business of arms trading with ease.
*
Lucien was grooming Piers to take over his empire. He knew the boy had a cool head on his shoulders and would make a good successor. He had begun to accompany his father and was getting to know the ropes of the business. Lucien intended to take him along on his trips in the near future too.
Now his daughter was sitting, her face flushed and pink, mouth a pretty pout. She could wheedle her way into his heart and twist him around her little finger on most occasions but this was something he was not prepared to do.
Schwartz, who was telling funny stories and keeping young Louis and Tara in splits, looked across too.
The whole family wanted to see the outcome, to watch and see who won this battle of wills, subtle though it was.
‘Pumpkin,’ he began, “you know you cannot…’
She scowled.
‘Pappa! Are you trying to avoid taking me because I am a girl?’
Dramatic as always, Ria jumped in to situations and put her foot in, heedless of what the impact would be.
Before he could respond, she reacted. Flinging her napkin onto the table, she jumped up.
*
Proserpina had walked across by now and stood, a small hand on her husband’s shoulder, stroking him. Even through the material of his jacket, he could feel the gentleness of her gesture.
She seemed to be saying,
“Ignore her theatrics.’
“Ria!’ she admonished gently.
But the girl had leapt to her feet, cheeks pink with indignation. She was in full flow and would not be stopped. Again, she looked around the room in a theatrical manner before announcing,
‘I am leaving!’ she flung the napkin down and prepared to flounce out of the room. ‘I am going back to University, to the hostel where I …’
“Can I have your share of dessert then?’ piped up Claude and suddenly, Schwartz gave a guffaw.
The atmosphere around the dining table changed as Ria stopped at the doorway.
“What’s for dessert?’ she demanded, turning to eye her mother accusingly.
“Mumma has made Indian dessert tonight, it’s Kheer!’ shouted Claude, devilish as always.
He had inherited his mother’s dimples and his rakish good looks and haughty demeanour had made girls crazy for him already. The boy was in his early teens, thought Lucien tiredly, but he had already earned a reputation for being a wild lover.
The kind who used women and dumped them.
When had he begun his amorous activities? thought Lucien with a scowl. Almost as young as when Lucien had been a youth and had been introduced to the pleasures of the flesh by his mother’s friends, wh*res who had been amused to show him their tricks.
And on one memorable occasion, Claude had been thrown out of his school because he had been caught f*cking a woman who worked in the front office, who was more than a decade older than him and married. It had taken a lot of greasing of the palms to get the boy away, unscathed. But Lucien had decided that he was not going to continue his son’s schooling in some time.
Lucien squeezed his eyes tight and tried not to think of the circumstances that had led to Claude being conceived. It always made him want to hang his head in shame.
The one time he raped his lovely young wife.
*
Ria stopped and stood there a the door, undecided as Proserpina dissolved in giggles, leaning against Lucien helplessly.
It was Ria’s weakness, the one dessert she loved above all and she glared at the interested faces at the dining table for a minute. Then, shooting a killing look at her brother, Claude who was lounging in his chair and grinning wickedly, she glided back to the table.
Sitting down, she said in a frosty voice,
“Well, on second thoughts, I think I shall have some Kheer and then go.’
The tension had dissipated and Lucien circled his wife’s waist with an arm and took his daughter’s hand with the other hand.
He smiled.
‘You can come with me, pudding.’ he grunted and she leapt up from the chair, to throw her arms around his neck and kiss his cheek.
*