“Caterina.”
Everything Isabella had told me yesterday weighed heavily on my chest, pushing down with each breath I took.
Matteo had stayed away from me, not prodding to know what she had said, yet watching me with enough concern to make me know he cared.
I couldn’t let him see my unravelling emotions. There was no way he would understand, not yet.
“I need answers.” I could barely recognize the rasp in my voice as I walked out of the bedroom that morning, Matteo sprawled in bed, still asleep.
I stormed through the hallways, barely noticing the new assembly of guards as I searched for Caterina, my housekeeper.
She’d been with the mafia circle for long. She had to know something about this Dante family, something I could use against him so he could leave my sister alone.
If it’s monetary…
“Caterina!!” I called out as I walked into the study.
She ceased writing immediately, sliding her glasses up her nose as she watched me coke closer. Her expression was neutral, but I could tell she noticed the tension rolling off me.
“Yes, Mrs Nevarro?” She asked, her tone carefully measured.
This was… would be the first time I called her anything other than ma’am. Used her first name to her face.
And she had retaliated by calling me Mrs Nevarro, a name we had kept at bay during our times together
Shaking off the thought, I met her gaze squarely. “You’ve worked for Matteo before I came into the picture. You know the families that circle this world. Tell me everything you know about Dante Ricci.”
If she felt put off by my question, she didn’t show it. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
My voice was firmer.
“Who is her? What kind of power does he hold? Does he work with Matteo?”
The last bit was a necessity. Cutting off my husband’s ties from underneath him would be enough to make him mad.
But Caterina merely hesitated, glancing towards the doors of the study before looking back at me.
She sighed softly. “Dante Ricci is…. a ghost in many ways. He was powerful, yes, but elusive. His family used to be part of the old Mafia circles, but they fell out of favour years ago. Dante struggled to rebuild his influence, trying out untested mafia dons until he simply vanished. Never to he seen again.”
I swallowed, the cold knot in my stomach tightening. “But why would he want my sister? Why would my mother….” I paused, struggling to say even say the words in my mind. “Sell her to him?”
“Would he get married to someone from a smaller mafia gang?”
Caterina’s eyes hardened. “Dante wouldn’t touch a smaller mafia group even if his hand was cut from his body. Untested men who just became mafia dons, yes. But a smaller group…? Never.”
The bile rose in my throat as Caterina’s words sank in. My mother had bartered away my sister’s life for her own selfish gain. To a man who would never even care about her.
“Do you know where he is?” I demanded, my voice low but urgent. “Where I can find him.” And my sister.
Caterina shook her head. “No one knows where he is. He’s like a legend, appearing when he wants to and where he wants to.”
Frustration bubbled up inside me, but that didn’t stop me from seeking out Matteo later in the day, when he was wide awake and in his office.
“I can help you,” Matteo’s voice was quiet but firm. “But first, you need to stay calm and explain everything to me.”
As large as his office was, the only thing that stood between the two of us was a large desk.
My eyes blazed with fire as I held his gaze. “Calm down? My sister could be in danger at this very moment. I told you she had been kidnapped from the start, and you refused to believe me.”
His expression didn’t waver. “I made a mistake. A bad call. Can you really blame me for being angry that the girl betrothed to me suddenly disappeared?”
Always the cold, calculating mafia don. No matter how much he told me he wanted me or wanted to defend me or bullshit like that, I had to remember he was the man who refused to do anything for my sister.
So maybe it was time I did something for a change.
And there was only one person I could turn to for that.
“So I’m asking you to teach me.” The words slipped out before I could stop them.
The same request I had asked months back.
Matteo’s brow furrowed. “What?”
“Teach me how to fight,” I repeated, the conviction in my voice surprising even me. “If I’m going to stand a chance in this world, I should become more than your pretty wife who attends parties with you and throws them in your honour.
His eyes darkened, but not with anger. There was something else there, something unreadable.
“Tesoro….”
Treasure.
“Don’t say anything yet. Think about it.”
Matteo’s lips pressed into a thin line, his eyes narrowing as he regarded me. For a moment, it felt like we were at a standoff, neither of us willing to back down.
Finally, he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Fine. But we do this on my terms.”
Relief and fear washed over me in equal measure. I wasn’t sure what I had just signed up for, but I knew there was no turning back now.
Matteo stood up from his chair, moving closer, his gaze locked onto mine.
The air between us seemed to shift into something warmer.
His hand trailed up my arm, the warmth of his touch igniting the flame in my core. I had missed those touches.
“We start tomorrow,” he murmured, his voice rough, “but tonight…”
He didn’t need to finish the sentence. His lips crashed against mine with a hunger that matched the storm brewing in my chest.
All the banked heat I’d suppressed during the one month of healing I had came rushing towards me. My skin became too hot, too heavy for me to hold upright.
“Tonight….” When did my voice become this breathy?
“Tonight, you let me explore this beautiful body,” Matteo said softly, his teeth grazing my neck. “Let me dine until you’re calling for more. I know I’m supposed to give you space, but every time I see you and I can’t even kiss you because I feel so bad for what happened in my absence.”
His confession pierced the mask I had tried to adorn like it was made of paper.
“Matteo.”
He placed a chaste kiss on my neck. “Tell me, what do you want?” Matteo threaded his fingers into mine. “I should have taught you how to fight from the moment you stepped those pretty legs in this estate.” Hot.
Words flew from me. I had no idea what to say to this man standing in front of me.
We stared at each other, the air heavy with things we wanted to say but had no idea how to.
Matteo’s body was alive with tension, his jaw hard, and his muscles so taut it was almost vibrating.
His next words came low and hoarse. “Tell me what else you want, Valentina. And I’ll give it to you.”
Oh God.
My breath hitched when his fingers trailed from my hand down the back of my leg, leaving fire in their wake.
“Do you want this?”
My thoughts muddled together, but I had the remaining sense to know that he might move on to Isabella when she came back.
“Yes.” It was both a sigh and a promise. A moan.
Matteo’s breath released.
His palms burned as they parted my thighs. He’d barely touched me, but my lips, my neck, everywhere tingled.
I missed him. I missed this.
“Promise me you’ll teach me everything.”
He placed a soft kiss at the delicate crease between my thigh and my core. “I will,” He slid my underwear to the side and gently touched my clit with his tongue. “Everything you need to know…” His words blended with my cry when he drew my clit into his mouth and sucked.
My hands sank into his hair, and I could only hold on, my back against his desk, as he worshipped me with his tongue and fingers.
Rough. Commanding. Possessive.
Every movement sent a wave of pleasure down my core.
He moved away, grazing my clit with his teeth. He pushed two fingers inside, thrusting and curling while I writhe with abandon.
Matteo knew my body now. Knew where my most sensitive spots were and how to use them to his advantage.
He pressed his thumb against my clit as he hit that g-spot.
The pleasure exploded.
My orgasm richotted through me, and my cries still echoed in the air when Matteo stood up and touched my cheeks gently.
“But you’re going to hate me for it.”