LORIK
Having Karina naked on my couch with her beautiful, smooth legs over my lap did strange fucking things to my insides. I never thought I’d see the day I actually wanted to have a woman spend the night. Normally, I couldn’t wait to get rid of the woman as soon as I got what I wanted. But now, I didn’t want her to leave.
“I have to go. You know that,” she said, and I had this insane urge to pout like a two-year-old.
“You don’t have to go.” I moved my hand slowly up the inside of her thigh.
She snickered and squirmed under my touch. “Lorik, stop. You know I have to go. My family will be looking for me.”
“So, tell them you’re spending the night with a friend.”
She cocked her brows. “They know I have no friends here in Boston.”
I pulled back my hand and leaned into the couch. “And why is that?”
She shrugged while wrapping a dark curl around her finger. “I never fit in here. I always doubted everyone’s intentions when they tried to be friends with me.”
“Because of your surname?”
She nodded. “No one really saw me for me. Whenever they looked at me, they saw privileges and perks of being one of the wealthy Valentis.”
I glided my fingers up her leg and back down again. “I totally get that.”
“It’s hard when you have to constantly live in the shadow of your family’s legacy, which is why I decided to leave town the minute I had the chance. My father is still trying to convince me to come back home permanently.”
I looked at her. “For once, I’m with him. You should come home.” And I was only saying that because I was a selfish prick who wanted her as close to me as possible at all times.
Karina got up, and my cock turned to fucking stone when I allowed my gaze to move over her naked body.
Her eyes zeroed in on the movement, and her eyebrows slanted. “Again?”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“There’s no time. I need to go.” She started down the hall, and I leaped off the couch, rushing after her.
“Come on. Are you just going to leave him hanging like this?”
“Ha. From what I can see, he’s all but hanging right now.”
I placed my hands on my waist, pushing my pelvis out a little like I had total bragging rights when it came to the man with the best cock in the world.
From out of nowhere, a shirt was tossed over my head. “You are such a fucking guy.”
I pulled the shirt off my face and threw it on the floor before grabbing her hips, pulling her ass against my cock, and rolling my hips. “We can’t let this perfectly good hard cock go to waste, now, can we?”
“Oh, my God, if we should utilize every opportunity your cock gets hard, I’ll be unable to walk within two days.”
I stiffened. “Two days? That’s a low blow, princess. I’m sure I can do it within twenty-four hours.”
She laughed and pulled away from me. All I could do was stand there with a raging hard-on and watch while she got dressed.
“When will I see you again?” I leaned against the closet door.
“I don’t know. We’ll have to see how it goes.” With her dress on, she turned to face me before slipping her heels on. “But I promise it won’t be long.”
I smiled. “Good.”
A few moments of silence passed, and I noticed the atmosphere thicken along with the serious expression on her face.
“What about my brothers?”
“What about them?”
“You know they didn’t kill Gio.”
Frustration rushed through my chest, and I pull my palm down my face. “It’s complicated, Karina.”
“Lorik, please. I’m telling you, neither Dante nor Antonio did it.”
“I know,” I muttered, and her eyes narrowed.
“You know?”
I pushed myself off the closet door and walked closer to her. “I can’t discuss anything about the case with you, Karina. Just know I’m convinced it’s neither one of your brothers. But, unfortunately, we have protocol we have to follow.”
“I know.” Her gaze fell to the floor. “I know that.”
“Come here.” I wrapped my arms around her shoulders. “I promise you I’ll get to the bottom of it.”
She nestled her face against my chest. “Lorik, you know we can’t be together as long as you’re a cop.”
I took a deep breath as reality once again came to destroy the little happiness we managed to find during the last few hours. Fuck, reality is such a bitch.
“I know that, princess,” I whispered and placed a chaste kiss on her head. “We’ll figure it out.”
When she pulled away and straightened, my body—and heart—mourned the loss.
“I have to go.”
“Yeah.” I roughed my hands through my hair and searched the bedroom. “Let me grab some clothes, and I’ll walk you out.”
“You don’t have—”
“I want to. Give me two minutes.”
I quickly grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt, not bothering with shoes, and walked out of the apartment with her hand in mine—like a goddamn couple. We didn’t speak as we walked down the stairs, but somehow we didn’t need to. It felt solid enough between us not to bother with words, at least for now.
As we walked out the building, I swung her around and pushed my lips hard against hers, wanting one last taste before she left. God knew when I’d be able to see her again, but if this feeling inside my chest was anything to go by, I’d make sure it was soon.
Just as I swept my tongue against hers, a soft, delicate moan vibrated from her throat. Then she was ripped away from me, and the cold air assaulted my wet lips.
“What the fuck?”
Enzio had his fingers wrapped around her elbow and a motherfucking gun aimed at my head. “I told you, cop, I’m very possessive over what’s mine.”
My heart was no longer beating. It was pounding like it wanted to break through my ribs. Panic flared in my gut, and all I could think about was her, getting her away from him.
“Enzio, you motherfucker. Get your hands off her.”
He straightened his arm, bringing the muzzle of his gun closer to my head. “I warned you, but it seems like you have some masochistic tendencies.”
“Fuck you.”
Enzio pulled Karina tighter against his side, and she whimpered. “Enzio, let me go. What the hell are you doing?”
His gun was still aimed at me, his gaze on mine as he leaned to the side and dragged his filthy motherfucking tongue up her cheek.
The murderous rage that suddenly turned my vision to blood made me want to tear his fucking head off.
“I told you, little lamb,” Enzio said softly, “the day would come when I would finally claim what is rightfully mine.”
What the fuck?
“No,” Karina breathed out, her fear echoing in her voice.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Mancuso?” I balled my fists, trying my best to remain calm. If I learned anything during my time in the force, it was that anger didn’t help one fucking bit when you were on the receiving end of a gun.
“She didn’t tell you?” He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “She’s mine, Detective. I claimed her four years ago when she spread her legs for me with a single snap of my fingers.”
Karina gasped, and tears started to stream down her face, her entire body shaking. “Please stop, Enzio.”
I stepped forward. “Take your hands off her, or I swear to God I will kill you.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. A cop shouldn’t go around tossing threats freely. You could get into a lot of trouble for that.”
“And aiming a gun at someone’s head? You can go to prison for that.”
He laughed maniacally. “Who, me? No. I assure you, Detective, I have every avenue covered when it comes to keeping my ass out of jail.”
“I have no doubt about that.”
I was about two seconds away from leaping forward and ripping that goddamn gray suit off his ass. If I ever had the urge to murder someone with my bare hands, it was now.
Enzio pulled Karina behind him and stepped back. “Well, as much as I’d like to stay here and chit-chat, I have shit I need to do.”
My gaze moved to Karina, and she seemed defeated, like she had no choice but to keep still. Why is she not fighting him?
“Enzio,” I called out and moved closer, “let her go, man. This is kidnapping.”
Again, he started to laugh. “Kidnapping?” He turned to Karina. “Tell him, little lamb. Tell him you want to go with me.” He leaned in and whispered something in her ear. Her eyes closed, and her face paled as tears moved down her cheeks. It didn’t take a genius to figure out she was petrified of him. I had no idea what he said to her, but every instinct I had was screaming at me, alarm bells ringing like crazy.
She opened her eyes, and more tears slipped out. “I have—”
Enzio jerked her, and she whimpered before looking back at me. “I want to go with him.”
“No, no, you don’t. Karina, whatever he just told you, you can’t trust him.”
Enzio cleared his throat. “Well, then, now that that’s out of the way, I bid you a good evening, Detective.”
I leaped forward. “Karina, no!” But a car drove up behind them, and within two seconds, Enzio had pushed her into the back, and they were gone.
What in the name of fuck just happened?
***
KARINA
Bile threatened to move up my throat as Enzio dragged his knuckles up and down my cheek.
“Oh, how long I’ve waited for this.” His voice was hard, dark, and filled with so much malice, it had the power to make my ears bleed. “If it wasn’t for my father’s need for meticulous planning, I would have claimed you for myself years ago.”
“But you already did, remember? The night you fucked me…in more ways than one.” I glared at him. The face I once loved was now nothing more than a reminder of how much I fucking hated him.
He leaned closer and licked his lips. “Oh, my dear little lamb. That night was only the beginning. I have so many plans for us.” His hand brushed against my knee, but I jerked away from him.
“Fuck you, Enzio.”
He reached up and grabbed my hair, my scalp burning as he pulled my head back. “Keep that fight in you, little lamb. I’m going to enjoy fucking it out of you.”
I shuddered, fear turning my blood into ice.
With dark irises, he stared at me as if I were the prey he craved to devour, the soul he longed to consume. “Don’t you get it, Karina? I’ve always wanted you. I’ve always dreamed about having you for the rest of my life.” He leaned down, brushing his lips across my neck, and I tried to pull away, but he only tightened his grip at the back of my head. “You’ve always been the one for me, little lamb. That night at the beach house was part of my father’s plan. I just followed orders. If I had my way, I would have locked you in that room that same night and kept you there forever.” He dragged the tip of his tongue over my skin, and I swallowed hard, trying not to throw up.
“Why now, Enzio? After all these years?” My lips quivered, and I felt his hand on my knee. Tears stung my eyes, his filthy touch making my skin crawl.
“My dad wanted to wait a little longer. He wanted to get your brothers out of the way first. But then Detective Stone came along, leaving me no choice. He was taking what is rightfully mine, and knowing he was touching you, kissing you,” he moved his lips up to my ear, “fucking you, it was driving me insane.” He leaned back a little. “Unfortunately for my father, I could no longer sit by and watch it happen while I wait for him to finally give the order telling me I can have you. So I had to say ‘fuck the plan.’”
A tear slipped down my face. I wanted to ask him what their plans were. Why and how they had planned to get my brothers out of the way. But deep inside, I already knew. This war between our families wasn’t about territory, or business. It was about hate. Jealousy. Power. And we were mere pawns in this war, each and every one of us. My brothers too.
More tears moved across my cheek. “Don’t hurt my brothers.” It was all I could think of saying. I didn’t care what Enzio did to me. I just wanted him to stay the hell away from my family.
Enzio’s hand slipped in between my legs, fingertips brushing against my thigh. “Be a good little lamb, and no one will get hurt. Besides, we weren’t going to hurt your brothers. Well, Antonio, at least.”
I narrowed my eyes, my heart lodged in my throat. “What are you saying?”
He laughed. “You always think the worst, don’t you? We weren’t planning on killing Antonio. Just sending his ass to jail. A son in jail would be far more embarrassing than a son in a coffin.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s a murderer in town, and your dear brother is currently the number one suspect. And once I’m done, there would be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Antonio is indeed a coldblooded killer.” Enzio grinned and had a sinister look in his eye. Everything about him was screaming evil intent.
My stomach turned as my mind spun in a million directions at once, trying to make sense of what was happening.
The murder at Vertigo.
My brothers being questioned.
It was all Enzio’s doing. Jesus Christ, he was framing my brother…for murder.
I sucked in a breath. “Enzio, no.”
He leaned in, his vile breath slithering over my skin. “Oh, yes, Karina. But like I said, that was the plan. Framing someone is a delicate matter, and I ran out of patience. So I decided to leave the fate of your dear brother in your hands.”
My skin burned as his fingers moved up my inner thigh. “Don’t fucking touch me!” I pressed my legs tightly together and squirmed trying to get away from him. But he forced them apart, fingertips brushing against my panties.
“What do you want from me, Enzio?” My voice was nothing more than a shaky whisper, fear running rampant through every bone in my body.
His slimy lips touched my collarbone. “Oh, I think you already know, little lamb.”
More tears moved down my face as his tongue lapped against the skin of my shoulder. “You’ve always known. You were waiting for this day to come.”
I whimpered, biting into my bottom lip when I felt him pull my panties to the side. I tasted blood on my tongue, and my stomach twisted with every vile stroke of his fingers. The last time he was this close to me, touching me there, I didn’t know I was about to have my heart ripped out. But this time I knew. I knew the darkness that possessed him, how evil and manipulative he was.
Again, I tried to move, screaming for him to leave me alone, trying to push my legs together. But he was too strong, forcing my legs open and tightening his grip at the back of my head.
“Please, Enzio!”
“Oh, yes, Karina. Keep fighting me. It’s turning me the fuck on.” He pushed a finger inside me, and I cried out.
“Please stop!”
“Jesus. I can still feel his fucking cum inside your pussy. I’ll make sure to fuck every trace of that son of bitch out of you as well.” He forced a second finger into me, and I wept while his touch burned me from the inside out. “After all, as my wife, it would be very inappropriate for you to walk around with another man’s seed between your legs.”
The blood in my veins froze, my heart a giant block of ice lodged in my chest. “What did you say?”
He pulled his hand from between my legs, but my body remained rigid. With a grin on his face, he brought his finger up to his nose, inhaling deeply. I fought to keep myself from gagging at the sight.
“You will marry me, Karina. You will give me what I’ve always wanted, and that’s you on your knees at my feet…every goddamn day for the rest of your life.”
More chills wracked my body. I felt physically ill, the need to vomit almost uncontrollable.
“I’ll do no such thing, Enzio. There is no way in hell you can make me marry you.”
“Oh, I can.” He pulled his phone from his jacket pocket, flipped over the screen, and held it in front of my face.
When the video started playing, I gasped and placed my hand in front of my mouth. I had to swallow back the bile that was pushing up my throat as I watched the video he and his father made of us that night at the beach house. The son of bitch was carrying it around on his phone? How sick and twisted could one individual be?
“Wait, let me show you my favorite part.” He moved the cursor before pressing play, and I no longer felt my heart beat. All I felt was pain, panic, and so much betrayal.
“Watch,” Enzio urged and pushed the screen closer to my face. I didn’t want to watch. I didn’t want to look at how I made the biggest mistake of my entire life. How my innocence was ripped away from me with one big lie and tons of deceit. But Enzio forced me to watch the video while tears streamed down my face.
On the screen, Enzio was on top of me, thrusting forward. I literally felt everything I’d felt back then. I felt him moving between my legs, the sharp, stabbing pain when he first entered me. And then the pain slowly subsiding until finally…it felt good.
I remembered how my mind drifted from one place to the other. How one second I felt unsure, wondering if I had what it took to make the man I loved then happy. If my body would satisfy him. And then the next moment, when my own body started to climb, reaching the pinnacle of something I thought was beautiful, all I could think about was how much I loved him. How much he loved me. And then…he tore my heart inside out. Ripped it into pieces of regret and pain. For a few moments, it was the best night of my life…until it wasn’t.
Enzio tapped on the screen. “Look at your face, little lamb. Look at the pleasure plastered all over it.”
I could barely see through the tears in my eyes.
“Oh, Enzio…” I heard my own words through the recording. I knew it was me, my voice. It just didn’t sound like me. That person sounded happy, high on sex.
“Karina, I love you,” Enzio said, which I believed with all my heart back then. But it was all a lie, a ruse so he could use me.
“What’s happening?” I was so innocent back then, inexperienced, and when I felt my body climbing, I had no idea what was about to happen. Three words that best described me that night—vulnerable, clueless…and stupid.
“Let go, Karina. Let your body guide you.”
Then my scream of ecstasy echoed around the back of the car. I remembered that exact moment, the moment my body climaxed and pulsed around him. The moment he made me a woman, only to strip me of all my dignity two minutes later.
Unable to watch anymore, I closed my eyes and cried, but Enzio jerked my head to the front.
“Watch.”
I bit my lip, tasting the metallic tang of more blood on my tongue as he forced me to continue watching how he pumped in and out of me…until his back finally arched as he came.
“I wanted to fuck you without a condom that night. I really did.” Enzio’s voice sounded low, dark, like he was turned on by the thought.
My heart broke all over again, the pain possessing my soul. It felt like every limb was being torn from my body, my chest crushed into pieces of despair.
Enzio continued to watch, his eyes growing darker with lust. “I wanted to pulse my cum inside that sweet, tight cunt of yours. But we couldn’t risk having a Mancuso-Valenti bastard—yet.”
Finally, he switched off his phone and shoved it into his jacket pocket.
“So,” he continued, “you see, Karina, you will marry me. If you don’t, that little video makes its way to your dad and on to every goddamn social media outlet. You will be known as the Valenti slut whose pussy ended up on every mobile phone, every computer for perverts to jerk off to. Imagine the shame your father will feel walking down the streets, wondering if any of the unfamiliar faces surrounding him had seen his innocent little girl opening her pussy so she could get fucked.”
That was the moment everything came crashing down. The moment everything inside me died. I couldn’t even fathom the idea of my father seeing this tape. It would kill him. It would tear my entire family apart.
“Oh, and just in case that isn’t motivation enough,” he turned in his seat to face me, “if you don’t do exactly what I say, your big brother will find himself in jail quicker than you can say ‘I do.’”
My stomach turned upside down, and I could no longer force myself to stay strong. I broke. For the second time in my life, I broke down in front of this man. In front of the devil himself, I turned into nothing but a pathetic woman who now had to atone for the worst mistake she had ever made. I was no longer weeping, but sobbing, crying so hard it felt like my body was about to snap in two.
Enzio placed his thumb and forefinger on my chin, but I jerked my face out of his hold, unable to stand the coldness of his touch. I would rather be beaten within an inch of my life than experience this man’s touch again.
He laughed. “You can fight me as much as you want, Karina. But you and I both know you will do anything to keep this tape hidden…including marrying me.”