Antonio
“Antonio?” Rodrigo looked into my face. “Did you hear me? Do you understand?”
I nodded. When I got to my feet, my legs were weak and my knees felt like jelly. I knew I couldn’t show Rodrigo any hint of what I was feeling – I couldn’t let him see that this news was breaking me apart from the inside out.
“Yes, Don,” I said again.
Rodrigo nodded. He puffed on his cigar, then ashed it and coughed. “You leave now,” he said curtly, turning in his leather chair and pulling something out of a desk drawer.
My heart was thudding as I rose to my feet. Somehow, after the horrible revelation, I expected Rodrigo’s office to look different – tarnished, somehow. But it looked the same.
It sounds naïve, but I’d always thought Rodrigo was a good man. Sure, he was the head of the most powerful crime family in Wilmington. But he’d raised a daughter, and he thought of himself as a real family man. As I walked on unsteady legs towards the foyer, I wondered if this had always been the case. I wondered if Rodrigo had groomed Melinda all her life to be a valuable business asset.
And Alexander. Thinking of Alexander Rex now made me see red. The man was a pig – nothing more than a brute and a lout. He treated women the way he treated tissues. He was like the indolent boy king who took pleasure in the suffering and pain of those around him.
Thinking of that pig putting his hands on Melinda made me so angry I could barely breathe.
Debra, Rodrigo’s housekeeper, was dusting a porcelain vase in the foyer. She bustled around contentedly, humming under her breath, seemingly oblivious to the fact that her employer was a monster. When she saw me, she smiled. “Did you have a good talk with Mr. Rodrigo?”
I sighed. As much as I wanted Melinda to hear the news, I knew I’d have to be careful about how I played my hand. “Yes,” I said stiffly. “Thanks, Debra.”
She smiled again. “Would you like a drink?”
“Is Melinda home?”
“Miss Melinda?” Debra tapped her chin with a manicured fingernail. “I don’t know. Do you want me to check?”
Inspiration flashed into my mind. I’ll tell her now, I thought. I’ll go up to her room and say I have to tell her something important. We can leave together – I’ll tell her to pack a bag and lie and say she’s going clubbing. Then I can use some of my cash to get a hotel, and we’ll hide out until we know what else to do.
“I can go,” I said casually, already starting up the stairs.
Debra clucked her tongue. “No, no,” she said mildly, “Mr. Rodrigo wouldn’t like that.” She smiled widely again. “I go,” she added. “You stay down here.”
As Debra’s plump figure waddled up the plush staircase, I looked around the foyer. As always, it was perfectly furnished and decorated. Rodrigo – or whomever he’d paid to design – had great taste. I’d always envied the Cantonneli home. But now, it seemed garish and overwrought to me. What the hell was the point of having a beautiful home if you had a black hole for a heart? Sadness washed over me as I realized what was going to happen to Melinda if I couldn’t think of a way to get her out of this mess. She was going to be treated like a servant – no, like a slave – for the rest of her life. Her looks would fade. She wouldn’t smile anymore.
She definitely wouldn’t call me asking for chicken nuggets and lemonade.
Debra and Melinda’s voices floated down from the open balcony, but their words were too quiet for me to hear. Finally, a door clicked closed and Debra started making her way down the staircase. She looked as untroubled and carefree as always.
I wondered if she knew about Melinda.
“Miss Melinda is home, yes,” Debra said. She was huffing and puffing by the Samuele she reached the marble floor of the foyer. “You want to see her?”
I sighed, exasperated. “You didn’t ask her that already?”
Debra narrowed her eyes. “Miss Melinda didn’t look well,” she said. She picked up her feather duster and started working once again on the vase. “You should go home now. I’m sure Mr. Rodrigo wouldn’t want her getting sick or straining herself.”
Yeah, heaven forbid she be anything less than a perfect toy for Alexander Rex, I thought angrily.
“Mr. Rodrigo is strict, yes,” Debra continued. “But everything for Miss Melinda’s benefit, you see.” She beamed. “Miss Melinda is such a good girl. Mr. Rodrigo so proud of his daughter.”
Anger flared inside me. I was tempted to grab the portly housekeeper by her shoulders and shake until those blue eyes rolled back into her head. But instead, I forced a grin. “Yeah,” I said. “Rodrigo’s a real great father, all right.” I hoped Debra couldn’t detect the sarcasm lacing my voice like a date rape drug in a martini. “He really knows how to take care of his daughter.”
Debra beamed, apparently oblivious to the true meaning of what I’d just said. “Oh, yes, Mr. Rodrigo, he loves Miss Melinda,” Debra said. She nodded then started whistling as she bustled across the floor, dusting merrily.
Upstairs, I heard pacing footsteps. My heart lurched – I knew it was Melinda, and I desperately wished I could run and tell her everything. But with Debra’s careful eye, I knew I wouldn’t get far.
“Why don’t you leave now,” Debra suggested. There was a hardened glint to her eye. “Mr. Rodrigo and you are finished, yes?”
“Uh, yeah,” I said, trying to stall. “Um, yeah, we definitely did. I’m just trying to remember if there’s anything else I need to ask him.”
“You can always call later,” Debra suggested comfortably. “I go dust in the dining room now.” She glanced towards the door, waiting for me to leave.
I sighed. “Okay. Thanks, Debra.”
Debra gave a slight bow. I crossed the foyer, dreading each step that would take me farther away from Melinda. But when my fingers closed around the doorknob, I heard a door upstairs open and close.
Seconds later, Melinda bounced down the stairs. She looked so gorgeous that for a moment I almost forgot about her horrible fate. Her dark hair was teased into a high bun and she was wearing a tight t-shirt that showed off her ample breasts. Her jean shorts were tight and dug into her crotch. I suppressed a groan, thinking of the way her pussy must be tingling in such conforming clothing.
“Hey, Antonio,” Melinda said. “I didn’t know you were here!” She bounded across the floor. “Did we schedule something?” She wrinkled her nose.
“No,” I said. “I just had to meet with your father.”
Debra was staring attentively at both of us, but thankfully Melinda didn’t seem to notice.
“Well,” I said, hoping she’d take the hint. “You wanna go out?”
To my chagrin, Melinda rolled her eyes. “I’m so sick of clubbing,” she groaned. “And I’m starving.”
“How about dinner?”
“I don’t think we have anything here.” Melinda peered around Debra’s squat figure into the dark kitchen. “Debra, what are you making tonight?”
“Meatloaf, Miss Melinda,” Debra said.
“Ew, gross,” Melinda replied quickly. “Hey, Antonio, you wanna take me out? I want like, a twice baked potato and a big steak. I’m so hungry!”
“Miss Melinda, that’s not good for your figure,” Debra admonished, wagging a finger in the air.
Melinda rolled her eyes. She ignored Debra. Turning to me, she said: “I’m just running upstairs to get a jacket, but I’ll be back down in a second, okay?”
After she’d gone upstairs, it was hard not to smile smugly at Debra. I gave the housekeeper a slight nod then went outside and stood on the front porch.
There was no denying Rodrigo had a beautiful piece of property. The lawn was an emerald-green expanse of lush scenery. Alexander’s angry tracks hadn’t left a permanent scar on the beauty of the lawn.
The door opened and then banged shut behind me.
“Okay!” Melinda chirped. “I’m ready to go.”
I eyed her. She’d changed into a sweater and a pair of yoga pants with a loose jacket. It was about the most casual I’d ever seen her – hardly any makeup, no bright nail polish. She looked almost like a normal girl.
“Where to?” I tried to keep my voice even. I knew I had to tell her at dinner – when else would I get the chance? I tried to formulate a plan in my head. After dinner, Melinda and I could come back here, then she could pack and we could leave. I wasn’t sure what excuse she’d give her father – maybe that she’d changed her mind about clubbing after all? But that didn’t matter. The only important thing was getting her away from all of this before it went south.
“It doesn’t matter.” Now that we were away from the house, Melinda looked sulky. “I don’t care. Just take me anywhere away from here.”
I waited until we were in the car before I asked anything.
“What happened?” I glanced over as I pulled out of Rodrigo’s long driveway. “You okay?”
Melinda shook her head. Her cheeks were pink and her bottom lip was gnawed to pieces. Her eyes were dark with anger. Now that we were alone, I could practically smell it rolling off of her in heady waves.
“I hate him,” Melinda proclaimed. “I hate him so fucking much.”
“Yeah,” I agreed as I pulled onto the highway. “He’s such a jerk. You don’t have to put up with him, you know.”
Melinda turned to me and rolled her eyes. “For someone working for him, you’re pretty mean,” she observed.
“Oh.” Shit! “I thought you were talking about Alexander.”
Melinda shook her head. She puffed out her cheeks then blew an angry stream of air towards the ceiling of the car. “No,” she said after a moment. “But I hate him, too. I mean, he’s worse. I guess. Sorry,” she added. “I know I’m not making sense.”
“It’s okay,” I told her. “You feel like a steak?”
“I don’t give a shit,” Melinda said quietly. “I just want to be away from my father for a little while. He doesn’t understand.”
“What happened?”
Melinda flopped dramatically against the back of the seat and the car lurched to the side. “Cassandra and Gloria are driving to New Orleans,” she said. “And they asked me to come. But Dad won’t let me go. I even brought you up – he said it didn’t matter. He said there was no way I’d ever be spending a night outside of the house until I get married. And that could be years,” Melinda added sourly. “It’s not like I intend on marrying anytime soon.”
A horrible sinking feeling came over me. Sweat broke out on my palms – I had to take my hands off the wheel and wipe them on my thighs.
“Yeah,” I agreed mutely. “It’s unfair, but you know he just wants to protect you.” My heart was clanging in my chest – I knew I had to say something, but I couldn’t think of the words. Melinda was already angry with her father. I worried if I told her the truth, she’d want to confront him before making an escape. And that would ruin everything…as soon as Rodrigo knew she’d learned about the plot, he’d keep her under lock and key until everything was resolved.
Melinda sighed. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “You’re just like him.”
That stung, but I knew I had to let it go. With a sigh, I pulled into the parking lot of a local steakhouse. It wasn’t an overly fancy place – not the kind of restaurant with dim lighting, gorgeous waitresses in tight black dresses, and twenty-dollar cocktails – but I thought it fit the bill. Melinda clearly wasn’t in the mood for anything formal or festive.
Dinner was quiet. I ordered their most expensive bottle wine – a merlot that was passable – and Melinda ordered the biggest steak on the menu, cooked rare. When it came, she only took a few bites before pushing the meat around on her plate.
Inside, I was writhing in agony. I couldn’t believe her life was about to change so abruptly. It was hard for me to imagine her with Alexander without turning red in the face with anger. And thinking about her in bed with that misogynist asshole made me want to punch a hole through the restaurant table.
“You’re quiet,” Melinda said. She took a sip of wine then wrinkled her nose. “Is this a merlot? I hate merlot.”
I chuckled humorlessly. “You were paying attention when I ordered it,” I said. “I’m fine.”
Melinda glared at me. Her dark eyes flashed with intense emotion. “Are you sure?”
I forced myself to stare right back. “I’m fine if you are,” I said dryly. “Bad steak?”
Melinda shrugged. “I guess I’m not as hungry as I thought,” she said. She shrugged. “Sorry. I hope my dad pays you back for all of this stuff.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I told her. “Want to go home?”
The waiter boxed up the giant, bloody steak on Melinda’s plate, then I paid the bill and we left. It had gotten dark – a black, cloudless night – and colder than before. By the time we got to the car, Melinda was visibly shivering.
“Hey,” she said suddenly. “Can I see your apartment?”
“Why?” I put the car in gear and turned the heater on full blast. Arctic air shot out of the vents, blasting my face.
Melinda put her hand over mine. When she spoke, her voice was desperate. “Can’t we go somewhere? It doesn’t matter. Just anywhere.”
I sighed, running a hand through my tangles of hair. “Melinda, I already told you, I can’t take you back to my—“
Melinda slid from the passenger seat and into my lap in one fluid motion. She pressed her mouth to mine, kissing me deeply. I groaned and my cock stiffened with desire as Melinda’s hot little body pressed and wriggled against my crotch.
“Antonio,” Melinda whispered, pulling back and leaning close to my ear, “just take me somewhere, okay?”
My heart was pounding as I drove the car out of the parking lot and down a dark side street. We were still close to the restaurant, but I knew no one was around. The alley was pitch black. It was difficult to drive with Melinda Cantonneli perched in my lap, but finally I yanked the keys out of the ignition and tossed them onto the dash.
Melinda wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me close. The heat of her body through her thin yoga pants was driving me wild, and Melinda seemed to know it. When she pulled away from me, she kept her eyes locked with mine as she pulled her sweater over her head. Melinda’s tits looked even more perfect than they had before. I groaned as I leaned forward and took one of her stiff brown nipples into my mouth. I swirled my tongue over the taught, sensitive skin. She threw her head back and sighed with pleasure. When I ran my teeth over her nipple, she cried out and her body twitched and shivered with obvious desire. Melinda moaned, grinding her crotch against mine. She reached forward and slipped her fingers under my collar, nuzzling my neck and throwing her mass of dark hair against my face.
“God,” Melinda groaned. “I don’t care where we are. I don’t care, Antonio. I just want you now.”
I picked her up and crawled between the seats until we were resting in the back. There was more room here, but not much, and we were pressed together in an intimate way that was almost uncomfortable. Melinda’s thigh was wedged between my legs and the back of the passenger seat. Her normally tan skin looked pale in the moonlight streaming through the back windshield, and her eyes were cloudy with desire. I unbuttoned my shirt and threw it to the side. Melinda wrapped her arms around my chest and pulled me close. She kissed the skin at the base of my neck then flipped over so that she was straddling me. Melinda bent over, her hair and breasts brushing my abdomen. She kissed her way down my belly until she was eye-level with my crotch.
My cock was so hard I thought it would burst through my pants as Melinda pushed her face against my jeans. I groaned as her hot breath seeped through the material, anointing my skin. When she unzipped my pants and reached inside to pull my cock free, I thought I would explode with desire.
“I want to make you feel good,” Melinda whispered. She wrapped a hand around the base of my cock and gently pumped up and down. Melinda opened her eyes wide and stared at me, parting her lips and making a show of running her pink tongue around her mouth. I felt my cock twitch with lust as her tongue left her lips streaked with moisture. When she leaned back down and breathed on the head of my cock, I had a hard time not coming.
Melinda tentatively put the head of my cock in her mouth. She swirled her tongue over the underside of the head and I groaned, tangling my hand in her unruly dark hair. Her hot, wet lips and tongue engulfing my manhood felt so good that I was seeing stars, and her hand pumping around the base was making my whole body buzz and tingle with an insane pleasure.
“God, that’s it,” I grunted, thrusting my hips up and shoving my cock in Melinda’s mouth. “Melinda, yes, baby. That feels so fucking good.”
Melinda groaned and murmured on my cock. She opened her throat and leaned all the way down, taking as much of my stiff erection as possible. It felt unbelievably good – like I’d died and gone to Heaven. Sweat broke out over my body and I started trembling, knowing I was going to come soon.
“Stop,” I groaned, trying to push Melinda away. I didn’t want to finish like this – I wanted to flip her over, fuck her, and claim her once more. I wanted her to know she was mine. That she’d always be mine. That no matter what, Melinda Cantonneli belonged to me and me alone.
Melinda sucked gently at the head of my cock, creating a heavenly vacuum with her mouth. Just as a groan was building in my throat, she finally pulled away. Grinning down at me, Melinda wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She leaned down and kissed me.
“I like keeping you helpless like that,” Melinda whispered in my ear. Her hand was still grasping the base of my cock and she squeezed, turning me to putty in her hands. But my desire to take her was stronger, and as quickly as I could, I grabbed Melinda’s shoulders and pinned her down against the backseat of my car.
Melinda squealed as I yanked her yoga pants down in one easy motion. The scent of her arousal filled the car and I inhaled deeply before leaning down and tonguing her lower belly. Melinda squealed and squirmed. Her inner thighs were slippery with desire, and when I slid a finger inside of her, I could feel she was soaking wet. Melinda moaned, thrusting her hips up in the air. Her labia parted and I could see her clit was rock hard and pulsing with desire. I grinned wickedly before lowering my head to her crotch and taking her swollen clit in my mouth.
Melinda went wild with pleasure. She arched her back and moaned and gasped, burying her fingers in my hair and yanking at my scalp until I cried out in pain. The juices of her arousal coated my lips and chin and I blindly licked and sucked, sticking a finger inside of her and stroking the sensitive front wall of her pussy. Melinda spread her legs and ground her hips against my face. I sucked on her clit until she screamed so loudly I thought she was going to come. Desire rushed through my body and I pulled away, wiping my mouth and spreading her legs apart.
“Do you have a condom?” she asked, trembling beneath me. Her skin was hot and sticky and I could practically see her chest pulsing with each frantic beat of her heart.
I shook my head. For a moment, I thought she was going to tell me no. The air in the car was so tense that it was almost sparking, and I stared deeply into Melinda’s eyes as I waited for her answer.
“I don’t care,” Melinda said. “I want you, Antonio. Take me.”
With that, I steadied myself with a hand against the back of the seat and plunged my cock deep inside of her. It felt so good that, for a moment, I couldn’t breathe. My body was seized with lust, and I started bucking against Melinda, burying myself inside of her pussy.
She wrapped her legs around my waist and ground her body against mine. Her eyes were tightly screwed shut and her lips were parted. She gasped and moaned and threw her head back with a loud cry. I could tell she was completely letting go. Her forehead was shiny with sweat and her dark hair looked like a cloud enveloping her head.
Leaning down, I pressed my lips to hers and kissed her deeply. Melinda eagerly licked her juices off my lips and chin, rubbing her face against mine. She wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed until our bodies were pressed completely together. I felt her moving underneath me with incredible precision. Her cells, her nerves, her veins were all moving together with my own. I felt like we were melting together, merging as a person.
I groaned and grabbed handfuls of the leather seat, trying to bury myself completely inside of Melinda. The pleasure was gripping me everywhere and I could feel my cock throbbing with arousal. I was so close to the edge when Melinda opened her mouth and nipped at my neck. The harder I fucked her, the harder she bit me. The pain mingled with the pleasure flowing through my body and I didn’t stop her, even though I could tell I was going to have a mark by the time we were done.
“Antonio,” Melinda gasped in my ear. She thrust her body against mine. I slid a hand between our bodies and fumbled between Melinda’s legs until I found her clit. I rubbed my thumb across the swollen nub of flesh in relentless strokes. Melinda responded beautifully. She moaned and squealed and trembled beneath me. When I kissed her, she sucked at my lower lip and tongue. She rolled her eyes back in her head and flopped against the seat, screaming and crying like she’d never felt such pleasure in her whole life.
I grabbed Melinda by the hips and held on as I slammed against her. The smell of her pussy was an intoxicating, heady aphrodisiac. As I fucked her harder and harder, I felt her gush with moisture beneath me. Melinda groaned and arched her back. She held her breath and then cried out in a loud voice. Her pussy tightened and pulsed, gripping my cock as a powerful orgasm ripped through her body.
Seeing Melinda come like that set me off. I groaned and my cock spasmed inside of her. Pleasure tore through me and I groaned, slamming my hips against hers until the last of my cum had leaked from my cock.
I heaved a sweaty sigh then collapsed on top of her. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and held me close. Our skin was so hot that it almost felt burning to the touch, but the cool air of the winter outside started settling over our bodies now that we were no longer moving.
Propping myself up on my elbows, I glanced down at Melinda. She was breathing hard, her eyes wide with fright.
“What? Did I hurt you?” I hauled myself into a sitting position. The car looked like a miniature tornado had whipped through it. Our clothes were scattered everywhere. Melinda’s yoga pants and panties were wrapped around one of her ankles. I reached into the passenger seat for her sweater then looked away as she rearranged her clothes and sat up.
“I’m fine,” Melinda said. “You didn’t hurt me.”
The air between us felt stiff. I felt like something had reached inside of my chest, grabbed my heart, then yanked it out and crushed it. I had to tell Melinda what her father was planning to do, but it still wasn’t the right moment.
“What?” Melinda frowned. “You’re being really quiet, Antonio.”
“I’m just tired,” I said heavily. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”