Chapter Two
The following day, after tucking Caesar into bed, Tessa put the baby monitor in her pocket and debated if she should just go to her room. She didn’t live in any of the large wings in the house. There was part of the house in the back that was a lot smaller, for the people Alonzo employed who stayed on overnight to sleep.
She loved her room for a lot of reasons, and right now, she would give anything to go back there.
Alonzo wasn’t known for his patience, and she worried if she pushed him too hard, he’d push back and it would end up hurting a lot more for her, and she was afraid of that.
Nibbling her lip, she tried not to think about everything bad that could happen to her, and just walked toward the library. The door was closed. She couldn’t just walk into the room.
As she raised her fist, all of her survival instincts were telling her to run, to get the hell out of there.
Instead, she knocked and waited.
“Come in,” he said.
She wished he’d not been there.
Opening the door, she stepped inside.
He sat on the same sofa, a glass of whiskey in his hand, as that was the only drink he ever had, and paperwork on his knee.
“I thought I’d have to send either Cole or Demetri to find you,” he said.
“You told me to come, and I didn’t get a notice that you changed your mind.” She didn’t exactly need to tell him the obvious, but she didn’t have anything else to say.
“Take a seat. What would you like? Whiskey? Wine? Coffee? Tea? Hot chocolate?”
“Erm, hot chocolate please.”
He chuckled. “I figured.” He got up from his seat, and she watched him walk toward the desk. “Yes, bring that hot chocolate order now, please. Marshmallows?” Alonzo asked.
“Huh?”
“Do you want marshmallows?”
“Oh, no, that’s fine. I don’t like them.”
He gave the order and put the phone down. “Who doesn’t like marshmallows?”
“Me,” she said, offering him a smile.
This was so incredibly hard. She wanted to hide. To be anywhere else but staring at him. Glancing around the library, she wondered what topics she could talk about that were relatively safe.
“I happen to like them. Especially near a bonfire. I love toasting them,” Alonzo said.
“You do?”
“Yep. I love them hot and sticky. The best things in life are … worth waiting for.”
Silence fell between them, and she didn’t have a clue as to what he was referring to. This was all in the dark for her.
“Why do you have the baby monitor?” he asked, nodding at her jeans.
The top of the monitor was peeking out of her pocket.
“It’s a force of habit. I put him to bed, and it’s my responsibility.”
“You do know some stuff is for the parents to do.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Adesso are not home tonight.”
“They’re not?” he asked.
“They left a few hours ago.”
Alonzo sat back, cursing. “They have no regard for that boy.”
“I’m his nanny. It’s fine.”
“You’re not his mommy though, Tessa. Your life is not supposed to be wrapped up in a one-year-old child.”
“If I’m not his nanny then what else do I do? I’ve got nowhere to go, and I was told to remain here, I had to work. I adore Caesar. He’s a wonderful child.”
“You love children?” he asked.
She smiled. “That’s a leap. I adore Caesar. I don’t know if I love every single child I meet. I’ve been out shopping with him and there are a couple of kids that are not at all friendly, but I like to think he is or at least he’ll remain that way for a little while.”
“Referring to the fact that everyone else within the mafia is not nice?”
Tessa felt sick to her stomach.
This man could kill her. Have her tortured for days and leave her to bleed out so the rats would feed on her flesh. Running her hands up her arms, she tried not to show her nerves.
“My dad always told me that the most feared men worked for the mafia. That you all had to do bad things.” It was kind of immature, looking back at it. She’d been young, maybe ten or twelve, when she asked her father about his job.
There were a lot of things he must have done for the men he worked for.
“Tell me, Tessa, have you ever considered going to the cops?” he asked.
“You’re in by blood. There’s no out, Tessa. Never.”
“But … why don’t you tell the cops?”
“I’ll never rat. Those men, they may not see me as family, but they are mine. I will protect them with my life because if anything happens to me, I know you and your mother will always, always be taken care of.”
She’d stumbled onto her father taking care of some of his wounds. He’d been slashed with a knife. His complete devotion to these men had terrified her, but looking back, he was a loyal man.
Someone to admire, no matter who he worked for.
She was proud to have been his daughter.
“I’d never be a rat. My father had a strong belief, and I would never hurt his memory by turning on those he considered his family.”
“Even if you hate us?” Alonzo asked.
“I don’t hate you.”
“You always run and hide,” he said.
She frowned. “I was told that being a nanny meant I couldn’t be seen or heard. No one wanted a screaming kid, and no one wanted a besotted nanny.”
“Do you think you could be besotted?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I know, and it’s refreshing.”
There was a knock at the door, and she was thankful for the reprieve. She couldn’t handle another second right now. Conversations with Alonzo hadn’t exactly been on her list of things to deal with.
This was … weird.
In a good way though.
She rather liked his smile. He didn’t do it enough, that was for sure. When he got older, he’d probably have a lot more frown lines than those that showed a lifetime of happiness.
Locking her fingers together, she watched as Cole entered the room. He was one of Alonzo’s bodyguards. He held a large mug of chocolate, no marshmallows in sight.
“Thank you,” she said, as he placed the mug down on the table.
“You’re most welcome. Sir.” He turned on his heel and left.
“One hot chocolate for you,” Alonzo said.
“Do you get everyone in your employ to do your bidding?”
“I’m a Zanetti. If I wanted him to walk over broken glass, he would.”
“Do you often make suggestions like that?”
“Why? Are you worried?”
“I don’t imagine it inspires a great deal of loyal following if you act … mean to them.” She was going to say “like a dick,” but thought better of it.
Just because they were enjoying a drink together didn’t mean she could see him as a friend.
“You’d be surprised how I get my loyal following.”
She chuckled. “You make them sound like a group of girls and you’re the jock.”
This he did smile at again. She liked it a lot and wanted to see him doing it more often.
“You know Michele would love a private meeting with you,” she said.
Instantly, the smile was gone.
“Michele will not get a single meeting with me. Private or otherwise.”
“I think she has a crush.”
“Women that have crushes don’t go spreading their legs for every single dick that looks to sink it into a hole.”
Her cheeks heated. She’d never been spoken to like that before.
Michele was known for talking blatantly, and when men came to her, they always had something dirty to say to her.
Tessa was still a virgin at twenty years old and wasn’t about to sleep with some random guy to get rid of it. She wanted her first time to be special.
When her mother was alive, she’d actually talked to her about it. Her mother had thought it had to be special for a young woman’s first time, and there was no shame in wanting that either.
“Have I offended you?” Alonzo asked.
“Of course not.”
Hearing the dirty talk from his lips had shocked her a little, and what was more, she rather liked that he didn’t hold back.
Lifting up the mug of hot chocolate, she blew on the surface of the steaming mug, and took a sip.
It was delicious as she had no doubt it would be.
****
For the next week, each of their meetings was the same dance. Alonzo would be sitting there, waiting. Tessa would knock, and he noticed on days she really didn’t want to be near him, she’d only knock lightly.
He’d be listening for it though.
If she thought she was going to get out of this easily, she had another think coming.
Out of all of his life, the only part of his day he enjoyed so much was having her close to him.
Of course, it didn’t end the way he hoped either.
Tessa was never all over him, laughing at his jokes. She didn’t wear clothes to lure him in or say suggestive things. Whenever he did talk dirty, her cheeks would go a beautiful shade of pink that made him think about taking her in front of a mirror, to see if her entire body would blush at the things he wanted to do to her.
He had no doubt at all that her father wouldn’t have been happy with their union. Maxwell had been clear that he wanted his daughter to have a choice, a life away from the mafia.
Alonzo did have good intentions at the beginning, but like all good things, he’d discovered it was easier said than done.
He liked having her around his home, hearing her voice as she spoke softly to Caesar. The men, the guards, they respected her, and treated her with kindness.
Anyone who ever raised their voice to her had been dealt with by him. When she first moved to his home after her parents’ passing, one of the guards had shoved her hard after telling her she was fat and useless. The encounter had been brought to his awareness, and he’d seen the evidence of it on his security footage. That man was no longer working for him.
Rubbing the back of his neck, he poured himself another generous amount of whiskey and waited.
She always put Caesar to bed.
He had a camera in the nursery, and with a few taps on his cell phone, he brought up the feed. She stood beside the crib.
Caesar was getting too big for it and would soon need a bed.
It pissed him off that neither Jessica nor Benedict were anywhere in sight. Neither was Michele.
He didn’t go looking for her. Her lips were probably wrapped around a man’s cock right now. She had tried to gain his attention many times. Alonzo had no interest in her.
The only woman he wanted was right there in the nursery, caring for a child that was not her own. Her beautiful voice sang a tune to Caesar as the young boy fell asleep.
She would be a good mother one day. He had no doubt. Tessa was a nice woman, sweet and kind.
There was a knock at the door.
Gritting his teeth, he closed the screen and called for whoever it was to enter. They did so at risk of inciting his wrath. He wasn’t in a good mood whenever his stalking was interrupted.
“What is it?” he asked, calling out.
Seconds later, Cole entered his library, looking pissed.
“Why do I have a feeling I’m not going to like what you’re about to tell me?”
“Louis’s restaurant was just attacked. Rumor has it the cartels paid for the hit,” Cole said.
Running a hand down his face, he didn’t need to hear this shit. “We don’t have any beef with the cartels. That makes no sense.”
“Agreed, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want more territory. They want more of the drug business, and we don’t use them as our supplier. Any deal they make you take a percentage of. I also heard their leader was shot and killed three weeks ago.”
Standing up, Alonzo finished off his whiskey and didn’t like that he was about to spend the rest of his night dealing with a fucking attack that wasn’t planned, and they didn’t stop. They were the Zanetti mafia. They controlled the city, and people paid them handsomely to keep them safe.
This wasn’t good, and it was only just beginning.
There was a knock as there always was.
“Sir?” Cole asked.
His men knew he asked for Tessa to join him at the end of a day. He’d been dealing with strip clubs, the drugs, and the guns today. He was also having to deal with Adesso. His brother-in-law wanted to start getting a hand in trafficking women.
He didn’t deal with trafficking humans of any kind.
Yes, there was a fortune to be made in human flesh, but it was something that he viewed only with disgust. Watching men, women, and children being auctioned away as either easy labor or sex slaves didn’t appeal to him.
Not that he didn’t have whores.
The Zanettis owned several brothels and dealt in pussy, but those women knew the score. Like all things, he took his cut.
His own father hadn’t respected the whole industry, regardless of how much it earned. Still, he knew what he was doing.
“Where is Adesso?” he asked. He certainly hadn’t been tucking in his son.
He still didn’t understand why his father on his deathbed wished for Jessica to marry the son of a bitch. It wasn’t like she was happy or had even begged for a husband.
Jessica, his poor sister, had wanted to marry for love.
His mother on the other hand, had been pissed off that her husband had given their daughter away as his last wish.
“Come in,” he said.
Tessa appeared a second later. The moment she caught sight of Cole, she stopped.
“What do you want me to do?” Cole asked.
“Find Adesso. I have a feeling his meddling caused this, and bring the car around. We’re going to pay Louis a visit.”
Cole nodded, turned on his heel, and left.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Everything will be okay. I’ve got to cut our night short, I’m afraid.”
He didn’t like how happy she looked at that idea.
“You’re off tomorrow. We’re going out.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’d like to take you shopping.” Surely that would appeal.
“Shopping?”
“Am I not speaking clear English?” he asked.
“I just, I don’t understand.”
“Simple. You don’t take enough vacation time. I employ two nannies for my sister, not just one. You will spend tomorrow with me. We’re going to get you some new clothes.” The ones he always caught her in looked old. She didn’t even spend any of the money he paid her.
He knew this for a fact because he checked her bank account. Nothing was spent. She didn’t need to buy any personal toiletries or food as it all came from him anyway. There was nothing she could ever want as he took care of it all.
Now though, he was determined for her to have fun. He’d given her time to grieve, to deal with the loss of her parents. He was done waiting around.
Done being patient.
He wasn’t known for taking no for an answer.
Tessa was his.
She didn’t know it yet, but she would.
“You really don’t need to do that though. I don’t understand why you would.”
“Simple, I want to spend time with you. To do that, I have to be with you.” He stepped up close to her. She tensed but didn’t step back.
Progress.
He expected her to turn on her heel and run.
No, Tessa was a fighter.
“I have to go now,” he said, reaching out, cupping her cheek. She didn’t accept his touch easily.
One day, he would have her craving his touch. When he put his mind to something that he wanted, he wouldn’t stop until he got it.
Tessa, owning her, she’d be a sweet victory.
With his father dead, he didn’t have anyone to dictate to him who he’d be with. Tessa wasn’t family nor mafia royalty, but he wasn’t going to be told who he could marry.
She belonged to him. He’d known it for some time now, maybe even before she became a nanny.
Stroking his thumb across her bottom lip, he watched her gasp. He wanted nothing more than to take her lips, but then he’d have to leave.
When he finally kissed her, there wasn’t going to be time for him to go anywhere. He wanted the time to explore her body, to take, to touch, to taste.
His cock hardened at the thought of her body beneath his, her virgin pussy spreading for no one else but him.
“I hope you enjoy your hot chocolate and think about me tonight, Tessa.” He leaned in close, tempted to kiss her.
No, he couldn’t do it.
Pulling away, he stepped back and left the library. When he started, he wasn’t going to stop.