Chapter Four
After a busy morning of walking Caesar around the garden and letting him enjoy some time on the grass, Tessa had brought him back to the nursery and put him down for a nap. Michele was nowhere to be found, and the last she saw of Jessica, she was arguing with Benedict.
Yesterday’s shopping trip with Alonzo had been … interesting. She didn’t know what else to think about the time she spent with him. He’d made her purchase all of the clothes he’d picked out, including the red evening dress she had every intention of returning. They packages were due to be delivered by the end of the week.
She didn’t know what to think of his sudden interest in her. It wasn’t like she encouraged him to like her.
“I’m overthinking it. I know I am.”
She hadn’t seen him that morning. She didn’t know if she should still visit him tonight or not. He made everything so confusing to her.
Rubbing the back of her neck, she reached down, picking up Caesar’s used clothing. She’d changed him in such a hurry. He was constantly trying to scurry away, and even though he wanted to fall asleep, he still made her work for it.
She was folding the previous day’s washing and putting it away when the door opened silently.
She saw Jessica enter, her head pressed against the door.
Seconds later, she heard a sob.
At first Tessa didn’t have a clue what to do. This wasn’t part of her job description, and even though she worked for Jessica, they didn’t exactly get along. Neither of them really spoke about anything.
Jessica never had any input about her baby.
When another sob echoed around the room, she was worried it would wake Caesar up, and then it would be a nightmare to get him back to sleep. He became really cranky if his sleep was interrupted.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Jessica gave a tiny gasp and whirled around. “You? What the hell are you doing here?”
“It’s Caesar’s naptime. I put him down for a nap.”
Jessica put her fingers to her lips, and tears filled her eyes. “Oh, yes, of course. Yes, it’s Caesar’s naptime.”
When she moved her hands, Tessa saw the blood coming from her nose.
“What happened?”
“What?” Jessica asked.
“Your nose.”
She touched her nose coming away with blood on her fingertips. “It’s nothing.”
“That doesn’t look like nothing.” She hated to see her in pain.
“I deserved it. I shouldn’t ask questions. This is entirely my fault.”
“I don’t believe that. Would it be okay if I helped clean you up?”
“Yes, of course. You don’t have to though.”
Taking Jessica’s hands, she led her into the bathroom. As she made her take a seat on the toilet, guilt filled Tessa. She’d never seen Benedict hit Jessica. She’d heard the sounds but never saw it.
Her father always told her to stay out of other people’s business. Moments like this, she had to wonder how her father did it. How he was able to stay out of someone’s business who was clearly being hurt.
Filling the pristine white sink with warm water, she grabbed one of the fluffiest towels there was.
There seemed to be a fascination with the purest of white. She wondered if this had something to do with the fact they were all far from pure.
Dipping the towel into the water, she got it nice and wet.
“Have you told your brother?” she asked.
“He wouldn’t do anything about it.”
“You don’t know that,” Tessa said.
“He thinks I deserve it.”
“No woman deserves to get hit.” She started to press the cloth against the blood, wiping it away. More bruising had come out. She also wiped away a thick layer of makeup. It had to be the way she was hiding it from Alonzo. She didn’t want to think of him as ignoring his sister’s pain.
It doesn’t matter what he does.
He can do whatever he wants.
You’re nothing.
“Did you enjoy your shopping trip?” Jessica asked.
“It was okay.”
“You don’t sound happy about it. I know my brother can be a pain in the ass.”
“I don’t like shopping.”
Jessica snorted. “Please, we all love shopping.”
“Then I must be weird because I never enjoyed it. Not even growing up at home. I hated it when it came time for it.”
“You’re right. It’s weird. Shopping is something I’m an expert at. I could gladly do it all day every single day.”
“Are you happy?” Tessa asked.
“I’m sorry?”
“Forget it. I shouldn’t have asked. It was stupid of me.”
“You want to know if I’m happy.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m so stupid for asking. Honestly, it’s not my place.”
She wiped some more of the blood away, wishing she had a filter to stop herself from asking stupid questions.
“No, I’m not happy,” Jessica said. “You know, you’re the first person to ask me.”
“I am?”
“Yes. In our world, no one cares about the women. We’re a means to an end. Because we don’t have a dick, we’re expendable. Men use us for their own personal pleasure. I envy normal girls. Women that didn’t start out as a Zanetti.”
“You don’t love your husband?”
“I hate him,” Jessica said, snorting. “I didn’t want to marry him. It was my dying father’s wish to see me marry Benedict. If I could get away with it, I would shoot him. He’s out screwing everyone and everything. I don’t want him to touch me.” Jessica looked into the nursery. “I … I don’t love him.”
This made Tessa pause. She didn’t want to say anything, not right now.
“I know that I sound horrible, but I … I don’t love him. I don’t feel anything toward him. He’s so cute. So small. So perfect and he was healthy. So many women can’t have babies, and I had a healthy one. A good one.” She sniffled. “It’s just another trap. Something to keep me tied to Benedict, and I hate him even more. I know you don’t want or need to hear this.”
“I’m so sorry you feel that way.”
“You care about him, don’t you?”
“I think you need to talk to Alonzo.”
“I won’t hurt him,” Jessica said. “I will never harm that baby, but I won’t ever love him. I don’t have it in me to love a monster.” Jessica took the towel from her hands. “If you are wise you will listen to me and you will find a way to get out. To get out and leave here. To never look back.”
“Jessica?”
“I will take it from here. Go away,” Jessica said.
Leaving the nursery, Tessa didn’t know what to do. She truly believed Jessica wouldn’t hurt Caesar, but she didn’t know how to deal with the bruises, or the pain so clear in Jessica’s eyes.
Seeing no other way to stop it, she walked to Alonzo’s office. She didn’t want to knock on the door, but she did.
“Who is it?” Alonzo asked. His voice sounded so threatening and scary.
“It’s Tessa.”
Seconds later the door opened. Alonzo’s body covered the doorway.
“I’m so sorry. You’re busy.”
“What is it?” he asked.
“I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“It can wait. Right now, I’m busy, and you need to go back to Caesar or elsewhere. I have business to deal with.”
She didn’t get a chance to say another word as he slammed the door closed.
Tears filled her eyes at how useless she felt.
Turning her back on the door, she started making her way back up to Caesar’s room. The door was partially open, and as she went to open the door, she stopped. Jessica was in the rocking chair with a pillow around her body. She held Caesar in her arms.
The young boy was holding his mother’s finger.
“Hello, sweet boy, you’re not too bad, are you? No. I bet you’re spoiled. Tessa spoils you. I’ve watched her with you. She adores you, yes, she does. She’ll be one hell of a mom one day. I’m not a good mother, Caesar. You’re going to hate me because I can’t bring myself to love you. The moment I knew you were a boy, I knew I couldn’t have you. My mom warned me. She told me not to become attached to a son. A son didn’t have a place with his mother. You’re going to become an Adesso or a Zanetti. One day, I hope you can rule this place with an iron fist, but when you look at your wife, you’re nothing but tender.”
Stepping away from the door, Tessa walked back to her room.
Jessica may not want to love her son, but from what she heard, she already did.
****
Alonzo hadn’t meant to be harsh with Tessa. He’d not expected her to come knocking on his office door when he was on a live call with the leader of the cartel. Neither of them wanted to meet in person, not with the rumors running rife that they’d attacked Louis’s place.
Now, if he listened to all the families, they would have him attack. There was no way they would meet as it would only end in bloodshed. He had no interest in putting anyone’s life in danger, regardless if his fellow family bosses wished for him to attack. He wasn’t a fool, and he didn’t crave unnecessary bloodshed, nor would he.
Sitting in the library, he saw he’d been waiting for Tessa for over an hour. He didn’t know if she was being stubborn for how he sent her off or what.
He didn’t have the head for this, not today.
Getting to his feet, he drank the last of his whiskey and walked straight to her room. He didn’t care if anyone saw him.
He and Tessa had an agreement.
“Tessa, open the damn door,” he said, slamming his fist against it. He wasn’t above kicking her door open.
There were plenty of rooms in the house for her to stay in.
Running a hand down his face, he was pissed off.
The new leader of the cartels wanted to give him the runaround, and he wasn’t interested in price bidding for land. Not to mention Benedict had arranged a meeting with a fucking trafficker, which pissed him off.
“What do you want?” Tessa asked, opening the bedroom door before he could slam his fist against it again.
“Why are you not at the library?”
She wore a pair of pajamas, and damn it, she looked sexy as fuck. His cock stirred at the sight of her.
“Why should I be at the library? You think you can talk to someone like that and then for everything to be okay?”
He wouldn’t talk to her with the door separating them. Pushing it open, he stepped inside and glared at her.
“What are you doing?” she asked, stepping back.
“I was talking to a guy today that would tear your fucking flesh from your bones. I don’t want him to know about you or to get close to you. You’re not my boss, Tessa. I gave you an instruction.”
“My job description is nanny. Not even for your kids. You don’t get to boss me around.”
He reached out, grabbing her, slamming her against the door. He took hold of her hands, pressing them above her head. “Oh, yeah, and who is going to stop me, Tessa? I can do what I like, when I like. I wasn’t going to put you in danger. Not after I’ve done everything I can to keep you out of it.”
“I don’t want to argue.”
He stared down at her. Her chest heaved with each indrawn breath, the hard buds of her nipples pressing against the front of her shirt.
She was so close that all it would take was for him to cup her tit to feel her. He wondered if she wore any panties beneath her pajama shorts.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she said.
“This is my house.”
She wasn’t fighting him to get out. Her gaze was on him, on his lips. He saw the need in her eyes even as she tried to fight it. There was nothing to fight, nothing.
He leaned in close.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He didn’t tell her.
Taking her lips beneath his, he kissed her hard, her fingers locking with his as he deepened the kiss. Sliding his tongue between her sweet lips, he tasted her. She stroked her tongue against his, and he released one of her hands to sink his fingers in her hair, to hold her against him.
She let out a whimper, and it was sheer fucking torture.
Pressing his cock against her stomach, he let her other hand go to grip her ass tightly, squeezing the plump flesh through the fabric of her pajamas.
This was exactly how he imagined her.
So perfect and right against his body.
She let out a sweet little gasp, and the sound drove him crazy. Running circles across her ass, he stroked down, cupping her knee to draw her leg over his hip. Rocking his cock against her pussy, he wanted nothing more than to tear their clothes off, to feel her riding his dick as he slid in deep.
There wouldn’t be any condoms either. He wanted to feel her silken cunt wrapped around him.
Breaking from the kiss, he trailed his lips down her neck, sucking on her pulse.
“You ever been kissed before, Tessa?” He knew the truth but wanted to hear it from her lips first.
“No. We shouldn’t be doing this.”
“I can’t think of anything else we should be doing.” He lifted up her vest shirt, tugging it over her head, dropping it to the floor.
She didn’t argue with him as he did this.
He saw her nerves, so he released her long enough to pull off his own shirt.
Her gaze landed on the ink that covered his chest and arms. He didn’t have any problem with her looking her fill. Capturing her hips, he tugged her close, running his hands back over her curvy ass.
So ripe.
So full.
Soon, she’d be all his.
He’d intended to take his time, to seduce her, to make her fall.
Two years was a long enough wait for her. Now, he intended to have her, to fuck her, and to keep her.
Moving her back toward the bed, he pushed her down, capturing her pajama shorts. Tugging them off her body in one swift movement, he gripped her knees, spreading her thighs wide. “The next time we go shopping, I’m buying you lingerie. Sexy little pieces so I can think about your cute little pussy pressed against them.”
The bra she wore had a catch in the front, and he flicked it open, her large tits spilling out. He noticed whenever she wore pajamas around the house, she always wore a bra beneath. He figured it was due to her large tits.
She went to hide her body from him, but he caught her hands. “No, you don’t hide from me, not ever. I want to see you every single chance I get. You’re perfection, Tessa. Don’t ever think otherwise.”
He cupped her tits, pressing them together. Teasing each hardened nipple, he skimmed the tips of his fingers down her body, going to her stomach then to her thighs. He knelt between them, and he touched her pussy, spreading her open so that he could see her slit.
She was already so wet. Touching her swollen clit, he teased across, over, and around her sweet nub.
“You’re so wet, baby, so fucking perfect,” he said. “You’ve never been touched before, have you?”
She shook her head.
“You ever given yourself an orgasm?” he asked.
She bit her lip again but nodded.
“You have? You touched this sweet little cunt.”
“Yes.”
“One day I’ll get you to show me exactly what you do. I’d love to see you stroking yourself. I bet it’s so fucking sexy.”
He pinched her clit, seeing her cry out. Her body arched up off the bed, her tits shaking as he stroked her. She was … perfection.
“You ever think about me touching you?” he asked.
“No. You’re my boss.”
He took her clit between his lips and sucked hard. Releasing her, he stroked over her clit, going back and forth. “From now on, I want you to think about me. Think about my lips on your pussy. My cock sliding deep inside you, fucking you.”
He gripped her ass, and lifting her pussy up against his mouth, he started to lick and suck from her virgin cunt. So ripe, so ready for the taking.
He was going to ruin her for every other man, to have her come to him.
Lowering her down to the bed, he opened his pants, taking out his large dick. He was so hard, and the tip was leaking pre-cum already. Smearing his arousal into his length, he worked himself, moving up and down.
Licking her pussy, seeing her naked, spread out under him, was so right. This was why he’d been patient to begin with.
Tessa belonged to him, and he was going to keep her.
“I want you to come on my tongue, baby. Give it to me. Come for me.”
She let out a whimper, and as he stroked over her clit, drawing her closer to the edge, he saw her body change, the way she started to tense up until she finally hurtled over the edge into bliss, crying his name. As it filled the air, he stroked her to orgasm, feeling his own start to build. His balls ached, and he wanted to shove himself deep inside her, but instead, he lifted up, taking possession of her lips as he came over her pussy and stomach.
There would be time to take her, to fill her with his cum.
That day wasn’t today.