Taken: A Dark Mafia Romance

by Piper Stone

  “Winter, the Capodannos are one of the first families of the sect. Our great-great-grandfather came from Italy with love in his heart and hope for a better life. I already told you how the sect was formed. This is my heritage, a legacy for my children.” He seemed surprised by his own admittance, pushing away his plate and easing to his feet.

  “It’s going to kill you, Matteo. You’re not happy and something you have buried deep inside is eating you alive. Whatever it is, you’re going to have to make peace with it. I’m going to venture a guess that you never intended on being involved with the ritual of the Box.”

  “It was going to be abolished,” he said as he moved toward the open door, standing just inside.

  “Then why the hell wasn’t it?”

  “Because the elder members are not happy with doing so.”

  I rose to my feet, grabbing the plates and taking them to the sink. “So, you just went along with it.”

  “There was no choice.”

  “You really want me to believe that? This is America. There is always a choice in everything you do.” He shot me a look before shaking his head. A shiver trickled down my back because he didn’t need to tell me that I was still fighting the wind, a lost cause. I’d just refused to admit it to myself.

  “Don’t be naïve, Winter. What the sect formed was merely a force to be reckoned with. The Council is powerful but has provided so much for thousands of people over the years. Jobs with more than decent wages. A better way of life. A chance to succeed in their businesses and to send their kids off to college.”

  “It sounds like you’re proud of the Sacred Sect, no matter if a few lives are destroyed along the way. That surprises me, Matteo. What happened to you to allow you buy into this cult?”

  When he didn’t say anything, I knew I was right. He was holding a tremendous secret. I slammed my hands on the counter, trying to curtail my anger before walking back into the living room and grabbing my wine. By then, he’d headed outside, leaning against the railing.

  I moved to the opposite end of the deck, inhaling the sea air. Something had to give me a fresh perspective. “What is the sect afraid of other than the Taglioni mafia family, losing control over the people you’ve drawn into the realm?”

  “That’s part of it.”

  “There’s more. What aren’t you telling me?” Matteo took a deep breath but said nothing. “Damn it, Matteo. Maybe you didn’t know me before you met me in that greenhouse, but a quick conversation with my parents would have allowed you to learn I’m not a stupid woman nor will I stand by like some timid housewife. I also believe in right and wrong, something it doesn’t seem occurs often within the community. If you think I’m going to simply allow bad things to happen to good people, you’re wrong.”

  “Good people?” he finally asked as he tilted his head in my direction. “What good people would you be talking about, Winter? Are you talking about every member of the Sacred Sect, all of which have dirty little secrets in their closets? Or perhaps the various people that have been paid very well to perform certain jobs over the course of a hundred years, even though their proclivities are the things nightmares are made of? Maybe you’re talking about the politicians who think their shit doesn’t stink while asking for, no, begging for our help in order to get elected. Perhaps it’s even the top executives of the Fortune 500 companies who wouldn’t have had a chance at rising to the top without our assistance. Which group of individuals are you talking about precisely?”

  The vehemence of his words and the gritty honesty of what he was saying were both disgusting and introspective. He’d ripped off the veil, allowing me into a portion of the inner sanctum. “Lies. Everything is a lie and one day it’s going to take down the sect no matter what you or Christian or this great Council try and do to protect it.”

  He snorted, shaking his head. “Everything isn’t a lie, Winter. As I said, without the power and influence of the sect, thousands upon thousands of people would be without a job. However, you are right in that one day our magnificent Camelot will come crumbling to the ground.”

  “Camelot,” I repeated. “I could imagine if we lived in such a special place.”

  “Well, if certain secrets were ever found out, hundreds of people that the world thinks are decent would be ruined, destroyed, Camelot going up in flames. That would undermine the very make up of everything we’ve all worked to achieve, that happiness you were just telling me about. And I assure you that it will have a trickledown effect to the outside world.”

  If he’d wanted to scare me more than the threats made by mobsters, he’d succeeded. I’d been so worried about my own predicament that I hadn’t thought about the community as a whole, although a part of me didn’t want to care about anyone else. Everything was muddled, my heart racing.

  I looked him in the eyes before asking the question. “Secrets. Including yours?”

  I expected flippancy. When he lowered his head, his breathing becoming rattled, I moved closer.

  “Tell me what is going on. Talk to me,” I pleaded.

  “I can’t burden you with my ugliness. That isn’t any fairer than asking you to marry someone you don’t love.” He snorted after issuing the words, holding his glass toward the sky. He wasn’t going to confide in me. He wasn’t going to allow that damn guard of his down for longer than three seconds.

  A rush of anger flowed into my system.

  “But as you said, there is no choice. We have to go through with the ceremony, even if in name only. We can pretend if that’s what is necessary.” The edge in my voice was unmistakable.

  “Pretend. Now, that really brings me the kind of joy that you were talking about. Don’t you think I want some of those things? I want them more than the air I breathe. I want to feel the burning love that keeps me awake at night, tossing and turning. I want to explore the darkness I feel inside as well as the fantasies and you know what? Maybe I do want to have children one day. That is what life means after all. But they won’t be treated the way my brother and I were. They won’t be forced to go to boarding school or placated with expensive toys just to keep them quiet. They will have the love and support of their parents. They will have everything they’ve ever wanted.”

  His explosion of emotion was too much to bear, the heartache spewed an unraveling of the man who’d been encased in his own personal prison. There were no words to say, no way I could challenge him. He was so damn complex, but I had to figure out a way to peel away more layers. I closed the distance, placing my hand on his arm.

  Matteo jerked away, moving a full step in the opposite direction, refusing to look at me. “Just go to bed, Winter, and remain in your room until I come for you in the morning. I’ll clean up the kitchen and sleep on the couch.”

  “That’s not what I want, Matteo. I want to talk to you. What you just shared is very important and special to me. I just—”

  “Just go!” he snapped, pointing toward the door.

  I was frozen on the spot, my breath skipping. He’d shut all the way down, sending me away again like a bad little girl.

  “Go!”

  The anger in his tone of voice created a wave of nausea, shivers drifting down my spine. After ten seconds of hesitation, he growled at me. I rushed away and toward the bedroom, slamming the door. I stood exactly where I was for a full minute, trying to calm my own rage as well as the sickening sadness. It wasn’t just him that was unraveling, it was the entire world. The man was merely predicting the future.

  The secrets were on the verge of being told, the only world he and so many other knew and understood ready to implode. My God. What was going to happen now and how deep down the rabbit hole had the Sacred Sect taken the entire community?

  Chapter Thirteen

  Winter

  “You belong to me. No one will ever take you away again.” His whisper was laced with carnal lust as he rolled his fingers over my shoulders, dragging the material of the robe.

  I shivered as gravity and the light b
reeze allowed the soft silk to float along the curves of my back, sliding ever so slowly to the floor. He was pure decadence capable of yanking me into another realm, one where agony and ecstasy intertwined. “Yes, sir.”

  “Mmm... My beautiful, delicious morsel.” A whisper of a growl leaving his mouth, he lowered his head, brushing his lips across the nape of my neck. As he slipped his hands over my breasts, cupping both possessively, I felt a slight pain as he bit into my skin.

  “Oh. Oh, yes...” I was lightheaded, my pussy aching to have him inside, to take me to the special place of utter bliss.

  “And if anyone dares to try and take you away from me, they will face my wrath. They. Will. Die.”

  Jerking up, I blinked several times, trying to pull myself from the delicious visions. After a few seconds, I slipped my hand against my neck, certain I’d feel the warmth of blood. God. It was all a dream. I took several deep breaths until my nerves were calm. The images remained in the forefront of my mind, so clear and vibrant that I wasn’t entirely certain they hadn’t occurred.

  I ran my hand over the other half of the bed, shaken that I was actually hoping Matteo had joined me. Wow. One spaghetti dinner and we were suddenly a couple? I bit back a laugh. No. The dream was sexy but certainly not reality. That had been the last of several ugly visions that had swept through my mind, including the realization that there’d been someone else in his life. Whoever that person was, she’d taken a toll just as much as the sect.

  Maybe she’d been a part of the ritual. As it had been all night, everything was muddled, more questions than answers racing through my mind. I dropped my head into my hands, the quiet suffocating.

  The music had been turned off, the silence as well as the darkness creating far too many horrors in my own mind. I’d fallen asleep, the appalling nightmares coming one after the other. I’d even seen my mother and father homeless in them. After glancing at the clock on the nightstand, I sat on the edge of the bed, listening for any sounds that he was still awake. While it was after midnight, I knew that sleep wouldn’t come again tonight.

  I eased off the bed, moving to the door and opening it only a few inches. While I heard nothing, that didn’t mean he wasn’t lurking in the shadows, watching for some lone gunman to break into the house. I padded down the hall, moving slowly into the living room, surprised to see the candles were still lit, the door remaining open. Had he anticipated my return, even hoping I would defy the rules once again?

  I didn’t see him at first, although I did notice he’d kept his promise, cleaning up the kitchen, even placing the bottle of wine on the counter with a fresh glass. He had been waiting for my usual disobedience. The wine set next to a bottle of scotch, obviously his drink of choice. I ran my fingers over both, trying to control my breathing. Damn him for sending me away. I needed some time to think, to make certain decisions in my own mind.

  As I moved toward the doors, I heard a fitful sound. Peering over the couch, I had to slap my hand over my mouth to keep from making a sound. Matteo was on his side, his body shifting back and forth.

  And the man was tossing and turning.

  “I want to feel the burning love that keeps me awake at night, tossing and turning.”

  His words bore into my mind, my heart racing. Could he actually give a shit about me, to care enough to defy the sect? I backed away, but not before hearing the murmur coming from his lips.

  “Winter...”

  I moved silently, finding another glass and adding ice cubes, my hand shaking. I couldn’t fully understand any of this. Not his actions and words or what was really expected of me. Then I poured a hefty amount of scotch, refusing to look at him again as I walked toward the deck. While I knew what he’d told me, the command about not leaving the house, I couldn’t stand listening to his anguished words any longer. I wanted to go to him, to have him hold me.

  God. I was such a stupid fool to think we could be anything but what we were.

  I went outside, moving to the far reaches of the deck in order to find some space other than being cooped up in my room. The moonlight was beautiful, casting a shimmer of opalescent colors across the ocean water, the sound of the waves rolling against the beach comforting. Yet I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders, the ugliness of not knowing what to do. If only I could have my mother listen to me, to share in my fears and give me good advice.

  If only.

  I was on my own as I’d been most of my life. I couldn’t handle a relationship like my mother and father had, even if they were entirely different people behind closed doors. No, money and clout meant nothing without true love.

  And I was some ridiculous romanticizer who would never find Prince Charming. Maybe that’s what I needed to accept first in order to go through with my duties as daughter of a prominent family. I was strong enough to endure marriage to a gorgeous man in order to keep the sanctity of our special little world. As long as some of my rules were followed. I would have a life. I would be a nurse. I would enjoy having my own friends.

  I stood basking in the warm breeze and the scent of the ocean, sipping on the drink, a liquor that somehow suited him. I was amused at the thought, as if I could garner any more information about him by knowing the kind of drinks he liked.

  He certainly wasn’t going to let me in that easily. Maybe that was for the best.

  As I peered up at the glistening stars, I couldn’t help but remember the rhyme my mother always said when she caught me staring at the sky, “I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight.”

  There was no sound, only the subtle vibrations gyrating throughout my body. Suddenly, the stars seemed brighter, the moon closer. I wanted to remain rational, to pretend that what I would be forced to do was nothing but a business arrangement, but in my heart, I knew better.

  I was falling hard for the brooding man with the dazzling eyes and husky voice. When I felt his hands on my shoulders, sliding ever so slowly down, his arms finally wrapping around me, I shuddered.

  Matteo moved our bodies to an unseen movie as he held me, the warmth of his body filling my very soul. I closed my eyes, lolling my head against his chest, savoring the moment that wouldn’t last. Yet I would cherish it, a tiny snippet of his heart, likely the only amount he’d be able to give.

  “What did you wish for?” he finally asked.

  I could tell he was looking at the sky, his breath skipping. “Something I will never be able to have.”

  “What if I could give it to you? What if I could go to the ends of the earth in order to find exactly what you wanted?”

  I bit back a cry, hoping he wouldn’t sense my vulnerability. “I don’t think you can, Matteo, because what I wished for can’t be bought or taken, but I adore you for wishing that you could.”

  “You might be surprised.” As always, his voice created a hum from deep within, desire that seemed to sweep through every single cell in my body. When he took the drink from my hand, bringing the glass to his lips, I tilted my head.

  I wanted to watch his every move, to study his various nuances. Everything about him drove me insane, but as always, the girl inside hungered to the point of leaving my panties damp and my heart skipping beats.

  He didn’t hand me the glass, merely easing it onto the railing several inches away. Then he pressed my body against the railing, shifting his hips back and forth. There was no doubt what he had in mind, the same intense longing. As he fisted my hair, he lowered his head, whispering, “You belong to me. No one will ever take you away again, my beautiful, delicious morsel.”

  I was stunned that they were the same words from the dream, my mind recapturing the images. He nuzzled into my neck, dragging his tongue from the base to my earlobe, swirling the tip around my ear.

  “Are you still wet for me?” he asked.

  “Yes. Oh, yes.”

  “Do you crave having my cock again?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  As he slowly lowered one strap from my shoulder, his fingers follo
wing the trail as it slipped to my elbow, I trembled. When he repeated the move, easing the other slender strap then forcing my arms to my sides, I let out an audible moan.

  The dress silently fell to the deck, the light breeze allowing the thin material to follow the contours of my body. Stars floated in front of my eyes as he tapped my leg, requiring me to lift one foot then the other. I was vaguely aware he’d kicked it aside, closing my eyes as he brushed all ten fingers down the length of my back.

  I expected the panties to be ripped away, but he gently rolled the thin elastic over my hips, his thumbs dragging the thong down my thighs. My nipples were hard pebbles, my pussy already soaking the expensive lace. When I sensed he’d dropped to his knees, I gripped the railing, digging my fingers into the wood.

  “So beautiful,” he murmured as he pressed his lips against my thighs, following the trail he was taking. He continued lowering them, darting kiss after kiss against my skin. “So delicious.”

  I had difficulty breathing as he lifted first one leg then the other until I was free of the confines. His fingers never stopped caressing, moving in zigzags and circles as he rolled them up my other leg, dragging his tongue along the way. By the time he cupped my buttocks, kneading the still bruised skin, I couldn’t stop the series of moans slipping past my lips.

  “And I’m going to fuck that tight little ass of yours.”

  His words held more of a dangerous flair tonight, as if this was the very moment that he’d decided to make his final claim. There was nothing I could say, no words that could break the intensity of our connection. And I whispered to myself the words that I knew to be true.

  I belonged to him.

  All of me.

  Excitement surged into every cell and muscle, a letting go of the inhibitions and fears. I wanted this. I craved his touch. I wanted the man without reservation.

  As he rose to a standing position, he broke the connection and for a few seconds, I thought he might leave me alone. Then I heard the soft rustle as he removed his clothes, the undeniable sound as he unzipped his shorts. And my mouth watered for what was to come next.