The Bishop (The Holy Trinity Duet Book 1)

by M. E. Clayton

  “And you believe that she’d be in danger? Even all the way in Michigan?”

  “Look, I realize I have no idea what it’s like to live in your world, but you can’t tell me being associated with you couldn’t be problematic for my family, Leo. You can’t tell me it’s not possible for someone to threaten my sister and her family.” Leo’s head tilted to the side and there was a flash of green fire in those eyes, something I haven’t experienced before.

  After a few nerve-wracking seconds, he said, “I’ll forgive the insult because I understand that you still have no idea who I am or what me and my family are capable of. However, to suggest that harm may come to your family as a result of your association with me implies that I am unable to protect what is mine and that is untrue, Sienna.” Leo leaned forward an inch. “I’ll kill for what is mine.”

  Holy.

  Shit.

  Chapter 15

  Leonardo~

  Sienna just stared at me wide-eyed. Not having met this version of Leonardo Benetti yet, I couldn’t fault her shock or her nervousness.

  “Leo, I-”

  I raised my hand to stop her. “Let me ask you something, Sienna.” She nodded mutely. “Is your concern for your sister and her family your only objection to seeing me?”

  She shook her head. “I’m sure there are a million moral reasons to stop dating you, I just can’t think of them all right now.”

  I smirked at her honestly “Fair enough.”

  “I just…” She let out a depressing sigh. “Who in their right mind gets involved with the Mob, Leo?”

  It was a valid question. And the answer was no one. Why pick a life surrounded by danger and death when you could pick one surrounded by minivans and PTA meetings? But even though I understood it, that didn’t mean I was going to let her off the hook.

  “Come here,” I ordered.

  Her eyes began to blink in confusion. “What?”

  “I said, come here, Sienna,” I repeated.

  She shook her head. “No.”

  And that’s when I knew I had her.

  “Then I guess I’ll just have to go to you,” I replied smoothly.

  Sienna stood up, shaking her head at me again. “Leo…” She didn’t get far in her retreat before I had my hand wrapped around the back of her neck, halting her retreat.

  With my other hand gripping her right flank, I held her steady. “Do you really want to stop seeing me, Sienna?”

  I watched her chest crash and her shoulders sag. “Leo, this is crazy,” she replied. “I can’t…”

  My hand around her neck tightened as I bent my head closer to hers. My hot breath against her ear, I said, “Tell me you wouldn’t miss my cock, baby. Tell me you wouldn’t miss me while lying in your bed playing with that sweet pussy of yours.”

  Sienna let out a soft, agonizing moan. “You’re not playing fair.”

  My hand slid from her waist, past her flat stomach, and into the waistband of her yoga pants. Finding its way underneath the fabric of her panties, my fingers slid easily in between her moist folds. “We both know you want me to own this pussy, baby,” I told her, her wet pussy proof enough for both of us. “We both know you don’t really want to end this, Sienna.”

  Her hands clamped down on my forearm, the one attached to the fingers playing with her pussy, but it wasn’t to pull my hand away. “Leo…” she moaned.

  I started finger fucking her tight cunt and her hips quickly began to ride my hand. “Tell me you want my cock, Sienna.” I whispered against the soft skin below her ear. “Just say the word and I’ll fuck you so good, baby.”

  “Oh, God…” she whimpered. “This is so wrong…”

  I pulled my fingers from her cunt and her big brown eyes widened with regret. I took my cream-soaked fingers and smeared them all over her lips. When her lips parted, I slid my fingers inside her mouth, and she closed her eyes and sucked them clean. When I pulled them out, Sienna opened her eyes, and though she looked compliant, I wasn’t done convincing her yet.

  I grabbed her by her shoulders and threw her on the couch, positioning her on all fours. My hands wasted no time yanking the waistband of her pants over her hips and down her ass, her scent hitting me instantly.

  That’s how soaked she was.

  Unbuttoning my pants and pulling down the zipper, I had my hard dick in my hand, ready to convince her to see reason. I reached into my pocket and grabbed the condom I had ready, noting to get rid of these soon, and wrapped myself up in record time. Grabbing Sienna’s hips, I lined my cock up with her pussy, then slid home.

  “Oh, God, Leo…” she cried out, her fingers clenching at the cushions underneath.

  Releasing my grip on her hips, I slid them back to spread her ass cheeks apart, giving me an unobstructed view of my cock splitting her pussy open. Even through all her reasons of why we shouldn’t be together, her pussy was painting my cock white with her cream.

  The fuck she’ll be breaking up with me.

  “Take that dick, baby,” I grunted. “Feel every fucking inch of me.”

  “Leo, please…”

  My hips were crashing against her ass, making sure she couldn’t escape, and as I fed her every inch of my cock, I knew she wasn’t going anywhere. I didn’t care how cocky that made me seem, but Sienna wasn’t going anywhere. If she felt that committed to her convictions, I wouldn’t be balls-deep in her cunt right now.

  We fucked for a while before I felt her clench around my length. As soon as I felt it, I dropped a bead of spit down on that forbidden little hole I haven’t gotten to yet and slid my thumb inside. Sienna’s entire body jerked with the invasion, but I didn’t stop.

  “After tonight, we’re doing whatever needs to be done to get rid of these fucking condoms,” I growled from behind her. “I need to cum inside you, Sienna.”

  Her ass pushed back, her moans becoming louder as she took the double penetration. “Leo…”

  “Cum for me, baby,” I encouraged. “Show me what a hot little fuck you are.”

  “Leo!” Sienna’s pussy clamped down on my cock, her body going over the edge of ecstasy. “Oh, God…”

  I fucked her through her orgasm, and I didn’t stop until she gave me one more. Only then, did I finally shoot my load inside the condom, cursing the fucking thing for the first time in my life. Now that I was convinced Sienna was going to be it for me, I didn’t want to use condoms with her. I wanted to mark her completely and that included flooding her cunt with my seed.

  When we were both past the aftershocks, I pulled out of her tight body, readjusted her clothing, and headed towards the bathroom to discard the condom and wash my hands.

  Walking back into the living room, Sienna was curled up on one end of the couch, clutching a throw pillow to her chest as if that could protect her from her regret.

  Because I knew she was regretting what we’d just done.

  But she was going to have to get over it.

  I wasn’t letting her go.

  Sitting down next to her, I reached over and rubbed her leg. “Sienna-”

  “That wasn’t fair,” she bit out, her gaze accusing me of manipulating the situation in my favor, which is exactly what’d I done.

  “It wasn’t rape,” I shot back. “Blame me for being a manipulative sonofabitch, but don’t blame me because you weakened.”

  She had the grace to flush because she knew it was the truth. “Leo, do you have any idea what you’re asking of me?” she asked, instead of telling me to go fuck myself.

  “Yes,” I said, nodding for emphasis. “But I’m not asking, Sienna. You’re mine. And the fact that you still let me inside your body after everything you’ve recently learned confirms that.”

  “And what am I supposed to tell my sister?” she bit out. “What in the hell am I supposed to tell her.”

  “Anything but the truth,” I replied. “If your main concern is keeping her safe, the less she knows, the better.”

  “I thought you said you could protect her
,” she fired back, calling out my manhood. And while I might not be Luca or Sal, that was something I couldn’t allow.

  My hand snaked out, grabbed a fistful of her blonde locks, and yanked her closer. “Do not ever question my manhood, Sienna,” I growled in her face. “When I say I protect what’s mine, I mean just that. And if anything were to happen to you or your sister and her family, you better believe the repercussions would be deadly and beyond your comprehension.”

  “Leo, I-”

  “I’m both, Sienna,” I told her, releasing my hold on her hair, and allowing her space. “I’m both Leo Benetti and Leonardo Benetti, and the one you get depends entirely on you.”

  “So, I’m just supposed to accept this? No further discussion?”

  “Lie to yourself all you want but we’ve already discussed it. The discussion ended with my dick in your pussy and you cumming all over it,” I reminded her coldly.

  “Get out,” she spat. “Get out of my house.”

  I stood up to comply with her demand because this could do nothing but get uglier and that’s not what I wanted. “I’ll leave,” I told her. “But I’ll be back, Sienna. Your anger changes nothing. Your doubts change nothing. You’re mine and that’s the fucking end of it.”

  Chapter 16

  Sienna~

  When Leo left my apartment last night, I drank. I’d had a half-full-or empty, depending on your point of view-bottle of wine, and the empty bottle was now in my recycling bin.

  Last night could have gone better, but I supposed it could have gone worse, too. One thing was for certain, though; there really were two Leonardo Benettis.

  I’d also spent a lot of time thinking about the things we’d said to each other. Leo had answered my questions as best as could be allowed and it bothered me that I wasn’t more bothered by what he was because I should be. I had plans on getting into Heaven one day and I couldn’t see that happening dating someone who had no problem killing when he deemed it necessary.

  It wasn’t that I was a saint because I wasn’t. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes and I could do with more visits to church, but I didn’t freakin’ kill people. And what kind of hypocrite would I be to overlook some sins but not others?

  And the worst part of it all?

  With Leo’s hands on my body, his lips on my skin, his body owning mine, I knew I could convince myself that Verona and her family were my only concern. I knew I could be talked into accepting the rest of it because before I had even found out who he was, I had already been in way over my head where Leonardo Benetti was concerned.

  Wait, I take that back.

  That wasn’t the worst part.

  The worst part had been how my body had responded to Leo manhandling me. The way he’d taken control of my doubts and had staked his claim had been straight out of a dirty romance novel. It had been such a damn turn on that it had made me question just how well I knew myself.

  And it would be easy to claim he was forcing me or that I was too scared to make the right decision, but that was also the coward’s way out and I wasn’t the type of person to play victim to my circumstances. We all had choices. Fear liked to convince us that we didn’t, but we did. Sometimes those choices were impossible, but they were still choices, nonetheless.

  Right now, I could claim that fearing for my life was the reason for staying with him but fearing for my life was also the exact same reason for leaving him.

  I honestly had no idea what to do. I needed advice and there was only one person who could give it to me. So, after a shitload of busy work today, cleaning the apartment, doing laundry, buy groceries, etc., I waited until I knew Verona would have some downtime and called her.

  “Hey, you,” she greeted, sounding happy to hear from me.

  “Hey,” I replied, sounding less thrilled, though it had nothing to do with her.

  “Oh, okay,” she drawled out. “I know that tone.”

  “Do you have time to talk?”

  “Even if I didn’t, I would,” she replied easily, and I loved that we were still so close despite living so far away.

  “I got man problems,” I said, getting right to the point.

  “Oh,” she whispered. “That is means for a talk.”

  “Yeah, it is,” I agreed, and I heard her telling Curtis that I was on the phone and asking him if he could keep an eye on Mila. And because he adored Verona, he agreed.

  A few seconds later, I heard the sounds of a door shutting and she was back on the line. “Okay, Sie, what’s up?”

  “I…I started dating this guy a few weeks ago,” I started. “Over a month ago, or so.”

  “And you’re barely mentioning him now?” she asked.

  “I didn’t want to jinx it,” I grumbled.

  Verona laughed lightly over the phone. “I get it.”

  “The thing is…I think he’s more than I can handle,” I explained weakly. “He comes from a…powerful family and I didn’t know it when we started dating.”

  “But…you’ve never been one to get blinded by money or things like that,” she said. “Does…does he think you’re after his-”

  “No, no, no,” I rushed out. “It’s nothing like that. He thinks…I’m the one with doubts about…how I’ll fit in with the type of lifestyle he leads.”

  “Why did he keep his family a secret until now?”

  “He didn’t want me to feel intimidated,” I semi-lied. “He thought…he wanted us to get to know each other better before…telling me.”

  “So…well, is it his family that has money or does he have money, too?”

  “Both.”

  “Well, I mean, it’s not like you live on skid row or something, Sienna,” she said. “You have a respectable job and make good money yourself.”

  “Not this kind of money,” I grimaced. “And that’s where my concern lies.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, I know it sounds…dramatic, but when you’re that rich, can’t it get…dangerous?”

  “Dangerous?”

  “Yeah, I mean…what if it works out and we get married?”

  “Okay?”

  “And say…I don’t know, that…some thugs or money thieves or whatever try to kidnap me for ransom? Or you? It happens, you know?”

  “Yeah, in Liam Neeson movies, Sienna,” she replied.

  “I’m serious, Verona,” I cried. “It could happen.”

  “Okay, okay,” she said quickly, realizing I was close to losing my shit. “Calm down.”

  “Sorry,” I mumbled. “I just…they’re not rich, Verona. They’re wealthy. And I’m…stupid.”

  “You’re not stupid, Sie,” she replied softly. “I think maybe you’re just…letting a little insecurity creep in.”

  “People do all kinds of things for money, Verona,” I pointed out. “You watch Snapped. Life insurance money is the number one reason for most of those murders.”

  “Sienna, if the man is wealthy, I seriously doubt he’s going to murder you for your life insurance policy,” she remarked dryly.

  “I know that,” I practically snapped. “That wasn’t the point I was trying to make.”

  “Then what is your point?”

  “On the odd, minuscule, tiny chance that I did get kidnapped or someone threatened you guys, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

  “I need you to listen to me, okay?” I just grumble. “So, even if we are in a Liam Neeson movie and someone threatens us, you’re implying that my husband isn’t capable of protecting his family, Sienna, and that’s not cool.”

  “That’s not what I’m implying at all,” I quickly denied.

  “Sienna, I think you’re creating problems where they don’t exist because you are intimidated by his station in life,” she said. “Even if this was a Liam Neeson movie, I have every faith in my husband to protect me and Mila. I also have faith in myself to protect my family.”

  “Ver-”

  “What’s this guy’s name, Sie?”

  “Leo,” I a
nswered, making sure to leave the Benetti part out of it for now.

  “I know it’s early and you’ve only been seeing each other a few weeks, but do you not trust him to protect you if things became an action movie?” she asked. “Because if you don’t, then cut and run, sister. No woman needs a man who can’t or won’t protect them. “

  I shook my head, though I knew she couldn’t see me. “No, it’s not that,” I told her. “I have no doubt Leo could and would protect me at all costs.”

  “Then quit sabotaging your relationship with this man out of fear,” she said. “See where it goes and just hope for the best.”

  “That’s it? That’s your advice?”

  “Baby sister, at the end of it all, it comes down to one question and one question only.”

  “Which is?”

  “Do you trust the man or don’t you?

  “Unfortunately, I do,” I muttered. For reasons I couldn’t fathom, I did feel like I could trust Leo.

  Verona laughed. “Then there’s your answer, Sienna.”

  “You’re no help.”

  “No, not at all,” she agreed.

  “Let’s switch topics,” I whispered, and granting me mercy, she agreed to give me a break.

  “Let’s.”

  Chapter 17

  Leonardo~

  Regardless of what happened with Sienna yesterday, I knew things were still precarious where she was concerned. So, the last thing I needed was Ryan Trent trying to convince Sienna that she had other options.

  And that’s why I was sitting in his living room waiting for him.

  While I had no doubt that I was probably going to have to kill him at some point, Sal was right. Killing Ryan Trent so soon into my relationship with Sienna would be a bad move. Whatever her conscience was battling with, I knew it would be best if she could concentrate on the fact that I was, primarily, the bookkeeper. I didn’t get my hands dirty often, but she wouldn’t believe me if I offed Ryan Trent prematurely.

  His apartment hadn’t been all that hard to break into. The building’s security was shit, even though he did live in a nice neighborhood. That was the thing people didn’t understand. Desperate people didn’t steal from other desperate people. What would be the point? They scanned the nice neighborhoods for shit worth going to jail for, not for scraps.