Omertà Anthology - A Very Merry Mafioso Christmas

by V. Domino

My fists clenched. “What do you mean Leo escaped?”

  Tino stared at me for a second, and then he just looked at Lina. “Take Nicco and your sister and stay in our room. Don’t come out until I say so. My men will follow you upstairs.”

  “And you?” she asked, alarmed.

  He brushed her cheek with his thumb. “Don’t worry, my sweet Angel. I’ll take care of things and come right away.”

  “Is he here in Chicago?” I asked.

  Tino ushered us outside of the office. “Not yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”

  “I thought he was in that nuthouse in exile, as in he wasn’t allowed to come back here. How could he escape and return? And what the fuck does he want? To finish what he started? To have revenge?” A surge of panic went through me.

  “I have no idea, but I’ll find out, and I’ll stop him before he even starts. My wife’s and baby’s safety along with yours are my top priority. You know I’ll protect you at all costs.”

  “The last time you two had a confrontation you almost died.” Lina trembled. “Tino, I can’t lose you.”

  He cradled her face between his hands. “You won’t.”

  As much as I hated what he’d done, Tino’s overprotective love and care for my sister was…beautiful. Twisted but beautiful. “How about we all just go? Somewhere where he can’t find us? We can’t just stay here and wait for him to show up.”

  “He won’t set foot in this house. As long as you’re here, you’re all safe, which means, Nicky, you can’t leave now. You have to stay, at least, until it’s over.”

  I could use some of Dom’s hash right now.

  I paced the room like a caged animal. It was almost the case here, locked up in Don Bellomo’s room like that. “That piece of shit won’t just leave you alone, will he? How did he even escape that over the top loony bin in fucking exile?”

  Lina rocked the crying baby gently. “Take it easy, Nicky.”

  “Easy?! Leo is much sicker than your husband. He tried to...” I slapped the memory away. One of the worst moments of my life.

  “I’m not worried about myself. If Leo is still…fixed on me, I don’t think he’ll hurt me or Nicco, but he’ll hurt Tino. And Tino will let him because he’d rather get hurt than…” Her voice cracked at the end.

  “Hey.” I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and comforted her, placing a kiss on her hair. “It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay.”

  “I know you don’t care about Tino or Leo or anyone in the family—”

  “I care about no one but you and Nick, and sadly, you two are Bellomos, and that means I have to care about that family, Tino included. He’s my nephew’s father, and as much as I hate to say it, a good one, too. That other son of his, though…”

  Nick wouldn’t stop crying even though he was dry and she’d already fed him. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Give him to me.”

  She handed me the little sucker. His temperature was normal. I started making silly faces at him, cooing in gibberish. A few seconds later, he stopped crying and his limbs jerked aimlessly as he drooled with a toothless smile. “Ah, someone wants to play.”

  Lina laughed under her breath. “You’re so good with him, you know?”

  I shrugged. “I’m just the fun aunt. He can sense it.”

  “Will I ever get to be the fun aunt?”

  “Lina, don’t start. I’m really not in the mood.”

  “Don’t you want one of your own?”

  I shot a glare at her. Then I shook my head, sighing. “Yeah. Sure. But not before I finish school, find a good job and my skin stop crawling every time I picture a guy touching me only for his face to be replaced by Frank Baldi’s.”

  Yeah, that silenced her.

  “I’m not like you, Angel.” I wish I were.

  “That’s the first time you called me Angel.”

  “I don’t think there is much Lina left in you. My little sister is no longer little. She’s made her choices, built her own family, become a powerful Signora, and an adorable mother. She’s the one looking after me now, and she doesn’t need my protection anymore. I might as well call you Angel, too.” Nick started wailing again, and I swooped down on the opportunity. “I’m gonna take him out for a walk.”

  “But—”

  “Inside the mansion.”

  I got into an argument with the hulks at the door. Apparently, the baby wouldn’t stop crying wasn’t enough excuse to leave the room.

  “It’s okay. I’ll walk with them and bring them back myself.” Massimo’s doppelganger appeared out of nowhere.

  “Don Bellomo said no one leaves the room,” one of the goons said through Nick’s loud crying.

  “What would Don Bellomo say if his baby’s nonstop crying was because he was sick, and you idiots locked him up in the room, not even letting his aunt check if he was?”

  I smirked. Why didn’t I think of that?

  The bodyguards mumbled a couple of curses in Italian as they made way. I glared at them as I pushed the stroller. “Language around the baby.” The three-month-old baby.

  “Mi scusi, signorina,” one of them said.

  Domenico gave me a shit-eating grin as we walked to the elevator.

  “Don’t expect a thank you. I’d have made the same argument and won on my own if you hadn’t intervened,” I said.

  “Is that so? Why don’t I just go and tell them Nicco is just fine, and it’s his aunt that’s bored, and she might even try to run away from—”

  “Shut up. You’re such an asshole.”

  “Thank me, Nicky.”

  “Ugh. Fine. Thank you…stronzo.”

  “Oh, she swears in Italian… Are you as fluent as you are in Bitch?”

  The elevator opened, and I strolled in with Nick, who had magically stopped crying, the tall bastard joining. “I don’t think I’m more fluent in anything than Bitch.”

  “I thought so. Now apologize.”

  “For what?” I snorted.

  “You still owe me an apology from last night, and now for calling me stronzo when I’m only trying to help you.”

  “What about you? You don’t think you need to apologize for anything?”

  He shrugged, pursing his lips. “No.”

  “No?! You’re unbelievable. I’m not gonna start about your lack of propriety when dealing with a woman. I think you’re a lost cause in that department. But what about the crazy delusional declaration you shamelessly made in front of my whole family, huh?”

  “It’s not crazy or delusional. It’s as real as it gets. And why would I be ashamed of liking you?”

  The elevator dinged, and he led the way through the swarming-with-guards hallway. Nick restarted his symphony, emphasizing our need for the walk to the rest of the goons. Was the little sucker crying on demand? That little sneaky thing was really Il Lupo’s son.

  “I’m not saying you should be ashamed of liking me. I’m saying blurting it out like that when you haven’t even—”

  “Haven’t even what? Told you? I have.” He leaned in for a whisper. “Or was my cock too subtle for you when you were sitting—”

  “When you forced me to sit on your lap.”

  “But you remained seated on my…lap. You could’ve fought me. Your knee was an inch away from my groin, and I know you’re not shy using it, but you didn’t.”

  Nick cooed, his limbs jerking in the most adorable way as we passed by one of the lounges next to the pool.

  “See? Even Nicco agrees.”

  You little traitor. I squeezed the bars of the stroller handle and turned away from the pool area. I didn’t wanna return in there with Domenico. “Fine. Still, that doesn’t mean you like me or I do, like you arrogantly said. It only means you wanna fuck.”

  “I don’t just wanna fuck.” The sincerity in his voice took me by surprise again. “Again, I already told you that last night. I think that’s what scares you.”

  I blinked once, stopping for
a moment, but then I met his gaze, inching a brow. “Don’t patronize me, Domenico Lanza.”

  “Don’t stereotype me, Nicole Baldi.”

  I grunted. “So you’re not a dangerous gangster? A brutal murderer?”

  “I am, but the people I’ve hurt aren’t saints either. You of all people should know that some scumbags need guys like me to wipe out their filthy existence from this earth.”

  My throat bobbed with a gulp.

  “I’ve never hurt an innocent person, Nicky, and I’ll never hurt you.”

  “I’d be an idiot if I believed that. Your definition of I’ll never hurt you could be as twisted as Tino’s, as Leo’s, as Enzio’s. For all I know, you could kidnap me, blackmail me, force me to marry you and say you never hurt me. You’d even say it was for my own good.”

  He chuckled.

  “What are you laughing at? I just want you to know that I’m not my sister. The dark bad boy asshole that stops at nothing to make a girl his even by force doesn’t appeal to me.”

  “Liar.”

  “Am I now?”

  “Yes. All girls fall for that shit or why else do you love that movie so much?”

  “What damn movie?”

  “The one with the actor that looks like me.”

  “How do you even… Of course, Signora Bellomo. Well, the guy is hot. That’s all.”

  “Good to know.”

  “Know what?”

  “That you think I’m hot.”

  “The actor is hot. Not you.”

  He chuckled again. “I know. I’m way hotter.”

  “Ugh! You’re such a conceited, motherf—”

  His palm landed on my mouth, shushing me, stifling a gasp. “You can’t spend ten minutes without insulting me, can you? And what was that when you lectured the guards about swearing around the baby? You’ve been cussing nonstop in front of him.”

  I stopped to a halt, seriously thinking about biting him. If I did, though, I’d lose my temporary freedom, which, regretfully, I owed to him. I did slap his hand off me, though. “Give me a break. He’s three-month-old, and you really deserve what I throw at you.”

  “Apologize,” he commanded.

  I shook my head.

  “You’re really asking for it, little kitten.”

  “I’m not little, and I’m not a kitten. How old are you anyway?”

  “Thirty-four. That’s thirteen years between you and me, and you’ll learn how to respect your man, little kitten.”

  I gave a mocking laugh. “My man?”

  “Yes.” His voice took a harsh turn all of a sudden. “Whether you like it or not.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?”

  “It means if you’re not gonna play nice, neither am I. My patience has it limits, and you’re pushing really hard.”

  I went to sleep in the nursery with Nick, Leo nowhere to be found yet. I couldn’t sleep a wink, though. If I saw that bastard I’d—

  The door suddenly opened. “Are you decent, little kitten?”

  I jumped out of the bed, ready to commit murder. I was decent. It didn’t make it okay for that Domenico asshole to barge in where I slept like that. “What the fuck? What the hell are you doing here?”

  “You’re coming with me to your place.”

  “Are you stoned? I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  “I’m not stoned. I’m on guarding the naughty principessa duty, and as your newly designated bodyguard, you will come with me anywhere I say.”

  “Who put you on that duty?”

  “Who do you think? Now, your bags are packed. I left one outfit of my choice for you to wear before we go.”

  “You went through my stuff? Fuck you!”

  “Hush. You’ll wake up the baby.”

  I clenched my teeth. “Get out. Get the hell out n—”

  He bent, folding his arms around my thighs, and carried me over his shoulder. I yelped in response, telling him to put me down. He just walked out of the room. “If you don’t stop yelling, I’ll spank you.”

  “You’ll what?!”

  His answer was a loud smack that seared my buttock through the silk of my pajama pants.

  “You didn’t!” I yelped again, and he spanked me again.

  Son of a bitch. I squeezed my eyes shut, my hair dangling over my face as I heard the elevator ding and open. “Are you really taking me to my place?”

  “Yes. Don’t worry. I won’t kidnap you. Not yet.”

  Mental eye roll. “And Tino authorized this?”

  “Do you think I’m that stupid to just take his sister out of his house in the middle of the night, especially when there’s a crazy fuck on the loose?”

  When we reached downstairs, he put something wooly on me. A coat? “What about changing?”

  “Oh now you want the outfit I chose for you?”

  I’m gonna rip this asshole in half. “I can’t just leave in pajamas, and I didn’t tell Lina I was leaving.”

  “She already knows and told me to remind you of her suggestion and to tell you have fun.”

  That little deviant.

  “And I just gave you my coat because even though you’re an ungrateful brat, I don’t want you to get cold or want anyone to see you in these silk pajamas, especially when you’re not wearing anything under it.”

  My jaw fell, and an uninvited throb found her way between my legs. He must have found out I wasn’t wearing any underwear when he fucking spanked me.

  The cold air stung my skin within the brief distance between the entrance and the car he put me in. He gave the driver my address and didn’t utter a single word all the way to my apartment.

  Once the driver put my bags inside and left us alone, I gave Domenico his coat. “Now what?”

  “Now you go to bed, and I’ll wait here, guarding you.”

  “Here? Like right here, not outside by the door or down by the building entrance?”

  “Si, si.” He just sat on the couch.

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Aren’t you gonna tell me how you magically convinced Don Bellomo to agree to bring me here where I’d be all alone with you?”

  “Apologize, and I’ll tell you.”

  “In your dreams.”

  He sighed, taking off his shoes. “Then go to bed, little kitten, and sleep tight. You can’t possibly think I’m a threat.”

  “Every man is a threat. Even the ones that are supposed to protect you.”

  He looked up at me, and for the first time, I saw real pain in his eyes. “I’m so sorry you feel that way. I wish there was something I could do to make you forget, to make you feel safe again.” He returned to take his dress shoe off. “Get some rest. Lock your door if it’s gonna make you feel better.”

  Nicky stormed out of her bedroom at around three in the morning. “I can’t fucking sleep.”

  I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt, studying her expression. She was still in her silk pajamas, purple, her favorite color, her hair a little messy, like she’d been rolling restlessly in bed. She must have been telling the truth, and it wasn’t just another tease. “Why not? Still scared of me?”

  She stared at me for a moment before she looked away, her lips twisting. “I’ve never been scared of you, Dom.”

  “Dom?” That took me by surprise. I marched toward her and checked her temperature. “Stai bene?”

  She slapped my hand off her forehead. “Yes, I’m fine. Insomniac but fine.”

  I cocked a brow. “Why are you being less bitchy? It’s either the spanking worked or… What are you up to, little kitten?”

  “Nothing! You know what? Fuck you.”

  She turned to get back inside her room, but I caught her wrist. “Hey, why can’t you sleep?”

  She leaned against the doorframe. “I guess I’m… I’m just worried.”

  “You have nothing to worry about. Leo won’t come here.” It was why I brought her here away from whatever mess that piece of shit was going to cause. “Even if he does, he won’t stand a
chance against me. But if you’re worried about your family, don’t. Tino won’t let anything happen to his wife and baby. You know that.”

  “Yeah. I know.”

  If she knew, then what was keeping her up?

  “Is that how you convinced Il Lupo to agree to your plan? You told him I’d be safer here, one less person to protect, so he could have his full focus on Lina and Nick?”

  My little kitten was smart. “What plan?”

  “Getting me here alone with you.” She smiled, leaving my grip to fold her arms across her chest. Her tits perked up, giving me a delicious view. What was more delicious, though, was that genuine smile on her beautiful lips.

  “First you call me Dom, and now you’re smiling. Now I’m worried.”

  “Stop being a dick.”

  I leaned into her, my gaze dropping to her lips against my will. If I pressed my mouth to hers, would she resist? “Then tell me what’s really keeping you up, little kitten?”

  Every fiber of her body was inviting. The flutter of her eyelashes. The goosebumps all over her skin. The parting of her lips. The swipe of her tongue. I If I slid my hand between her legs, would she be as wet as I presumed she’d be? Was that what was keeping her awake?

  My cock hardened at once. I swallowed, uncrossing her arms. Then I held both her hands in mine, and she let me. “What do you do when you can’t sleep?”

  She bit her lip. “I…I watch a movie.”

  “Vero?” It wasn’t hard to guess what movie, and what she did while she watched. So why watch when she could have a live show?

  “The TV is in my room. Wanna watch with me?”

  I did wanna watch with her. So fucking much. Thinking with my cock for a second, I was about to say yes, but the aching in my balls and the painful pulse in my erection didn’t totally blind me from the fact that I was here to guard and protect her, and Tino trusted me.

  But she was finally loosening up, taking a chance, asking me to…

  My jaws clenched hard, and my eyes squeezed. “Cazzo. I can’t believe I’m gonna cock block myself like that, but I can’t watch movies while I’m working.”

  When I opened my eyes, hers were traveling up and down my body and then stopped at my lips. Then she pulled her hands from mine and put them on my waist. “But you said Leo wouldn’t come here…”