Andrei: A Dark Mafia Romance (Dark Mafia Kingpins Book 1)

by Naomi West

  “And even so, you got her for practically nothing—just another slutty club girl who pissed off her man. That’s all she is and all she’ll ever be. Consider it a blessing that I want to take her off your hands because were she to stay, she would definitely cause you some trouble in the long run.”

  “So, tell me why it is that you want her?”

  “Well, if you are going to screw me over on this gun trade, then I had at least get something that’s worth my while. She might be a slut, but she’s a damned good one.” I smirked just to make my line more believable. It was difficult to talk about Cora in such a manner, but it was a necessary measure.

  “You insult me, Andrei.” He was white knuckling the fire poker, and for a second, I thought he would jab my eyes out with the thing. He was capable of anything and everything, but I really did not think that he wanted to start a war with my family—because that wouldn’t be one so easily won, and he knew that. We might be on the verge of retiring, but we still had a bit of skin in the game.

  “I mean no disrespect, Lorenzo, but I’m only speaking the truth. Those guns are worth triple what you’re asking for them, and we both know it. You’re trying to get a deal from me, and I understand that—we’re all businessmen here—but what you need to understand is that I’m not leaving here with anything less. Either you accept me now, or I find another buyer for these guns.”

  I walked over to his drink cabinet and poured myself a glass. Perhaps I was getting a little ballsy, but that was just what you had to do when you were dealing with guys like Lorenzo. Fight fire with fire—that was the only way you’d ever win.

  He narrowed his eyes as his face became a dark shade of crimson. “You have a lot of guts, kid.”

  “And so do you calling me a kid.”

  I held his gaze.

  “Fine, so you want the girl.”

  “I do.”

  “And maybe I got her for a bargain, but I think that her good looks make up for that. Besides, I can tell that she means something to you.” He threw up his hands and shrugged. “I never understood it myself—being tethered to one specific body when there are so many girls in this word to taste, to explore. Why limit yourself?”

  “Who said anything about limiting myself?” I raised an eyebrow. “She’ll be nothing more than a treat—a reprieve from all the others.”

  Lorenzo chortled in response. “I’m sorry, kid, but I don’t believe that for a minute. I own more than half the strip clubs in town, and yours is not a familiar face.”

  “Strip clubs?” I mocked. “Why bother with those places? It’s nothing more than a tease. I can look, but I can’t touch? What man enjoys that?”

  “Plenty.”

  Is that why your businesses are going under? I was on the very verge of saying those words, but I managed to hold myself back. I was already straddling the line with this negotiation. I couldn’t push it much further without something breaking.

  “It seems we have strayed from the point,” he said. “I’ll let you keep the girl, but you’ll have to lower the price on the guns.”

  “Not going to happen.”

  “And if I refuse to pay your outrageous price?”

  “As I said, we find another buyer, but if I were you, I wouldn’t let that happen.”

  “And why not?” He stoked the fire causing the flames to lick a little higher.

  “Because in all likelihood, I would sell it to one of your opponents, and I doubt you’d want them to have that much firepower. It wouldn’t take much for them to rally up their forces and encroach on your territory. I’m really trying to spare you a headache by selling you these guns, but if you really don’t want them…”

  He named another price, and this time, he was starting to speak my language. We negotiated a little longer. Lorenzo was a man of endurance—he could talk numbers all night long and never grow tired of it. I had no choice but to match that stamina even if it killed me.

  “Do we have a deal?” Lorenzo said at last.

  “I think we do.”

  “But before we shake on it, I want to make one thing clear.”

  I straightened the lapel of my jacket and brushed off a bit of lint, almost like his words did not interest me.

  “Go on,” I said when he failed to continue.

  “You can’t take the girl until the delivery is made. I think that is only fair.”

  “Are you saying that you don’t trust me?” There was a slight edge to my voice.

  I had prepared to take Cora home that very night and now to be barred from that opportunity? I didn’t like it one bit. There was no telling what Lorenzo would do within that time frame or if he had something hiding up his sleeve that he planned to use against me.

  “It is just a matter of fairness. You give me the guns, and I give you the money and girl all wrapped up in a neat little bow. That way, everyone’s happy.”

  I ground my teeth together. Perhaps I had negotiated him on price, but I wasn’t going to change his mind on this particular issue. After all, most trades were conducted this way. My impatience to be with Cora would have no weight in the matter.

  “Alright.”

  Finally, we shook on it. The deal was done. The guns would be out of our hands. The Valeri family would be able to retire from the mafia.

  And best of all, I would have a girl to call my own.

  31

  It was just about dinner time. My stomach growled and tightened with hunger.

  “You know what I would kill for right now?”

  “What’s that?” Martina was applying a bit of eye makeup in the mirror. Her lips were a light shade of pink, and she had added blush to give herself some rosy cheeks. All in all, the makeup accomplished nothing more than making her look ten years younger. And that was exactly how her ‘client’ liked it to be. “The ability to chop someone’s nuts off because that’s what I’m praying for every night.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “A burger.”

  “A burger?”

  “You know, a nice fast food burger. What they feed us here, it’s absolute garbage.”

  “So are fast food burgers. Do you know the crap that goes into making those things? I’m pretty sure the secret sauce is liquid shit.”

  I scrunched up my face. “Jeez, Martina, where did you learn to be so crude?”

  “What?” She batted her eyelashes. “Do you want me to be more ladylike?”

  “Would the two of your shut up?” Alice looked up over the edge of her book and glared at us. “I have a headache, and I don’t appreciate you two talking up a storm.”

  Alice had yet to forgive us for bringing up Nadia.

  I rummaged through the drawer and fished out the pill bottle we all shared.

  “Here,” I said.

  “If I had wanted something for my head, I would have gotten it myself,” she snapped.

  “I was just trying to help…” My shoulders deflated with the harshness of her voice. It was almost like I had done something wrong. Like I had hurt her just by offering to help.

  “Cut it out, Alice. There’s no need to act like a cunt.”

  Alice slammed her book shut. “I don’t run away from the pain. Do you know why?”

  I didn’t move.

  “Because pain is the only thing that reminds me that I am still alive. Without it, I’m just this hollow skeleton that walks around, and I’m not even sure what way is up and which way is down. But at least when I feel something, even if that something is nothing more than pain, well, at least it's better than nothing.”

  “I…” I choked on my words because what the fuck was I supposed to say in response to something like that? Alice wasn’t broken; she was destroyed. And there was no fixing a girl so heavily damaged.

  The atmosphere in the room became tense.

  Alice got up and disappeared into the bathroom.

  Martina and I exchanged a glance as if to say, “She has gone over the deep end.”

  Martina snapped shut the compact in h
er hand and placed it back in her makeup bag. I wanted to say something—anything—but it was like there was a frog in my throat. I just stood there like a damned idiot because, out of the three of us, I was better off. Andrei was handsome, a hell of a fuck, and he didn’t slap me around like some of the clients. For all intents and purposes, he was more of a booty call than anything else. And, on top of all that, I actually enjoyed spending time with him. Alice and Martina could not say the same about their ‘companions’.

  Suddenly, the door swung open. It was our food. Only today, the pervert came alone, and that spelled bad news for Alice because if he didn’t have his buddy to tell him to knock it off, well, he never did. He would use her body for his selfish pleasures, and we would be forced to watch because, in such a tiny room, it was impossible not to. I had tried to look away, but the sound of the bunk bed groaning under their combined weight was not something so easily ignored.

  “Where is she?” he snapped at Martina, who tried to act busy with her cosmetics.

  He raised a hand as if he were about to slap her, but then Alice emerged from the bathroom and leaned against the frame.

  “If you’re going to take out your aggression on anyone, take it out on me.”

  Is she trying to protect Martina, or is this just another attempt at pain? I honestly did not know.

  The crook grinned, his lips stretching from ear to ear. “There you are, baby.”

  His voice was so slimy that it made me want to puke. How could Alice stand to let him abuse her day in and day out? I would be freaking out if he ever tried that shit with me. I would never just take it as she did.

  I clutched the ladder attached to my bed because, without it, I think my legs would have buckled underneath me. It was torture to see him advancing on her like a shark going after a baby seal stranded on the ice. I choked back a scream because that would only make things worse. I would receive some of his backlash, but Alice would receive the brunt of it, and the last thing I wanted to do was make her life any more miserable.

  “Come here,” he ordered, “and show me some love.” He snickered. “Because I know you’re hungry for this cock, you dirty whore.”

  Alice, of course, did not obey him, but I think that was why he chose to taunt her—he liked forcing her into a state of submission.

  His eyes darkened, and he snatched her by the hair. His grip was so tight that I feared he would rip her hair right out of her scalp. Alice flinched but did not cry out. That was the thing about her; she always took her torment in silence, like some kind of martyr trying to prove a point.

  He slapped her, and she went flying across the room. A second later, he had her bent over the bed. Her skirt was ripped right off her body, exposing her completely. Without even an ounce of lube, he rammed himself into her ass.

  “Oh yeah, that’s tight!” He howled like some sort of animal, and that was exactly what he was.

  As he fucked her, he had his hands wrapped around her throat. One of these days, he was going to kill her. And yet, here I was—watching—too scared to do something because it might mean negative repercussions for myself. When had I become so damn selfish? I used to think of myself as someone always ready to stand up for what was right, no matter what. All it took was a gun to my temple to change all that.

  Help her! came that voice of courage that still lived somewhere deep inside of me.

  I can’t, responded my logic. It’ll get us both in trouble and then what? We’ll be a bloody mess with nothing to show for it.

  So, I just stood there, as still as a statue, as Alice got fucked in the ass over and over again. Tears stung at the corners of my eyes. He was being so brutal with her. Like he legitimately wanted to break her.

  I forced myself to look away, but I could still hear the creak, creak, creak of the bed as he pounded into her body. How much more of this could she take?

  “Fuck!” He grunted as he deposited his load deep inside her ass. He pulled out and cleaned himself off using the hem of her shirt. “That really hit the spot, babe.”

  Alice just laid there, cum seeping from her ruined hole.

  “Oh, and I have a little update for the lot of you,” he said as he did up his belt.

  I shivered, remembering my first night where I had been paraded around with a makeshift leash around my neck. Some nights, I still woke up with a sense of breathlessness, thinking that someone was tightening that belt around my neck. Even at that moment, I felt my throat tightening.

  “Your little girlfriend, Nadia —”

  “What about her?” Alice said with what little energy she still had left.

  “I just heard word that the man who bought her grew tired of her and had her disposed.” His lip curled back, revealing a set of pearly white teeth that didn’t fit his character. “I just thought you’d want to know—since you two used to fuck, isn’t that right?”

  Alice launched herself at the man and pounded her fists into his chest over and over again, but it did little in terms of damage. He simply laughed and shrugged her off like she was some sort of insect that had landed on his shoulder.

  Alice struggled to her feet only to fall back down, landing on her ass. The pain was visible on her face. I wouldn’t have been surprised if this guy had given her a broken tailbone.

  “One less waste of space if you ask me.”

  Then he exited the room, leaving us all in a clear state of shock.

  32

  I had yet to recover by the time Donny walked into the room to escort me.

  “I’m going to buy your freedom from Lorenzo.” Andrei’s words kept repeating themselves in my head. Was it true? Was I going to end up like Nadia? Dead in a ditch somewhere?

  Wasn’t that bound to happen to me here?

  My mind was hazed by a thick blanket of fear. I couldn’t think straight. If Andrei bought my freedom, what would happen then? Would he just fuck my brains out until there was nothing left?

  But what about last night? Something had been different about him. It was almost like he wanted me as more than a bedroom partner. But let’s be real—men only cared about one thing, and that was sex. Once I lost my charm, I was worthless to the man. He would get rid of me and go off and buy himself another curvy woman to fuck.

  I gulped. Maybe Andrei was different.

  And maybe I was lying to myself.

  Fuck.

  We entered the ‘den’ as Lorenzo called it. The room was horribly furnished, much like the rest of the warehouse. Lorenzo had no business as an interior decorator, that was for sure. My stomach tightened, and it wasn’t from hunger this time.

  Andrei had turned around and, as always, our eyes connected. Previously, I had felt a spark, an almost giddiness at the sight of him—of my knight in shining armor—but now that was all gone.

  Who was this man really, and what prevented him from being the one to kill me?

  Nothing.

  Absolutely nothing.

  Lorenzo marched off without his usual remarks, which was a bit strange. Had something happened between the two—

  My thoughts were smothered when Andrei swept me off my feet and carried me into our fuck room. His muscles tensed, but he showed no difficulty in carrying me. I had never doubted whether or not Andrei was strong. In fact, I had thought it a good thing because it would make it that much easier for him to protect me, but now I was thinking the exact opposite: his strength would make it easier for him to hurt me—to kill me.

  He closed the door with the heel of his shoe, and he didn’t even bother to close it. There was a cocky look on his face, and I wasn’t sure whether I liked it not. It made him appear arrogant and conceited. Like a drug dealer who had just whipped up the perfect batch. And maybe that was what he was…

  He laid me down on the bed and then went to turn on the music. I noticed that there was a certain pep to his step like he was on the verge of dancing, and he didn’t even seem like the dancing type. He loosened his tie as he reached the foot of the bed, then eased it off
and allowed it to fly from his fingers.

  He crawled onto the bed and slowly unbuttoned his shirt. All this was supposed to be some kind of striptease, but I wasn’t into it very much. It was hard to find a man attractive when all you could think about was the fact that he was going to kill you one day.

  How long will I last before he tires of me?

  “You’re quiet today,” he said as he shrugged off his shirt and slowly crawled on top of me. “Silenced by the excitement?”

  I did not answer him because I had become as stiff as a statue the second his lips brushed against the side of my neck. My flesh crawled. I didn’t want to do this anymore. All I wanted was to go the fuck home and live my normal life, but I feared my life would never be normal again.

  “Relax, baby,” he whispered against my ear as his hand slipped underneath my skirt and found my pussy. It wasn’t as wet as normal, but still, his fingers found their way inside of me. “You have nothing to worry about because I’ve secured my deal, and you’re a part of it.”

  My heart skipped a beat. So it was true. He really had intended to buy my ‘freedom’ from Lorenzo, but I didn’t know that I was some kind of bargaining chip in his gun trade. Knowing that only made me feel worse. I wasn’t a person to this guy; I was an object—something to enjoy and make a profit on.

  While I fought the urge to vomit, Andrei continued to finger fuck me. His face was screwed up in his determination to make me moan. I thought about faking it just so we could get things over with, but I had the feeling that Andrei would figure me out and I really didn’t want to explain myself or the fact that he now terrified me because I honestly did not know what he was capable of.

  “You have nothing to worry about,” he repeated like he could hear the trepidation of my thoughts.

  His hand slid along my body and removed all my clothes until every inch was exposed for his viewing pleasure. He leaned back, and a mischievous look colored his face.

  It made me shiver.

  “Oh, we’re going to have a lot of fun together.”

  And that was what worried me because, once that fun was over, so was I.