Mafia Lullaby: A Dark Captive Romance

by Alta Hensley

  “Ariana cannot be given special treatment,” Nancy said with a whiny tone, as though that explained anything at all.

  Frank frowned. “I let you teach the Mommy shit because some day there might actually be a higher demand for it. But right now, it’s only for girls who are handed over for it. You don’t decide shit.”

  Costello kept a blank expression, but inside he enjoyed watching the old bat be dressed down.

  “Johnny thinks it’s needed.” Nancy rolled her shoulders back and thrust out her chin.

  A dark shadow cast across Frank’s expression. His eyes narrowed, and his lips pressed together in a tight line. “Johnny isn’t the boss around here, Nancy. I am. He will do what he’s fucking told, and so will you. Cousin or not, you can find your ass working somewhere else. I’m sure one of Johnny’s clubs could use some fresh meat.”

  Costello had seen Frank at his worst. Anger boiling out of every pore as he beat the life out of a man twice his size. The tongue lashing he gave Nancy didn’t even compare, but she’d been protected from most of the business. To her, his low growl of a threat was enough to make her shake.

  “Of course, Frank. I know he’s not the boss. I was only suggesting we might want to consider broadening the clientele.” She cleared her throat. “That’s all I was saying.”

  “How about you let me and Johnny run the family business, and you be a good woman and do what you’re told.” Frank sneered as he delivered that blow. Costello bit down on his tongue to keep the grin from taking form.

  “Fine. But something has to be done about Ariana. Costello is too involved with her.” Nancy turned in her chair and cast a glare at Costello.

  “I’ll deal with that. You go back to work.” Frank waved her away. “And I want you to stay away from Costello’s girl today.”

  “But—”

  “No fucking buts, Nancy. I swear to God. This isn’t a fucking pre-school, or a goddamn HR department! I have actual business to take care of. I don’t have time for this shit. Now go.” Frank pointed at the door. Small droplets of spit flew from his mouth as he shouted.

  “Fine.” She jumped to her feet, smoothed her hands over her stomach. Costello slid away from the door and opened it for her when she approached. She never looked up at him as she hurried from the room, but he could sense the anger boiling over in her.

  Once the door was shut, Costello waited for Frank to take a cleansing breath.

  “If she wasn’t fucking blood…” Frank let the rest of the words trail away with a shake of his head. “But, what’s this about Ariana? Are you getting in over your head with her?”

  Costello shrugged. “I’m doing my job, Frank.”

  “So, you aren’t attached? I could sell her right now and you’d have nothing to say about it?” Frank eyed him.

  “No. I mean, she’s not ready, but it’s your call.” Costello’s stomach knotted. If Frank saw through him, he’d lose Ariana forever. No way that was going to fucking happen. If Frank took her now, Costello would have to go after her. No matter the cost to himself. He would never let her be sold.

  “You’re protecting her more than you have the others.” Frank leaned back in his chair.

  “Nancy’s giving her a hard time. It’s wasting my time when I have to first get the girl to trust me enough to listen to me. I mean, I could beat the girl until she does what we want but that’s only going to make it harder later I think. I have my ways, and they work. Nancy’s fucking with that.”

  “You’re right. And that’s not what we do here. We give them everything a little girl could want, and we teach them how to love their daddies properly. If we make them scared, it’s not as sweet. Our clients won’t like it,” Frank said. He pulled in a long breath. “I’ll keep Nancy off her back, but maybe loosen up your grip on Ariana a bit.”

  That wasn’t going to happen.

  “Sure. Not a problem.” Costello threw on a grin for good measure.

  “Good. The next adoption party—I want Ariana ready. She’ll go with Shelby, Mae, and Courtney.”

  Costello swallowed back his denial. Even if Costello wasn’t sheltering Ariana for himself, she’d only been there a week. Too soon to go up for adoption.

  Frank raised his eyebrows, like he was waiting for his answer.

  “Sure. I can do that. But she’ll need more coaching then. That’s going to require a bit of fast-tracking. I haven’t even got her ass ready by fucking it.” Costello slipped his hands into his trouser pockets to hide his fists. He hated talking so crass about Ariana, but at the same time, he needed to speak the language of Frank.

  “I’m moving the next party up. I was counting on bringing a few more guys from one of the other Houses to help with the extra girls we have, but it’s not working out like I wanted. So, we need to clear out a few girls so we get the rest trained up right. Mae and Courtney have been here a little longer than your girl, so I’m not concerned about them, and Shelby’s had more than enough time.”

  “You going to put Shelby in the playroom again?” Costello asked, trying to sound merely curious.

  “No. She did great up there though, made over fifty grand in one night. But I have enough girls up there right now. You think Ariana would benefit from a night there?”

  “As one of the littles?” Costello managed to keep his anger in check, but barely. If he had to bring her up to the playroom, he’d lose his shit.

  “No, no, just as an educational trip,” Frank grinned showing off his yellowing teeth.

  “Like a field trip?” Costello laughed.

  “Yeah, let her see where she’ll end up working if she can’t get adopted. I think we should expose the girls to the alternative. We can get them trained and sold faster that way. Positive reinforcement from you Daddies and harsh reality checks from the playroom.”

  Costello squeezed his hands tighter in his pockets. “If that’s how you wanna play it. Sure.”

  Frank nodded. “Yeah. I like that idea. One girl at a time though. I don’t want to have to put up security to keep the girls safe from the clients. Having one girl off limits is enough.” Frank picked up his phone. “I’ll put Johnny on it. He’ll get it done. Ariana can go first, tomorrow night.”

  That soon? At least she wouldn’t be touched. At the minimum, Costello could protect her from that much.

  “No problem. I have her down until dinner. I’ll have Maria get her up and take care of her until tonight. I’ll keep my regular training session though tonight.”

  Frank nodded, but he was already engrossed in his text messages. “Sure, that’s fine.”

  “Thanks, Frank.” Costello left him to his business and got out of his office.

  He’d have to keep his distance from Ariana when possible, which meant she would need to put all of her energy into following every fucking rule. She could not get caught.

  At least Nancy would stay off her back. Costello trusted Maria. Even if she started to suspect, she’d bring the worry to him before going to Frank.

  Plans formed as he took the stairs up to the dayroom. He’d have Maria watch over Ariana for the rest of the day, and when he went to tuck Ariana in, he’d explain the severity of the situation.

  And then, somehow he’d need to start figuring a way to get them both out of the fucking House with their lives.

  “That soon?” Ariana sank onto the edge of her bed as Costello finished laying out everything that would be changing. She’d already had a bath and been dressed in her soft lavender night gown. She’d brushed her hair, and Maria had braided it into two braids for her before Costello came to tuck her in.

  “Yes, but I don’t want you to worry about that. What you need to understand, Ariana, is I have to keep some distance right now. I can’t let anyone think I’m paying you more attention than I would any other girl. So, you might only see me for naptimes and bedtimes. Unless all the Daddies are in the dayroom.”

  Ariana nodded along as he continued.

  “You have to do your best not to slip.�
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  “I know,” she said. There was nothing else she could do but continue playing the part.

  “There’s something else.” Costello pulled the chair closer to the bed. “Tomorrow night I have to bring you to the playroom.”

  “What? No!” Ariana jumped from the bed. “I saw what those assholes did to Shelby. I’m not doing that.”

  Costello shot up and grabbed hold of her shoulders. “You won’t. You’re not going to be there to play. You’re going just to watch.” He squeezed. “No one will touch you,” he vowed.

  Her pulse raced beneath his touch. He had the ability to both calm and excite her at the same time.

  “And at the adoption party?” She searched his eyes, hoping to find a plan hidden there.

  “I’ll figure it out. You aren’t going anywhere with anyone other than me, Ariana.” He ran his hands down her bare arms. “I swear it.”

  She wanted to believe him. So badly, she wanted to hold on to his promise and let it pull her from the nightmare she was living.

  “This entire thing is so absurd. I can’t seem to get my brain to wrap around it.” She laughed but one that stemmed from a twisted and dark reality. “I mean…I worked in a bakery. I barely made enough money to pay my rent and feed myself, and now I’m going to be worth a million dollars?” She eased out of his grip.

  “It’s fucked up. I get it.”

  She blinked. “You get it? How can you possibly understand this? This place steals women and sells them. Keeping them addicted to a drug that wipes out who they really are so they can play to the fantasies of a bunch of assholes. You’ve had a hand in that. You’ve helped and will continue to help.”

  His expression hardened.

  “Don’t tell me you’re leaving the Romero family? You’re going to give this all up?” She shook her head sadly. He wasn’t a good man. Even if he wasn’t turning her over to Frank, it didn’t make him good. He’d trained and sold women. Just because he wasn’t doing the same to her, didn’t change his past. She had to remind herself of that fact even though emotions she had for Costello of late were beginning to muddy the harsh reality she was truly in.

  He was still a monster.

  And God help her…she craved being in the arms of the beast.

  “Ariana. You’re getting close to a line. You need to back it off,” he warned.

  “Or you’ll take your belt off and spank me? Put me in a corner? What? What will you do that you haven’t already done?”

  Costello’s nostrils flared and his gaze hardened. She’d walked right up to the line and kicked it. She’d probably get a spanking. But she didn’t fucking care. At the least it would get rid of some of the stress building inside her.

  “I think you’ve forgotten your place here, Ariana. Not in the House, but in this room, between us. I said I will help you. I’ve promised you’ll never be sold or sent away. But you still want to push my buttons. You want to make me feel guilt that I gave away a long time ago. I make decisions based on survival. And now, I have to make decisions to keep us both alive, and you testing the boundaries of submission just now not only puts yourself at risk, but it does the same for me.”

  He slid out of his suit jacket and tossed it onto the chair behind him. Casually he unbuttoned his sleeves and then worked on the long row from his neck down to his waist.

  “Take off your nightgown, Ariana. Lullaby may not work on you, but I sure as fuck will.” He jerked his chin in her direction as he yanked his shirt free of his pants and peeled it off his back.

  Ariana stared at him, frozen. She’d poked the bear, and now she would have to deal with the grizzly. In one smooth sweeping motion, she pulled her nightgown over her head and dropped it at her feet. Heat ran through her veins, warming her even more when his glare did.

  He stood before her completely naked. It was the first time she’d seen his entire body, and she took her time soaking him in. The man was a sculpted God. Broad shoulders, muscular chest and abdomen. Even his thighs were thick with strength. But what drew her attention were the small white marks littering his chest. She’d seen the scars before but hadn’t asked him about them.

  She stepped toward him tentatively, knowing she was supposed to be following his lead here. But curiosity outweighed her sense of duty.

  “What happened to you?” she asked, lightly touching a long scar running across his left pec.

  He tensed but didn’t brush her away.

  “You aren’t the only one put in a shitty situation.” He covered her hand with his own, pressing her palm against his chest. Beneath, she could feel the steady beat of his heart.

  “Tell me,” she ordered softly, bringing her gaze up to his.

  The hardness cracked at the edges, but he was still in control. Would he ever let that slip? Even a little?

  “I was in high school when my parents were killed,” he said, staring into her eyes. “Frank’s Uncle Mario—Nancy’s father—ordered a hit on my father behind Carlos’ back. Carlos was Frank’s father. When Carlos found out about it, that my mother had been killed too, he gave me a job in his ranks. But just because he gave me the position, didn’t mean I didn’t have to earn my way up. He gave me an apartment, but everything else I had to take care of on my own.”

  “Why would he do that?” Innocent people get killed all the time by the Romero family. She doubted they did the same for all of their families.

  “My father worked for Carlos Romero. He was loyal to Carlos.” He raised his chin.

  “Your dad was accused of something he didn’t do, and he got murdered for it. So, Carlos took you in.” She looked back at the scars. “And these?”

  “Not every street transaction goes according to plan.” He shrugged. “This world is all about looking out for yourself. Kill or be killed. Do bad or have bad done to you. It is what it is, and like I said before…I gave up the guilt a long time ago.”

  “Is this a bullet wound?” She gasped.

  He tilted her chin up to pull her away from the scars. “It doesn’t happen so much these days.”

  “Because you’re higher up on the food chain? You get to work here?”

  “Yeah, something like that.” He brought her hand to his lips and pressed a warm kiss to her palm.

  A hot tingle ran from her hand, spreading throughout the rest of her body. Such intensity from a touch so simple.

  “Now, for your lesson.”

  “My lesson?” she whispered, looking at the spot his lips had kissed.

  “Yes, little girl. Your lesson.” He laced his fingers with hers and brought her to the bed. “Lie down.”

  She swallowed past the rebellion in her throat and climbed onto the mattress as directed. As much as she thought she should refuse him, her body wanted to learn everything he had to show her. She had the feeling Costello had more experience to share than the two guys she’d slept with. Jake and Paul had been nice guys, sweet boyfriends, and gentle lovers. Nothing about the look Costello gave her now suggested he planned on being gentle. And she hungered for it. She wanted his animalistic touch, his raw passion. She wanted to hate him for everything he put her through, but she lusted for his next touch.

  He knelt on the bed beside her, running his fingers over her cheek. Leaning down, he kissed her, bringing every flame of desire to life. His tongue skated along her lips; his teeth bit her bottom lip, igniting a desire she’d never known deep in her belly.

  “Are you going to be my good girl while I fuck you?” The harsh whisper licked her ear.

  “Yes, Daddy.” She brought her hands to his shoulders as he moved over her body, covering her like a blanket, until he pressed one knee between her legs. Spreading for him, he settled between her thighs.

  “I love those words on your lips,” he said, then quickly pressed a finger to her lips. “No, no thinking about anything other than this right here,” he said when she started to speak.

  She nodded when he didn’t move his finger away.

  “Good girl.” He smiled with a
grin, turning her entire middle into a puddle of need.

  Leaning down, he dragged his warm lips over her breast, flicking her nipple with his tongue. She stamped down the moan creeping up at first, but when he wrapped his lips around her nipple and scraped his teeth over the puckered bud, she lost the ability.

  “Never hide your reaction,” he muttered against her breast.

  How could he know? He kissed her breast and swiftly moved to her other, again licking his way to her nipple and suckling it lightly. As he bit down, she gasped, the electricity of the pain carried through her body, dragging overwhelming pleasure.

  His fingers walked down her belly to the sweet spot of her sex, circling her clit before sweeping through her folds.

  He growled against her breast. “So, fucking wet for Daddy.”

  Moving back up the length of her body, he cupped her face. “Ready for me, little girl?”

  She wet her lips. Was she?

  “Yes, Daddy.”

  A rueful smile crossed his lips. “I don’t think you are, but we’ll see.”

  The round head of his cock pressed against her sex.

  “Look at me, Ariana.” His voice sounded coarse. Like it was taking everything he had to keep his control.

  She dragged her gaze up to his, locking onto his eyes. Slowly, his smile widened into a knowing grin. And before her next breath, he thrust inside of her.

  Crying out from the sudden breech, she writhed beneath him. She hadn’t been ready. He was too big. The stretch of her pussy stung around his thick cock.

  “Shhh, it’s okay. Just give it a second…fuck…stop moving like that.” He pinned her hips to the bed.

  She hadn’t been a virgin, far from it, but she hadn’t been with anyone like him before.

  He kissed her cheeks and slowly began moving again. She dug her fingers into his shoulders as he pumped his hips. Shallow thrusts at first quickly gave way to deeper more filling movements.

  “That’s it, such a good girl taking all of Daddy’s cock.” He wiped his hand across her cheek. “Your pussy’s so tight. Fuck, Ariana.” He closed his eyes, biting down on his lip.