Sweet Cruelty: A Dark Mafia Romance

by Zoe Blake

  It was like living inside a romance novel. Unfortunately, there would be no happy ending for me.

  There wasn’t a doubt in my mind he would break my heart.

  I was a novelty to him and soon he would tire of me and go back to his sophisticated women who drank champagne and knew how to eat caviar.

  I took a deep breath, the frigid air bracing me.

  My eyes teared.

  It was odd to realize that one day he would think of me as his ex-girlfriend, if even that. Probably just the silly little girl who wore plaid skirts and had barely kissed a boy before meeting him.

  And yet to me, he would always be the one.

  I couldn’t even imagine anyone ever coming close to competing with Dimitri in my mind.

  “What’s wrong, моя крошка?” His brow wrinkled as he looked down at me with concern.

  I sniffed. “Nothing. The wind got in my eyes.”

  And that unbelievably sexy accent.

  How he calls me his little one in Russian.

  I think I would miss that most of all.

  Dodging a quick-moving cab, Dimitri wrapped an arm securely around my waist as we passed the darkened windows of the Chicago Cultural Center and turned left onto State Street. I could see the iconic gold and red sign of the Chicago Theater loom large as we dashed down the busy thoroughfare. We weren’t close enough for me to read the marquee but I knew it could be anything from a concert, to a play, to a comedy show.

  “Are we seeing a performance at the theater?”

  Dimitri shook his head. “You’ll see.”

  We then crossed the street till we were standing before the Gene Siskel Film Center.

  My eyebrows shot up. “You’re taking me to the movies?”

  “Why are you so surprised?”

  Walking a step back, I gestured with my hand, sweeping him up and down. “Because you don’t look like the movie going type.”

  He chucked me under the chin. “Well, my dear Emma, there is a lot about me you don’t know.” He then opened the heavy glass door and gestured for me to enter.

  My smile faltered as I passed him.

  Yes, there was a lot about him I didn’t know.

  More important, there was a lot he didn’t want me to know.

  Shaking off the dark thought, I focused on the here and now. I was having a normal date with a man who I could pretend at least for a little while was a normal boyfriend.

  We entered the simple white lobby, which was adorned with black-framed movie posters. Dimitri headed to the glass-enclosed ticket booth.

  “I’m Mr. Kosgov. I believe you’re expecting us.”

  My brow wrinkled. That didn’t sound like the usual movie ticket exchange, but then again this was more of an artistic film center than a regular movie theater, so perhaps the showings were invitation only.

  “Yes. Mr. Kosgov. We have made the arrangements. You’re the first theater to the left.”

  Dimitri put his arm around me. Before moving to the theater, he led me over to the concession stand. “Popcorn? Candy?”

  This was fun!

  I hadn’t been on a movie date since that one time in high school.

  “Yes, please! I’ll take some M&Ms.”

  Dimitri pulled out his money clip. “One package of M&Ms and one package of JellyBellys.”

  “You’re joking.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “What?”

  “The big, scary Russian guy likes jelly beans?”

  He opened the bag of brightly colored candy. Rooting around, he chose two jelly beans. “Open your mouth.”

  I clenched my thighs at the command, instantly remembering the less than innocent times he would have given that same order. His silver eyes darkened to smoked steel. Seems he remembered too.

  Nervously licking my lips, I opened my mouth.

  Dimitri stepped close as a low growl rumbled down in his chest. “Don’t think being in public will save you, little minx.” He then placed two jelly beans on my tongue.

  I slowly chewed, liking the sweet burst of creamy sarsaparilla.

  “That is my favorite combination. Root beer and French vanilla.”

  “You truly are a man of many surprises, Dimitri Antonovich,” I said, using the greeting I had heard his Russian friend use, as I took his arm and let him lead me to the theater doors.

  It was cool and dark as we entered the silent room. Strategically placed spotlights shone over the empty burnt-orange chairs.

  “It looks like we are the first ones here,” I observed as my gaze wondered over all the empty seats.

  Dimitri gestured to some larger seats in the first row after the aisle directly in the middle. Unlike the usual movie theater seats, these were slightly wider and reclined back. Mary and I had experienced them at the Webster Theater when we had gone to see the special showing of BBC’s Sherlock The Abominable Bride. “These seats are the best! It’s like watching a movie in your living room.”

  Dimitri shrugged out of his overcoat and suit jacket and laid them to one side before slipping my coat off my shoulders. I adjusted my sweater dress before sitting down. The first thing he did when he took his seat was to raise the middle arm. My stomach gave a little flip of excitement. Now it was like we were relaxing on our own cozy loveseat. Too bad other people would shortly arrive.

  Dimitri opened my M&Ms for me and handed me the bag. Tucking my legs up to the side, I placed the candy bag in the empty cup holder and took out a few, popping them in my mouth. I finally asked, “What movie are we seeing?”

  “Anna Karenina.”

  I put my hands over my heart. “I adore that book. There can be no peace for us, only misery, and the greatest happiness. Such a tragic love story.”

  Dimitri leaned in, his gaze intense and serious. He ran the back of his knuckles along my jawline before stroking my bottom lip with his thumb. “Do you think it was worth it?”

  Entranced by his silvery gaze, I didn’t understand the question. I was too busy taking in the hard, masculine planes of his face with his square jaw and slightly crooked nose and sloping, brooding brow. He was Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights brought to life.

  “Was what worth it?” I asked, distracted.

  “Their love. Would you risk so much unhappiness for a moment of genuine passion?”

  My cheeks flushed from the heat of his gaze, knowing he wasn’t asking my opinion on Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel. “Yes,” I answered with no hesitation.

  “Even if you knew there may be no future in it? Or worse, only pain?”

  “Yes. As long as I was loved, I think I could bear anything.”

  “My sweet baby girl, you really are a treasure.”

  I warmed under his approving look.

  Was this his way of saying he loved me?

  Probably not, I was just being fanciful and letting my imagination get away from me again. It was ridiculously too soon for either of us to admit such a thing.

  Even though one of us was pretty sure she was already head over heels.

  The theater darkened as the spotlights lowered. A thick velvet curtain was drawn back to reveal the movie screen. Swiveling my head, I glanced around the seats, realizing all were empty.

  “How extraordinary! I think we are the only ones here!”

  Dimitri focused on his bag of candy, selecting several colorful jelly beans and popping them in his mouth, avoiding my gaze.

  My eyes widened. “Did you really rent out the entire theater just for us?”

  He gave me a noncommittal shrug.

  Crossing my arms over my chest, I leaned back in my seat. “Just a normal date, huh?”

  Setting his candy aside, he put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. “Shhh. The movie’s about to start.”

  Putting my head on his shoulder, I once more inhaled the spicy scent of his cologne as the opening orchestra strains of the film’s score filled the theater.

  Cocking my head to the side, I focused on the screen as I leaned up. “Wa
it. This isn’t the Keira Knightley version.”

  Dimitri scoffed. “That version was terrible!”

  “Bite your tongue! It was gorgeous! The costumes. The music. The creative way they made the whole thing a play within a film.”

  Pointing to the screen, Dimitri admonished, “This. This is the only version of Anna Karenina that is worth anything. A classic. Tatiana Samoilova is the true Anna, not your Keira Knightley.”

  As the actors appeared on the screen, they uttered the first opening lines… in Russian.

  I laughed. “There’s just one problem. I don’t speak Russian.”

  Pulling me back into his embrace, Dimitri nuzzled his nose against my hair as he gruffly murmured into my ear, “I’ll translate for you.”

  A shiver of excitement coursed up my spine at the prospect of Dimitri whispering Tolstoy’s scandalous prose to me for the rest of the movie.

  This really was the most perfect date.

  My breath hitched as I ran a hand down the top of my thigh, playing with the hem of my sweater dress. I wasn’t sure how much more of this I could take. The damp fabric of my panties clung to my skin as I bit my lip to suppress a moan.

  Dimitri’s deep, gravelly voice continued to seduce me as he translated the more salacious dialogue from the movie for me.

  “Take off your panties.”

  My head turned to the right, then back to the screen where there was a ballroom scene playing.

  “They didn’t say that.”

  “No. I’m saying it. Take off your panties.”

  I swallowed as my gaze nervously shifted around the darkened theater. “Here?”

  “Yes. Here.”

  Feeling that dizzying rush of adrenaline you get when you know you are doing something naughty and wrong, I moved my hips up as I reached under my dress hem for the sides of my panties. I pulled them down over my thighs and maneuvered them past the tops of my leather boots till they fell to the floor. Snatching them off the floor, I balled them into my fist as I buried my hand in my lap, still shocked I’d actually done something so risky in public.

  “Now straddle me.”

  “What if someone comes into the theater?”

  “They won’t. Now do as you’re told.”

  Rising, I shifted till I was standing before him. Sliding my hands along my hips, I grasped a handful of fabric and shimmied my dress up high on my thighs before slipping one knee to the left side of him. I then hitched my other knee up, straddling him. My head fell back as I groaned from the press of his already hard cock between my legs.

  His hands grasped my neck, spearing his fingers into my hair as he pulled me down for a kiss. The bristle of his goatee teased my lips as his tongue swept in to take possession. He tasted sweet, like candy. His strong hands ran over my shoulders to caress my back before sliding over my ass. He lifted the dress up higher, exposing me.

  Breaking free from the kiss, I leaned back as I tried to wrestle the fabric from his grasp and push it back over my hips.

  “Dimitri! Someone might see!”

  “Never. No one sees this beautiful body but me. You have my word. No one is coming through that door.”

  Still unsure, I glanced up at the projector room, but could see they had shuttered the window, only leaving room for the projector lens.

  Once more, his hands lifted my dress high. One warm hand slipped between my thighs from behind. Digging my fingertips into his shoulders, I cried out as I rose on my knees, the touch of his hand on my already aroused flesh almost too much to take.

  Undeterred, he slipped one finger inside me, then a second.

  “Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. So hot and wet. Such a naughty girl.”

  He gave my ass a spank. The harsh sound echoed around the empty theater. The hot sting of pain only spurred me on. I forgot all shyness and misgivings. Like a wanton, I bounced my hips, riding his hand, grinding myself into his palm.

  The pad of his thumb caressed my dark hole. I clenched, shocked at the illicit touch.

  Dimitri chuckled. Leaning over, he reached into his overcoat pocket and drew out something shiny and silver.

  Hardly able to form the words, I chided him. “You promised no more jewelry.”

  “This isn’t jewelry, моя крошка.”

  He held the object up higher. In the dim flickering light, I could finally make out what it was in his hand.

  “Oh, no!”

  I tried to climb off his lap, but his arms locked around my waist.

  “Dimitri! No. You can’t. I’m not that type of girl,” I begged, shaking my head.

  “I think you are. Open your mouth. I need you to get it nice and wet for me.”

  I slipped both my lips between my teeth.

  He twirled the silver toy between his fingers. The bulbous tip was about two thumbs thick, but it might as well have been the size of a tree trunk for all I was concerned.

  “I will not ask again.” His voice was low and threatening. I knew that tone. I knew I would not win.

  Inhaling a shaking breath, I opened my mouth. The metal clinked against my front teeth as he pushed the butt plug in.

  “Suck on it, baby. Get it nice and wet.”

  I whimpered as the fingers of his right hand began to once more pulse in and out of my body as his left hand reached between us to unbuckle his belt.

  He pulled his thick cock free, fisting the hard length. My insides clenched at the sight as I had a surge of arousal.

  “Lift up your hips.”

  I obeyed.

  He placed the tip of his cock at my entrance. “Lower yourself onto me.”

  I felt the stretch and burn as my body strained to adjust to the intrusion of his heavy shaft. Although we had already had sex several times, it was still a struggle to accept him into my tight sheath.

  My tongue swirled around the now warm metal bulb in my mouth as I pushed my hips down, moving past the pain. My only thought was to please him.

  Reaching between us, I stroked my clit as I inhaled through my nose. Finally, the backs of my thighs brushed the tops of his. He was seated fully inside of me.

  “Good girl.”

  He removed the butt plug from my mouth. He wrapped his other hand around the back of my head and drew me roughly to him till my chin was resting on his shoulder.

  “Reach back and open your ass cheeks.”

  “Please, don’t make me.”

  Letting go of my head, he gave my bare ass several swift and painful spanks. My skin burned as my cheeks flamed with humiliation.

  Returning his hand to my head, he pushed my head to the side and whispered harshly into my ear, “Do it now or it won’t be this plug but my cock thrusting into your virgin ass.”

  Knowing he didn’t make idle threats, I awkwardly reached my arms back and grasped my ass cheeks. Swallowing a sob, I pulled them open. There was a rush of chilly air as it exposed my most vulnerable place to the open room.

  Dimitri shifted. I felt the brush of cool silk as his arm slid over my hip to reach behind me. Then there was the press of something hard and smooth against my asshole. I clenched.

  “Do you want me to use my belt?”

  “No,” I whispered as I willed myself to relax.

  The uncomfortable pressure increased. I could feel my body relenting as the delicate skin stretched open. There was a piercing sting as the ring of muscle was stretched wide to accommodate the curve of the plug.

  “Ow! Ow! Ow!” I tried to rise up and away, but his free arm stayed around my waist.

  My eyes screwed tight as I breathed through my clenched teeth. The pressure increased. Then as if someone had let the air out of a balloon, it eased away as my body pulled the plug in deep and closed around the narrow neck. I could feel the sharp edges of the rectangular handle press into my cheeks.

  Between the plug in my virgin ass and his cock pulsing deep inside of me, I felt full and overtaken by him.

  His strong hands wrapped around my narrow waist. He lifted me. His cock slid almost ou
t of my body, the heavy ridge of the head still lodged inside my tight entrance. Then he forced me down hard onto his length, impaling me. I cried out as I clawed at his upper arms.

  “Oh, God!”

  “Hold on, baby girl. This is going to hurt,” he growled against my open lips before biting and sucking down the length of my neck.

  With a firm grasp on my hips, he lifted me up and down on his cock. Using the weight of my body to push it deeper and deeper. As his thrusts became more violent, he reached around and ruthlessly twisted the butt plug inside of me.

  My body arched in a bow as my head fell back. My mouth opened, a guttural scream torn from my lips as a moment of pure ecstasy eclipsed all reason.

  I went limp. Wrapping both arms around me tightly, he fisted his fingers into my hair as he continued to pummel into me, using my pleasure-racked body to achieve his own release.

  Feeling empowered and adventurous, I raised my hips and swung one leg back. His still semi-hard cock slipped out from inside of me. The sticky warmth of his come dripped down the insides of my thighs. Keeping my eyes on him, I lowered to my knees. Felt the cool leather of my boots press against my punishment-warmed skin as I settled between his open legs. From this new position, I could feel the pressure and force of the butt plug inside of me even more deeply.

  Reaching up, I wrapped my small hand around his girth. Sticking out my tongue, I flicked the tip over the crown of his cock.

  His entire body jolted as if hit by an electric current.

  Emboldened, I licked the length, tasting the musky cream of his arousal. His cock twitched in my hand as it lengthened and hardened.

  Grasping the hair at the back of my head, his eyes darkened to flint as he ground out, “Иисус Христос, ты собираешься убить меня, малышка.”

  I didn’t have to speak Russian to know I had pleased him.

  Closing my eyes, I opened my mouth and braced for what was coming next.

  Chapter 19

  Remorse is the poison of life. - Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

  Emma

  I woke up to the sound of Dimitri arguing with someone in Russian.

  Dressed only in a pair of suit slacks, he held the cell to his ear with his shoulder and put on his watch. With his back turned, I got a good look at the ominous dragon tattoo. The one that according to my Russian tattoo symbolism book meant he was a very high-level, dangerous thief.