This time I don’t have to ask as he relentlessly continues. His own moans fill the room as he laps up my desire and gets drunk on my taste. He demands my climax as he licks and sucks, making me delirious as I help him, help us, get back to thereal truth. That no matter what happens, no matter who tries to come between us, it was always me and him. And it always will be for the rest of our lives.
His mouth leaves my core as he effortlessly lifts me in his arms. Laying me back against the sheets, he looks deep in my eyes as he slowly pushes his length inside me. I hold his stare, hold onto the truth, as he begins to make love to me. A love that started when we were both kids and won’t fucking end, no matter what the cost.
Chapter 23
Maria
“No one touches it!” Leo yells as we play with the neighborhood kids in the street. “I’m only trusting one person, and you aren’t it, Ollie!”
The three boys in front of us look at me before glancing back at their friend. They’re getting mad, and I don’t like it when people get mad. I’ve seen a man Momma calls Uncle Luigi come to the house a few times now, and it always ends with Momma in tears and a new bruise on her pretty face. I hate seeing mommy’s face bruised.
“Well who then, Leo?” Oliver shouts. “You have to trust someone with the map. It’s not like we can play pirates with no treasure, and you have to go home soon!”
Leo looks at me and smiles. “Maria!”
“A girl!” Oliver shouts. “We didn’t agree to play with any girls Leo! She’s your friend but she’s not ours. Besides, doesn’t she have to go home soon too!”
I stand tall and shake my head. “I don’t have to go home until it’s dark. And why shouldn’t Leo give me the map. Besides, it’s not like any of you are going to find what he buried anyways, you’re too stupid!”
Oliver steps forward like he’d hit me if I was another boy, but Leo blocks him and gives him a mean stare. “It’s my choice, Oliver!” He shouts. “And I chose Maria.”
Oliver and his friends whine before taking a step back and walking away. When Leo turns to me, I suddenly get a funny feeling in my tummy and look to the floor. “I’ll always chose you, Maria. I trust you. Only you. Remember that.”
I smile while keeping my eyes glued to my feet and sway side to side. He holds out the map in question and I take it, but still don’t look up. When he turns to leave to go home, I finally find my voice. “Do you want to know a secret, Leo?” I whisper, worried I might not be able to say what I want to if he says yes.
Slowly he turns around and I finally look up. His blue eyes make me forget for a moment what I was about to say as his slightly longer hair seems blonder than before, having been out in the Italian sun more often since he moved. Time goes by so slow I can tell he thinks I’m not going to say anything, but just before he turns back around, I take a leap of faith and quickly grab him, pecking a kiss on his cheek.
“I trust you too.” I whisper in his ear as I take off running towards the group. I don’t turn around, I can’t. But when he yells my name I stop and freeze.
“Keep my secret safe, Maria?” I hear him ask to my back. Even at six-years old I can hear the seriousness in his voice and know I will do whatever he tells me to, always, even if it means sacrificing myself, although I know he’d never let me.
“Yes, Sir.” I tease, as I run off down the hill to our group of friends and start counting the minutes until tomorrow when I get to see him again.
**********
My lungs feel heavy as I attempt to breath and realize no air is getting into my body. Frantically, my eyes open in the darkness and I slowly register a hand over my mouth. A hand I know all too well. One that was just pleasuring my body only hours before. I try to breathe in again, but I can’t. Beginning to grow frantic, I attempt to break out of his grasp, but he holds me firmly against the mattress with his strong body.
“It will be over sooner if you don’t fight it, Maria!” Leo growls out between us, making me start to sob as the realization sets in that he isn’t playing. This isn’t one of our games. He is serious, and even though I tried to reach him before, I know now that it was no use. He’s determined to give Luigi what he wants. The one thing I never thought he’d sacrifice. Me.
As my tears fall, I hear him whisper sweetly for me to hush. An act that only makes me cry harder. “I told you, I had a job to do, Maria. And I always finish my job. Even if you, Vincent, Sofia, … my own damn mother, God rest her soul, doesn’t approve.”
He replaces his hand with a piece of tape before grabbing me up off the mattress and forcing my hands behind my back. My senses aren’t fully working in the dark room, but I soon feel the sensation of a rope wrapping around my middle once, twice, three times before he ties it harshly in the back. Quickly, he whips me around to meet his stare in the shadows and I cower back from the expression on his face, the demonic look in his eyes, as he holds me still in the darkness.
“You leave me no choice,” he says, as his hands trail down either side of my body. Still not believing this could really be happening, I suddenly realize my mistake on not attempting to escape when he drops to his knees and quickly fastens my ankles with zip ties. I cry out from the sharp way he tightens them, causing the plastic to dig into my flesh and make me wish he’d end me, end this, now, before handing me over to Luigi. I feel him loop one in between each tie he has around my ankles, making it possible for me to walk, slowly if I needed to, but making it also impossible for me to get away. If he was really a man, he would do the dirty work himself, especially if it means offing a woman who he swore he cared for. Who he swore he loved. Who loved him, and never thought he’d turn on her the way he is now.
Rising, he leans in and breathes me in with a deep breath. My stomach churns from the action and I almost fall backward before he reaches out, grabs the rope, and thrusts me into him. I can feel his slightly hardened length and almost puke knowing he is getting off on this. That he is fucking aroused by the idea of turning me over to a fate that is worse than either of us could ever imagine.
“I’ve tested the fucking goods,” he says, as his hand lowers and he strokes me once through my nightgown. “I know Luigi will be pleased, when he gets a taste of you like I have had.” I fight against him, thrashing from side to side, but he grips me harder and pulls my hair back, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “Remember Maria, submission is a gift. And might be the only fucking thing that keeps you alive when you meet my fucking father.”
He thrusts me back around, making me face forward once again before pushing me towards the door. “You’ll like it, Maria. Remember, I know what your body needs. Only I can give you what you fucking want. After you give me whatIwant. That being your fucking sacrifice to the Lombardi Family. Did you really think I was going to let the Nittis win? Let them rule this fucking city? You’re crazier than I thought, miAmore!”
I take my steps slowly, as each one I know brings me death the further I walk towards my fate. Leo keeps a death grip on my wrists as we make our way to the door and he kicks it open suddenly. The light from the hallway blinds me for a moment before I realize in order to get me out of the house, he has to walk me through it first. There is no way in hell my father, or mother, will not take notice. Will not help me and end this, end him, and hopefully stop the madness.
Frantically I look from side to side as we walk through the house but there is no sign of anyone. Each room is black, empty, as I realize the house is quiet. Too quiet, and my heart rate kicks up a notch. When we reach the grand entryway, I look to the left for any sign of life and almost pass out from the sight that greets me.
My father, and mother, shot. Dead. Laying in their own blood in front of the fireplace.
“You think I’m stupid enough not to get rid of them first,” Leo whispers behind me as he notices where my eyes are focused. I let out a cry as I see the two people I had just met, lost so many years with, and was looking forward to finally getting to know silenced forever in their own demise on the carpet. “I’ve thought of everything, Maria. From the fucking minute I saw you in that damn bar. The ship. Sicily.” He tightens his grip on the rope making me almost fall to my knees in pain as another sob escapes me. “Do you really think I was telling the truth? That I fucking loved you? You’re more useless to me than you were to Big Jim Costello.” He spits out, as he forces me towards the door and I see a few more guards shot, bleeding out and at the point of death in the hallway to my right.
