Chapter 5

5

MATTEO

W hat the fuck am I doing?

That one thought plays on a loop in my head. I'm unable to think clearly as a result.

"Follow," I order one of my men as I enter the house, not letting go of Mona. "And stop looking at her!" I bark. Mona startles with a small jump. I bite my tongue to avoid soothing her. She's a traitor. One of them. A vixen who was sent to be my undoing. I'm on to their game now.

I lead her up the stairs again, not thinking, and straight to the end of the hallway. I throw open one of the double doors, pulling her into my bedroom.

"Don't try to leave this room." I release my hold on her. She just stares at me with those wide, innocent eyes.

Ones I now know are not so innocent.

"Do you hear me?" She nods her head, only pissing me off more. I want to hear her speak. "Say it."

"I hear you, Matteo."

Oh fuck. That sounds too good. My dick jumps to life, thinking about her moaning those words.

"You'll call me Cattaneo."

"Yes, Cattaneo."

I don't care much for that either. I run my hand down my face. For a second, when she stepped out of the car, I heard a bit of fire in her. It lured me in. Now her tone is flat, with no emotion.

Knowing I'm only battling myself, I turn and leave the bedroom, closing the door behind me. "No one goes in or out." Sal gives a curt nod. I should see about getting a camera installed in the hallway.

When I make it back to my office, Sergio is waiting. "So you found her."

I grunt a response, heading over to my bar. I toss back one shot and then another. I'll sip a decent scotch, but I've never been a big drinker. Watching my father slowly turn into someone I didn't recognize kept me away from it and whorehouses. Now look at me. I don't care. I shoot another shot.

"Hey." Sergio's hand comes down on my shoulder. I grab it and turn quickly. He grits his teeth as I twist his arm around, but he doesn't fight me. "Boss?—"

I release my grip on him, knowing I'm an asshole. I go sit behind my desk, not sure what I should do next.

"You really think the O'Haires sent her?"

"What else?" It's the only explanation as to why Mona O'Haire would have been in my club that night.

"And she was in on it?" His brows are pulled together. I can tell he is trying to put it all together. "They offered her to you once."

I clench my fist, wondering who else she was offered to. A fucking Rossi. She is worth way more than that. Clearly, the little minx knows how to charm her way into bed. She easily slipped right into mine. Hell, now she has my whole damn bedroom.

"I know." I could have had her a year ago, but I didn't want an O'Haire in my bed. One that thinks they could have me by the balls. I knew what Aidan O'Haire wanted. He thought he could get close. I don't accept marriage offers. Ever.

Sergio takes a seat in one of the chairs in front of my desk. "You'll need to set up a meeting." I know he's waiting for details on what we are going to do next.

"You're keeping her, then?" he asks.

"Yes."

"So you're marrying her?"

"No." Sergio studies me. "I can't marry her." I want to marry her. There are a lot of things I want to do right now. I long to climb the stairs and immerse my face in her alluring thighs. But none of that is possible at this moment. Not until I can get my head straight.

"You're Matteo Cattaneo; you can do anything you want."

"Fuck you." I could marry her, but what would that mean? She would have the power she desired over me. I'm kidding myself. She already has some.

"You have been searching for the girl for weeks. What was your plan?"

Right now, I don't have one. I haven't seen her since she disappeared from my life. For some reason, her plan went to shit, and her brother handed her over to the Rossi family. Why? I'm not sure that's something they'd even tell her.

"I think the better question is what was hers or her brother's? Why run that night?"

"I can take her to the basement. I'm sure Church could get it out of her." I bolt from my chair. Sergio puts his hands up.

"Only proving a point, boss." I grip the side of my desk, thinking about Church touching her. All I can feel is utter rage.

"Fucking hell." I drop back down in my chair. My anger is getting me nowhere. "What if they wanted a war?"

"We already thought that was their plan. To team up with the Rossis."

"But you could make it so much easier. The greatest of empires have fallen over women." I never understood that, but my father did. He lost his own war when he lost my mother.

"Pit you and Vincent against each other." Sergio nods. "Let you two fight it out until you kill off the Rossis, then they'll come for you."

"She was the virgin sacrifice," I mutter more and more to myself.

"Well then." Sergio chuckles.

"You think she fucked Vincent?" He was all too pleased to show her off to me. She'd come to my bed so easily.

"I did not say that, boss."

I hadn't even thought of that. I didn't want to think that. I suppose their little plan will work because he's as good as dead.

But right now, I need to do something with all this aggression rushing through me. My head is spinning. I'm unsure if it was the alcohol shots or her doing. There is only one way to find out.

"Boss?" Sergio says when I stand from my desk.

"I'm not to be bothered." I head out of my office, but Sergio's words follow after me.

"Don't do something you can't take back."

It is far too late for that. Ever since Mona entered my life and I allowed myself to touch her, I've been fucked.

"Go," I order Sal when I make it to my bedroom doors. My hand pauses on the handle, wondering what I might find her doing inside. I listen, but I don't hear anything. I take a breath.

Pull it together. You're Matteo Cattaneo , I remind myself, opening the door. When I enter, I don't see her anywhere. I walk over to the bathroom, searching for her there, and then to my closet, only to find my own shit inside.

It's a reminder that she has nothing here. Everything she'll ever have from this point forward will come from me. I relish that thought, but not for the reason that I should. I don't desire to exert control over her. I want to take care of her. I want to be the center of her world.

I shake my head, trying to come to my damn senses. I need to remember that she's a traitor and a liar. One that might have fucked Vincent. All that anger comes rushing back as I stomp out of my closet, knowing she has to be here. I have men on the ground outside, and Sal on the door. There is nowhere for her to go.

"Mona," I bark, but stop when I spot her sitting on the floor on the other side of the bed. Her knees are pulled up to her chest. She doesn't bother to glance my way when I call her name. "When I call you, you come," I tell her, walking over to her. "Did you fuck him?" I tower over her. I know I'm being a complete dick, but I have to know.

Suddenly, she looks so small. A tinge of guilt slices through me. It's unfamiliar, but that's my little rabbit. Always making me do and feel things I don't think I fully understand.

"Look at me," I order again. Slowly, she raises her head. Those green eyes I've seen every night when I close my own meet mine. They are wet with tears. Her cheeks are pink, but not because of the sweet blush her fair Irish skin gets when she's turned on and comes for me. It's a punch to the gut. I made her cry. Fuck.

Why do I even care? I'm not ready to visit that. Right now, I need to focus on the reason I came up here.

"Only you have ever fucked me," she answers. I shouldn't believe her, but I do. It might be for my own self-preservation and everyone else's.

"And I'll be the only one." I pluck her up from the floor easily.

"What are you—" I kiss her. She stiffens against me at first, but when I slide my tongue across her lips, they part for me. The rest of her body melts into mine, the same way it did that first night I met her in my club. Her body recognizes who it belongs to.

"Need to taste you again." With a tug, I tear the dress off. Mona lets out a small gasp. I should savor this, but I need her now. I toss her down on the bed.

"Cattaneo?"

"Matteo," I correct, going for her panties next.

"But you said?—"

"I said I needed to taste you." I spread her thighs, revealing her pink, glistening little pussy to me. She's turned on. The thought of her wanting me as much as I do her has me losing the tiny fragment of self-control I have left. I can't wait another fucking second; I bury my face in her. That wetness is mine. Every last drop of it.

At the first taste of her, I groan against her cunt. Fuck, I've missed this. I grip her thighs, wanting to hold on to her to make sure she doesn't go anywhere.

As I lick and suck every drop from her pussy, soft moans leave her. Mona comes quickly for me with my name on her lips. I relish the sound of it. I grind my dick against the mattress, needing some kind of relief, but now more than ever, I need to keep eating every inch of Mona like a ravished animal that hasn't eaten in days. But it's been weeks for me since I've gotten to eat her, so I am starved for her.

"Matteo!" Mona cries out my name again. The sultry sound goes straight to my dick, making my balls draw up. I grunt, my own release leaving me. "It's too much." Her whole body jerks before going limp.

I reluctantly withdraw my mouth from her sweet cunt. Her eyes are closed, and her tears are now gone. The rosy glow of her cheeks is because of pleasure now. I slip off the bed, pulling the comforter back. Her eyes open when I move her under the blanket.

Neither of us says a word as I kick off my shoes before flipping off the light. I lie down next to her. Never in my life have I done this with a woman. I've actually done everything in my power to avoid it. But when it comes to my little rabbit, I find there are a lot of rules I'm willing to bend.

"Matteo." She whispers my name.

"Don't, little rabbit." I roll over, pulling her into me. "Sleep," I say against her ear, burying my nose in her hair to breathe her in.

What has she done to me?