Chapter Seven

Kate's skin is like silk beneath my fingers. I trace them along her ribs, skimming over the small bumps that indicate each bone beneath her flesh.

My questing touch skims up over her breasts, and I eagerly wrap my hands around them, squeezing their pliant fullness. She moans, and my cock leaps to life at the sound.

It's been a few weeks since I have seen her and I will never admit to either of us just how much I missed her.

My father sent me away from the States for yet another round of training. He has been keeping me busy learning the ropes of the business, making sure that I understand what is required of me to keep things going once he is gone.

The training that he has laid out for me has never been easy, but recently, the demands on me have increased significantly. This time, I was sent to Russia with a team of my father's most trusted soldiers and guards.

There's a new sales route that we are establishing in Europe and Russia that is at the heart of the transaction process. My father had only told me that I would be asked to fully commit to my role as his heir once I arrived.

I arrogantly thought that he would just ask me to check on the drugs and the contacts who are handling them. I imagined that maybe I might have to rough up a few people or throw my weight around a little.

I always enjoy giving into my temper, so these kinds of "trainings" are actually a bit of relief to me.

When I arrived, however, my father was waiting for me. In fact, there was a whole group of men in a warehouse, waiting for me. He told me that there was a spy in the ranks, but that it would be all right because they had been identified.

I was glad about that and told my father it was good news. He smiled a bit sadly and told me to withhold judgment for now.

He led me into the warehouse where there was a man under guard, tied to a chair. The person was slumped over, clearly unconscious. Something about them seemed familiar, however.

I walked closer, reached out, and tipped the person's head up into the light. I could still feel the roiling nausea that washed over me when I saw that the person tied to the chair was my youngest brother.

Gianni and I had always been close. We did nearly everything together as boys, but for the past few years, Gianni had been away at college.

I told my father there had to be a mistake, that Gianni would never betray us like this.

My father had smiled at me sadly and said that there was no mistake. He told me that Gianni had been caught talking to the Baldini family as well as our contacts here in Russia, trying to take the route into his own hands.

He went on to say that, as it turns out, it's been going on for a while. Gianni has been leaking information for years.

He reminded me what has to be done with traitors, and handed me a pistol.

I pleaded with my father to let Gianni have a second chance. It was the only time I could think of that I had not done precisely what he asked of me. I never begged, I never pleaded, I never asked for anything for myself.

As I was begging for his lenience, Gianni came to. Seeing me standing there looking down at him, a gun in my hand, he started to plead with me to spare his life, desperate to find a way out of the mess he had gotten into.

"I can't do it," I told my father, tears flowing down my cheeks. "Don't make me do it."

"Please," Gianni begged. "Please don't do this, Elio."

"Do you want to take over the business, Elio?" my father asked me.

"Yes," I had said.

"Then you have no choice. Even when your betrayer is your family, you have to act decisively."

I would never forget my younger brother's desperate dark eyes, staring up into mine as he pleaded with me to save his life.

I still remembered my shaking fingers as I clenched them around the heavy gun, raised it to his head, and closed my eyes as I killed him.

I was sick for hours afterward, as if my body was trying to exorcise the demon that made it possible for me to kill my own little brother for the sake of business.

I had climbed onto the plane a few hours later to go back home, weak and pale, heaped with my father's praise.

The first thing I did was drive to Kate's house. There was nothing that anyone else could do for me now. I had crossed a line into a level of brutality that kills the soul.

The only thing that was left to me was seeking some small bit of warmth in the arms of my soon-to-be wife.

"Are you okay?" she asked me as I gently touched her body. I felt like the only part of my body that was alive were the tips of my fingers as they stole the warmth from her naked body.

"Yes," I lied, pressing her back against the mattress. "I just need you."

I can still see a question in her eyes, but I look away. I cannot tell her all the terrible things that I have done. No one could love me after hearing about my training sessions and the things that I have been asked to do.

I try to make myself be gentle, to treat the moment kindly, to be a good person in just this one aspect of my life. But I find myself growing increasingly unkind, gripping her skin tightly, hurting her on purpose. Taking out my sadness and rage of who I have become on her beautiful, tender body.

Kate rises to the challenge of my onslaught, something dangerously like joy in her eyes in response to each slap, each pinch, each bite of my teeth.

I have never been this rough with her, despite imagining getting to do so while I jerked off in the shower.

I hear her moan loudly as I bite her breast so hard I am scared that I have drawn blood. I lift her off the mattress and spin her around, shoving her forward as I bend her over the bed.

She is panting with excitement, her small breasts heaving, her body quivering. I reach down to finger the soft lips of her pussy and find her to be soaking wet, ready for me.

"Fuck me, Elio," she whispers to me, her small hands gripping the sheets and twisting them tightly in her grip.

I take a deep breath, willing myself to retain some control. She presses back against me in a silent plea, and I feel the last of my control unravel.

I growl and grab her hips. I enter her in one hard thrust, delivering a stinging slap to her backside as I do so. She makes a keening noise and starts moving against me.

I pour all of my fury, hurt, and sadness into how I'm fucking her. I'm even hurting myself as I pound into her body, but she is making sounds like she is loving everything that I am doing to her.

Her tits bounce, and her hair flies around as I batter her body, trying to feel anything but rage in my heart.

"I'm going to come!" she cries out, and I jerk myself from her body. I flip her over and shove her into the middle of the bed. I throw myself on top of her, lifting her hips so that I can go back to pounding into her.

She comes with a sharp wail, and the sound pushes me over the edge as well. I pour myself into her body, my teeth sunk into her shoulder so hard that I'm sure I will draw blood.

I hold still for a moment, then turn my cheek onto her shoulder, cradling her closer to me. She is panting and combing her fingers through my hair.

My eyes hurt, but I don't know why until I feel moisture slipping down my cheeks.

"That was incredible," Kate breathes out, shifting a little beneath me. I remain silent, trying to gather myself so that she won't know that I am crying. "I had no idea anything could be like that," she says, wonderment in her tone.

She stops combing through my hair, and attempts to lift my head off her chest. "Are you okay?" she asks me again.

I reluctantly pull away from her, turning my face away and swiping at my eyes. My mind feels clearer now, and I really don't want her to know that I gave in to my emotions.

I cannot afford to have feelings anymore. It's my job to rule everyone around me with an iron fist now.

"Elio," Kate says with confusion in her voice. She presses a hand to her shoulder. "Are you crying?"

I manage to laugh scornfully at this, and I turn toward her, making my expression dead and empty. "Of course not," I say condescendingly. "It's sweat. Come on, get up. I want to go to dinner."

"Wake up!"

It's a man's voice, and someone is kicking at my side with their foot. I grunt, and slit my eyes open, wincing at the bright lights in the room. Where is Kate? I wonder.

I look around, my eyes still unhappy with taking in all the light around them. It all starts to come back to me, I realize that I was dreaming about Kate and that I'm still in Mexico with the Baldini family.

It occurs to me that I must have been dreaming about having sex with Kate when I notice the erection straining against my slacks. I wriggle my ankles and wrists and find that they are zip-tied together.

"Must have been a good dream." the man's voice says, a wry note of amusement coloring his tone.

I look up to see Luca Baldini standing over me. He casts a knowing glance at my crotch, and I return his smile with a shark-like grin.

"That's what happens when I think about killing you by slow torture," I spit at him.

Luca laughs. "Big talk for a guy that my brother knocked out and who's currently tied up in a hotel room bed."

I snort and wiggle around to get some feeling back into my hands. My shoulders ache from lying on my arms like this. I wonder how long I have been unconscious. "Where's Kate?" I ask Luca.

"Somewhere safe," Luca replies. He gives me a push to roll me onto my side and my arms and hands come back to aching life as blood flows into them again.

"What are you planning to do with me?" I inquire.

"Well, my brother and I were hoping that you'd agree to a simple transaction. We have a few offers that we could make that would cut us in on your trade with Russia. Kate will serve as security until you decide to agree."

I ponder this for a moment. Then I say, "Regardless of what you might think, I am not so foolish as to give in to your demands. You could have just killed her already, and this is all a trick."

"Oh, I figured you would say that," Luca said conversationally. He crosses the hotel room to sit in the chair alongside the bed.

He crosses one leg over the other and rests his gun on his knee. "But I figured that you might be more motivated if you knew that Kate's child isn't Marco's. Mateo is yours."

I have become very adept at keeping my expression neutral, my emotions shuttered away, but this bit of information is enough of a shock that I almost reveal my surprise to Luca.

My mind races as I consider if this could be true. I grudgingly have to admit that it could be possible, but I won't believe it until I hear the words from Kate's lips.

"We figure that we will let you head home in good faith," Luca says. "You can wait to hear from us when we are ready to let you see Kate. She can confirm what I am telling you and then we can all come to a civilized agreement about what kind of trade routes you want to share with us. Until then, Kate belongs to us and your first-born son, your heir, is in our clutches. Even if the girl doesn't actually mean anything to you, I'm sure Mateo does."

"Do you really think I will ever want to work with you?" I say gently to Luca, as though I am talking to a simpleton.

Luca chuckles. "No, I don't think that. However, I don't actually have to give your child back to you if it doesn't please me to do so. I think over time, you will come to find that we can be excellent business partners. Once we have what we need from you, you can be free to go about your life and make new conquests. We might even share some of the spoils of our own efforts with you, if it seems like the arrangement will be convenient to us."

I remain quiet for a stretch, my mind turning over what Luca has said. I am used to being unable to trust anyone I work with on a daily basis, so the fact that Luca might not hold up his end of the bargain doesn't really concern me for now.

What matters right now, is that I am allowed to go back to the US and figure out what to do next.

I think of the dream that Luca woke me up from. Ever since the day that I was asked to kill my brother for his betrayal, Kate has been my only solace in the world.

Being without her for the past seven years has been terrible, painful, and empty. I would do almost anything to get her back.

"Fine," I say. "You have a deal."