Chapter 4

ANNA

He had to be kidding me. Dante had murdered my brother, he'd admitted that, hadn't he? I cursed myself for even considering that I knew that was going to happen, had to happen, but felt responsible for it, for not preventing it. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the current issue. He had rescued me tonight, although I wondered if the need to be rescued wasn't down to him and his family in the first place. But without him I couldn't say with certainty that Amina and I would have gotten out of the club in one piece. I was grateful and had accepted that being away from him and his home would have left me and my child vulnerable, so had accepted his offer, although it was more a demand that I return home with him. What I hadn't imagined was the expectation to sleep in his room and he made it sound like it would be with him! I knew this huge house was more like an apartment complex and that everyone in the family had their own accommodation within the main house, but it also had guest rooms, cottages, and homes in the grounds, and that is where I had expected to stay. When I had thought that I'd need divine intervention to escape my hellish home, I hadn't expected that to come in the form of Dante.

Following in his wake, I moved through the door he had opened and found a luxurious living area where he was already moving cushions from the sofa to the floor in order to settle Amina who was still smiling and gurgling at him adoringly. Me and my daughter needed words because one thing I had vowed when she had been born was that she would not end up embroiled with these men in this world. Looked like my plan might be flawed as she began to giggle as Dante tickled her belly before preparing to leave her and turned his attention to me.

"A word, now!"

He was already leaving the room, opening another door and directing me to enter before him. The sound of the door gently closing was almost deafening, or perhaps that was the blood rushing through my veins as he moved closer until I was pressed firmly against the wall, or even the realisation that I was in his bedroom.

"Dante, please." I had no idea what I was begging for, but I was suddenly scared to be alone with him. "I'm sorry, don't hurt me."

He stopped immediately and stepped back. "What did you say to me?"

"Don't hurt me." The first of my tears threatened to break as he bent his knees and lifted my chin so we were eye to eye.

"Anna, I would never hurt you, not like your voice and fear in your eyes mean. I need you to stay here, both of you. Let me protect you, yes?"

I nodded, unable to risk speaking. Dante didn't need to know what was driving my fear, not now, not ever. "Sorry," I managed to squeak out and if that didn't cause a deeper frown to crease his brow.

"Don't be, not for letting me know when you're scared or if you need something from me, or for me to stop."

"Okay."

He leaned in, his large hand pushing my hair back, tucking it behind my ear before drawing his thumb across my cheek, down across my neck until he was cupping it, pulling me in closely. For a second I thought he was going to kiss me, maybe hoped he was, which was confusing to say the least as only seconds before I had been petrified of what he might do.

"I'll send Gina up with some things for Amina, okay?" He was so close I could feel his warm breath moving across the top of my head, my hair standing on end as a shudder coursed through me. "If you need anything for either of you, ask." His final word was more of a command than a question and then his lips fell to my forehead where he landed the gentlest of kisses.

A kiss that I thought might make me cry. Or perhaps it wasn't the kiss itself but the tender touch, a touch I hadn't known for a long time, not since the last time Dante had touched me.

Pulling me into the living area where my daughter lay in the position he had left her in, I watched as he moved to stand over her. "Hey, bella ragazza." He bent down and picked her up and if she didn't offer him the biggest of grins before burying herself in his neck. "Oh, are you tired still? Come on, take care of Mama, and I'll be back soon, okay?" He handed her to me and left us alone.

Amina cried as the door closed while I wondered what the hell was going on, not in the criminal underground, but in my head and possibly my heart.

Dante probably hadn't even got to the bottom of the stairs when there was a knock on the door. Opening it, I was greeted by Gina and Jay, both of whom I had met a couple of times before things turned to shit with Aldo.

"Hi, Anna, how you doing?" Gina held her own daughter on her hip, her baby reaching towards my own.

"Do you want to come in, I know that it's late but it looks like the babies have made friends."

"This house never sleeps though, does it? And my daughter, much like her father, seems to thrive on being awake when she should be sleeping."

Both women sat on the sofa while the babies seemed to be exploring one another on the rug in front of us.

"I'm sorry about earlier, about snapping at you when I came into the house."

Gina waved my apology off. "Unnecessary. This house and the men in it are made to drive us crazy I am sure."

I nodded while Jay laughed before turning her attention to my daughter. "What's her name?"

"Amina."

"That's so pretty. Amina and Alessandra." Jay reached down and stroked the heads of each child in turn.

"You named her after The Capo?" I had been away a relatively short time and had missed so much.

"Nonno, yes. I believe my husband is The Capo now. It was the only girl's name Carlo and I could agree on, but we sometimes shorten it to Leesa."

The quirk of my brow was my only response wondering how she really felt about him being The Capo because not only had she been a total outsider when she met Carlo, she had been clean and honest, untouched by the darkness our world was filled with. Both her and Jay had been, but the latter had seemed able to accept the idea of asking no questions, and doing as she was told far quicker than Gina.

"Dante asked us to come and help you with clothes and things for the baby until tomorrow."

I nodded at Gina who was already on her feet.

"Come on then, let's go to my place and see what we have for you both. Zita is arranging for Leesa's first crib to be brought up."

An hour, maybe two passed and by the time I returned to Dante's apartment, it was barely recognisable with a sea of baby clothes, toys and accessories littering the place. Clothes and toiletries had been put into the bathroom and the empty space in Dante's dressing room for me. The crib was assembled, dressed in the most adorable white and pink linen and positioned at the foot of the bed. Dante's bed. I really was expected to remain here, in his home, his bed, but what did he expect from that situation, from me? He had reassured me that my wishes and boundaries would be respected, so I had nothing to worry about, did I? Except that I wasn't sure if I spent enough time with him that I wouldn't want more. It had been hours and I was already remembering the old Dante, the handsome boy he had been, my first crush, my first kiss, and for such a long time the one I hoped would be my everything.

I allowed my mind to drift back to the day I left here. The day Dante had kissed me for the first time, when I had been his first kiss too. That still made my heart bloom, although I didn't doubt there had been many women since who had been kissed by him, but for now I was back in that moment, that kiss and everything that had followed.

Dante's lips seemed to fit mine perfectly. As we moved together in perfect harmony, his tongue had entered my mouth and as it met my own, it was perfect. We remained in the hall for long minutes, how many I was unsure, Dante's hands skimming over my clothed body, caressing me and causing my body to heat, soften and dampen, while the strange sounds of desire and pleasure echoed around us.

"Anna." He broke the kiss with his breathless murmur of my name. "I want so much more than to kiss you."

He was asking for consent to take this any further.

I didn't know what to say to him, instead, I stretched forward and took his hand in mine so I might lead him upstairs. To my bedroom. He offered no objection and simply followed. Once in my bedroom he began to kiss me again, but this time, rather than stepping me back into a wall, he led me to my bed and lay beside me.

"Anna, are you sure?" he asked as his gaze bore through me and his eyes were aflame with want, perhaps something deeper.

"Yes. I want you to be my first."

He grinned down at me while his fingers were already undoing the buttons on the red sundress I wore. "I would like to be your only."

Unsure where it came from, I lunged for him, pulling on his clothes in an attempt to feel his lips on mine once more. Kissing Dante was the best feeling in the world. The way I reacted to it confirmed my feelings for him. His touch became firmer and moved beneath my clothing, skimming my sides before moving higher, grazing my nipples that were erect and aching.

"Dante," I pleaded and he didn't disappoint me as his finger slid beneath the plain cotton fabric of my bra, stroking the beaded point of my nipple before incorporating another finger that allowed him to bring each breast to sit atop the fabric of my bra.

"Perfection, Anna," he said before closing his mouth around my nipple and sucking. The sound that left my mouth was a cross between a moan and a hoarse cry as sensation tore through me, from my breasts to my sex that was already slick with arousal and desperate for Dante's touch.

In no time at all we were both down to our underwear, our bodies entwined as our hands explored the other. The clasp on my bra was expertly undone by Dante before he kissed his way down my body until he got to my underwear that he slid over my behind and then pulled them down my legs before casting them aside. Suddenly I felt embarrassed and overexposed, although I understood that I couldn't be any more exposed, or so I thought until he spread my legs and looked down at me. There.

Desperately, I tried to close my legs and cover myself with my hands.

"Anna, show me, show yourself to me. There is nothing to be ashamed of. You are beautiful." And I believed every word of it, so much so that I uncovered myself and watched on as Dante pushed his underwear down to reveal his huge erection that already glistened with his arousal.

"Dante, it's big . . . will it–"

"It will fit," he told me, knowing where I was going. "It might be a little painful, but it will feel good, I promise."

His body blanketed mine and he kissed me again while his hand reached between my legs and began to explore me there, stroking, spreading my wetness, coating his fingers that moved between circling my clit and sliding inside me. He may not have kissed another woman before, and while the things he had done with others wasn't something I wanted to dwell on, there was no denying that he knew exactly how to bring pleasure to a woman.

Amina wriggled in my hold, startling me, reminding me of the fact that I was not in my childhood bedroom having sex for the first time. Sex with Dante. My breathing was a little rapid and the ache between my legs screamed for some kind of release, but this was not the time. A small sound from my daughter caused me to gaze down at her, my freshly bathed and dressed baby, a picture of total innocence. Tears welled as I prepared to nurse her. This is how her life should have been, in a warm and loving home, with a family who would stop at nothing to keep her safe and happy, even if to the outside world they were bad people, not living in a mouldy basement apartment that even rats and cockroaches refused to live in. Never knowing if I could make ends meet, often going without food myself in order to keep the shitty roof over our heads. I didn't doubt that Dante would at some point mention my ‘work' but if I hadn't secured that job when I had, I really had no clue what would have become of us because without Aldo supporting us, we had had nothing.

"Mama promises you that we will never go back to that life, baby," I told her as I got comfortable and offered her my breast thinking that this should have been my life, with Dante.