Chapter 5

DANTE

We had dissected the evening's events for Carlo and my brothers who hadn't been with me, then we'd talked it over, again and again with some of our men, trying to make sense of everything.

"Someone betrayed us tonight, either on our side or Romano's." Carlo was up on his feet and pacing around his office.

Marco shook his head. "After everything with Messina, we cut all of the dead wood and anyone who was any kind of risk . . . it has to be on their end."

I nodded having already come to that conclusion myself. Carlo said nothing, his silence drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

"What?" I hoped he wasn't thinking what I thought he was.

"Who in that place had a motive to set us up? Who might have, oh, I don't know, had a motive for revenge?"

He was thinking exactly what I feared.

It was one of our newer men that spoke next, something most people would have waited to be invited to do, but not this idiot. I was unsure what he was likely to say, however, when I heard his words, rage flooded my whole being. "Her traitorous pig of a brother betrayed us, so why not her? Whoring can't be that prosperous, and her standards can't be high if she's parading naked in a shithole like tonight and fucking the sewer rats that were there."

Everything moved in slow motion and from the first words uttered, I was sure I was up on my feet, heading for him, ready to put my fist through his face, yet I still wasn't there as he spoke again.

"I guarantee I'll get the bitch to talk, one way or another and I'll enjoy it."

Finally his words were stemmed as I spread his nose across his face and continued to rain blows down as he briefly doubled over, holding his face. Moving back into an upright position, I found myself pulled back, possibly by one or two of my brothers while Carlo roared.

"Stop! You," he pointed to me, "Calm the fuck down." Then turning to the man I still glared at, his eyes blackening as his nose poured blood while I watched him, "Anna is an old family friend. She is not a whore, and even if she was, you haven't earned the right to call her that. As for her brother, it was a private matter that is now closed, do you understand?"

"Of course, Boss, I meant no offence. I just want to serve you."

Carlo nodded. "Go and get cleaned up." Looking to one of the other men, he spoke again. "Go with him."

As the men left, he dismissed everyone other than me and our other brothers who were present and then faced me. "Sit the fuck down."

Reluctantly, I did as ordered and considered my next move.

"I get why you brought Anna back with you, her and the baby, but you can't act this way. The bear with a sore head is not what we need."

"I dunno, you did it well enough when you first brought Gina back here."

He scowled at his wife's name being dragged into this. "Both Jay and Gina were brought here for their safety, but Gigi was always my soulmate."

Previously, I would have ripped the piss out of him, but not this time. I said nothing, however, my face or something must have given something away as his expression changed, softened perhaps.

"Whilst one of our men walking around with a black eye and a broken nose might send a message to any of the others who consider bad mouthing Anna, it will also send a message of unrest and inside fighting to the wider world, our enemies."

He was right and we needed everything to be solid here, not fraught. "Of course, I will rectify things with him in the morning. Thank you for what you said about Anna."

He nodded. "I meant it. Who is the baby's father? Is he going to become a problem?"

Shaking my head, I realised I hadn't even considered that until now. "I don't know but he must be a piece of shit to not provide for his child and to allow Anna to be dancing in a club, right?"

All of my brothers nodded.

"We need to find out. If she won't tell you, I will arrange for some digging tomorrow. The men we captured from the club will need to be interrogated too, and the police will have a report for me first thing, but I think we should all try and get a few hours' sleep."

"Yeah, before Gina sends out a search party for you." Marco smirked, knowing if anyone's wife would come searching, it would be Gina.

Getting to his feet, Carlo said nothing, simply opening the door for us all to leave.

Climbing the stairs, I wondered if Anna had settled in, her and the baby, and then I replayed Carlos' question about Amina's father. Would I be overstepping the mark if I straight out asked who he was? Perhaps I should wait for her to bring up the subject or even allow Carlo to get the investigators on the case and leave well alone.

Entering my home, I spotted Anna sitting on the sofa, cradling the baby . . . Shit! She was nursing her and as I got closer, I couldn't stop looking at them, the image of her feeding the baby who was noisily suckling her mother's breast. This wasn't the first time I'd seen a woman nursing; hell, in this house alone there was a constant stream of babies being born and a good many of them were breastfed, so why was I so enamoured by the image of this particular one? This woman, this baby, this breast?

"I can take her somewhere else." Anna was already attempting to get to her feet without disturbing the baby.

I felt like an ass for having made her feel uncomfortable with what had probably looked like an ogle or disapproval as I had a tendency to wear a frown. "No, stay. Can I get you a drink or some food?"

She settled back in her seat and looked across at the clock. "Dante, it's three in the morning, you need sleep not food."

Dropping into the space next to her, I reached across and stroked across Amina's head. "Is she okay? You have everything you need?"

"Yes, she's fine and we do. Gina and Jay stopped by and made sure we had everything we needed."

"We can arrange for anything else to be here tomorrow."

She nodded and offered the tiniest of smiles as the baby released a snore.

"About before," she began, but I interrupted.

"Anna, you're right, it's late, we should sleep."

Her scowl told me that she wasn't happy at my dismissal of her conversation, but the last thing I needed to do was to talk about the reason for her earlier fear. Fear of me? Perhaps, although it was clear that my actions may have been responsible for her obvious fright, but somehow, I felt sure I was incidental. My own scowl deepened as I wondered who was the catalyst for the terror that had been clearly etched on her face. Moreover, what had they done to her? Rage coursed through me as I thought of all the horrific things that would befall them if I ever found out their identity.

"Should I take the sofa? I'll just need to bring the crib out–"

My head was spinning and right now, I just wanted to sleep and to switch my brain off.

"Nobody is taking the sofa, nor moving the crib. I have a perfectly good bed, big enough for us both, so please . . ." I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and pinched the bridge of my nose, warning off a headache that threatened.

"We can't share a bed." She glared up at me, her lips turning into a determined pout.

"We can, and we will. I am not sleeping on the sofa, and neither are you, so you can walk in there and climb into bed, or I will carry you. Your choice."

The firmness of her objection faded before my eyes as nervousness replaced it. I dropped to my haunches so we were eye to eye.

"Do you trust me?"

She studied me and seemed to consider her response.

"Anna, you know me, always have, we were the best of friends, we made promises to one another."

Her cheeks flushed, telling me that she remembered those promises, not that she'd kept all of them.

"You murdered my brother." Her words weren't even an accusation, more of a statement.

"Anna . . . you and Amina are here, under my protection, as family . . . your brother, he betrayed us, and he knew what would happen, you both did, but the one thing he asked of me was to take care of you, and I will, always." I reached for her, stroking a thumb across her cheek. "You were, you are and always will be, mia ragazza. I will never hurt you. Tell me you believe that."

She nodded, moving into my touch before suddenly withdrawing. "Aldo didn't betray you."

I admired her love and loyalty to her brother but I wasn't going to argue or discuss this. As much as it had needed to be done, that night hadn't given me any satisfaction and when I thought about it, a bad taste rose in my throat like bile and I didn't really know why. Instead, I reached for the sleeping baby and pulled her into my arms, hoping not to look at Anna's breast as she returned it to her clothing while I took Amina into the bedroom.

"There you go, bella ragazza, goodnight and god bless you." With two fingers pressed to my lips, I kissed them and transferred that to the beautiful, sleeping bundle's head. "If you want the bathroom help yourself," I told Anna who stood behind me and headed into my dressing room, and as my customary naked sleeping was out of the question, I found a pair of check pyjama bottoms Mama had bought in case of an emergency. I smirked and wondered what sort of emergency would have me reaching for pyjama bottoms.

Returning to the bedroom that had no illumination at all, I smiled silently as I heard the innocent snores of Amina and saw the shape of Anna in my bed, and while it might not be exactly how I had imagined it would be, and I had imagined it, many, many times, it filled me with warmth.

Climbing in beside her I couldn't help but think of the first time we had been on a bed together, the first time we had touched and made love together. I had replayed it so many times before tonight but now it was more vivid, like a movie playing in my head.

We had kissed and explored each other and after reassuring Anna that I would fit inside her, we had kissed some more as my hand had settled between her legs where I had found her to be wet, very wet.

My fingers had explored her, stretching and preparing her as well as circling her clit, edging her closer to release. Two fingers filled her and although I hadn't doubted that I would fit inside her, it was going to be tight and it was going to hurt her, but then I was going to make her feel better than she ever had.

Her mewls and cries turned me on as much as the sight of her nakedness and her rising pleasure. She was wrapping her arms around my back, grazing the skin, scratching me as she pulled me closer then pushed me away. Her arousal and the sensations of it were clearly intensifying.

"Dante." The sound of my name on her lips was always welcome but with her arousal coating my fingers and her about to come, it was off the scale.

Increasing the speed of my thrusting fingers and with my thumb circling her clit, she fell over the edge of pleasure, her whole body shaking and convulsing, her internal muscles clinging to my digits, almost threatening to keep them captive and the truth was, I'd happily remain here, with her, forever.

When her breathing began to calm and she focused on me, we both smiled.

"A condom," I said, briefly leaving her to grab one from my pocket.

"You thought this would happen?" she asked and then she looked sad.

Did she think I was using her, or was it that she thought I was always prepared for other women? I refused to be drawn on other women, even to myself as I returned to the bed.

"You are mine, Anna. I came here wanting you to know that, mia ragazza."

She grinned as I sheathed myself and positioned myself between her thighs. I had never been with a virgin before but this was right, that if I was going to, it would be with Anna.

"You ready?"

She nodded as I positioned myself at her entrance and began to edge in. Her release helped initially, but very quickly she began to feel discomfort.

"Look at me, Anna," I commanded. "Eyes on me," I told her, braced on my forearms as I hovered over her. "It is going to sting and then it will be good."

Gradually, I edged inside her, pushing past her body's resistance to me, kissing her and talking to her to distract her.

I was about halfway there when the first of her tears escaped her eyes. "It hurts."

"Do you want me to stop?" Was I even capable of stopping now?

"No, it has to be you, please." My ego was swelling as much as my cock at her intent and desire for me to be her first.

I pushed on, and with a couple of harder thrusts that caused her to cry out, I was buried inside her. I needed not to think of that, or else this would be over before it started. Giving a little time for her to adjust to my presence, we kissed, and then I began to move. The initial discomfort gave way to pleasure soon enough and her moans and cries confirmed that.

"Dante, yes, don't stop," she told me.

I laughed. "No stopping." I adjusted my position several times to give her greater pleasure and also to buy me a little time because I was as close to coming as I had ever been. I found myself up on my knees between her legs that I held open. The sight of my cock driving in and out of her would be my undoing. It was erotic, it was perfect, and downright dirty, as were the thoughts in my head of all the ways I intended to have this woman.

"Touch yourself. Pinch your nipples and then stroke your clit while I fuck this greedy little pussy. My pussy."

Her pussy clamped around me like a vice. She liked the dirty talk and me fucking her, which was good because this would be the first of many times those things would happen, it had to be.

She reached between her lips and began to stroke her clit while her other hand teased each of her nipples in turn.

"Dante, I'm going to . . ." Her voice trailed off.

That wouldn't do. I needed her to fully embrace this and to be proud of what we were doing, of how I made her feel, and more than that, I needed her to be able to say it. "You're going to come. Tell me how close you are, how good it feels to have me fucking you."

She looked away.

"Look at me, Anna. Tell me how much you like me fucking you."

"I love you fucking me."

"Tell me how close you are to coming."

"Really close, it's almost too much."

"Tell me whose name you're going to scream when you come all over my cock."

"Yours."

"Whose pussy am I fucking?"

She hesitated so I paused all movement. "Don't stop, please. It's yours, your pussy."

I couldn't have fought my grin had I wanted to, and I didn't. "Too fucking right this is my pussy, and don't ever forget it." My balls were tightening and I was ready to explode, but I needed her there with me. "Come, Anna, come with me, come for me."

And like that she screamed my name as I came harder than I thought was possible and I knew in that second she had ruined me, meaning one way or another, her leaving would be temporary and one day, her place would forever be in my bed.