Eleni
Mama leans away from the stove, where she’s somehow managed to gather the ingredients for what she’s calling “Italian Souvlaki” and meets my gaze.
“We have to buy those tickets soon, zouzouni.”
I look down at the cucumber I’m grating for tzatziki. Three days have passed since I made my decision, and I still haven’t told her. I don’t know how. I know Mama should go, but I’ve never been away from her. She still wakes up in the middle of the night, shaking and muttering Baba’s name. How can I look her in the eye and tell her that justice will only come to our family if she leaves alone? That I’ve let myself get roped into the same life that killed Baba?
“I have to go to the bathroom,” I say.
She nods. “Just leave the cucumber by the sink. I’ll squeeze it if you’re not back in time.”
I scurry out of the room without mee
EleniMy mouth falls open. The boss of the Staten Island Saints is licking his lips and telling me he wants me.“I—yes,” I say. “Please.”He smiles wolfishly and dives in to kiss me again. Distantly, I’m glad the fireplace isn’t lit. Dante generates so much heat, ignites such a burn in me, that I think I’d disappear if the room were any warmer.Still, somehow, I’m surprised when he runs his hand up under my shirt. He was warm at the shooting range. Here, his touch is a flame against my skin. I arch up into him as he grazes my ribs and sets off another cascade of heat.“Responsive.” He smiles as he kisses along my chin, down the line of my neck. “I like that.”His praise makes my heart hammer. I want him to smile with his lips on mine. When he gestures me up and grabs the bottom of my shirt, I don’t hesitate. No one has ever seen me like this bef
EleniTwo days after my night in Dante’s office, I sit on the king bed Mama and I have been sharing with my knees curled up to my chest. I haven’t seen more than a glimpse of him since then. He helped me dress, made me promise to go to the bathroom, gave me one last searing kiss, and then…nothing.“I feel ridiculous.” Mama turns from the closet that was slowly stocked with clothes in her size and preferred style over the last week with a sweater in her hands. “I should just take everything, yes? Even if I’ll never wear it back home?”“You should take whatever you want, Mama.” I smooth a pair of pants in her open suitcase. “You never know if you might travel someday.”“It is free.” She looks at the bright blue sweater. “What are you packing, zouzouni?”I have gotten good at not flinching when she asks me questions like this. I really did mean to tell her that night. But when I walked away from Dante with my knees still weak and told he
DanteI shoulder open my front door long after everyone in the house other than Gianna will be asleep. My own silent halls greet me. I kick the door shut, nudge off my shoes, and head upstairs to shower before I get blood on anything important.It’s been two long goddamn days, but Thano’s people are finally starting to close in on a potential location for Luca. Tony pulled them in more after I told him to make his own call. Yet another good decision that night. I stride into the master bathroom attached to my bedroom, strip, and put my suit directly in the second laundry basket I keep in there for anything that needs serious stain removal. Then, I switch on the massive rain shower I splurged on a few years ago.Everything’s been moving too fast for me to check in with Eleni, but after how vocal she was in my office, I get the sense she’d let me know if I’d done anything wrong or pissed her off. Once we have a location
EleniI blink awake, not remembering falling asleep or the slick leather under my cheek. Music still pounds into my hazy skull, but much softer now. The last thing I’m certain of is dancing at Piacere, and then…Dante?“I know you’re awake,” he says from somewhere in the room.I sit up, and the room blurs like I’m in a cartoon until I’m upright. Mostly upright. My eyes catch on a wall clock that says it’s one in the morning. Then, I see Dante behind a crisp, modernist, black-glass desk. I blink a few times. Nope, he doesn’t look happy.“So?” I lever myself to my feet. Gianna convinced me to wear one of her dresses and a pair of her heels, so standing is even more of a challenge than it otherwise might be. She also convinced me not all alcohol tastes like the crap Dante drinks, and boy was she right about that.“So,” he repeats. “So, Luca Lombardi is still out there. You’re in danger, Eleni. Do you get that?”“Yes,” I say with total confidence. I recognize enough of those words to be co
EleniWhen Dante turns back to me, the heat in his gaze is dead. “I have to handle this.”“Yeah.” I pull my bralette back over my bare chest, and the dress over that. “Of course.”He watches me like he wants to help but doesn’t know how. “I’ll have Seb take you home.”I climb off his lap and try not to feel like the stupidest woman alive. After a few moments, Seb opens a door I didn’t notice and leans in.“I’m sorry—”Dante just nods at me. Seb shoots me an apologetic smile, and I walk out with him.“So, have I pretty much ruined my chances of you ever liking me?” he asks as we walk up the stairs to the main club.“Between this and Mama?” I smile wryly. “We’ll see.”Pretending to be normal with Seb is the only thing keeping my emotions from overflowing. I don’t even know where they’re going to go anymore. I can just feel them, corked and bubbling in my chest.He chuckles and holds open the door to ou
EleniWarm desire coils between my legs as Dante stares at me, his eyes burning and proof of my disobedience behind me. Part of me wants to run to his bed, to do whatever he asks. The rest of me wants to know how far I can push him.I cross my arms under my boobs, pushing them higher. “Make me.”His gaze turns impossibly darker. “Green if you’re good. Yellow if you need a moment. Red if you need me to stop.”I blink. “What?”He prowls closer. “I’m going to take you apart, El, and I want to hear you scream. We need these words so I know when you’re serious. Repeat them.”“Green if I’m good, yellow if I need a moment, red if I want to stop,” I say, not really understanding but liking the hunger in his voice.“Good.” He smiles.He snatches me and throws me over his shoulder. I don’t even have time to yelp before he&r
DanteThe next morning, I wake in my rumpled sheets to a warm presence beside me. Eleni. For a small woman, she really does stretch out. Her hair, shining red-brown in the morning light, covers a whole pillow, so she’s stolen a corner of mine for her head. She’s on her stomach, so I can’t see her truly spectacular breasts, but my memories of them make me consider getting into sculpture because breasts like that deserve immortalization in marble. What I can see is the curve of her ass, just disappearing under the blankets and still a little pink from her first punishment, and the possessive hand she has on my chest.Possessive might be too strong of a word. She’s taking up more than half the bed. I could just be in her way. But I like to think it’s possessive. She was incredible last night, a natural submissive who danced between bratting and obedience in a way that made me never want to go to sleep, but when I slid into her f
EleniI scroll down a page on my online textbook and glance at the clock on the dining room wall. Nearly one. When I woke up in bed alone, I was a little frustrated. Last night was nothing short of magical for me, but I’ve seen movies, so I know what sneaking out before the other person wakes up means. When I searched the whole house for Dante and didn’t find him—or any note—I was worried. I know he’s a boss, and that means he’s always going to work weird hours, but this much of a rush in the middle of a weekday seems strange.But now, as I sit at his massive, luxurious dining room table trying and failing to do homework for night classes I haven’t been to in what feels like years, I’m downright scared. There’s no sign of Dante except an espresso cup with a thin film remaining at the bottom. I talked to a couple of the staff, and one of them said Tony rushed Dante out as soon as he woke up, so he