TALIA
What the hell!
Was he serious right now?
I was standing there shaking from the events that had just happened, feeling like I’d just been slapped.
Did he want me to continue working like nothing had happened? Was this how the world of the mafia operated?
“Don’t keep me waiting, doll,” Lorenzo spoke, his voice full of warning. “I just saved your virtue, or whatever the fuck’s left of it. The least you can do is show me your appreciation.”
I knew I was being taunted. He was the man that abducted me, not some dashing savior. I was a captive in this club, not a willing employee.
But something stopped my frustration from rising. The sight and screams of that man that had been dragged out. The way everyone in this club respected and feared him. They were terrified of putting one foot out of place. Even Giovanni, the manager of this club I had come to find out was called Dark Eden, was scared to death of what Lorenzo Gallieni could do to him.
‘Ludovic is dead.’
The memory of the mafia Don saying those words made me shiver and I moved over to him, my heels clicking on the floor. I was on autopilot as I tried to move to the beat of the music.
Suddenly arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me down, and I gasped, finding myself on his lap. I tried to move but he wouldn’t let me, his eyes and hands keeping me in place.
“Continue struggling doll,” he chuckled. “I do enjoy it. You’re quite the feisty one aren’t you?”
“Lorenzo—”
My breath hitched as he pulled me closer, his breath fanned against my neck.
I was weak against him, and I hated it. Why did he do this to me? Why could he?
I knew the answer: because I couldn’t do anything about it.
I had to find a way out of here, or at least to survive this. I knew I couldn’t do that by making an enemy out of Lorenzo just yet.
I had to take charge of my destiny somehow.
“Nothing to say, Talia? I thought you’d be begging by now, hmm?”
Screw it, I thought.
Biting my bottom lip, I exhaled slowly and found the courage to look up into his eyes.
“Thank you,” I softly said. “For saving me.”
Surprise flickered in his eyes, so clear I could read it in a flash. Taking advantage of his brief falter, I shifted on his lap, and began to move once more. This time, rolling my hips to the beat of the music. Slowly, as sensually as I could make it.
This was a dangerous game I was playing, but it was the only way I could appease the force that was Lorenzo.
I heard his breath release slowly, and felt his body tense under my movements. He was gazing at me with such heat and intensity that I could feel it burning a trail inside my body.
I liked it, I realized with a sick feeling.
I liked the weight of his attention on me. And at the same time, I hated it.
“That’s more like it, doll.”
His hands began to guide my hips at a rhythm. There and then, in this corner of the club, no one else could interrupt us. It was just him and I.
The longer my hips rolled on his and ground against his thighs, the more I became aware of the bulge rising beneath me. I wasn’t such a naive girl to not know what it was.
My face heated up, but it couldn’t compare to the heat inside my belly.
My hips stuttered, and his grip on my hips tightened.
“Continue, just like that.”
And I couldn’t disobey his words.
I placed my hands against his chest and leaned back, my hands grasping for purchase.
It no longer felt like just a dance.
It felt like he was setting a rhythm that came from somewhere else. Another desire lay behind his eyes: one that I had seen so many times with other clients when I worked at the escort agency, but never catered to.
A desire to fuck me.
But could I avoid it as smoothly this time as I did the many other times?
This time there was no work policy protecting me. Nobody to turn to that could stop him. Who could even come against Lorenzo and get away with it? No one.
I panted as he continued, this time taking the lead. The music didn’t matter, nor did the surrounding patrons.
I closed my eyes against the feeling of his bulge rocking against my lace covered folds, conflicting emotions crashing against each other, warring in my stomach and causing chaos for my mind.
On one hand, I wanted to run away. I didn’t want Lorenzo to have his hands on me, to use me as his pawn. He had all the oier and I had none. He was the Don of a mafia organization and I was just some 23 year old girl who got caught up in another man’s mess.
On the other hand?
I was so consumed with a dark desire to let him have his way. I wanted him to screw me silly, the way that I could only dream of. I wanted his hands on me, over my body. I wanted his manhood inside me, making me feel like a woman.
It was too much.
The feeling of intensity welled up in my belly and I knew I couldn’t contain it. My whimpers became groans and moans and I leaned my head back, my nipples hard against the lace and so damn sensitive to each movement I made.
“Please, stop. Please.”
My words came out in a rush, my voice cracked.
Suddenly he stilled, and I could finally breathe.
My lips sucked in a large gulp of air, and I coughed, tears filling my eyes. I knew I had to get away.
I didn’t look at Lorenzo as I shakily left his lap, and turned tail and ran. Ran straight to my room and locked the door, before falling to my feet. My thighs still trembled, and I reached my hand to press against my core. The lace of the panties that covered me was wet, and I hissed in pleasure, finding purchase against my palm.
I was close, and before I knew it, I came with a soft cry, shaking and cursing Lorenzo’s name.
…
LORENZO“Fuck me, you’re so good,” the woman whimpered as I finally released her and removed the used condom from my cock, tossing it in the trash where it belonged.A chuckle left my lips and I stood from the bed. I knew I was so good, but to be told that did stroke a lot more than my ego.She was nothing but some girl I’d picked up at a bar to vent out my frustrations on. Since Talia had riled me up so much, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I wanted her.At least a fuck would let me taste her just once and I’d let her go. Talia was meant to be nothing more than a fucking escort to me, just another woman who was a pawn to use. Nothing more. But now, I had begun to crave her presence, to feel intrigued by her.If only I fucked her before now, I wouldn’t be so drawn in, right?I got dressed and tossed a couple of hundred dollar bills at the naked woman who lay in bliss. It hit her breasts, fanning over her torso.Without a word I left, entering the Aston Martin I had driven to the b
TaliaI watched as the VIP clients trouped in; it was late at night, and they weren't leaving. One of the senators came visiting, and he needed to be entertained. I watched from the bar as the girls walked over to serve the table.“Hey, you're needed on table six,” Amanda, one of my colleagues, said. I was confused that my assistance was needed because it looked like they had it under control.“Giovanni said I should stay at the bar,” I explained, hoping she wouldn't pressure me into leaving.“Well, Giovanni is not here, and one of the clients asked specifically for you.” She looked pissed that I was hesitant; she kept glaring at me like I was doing something wrong by sitting at the bar.I couldn't resist anymore, so I followed her to the table.“Look at the slut that finally decided to show up,” one of the senators said while the others laughed.“Come sit with Daddy and show me what you can do,” he grinned. I felt disgusted staring at him. He was very nasty and perverted. I wanted to
LorenzoShe was mine, to touch and fuck so who dared touch her.I stared at her with so much anger; I couldn’t believe someone had the audacity to defile my order.Touching what was mine wasn't forgivable and the fact that she was keeping his name from me fueled my anger. “Why did you fucking lie to me?” I growled, ordering the driver to stop the car. “I… don’t know,” she mumbled, clearly avoiding my gaze, my eyes caught her biting my lips, and it took all the resolve i had let not to pull her right into my arms.She was so innocent. “If I find out you’re lying to protect someone, I’ll kill them right in front of you, so unless you want that to happen, you tell me who the fuck dared do this to you,” I commanded. She looked scared, almost as though if she said a thing, she’d be in danger. Who the hell was she afraid of? “I don’t want trouble,“ she begged, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes. “Well, you get in trouble if you don’t tell me names.” Tired of her hesitation, I f
Lorenzo’s POV“Talia has been sulking all day. She has locked herself in the room and has refused to eat since morning. You have to go talk to her."I blinked, taking in the information. She had taken Maria’s confrontation a little bit too seriously, and her eyes were brimming with tears when she made her way to her room. “You could’ve been a lot nicer to her?” I said, sliding my hands into my pocket. “I admit I was wrong, sir. I promise it won’t happen again, but I assumed she was one of those cheapskates who love hanging around you for materialistic purposes.” Maria apologized. Only one person could’ve put her up to this: my sister, Marissa. As much as I deeply loved her, I abhorred having my personal space and decision nitpicked. I made a mental note to speak to her about her actions as soon as possible, but for now, I had other pressing issues to attend to. I was still pissed about the fact that she had tried to stop me from dealing with Damien at the club, and her punishment
Lorenzo’s POVI watched on with a smirk on my face as Talia pulled the sheets around herself, a horrific look on her face as she realized what had just happened. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Talia.” I couldn’t hold back my laughter. “What—what did you do to me?” She muttered, unable to get her words straight. “We had nearly had sex yet again,” I replied without missing a beat. “I said I wouldn’t, but you keep pushing me. I promised myself not to become your whore; I have my dignity to—““Spare me that load of bull crap now, will you?” I cut her short rudely. “Have you forgotten what you were before you became mine? You were a fucking escort, that’s what you were.” “I wasn’t sleeping around with different men!” She yelled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She was pretty stubborn; I’d give her that, and I felt a sense of pleasure wash over me as I knew I’d relish every moment I’d spend breaking her. “I’ve had escorts in the past, and at the end of the day, they w
Lorenzo's POV“Really?”Even though she was drunk, she could still think sanely.“Yes, Nadia,” I said, tugging at my tie as it came loose.I could feel Talia's eyes on me, and it made me smile. I was going to show her what she was missing out on.I turned my attention back to Nadia and cupped her ass as she straddled me. Low grunts and moans escaped our mouths as we both kissed passionately.I pulled away from her and looked up to meet Talia's burning eyes on me. It was time to put on a show for her, I had her attention now.I kissed Nadia hard and long before taking off her dress, leaving her in just a black-laced thong.Her hands moved over my body as she hurriedly undid the buttons on my shirt."I need you to make me scream now, Lorenzo…" she managed to let out some words."That's my girl." I smiled and shrugged off my shirt before reaching into my pockets to pull out a condom, ripping it open with his teeth.Nadia's focus was on me and she trailed her fingers down my perfectly chi
Lorenzo's POVI made my way toward my office when one of my guards walked up to me.“Is there a problem?” I snapped, feeling frustrated after everything I've had to endure after the failed meetings with potential investors earlier today.“We finally managed to capture him.” The guard said with a stern expression on his face.“About time!” I nodded, heaving a sigh of relief as I made my way down to the basement where the man would be held.I've been trying to capture him for the past few days but he'd proven to be elusive until now. I licked at my lips at the prospect of unleashing my fury on one of the most wanted men on my list.The lights turned on as I walked in through the door, there was a man in the middle of the room, mid-fifties at first guess, slightly overweight, tied to a chair. He looked pretty beaten up but it was only understandable as a result of the stress he'd put my men through. He was snoring lightly and I figured out that he was drunk.“Wake the hell up!” I slapped
Talia’s POVTrue to Don Lorenzo’s words, I was kept here in this room for such a long time that I couldn’t count how many days had passed since I last stepped out. I’d earlier thought he’d be willing to forgive me and maintain our somewhat cordial relationship but the past few days have shown that he was a cold-hearted man. My eyes brimmed with tears for the umpteenth time and I wiped them away. I was tired of crying because it wasn’t going to change anything—nothing would except I would be successful in my attempts to request an audience with Don Lorenzo. I heard the door unlock and I bolted out of bed immediately. It was the same guard I’d been seeing since I was locked up. He never said a word to me and his movements were robotic. He placed the tray on the table and turned to leave without sparing me a glance. “I’m sorry but have you told Don Lorenzo that I’d like to speak to him for a minute?” I asked in a pleading voice. The man simply stared at me before he walked out of th
Talia’s POV“I’m trying to save you, Talia! Why can't you believe that?” I said, raising my voice. “When I wanted you to do that several months ago, you discarded me to the side despite everything I did to make up for what happened!” Talia yelled back. “I couldn’t forgive you then, Talia. It was a different story back then.” “Oh, yeah? So what has magically changed since then? The old you I know wouldn’t give a fuck about what happens to me.” Talia argued. “Everything has changed, Talia,” I said in a clipped tone. “You’re driving me crazy, Lorenzo!” Talia yelled, pulling at her hair. “Why are you acting like you want me when your body language is saying something entirely different? I’m tired of playing these games with you, you’re messing with my emotions.”“And you think you’re not doing the same thing to me, Talia? I can’t go a day without thinking about you and that’s why I’m here and not buried in the mountain of work I have on my desk!” “You don’t love me, Lorenzo. You don
Lorenzo’s POV“Did he talk to you about the prenup?” Talia asked excitedly. “Is that why you’ve been wound up since you arrived here, you think it’s too early, isn’t it? Well, I’m not going to—““There’s no prenup, Talia.” I cut in, pouring the contents of his glass cup down my throat, welcoming the burning feeling as he tried to douse my rising anger. I was starting to drink a lot these days and it wasn’t wasn’t a good thing. For the past month, I've constantly deluded myself that Talia was going to be better off without me and that Asher was going to be the one for her, the answer to all of her relationship and love issues if she gave him the chance.I put her in this position and right now, I was disgusted with myself above anything else. “What are you talking about, Lorenzo?” Talia was confused now. “What do you mean by there’s no prenup? I just saw it in his room a couple of hours ago.”“You saw a draft with no name, placed carelessly by Asher of all people, you haven’t figure
Lorenzo’s POVI climbed up the stairs and knocked twice on the door, waiting for Talia to open. A couple of minutes later, she was standing in front of the door, glaring at me. “What do you want this time, Lorenzo?” “Can you give me five minutes of your time and then I'll leave?” I asked. “Lorenzo, I don’t—““Just five minutes. I know Asher isn’t home and I intend to leave before he’s back.”She stared at me for a moment before pushing the door open and inviting me in. “Tell me something, Talia. How has this been for you?” I asked as soon as we sat down. “What are you talking about?” Talia asked. “You mean being with Asher?”“Yes, that’s what I meant,” I confirmed. “Has there been any need for worry at any point in time?”“Asher has been good to me, Lorenzo.” Talia began. “He’s treated me and spoiled me better than I could imagine. I won’t lie to you, Lorenzo. I’ve been waiting for him to make a mistake or step out of line so I can hold it against him and put him in the same cat
Lorenzo’s POVI was struggling to keep my temper in check as I stormed out of the golf clubhouse while trying to maintain a calm demeanor on the outside before someone figured something had gone wrong and started trying to rile me further by asking questions. In the end, I wasn’t paranoid and I hadn’t been sounding like a lunatic. I knew something wasn’t right from the first time I saw Asher and Talia together after Marissa confirmed to me that they were involved and trying to sort their feet in their budding relationship. I knew men like Asher. I’ve always known men like Asher. They were everywhere, in the mafia, in the corporate world, in politics, everywhere and they all treated women that had no class in the same way. They see them like a piece of clothing that catches their fancy for a limited period of time and then, they discard them when they get tired.I know this because I was once like them and I once treated Talia like this and I couldn’t stand to see her go through the
Lorenzo’s POV “I’ve been looking for a chance to get away from this group of people I’m with and you might just be my saving grace,” Asher replied.He didn’t quite give me an answer and I didn’t quite understand if he was going to indulge me or not. “Do you mean that as a yes?” I asked, wanting to be certain about what I was going into. “Yes, Lorenzo,” Asher confirmed. “We can talk about whatever it is you want to talk about.”“Is there a private space around here?” I asked, looking around as I tried to pick out a spot far away from people’s hearing. I didn’t want anyone interfering in my private matters or better still, Talia’s private matters with Asher. This was a lot easier than I thought it would and it was starting along nicely. “Yes, there’s a spot behind that tent. It’s restricted and it’s the best place we can talk around here,” Asher pointed out. “You’re sure people won’t listen in on our conversations, Asher?” I asked. “I’ll secure the area. I don’t need people liste
Lorenzo’s POVIt didn’t take long after that for me to find Asher with the steward’s help. I didn’t particularly have a plan on how I was going to approach the subject so I decided that I would go with whatever my guts say. That was the best plan I could come up with and I was going to stick with it. It was unlike me to confront any situation without having a solid plan but this was one of those rare moments where I had to make the best of what I was given. But I wasn’t given anything or rather, I came unprepared. I was merely facing things head on without giving a second thought to if it would end well or not. Marissa had said that I was in need of an adventure and that was why I was here. Deep down, I knew what she wanted to say and it wasn’t this. A large part of me didn’t want to admit it but I cared about Talia, I always have, more than I was ever willing to admit.One of the perks of being bigger than everyone in here was that it was pretty easy for you to stand out from e
“You should’ve considered a career as an investigative journalist, Marissa.” I frowned over the phone. She took after our mother in that aspect. They always had an answer for everything whether right or wrong and she was proving it here. “Maybe I just might, if I ever get bored of working for you at any point.”“If I remember correctly, you said you wanted me to turn your temporary post into a permanent one and I did just that. Are you bored already?”“No, I love my job. I just said it for the dramatic effect it would give and I guess it worked.”“You’re crazy.” “That’s a story for another day. But seriously, where would you go when you leave Paris? I don’t need you back here if your head isn’t in the game so go somewhere else. Probably not Greece, you’ve always had a disdain towards the people there.”“I was thinking about going to Zanzibar this time around but I don’t know. Maybe I just might change my mind when the time comes.”“Somewhere new wouldn’t hurt, you know? You need to
Lorenzo’s POVEverything had gone as smoothly as I could’ve wanted it to be.I’ve been watching Talia and Asher for several days before I decided to meet her in person and from what I had observed she was very happy. I couldn’t have been more impressed with how I had handled everything concerning this situation but I still had one more case for worry. No matter how hard I had tried to disregard the warning signs I couldn’t bring myself to. Naturally, I shouldn’t be here. I was supposed to be back in New York, behind my mahogany table discussing with a number of prospective clients or trying to close a couple of deals that have been pending on my desk for the past week but here I was, trying to play the knight in shining armor. Ever since I pardoned Talia and allowed her to be Marissa's mentee, we’ve barely talked except for a handful of occasions where we had to act courteous towards each other. Marissa had tried and failed to set us up as a couple until she decided she would let
Talia’s POV“Asher’s right, Talia,” Lucas began, seated behind the mahogany table in the private study, his eyes glued to the computer screen in front of him. “The honeymoon period is over. We need to get to work before we get caught flat-footed once again.”I sat with my mouth closed. I was unsure of what to say as I had zero clue about what they were talking about but it sounded serious.Lucas was Asher’s best friend and he was also the co-managing Director of the company I worked for. He was rarely around, he preferred to handle the businesses that needed their attention around the world while Asher focused on steadying the ship from the headquarters. I had a cordial relationship with Lucas and we barely spoke to each other except on rare occasions like this. Asher was talking to a couple of investors on the screen in front of him while I waited for him to finish. He had suddenly lost interest in the conversation midway. He often did that a lot and I wondered how short his attent