The Power of a Woman: A Mafia Erotic Romance (36 page)

I gasped but didn’t turn around, not wanting him to see the horror on my face. “Your brother beat her?”

“I asked her about it, and she denied it. She just said he liked it rough. At first, I thought she was telling me that he’d forced her, but she said it was consensual. It disgusted me, and it made me never be able to look at him the same way again. And I was never able to bring myself to look at the women who left his room, either, for fear they were just as battered-looking as her.”

I waited a moment to gather my thoughts. Starting this conversation, I had no idea this is where it would lead. “But you’re rough with me.”

He sighed and wrapped his arms around my waist, locking his fingers together over my stomach. “Yes, but you know I don’t like to see marks on you. And I’m only rough because you like it. And when I’m with you, it’s my number one goal to bring you pleasure.”

“So you don’t like to be rough?”

“I won’t lie…I was a young, naïve kid when that happened. I didn’t understand the high that comes with fucking, or what it was like to feel a pussy squeeze my cock with each slap on the ass. I like the feel of being in control, and knowing that whom I’m with is responding to everything I do, even if it goes against what I’d always thought. But I never left those kinds of marks on anyone. The only time I’ve ever gone too far was with you not too long ago. The last time you really provoked me after I’d had a bad day. I hated seeing what I’d done to you. I beat myself up over it all night. You probably don’t remember, but I was really quiet. It brought back too many bad memories, even after you tried to tell me you were okay.”

“The last time we were together before…before Zeke?” I thought back to that night, to the intensity of our fucking, and remembered in vivid detail how silent and withdrawn he’d gotten.

“Yeah. You left my bed with scratches and marks that I knew would bruise, and the next time I saw you…
God
,” he swore with a heavy exhale. His body had gone rigid behind me, and I knew the kinds of things that ran through his mind.

I leaned out of his embrace to give myself room to turn around, needing to face him. I needed to see his eyes. Gently, I reached up and cupped his cheeks, spreading bubbles all over his face. “You’ve never gone too far with me, Stefan. Do you hear me? I know when you’re having a bad day, and I’ve selfishly used that in my favor to get what I want. But that’s just it…it’s what I
want
. I love everything you give me. The slow times, the hard time, the easy times…and yes, the rough times.” I waited until I noticed acknowledgment in his eyes before saying anything else. “I always thought you were so quiet that night because of what was going on with Matty. The debt. I found out about it the next day, and thought your unease from the night before was about that.”

He shook his head against my palms. “No. I was never worried about that. I told you then that I would take care of it. But your stubborn ass wouldn’t listen to me. I never once felt any concern over your brother or his debt. I was mad at myself for making you bleed.”

I pressed my lips to his, tasting the champagne and chocolate from earlier. “One of these days, I’m going to have your baby growing in my stomach. It’ll more than likely give me stretch marks, make me throw up until I have nothing left in me, cause my feet to swell until I can’t wear shoes…and then, rip me open on its way into the world. I’ll bleed then.”

His eyes lit up like a thousand candles at the mention of me having his baby.

“There will be plenty of times in our life where I’ll bleed, and I’ll find a way to blame you each and every time. But the difference is that it’s not done maliciously. It’s not done out of hate or for selfish reasons. It’s love. And I’ll bleed love for you every day of my life.”

“But that’s not the way it should go, Tesoro. I should be the one bleeding for you.”

“Nah…you can fight for me. Make others bleed in the name of love.”

A wicked smile consumed his lips, and I knew his mind had gone to Antonio Carrara. It was no secret that he wanted to make him pay for touching me that night in the club. It didn’t matter that it was planned or that I’d egged him on. All Stefan saw was another man’s hands on his wife, and that was punishable by death in his book.

“I bet that girl you were in love with back in the day is wishing she’d paid attention to you now, huh? You should tell me who it is so I can flaunt my happily ever after in her face.” I began to gently stroke his erection beneath the water as I stared into his deep brown eyes.

A growl rolled through his chest as he became even harder in my hand. “Oh, believe me, she knows who I am now. And she loves my cock. Can’t get enough of it.” He smiled while I quirked an eyebrow at him, daring him to continue. “In fact, I have it on good authority that she wants more of it right now.”

I froze, frantically trying to make sense of his words. I knew what I got from them, but didn’t want to assume.
Did he just say…?

“And I think it’s time to get her back to her new bed so I can give it to her.” He reached behind me and pulled the plug in the drain before standing, not even bothering to rinse the bubbles from his body. His hard dick bobbed in front of my face, calling to me, causing me to lick my lips in anticipation.

“I’m going to need you to be a little clearer about
this
girl…”

He grabbed my hands and pulled me up. “You see, she was the daughter of this other boss. My father knew hers, but we’d never officially met. She may have been two years younger than me, but she was way out of my league. Not to mention, she was really busy raising her younger brother because her mom had passed away. She had a lot going on, and I didn’t want to get in the way. I would’ve only been wasting her time. But I knew, without a doubt, that if I got my shit together and came back with something to offer her, she’d be mine.”

I stared up at him—at his smile, his eyes, the love etched into his expression—and knew beyond a doubt that I was the luckiest girl in the world. He never needed anything to offer me other than his love. That’s all I needed. All I wanted. Everything else was just icing on the cake.

And I’d work every damn day at proving that to him.

I finished adding the last trinket of my mother’s to the bookshelf and turned around to look at my finished office. It felt like a dream as I took in the windowed walls, the large oak desk, the leather couches on the far end, and the framed pictures on the wall. One month ago, I had no idea where my life was headed, but today…today I stood on top of the world.

A sigh escaped me as I thought back to how I’d gotten here. I felt like I’d spent my whole life fighting, proving myself to others. I wanted to be seen for me, for people to respect
me
and not just the daughter of Gene Albanese. And even though that’s what I wanted, I never truly believed it would ever happen. Not in this life, at least.

But Stefan gave that to me. There would still be those people that saw me as Stefan Giannotti’s wife, but at least they saw me. He didn’t hide me out in our condo, keep me barefoot in the kitchen like most wives in this world. No. He made sure I was by his side…in everything. He even took me with him and listened to my advice when finding the perfect building for our offices.

Yes…
our
offices.

This was the legitimate side of his dealings, and he made sure I was a part of it. He ran his real estate firm in his office, while I worked the accounting side in mine. He didn’t give me a small office in the back of a bar where I worked on the books, or met with me at home to discuss the finances. He gave me my own space—a
real
space—to work alongside him. He made it very clear the business was to be dealt with in the office, and not at home. And I couldn’t argue with that.

Thinking of Stefan, I opened my door and stared across the hall at the large, oak door with the shiny gold nameplate on the door that read, “Stefan Giannotti.” Even here I wasn’t too far from him, and I loved it.

I walked across the hall and opened his door, not bothering to knock. Stefan had a known rule on this floor with the associates that they were not to bother him unless it was needed, and if so, his door was never to be opened without permission. Everyone thought of him as a ruthless a boss, but I knew the truth. In the short amount of time we’d been in the building, he’d had me in every corner of his office. He put the rule in place to keep from being interrupted while “meeting” with me. The thought brought a smile to my face.

“Is it considered sexual harassment if I tell you that smile would look great wrapped around my dick?” he asked with a hint of his own grin plaguing his lips.

“I don’t know…is it sexual harassment if I offer you my pussy for a raise?”

He grabbed the front of his pants. “Oh, I’ll give you a raise.”

I couldn’t keep my laughter from bubbling out at his ridiculous line. But it was totally Stefan. Now that we had the freedom to really be together, and not hide out inside or only spend a few hours at a time together, it was as if he was a completely different person. Not in a bad way. But in the sense that I was able to see him open up more. He had such a funny side—usually sexual. And the man couldn’t get enough sex. It’s like he’d decided to make up for lost time. But I wasn’t complaining. The more the merrier.

“Did you finally get your office squared away?” he asked after pulling me in for a quick kiss.

I fixed his tie and then patted his cheek. “Yes, I did. No thanks to you, though. Your need to have me in every position, in every corner of this office took what should’ve taken a day and made it last a week.”

Stefan ran his hand over his face, trying to hide the boyish grin tugging at his lips.

“I heard from Matty earlier,” I said, earning his raised eyebrows. Stefan no longer kept me in the dark when it came to my brother. I received calls from him from time to time, and it gave me comfort to hear how well he was doing in his program—the same program Stefan had set him up with. “He sounds like a man now, you know? Not a kid anymore. More mature and ready for when he comes back.”

“He still has a ways to go, Jordana.” He always had to remind me of that.

I released a soft laugh. “I know. I’m not impatient to have him back. I’m just happy that he’s getting help, and from what it sounds like, it’s working. Hearing him now, I can’t believe I never noticed his problems before.”

“Sometimes it’s hard to stand back and see something for what it really is. I remember that about Nico. Before I left for school, I remember thinking something was off with him, but I had no idea what. I assumed it was the business and stress of this life. But he came to see me a couple years after I left, and that’s when I finally saw it.”

I narrowed my eyes, curious as to what he meant.

“He was just different. And not in the way stress changes someone. He was fidgety and restless. He didn’t necessarily come across as an addict or junkie, but I knew my brother well enough to know there was something else going on.”

“Did you ever ask him about it?”

“There was no point. He’d never admit to it, especially to me. But seeing him helped me recognize the signs in your brother. And it helped that I was never really close to Matty like you or your father. Like I said, it’s hard to spot it when you’re so close to the person. It’s almost like your heart and mind don’t want to accept it, so you’re blind to it.”

“Thank you, Stefan. Seriously…I don’t know if I’ve ever said it, but
thank you
. You’ve always had my best interest at heart, and have always known what was good for me—even when I fought you on it. I love you.”

He softly ran the backs of his knuckles down my cheek before walking to his desk. He stopped to stand behind it, looking out over the city through the window. “No need to thank me. I did this for
us
,” he said, glancing at me over his shoulder. “And look…
we
made it, Tesoro.”

I came to stand next to him, taking his hand in mine. The view was magnificent from his office, giving us an amazing sight of the city below. It really all was a dream come true…a dream I’d always had but never truly believed I could obtain. Until Stefan, that is.

They say the passage of time will heal all wounds. But the greater the loss, the deeper the cut—the more difficult the process is to become whole again. The pain may fade, but scars serve as a reminder of our suffering and make the bearer all the more resolved, never to be wounded again. So as time moves along, we get lost in distractions, act out in frustration, react with aggression, give in to anger, and all the while, we plot and plan as we wait to grow stronger.

But before we know it, the time passes. We are healed. Ready to begin anew. My family and my legacy were the most important things. And standing here with Stefan,
next
to him, set me free from the binds of my past.

This was my new beginning, my happily ever after…my healing.

I glanced at him, the sun in his face highlighting the gold flecks in his eyes. “We made it,” I echoed his words, feeling them empower me.

“What did I tell you, my love? Follow me up the mountain, and we’d stand on top of the world together. Look out. Where are we?”