Page 25 of Merciless & Mated

The backhand wasn’t a surprise, but my body jolted nonetheless, the taste of copper bursting over my tongue.

“You’re fucking right you shouldn’t have. You undermine me again and I’ll give your omega to all of the capos. I’ll tie you up and let you watch to show you what happens to people who cross me.”

“It won’t happen again,” I swore, even though it probably would. For Gianna’s sake, I held my tongue. Bianca wasn’t embellishing. She would break us both without any guilt and take pleasure in it.

She sat down on a chair in front of me and slipped her foot out of her shoe. “Kiss it. Show me that you can obey.”

I swallowed down the bile rising my throat. It was all I had done for the last twenty fucking years. Kissing the top of her foot was an exercise in self-control. The spine I had bent so often for her already felt stiff and unwilling now that Gianna’s mark was on my throat.

Once my lips had made contact with her skin, Bianca tilted my chin up with her toes, the malice in her eyes turning my stomach. “Good boy. Now go back to your whore and send Santo in here on your way back.”

I backed away slowly, never turning my back on her, just like I had heard people did for monarchs. Bianca wasn’t a queen, though, at least not yet. And I never wanted to see the day this city put a crown on her head.

Elio was waiting in the hallway when I emerged.

“What are you hanging around for?” I asked. “I thought you were working on Bianca’s orders.”

“Enzo told me she kept you back, and also I wanted to let you know I took your omega to see her father. I made her position here clear with the guards and told them she has free access to the compound.”

I was surprised he had gone through the effort. “Thank you.”

He shrugged and gestured for me to follow him. “We both know what it’s like to serve Bianca, and I would imagine that having a fresh bond is chafing a bit. I thought she could use the comfort of family since Bianca was keeping you from her.”

“That’s…more thoughtful than I expected.”

Elio snorted. “I can be thoughtful when I feel like it. Whose turn is it tonight?”

“Santo.”

“She’s been asking for him a lot,” Elio commented.

“Better him than us.”

Elio laughed. “I can’t disagree.”

We paused in front of Santo’s door and Elio kicked it, only tilting his head back in Bianca’s direction to tell Santo he was wanted. The two of us continued onward, heading down to the kitchen.

“What are the odds of us getting Gianna’s restaurant back for her?”

“I think that entirely depends on how it’s pitched to Bianca.”

“How do you think I should do that?”

“I don’t think you should at all. You’ve already pissed her off. She won’t want to see you trying to do anything for your omega. Let me handle it.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

Elio shrugged. “Think about it. What would make Bianca approve of Gianna having that restaurant?”

I sorted through the question. “I don’t suppose it’s as simple as the fact that Gianna would be busy and Bianca doesn’t want me distracted?”

“I think it’s exactly that simple. We put Gianna in charge of that restaurant and she’ll be gone for long hours, she’ll have something to occupy herself with when you’re on jobs, and it still gives Bianca a leash on her. The trick is to make her think she’s the one who’s thought of it.”

I sighed, running my fingers through my hair and rubbing at my scalp to dispel the growing tension there. “That was never one of my strengths.”

“Bianca appreciates you for your blunt honesty. The rest of us have practiced these two decades to get what we need without giving too much away. I think if we were all like that, she might notice.”

The two of us stopped outside the kitchens, and I looked through the tiny round window in one of the doors to see my omega and her father leaning against the counter. As if she could sense my presence, her gaze lifted and locked onto mine. Her attention struck me like a heartbeat head to toe. Her smile was small, tentative.

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