Page 17 of Bound to the Mafia King

I gasped, the air cutting as it neared my trachea. My eyes widened in shock when I saw him standing only a few feet from me, dressed in a suit and looking devilishly handsome.

“Even with your tears, there is still beauty.” This man spoke like he was made of poetry. It was ironic that something as beautiful as poetry could ever be used in regard to a man like him.

“Valerio.” I whispered.

“Cielo. It’s been a while.” Valerio’s eyes bored into mine. “Won’t you welcome me into your home?”

I gulped.

Chapter Eight

Valerio

She ambled to her feet clumsily, wiping away the tears that had stained her eyes. Her eyes were not that red, but the circles under them told me that she had not been sleeping well the last few days.

I wondered what was keeping her awake.

I had not seen her in almost a month, but I had been keeping tabs on her. I had my men follow her back to Syracuse after the gala. I needed to make sure that she didn’t try to make a run for it again. She had proven to me that she was good at disappearing.

“What are you doing here?”

I clicked my tongue on the roof of my mouth in displeasure. “Come now, Anastasia. Is that any way to greet a guest? Surely you have better manners than that.”

Her eyes darted over the large space. “How did you get onto the property?”

“Your security sucks,” I said simply.

My eyes moved over the length of her body and drank in her flowing yellow sundress that gave her a more youthful and innocent air. Her breasts were perfectly swollen and round, giving her the perfect amount of cleavage.

Fuck, she was tempting.

“I will scream if you don’t get off my property.” She tried to feign confidence, but I heard the slight tremble in her voice.

“I only came to see you,cielo.” I stepped toward her, and she took a step back. “Come now, I don’t bite. Unless, of course, you want me to.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You need to leave, Valerio. What if someone sees you?”

“If someone was going to see me, then they would have, by now. But as you can see, no one has gone to sound the alarm. You panic too much.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but you need to leave.”

“You know, you’re going to have to be nicer to me now that I will be in charge of your protection.”

She paused, clamped her mouth down, and ground her teeth together. “I will be under Savina’s protection.”

“Savina is a Valdez, and I am the underboss. Thereby all security measures and instructions are carried out by me. So, you will be under my care and protection,cielo.”

I heard someone laughing in the distance, and that’s when Anastasia cursed under her breath. She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward a small little cottage off to the edge of the property, by the tree line.

Syracuse had few woodlands, but their cabin was situated in thick greenery that I believed was more a security risk than a barrier.

Sometimes I wondered how the Russians had lasted this long with security measures like this on their properties. It was no wonder they had been so easy to topple.

We walked into the small cottage and then into what looked to be a small generic bedroom with a bed and a dresser off to the side. It wasn’t much, but I had a feeling that this was more for servants than anyone of real relevance in the manor.

Anastasia seemed on edge. She walked to the window to see who was on the grounds. She bit down on her lips and pulled the lobe of her ear gently.

“If you wanted to fuck me, all you had to do was ask. I am not opposed to taking you in the open.” The words left my lips before I could filter them through my brain.

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