Dark Mafia Kings by Penelope Wylde

Chapter Eight

She would die tonight. Rhia thwarted a sound of pure dread forcing an escape from her suddenly parched throat.

Rhia worked her throat a couple of times, but truly nothing dislodged the sandpaper stuck there. Despite heroic efforts, nothing allowed her to swallow the clump of fear choking her.

Would they kill her like they had her father? Or worse?

Admittedly she couldn’t think of what worse would look like.

Growing up telling the truth always seemed to work out better. It was just how she worked. However, in the last few months, she’d swan-dived into her first crash course of subterfuge and the art of lying. She found out swimming with great white sharks would have been safer than walking through the doors of Haven.

Yet all that flew out the window the second their voices hit her ears.

And calling her ’my little one’ didn’t make her fear them any less.

Sevastyan posed a good question. She could write a twenty-page single-spaced report on why she’d braved all the rumors she’d heard about him and his men.

Rhia’s spine went rigid, and the soles of her bare feet squeaked on the polished floor as she slowly turned.

She swallowed. Steeled her resolve like the fucking badass she was and glued her feet to the floor. For a moment the silent mental pep talk worked. And then reality set in.

Badass. Yeah, right. Who would believe that? But she had to try to work up her courage when facing the big bad wolves somehow.

Facts were better.

She braced her knees, a heel and a half in hand, and let the fear leech from her only to shove a brave face in its place. And like the whipped cream on a sundae, she topped it off with a killer smile.

Eat your heart out, Sharon Stone. Somebody give me an fucking Oscar. Her love of Basic Instinct finally paid off.

Her gaze found first Sevastyan’s before stealing over to Matteo’s. Her heart wanted to climb out of her chest. But she locked it down fast.

She’d been right. These men personified dark and dangerous. She hoped like hell deadly wouldn’t be added to that list. At least not with her in the room.

And so much for not running into walls. Though not exactly made of stone, this wall materialized mere inches from her nose, yet equally formidable and rock solid. Walls were cold and unforgiving, but this one was decked out in three-piece suits tailored to find every contour on a man and hug it just right.

The forgiving part was yet to be determined.

From the tight-lipped expression on Sevastyan’s stony face, the cold analogy probably held though.

He came off as polished and sophisticated but not in a pretty sense. He carried himself with confidence and had a look about him that screamed power and money. He moved like a predator. But it went deeper. She saw the same rough edges in her second oldest brother. A man that had spent the last decade of his life in Special Forces. She witnessed the young man she’d grown up with turn from an easygoing boy full of life to a hardened man with horror in his eyes. When she used to ask him to talk to her, his only answer was always the same quick shut down. So she stopped asking. Every deployment he returned darker, the tattered edges of the boy she grew up with more jagged. Even now after leaving the service and working for their father, he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. And she saw the same in Volkov. Except his jagged edges were sharp enough to cut anyone who came too close.

And Matteo seemed to be no different.

He weighed her silently from beside Sevastyan.

You had to look past the deceiving quiet outer layers, she’d learned long ago. People loved to put up walls. This particular one had broad shoulders perfect for well, anything really. Long powerful legs that had him towering over her by a good three inches or more and hands she bet knew how to pleasure every part on a woman’s body and handle a firearm with the same easy grace. Matteo was a man a woman would be hard to say no to and why they probably didn’t see the dark angles of the man until it was too late.

Sometime between leaving the main floor and making his way up to the third-floor offices, Sevastyan had loosened the gold tie he'd picked for the evening and popped the buttons at the base of his throat to reveal more black ink.

Matteo the same. Only he liked to show a little more skin. Her attention washed over the dusting of hair over his chest.

The dark jacket Sevastyan paired with his pristine dress slacks hung over one shoulder. Both men wore their cuffs rolled back to reveal thick forearms and a blaze of colorful tattoos that teased her curiosity. Anything that started that low on the forearms had to encompass the entire arm. Maybe more.

In the span of a millisecond, Rhia drank in every inch from the way biceps pushed at the material of dress shirts; to the white material clinging to very evident ripped abs. Her gaze shifted. She couldn’t help but watch as Matteo crossed beefy arms across a wide chest and closed in another step.

She stumbled a half pace back, but the large desk kept her from moving another inch.

They tilted their heads, waiting for a good enough answer, no doubt.

She wanted some of her own but knew it wouldn’t be that easy. Millions of questions banked on the back of her tongue, ready to spill out like alphabet confetti despite the fear that trickled into her veins on a steady drip for the last hour.

Self-preservation had her eyes darting to the only exit unfortunately blocked by the wall of muscle in front of her.

Sevastyan caught her gaze with his penetrating glare. Danger or not, part of her couldn’t help but wonder what his muscular form would look spread out on a bed of white sheets.

Silence hung between them, but she swore these men did more talking than most with the intense stares they used to glue her to where she stood.

Rhia swallowed hard and wrestled every drop of self-dignity left in her body away from the temptation to beg for mercy and instead lifted her chin high.

The man oozed anger and had a toughness about them that no fancy suit could suave over.

Like a sleeping cobra, Sevastyan hid his true self under a deceptive calm. Even in the low light, she noticed the swirling anger in their eyes and the sheet of false patience that covered both men’s expressions.

Here goes nothing.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude. I only needed to see a friend.” She masked her nerves with a sultry laugh.

Sevastyan tossed his jacket on the end of the desk. “I see.” His expression turned dark. “And who did you come here to see, kroshka?”

A small humorless quirk of a smile played on his lips. If she ran, he would catch her. The way he watched her every minute movement made her believe she wouldn’t make it an inch from this desk until they allowed her to move.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude. Maybe I shouldn’t have come. I’m sorry for disturbing your evening. I’ll return to the main floor now and finish out my shift.” She took a step to her right, intent on leaving, and just like she feared, a steel band clamped around her middle and yanked her back into place.

Surprise forced a yelp from her.

“Going somewhere, cariña?”

Sweetheart? God, he made dying sound so sexy.

When she didn’t answer Matteo laughed deeply and it pulled an invisible string attached to the dread in the pit of her stomach. Damn him.

Matteo pressed his body closer to hers, tracing a finger along the side of her cheek. His body encased hers, cutting off any hopes of leaving here unscathed.

“I guess not.”

She didn’t mean to sound sarcastic, but there it was. Fear of death did funny things to the brain. And so did lust.

Matteo let out a soft chuckle, his busy hands brushing over her shoulder and down the outside of her bare arm.

“Claro que no, amor,” he murmured and God did it sound equal parts sexy and scary. Because while his voice did things to her body, it also sent up red flags in her mind.

From in front of her Sevastyan’s expression shifted from pissed off to inquisitive to downright devilish in a blink of an eye. The exchange had been fast, but she picked up the glint in his piercing eyes. He’d used it on her earlier that evening, and she hadn’t mistaken the meaning then nor now.

He angled his head low and leaned in. “Tell me something. What piques your interest so much to risk your job? Your life, moyakroshka?” Rolled ‘R’s and soft vows hit her ears. Being agitated made his accent thicker. At the same time there was a sharp edge to his voice as he cast a glance over her shoulder.

Of God. Her head spun. She gripped the edge of the desk as tightly as she could and held in a cringe as pain jolted through her fingers. Channeling her inner Sharon Stone grew harder by the minute.

Kroshka? When the sweet endearment came from Sevastyan’s lips, the little pet name came off as a cloaked threat. If the set of his shoulders didn’t give it away, the growl in his voice did.

She forced a tight smile to sell her lie, but the crease in his brow only deepened. Sweet endearment or not, the power of his wrath wasn’t in his words, but his actions.

She swallowed down an embarrassing whimper.

“You,” she whispered, unable to meet their eyes. “I’m here for you.”

Instead, her attention drew to his side where he slowly tucked a hand into his pocket.

“Both of you.” She might as well go all in.

They pushed closer forcing her against the empty desk until she practically sprawled across the damn thing.

Matteo waved a hand in the direction of Indigo’s empty chair. “If you came for us, let’s not disappoint.”

He held her gaze, his searching hers. “Or do you want to try for the truth again? But be careful. The next words you utter might end with you being punished.” His nostrils flared as he leaned in close. So so close. She could feel the heat of his breath on her cheek when he spoke next. “Trust me, my little one, I can smell a lie on you.”

She froze. Was he serious?

Her face must have given away her thoughts because Matteo made a dramatic inhale again with a clipped, “Sí, all lies, Vastyan. What should we do with such a lying little beauty?”

His eyes swept over her mass of dark curls and touched upon her mouth and the voluptuous curves of her breasts.

Oh, God. This was bad. Really bad.

A hot poker of tension pierced her chest and the sudden pain caused her to wince.

“Telling the truth that painful?” Matteo asked in a brusque, unforgiving tone. He picked up a lock of her hair, twisting it around his hand then going in for more until he took full control, turning her face toward him.

“Come on, what will it be?” His hand tightened in her hair sending pricks of pain across her scalp. He teased the length of her jaw with the tip of his tongue, ending with a soft kiss at the corner of her mouth.

Her hands trembled when they flew to his chest. “What reason would I have to lie? I was raised to always tell the truth no matter how much it scares me.”

The right side of Matteo’s lips lifted. “Heaven forbid,” he drew out in a rugged, low tone.

He dragged the tip of his nose over her jaw and nipped at her ear lobe while Sevastyan looked on. His citrine eyes lit with fiery lust. She knew because it matched the same inferno they stirred inside her.

She whimpered, stunned, and pressed her palm flat against Matteo’s chest.

Heat poured from him and with every breath, her heart rate increased.

He pressed closer until she felt the hard length of his cock against her thigh.

“I...huh...I...promise.” She shook her head.

The steady bet of his pulse in his neck captivated her. She could see it through the dark ink of tattoos circling his throat.

“Liar.” Matteo chuckled darkly and tightened his hold on her hair. Unwanted tingling fired to life.

“Is our little birdie not going to sing for us?” Sevastyan leaned in and ran the tip of his tongue over the small bird she had tattooed over her collarbone. One in mid-flight meaning no man would ever hold her back.

But two might pin her down.

Her body involuntarily shivered.

Cool air chased the path of moistness Mateo’s curious lips left on her skin.

“Do you know what happens to bad girls when they lie to us?”

His lips moved against her skin as he spoke. A strong hand gripped her leg and before she could protest or shove him away, Sevastyan had her legs spread wide and him standing between them.

His cock, restrained only by a fragile piece of cloth, pressed against her heated center. Again, only a small barrier of her own keeping him from taking her.

She flicked her eyes to Matteo. Asking for help, wondering what the fuck was happening. But she didn’t find any answers with him. The only thing he did was grin back at her darkly, those black wolfish eyes of his hungry. He snarled at her with a deep growl, coming to stand behind her, those strong hands he had in her hair going to her shoulders, pinning her to the hard wood of the desk.

“This is not...”

Sevastyan rocked his hip pushing his shield shaft against her clit.

“Oh! Christ!” she bit out.

She pushed her hands against the hard wood at her back but Matteo caught her by the arm and together both men spread her already half-naked body over Indigo’s desk.

“This is madness. What are you doing!” she demanded. Rhia tried to kick Sevastyan away but he only gripped her calf tighter.

“Feisty. Fight us a little more and you’ll get fucked all that much harder, moya kroshka. Or should I call you malen'kaya ptitsa? My little bird.”

Fingers curled over the edge of the desk but when she pulled to sit up again, those same strong hands were there holding her in place.

“You can’t…just let me go home.” No way she would be leaving here with her job intact but she could at least leave with her dignity. If they let her go now before she gave in to the enemy, she could slink home, her plan forgotten. She had no business being here. She saw that now.

Sevastyan ran a hand down her bare thigh and stroked a thumb along the outer edges of her thong. Heat flamed over every inch of skin Sevastyan touched.

“What do you think you are doing!” she hurled, teeth clenched. She had to fight this. Fight what they made her feel.

Matteo took both her hands in one of his while he used the other to peel back the edges of her bodice just enough so her nipples came free of their confinement.

Black eyes meet hers. “Punishing this fuckable body until you give us what we want,” he said thickly, a cocky grin pulling at his full lips. The bastard enjoyed having her helpless.

“And, cariña, I hope you have a hard time finding your answers because I like this option most.”

Lord, please help keep her sane. Matteo called her sweetheart in his native language again. He would be the death of her willpower.

He leaned forward and flicked his tongue against her excited nipples. Hard.

So hard her back elevated off the desk. “Oh,” she gasped, jerking in his arms.

“These piercings are a sweet, naughty surprise,” he groaned against her taught peaks. “They make my dick hard for you, cariña. Fucking ready to pound that pretty pussy.”

One shift of her eyes and she could tell he wasn’t lying. Expensive black linen did a terrible job of hiding the massive size of his hardness.

From between her legs, Sevastyan's hand slipped from behind her knees to cup over her mound.

Surprise drove her hips upward and into his possessive grip.

A primitive gasp passed her lips.

She jerked on her hands but Matteo must have anticipated it because his grip didn’t budge a fraction.

“This...this can’t happen. You can’t do this to me.”

“Watch us.” Matteo took her chin in hand and forced her head up so her gaze tracked Sevastyan’s next moves.

Sevastyan’s bright irises grew more intense and the muscles in his jaw bunched. His lips peeled back in a minute, almost indiscernible smile, and when he pulled a blade from his jacket. Her body went completely rigid between the men.

“What the holy fuck, Mr. Volkov?” Her voice shook uncontrollably.

“Mmm, dirty mouths should be filled.” The arrogant mobster gave a chin nod to his friend.

The next thing she knew the hiss of a zipper hit her ears as strong, rough fingers cupped her jaw and turned her head until her eyes met Matteo’s.

She watched as he unfastened his belt and lowered his zipper the rest of the way down. She bit at her lip feeling dizzy from her pounding pulse. So much blood rushed in her ears she saw tiny white dots. He reached in freeing his massive cock. The heavy length looked angry with need. Drops of liquid dripped from the head and when he fisted it more dripped out to run down the side over his fingers.

“Those pretty red lips are going to look perfect wrapped around my cock.”

She turned her eyes back to Sevastyan.

“Look at me. Not him. Tell me you want to suck this cock. Tell me right now. And don’t you dare tell me no. I want to hear you moan for me.” Matteo dragged the tip over her lips, wetting her with his pre-cum. He pressed a thumb to her chin forcing her mouth open. “Tell me!”

She nodded, not daring to take her eyes off his.

His thumb pressed harder against her lower chin. “That’s it, more or you won’t fit enough of me in your sweet, little mouth.”

Her heart rate soared higher than heaven. She obeyed his forceful command and groaned when the salty-sweet tip of his cock brushed over her lips.

“Lick the tip clean before you take the whole thing.”

She obeyed, her eyes falling closed. One hand palmed the weight of her head while the other fed his length past her lips. He hissed as inches of his cock dragged over her hot tongue. And when the tip hit the back of her throat he twisted a nipple between his fingers forcing her to gasp and moan for him.

The weight of Sevastyan’s cock pressed between her thighs, pinning her hips to the desk.

“Don’t do this.” She mouthed her whispered protest over the smooth heat of Matteo’s cock as he drew out. She couldn’t sleep with the enemy. Refused to give in to her lusts. But maybe just this once. If no one saw her failing, it wouldn’t count.

But they were not listening.

“Ruin that perfect red lipstick, brother, I want to see your cum dripping from those lips.” Sevastyan’s accent, thicker than Matteo’s, was sexy as hell with soft vowels smooth as silk. But it was the glint in his eyes that had her forgetting to breathe.

Matteo drove his fingers into her loose hair and held her head sideways. He pushed the veined, heavy length past her lips and sank deep into her mouth. She moaned and swirled her tongue over him. He pulled out to perch the tip on her lips a moment only to drive back in, tapping the back of her throat.

She looked up at Matteo and their gazes held tight as he swirled his salty-sweet juices over her lips before feeding her his thick shaft again and again.

“That’s a sweet birdie,” he hissed. “Fuck, that’s sexy. I’ve wanted your mouth for fucking ever. Swallow hard when I hit the back of your throat. Take me deeper, cariña. Deeper, I said.” He pushed her ability to take him, forcing tears from her eyes.

Warm kisses pressed against the sides of her thong and strong fingers slipped beneath the material. She clenched her thighs, trying to fight against the onslaught of need pouring through her but she couldn’t. Not with Sevastyan forcing her legs back open.

“Fuck her mouth harder,” Sevastyan ordered roughly. “She does not understand she has no control here.”

Matteo picked up pace, his shaft throbbing against her tongue. “Now. Swallow. Hollow those cheeks around me.” She did as instructed and gagged slightly around the thick, fat head of Matteo’s cock.

She moaned erotically, his large girth stretching her lips. The hand he gripped her hair with tightened as he drove in deeper, grew impossibly thicker.

She braced for the white-hot ropes of cum, knew he’d reached his end, but nothing could prepare her for the searing heat of him spilling over her tongue and down her throat.

His head fell back and he groaned so deeply it reached into her stroking her own desires higher.

Moments later he brought his gaze to hers and stroked a single tear slipping from the corner of her eye, brought it to his mouth, and licked the single drop clean. The move was so tender for a man so vicious looking it knocked her more off balance.

Matteo pulled his pleasured cock from her lips and turned her head toward Sevastyan.

Sevastyan’s face darkened. “Look how pretty she looks with her boss’s cum covering her lips.”

He punctuated each word by tapping a steady cadence up her bare thigh. The touch of cold steel against her heated skin sent powerful shockwaves to her core making her pussy clench.

So wound up with Matteo, she forgot about the real danger she was in.

Was he going to cut her heart out now and dispose of the body like she’d witnessed before between guests?

Sevastyan leaned his massive body closer until his heat mixed with hers, and that was when she noticed his true intention with the knife.

One by one, he sliced his way down her torso. He started at the top and cut through each thread of silk ribbon twinned through the hooks of her bodice.

“Do you want more?”