Page 127 of Tempting My Mafia Monster

He grabbed my hips and pulled me into him, pressing his hard cock against my stomach. “You think that will stop me?”

“I hope not,” I smirked, running my hands over his torso. “Just don’t kill him. He’s an important man.”

“Hmm,” he grumbled, dipping his head and kissing my neck. “Don’t give a fuck what he is.”

I schooled my expression, showing him I was deadly serious. “Maddox, my family’s lives depend on him leaving Italy in one piece. I’m serious.”

He made a clicking sound with his tongue and narrowed his eyes. I quickly balanced on my tiptoes, pecked his lips again, then ran away from him before I stayed and got us both caught.

When I reached the gate, I paused and looked back at him. He was still standing there, the moonlight catching the water droplets running down his skin, but it was his eyes that stole my breath. They didn’t look empty anymore. They looked haunted by desire and longing.

As if he were forcing himself to watch me leave, even though it hurt. I almost raced back.

“I can’t believe I lost it! I am so clumsy, but it has to be out here somewhere,” Lili said, making me smile to myself. She was buying me every second she could.

I slipped through the gate and crept back along the blind spots, avoiding the cameras. I’d already asked Olivia to make sure the swimming pool camera was off. She’d obviously done it, or I wouldn’t have lasted two minutes in that pool before Ivano or Giovanni would have stormed in.

Running my finger over the tattoo, His Little Monster, I smiled. He remembered more. It was enough to feel the pieces of my broken heart stitching themselves back together.

But time wasn’t on my side.

Tomorrow, Aleksandr would come, and reality would come crashing down around us.

But tonight…

Tonight had been ours. For the first time since Maddox had looked at me like a stranger, I’d seen the man I loved staring back. And that was enough to keep me going for now.

One More

Iwalked back inside the pool house, dripping wet and breathing hard. Rummaging through my bag, I found the journal, flicked to the back and added one more name to the bottom of the list.

Aleksandr.

I shut the book and tossed it aside.

She had to marry him. I’d have to let her go. So why did I add his name to my hit list? Because the monster in me hadn’t agreed to a goddamn thing.

The Heart Knows

Ialready hated this day.

Giovanni sat opposite me while Alessio took the head of the table and discussed updates from their men stationed in Ireland. The update was: there was no fucking update. No sightings of McKenna or his most loyal men.

“We are shifting our attention to his allies in America and France,” Alessio said, but I was barely listening.

My eyes were locked on the empty chair next to Giovanni, my hands clenching into fists under the table. I had my headphones resting around my neck, ready to help me zone out from reality the moment I needed it. I’d more likely need a miracle to stop me from committing murder today.

“Maddox, you’re on edge,” Alessio said, leaning back in his chair and regarding me. Nothing got past the Mafia King of Italy. Except that I’d made his sister-in-law squirt last night, an image I’ve been replaying in my mind. “You look like you haven’t slept.”

“I haven’t.”

“Are you having withdrawals?” Giovanni tilted his head, narrowing his eyes at the tension in my body. “Do you need a dose of Raw Mercy?”

I scoffed. They had no fucking clue. “Trust me, that’s the last thing you want to give me today.”

They glanced at each other, unease passing between them. After a quick knock, the door opened, and a Buccini soldier led three stoic men into the room.

The moment the Russians walked in, the meeting room felt more claustrophobic than the bunker ever had. Alessio and Giovanni stood. I leaned back in my chair and ran my hand along my chin as I looked at the man who Soraya was promised to.