Imperfect Bride: An Arranged Marriage Mafia Romance (Blood Empire Book 5) Read online

  My first thought is I need to talk to Warrick. He’ll know what to do if I’m actually being considered as a suspect in my father’s murder case.

  My second thought is to get to my personal haven, my sanctuary these past months since my nonna died and I had to go on adulting without her guidance. I’d go to my bakery. Once I get to that homey place I poured my heart and soul into, I’ll figure out what to do next.

  Chapter IX

  Warrick

  All afternoon I’ve been thinking about my wife’s words. I’ve come to one conclusion—somebody tried to hurt her.

  I’ll find out who.

  And when I do, he’ll die.

  I go through the motions of the work that needs to be done today. Collecting cash from the men who sell our drugs and weapons is mindless work that I don’t need to concentrate on, but that means I’m spending a hell of a lot of time thinking about Everly.

  After what her old man put her through, he’s better off dead. Marrying off your little girls to…

  Come to think of it, Everly never did mention who the men set to be their grooms were. Maybe she doesn’t even know. Either way, that’s sinking damn low even for a dickhead like Gallo was. Good thing he’s already dead or I’d have to give him a piece of my mind.

  I pound on the dealer’s door. This broken-down shithole of a house looks about to crumble to dust, but after a minute or two, his kid comes to answer.

  He couldn’t be more than fifteen, but he looks rough. Even sporting a shiner and a fat lip, he’s got attitude.

  “What the hell do you want?” he asks.

  I step up to him, forcing him back a step. “I’m here to collect. Where’s your old man?”

  “He’s fucking dead. Thought you would have heard.”

  I cock a brow at him. “Damn. I didn’t hear. When did it happen?”

  “Last night. The cops moved in to bust him.”

  Now my brows really rocket upward. “The cops took him out?” That should never happen, not in our city. Most of the cops are on our payroll.

  “No. He got away from them. But when he ran into an alley and hid, some guys jumped him. Beat him up, took the drugs and money. Then they shot him in the head.”

  I shake my head. “I’ll find who did it and they’ll pay. I give you my word on that, kid.”

  He studies me for a minute as if trying to decide if I’m good for it. Finally, he nods. “Thanks.”

  I turn to leave but only make it halfway down the steps before he calls out. “Wait!”

  I stop and pivot to face him.

  He looks younger than ever and more afraid, though that defiant set of his shoulders speaks of the tough guy he’ll someday become.

  “I’ll take his corner. I can do it better than my father ever could. He was dumb and careless with who he sold to.”

  I eye him up, considering his offer. It’s easier to pass the baton to the next generation. Except I pause.

  “Look me up when you’re eighteen, kid. ’Til then, keep your nose clean.” I walk off to my BMW and slip behind the wheel.

  For a minute I sit here unmoving despite the rest of the stops I need to make today. I must be getting fucking soft. First I run into Everly at that party and defend her damn honor, and now I’m protecting a kid from entering the life of crime too early even though he’ll end up there anyway. If he’s lucky, he’ll outlive his father by a couple years.

  I start the car and park in front of the next dealer’s house without realizing I drove. My head’s sunk deep into thought.

  As soon as I open the door, my phone vibrates. A glance at the screen shows me it’s Ryker.

  “What do you want?” I greet him.

  “Your fucking old lady’s gone.”

  I stare through the windshield, trying to make sense of those words. “What do you mean gone? How do you know she’s gone?”

  “Because Camila and Zoey went to your room looking for her, and she isn’t there.”

  “Did she take her things?” I grip the steering wheel.

  “Doesn’t look like it, but you can’t have her out there wandering the streets.”

  “I told her to wait for me. Dammit. Okay, thanks for letting me know. I think I know where to find her.” I’m already starting the engine. I drop my phone into the inside pocket of my jacket before slamming the car into drive.

  What was she thinking? She has to know that as a Rossi now, she’s not free to run the Chicago streets without protection. My family might have taken out most of our enemies, but we still have a few stupid asses who don’t yet realize they can’t best us.

  The other wives go everywhere with guards. Another question I’ll get to the bottom of is is how Everly managed to walk past the guards and leave.

  I run through the gears, taking the streets fast, weaving in and out of traffic to get to the bakery where I first proposed the marriage contract to Everly.

  The dark and dirty buildings fade to a more hipster neighborhood where her bakery’s located on the corner. When I pull up in front of it, I admit that the place looks attractive. She’s done a lot to the place to give it a brand and breathed new life into the simplistic architecture with her pale blue and green sign featuring the name Dream Puff. Green-and-white striped café curtains add to the look.

  I grab hold of the door handle that’s in the shape of a donut. I pull on it, but it’s locked.

  I head around the side to the alley and the side door leading to a storeroom for supplies, and off that, her personal living space.

  If she thinks she’s going home, back to all this, she’s soon to get an awakening. I don’t let go of my toys after I steal them from another child, and I stole her from Moretti. I still can’t believe her stupid ho mom and dickhead uncle were about to sell her to him.

  As I pound on the metal door, I realize that Moretti might even be the guy her father planned to give her to. He was Gallo’s second-in-command.

  I pull on the door and find it’s fucking unlatched, open to any loser who wants to sneak in and attack my wife. The scent of baked goods pour through the crack I make to slip through. I palm my Glock and steal through the storeroom.

  When I spot my wife pressed up against the kitchen wall with a man looming over her, I see red.

  Without even hesitating, I fire a shot over the asshole’s head. Plaster rains down on the floor and dust fills the space. Everly screams, and the guy jumps away, giving me a good view of his face.

  Her uncle.

  “Gallo. What the fuck are you doing with my wife?” I cut my eyes from him to Everly.

  Relief shatters her features, and I see the truth in her eyes.

  Her sick motherfucker uncle has other ideas for her.

  “Stay there,” I order her as I approach Gallo. The guy’s as tall as I am, but he’s weak. His hunched shoulders are rounded, and age hasn’t been kind to him. He must be in his late fifties but he looks seventy.

  I take aim. “Head,” I drop the gun to his chest, “or heart?”

  “Put that thing away. I’m just talking to my niece.”

  “Everly, was he just talking to you?”

  “No.” Her voice holds an underlying rasp of vehemence.

  “Get the fuck away from her. Right. Now.” I aim at his foot and fire another shot.

  Gallo jumps but not before my bullet rips through the side of his shoe. His bellow echoes around the bakery, and blood blooms as a dark rose on the brown leather.

  “You fffucking asshole!” He hops out from behind the main counter, around the glass cases, now empty since Everly left the shop.

  I stride forward and grab the guy by the front of the shirt. When I drag him around the counter, Everly doesn’t move from her spot. She’s frozen in place, fear warring over her features she doesn’t want me to see.

  She doesn’t want me to see that she’s afraid of her uncle.

  I’ve seen dirty family secrets like this before.

  “This ends right here, right now. You walk out of my w
ife’s life forever, or I shoot you and dump your body.” I keep the gun leveled on his head. Less blood.

  “She’s my brother’s daughter. You can’t keep me from talking to her.”

  “Sneaking in the back door and scaring her isn’t talking. I’m giving you one more second to get the fuck out before I shoot you.” I meet his eyes. “One.”

  He whips around and hobbles fast, leaving tracks of blood across the checkered floor to the storeroom, and then the side door. I listen for it to close behind him.

  “Stay there. I’m going to make sure he’s gone.” I take off after him.

  Everly nods and remains glued to the wall. Smoke is rising from the oven as whatever she’s baking starts to burn.

  I stride to the back and search the place, but Gallo’s definitely gone. I open the door and check the alley just to make sure. Then I bolt it to keep out any other intruders.

  When I reach the kitchen again, Everly is where she was when I left, only her head’s bowed.

  “Now you know,” she whispers.

  The sound rips out my guts.

  I set my gun on the counter and grab an oven mitt. When I open the oven door, smoke rolls out, engulfing me. I grab the baking sheet and set it on top of a metal rack. Then I reach for my wife.

  As I crowd closer to her, she doesn’t move or even look up at me. “He put his hands on you?”

  Her nod breaks my damn heart.

  I know what I have to do.

  Exorcise that demon. Remove all traces of fear from her with the knowledge of my body and how good I can make her feel. I have to forever wash away what that son of a bitch has done to her.

  When I grab her waist, she jerks her head up, gaze drilling into me. Maybe she sees the intention on my face because her jaw drops.

  I swoop in and crush my mouth over hers. The soft gasp of surprise quickly turns to a moan as I plunder her with my tongue while kneading her breast. I brush my thumb over her nipple, and it hardens to me. I pinch it and it hardens even more.

  Ripping my mouth free of hers, I grit out, “These breasts are mine.” I cup her pussy. “This pussy is mine.” Cupping her ass with both hands, I lift her onto the closest countertop. “This ass is alllll mine.”

  She cries out when I rip off her top and pop the clasp of her bra. The second her creamy breasts come into sight, I latch onto one with my mouth and suck. Her back arches. She grips the counter tight to keep herself upright.

  I lave her nipple with my tongue, swiping it around and around and then back and forth until she cries out. I see what I can do to this woman.

  Right now, my goal is to set her free.

  Chapter X

  Everly

  I’m shaking apart from the force of Warrick’s desire. His determination. His will to claim me in all ways.

  I know why too.

  He’s trying to drive the memory of my uncle’s filthy hands on me out of my mind. He was close to touching me today, and if not for Warrick blasting into the bakery, who knows if I would have been able to fight my uncle off.

  I lose the thread of that thought as my husband lifts me off the countertop. The toes of my shoes hit the tile, but not for long. He whips me around and sucks on my throat as he delves a hand into my pants.

  The instant he finds my pussy, he grazes the sensitive flesh on my throat with his teeth. “Mine.” His growl sets me on fire and breaks me out in goosebumps simultaneously. I rock against his fingers until the digit slips between my thick lips, into the damp folds.

  He jerks his hand out of my panties and rips my pants down. I barely register anything but need and his hot rasps at my ear. The grating noise of his zipper tears at my control. I try to twist into his arms.

  The thick head of his cock fits against my entrance, and in one shove Warrick fills me. He slams home, burrowing deep, then a millimeter deeper. I cry out in ecstasy. Even though my body’s sore from what should have been our wedding-night sex, I savor that burning stretch of his cock.

  He strokes through my walls nice and slow before filling me again. “My pussy. My body. My soul. You’re a Rossi. My wife.”

  He rams into me. My inner walls clutch at him in a sucking need to pull him deeper. Feeling what I’m doing to his cock, he flattens me over the counter and sinks in even more.

  A strangled cry bursts up my throat as he reaches around me and traps my clit under his fingertip. The rough swirl has me grinding my teeth. Shaking. Perspiration slicks my brow and throat. I shove backward, taking him to the hilt.

  This need inside me to be owned is a tempest I never saw coming. Like a storm hitting the shores without a warning alarm, I’m caught out in the open without protection.

  I have no choice but to let the storm rage between us, inside me, inside him.

  Warrick is the storm. I’m in the eye of it, and I never want to leave his arms.

  He grinds my swollen clit into my body. The sticky wetness of my desire makes his strokes easier, faster.

  Or maybe he’s just as out of control as I am.

  The scent of burned sticky buns mingles with that of our lovemaking. Sex and man fills my head. When my orgasm hits out of nowhere, I’m helpless to stop it. I stiffen. Shake. And begin to pulsate on a cry of Warrick’s name.

  My pussy contracts around his length three times, and I’m not nearly finished with my release when he yanks free of my body, whips me around to face him and then forces me to my knees.

  I drop eagerly. Knowing just what he wants, I tip my head back and open my mouth for him to fill it.

  “Rub your clit while you suck me, wife.”

  I’m burning again in a blink. Slipping a hand between my splayed thighs, I do as he orders as he slides his cock into my mouth.

  Filling me to the back of my throat. The mushroomed head hits the back, and I swallow around him.

  He lashes his hand around my long hair and yanks my head back to take him deeper. “Relax your throat. You can fit me, Everly. I own this mouth. Understand?”

  I moan out and nod. A second later, he slides into my throat where I never thought he could go before. I meet his heated gaze. Black eyes burn through me.

  I slowly run my fingertip over my slick, hard clit, and electricity hits my veins. I cry out. He echoes it with a growled curse and begins to fuck my mouth in swift churns of his hips as I bring myself to the peak for a second time.

  The first salty jet of his cum strikes the back of my throat. I moan out, and he pours the rest of his release into me. I swallow in gulps, taking his essence inside me while my orgasm has my head floating.

  My emotions riot. My mind blanks.

  “Fuck!” He buries his cock deep into my throat and stiffens again. I realize he’s got more to give, and maybe I’m doing that to him.

  When I come back to myself, he has me on my bed in the back room. The lumpy double mattress I could afford on my strict budget is nowhere near the plush comforts of Warrick’s bed.

  Our bed, I think as he starts at my nipples all over again.

  “Warrick,” I whisper as he suckles me with more tenderness than I ever expect. Tears fill my eyes, and his face blurs when I look at him. “You’ve changed my world in a very short time. You’ve claimed my body and when you saved me from my situation, Nick, my uncle…myself even…” I shake my head, unsure how to go on. “I think you bought more than a wife, Warrick. I belong to you.”

  He pulls off my nipple with a rough pop that only excites me more. His dark, intense stare heats me to the core. “Damn right you do. Never forget it.”

  Warrick

  “Fucking rat nests,” I mutter to myself as I walk out of an apartment building where I’m halfway through finishing my rounds of collecting cash. I stepped in dog shit on the stairs coming in and wiped my boots on the rug inside. Now, on the way out I step in gum.

  “Goddammit!” I scrape the sole of my boot on the tread when my damn phone buzzes again.

  I practically crush the device to my ear and growl out, “What the fuck is
it?”

  “Brother, get your ass home—now! The fucking Feds are taking your wife.”

  Anders’ words seep into me far too slowly. I’m like a sponge already filled with water and I can’t hold more.

  Then all at once, his statement clicks and I’m running for my car. “What happened?” I demand of Anders.

  “Dude, none of us know. That detective’s back, and he took your wife into the study.”

  “Why the fuck didn’t somebody call me before now?” My bellow makes birds nesting in the nearby tree take flight. Out of the corner of my eye, I see their black bodies silhouetted against the white Chicago sky.

  “There wasn’t time. It went down quick. Just get here. How far away are you?”

  “Five minutes if I don’t stop.” And I won’t. Nobody better get in my way of reaching my wife.

  I’m already behind the wheel, running through the gears. I keep Anders on the line so he can keep me informed. If they book her without me being present, there’s going to be hell to pay. That question Everly asked about Detective Bly disappearing? If he arrests her, there won’t be any stopping me.

  I weave in and out of cars. One is bearing down on me in the middle of an intersection. I turn my head and look the driver in the eyes as I sail through the red light without slowly. They hit their brakes and skid sideways into a line of parked cars.

  The screech of metal fades away behind me. A few more streets and I’ll reach her. Fuck, what is happening? The detective must have dug up some evidence on Everly, and the only thing I can think of is that gun she planned to use to kill her father.

  My fucking chest is pounding with rage. A headache begins behind my eye and spreads across my forehead, clamping it like a vise.

  A pedestrian steps out on the road, takes one look at my BMW bearing down on her, and she leaps back to safety. I whizz by. I take the turn into my driveway, coming in hot. The shriek of my tires and the grind of gears settles like dust in my mind as I jump out of the car and break for the front door of the mansion.