Page 32 of Wicked Bloodlines

We pressed on, all of us breathing hard. The last room in the corridor was unlocked. I opened it, and my knees almost went out from under me. Maria lay on a battered hospital cot, blankets tangled around her. She was thin, her hair wild and her wrists bandaged. A single IV line fed into her arm. For a moment, I thought she was dead, but then she opened her eyes, wide and brown like mine, and tried to sit up.

She didn’t recognize me at first. Her voice was slurred when she said my name. “Sofi?”

I knelt at her side. “It’s me. I’m here.”

She tried to swing at me, her hands clawing air. I caught her wrists and held them, gentle. “You’re safe. I promise.” The fight went out of her then. She sagged, her head dropping against my shoulder. I held her, rocking her back and forth like I had when she was small.

Matteo’s voice, urgent as he removed the IV as carefully as he could. “We have to move, Sofia. Now.”

I hooked my arm under Maria’s and hoisted her upright. She was deadweight, barely conscious. Brando took her from me and carried her up the stairs.

Outside, chaos waited. Alessandro urged the rescued women into the first van. Gabriel and his team were in the parking lot, forming a line of defense as two Rossi vehicles skidded to a halt at the curb. The exchange of gunfire was sharp before two Rossi men dropped. The rest scattered.

One runner broke to sprint from the chaos for the back alley, clutching a radio to his chest. He was almost gone when I realized he would be calling my father, or worse. I snatched the dead Marchesi guard’s pistol from the floor and fired. The first shot went wide. The second caught the runner in the hip, spinning him to the ground. He screamed, dropped the radio, tried to crawl. I finished it with a second shot.

The whole world went silent for a second after. My ears rang and my hands shook.

Matteo caught up to me at the van. He scooped Maria out of the guard’s arms and lifted her like she weighed nothing, cradling her against his chest. “Get in the van, Sofia,” he snapped. “Right now.”

He climbed in with Maria, tucking her head against his shoulder. The other women were huddled together, two of them crying softly. Gabriel’s men loaded into the lead vehicle, and the vans peeled out of the lot, wheels screeching over broken pavement.

I looked over at Maria, unconscious but safe, and felt something huge and hollow uncurl inside me. I closed my eyes and exhaustion settled over me as the adrenaline ebbed in my system.

Back at the villa, Dario and Belle had Maria taken to a guest suite two doors down from mine. Dario had a doctor check her over and I stayed at her side. Two more Luca guards lingered in the hall, one sitting, the other standing on the opposite side of the hall. They nodded to me as I passed but didn’t speak. Inside the room, Maria slept like she was dead, blankets twisted around her, one fist pressed under her chin.

I watched her for a long time before my legs gave out, and I sank to the floor, pressing my forehead to my knees. I stayed there until my breathing slowed enough to stop seeing stars.

That’s how Matteo found me. He looked tired as he crouched beside me, took my chin in his hand, and tilted my face to meet his gaze. “Come with me,” he said. “You’re done.”

I felt like I should protest but didn’t really have it in me. He carried me to his suite, flanked by two more guards. One of them opened the door, let us in, then closed it behind us. Matteo locked the door, then carried me through the bedroom and into the master bath.

He stripped me out of my bloody shirt and jeans, careful not to hurt the new bruises blooming on my skin. The blade from my boot he removed and set gently on the vanity. He turned on the shower, letting the steam fill the bathroom before guiding me under the spray.

He took his time, not speaking as he washed every inch of me carefully, paying special attention to the blood under my nails. Every time I shivered or whimpered in distress when I saw the reddish brown water swirling around the white floor of the shower, Matteo leaned down to kiss my shoulder or my neck.

The next time he did, I turned my head to meet him. The kiss landed awkward at first, but then I turned around and Matteo wrapped his arms tightly around me and met my kiss with his open mouth…

And just like that, I forgot about blood and bruises and everything that had come before. Matteo kissed me like he could swallow every nightmare, like his lips on mine could erase the stink of death from my skin. I clung to him, needing the heat and the hurt and all the roughness he’d never bothered to hide from me. I wanted his teeth on my neck, his hands bruising my hips, and I didn’t care if it made me a savage. Pretty sure I’d left “delicate” back in that hallway with the corpse and the gun.

Matteo got me pinned against the tile in seconds, his mouth at my throat, biting hard. I gasped, and then I moaned like a whore, grinding up against him because I needed him to know what I wanted. Matteo heard me. He went straight for my tits, sucking at my nipples hard enough to make my head light up with stars, rotating from one to the other. I raked my nails down his back, and he shuddered against my touch. That did something to me. Made me want to break him like he’d broken me.

He lifted me into his arms, water pouring over us and his cock thick and heavy against my thigh. “You want this?” he growled, pressing his mouth to my ear. “You want me to fuck you right here, Sofia?”

“Yes,” I whispered. “Fuck me with everything you’ve got, Matteo. I need you so much!”

He shoved me back against the wall, pinning my wrists over my head as the water sluiced over us both. He looked like a Goddamn fallen angel, dripping wet and hard as fuck. His cock stood up proudly, pressing against my belly as he ground against me. And fuck if I didn’t want him exactly like this.

He hooked my knee over his arm, opening my pussy for him to line up and drive inside me. I screamed, biting his shoulder because I needed to hurt him the way he was wrecking me emotionally.

“Yeah,” he growled, voice right at my ear, dirty and mean the way I needed it. “You want to get fucked, princess? You want to get fucked so hard you forget your own Goddamn name?”

I nodded, but that wasn’t enough for him. Matteo let go of my wrists to grab my ass, haul me closer. When I curled my leg around his hip, he wrapped his other arm around my back and started to move. Relentless, punishing, each thrust driving higher and higher.

“Jesus, look at you. You fucking love it. Filthy girl.” I’d never wanted anything like I wanted him right then.

“Harder,” I managed, voice shredded, “Don’t you dare hold back on me, Matteo. I need all of it. I need you. Fuck me!”

He didn’t hesitate. His cock hit so deep it hurt, but I was already right there, dizzy and desperate. I tilted my hips, putting the pressure on my clit I needed, and came so hard I blacked out.