The Power of a Woman: A Mafia Erotic Romance (9 page)

I could tell that Stefan worried about touching me. He kept his hands to himself, probably out of fear of inflicting more pain. But he didn’t realize that his touch healed me…he didn’t possess the ability to hurt me. The pain he caused induced a distinct pleasure and allowed me to breathe with purpose. I took his hands in mine and wrapped his arms around my waist, waiting until his eyes met mine again.

“Tesoro…this is
my
body,” he said as he held me gently against him. “That fucker touched something of mine. He broke something of mine.”

“No. He didn’t break me. He may have bent me…but I can assure you that I’m not broken.”

“Together?”

I nodded. “Together.”

“Where did he go?”

I shrugged and winced at the pain, but carried on before Stefan could back away. “Business is all he said. Someone called. I don’t know when he’ll be back, but he’s never been gone long. I have no idea when he left.”

He backed me up and held out the chains. His eyes showed conflict as his breaths raged in his chest. “I don’t want to do this to you, but he has to find you the same way you were when he left. He won’t know I’m here…so he won’t expect me. I won’t let him touch you.”

The thought of being back in those chains terrified me, and I shook with fear. But I knew it needed to be done. I only needed Stefan to make it all better. “One condition.”

“Anything.” His breaths were labored and his voice broken.

“Once I’m back in these chains…make it better for me. Please.”

A low groan bubbled up his throat before his lips met mine. It was harsh and needy, splitting my lip back open from where it had begun to heal. But my brain registered no pain, only the relief of having his lips on mine again.

My wrists were in the cuffs as I stood in front of Stefan, my legs spread beneath me. His warm lips trailed down my body, lighting a fire within me and erasing the burning pain with searing lust. The second his hot tongue ran over my aching clit, my knees wobbled. “Please,” I begged, knowing it wouldn’t take long. I had been deprived for days—aside from the forced, punishing orgasms that filled me with regret and hatred—and I needed the kind of release only Stefan could give me.

“This is mine. Never share this with anyone else…ever.” His hot words hit my moistened slit and sent a sweltering pleasure through every nerve in my body. His tongue touched me once more and that was all I needed. I came with the force of a volcano, releasing my gratitude on his tongue.

And now we wait. Only this time, I’m fueled by so much more than simple revenge.

I’m fueled by love.

And nothing is more powerful than a woman in love.

“I’m wound up, bitch. Hope you’re ready for me.”

I heard him before I saw him, and the moment his voice echoed in the room, my breathing quickened and my body began to shake violently. Yet nothing compared to how I felt when he rounded the corner and I became face to face with the monster. His presence made my pulse pound in my ears, and I feared I’d pass out from being lightheaded. I hated this man, and the only thing that got me through was the knowledge he’d soon be lifeless by my hands.

“I’m going to enjoy taking my time with this one. I’m feeling particularly wound up right now. You can thank your fucking father for what I’m about to do to you.” His sadistic sneer covered the lower half of his face and it made me want to scream and cry at the same time. “In fact, I think I’ll have you call me ‘Daddy’ this time.”

He made it one step in my direction before Stefan had his arms around Scarface’s neck, choking him out. I wanted to say something, scream with joy, yell for him not to kill him yet, but nothing came out. I remained silent, shaking from both fear and excitement.

In seconds, he was down on the ground, on his back, passed out. Stefan rushed to me and released me from the chains, his chocolate eyes hazed over by an emotion I’d never seen in them before. “We need to hurry before he comes to,” he whispered, the adrenaline evident in his husky tone.

Stefan set me on the couch and gave me a blanket to cover up with. I was shaking and he must’ve thought I was cold, but in reality, I couldn’t feel anything. I could’ve suffered from hyperthermia and not even realized it over the extreme levels of adrenaline that coursed through me. He took off his shirt and threw it at me before dragging Scarface to the chains I had just been released from. He stripped him of his clothes and restrained him, exactly the way I had been with his knees on the floor, spread beneath his dangling body. Seeing the bastard that way, a confident, controlled calmness overcame me.

This was it. This was my time.

And I knew just how to start the festivities off.

I held the Taser gun in my hand and delivered the first few zaps to his balls, awakening him to his very own nightmare—the same nightmare he had me living in for days. Each time he went into orbit, the veins in his neck and temples practically popped. But I didn’t let up. Even when he looked at me with desperate, unfocused eyes, I didn’t let up. I had no doubt in my mind that he’d planned to kill me at the end of week. There was no conflict within me over what I would do to him…only blinding rage.

“Aww, are those tears welling up in your eyes?” My words were meant to taunt him, the same way he’d taunted me for days. I wanted him to know how it felt to have everything stripped away from him. “Is Daddy gonna cry?”

“Fuck you, cunt.” He spat in my face once he finally started to come to. He blinked and focused his gaze behind me, noticing Stefan in the background. “You’re going to pay for this,” he seethed with struggled, forced words due to the extreme levels of voltage that’d been sent through his body.

“From where I’m standing, it looks like you’re the one paying, Zeke.” Stefan’s controlled voice came from over my shoulder. His presence gave me the strength to carry on. Not that I would’ve backed down from giving this monster everything he deserved, because nothing would’ve stopped me from doing that. But with the blinding rage that whirled inside me, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from traveling down the roads too dark for my own mind. I was capable of a lot, had seen a lot in this life, but even I had my limits. If I didn’t have Stefan behind me, supporting me, lending me his control, who knows how far I would’ve gone…and those demons would’ve haunted me far worse than the ones caused by Scarface’s torment.

“You won’t get away with this,” Zeke barked, sounding like the rabid dog he was. But it gave me an idea. The fucker had spent days treating me like some mutt he’d picked up off the streets. I’d let him know just how bad my bite was.

I knelt down to him, fighting a deep desire to claw at his face, attack it with my fucking teeth. Gnaw his nose off completely. Mangle him in ways he deserved. But instead, I smiled and moved the bowl of water he’d offered me closer to him.

“Are you thirsty?” I asked sweetly. However, the undercurrent of ambivalence became heavy on my tongue. Stefan had moved behind him by this point and met my gaze with a quirk of his lips, showing me his approval.

Zeke’s dark eyes flared with burning rage as he stared back at me, unmoving. Apparently, the bastard didn’t take too kindly to being treated like an animal. But that’s how it was with sick, demented people. The ones who beat on women, abuse children and animals…they never liked it when the tables were turned. And nothing felt more gratifying than turning the table on someone like him.

Stefan must’ve grown tired of the stare down, because he lurched forward, taking Zeke by the back of his neck and shoving his face into the bowl of water. He fought against Stefan’s hold, the water splashing over the sides and onto the carpet. I watched with amusement as he thrashed about, arms and legs chained, unable to do much other than buck against Stefan’s body behind him. But once Stefan pulled his gun from his holster and pressed the barrel to the base of Zeke’s skull, he seemed to give in, calming his erratic flailing.

“I’ll be right back. I have to go find a few things to make him a little more comfortable.” I sent a wink Stefan’s way and stood up. I didn’t know where to find the things I wanted, but I figured the first place to start looking was in Zeke’s bedroom.

After spending a few minutes searching through Scarface’s personal belongings, I came back to the living room with my hands full of a few objects I thought would be useful. Zeke’s face was no longer shoved into the water bowl, but he did have a gash along his right eyebrow that left the side of his face painted red with his blood. I had no idea what had been said in my absence, but from the enraged expression on Stefan’s face, I knew it couldn’t have been good. His nostrils flared, his lips pressed tightly into a hard, firm line, and his eyebrows were pinched together so hard it caused deep creases in brow. But once he noticed my presence, his fiery gaze met mine, and I watched them soften right in front of me, as if the sight of me eased his inner turmoil.

I threw the zap collar and umbrella onto the couch, and unfolded the newspaper I found to lay out beneath him. Stefan sent me an inquisitive look, but I knew better than to explain my actions. If I told him the meaning behind the paper, he’d lose control for sure. And it would hinder my chances of taking this beast out on my own. If Stefan knew of the specific things Zeke had done to me, he’d kill him with his own bare hands before I ever had a chance.

Once I had the newspaper beneath Scarface’s shaking body, I grabbed the collar and buckled it around his neck. I stood back to examine the scene, to see what it looked like from this angle. A surge of triumph flooded me, but not because I enjoyed torturing someone, not because I found some sick pleasure in humiliating another human being to this degree, but because this man, and this man alone deserved to experience everything he’d done to me.

“Just fucking kill me already. I know that’s what you’re going to do anyway, so just get it over with.” His voice was filled with heavy desperation. He wasn’t desperate to live, because he knew that wouldn’t happen—it didn’t matter how much he begged or pleaded for his life, it wouldn’t save him. He’d given up, and that offered a small amount of satisfaction.

“Oh, you’ll die all right.” I moved the ottoman so I could sit in front of him. I wanted a front-row view of this. “But that will come in time. I’m not finished with your
games
just yet. You had such fun playing these with me, that I thought I’d give them a try. We’re gonna play some trivia first, and we’re not going to stop until you’ve pissed yourself. Got it? The rules are the same as the crossword puzzle.”

The fucker still had some fight left in his as he growled at me, bearing his teeth. I pressed the button on the zapper, watching his body flinch and his eyes squeeze closed. I pressed the button two more times just to make a point. And the reflection of pain in his expression gave me pleasure.

Yeah, I was a sick, twisted fucking bitch, and I had Zeke to thank for it.

I leaned in close, resting my elbows on my bruised kneecaps. “How many gallons of water would it take to fill the Atlantic Ocean?” I had no clue as what the answer was, and I knew he didn’t, either. But that was the point, wasn’t it? Even if he could answer it correctly, I wouldn’t give it to him. After all, how many words had I gotten right that he’d told me were wrong?

He searched my face, but I didn’t back down. They say the eyes are the windows to a person’s soul. And at this moment…I didn’t have a soul. It’d been damaged and darkened by the perverse deeds done to me—tainted and left beyond repair. And I had the monster in front of me to thank for that. But his soul…it was gone long before mine. I didn’t need to see it…I only needed to witness it leave his body. Watch the light fade from his eyes, the air leave his lungs. Maybe that was all I needed to pull myself back to reality and put this entire ordeal behind me. I wouldn’t know until the time had come, though. And I wasn’t quite ready for that to happen just yet.

When he didn’t answer, I zapped him again. We played that game for about five rounds. Five questions he didn’t have answers to, each time, I pressed the button and watched with excitement as he flinched. I finally gave up when his body had become so used to the electricity he stopped reacting to it. It was no longer fun by then. I threw the remote on the couch and knelt on the carpet in front of him.

“For someone with so much to say before, you’ve certainly grown rather quiet. What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue? You don’t like being humiliated and tortured? I thought you liked these games. You were rather eager to play them before.”

“You’re right,” he finally said, his choked words coming out scratchy and airy. “I did enjoy playing with you. You came to me with your holier-than-thou attitude, and nothing got me off harder than watching you crumble. Hearing you beg like the weak, pathetic bitch that you are. Someone needed to knock you off your pedestal, and I’m just happy it was me that did it.”

Undeniable rage consumed me until my flesh burned hot, my ears rang loudly, and my fingers went numb with intense adrenaline. But before I had the opportunity to lash out, to react to the filth he spewed, Stefan pistol-whipped him. The cracking sound of the butt of the gun meeting his skull echoed in the room while his eyes rolled to the back of his head. His pain may not have been inflicted by my hands, but the satisfaction was felt just the same. Maybe even more so knowing Stefan had done it in my honor, coming to my defense. I wasn’t used to having someone do that for me, and the euphoria of knowing I finally had someone in my corner sent me soaring to new heights.