In Bed With My Mafia Stepbrother

Cara’s POV.

Ring. Ring.

I let out a lethargic groan, my head pounding furiously as I rolled over on a bed softer, larger and more comfortable than I remembered mine to be.

Ring. Ring.

That incessant ringing of a cell phone nearby was practically blasting my ears to bits. I felt around for my phone, wanting to answer it but my hand came to rest on a hard, naked chest.

I froze, my thoughts and heartbeat coming to a standstill, only to start again even more ferociously as my head swam with memories from last night while I tried to place why I was in bed with someone else, a man from the look of things.

I splayed my fingers and coasted down the chest. Too smooth and broad to be Kevin, my on again, off again boyfriend I usually hooked up with when I needed my fix.

RRRRING RRINGGG RRR-

The annoying ringing was cut short by a pissed off voice demanding in a heavy accent; “What is it?”

My eyes flew open, my heart stilling at the deep, husky voice that was unfamiliar until yesterday… Last night to be precise. Hot humiliation and ice cold fear warred in my chest, my heart sinking into my stomach as the memories came crashing down.

No no no.

I could already hear the words, the accusation. You filthy slut. Dirty whore. Your own stepbrother you only just met…

How did this happen?

I sat up in the bed, clutching the sheets to my chest, my heart beating my lungs to death and pumping dread and horror into my veins.

This can’t be happening.

Blinking rapidly, I saw my clothes in a heap by the door, my undies strewn on the chair, my shoes lying in one corner of the room.

I desperately tried to remember what happened last night that had led to me in bed with my new stepbrother; Luca Salvatore, the don of the entire Italian mafia and most dangerous man in all of Chicago.

My mother was getting married to his father; Manuel Salvatore, the retired godfather of the city. She had invited me for the little get-together Manuel was throwing to celebrate their union. As usual, Amanda; my mother and I had gotten into an argument about what I was wearing and why I wasn’t even trying to fit in with the crowd and I had drank myself silly to drown her incessant tittering.

Worthless.

Piece of shit.

Mistake.

The accusations were piling up on top me, squeezing my heart of everything I had in me. I could hear his voice, feel his lips, his hands and teeth as he repeated those dreaded words over and over again.

The used condoms on the floor sealed the deal for me.

I clutched the sheets as the reality of this situation dawned on me.

I need to get out of here.

Luca was still talking about god knows what on the phone and my common sense kicked in, deciding that now was the perfect time to make my escape if I wanted to leave unscathed.

I stepped out of the bed, almost tripping over myself, thanks to my blurry tearstained vison and managed to put my clothes on.

“Stop right there,” the voice commanded, thick and deep and demanding.

I swallowed, every cell in my body fighting against the sheer common sense to obey. But there’s not a single man alive that will tell me what to do and the most dangerous man in the city isn’t going to change that.

I was going to leave him right there, however the sound of a gun cocked in my direction stopped me in my tracks.

“Turn around.”

I did. Slowly. Begrudgingly but only because there was a gun aimed at my head.

Luca Salvatore was too goodlooking for his own good but the darkness in his eyes ruined it for me.

How on earth did I end up in bed with a man like him.

From past experience, I knew better than to mess with men in the mafia but somehow, the reasons had blurred in my head last night.

He was lying in bed, silk white sheets twisted around him. My face paled at the recent scratches on his body, his heavily mussed hair, the lipstick marks on the corner of his lips, his body.

My cheeks burned as I remembered the feel of his naked skin against mine, his rough hands cupping my body.

“Who the fuck are you?”

I blinked, hurt and annoyance eating at my chest, softening my retort because he was currently armed and dangerous. I have heard a lot of rumours about the don. Most people agreed that he was a little too trigger happy and the last thing I needed right now was my murder on his bloody hands.

“Cara. Cara Torello.” The blank look in his eyes sparked with annoyance at my last name.

That makes two of us.

“Fuckk!” He cussed angrily, shutting his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked up at the ceiling and blew out a frustrated breath.

He looked at me again, his jaw clenched. Tension and unease coiled tight between us like a tight spring.

“Pack your shit and leave,” he muttered, tossing his gun on the nightstand and folding his large arms as he stared at me with unsettling grey eyes.

I rolled my eyes because that’s exactly what I was trying to do before he chose to acknowledge my existence.

I could still feel his irritated stare burning my back before I shut the door firmly behind me, hoping to put this day and this experience far behind me.

I had no such luck because the first person I ran into as soon as I left the room was a disgruntled Amanda. Her eyes widened at my rumpled and haphazard state and I watched as she squinted at me, registering my messed up hair, rumpled clothes and the direction I was coming from.

“You bitch!” she snarled, grabbing my arm and yanking me into an enclosure in the wall, “I took a big risk getting you involved in this family and I won’t have you ruining everything for me before I have even officially married Manuel.”

A panic attack was clawing its way up my throat but I swallowed it down and schooled my expression because from experience, I knew to always always plead the fifth.

“Let go of me. I did nothing wrong.” Nothing that she knew of anyway.

Her fingers dug into my skin as she pulled me in and sniffed at me, her face pinching into a scowl. “Don’t lie to me. You’re just a whore. Always was, always have been. Of course you’d jump right into the bed of the first man you find.”

It occurred to me that she didn’t know who I had slept with. She probably didn’t believe her own words.

I could see why she was overreacting this way when she used to look the other way when it came to matters concerning me. Managing to score a man Manuel Salvatore after years of barely scraping by was a damn near impossible feat. She had the opportunity to live in the lap of luxury from this marriage with him, of course she wouldn’t want anyone to ruin it.

“Look, mama, I didn’t do anything, I promise. I just got drunk last night and had one of the servants find me a room. I just woke up and I’m incredibly hungover and I’ll appreciate if you can hound me about your false suspicions some other time.”

Her hold on me slackened, her eyes flickering with uncertainty, proving my theory correct.

She didn’t know a damn thing and was just suspecting the worst about me.

“I’m not you mamà,” she spat acidly as her last jab before she walked away.

My shoulders slumped and I exhaled another breath I didn’t even know I had been holding and I found my way out of the dreaded mansion.

Cara’s POV. “She’s so beautiful,” cried a woman to my left and I rolled my eyes just as another woman scoffed.

“She’s nothing but a shameless, penniless gold digger. Look how tacky her shoes are.”

“I heard that Manuel didn’t contribute a single dime to her wedding dress. It was the final test of her loyalty.”

The second woman snorted, “that explains that ill fitting dress.”

“Shh! You have to be quiet. Luca is glaring at us.”

The mention of my stepbrother’s name had me whirling around in the direction the women were trying desperately hard to avoid.

He was glaring alright, but not at the old gossiping women. Luca Salvatore was glaring at me. Molten grey eyes were searing holes into the side of my head as one of his men relayed a piece of information too urgent to wait till the end of the wedding ceremony.

I frowned, a tiny frown so that he couldn’t accuse me of blatantly disrespecting him and perforate my skull with well aimed bullets.

What does he want now?

If I were him, I’d happily forget my existence and not make it known to the whole church that something had happened between us.

I was used to people staring at me, sometimes in admiration, most times in horror, but that’s not the point. The point is I knew how to live with getting stared at even if they were being unbearingly obvious about it. I knew how to ignore it and continue on my merry way but it was taking a herculean effort fending off Luca’s glare.

Thankfully, the ceremony ended without any altercation and I found myself on the lawn of the prestigious Salvatore estate, sipping orange juice and trying to pretend like I was enjoying the reception even though I was sick to my stomach and couldn’t wait to go home.

But Amanda had warned me against leaving before I had officially introduced myself to the family and I knew better than to chase away my misery with alcohol.

Gossip and blatant stares poured out of lips as easily as refreshments and I was becoming more and more miserable with each passing second, second guessing the life choices I made that led up to this point.

The only reason I hadn’t lost my stomach yet and braved through the reception was because Luca was no longer a big dark cloud hovering around me. Knowing who he was and the kind of job he does, he was probably off somewhere hacking some poor man to death.

The reality of the kind of family I was now a part of made me scowl in distaste. Hopefully, after today is done, I wouldn’t be expected to interact anymore with the Salvatores.

I couldn’t look at the wealth dripping off this place without thinking of red, splotchy blood and the loud bangs of gunshots. I’m very sure that if I peeled off the paint on the walls, the blood of their enemies and victims would spill out in its place.

I closed my eyes against the hacking of my heartbeat and sipped more juice.

Really, I couldn’t wait for the day to be over. I was already looking forward to heading back to my dingy apartment, climbing into bed in nothing but my underwear and a large tshirt and spending the rest of the holiday binging on The Devil Wears Prada, even though I’ve rewatched it a million times over.

“Caraaa!” Amanda’s shrill call startled me out of my imagination where everything was warm and cozy. “Come here, baby, come and say hi to the family.”

I swallowed and plastered on a fake as f u ck smile before turning around to meet my new family.

Manuel was standing tall and proud and imposing, his arm around Amanda’s slim waist. He intimidated me, that man. He had very thick eyebrows and dark dark eyes weathered by old age and a thick beard and moustache that made it look like he was constantly glowering at someone.

Despite my good intentions and the blank stare Manuel was currently throwing my way, I couldn’t stop my hands from trembling as darkness covered my vision and all I could hear was the bang of a gun going off and red staining my shoes.

“This is my daughter, Cara,” Amanda’s voice broke through the murky waters as I clenched a hand into fist trying to stop myself from fidgeting like a terrified school girl about to be chastised by her worst teacher.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I remembered to say, before the awkward silence could bloom into something thicker and heavier.

“This is your daughter?” He asked in a thick and heavily accented voice. “She looks nothing like you, stellina.”

Amanda laughed dryly and patted Manuel softly on the chest. “That’s because Cara was adopted when Theo was desperate for a girl child.”

“Theo. That is your ex-husband.”

“Yes. We lost him to a car accident, remember?”

Manuel nodded and kissed Amanda on the forehead. “Of course, I remember, tesoro.”

To me, he said, “You are welcome to the family, Cara. I trust that you won’t be giving us any problems as you are now part of the family and we Salvatores must uphold a certain image.”

I gave him a tight smile, wondering what Amanda must have told him about me. “I won’t, sir-”

“Call me Manuel,” he cut me short, “we are now family and there is no need for formality with me.”

I smiled and nodded, turning my attention to Gina, Manuel’s daughter who was typing away on her phone, in a world of her own.

Manuel and Amanda had already left us to entertain the other girls.

“Hi,” I prodded, giving her my best ‘I got you girl!’ smile, “it’s nice to meet you. I’m Cara.”

She lifted her eyes up from her phone and regarded me like I was stale, bloody meat. Her eyes immediately went cold as she flashed me a sickly sweet smile. “The pleasure is all mine, Cara. Your dress is… interesting.”

I looked down at the gold sequin dress I was currently wearing. It was two sizes too small but it was really cute and had been on sale and I had paired it with my favourite boots. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Oh nothing,” she shrugged, “if your intention is to look like a slut, that is.” And she promptly turned back to her phone and walked away.

My left eyes twitched. Old Cara wanted to chase after her and have the last laugh. New Cara knew that there would be hell to pay if our interaction escalated into a full blown fight. I had already fucked up once by ending up in bed with my new stepbrother, I just had to get through today without any altercation.

Suddenly, shouts and screams erupted from one corner of the courtyard and, unable to stop myself, I looked and saw that Luca of all people was holding a poor innocent man at gunpoint.

Silence fell throughout the entire garden until it was quiet enough for the entire guests to hear him say in a deadly whisper. “Repeat what you said about her.”

“D- Don, I don’t- Please. I can’t-”

“Don’t waste my time, Rico.”

One second. Two seconds. Rico was wasting his time.

BANG.

The explosion of the gun made me shake, slushing orange juice over my hand.

More than one person screamed as Rico’s blood and brain matter splattered on the ground.

See? What did I tell you? My new stepbrother was a trigger happy mad man.

I was only fooling myself believing that I could get through today without inebriating myself.

Sighing, I drained the rest of my orange juice and went to look for some alcohol.