Cruel Betrayals (Savannah Sharks Hockey and Mafia #3)

Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

ALEXANDRA

Rushing away from Joseph, I head straight to the meeting room. I want to run into his comforting arms. I want to tell him what happened with Giuseppe Rossi on Friday.

But I don’t.

I run away like a coward and hide behind my work.

Reaching into my bag, I hand Arturo the envelope with the financial documents he requested Saturday evening.

“Here are the profit/loss sheets for the past three years for the casino, as you requested.”

He takes the folder from me and immediately flips it open. “Thank you, Alexandra. I will up your pay for the weekend work.”

My stomach flips and hardens as guilt washes over me.

“That’s not necessary, sir.”

Especially since I agreed to spy on him for Giuseppe Rossi to pay Dad’s debt.

He offers me a genuine smile. “You deserve it.”

“I’m living rent free in one of your apartments. I think that is enough payment.”

The meeting room door opens and Joseph walks in. Without looking at me, he sits down at the other end of the table.

Arturo glances up from the financial statements. “Where do we stand on information regarding Rossi?”

“There hasn’t been any word from Rossi or any of his informants.”

He frowns. “How’s the prisoner?”

“Stubborn as shit and refusing to eat.”

Well, he is a mafia man. It’s going to take a while to break him.

“We can move him to one of the known safe houses and see if he will speak more freely once he’s clean and comfortable.”

I look over at the end of the table at Joseph. He types something into his phone.

“I’ll speak to Alvin and get him transferred this afternoon.”

I should try to talk to the prisoner alone first. Maybe I can find out something about Giuseppe Rossi that I can use to get out of this arrangement.

Joseph places his phone down on the table and meets my gaze.

My face blushes at being caught staring at him. His eyes darken the longer we stare at one another.

Arturo clears his throat and asks Joseph for an update regarding the team outing Francesca is working on.

I could probably answer any question Arturo has regarding the event, but I’m here as a bystander.

I tear my gaze away from Joseph and take my laptop out of my bag to research the guy in Arturo’s interrogation room downstairs.

Doing a generic search for John Smith turns up several pages related to cartoons and early American history. I need something relevant to present day events. I need something that ties him to Giuseppe Rossi.

After trying several phrases and multiple search engines, I still come up empty handed. It’s no surprise he gave Joseph a fake name, but Joseph should have caught that.

How many guys are named John Smith in our lifestyle? I would guess not that many. Besides, why would someone give up their name that easily?

Joseph is slipping and now isn’t the best time to fuck up.

This ‘John Smith’ guy must be associated with Giuseppe Rossi one way or another. I open the database Arturo, Joseph, and I started last year with every Rossi family member and known associate.

I scan through the photographs, hoping to find one that matches the man in the interrogation room. We have pictures of men and women, both young and old, but none of them look remotely similar to the prisoner.

What am I missing here? I start at the beginning and look at every photograph again. Maybe he changed his look. He could have dyed his hair, shaved, or even resorted to plastic surgery.

There aren’t any men that share the same jaw line, lips, eyes, or nose with ‘John Smith’. He isn’t in our database.

Looking up, I meet Joseph’s gaze. He narrows his eyes and whispers, “Is something wrong, Alexandra?”

My name sounds exotic on his lips. I could listen to him whisper my name for the rest of my life.

No. I can’t. I can’t give in to the lust flowing through my veins.

My heart clenches in protest.

I want Joseph. My body craves him. No man will ever take his place.

I take a deep breath and say in an even tone, “Everything is fine. I just keep hitting roadblocks with my research.”

My gaze moves to Arturo, where he is furiously texting someone before returning to the dark gaze that makes my heart and pussy flutter.

“Do you need help? Two minds are usually better than one.”

He smirks and I almost faint.

Why is it that we always want what we can’t have?

Forcing myself to put some distance between Joseph and me and shut down my emotions has only made the urge to be with him even more unbearable.

My eyelids flutter as memories flood through my mind. I shake my head and dislodge those memories from the forefront of my mind.

This entire weekend, I had to force myself to not pick up my phone and call him. I wanted to tell him what happened with my father. I wanted to confess to agreeing to work with Giuseppe and spy on Arturo.

But I couldn’t trust myself to be near him. I couldn’t trust the well of emotions bursting free.

“Uh, sure. I don’t mind your input on this.”

Joseph stands and moves his stuff to the seat next to mine. Leaning over the arm of his chair, he asks, “What are you working on?”

“The prisoner you have downstairs was lying about his name, and I’m trying to uncover his true identity.”

“And that’s the roadblock?”

“Yes. I searched the internet for his name and any association I could think of, but came up empty. Then, I looked through our entire database twice and his picture wasn’t in there. If he is associated with Giuseppe Rossi, we don’t have a profile written up on him.”

Joseph frowns. “That’s not possible. We have every associate he’s ever had, dating back to before my parents were married.”

“I remember his face, and it doesn’t match any of the photographs we have.”

“That’s odd.” He reaches under the table and places his hand on my upper thigh, causing me to gasp at the intimate touch.

I should slap his hand away, but my body hums like a live wire. I’m more grateful than ever that I wore pants today. If I were wearing one of my normal skirts, I’d be begging him to do much more than rest his hand on my thigh.

He gestures to my laptop. “Can I?”

I scoot the machine over until it is sitting in front of him. “Sure. Be my guest.”

He slowly scrolls through the database, studying the photographs as if he is committing them to memory. When we reach the end, he sits back and rubs his chin.

“How do we not have any information about this man? How could I not know he was lying to me the entire time?”

I turn to look at him. “Mistakes happen.”

“But I shouldn’t be making mistakes, not when it’s as important as this.”

I hate seeing him beat himself up like this, especially when it’s something he couldn’t have seen coming. “Joseph, look at me. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s impossible not to, but we are a team, and we will figure this out together.”

I clamp my mouth shut.

Why the hell did I just say that? Why do I always feel the need to intervene when Joseph is going through these phases?

Something glimmers in his eyes as his gaze hardens on me.

Is it anger or lust?

The silence drones on as our gazes stay locked on one another. The shrill ringing of Arturo’s phone causes my heart to leap out of my chest. I jump in my seat and glare at Joseph when he chuckles at me.

I push my chair away as he leans in closer to me.

“How about I go grab us some water?”

Rushing away from him and the meeting room, I head to the kitchen and grab three bottles of water out of the refrigerator and set them on the counter.

Joseph sneaks up behind me and slams the refrigerator door closed. “We need to talk.”

“There’s nothing left for us to talk about.” I say with a sigh.

I try to push past him, but he wraps his arms around my waist and pushes me up against the refrigerator.

“We have everything to discuss.”

I reach between our bodies and push on his chest. The harder I push, the closer he steps to me. A smirk forms on his face when my nails dig into his shirt.

“You said no, Joseph.”

“I was stupid and hesitated. There’s no other woman for me. It’s always been you.”

My heart aches from his sweet words, but there’s no going back now. “I-I can’t. I mean, we can’t.”

“Why?” His breath tickles my lips, leaving me wanting to close the gap between us.

“Because-” I pause. I can’t tell him the truth. “Because I work for your father.”

“So?”

“I need to stay professional.”

He leans forward and whispers in my ear. His warm breath sends chill bumps down my spine as pleasure shoots to my core. “You always are when you are at work.”

I slowly shake my head. He’s making it hard to think straight. “We aren’t being very professional right now.”

“In that case-” He reaches around and threads his fingers through my hair before closing the gap between us.

His lips press firmly against mine, and his tongue demands my lips to part. His nails dig into my skull and his hips thrust into mine as my lips open for him.

My fingers grip his shirt and pull him closer to me as moisture gathers in my panties.

Fuck it. I need him more than anything right now. We can always talk later.

“Now.” I say, not being able to form a coherent sentence.

“What do you want?”

I groan, wanting to get my needs taken care of as soon as I can. “You to fuck me.”

He growls and carries me into the butler’s pantry, shutting and locking the door behind him. My fingers grasp at his belt as he reaches for my pants. Limbs tangle, but we manage to remove the clothing from our bottom halves.

He props me up on the counter and slides his fingers through my arousal. “Damn, you’re so wet.”

I have been pretty insatiable lately, and I’m not ovulating, so what is causing the increase in arousal?

My curiosity gets pushed to the back of my mind when Joseph thrusts two fingers inside me. My walls tighten around his digits, wanting to keep him inside me.

His fingers rub against my inner nerves and his thumb circles my clit, driving me close to the edge.

How am I already this close to an orgasm? He just started.

He captures my lip between his as I come and moan into his mouth.

“Oh, God.”

I rock my hips, needing him to finger fuck my pussy as I ride my high. He slowly pulls his fingers from my pussy, dripping with my arousal, and brings them to his mouth. His lips wrap around one of his fingers as he sucks off my juices.

“Fuck, Joseph. That is so hot.”

He shoves the other finger between my lips. I wrap my tongue around his finger, tasting my arousal before sucking.

His entire body tenses, as if he was close to coming.

Ripping his finger from my mouth, he pulls me closer to the edge of the counter and steps between my legs, lining his cock up with my slit.

He glides his cock between my lower lips before angling his hips and thrusting into me in one quick movement.

His hands grip my hips as he relentlessly pounds into me. I reach up and dig my fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling his face closer to mine.

He kisses my jaw before lowering to my neck. He nibbles at the sensitive flesh and drives his cock deeper into my aching cunt.

“Please, Joseph. Please make me come.” I beg as pleasure builds deep inside my belly.

He lifts me up, spinning us around until my back is pressed against the wall. He thrusts upward, filling my pussy. His thrusts get shallow and faster as his orgasm approaches.

My muscles tighten, and my walls clamp down on his shaft as my vision blurs. A light sweat forms on my skin as my body shakes from the overwhelming pleasure.

His mouth covers mine as I scream out in ecstasy. He thrusts deep inside my channel and stills. His cock swells for a second before hot strings of cum coat my walls.

Breathing heavily, he pulls out and lowers me to the ground. We straighten up and redress in silence.

He clears his throat and turns to face me. “So you can keep fucking me, but you can’t tell me what’s going on?”

I sigh.

Are we really doing this right now?

“Nothing is going on.”

“Bullshit. You’ve changed, and you’ve changed overnight. You aren’t cheery anymore. You always look worried. You did a complete one eighty on wanting to be with me. If I had to guess, I’d say there’s another guy.”

“There’s just a lot going on, so of course I’m worried, but this is the last time we can be together. I don’t know what it is about you, but I always get sucked in. I’m always left wanting more than you can offer me. I’ve finally had enough. I need someone stable and caring.”

“You mean someone predictable and boring?”

I shrug. “Probably, but we both know that’s not you.”

My heart aches.

I want him to want me.

I want him to come home to me every night, but even that isn’t a guarantee. Not in this lifestyle.

“You would get bored with a normal guy. You love the excitement and danger of being with a mafia man. It’s why you keep coming back to me. It’s why you get so fucking wet. It’s why, even though you already came, your cunt aches for more.”

He’s right, but I’ll never admit to it. I love the dark and dangerous side of him. I love the rough and hard fucking after a shootout when he’s a bit unhinged. I love how unpredictable life is with him.

He continues. “You can deny it all you want, but I know you, Alexandra. I know what your body craves. ”

My pussy drips with new arousal.

I squeeze my eyes closed and whisper, “I can’t.”

The conversation from the van pops into my mind as the puzzle pieces start connecting. The missing man my kidnappers were talking about is the man downstairs. He’s not a Rossi informant or family member; he’s a hostage.

Not bothering to explain things to Joseph, I run downstairs to the interrogation room. Flinging the door open, I blurt out the prisoner’s real name.

“Justin Miller.”

Both Joseph and the prisoner are surprised.

Justin sits up and leans against the back wall. “How did you find out?”

I cross my arms. “I did my research.”

Joseph walks up beside me, smirking. “You should tell him how I feel about lying.”

I glance toward the prisoner, who is looking like he just saw a ghost. “I think he already knows.”

Joseph stares at me for a moment, looking pleased. “You need to leave the room because things are going to get messy.”

I need to find out why Rossi is blackmailing him.

“Wait. Instead of jumping straight into torture, why not try talking to him just this once?”

Joseph frowns, but eventually gives in. “Fine. Just this once, and only because you uncovered his true identity.”

Now how am I going to get him to spill Giuseppe Rossi’s secrets without coming right out and asking?