Sold to Mr. Giordano

Antonio

I slick back my wet hair with my hands, the shower did nothing to alleviate the tension in my shoulders and neither did jacking off with my hand twice. I still feel on edge and debate on lighting up a cigarette to calm my nerves.Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

There was nothing stopping me from walking down the hall and entering Arielle ‘s chambers. There was nothing stopping me from tying her hands to the bedpost and licking her entire body until she comes apart. My pants tighten and I fix my erection to give myself more room. There’s this constant throbbing as if the damn thing has its own heartbeat. My mind races with dirty thoughts of how tomorrow night is going to go. She’s either going to fight like her life depends on it, or she’ll melt in my arms and give into pleasure.

I shouldn’t feel guilty, why the hell would I feel guilty about not telling Arielle about Angelo, it would just ruin her sleep…

Selfish bastard. You’re guilty because if it were your brother you’d want to know.

Frustrated with myself I storm out of my room, curse under my breath. I slam my door shut, stomp my way down the hall and bang on her door. I can hear her gasp on the other side of the door. It takes her longer than expected to answer. She’s standing looking exhausted in a silk pink nightgown, she’s not wearing a bra, fuck, her breast pointy and perky as they show through. She’s so small that she has to crane her neck to look up at my six foot four stature. Her eyes are fixated on my arms and I raise my eyebrow.

She reaches out to touch my arms, but quickly catches herself and pulls back. I realize she’s never seen my bare arms that are covered in tattoos—I got both of my sleeves when I turned eighteen and keep adding to them every so often. Most of my chest is covered too. Each design symbolizes something different.

“Your brother has been shot.”

She sucks in a breath and then looks at me carefully. “Which one?”

“Angelo.”

“What? Is he okay?” Her eyes bug out and she looks around the room as if to grab something a jacket or something and rush out of the penthouse.

“He’s okay. Would you like to see him?”

“It’s four in the morning. Are visitors even allowed? It’s late, we both have to be up early, aren’t you tired? We aren’t supposed to be seeing each other right now.” She babbles on.

“Stop. If you want to see your brother, I’ll take you.”

She takes a deep breath and nods her head, “Thank you. I-I have to get dressed.”

“I’ll wait for you downstairs.”

Returning back to my room, I throw on a pair of fresh dress pants, and a long sleeve button up. I don’t go anywhere not looking my best. I haven’t owned a pair of jean since I was a teenager.

It doesn’t take me long to get ready, and to my surprise it didn’t take Arielle long either. I usher her to the elevator and we take it down, my car was called and we get in the backseat while I tell my driver to take us to the hospital.

I’m relieved that when arrive at the hospital her parents and eldest brother are gone. One of the nurses—who I fucked once upon a time ago—sneaks us into Angelo’s room. He’s in a deep sleep while Arielle rushes to his side and frantically grabs his hand.

“Oh Angelo,” she starts to cry and I groan. Here she goes again. “He’s truly going to be okay?”

“Yes. He’s just tired. Let him rest, he should be able to still make the wedding tomorrow.”

“I didn’t even think about that. I feel so terrible,” she rests her head on his chest. “How’d this happen?”

I shrug. “Bratva,” is the only answer I’ll give her.

Angelo’s eye creep open and he smiles once he sees his freckle faced sister. Her sandy blonde hair dangles over him as she gets close to face and cries out. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”

“You’re here,” Angelo looks at her confused and then his eyes meet mine.

“I’m here, Antonio took me. He woke me up to tell me you’ve been shot. I don’t know what I would’ve done if something terrible like—oh I can’t even think of it. Are you in pain?”

“Docs got me on a lot of pain meds. I’m okay. I can’t wait to see how beautiful you’re going to look tomorrow.”

“No, we should postpone the wedd—”

     Before I can open my mouth to argue, Angelo shakes his head. “No, you’re walking down the aisle tomorrow and it’ll be a wonderful celebration. Antonio… he’s a good man for bringing you here,” let me just roll my eyes, “He’ll treat you right, I’m sure of it. There’s no need to be scared, Butterfly.”

“But—”

“No buts,” Angelo wipes his sister’s tears away. “You’ve seen me, I’m healthy and alive. I know it’ll be hard for you to get back to sleep, but you need to rest for your big day tomorrow.”

“I don’t want to leave you!” Arielle shakes her head.

“Sleep,” I walk over to the chair. “I’ll stay here and watch over you.”

Arielle nods her head and climbs into bed. Angelo moves to put his arm around his sister cuddling her to his side.

When her breathing is rhythmic and I’m certain she’s asleep I start to close my eyes.

“Thank you,” Angelo whispers. “Arielle is… all she’s had in life was me. Whenever she was scared or sad as a little girl, I was the one to take care of her. She means the world to me and I hope you don’t break her heart.”

Would I be able to give her the love she deserves?

“Your sister should not let her heart get too attached to me then,” I say through gritted teeth. Nothing pissed me off more than idiots making idle threats or telling me what to do. “She’ll be safe under my care.”

“I know she’ll be safe, I just want to know she’ll be safe from you.”

“Is this the thanks I get for bringing your little sister to visit you? You’ll lucky that she won’t wake up to see you on your deathbed,” I clench my fist. “Because one more word out of your mouth and I’m going to put you there. I’ve been generous tonight in the spirit of my wedding, don’t push me too far or else they’ll be a funeral.”

Angelo clenches his jaw. I watch his hand rub his sisters back and he closes his eyes to rest.

 Me, there’s no way in hell I’m going to sleep. Not to mention I don’t trust anyone enough to let my guard down in this shithole of a hospital. Anyone can walk in and kill us. I sit in the chair and watch the door, my weapons hidden on my body.