The Throwbacks: A Compilation Of Four Complete Dark Psychological Romance Novellas(40)

Believing that his enemy had indeed shared all with me, he’d admitted to everything, but the kicker was when he’d tried to convince me that it was all for me, for my future. I was already feeling raw and confused over my time with Nicolo. I was ashamed of the fact that I’d fallen in love with my captor.

I read everything I could get my hands on looking for an explanation. At first I thought it was Stockholm syndrome and I’m sure every psychiatrist worth his or her salt would’ve labeled it that, but somehow I wasn’t buying it. I craved him like a drug. Being apart from him was like leaving a limb behind and the pain of not being close to him was unbearable.

I would never have believed in the beginning that things would turn out this way. I’m still not sure what it is about him that had started me looking at him in a different light. At first I thought he was a lying criminal who had some sort of beef with my dad and was trying to muscle him into doing his bidding. But as time went by and I watched him, I got the sense that he wasn’t the type.

There was something about him that said he was more straightforward than that. It was a shock to realize that this man who’d taken me, who’d done such monstrous things to my body, was more honest with me than the man I’d spent my whole life looking up to.

I’d come to crave his touch, whether it was being tied to his bed and used for his own pleasure, or coming on to the end when he’d touch me as though I were the most precious thing in his world. He’d probably freak if he knew I’d seen more than what he was willing to share with the world.

When he wasn’t growling and threatening, I could see behind the mask and what I saw made my heart squeeze. Of course I had to deal with the guilt I felt. It was a betrayal of my dad. I hated myself the first time I wanted him. Until then he had initiated all our encounters. And even though my body responded I was confident that he hadn’t breached the recesses of my mind.

And then that fateful day I’d asked him to stay and talk to me. He’d been telling me for days that he was taking me back to dad but each day I woke up in his bed. I’d been trying to get to his soft side if he had one, but something had changed while he was telling me about himself.

Not only did he have a soft side, which he hid very well, but he was also one of the most honest men I’d ever met. I started seeing his strength not as something to fear, but as a comfort. I fought these new feelings even as I sat there falling under his spell. But once he touched me with such reverence, with such care, I was a goner.

Up until the morning he took me back I was silently hoping that he’d change his mind. I couldn’t come right out and ask him to keep me that would’ve been too much. But I’d wished for it nonetheless. And when he drove me to my family mansion himself, the way he’d refused to look at me even though he’d held my hand all the way there as though he’d never let go, it had taken everything in me not to utter out loud the words that had been screaming in my head.

Dad had mistaken my melancholy mood in the days following for something else. He’d bent over backwards to make it up to me, but I noticed he hadn’t told the cops what had really happened. Instead he’d spun a story of me going off for a breather because college life had gotten to me and I needed a break.

I’d already accepted Nicolo’s story, but that right there confirmed it for me and it only took dad saying the words once pressed to remove any doubts I might’ve had. If he’d only known that the reason I couldn’t get out of bed in the mornings was because I missed my lover, missed waking up with his arms wrapped around me the way they had been the last few mornings we’d spent together.

Or, that I sometimes missed his rough treatment of me. Missed having my hands tied behind my back while he drove into me from behind. Missed having him pound himself into me until we were both screaming and scratching at each other while he spilled inside me as I throbbed and clutched at him to hold him prisoner within my walls.

I’d left dad’s house after telling him what I thought of him. He’s been trying ever since to get back into my good graces, but this was sure to put an end to that. The only thing I knew for sure was that I was keeping my baby. I was in turns scared and elated. Scared to be doing this alone, and happy that I would have a piece of Nicolo with me forever.

I wish I knew how to reach him, where to go. But even if I did I’m still not sure I would have the courage to face him. He probably didn’t want kids anyway, and if he did, why would he want them with me? The daughter of the man he held responsible for his dad’s death.

I picked up my phone and pressed the home button so I could see his face. It’s something I do at least a hundred times each day. I’d found the photo online, a rare shot according to the headlines, of the man who’d made a name for him self before inheriting his dad’s fortune.

There was some innuendo and hints at his underworld dealings, but no one knew for sure if he was part of that life or not. I was inclined to believe that he was, but it made no difference to me. I was so engrossed in running my finger over his image that I didn’t sense there was someone behind me.

“That’s not a very good shot.” Large hands came down on my shoulders and my heart sped up in my chest even as my body went hot and weak. “Nico.” His name was a soft whisper of disbelief. Maybe I’d conjured him somehow. But the weight of his hands felt real.

I was afraid to turn around, afraid that it was just my imagination, but when the first tear fell onto the screen of my phone I felt myself being lifted from the chair and folded into his big strong chest.

Huge wracking sobs shook my body and I barely heard his whispered, ‘it’s okay baby, I’ve got you’ before I was being taken out of the room and into the evening air. I was about to tell him I’d left my belongings but overheard him telling one of his men who’d been standing by the door to fetch them.

I didn’t pick my head up even though I knew we were probably making a spectacle. Not even when I heard a car door open and felt him climb in with me held close in his arms I didn’t move my face from where I had it buried in his chest.

“Shh, it’s okay stop before you make yourself sick. Stacey, look at me.” He tried pushing my head back but I held on tighter and refused to move. I’d been wanting this for so long ever since he left me. And now he was here and I was afraid. What if he didn’t want the baby? From everything I’d learned about him, which wasn’t a lot, he was a solitary animal who liked going his own way.

I soaked his shirt before he was able to get me to stop. By then the car was in motion. I tried to avoid his eyes but he lifted my chin with his finger and just stared down at me. There was a look of wonder on his face that I didn’t understand until his hand came down and covered my stomach.

My breath hitched; he knew, but how? I didn’t get the chance to ask because his lips covered mine in a mind-blowing kiss. I clutched at him like a lost puppy until his arms wrapped around me so tight it was hard to breathe. I didn’t care. I never wanted that hug to end. After weeks of misery I was finally back where I wanted to be.





10





Nico





I’d been standing there behind her unsure of what to do. My natural instinct was to pick my woman and child up and get the hell outta there. But there were too many damn witnesses and not enough bullets. For the first time in a long time I wasn’t sure how to proceed, and then she’d taken out the phone and I saw the picture.

It was a jolt to the system seeing the way she ran her finger over my face on the screen. My dick, which was already hard at the first sight of her, went on high alert and that was enough for me. Now she was sitting on my lap as we made our way through the streets to home.

I guess she could hear the wild beating of my heart once she stopped her crying shit. I held her a little closer and turned her face up to mine to clean it. Her eyes were bright and unsure. “Hi baby.” She wiped her hands across her face like a five year old and tried to sit up.

“Where’re you going? Stay where I put you.” She gave me a look like she was gonna mouth off but her runaway pulse told me she liked that shit. “You’re still bossy.”

“Yeah and. What the fuck did you think I was gonna change in a few weeks?”

“You shouldn’t swear at me.” She played with the buttons of my shirt.

“And why is that?”

“Because.”

“Yeah that’s an answer.” I had the urge to grin.

“I knew your ass was gonna make me soft. Fuck.” She pouted and I wanted to bite her lip, but the two in the front was mighty quiet which meant they were listening to my shit. I’ll wait ‘til I get her home and empty my balls for the first time in weeks.

“You’re adorable.” For now I just ran my thumb over her bottom lip and pulled it back in surprise when she tried to bite me. Well now. My little kitty wants to play.

I brushed her blonde curls back from her face and kissed her nose making her giggle and she moved her ass on my cock that was poking into her ass. “Behave. I’ll take care of when we get home.” I whispered in her ear.

Now that I wasn’t caught up in drama with her old man and his thievery shit, I took the time to really see her. I knew what she felt smelt and sounded like when we fucked, but until now I’d never taken the time to really study her.