Indebted to the Mafia King
Mending

Eleni

Once Dante and his men cleared the whole warehouse, replaceing the other two guys Luca kidnapped in equally bad shape, he pulled me aside and told me in no uncertain terms that we were going to the safe house. Apparently we were nearby. I started to argue that I should be patched up at the warehouse with the rest of the men, but the look in Dante's eyes told me it wasn't the time to argue.

So I perch on the edge of the master bathtub we made plentiful use of during our last stay here while Dante rifles through a first-aid kit spread out on the counter.

"Are you injured anywhere other than the scratches?" he asks in the same short, sharp tone he's been using since he found me crouched over Seb.

I can feel the beginnings of a bruise along my side where I hit the ground, but I shake my head. He soaks a cotton pad in isopropyl alcohol and turns to me. Anger still simmers in his gaze. He doesn't warn me before he swipes the pad over the shallow scratches covering my arm. I hiss and try to jerk away, but he holds me in place.

"Tell me you're not stupid enough to want an infection on top of this." He keeps cleaning.

The pain burns through me, searing away the last apologies I considered offering.

"I said I wanted to help. To be involved." I glare at him. "And you shut me out again."

"Shut you " Dante shakes his head. "I went on one search without you. I had a fucking plan, Eleni, if you would've waited a couple hours instead of jetting off to get yourself killed."

"I was fine! I had a gun!"

He scoffs. "I forgot someone nearby getting tackled to the floor while holding a gun is Luca Lombardi's secret weakness. Thank you for saving us all."

I try to yank my arm away again, but he clings to me, iron in his grip. I wince as his fingers press against the developing bruise. His scowl deepens.

"And now you're lying to me. Where else are you hurt?" he demands.

"There's nothing-"

He grabs my chin and forces me to meet his gaze. "I am asking you a direct question. I will decide what I'm able to do about it."

All my frustration boils over. "Why do you always get to decide? Am I actually just a pet for you to boss around? Please tell me, because I'd like to stop pretending that we're anything else."

Something cracks within him, but he turns away before I can read the emotion in his eyes. He releases his hold on my arm and my chin so quickly I almost tumble back into the bathtub. A long moment of silence passes between us.

He turns back with a wide bandage and begins covering my scrapes. "Tomorrow, I want you to leave this place. Don't return to the city. I'll give you a ticket to Greece if you'd like to join your mother, but I want you gone. I'm not facilitating your suicide wish any longer."

I flinch back as if I've been slapped. "That...that's it? Just nice knowing you, get out?"

He doesn't answer.

"I won't stop." I hop off the edge of the bathtub, pulling out of his much softer hold. "You can't keep me out of New York. I'm going to kill Luca Lombardi if it's the last thing I do. I owe it to my family."

He grimaces but still doesn't say anything. My head spins. I want to storm out of here, to leave right now with nothing but the party dress on my back and the gun in my purse. But another part of me screams that I can't lose another person senselessly. I have to know.

"Why?" I ask. "If I ever meant anything to you, just tell me why."

He tenses like I've run a current of electricity through him. "Because you do something to me. You make me into someone... Since I lost my father five years ago, I've been clinging onto a single shred of humanity. Something to keep me above the monsters that run this world. I kill only when I have to, trade mostly in exports. I've kept my hands clean, Eleni. But when I think about you in danger, all of that restraint dissolves." He looks at me, oceans of emotions in his night-black eyes. "I was ready to burn the city to the ground tonight. I was ready to throw this empire my family built away, to let it rot, if it meant seeing you alive again. I was fucking terrified, Eleni."

I'm holding my breath, unable to swallow past a hard lump forming in my throat.

"I have men to worry about. I have their families to worry about. I promised myself I wouldn't do this, wouldn't put myself in a position to lose something so-" he cuts himself off. "I knew what my mom went through being married to a boss. She was always in danger. She was always a target." He runs his fingers through his hair, tripping over his words.

He continues after a beat, "You distract me."

"I'm-I'm sorry-"

"You are constantly in my head," he says, giving me a heated look. "You are the one thing in this world that can bring me to my knees, and the thought of you in danger makes me want to burn everything I've worked for, everything I've built, to the ground."

I stand in silence, my entire body thrumming with nervous energy.

"I can't lose you. I'd rather send you away and never see you again knowing you're safe than replace your body," he says softly. He clears his throat. "Fuck, Eleni, I-I love you."

My chest squeezes. That image of Baba pops into my mind again.

"I'm so tired of people who love me dying for me," I whisper.

The corners of his mouth quirk up. "Me too."

I don't know which of us moved first, but I know nothing has ever tasted sweeter than his mouth on mine. He loves me. The knowledge hums through my veins, sings in every brush of his fingers against my bare skin. I am his, and maybe, just maybe, he's mine. We kiss slow and soft, a promise of a better future. I fall into him.

After a long moment, I pull back. "I'm sorry I don't listen well. I spent my whole life being the good daughter, and that didn't get me anywhere. I want to make my own decisions."

He nods. "I get that. And I love that about you. But I need you to listen. Sometimes, it's too important for you to go running off half-cocked. Sometimes that gets people hurt." He hugs me and leans his forehead against mine. "Fuck, El, it scares the shit out of me."

I don't want to scare him. With his arms around my waist and his body pressed to mine, desire starts to curl in my gut.

"Can you teach me?" I ask.

His eyes darken. "How to follow orders?"

I nod and bite my lip.

He releases me and steps back. "Let's start with the lie you told earlier. Since you can't be trusted to tell the truth, I'll have to check you for injuries myself."

I shiver under his incisive gaze. With brusque medical precision, he unzips my dress and pushes it off my shoulders. My breasts bounce free. This dress was too tight for even one of Gianna's bras. But unlike other times, Dante doesn't stare at them. He barely glances. Instead, he picks a pair of medical scissors out of the kit and cuts my panties off. I stand in the bathroom before him, perfectly nude, and wait for his assessment.

He runs soft fingers all across my skin, reporting on my status in low tones. Nothing on my other arm. Nothing on my other leg. Nothing on my breasts, which he touches with the same distant focus. I shudder, feeling like more than just a plaything for the first time with Dante. It's electric because I know I asked for it, because he's trying to keep me safe. At my lowest with him, I'm his everything.

Dante presses on the dark bruise on my hip, and I gasp at the ache.

"So, you were lying." He clucks his tongue and presses harder. "If you think pain is something you can hide from me, I'll just have to prove you wrong. Get on the bed. Hands and knees, legs spread so I can see your pussy. Wait for me." He walks out. Disobedience rises up in me, begging me to throw myself at him and try to break this veneer of professionalism. I know what he looks like with his cock in my mouth, splayed naked on the living room couch. But I don't want to scare him. So I walk into the bedroom and take position on the sheets I already know so well without complaint. I'm ready to listen.