Page 69 of Breaking Lucia

Angelo frowns briefly at me, confused by the change in topic. “They’re fine? Maria wouldn’t let me talk to Lorenzo last time. Even though I promised I wouldn’t get him involved in any of this.”

The easy thing would be for Angelo to kill Maria and take custody of his nephew, but I don’t suggest it. Angelo is unlikely to kill his sister-in-law, and having his attention split between work for me and taking care of a ten-year-old wouldn’t benefit the organization. I keep an eye on the two of them though, because they’re leverage over Angelo.

And I suppose I have a small sense of duty toward them, having been Nico’s family. If Nico had lived, Lorenzo would already be getting some training to prepare him for his future in the family.

“Ask Santino to get you his private email address. He’s ten now? He must have one already.”

I look down at the trunk, which has gone completely silent. I don’t even hear sobbing, so maybe she managed to fall asleep.

“What are you doing?” Angelo asks me. “Are we seriously having small talk right now?”

“What do you want to talk about instead? You said your piece about how Lucia deserves better.” I don’t usually entertain Angelo or Santino in my bedroom, although if this arrangement with Lucia continues I might be seeing them more in here. Mine is the only bed in the house large enough for all four of us, and I have no doubt that we’ll do another group session again.

I’m reminded of Angelo’s kiss.

It’s not an experience I’m going to go out of my way to repeat, but it didn’t bother me either. A hand is a hand, lips are lips. All that matters is that I’m in control of the scene.

“Does anybody ever tell you you’re an asshole?” Angelo stretches his arms behind his head and looks up. “You’re so fucking lucky Saint and I put up with you.”

“Yes, thank you for that.” I don’t mention how I can find replacements for them. Not easily, but there are other ruthless killers in the world. There are other hackers, albeit none as beholden to me as Saint is.

Since I don’t hear anything from Lucia anymore, I press on the remote for the vibrator to start it up again. A loud sob and a muffled moan soon follow.

Angelo shakes his head at me. “You’re evil. But…” He palms his cock through his jeans. “Don’t you dare let her out without me and Saint here.”

“Of course not. She has to become attached to all three of us.”

I have a plan, but I also can’t deny that I’m doing this out of anger, and not a small modicum of desire as well. There’s a strong temptation to let Lucia out simply to fuck her, but I know that everything will be better if I wait. A bit of delayed gratification makes everything so much more intense.

I let the vibrator continue for a few minutes before I lower the intensity to the gentlest setting. Not enough to get her off, but still too much for her to fall asleep. When I let her out, I want her exhausted and desperate.

“How long are you going to leave her there?” Angelo asks me. His erection is visible through his jeans, and he has his hand on his fly, ready to undo it.

“Another few hours. If you want to masturbate, do it somewhere else. Or ask Santino to help you.” I drop the words casually, just to see Angelo’s reaction.

“Shit, I should have figured you knew about that. Don’t tell him you know, though. He’s a fucking dick about it.” Angelo sighs loudly. “I’m pretty sure he’s into guys, but he’s more scared of me touching him than you are.”

I hadn’t known for sure, not until just now, but it’s good to have my suspicions confirmed. “As long as it doesn’t prevent you from doing your jobs, I don’t care.”

“Of course you don’t.” Angelo gets up and comes over, lightly kicking the side of the trunk a few times. There’s an answering frantic knock from Lucia, as well as more muffled begging. Angelo looks like he wants to push me aside and open the trunk, but he backs off. “Guess I’ll go entertain myself alone.”

He walks out, finally leaving me in peace. I click the vibrator off and consider where I want to go from here.

Lucia’s little phone call put a small snag in my plans, but I can recover from it. We have to be more vigilant now, but I’ve got Santino setting up more security and Angelo’s more motivated than ever.

Part of me wants to hand Lucia over to Pavone just to be rid of this problem. I can’t have anybody disloyal hanging around. But giving up on her now would mean we’ve done all this work for nothing. The moment she’s back in her father’s hands, he’ll have no reason to hold back. Right now, she’s the only thing preventing him from storming in guns blazing.

I can hear her crying my name through the trunk, and I smile. Just a few more hours, and she’ll be so desperate for our attention. Ready to be molded exactly like I want her to be.

I stroke the lid of the trunk briefly, then get up to get some work done. Just because Lucia is suffering doesn’t mean I don’t have other things to do.

22

Lucia

My throat is hoarse, I’m shaking, and I’m covered in sweat and snot and tears. Everything hurts. I have no idea how long I’ve been in here, only that it feels like an eternity.

I thought I had no tears left in me, but when the trunk lid opens once more, I start crying again. All three of them are standing over me, looking at my pathetic form, but I don’t care anymore.