Pulling away slightly, Rosa tilted her face up as she glared at Cristiano. Seconds strained between them, and the bastard stared down at her, impassively, as though he hadn't processed a single word she spat at him. Rosa could tell that he was giving her rien on purpose. Nothing. No reaction. Save for the tick in his jaw. Such defiance only served to agitate Rosa's already turbulent emotions.

She cast him a reproachful look. "I thought you were a man of your word? Quelle déception!"

How disappointing!

"I am a man of my word."

"Prove it."

"I have nothing to prove to you."

"You have everything to prove to me."

Cristiano eyed her with a touch of indignation. "You think you are in charge now?"

"I do not think it," she retorted, challenging him to prove her otherwise. "I know it."

Her temper felt all revved up, ready to battle his resistance with her own iron will. Scowling, Rosa placed a hand on his shoulder. She gave him a firm nudge, directing him away from the living room.

She ordered, "Allez-y. Après vous."

Please. After you.

To her surprise, the bastard didn't protest or put up a fight. Step by step, he let her usher him down the hallway. Through his bedroom door. Across his bedroom. They halted beside his bed.

Using a voice that demanded obedience, Rosa growled, "Get on your knees, mon beau."

Her provocative command struck the air. It echoed with the promise of sex and sin. Cristiano's devil-black eyes darkened considerably. Desire glimmered from their depths. Heat pulsed through Rosa's veins. Between them, a burst of passionate tension detonated like hellfire across a minefield, engulfing all traces of resistance until Cristiano appeared mesmerized by the inferno.

Donning an indignant expression, he began to lower himself. Cristiano dropped to one knee. Then, he sank down fully, kneeling before Rosa like a fallen soldier succumbing to a worthier adversary.

Softly, she praised, "Bon petit agneau."

Good little lamb.

He glowered menacingly at Rosa, "Do not look so smug. I am only playing along so you can see that my word is bond. Enjoy your fun while it lasts."

"Oh, believe me," she preened, "I will enjoy every minute of our fun."

With a wicked smirk, Rosa reached over to run her fingers through Cristiano's thick, black hair, dragging her fingernails across his scalp a little harder than necessary. Cristiano winced but he didn't pull away.

Still gripping Cristiano's hair, Rosa tilted his face up. "Look at me."

He gazed at her with a tightened jaw.

"Do not touch," she warned in sultry tones. "Until I say otherwise, you may use only your eyes."

Cristiano didn't appear to agree with these rules. He protested right away, "What if I—"

Rosa chided harshly, "Hush."

With deft hands, Rosa started strip-teasing each article of clothing from her body. Lingering over buttons and snaps. Playing peek-a-boo with the fabric over her skin. Cristiano's mouth snapped shut. He became a man entranced. His gaze followed every slip and slide of fabric. Every loosened centimeter. Each button that came undone revealed more and more of her lush dips and feminine curves.

In time, Rosa let her dress slip from her body. It fluttered to the floor. His nostrils flared at the sight of her near-naked hourglass figure.

She then removed her bra to reveal her beautiful, dark-tipped tits. Generous handfuls that would fit perfectly in his large palms. Cristiano's eyes flicked toward them. Hungry-looking. Desperate. His hands clenched into fists at his sides.

Rosa smiled a knowing smile. Taking a few steps away from him, she shuffled onto his bed. Her underwear was the next to go. The delicate lace glided down her long legs.

Cristiano sucked in a breath as she flung her panties against his chest. "You fucking tease."

She held back an evil laugh. "I am only getting started here."

"I will not survive the night," he grunted.

Wantonly, she splayed her thighs. Wide. Taunting her pussy at him. Close enough for him to touch. Close enough for him to kiss. Close enough for him to fuck. This temptation was too much. Cristiano could no longer seem to hold back. A second later, his fists unfurled as his hands reached for her thighs. Rosa smacked him away. She had no intention of letting him touch or kiss or fuck her. Not yet. Not until she made him suffer a while longer.

A low, choked noise escaped from the back of Cristiano's throat.

Showing no mercy, she purred, "Rules are rules."

"Fuck your rules," he snapped.

"Learn to love my rules," Rosa fired back, "if you want to fuck me."

His devil-black eyes sparked rebelliously, but he bit his tongue.

With a smug, triumphant glint in her amber eyes, Rosa's hand ghosted between her breasts and down her stomach until her fingers found her clit. Keeping her eyes locked on him the whole time, she teased the nub. Again and again. Rubbing, flicking, circling. Pleasure mounted within her sex, overwhelming her senses.

She panted breathlessly, "Are you enjoying the view?"

A large tent had since formed near the crotch of his trousers. He swallowed and nodded. "Sì."

Rosa dipped two fingers inside her sex and pulled them back out. They glistened with her excitement. He wet his lips at the sight.

She asked, "Should I keep going?"

Cristiano nodded again and whispered hoarsely, "Please."

Rosa chose not to give in to his plea. Her hand drifted away from her pussy. "On second thought..."

His eyebrows rose with interest as her voice trailed away. "Yes?"

She pouted. "Why should I do all the work? You are supposed to be my little bitch, non?"

An opportunistic gleam flickered in his dark eyes. "Let me do the work for you. I would not mind."

"I want your clothes—off."

Surprise darted across Cristiano's face, but he didn't hesitate to comply. With an unruly glint in his dark eyes that mirrored Rosa's expression during her striptease, the bastard proceeded to shrug out of his shirt, unzip his trousers, and pull off his boxer briefs in a deliberate, leisurely manner. Soon, he stood in front of her without a speck of clothing on. Rosa couldn't help but ogle him. The man was pure masculine eye candy. All sculpted muscle and sinewy strength inked in tats. His thick manhood bobbed between his legs. Red, veiny, twitching. The bastard looked desperate to fuck her brains out. Rosa's eyes strayed there for a second longer than necessary. She struggled to set aside own desire for him. It wasn't easy to stay in command of this power play.

Widening her legs with a come-hither smile, Rosa beckoned from the bed, "What are you waiting for?"

Cristiano didn't need any more encouragement. She blinked and he was already on the mattress, climbing over her. He settled between her legs, fisted his shaft a few times, before guiding himself toward her entrance. She gasped as he drove himself into her body. Rosa adored the way he filled her to the brim. He made her feel so full. So complete. Her head swam with the most wicked, lightheaded sensations as he began to piston in and out of her sex.

She panted, "How does it feel, mon beau, to fuck me?"

Cristiano moaned as he shoved deeper, "Like heaven. You make me feel like a god."

Pleasure battled with her principles. Her pussy wanted to keep fucking him. Her pride, however, couldn't allow it.

"In that case," Rosa murmured, placing her palms on his chest to give him a slight push, "I want you to stop."

Cristiano froze in mid-thrust and exclaimed in disbelief, "Are you serious?"

She repeated herself, "Stop. Now."

With a painstaking groan, Cristiano's entire body grew taut. His muscles trembled with restraint as he pulled out, little by little, in one, long, drawn-out reluctant stroke, leaving only the tip of his cock to graze her delicate, honeyed folds. "You are trying to kill me."

"Do not worry," she assured him, "men cannot die from blue balls."

"That is what you think," he growled.

Rosa's eyes turned into thin, angry slits. "Sex is off the table until you give me the explanation I deserve."

He frowned deeply. "What?"

Lost in a lust-ridden haze, Cristiano's typically sharp and competent mind didn't seem to follow. The blood had clearly abandoned his brain.

She inquired in flat, no-nonsense tones, "Why the hell did you lie about the car accident?"

This abrupt shift in her demeanor allowed him to catch her drift. His eyes grew round with alarm. "I thought you understood that it would be part of our agree—"

Rosa cut him off, "Our agreement was to put on a show for everyone else. But you kept me in the dark. You should have told me about your plans. I am offended that you still felt the need to test my loyalty, especially after everything we have been through."

"You are right. I should not have played you," Cristiano confessed in strained tones, though, his weeping cock kept prodding between her thighs. He couldn't seem to help himself from trying. "But my plan also helped you win over everyone's trust. If anything, you should thank me."

With a scowl, Rosa flipped him over onto his back and moved with lightning speed to straddle his thighs. "Am I supposed to be grateful for your lies?"

"That is not what I meant."

"From now on, treat me as your equal or our agreement is over!"

"Rosa, be reasonable—"

"Non," she argued, "I cannot be reasonable after I shared the most precious part of myself with you. I am angry. I almost feel betrayed. Nijah was my everything. Yet, you lied to me right after I told you about her. After I trusted you. I cannot allow you to walk all over me like the assholes from my past."

He had the decency to wince. "I would never mistreat you."

"You have already mistreated me."

Intently, Cristiano offered, "For that, I apologize. I only wanted the others to accept you. As quickly as possible. I want to see you as I do. As one of us. As my woman."

Rosa's eyes widened at the unexpected sweetness of his words. His reasoning was sound, too. Her anger waned even though it had yet to dissipate. The rules that governed his fucked up world frustrated Rosa beyond measure, but she accepted the fact that Cristiano was a mafia man through and through. Trust and loyalty were keys to survival. Such measures were necessary to weed out traitors and false allies from his inner circle.

Still, a greedy part of her wished to be the exception in his eyes and not another follower of his rules.

Glaring down at him, Rosa grumbled sullenly, "I prefer actions over pretty words."

Glaring back at her, Cristiano's hands rose to grip her hips. "You may be upset over what I did. But you have plenty of shit on me as well. You know about my family. I trust you."

"But, unlike you, I have not lied about anything. Nor do I intend to lie about anything."

With his palms still grasping her hips, he tried to guide her back on his all-too-eager dick. "I will not keep you in the dark again, anima gemelli, I promise."

Her pussy was throbbing for release, but Rosa resisted Cristiano's attempts to fuck her. She refused to budge, purposely keeping her sex just out of his reach. She wasn't ready to forgive him so easily. "Then, tell me more about your family."

"I have already told you about my family."

"Not everything," Rosa chided. She hinted at the blood ties Mesrine had revealed to her, "I am very curious about your family tree."

"My family tree?"

"There is talk that your mother was a De León."

Cristiano demanded, "Where did you hear this rumor?"

"Does it matter?"

His eyes sharpened with suspicion. "Was Mesrine the one who told you?"

Rosa brushed aside his accusation. This time, she wouldn't be swayed from her questioning. "Are you a De León? Or not?"

He stole from her line, repeating, "Does it matter?"

Rosa reached between their bodies to grip his cock. Cristiano released a grateful sigh as she gave him a good, firm tug. "It does matter. To me."

Groaning with bliss, his hips immediately snapped up to welcome her touch. "Why?"

She shot the bastard a condescending look. Releasing her pleasing grip around him, Rosa swiftly maneuvered herself above Cristiano as though she was about to fuck him. In relentless back-and-forth motions, Rosa rocked herself over his manhood, stroking her slick folds over his length. Using him to caress her clit. Over and over again. The smooth, sinful rhythm sent surges of ecstasy rolling through her.

Rosa intended to break him with this euphoric friction. "It boils down to trust, non? If you want my forgiveness, show me how much you trust me. Tell me who you are. Where you came from. What you intend to do with our enemies."

She let his tip slip inside of her. Cristiano's resolve wavered noticeably. "I—"

His words died the moment her pussy enveloped his cock. Sinking her softness over the first few centimeters of his hardness, Rosa mocked in sultry tones, "How badly do you want to fuck me, mon petit agneau?"

My little lamb.

Aggravation and lust twisted over his handsome face. With helpless, heated eyes, Cristiano croaked, "You have no idea what you are doing to me."

But Rosa knew exactly what she was doing to him. With a sly smirk, she let him slip in a little more. More than half of his shaft. He released a strangled moan.

Breathless and beyond turned on, she leaned down to whisper in his ear, "If you have a legitimate claim to the De León empire, it may make our job easier."

"You are asking for too much."

"So, you do not trust me, after all."

"You already know enough about my family."

She snorted loudly to express her opinion on the matter.

His cock swelled and throbbed again inside her walls. Cristiano eyed her with a withdrawn expression. "Some secrets should be taken to the grave."

Like a she-serpent tempting a hapless mortal, Rosa promised sweetly, "I can take your secrets to the grave as well. Tell me everything, and you may fuck me to your heart's content."

Cristiano balked. She could sense the war raging in him.

Would the bastard's obsession with business prevail yet again?

Or would he give in to pleasure?

Rosa didn't want to give him the opportunity to resist. She sank down on him. Fully. The sweet, slick stretch felt divine. More pleasure shot through her. More pleasure appeared to overwhelm him as well. At last, his control seemed to shatter.

His eyes squeezed shut as her sheath hugged his thick, hard shaft. "The rumors are not wrong. My mother was born a De León—"

Her breath caught upon hearing his confession. Rosa pulled up and away from him until their sexes were barely touching, prompting, "Go on."

Cristiano's eyes reopened, brimming with rage, resolution, and purpose. His hands captured her waist. A sublime gratification spiked in Rosa as he shoved himself back inside her, to the hilt, and rasped, "And, as far as I am concerned, revenge is not enough. I am going after my kingdom and crown. I want everything that I am owed from the fuckers who stole it from me."