Rosa was conducting her own brand of education. She watched as Vee bent over the trunk, tying down the haul of adult store paraphernalia.
"All of these," Rosa said, sweeping a hand over the trunk, "will be useless if you cannot stand your ground, Vee. The man you deal with is a dominant in his right. The best way to punish a man like that," she continued, "is to give him a taste of his own medicine. Make him understand what it feels like to meet resistance, to face a will that refuses to bend."
The lesson was simple: she could not cave back into her natural role, her habitual submission, until her message was fully delivered, carved into the mind and body of the man across from her.
"Is that clear?" Rosa asked.
"And what if this isn’t a message that can be passed?" Vee asked, fidgeting with the hem of her jacket. "What if it’s...something I’m going to have to deal with for as long as this goes on?"
"I...don’t really know what advice to give, not without knowing the full context."
"Uhm...you know that I...ah...I’m with Luca, right?"
"I do. I just pretend not to. The less I know, the better for me."
"Yeah, I know. Scary guy..." Veronica laughed.
"Scary?" Rosa echoed, raising an eyebrow. "Honestly, he doesn’t look scary. He looks...normal. Clean-cut, almost angelic if you don’t know who he is. If no one told you he’s the New York mafia god, you’d never guess."
Veronica leaned back, a slight flush coloring her cheeks. "That’s...actually how I got entangled with him in the first place. I had no idea who he was. Just a... long story. But look...he’s married."
Rosa smirked. "The beautiful ones are always off the shelf."
There was a pause, a quiet beat of acknowledgment, and then Vee added reflectively: "You’re not being as judgmental as I thought you would be."
"Hey...we all have our kinks," Rosa said, raising her palms in mock surrender, a sly grin tugging at the corner of her mouth. Her eyes sparkled with mischief.
Vee ran a hand through her hair. "Dating a married man is not my kink, believe me," she said. She hated the sting of jealousy, the helpless thrum of desire that Luca always seemed to provoke in her without even trying.


VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Undressed By The Mafia God