Artemisia
"Are you sleeping with Leandro?" She spat, her eyes were alight in pure fury and I immediately feigned confusion as I looked over at Jacob. He shook his head as he rubbed his jaw.
"No, Clementina. I am not." I sighed, focusing back on her as I stepped away from Leo's arm.
"Then why did Anton say you had him hooked?" She pushed, her burning glare settling on her fiancé. Leandro chuckled and shook his head.
"Probably because she shot me and I haven't killed her yet." Leandro muttered before reaching for the bottle once more. I looked at Anton who's eyes told me it was an unfortunate mistake.
"Well, you probably should kill her. No?" Clementina retorted, I ignored her comment as I settled on the side of the desk once more and took the needle to Leandro's skin.
"You want me dead? We've never even spoken to one another," I muttered as I began to stitch up the wound. I was greeted with silence. "I'm on a job, if you're so worried about me then take comfort in the fact that I'll be out of your way when this is over."
"Dead, maybe. If I know Leo as well as I think I do you'll be killed for what you did." She retorted, and I could feel Leo tense at her words.
"She won't be killed," Jacob cut in, "and I wouldn't go around making suggestions like that."
"You can't be so sure, she's just as disposable as anyone else." Clementina said, I rolled my eyes and continued to work on Leandro. "Anyway, there's no place for you here, not after everything that happened with Raul."
"Please tell your fiancé to shut the fuck up." I muttered, doing my best to stay calm as I got to the final stitch.
"Why would he listen to you? After all, don't think I don't know that everyone in this family wanted you dead and gone from their lives." Her tone was filled with venom and hatred, her words stemming from jealousy.
"You're boring me now," I sighed, putting the needle down and looking to Leandro who sat there with his jaw clenched and his hand balled up into a fist. He was battling with two sides, one of protecting me which would expose everything, and one of keeping quiet which was making him more angry.
"Good, because you need to leave. I don't care what past you have with this family, you are not apart of it, you don't belong and you never will, you never have. No one wanted you back, no one cared enough, and no one wanted a little girl who was passed around the way you were." She spat, and for a moment I was taken back by the vile nature of her words, but then i remembered who I was.
"Clementina," Leandro grunted as I walked towards her.
"I think you're forgetting who you're talking to." I said lowly, "I kill people for a living. I take lives with my bare hands for money, but don't think I'll leave you out of the equation because I'm not getting paid. Don't ever fucking talk to me like that again, because I'll show you what I'm capable of, you'll be much easier than my usual target."
She was shorter than me, and I had fun watching her squirm, I could feel that rage in my stomach building slowly however, and I knew I needed to leave before I did something I would regret.
"Might be good to educate her on what I've done for your organisation before she runs her mouth again." I said, my eyes burning into his. I could see the deliberation he held in his own, wanting me to stay but he evidently couldn't say it.
I gave him a look of distaste, I was angry before but now I was feeling hurt. I knew it was unrealistic for him to jump in and defend me, but it hurt that he didn't all the same.
I looked over at Anton who stood there with a look of pride on his face before he nodded for me to go with him, and I did, hoping that Leandro caught him place his hand on the small of my back.
I leaned into Anton's side as we walked out the house, wondering where Jacob had gone, not hearing other footsteps behind us, but I let it leave my mind as Anton's hold grew tighter around my waist.
"Want to go out or want to go straight back," he asked as he opened the door for me to get into the car.
"Let's go back," I sighed, unlocking my phone to send Jacob a message. I had no idea why he was still in there, and it was making me nervous.
Anton gave the direction to his driver and placed a hand on my knee, squeezing it gently and I looked over at him, he seemed preoccupied, locked up in his own thoughts.
I felt like a bad person truthfully, I didn't know what I wanted, but here was this man compromising the majority of what he stood for, for me, and on top of that I still had feelings for him. Granted, not ones as strong as those I had for Leandro, but they were there and very present.
I slid over into the middle seat and leant into his side, placing a hand on his thigh whilst his arm wrapped around me instantly and his lips pressed against my temple. We sat in silence for ten minutes, allowing me to bask in the momentary refuge from the prior situation.
"I'm glad you stood up to her," he murmured
"Yeah, well it looks like she's never had to know her place." I sighed, skimming my hand further up his thigh slowly.
Remember how I said Anton and I had sex as a form of catharsis? Well, that was what was going to happen now.
"You looked fucking hot doing it too," he mumbled before kissing the tip of my ear. I felt a pang of anticipation run through me as I listened to his shallow breaths. I didn't say anything as I brought my palm to where his dick grew harder underneath his suit pants. I slowly applied pressure causing him to let out a quick exhale and tip his head back.
I smirked to myself as I turned my head and began to kiss along the column of his neck up to his ear, nipping his earlobe slightly before I travelled along his sharp jaw. "Careful angel," he murmured, "keep it up and I might not be able to wait."
"You can wait, I've had to put up with it hundreds of times." I mumbled against his jaw, still palming him through his trousers.
"Fuck," he breathed and I smiled a little as I trailed my lips to his. I kissed him deeply, his hand fixed itself on my ass as his tongue slipped between my lips. He squeezed my ass as I gently trailed my fingers over his crotch before running my hand up to his abdomen, feeling the rock hard surface beneath his white shirt.
I moaned against his lips as his hand slipped round to my front and he slipped it between my legs, immediately applying pressure to my core before slightly moving his hand. I pulled away and leant my forehead against his, looking into his brown eyes that almost looked black, filled with desire.
The car came to a halt and Anton immediately opened the door, taking my hand and dragging me out with him. A guard opened the door to the house and he gave them a quick nod as the doors to the lift opened. I was practically flung inside, stumbling back against the mirrored wall as the doors closed.
Anton spun me around to face the mirror, his hand resting on my midriff as his lips found my neck immediately and his hand drifted between my thighs, moving in small circles above my clothed clit. I leant my head back against his shoulder, feeling his erection pressing into my ass.
He let out a low grunt, kissing the space between my ear and my jaw, scraping his teeth along the skin before taking my hand and leading us to his bedroom. My body was in desperate need for release, as was his, and I had an overwhelming desire to please him.
I pushed him back onto the bed before getting on my knees in front of him, and he undid his belt buckle and free'd himself from his boxers. It never failed to amaze me how big he was, but I'd learnt how to properly please him within the first week of us sleeping together.
I spat on my hand before sliding it up and down his dick, and wrapped my lips around his tip. "Good girl," he grunted, his tattooed fingers lacing through my hair.
I swirled my tongue around his tip as my hand pumped him up and down before taking him in my mouth completely, hearing a string of Russian profanities fall from his lips. My movements started off as slow, his ragged breathing becoming louder as a result, before I picked up the pace.
"Take me so well," he muttered, his grip on my hair tightening as I bobbed my head up and down.
The thing about Anton was that he could last a long time, so to save myself I knew a few tricks to speed him up. I drew my head back before running the tip of my tongue up the base of his shaft as I dragged a finger behind it gently, repeating the action a couple more times. The strangled grunt that fell from his lips told me it was working so I took him all in one go once more, and allowed him to control my head movements.
"Fucking hell Artemisia," he groaned as I hollowed my cheeks around him, a gag coming from the back of my throat as he pushed impossibly deeper in me, but I kept on going, filled with this urgent desire to please him. "Fuck angel, I'm gonna cum in your mouth." he muttered, his grip on my hair loosened as he let me do what I pleased, and I placed my hands on his thighs as I took all I could in my mouth.
"Arté," he groaned, letting me know he was close, and within seconds I felt his dick twitching and warm liquid coat the back of my throat. I pulled myself off Anton, swallowing and looking up at him.
He wore a dry smirk on his lips as I sat there, my head tilted back to look up at him, but I watched as his eyes narrowed momentarily whilst he tucked himself back into his boxers and trousers. I wondered what he was looking at, but before I knew it he was swiping his thumb along three different patches on my neck.
I watched as he shook his head before pursing my lips and closing my eyes. The hickeys left in Leandro's wake would have been fully fledged, and there was nothing I could say about it.
"He left them there?" Anton muttered
"No, someone else." I lied, hoping that my response was adequate, but he'd caught me in my lie instantly.
"You never let people leave hickeys Artemisia," he sighed as he stood up, seeming to be unbothered about the given situation, how wrong I was. "Unless you like them enough, and given your history with men other than me, you never stick around to actually like them."
I watched, still on my knees, as he turned to face me again.
"Did he leave them there Artemisia?" he said roughly, and I pursed my lips. My response was enough to give him the answer he was dreading.
"Leave," he said lowly, turning to look out of the floor to ceiling windows.
"Anton," I sighed, but what could I say? Yes, Anton and I weren't together but we both knew we were more than we let ourselves believe. So why did I do it? Why did I feel so comfortable thinking that it would be so easy to let him find out and let him go?
"Artemisia," he said, his tone was menacing and when he turned to face me I could see that feared look in his eye, the one that told me the best thing to do would be to listen. "Go. Now."
I simply walked out, feeling in a state of alert. He had never given me that look before in his life, I doubt he gave it to many of his victims too. I had only seen it once and that was when someone central to his operation tried to rat him out to the mayor. They were dead now, after a long and arduous process of torture.
I knew that I had fucked up when the sound of smashing emerged from the other side of the hall, and I prayed that the lift would go before he came out of there. Luckily I managed to escape, the doors closed but I caught a flicker of his door opening. I shut my eyes and controlled my breathing as the four floor descent played out, and bolted to the front door as soon as I could.
There was noise of aggressive footfall down the stairs, and I had no idea what was about to happen so I messages Alvaro '911' as I ran through the halls.
"Artemisia!" he shouted eratically from somewhere near me. That wasn't a shout asking me to stay, telling me that he'd moved on; that was a shout filled with rage and fury.
Immediately my phone rang and I picked it up as I turned a corner,
"Jacob is on his way, he'll be literally one minute, he was having a drink with Sam." Alvaro rushed as I dodged a guard who was emerging from a room. I listened to the roaring shout of my name once more.
"I'm heading west," I replied, noting that there were a second set of footsteps trailing me, most likely the guard.
"Okay, stay on the phone." Alvaro muttered, he was keeping calm for both of us. I threw the door open and slammed it behind me before sprinting down the steps and turning left, running to the end of the block.
"Artemisia!" The call came again, and this time it was only more angry than the first.
"Alvaro, where the fuck is he?" I panicked, my heart racing as I kept ahead of the most brutal man in New York City.
"Turning in now," Alvaro confirmed, and I looked to the top of the street to see his Cadillac turning in. I ran out and it stopped immediately allowing me to sprint to the passenger side of the car and jump in.
Jacob set off the moment the door had shut, and I caught sight of Anton taking his gun out the waistband of his trousers and attaching a silencer before a quiet bullet rang out.
It hit the side of the car, "What the fuck?!" Jacob exclaimed, pressing down on the accelerator. "what the fuck did you do?"
"Can we just, you know, get away from this area and then talk about it?" I retorted as I looked behind us, he was standing at the top of the steps of his home, his gun still pointed at us as we turned a corner, but he lowered it and just stood there.
"Fucking hell Arté," he muttered, moving one hand off the wheel to pick up a call from Alvaro.
"Is she with you?" Alvaro asked, panicked.
"Yeah, sorry, I hung up by accident." I sighed, picking up my bag and digging around it.
"I'm on my way to yours now, I'll pick up your stuff, stay in your other place for the time being." Alvaro said, I could hear the accelerator in the background of the call.
"Okay," I breathed, taking out the diazepam packet. I felt like I was on the verge of having a heart attack and swiftly swallowed two of them before I looked over at Jacob who was masterfully overtaking traffic.
The line had gone dead, and I felt totally detached from the situation around me. The fact that Anton would even consider hurting me, which was all his reaction told me, made me wonder if he had ever truly changed.
I was scared of him, I had to run from him, I was so scared that I sent the emergency text to Alvaro because for the first time in a very long time, I had doubts about whether I would make it out of a situation alive.
The pure hatred and anger in his voice spoke volumes, the man was not being logical, and who knew what he would have done to me in that situation?
And to think moments before we were about to have sex.
I felt a hand take mine and squeeze it gently, "In for four, hold for five, out for four." Jacob said as he continued to drive and I did as he said, controlling it to the best of my ability as I felt a panic attack begin to grow inside of me, even after the pills.
I shut my eyes, and allowed my trust for Jacob to let me ignore the high-risk driving, calming down my heart rate as I relaxed into the seat.
I stayed like that for five minutes until I felt the car slow down and I opened my eyes to see us sitting in traffic, "We're far enough now," Jacob murmured, looking over at me.
I nodded before running my hands over my face, I couldn't feel anything, it was as if my mind had blocked out everything that had happened over the last two hours.
"Talk to me Arté," Jacob rasped as we pulled away from the lights
"I don't know what to say," I muttered, looking out the window of the car, watching as we headed towards the Brooklyn bridge.
"How did it happen, start there." I looked over at Jacob, did he really want to know that I'd been having sex with another man on top of Anton given the dynamic we shared? Not only did he hate Anton as it was, but he hated Leo more. I wouldn't want to hear about his sex life with Emily, that's for sure, and that wasn't packed with emotional baggage either. "I know you're sleeping with Leandro, I don't care Arté,"
"You're driving, and I don't want you to get pissed off Jacob." I mumbled
"I'll remain totally unfazed," he shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road as we came onto the bridge.
"If you say so," I sighed, "I slept with Leandro the other day for the first time after we started something, but just before that happened Anton came to my apartment unannounced and found Leo and I together. He left after I made up some bullshit excuse about wanting to know more about my mother, because he knew Leandro had explained the clean-up job to me, but he said he suspected us. Anyway, as you saw today he was in the room when I denied it which definitely didn't help things, and then he saw the hickeys on my neck under the concealer and lost his shit. He worked out that they were from Leo immediately, told me to leave and I did and then he just lost his shit and started chasing after me. I've only seen him that angry once and that was when he killed that guy for trying to rat him out to the Mayor."
"So what was he trying to do? Kill you?" Jacob gritted, his hand tightened on the wheel, him remaining unfazed was too good to be true.
I sighed, "I don't know, maybe hurt me, maybe kill me, maybe just grab me. Could be anything."
"You're not on the job anymore," Jacob said, I looked over at him and pursed my lips. "I mean it Artemisia. Plus it's basically over now. So, forget about the rest of it."
"It isn't over," I muttered
"Manuel found us out, Raul is dead, it's gonna be a full scale war Artemisia, nothing to do with us and you need to be careful anyway with Manuel around New York."
I sighed and shut my eyes, not knowing what to say or do. I felt his hand rest on my thigh, keeping it there, he simply traced his thumb up and down as we crossed the bridge.
"They're not good for you Arté," he muttered, "I know it may seem like I'm being biased, but they really aren't. All this shit that Leandro's brought back, he's lied to you again, and Anton just did-- well, that."
"I know Jacob," I sighed, looking at the veins running along his hand that rested on my thigh
"Promise me Arté," he rasped, squeezing gently. "I don't know what I'll do if I find out you've been in another situation like that."
I looked over at him, his eyes narrowed ahead of us as he turned off the bridge.
"I don't want to make a promise I can't keep Jacob,"