Page 76 of Love Me Darkly
“I want Suede’s head dipped in gold and mounted on my mantel. I want Morrison’s balls in a jar. I want Wilson’s fucking tongue on a silver platter! Those motherfuckers will have everyone else thinking they can go running to the feds for protection. I won’t stand for it!”
A thump and a curse. Footsteps. Then, a slow, long sniff and a groan. Mateo inclined his head, pretty certain he’d just heard Korenic take a bump of cocaine. His theory was proven when Korenic sniffed again. Aggressively.
“You think I give a fuck about that bitch’s family? I want them all … the kids, the fucking dog, the goldfish. I want to send a message, and I want it sent now!”
More shuffling around. A second voice murmuring in the background. Mateo frowned, leaning closer to the laptop as if that would help matters. Remembering the volume, he turned it up. Someone else was in the penthouse, maybe on a phone call of their own in the next room. The voice was muffled and low, female. Mateo wondered if the maid was still hanging around.
“New Orleans is dead. It’ll stay that way for at least a couple of months while we lay low. I want any remaining cargo taken out of the state. Get on the phone with that asshole from Memphis … you know the guy. Tell him we need transport ASAP.”
Mateo heard the sound of something slamming against a surface, then another impact, this one harder. Something splintered or cracked, likely under Roman’s fist. The man was having a tantrum, bellowing and cursing while pacing. Mateo could hear his rushed breaths and heavy footsteps.
“Roman … baby, relax.”
The second voice. Louder. Closer. Definitely female.
A low vibration hummed in Mateo’s gut, rippling out to the tips of his fingers and toes. Clearly, he was hearing things. The woman’s voice had sounded … familiar.
“Don’t tell me to fucking relax,” Korenic snapped. “Those asshole feds just destroyed an entire branch of my business overnight.”
The sounds of his movements had stilled, and Mateo held his breath, waiting for a reply from Korenic’s companion. His lungs burned through the long silence, the sound of a drawer opening and closing, more footsteps.
“Come on, baby. This’ll take the edge off.”
Roman sniffed again, this time releasing a heavy sigh of relief. “Oh, fuck, that’s some good shit. Gimme some more … no, put it on your … yes, right there … come here.”
Another sniff, and then a wet sound that made Mateo’s stomach wrench violently. Someone’s skin being kissed, licked.
“There you go,” she purred. “Feeling better already.”
Mateo’s chest heaved as he now felt as if he’d taken in too much air. His lungs swelled, and he was drowning, choking, dying by excruciating degrees.
“Melody.”
Her name fell from his lips, a prayer, a desperate plea. It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be her.
But it was her. Mateo couldn’t ignore what his ears told him as every conversation they’d ever had overwhelmed his mind. The truth made itself more apparent with every word. Her tone, her inflection, her cadence. He knew them all. He knew them as he knew her scent and her taste and the feel of her wrapped around him.
“… what the fuck I’m going to do.”
Mateo flinched, realizing he’d lost hold of the conversation. He was reeling, feeling as if he’d been punched in the gut. But he couldn’t let himself experience the full realization of what he was hearing yet. Not until he knew everything. Not until he proved to himself that this was some kind of misunderstanding or mistake.
There was no mistaking what he heard when Melody spoke again. The voice coming at him was hard, icy, cold. Nothing like his sweet baby girl.
“Look at me, baby. Who are you?”
Korenic sniffed again and grunted. “I’m Roman fucking Korenic.”
“That’s right. You’re in charge … you run this shit. If anybody can fix this, it’s you. The feds don’t know who they’re fucking with.”
“Damn right they don’t. Now, get your sexy ass in the bedroom, face down, ass up. I missed my lutka.”
Mateo frowned at the foreign word, snatching up his phone to Google it. The word was Serbian, and it meant ‘doll.’ He squeezed his eyes closed and gritted his teeth, his jaw aching as he remembered thinking himself that she had the face of a doll. To hear someone else call her that … to hear her raspy, sensual laugh as her footsteps carried her across the room … it drove something sharp and hot into his gut. The heat spread from its middle, exacerbating the pain.
“Yes, Daddy,” came Melody’s reply.
Mateo gripped the edge of the desk, his hands shaking as he fought for control. The walls had started to push in, and his vision grew dark at the edges as more sounds came through his earbuds. Lewd sounds. Unmistakable sounds. The jingle of a belt buckle, the dip of a mattress. The master bedroom must be right off the living area, and the door might have been left open. The wire was just sensitive enough to pick up what was happening in that bedroom. The timer on the recording swam before his eyes, the numbers hazy. He squinted to make them out. Seven minutes left.
He remained where he sat for every second of those seven minutes, his lungs filling with fire on every breath. Despite the rage boiling his blood in his veins, he could not move, could not tear himself away until the audio had ended. Even as Korenic’s grunts and groans filled his ears. Even as the slap of skin on skin echoed through him, each impact like a physical blow. Even as he held his breath and listened for Melody, for the now-familiar sounds of her pleasure. She was different with Korenic. Dirtier. More talkative. Like a porn star, or …
