AUCTIONED TO HER DAD’S MAFIA ENEMIES: A MAFIA AGE-GAP REVERSE HAREM ROMANCE (AUCTIONED SERIES Book 4)

WHERE IS HOME?

My mother sits across from me in the penthouse, her hands clenched in her lap, her eyes darting between my brother, my aunt, and me. Antonio leans against the wall, arms crossed, his expression cool and a little menacing, but to me, his presence is a steady force, an anchor in the storm that’s my past and present colliding.

My aunt looks worse than before, thin and frail, her skin nearly translucent under the harsh light of the kitchen. The sickness clings to her; an inevitability no one wants to acknowledge. My mother sits beside her, wringing her hands, looking just as exhausted as she did before I was taken captive. But it’s my brother who shatters me.

He’s strung out. Again.

His pupils are blown, his skin slick with sweat, fingers twitching in his lap. His clothes hang off him, stained and wrinkled. Shame burns through me, swiftly followed by rage.

“Are you high?” My voice slices through the silence, jagged with disbelief.

CJ flinches, barely meeting my gaze before looking away, but his erratic blinking is enough to confirm.

“Aemelia—” My mama starts, but I’m already on my feet, my pulse roaring in my ears.

“You promised me,” I hiss, voice shaking. “You swore you’d get clean. I fought for you. I worked my fingers to the bone so you wouldn’t have to—”

“You don’t get it!” he snaps, his hands clenching into fists. “We thought you were going to die!”

His words hit like a slap, but I don’t let them sink in. I refuse to let him use my suffering as an excuse for his self-destruction. It’s been going on for years.

“You can’t help yourself,” I say, my voice raw and broken.

My mother rises, placing a hand on my brother’s shoulder, her eyes pleading. “This is why we need to go back, Aemelia. We need to leave all of this behind. You, me, your brother, we need to go home. Back to Baltimore, away from this life. Before it’s too late.”

Go back? The thought tightens around my throat like a noose, suffocating. Go back to scraping by exhausted, to watching my mother defend my brother while he slowly destroys himself, to return to a life where I exist only to endure, to survive—not to live?

No. I can’t.

But it’s more than that. The thought of leaving them is unbearable, an ache that burrows deep into my chest. Ice spreads through my veins at the idea of never again falling into Antonio’s fathomless gaze, never tasting the food he cooks with quiet devotion, never feeling the steady strength of his arms around me, his touch both a promise and a shield. To walk away from Alexis, from his wicked grins and teasing words, his fierce protectiveness hidden beneath charm, his ability to make me feel weightless when the world bears down on me—it’s unthinkable.

And Luca… to leave Luca would be to rip out my own heart. To never hear his rough, reverent voice telling me I’m his good girl, never feel the searing fire behind his cool control, never watch his composure crack when he looks at me with something dangerously close to love. I cannot break him, not when I know what it’s like to be broken.noveldrama

I belong here. With them.

No. I won’t go.

I glance at Antonio. He’s watching me, his storm-gray eyes unreadable. My heart stutters in my chest. If he wants me to stay, he has to say it. He has to claim me. If he doesn’t, then maybe my mother is right. Maybe I don’t belong here.

I swallow hard, willing him to speak, to give me a reason to stay. “Antonio—”

He pushes off the wall and crosses the room in three slow, deliberate steps. When he reaches me, he cups my face, his hands warm, strong, steady. His touch sends a shiver down my spine, a whisper of comfort amidst the chaos. “If you want to go with your family, we won’t stop you,” he murmurs, his voice low, intimate. “But we want you to stay with us. We want you to…” He pauses like he’s thinking through a new idea that hasn’t had time to fully take root. “We want to make you a Venturi.”

A tremor runs through me, stealing the air from my lungs.

He’s claiming me.

Not as a captive. Not as leverage. As theirs.

“Is this a proposal?” I whisper, my lips parting as his breath mingles with mine.

His grip tightens just a fraction. Possessive. “I’m not your savior, Aemelia. I’m your sinner. Your monster. And I swear on every grave I’ve ever filled, I’ll love you better than any saint ever could. Your family will be our family, dolcezza. They’ll be protected, always. No more struggling. No more running. They’ll have everything they need. And you, Aemelia—”

He dips his head closer, his breath warm against my lips. “We want you to be ours. You were never meant to belong to one man. You were meant to belong to three. Our hands. Our mouths. Our bodies are yours. We’ll love you until our last breaths.”

Tears burn behind my eyes, and I exhale shakily. I was raised to believe love came with conditions, that loyalty was only as strong as the weight it carried. But this? This is different. They’re offering me a choice. They’re offering to take on my burdens… the burden of my family.

My mother shifts, her fingers gripping the edge of the table. “Aemelia…”

I turn to her, my decision clear in the depths of my soul. “I can’t go back with you, Mama. My place is here.”

Her face crumples, but she doesn’t argue. She knows me well enough to recognize that I’ve made up my mind. Maybe she remembers what it was like to love her own Venturi all those years ago.

My aunt sighs, a resigned smile tugging at her lips. “I knew it. Just like your mother. You can’t resist the dark and dangerous ones.”

My brother shakes his head, his eyes glinting. “You’re really staying with them?”

I nod. “I am.”

“But who—”

Antonio cuts him off by standing abruptly.

“No one is paying for you to sit on your ass anymore, Carlo. It’s time to step into your shoes and be a man. Rehab is non-negotiable. Any support we offer will only continue if you dedicate yourself to getting clean.”

I reach for Antonio’s hand, so relieved to have someone on my side that tears spill silently down my cheeks.

His fingers tighten around mine, his grip reassuring. “You’re not alone anymore, mia bella.”

Luca and Alexis enter then, their presence commanding as they take in the scene before them. Luca’s sharp gaze flicks between me and my mother before settling on Antonio. “Everything settled?”

Antonio nods once. “She’s staying.”

Luca’s expression softens just a fraction. “She said yes?”

I smile, touching my fingers to my lips, unprepared to find out they’d already discussed what they wanted from me. “I said yes.”

“Like it was ever an option for you to leave,” Luca says with a rare smile. “I already made up my mind that you’re not going anywhere, kitten. Not now. Not ever.”

I flush hot at his possessiveness, at the fire in his eyes.

Alexis, ever the charmer, flashes me a wicked grin. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist us.”

“Your mama won’t like this,” my mother aims at Luca, shaking her head. “She never liked me. Never thought I was good enough for your brother.”

“Aemelia isn’t you, Signora Lambretti,” Luca says firmly. “And our mother will accept our choice.”

Antonio pulls me closer, tilting my chin up before pressing his lips to mine in a kiss that feels like a vow. Luca moves in next, his kiss softer, lingering, full of unspoken promises. Alexis is last, his lips teasing mine in a way that makes my head spin.

My family inhales sharply, shocked at the display. But I don’t care what they think.

These men are going to make me a part of their family.

I don’t have to choose between them or find a way to live without them.

Alexis, Antonio, and Luca Venturi are my knights in shining armor, after all.

***

I lay on the bed drenched in their warmth, my skin still buzzing with the aftermath of their touch. My body feels boneless, weightless, wrecked, and adored all at once. The silk sheets stick faintly to my skin, damp with sweat and remnants of their devotion, but I don’t want to move.

Because I’m surrounded by them.

By my men.

By their hands and mouths, their strength and tenderness, their claim that will never let me go.

Luca’s weight presses into my side, solid and grounding. His hand drifts idly along my stomach, fingers tracing lazy circles over my skin. Possessive, even in tenderness. His face is buried in the crook of my neck, his breath hot and damp against my skin, and he kisses me there—slow, reverent presses of his lips—like he still can’t quite believe he’s allowed to touch me like this. “Sweet girl,” he whispers slowly, like he’s on the edge of falling into dreams.

Antonio rests behind me, spooning me, his broad chest forming a wall of safety against my back. One of his arms is thrown heavily over my waist, an anchor that keeps me right where he wants me. His hand cups my breast lazily, thumb lazing stroking over my tight, sensitive nipple as though he has nothing else in the world to do but touch me. His mouth presses softly against the back of my shoulder, rough stubble rasping over my too-sensitive skin, sending a faint shiver down my spine. The gentle scrape of his teeth sends a shiver of arousal through me. “Why do you smell like strawberry ice-cream?” he murmurs, making me chuckle.

And Alexis is sprawling across my legs, his chin propped on my thigh, grinning like the devil. His hair is still damp from sweat, curling slightly at his temples, and his lips are swollen from too many kisses—my kisses. His fingers skate along the inside of my calf, barely touching, just teasing, even though we’re all spent and sated.

“I think you’ve finally killed me, kitten,” he rasps, voice low and drowsy but still full of heat. “I’m a goner. Completely ruined. Dead.”

I smile sleepily and lift a hand, brushing his damp hair from his forehead, then let out a shaky breath. I’m not sure if it’s from their words or their touch.

Maybe both.

Because I feel it everywhere.

Their devotion. Their love. Their claim.

It hums beneath my skin, soaking into my bones, branding me in ways deeper than any mark ever could.

Alexis shifts, sitting up on his knees, the dips of his muscles sculpted by the shadows and I stare at him, no longer shy to take in the raw perfection of his body or the cock that hangs heavy between his thighs.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he says, sliding his hand up my thigh and resting it on my hip possessively.

“What is it?” I ask.

“The problem with Cohen… it’s not going to be a problem anymore.”

“How?” I ask, my heart picking up speed in my chest.

“You don’t need to know the details, kitten. Just know that anyone who thinks they can harm you or take you from us will be dead before they draw their next breath.”

Before I have a chance for the information to settle, or to respond, he continues.

“You were made for us, kitten,” His voice is like gravel sliding into silk as his fingers grip my hip. “Every inch of you.”

I shudder at the certainty in his voice, at the reverence in his touch.

“You’re ours,” Luca growls, his voice dark and rough as his lips skim the corner of my mouth.

“Ours,” Antonio echoes against my throat, his hand tightening on my waist.

And I feel every syllable deep in my chest like an iron promise seeping into my bones, binding me to them.

They’ve claimed me. My saviors, my protectors, my mafia kings.