Masquerade
Family Love, Book 1
by: Mia Eris
This story has some darker elements that some people may not care for, please be advised. Characters engaging in sexual acts within this story are 18+ years of age.
This is part 1 of the Family Love Saga, which will be a series of short stories. Feedback welcome, thank you for having a read!
Chapter 1
Serafina plopped down on her bed beside her best friend, Julia, and released a heavy sigh. Servants had already carried all of her birthday presents into her room and stacked them neatly on the padded bench against the other wall. Her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins had all celebrated the big day with her. A nice pool party and barbecue on the back patio with an actual DJ. She’d even been allowed to invite her friends from school.
She was finally 18. Serafina should be ecstatic, but she’d never felt more disappointed in her life. Unless she counted every other time her father had failed to live up to her hopes and dreams.
Julia reached over and clasped her hand. “He was probably just busy, Sera.”
“Don’t do that,” Serafina said gently. “I don’t need you to make excuses for him. No one else bothers to. Not even him.”
Her friend nodded. “Hey, but the gift he got for you is pretty cool.”
“Yeah, so cool I’m sure Nonna picked it out, bought it, wrapped it, and signed the card for him,” Serafina replied. Emitting a sound of disgust, she looked to the ceiling and shook her head. “You know, sometimes I wish they would’ve kept it from me, the way they kept it from everyone else. It couldn’t bother me if I didn’t know he was my father.”
Serafina had been the result of an attempted scam against her dad. To save him and the family a huge, messy scandal, everyone thought she was the daughter of her grandmother’s step-niece who’d died during childbirth in Italy. No one outside of her family and Julia knew she was the daughter of Alessandro Romano. She didn’t even have his last name, being given her fake mother’s last name of Esposito, instead.
“You don’t mean that–” Julia protested.
“Don’t I?” she countered, giving her friend an imploring look. “You know how I feel, the things I want. I’m fucked up in the head, Julia.”
“You’re really not, Serafina. Think about it,” Julia argued. “Your dad is so young, he’s only in his thirties and he’s fucking hot. I mean, like serious movie-star hot. Plus, you know…you just want his attention, so of course, that’s going to develop into…”
Serafina arched a brow at her, waiting for her to finish. “I want to fuck my dad’s brains out, Julia. There’s no developing, just straight up incestuous lust. You should turn me in.”
“To where? Mental institutions don’t even pay to commit people anymore, it wouldn’t be worth my time,” she replied. “Besides, if my dad looked like yours, I’d be lusting after him, too.”
Sera laughed and flopped onto her back. “I’m going to seduce him,” she confessed, feeling like she could share her plan now that she was of legal age. “At the Midsummer Masquerade.”
Julia was older than her by 15 months, so she’d been able to attend the masquerade last July and had shared every dirty detail with Serafina the following day. The annual party was just an excuse for a bunch of wealthy adults to have orgies and fuck anyone and everyone at the party without any consequences because they were all wearing masks, which provided the perfect scapegoat of anonymity.
“He’s tough, Sera,” Julia cautioned. “He’s pretty much the trophy of the masquerade. Every woman there is trying to hook up with him, but he’s extremely selective.”
“They don’t know him like I do,” Serafina said confidently.
Obsessive stalkers could take notes from her on how much she’d studied her father over the years.
“I just don’t want you to end up regretting it,” Julia said. “I’m not sure it’s going to get you the kind of response from your dad that you’re hoping for.”
Serafina wasn’t sure either, but she had to try. It wasn’t normal for girls to fantasize about their fathers in romantic, sexual ways, but she did.
He was so handsome, his body a living sculpture that would have tempted every last one of the Renaissance Masters into replicating it. He kept his black hair just long enough in a layered, tapering cut to show how it curled at the ends. And his eyes were fiery blue. Julia was wrong that he looked like something as mundane as a movie star. Her dad looked like an Italian Prince, but his charm was calculated, and his smiles veiled a callous demeanor.
Everyone found him irresistible, even in business. He simply had a natural allure that drew people in, made it difficult to tell him no. And when they did, they found out how ruthless he could be. Hostile takeovers were his favorite pastime, according to all of the business journals and social media articles she’d read. He was very successful, yet it was more of a sport for him because God knows they didn’t need the money. The Romano family was already beyond wealthy.
That’s why he’d been targeted by her biological mother. The Tavers family had been on the brink of losing everything, so had pressured their 18-year-old daughter into trapping herself a rich husband by getting herself knocked up. Serafina’s parents had met while on holiday right after both of their high school graduations and months later, Gina Tavers had shown up on Alessandro’s doorstep, pregnant.
Unfortunately, she’d chosen the wrong ısparta escort man for her mark. The Romano’s had smelled the scam from a mile away. As soon as a DNA test proved the baby was Alessandro’s, they’d crushed the Tavers, making sure they lost absolutely everything–to include the newborn daughter Gina had named Rosalie.
Her grandparents had changed her name to Serafina when they’d somehow managed to legally attach her to the dead Esposito niece in Italy.
But they’d never kept any of it hidden from her. Serafina had been raised to call her father by his first name, or his family nickname, Aleso. She was never to refer to him as dad, papa, father, daddy, anything. Yet they’d made sure she knew all along that he was her father.
The older she got, the more she began to wonder if maybe her craziness wasn’t genetic, but feared it was all circumstantial. She’d never been wanted by any of them, not even her mom. She’d merely been the means to try and take her dad’s money. Was it any wonder he couldn’t be bothered with her?
Her grandparents, aunts, and uncles had grown fond of her since they’d been far more involved with her rearing. But more than not, Serafina had been groomed to be the perfect socialite, rather than raised in a loving home.
From a young age, they’d impressed upon her how important it was that she know exactly how to be a rightful member of the most elite cliques in society. After all, her grandmother’s family name, Esposito, held just as much prestige and clout in the old money circles as Romano.
Somewhere in her messed up brain, Sera knew she should feel more grateful than disappointed for all of the opportunities she’d been given. Her grandparents could have easily paid her mother off and left Serafina with her in ruins, instead of giving her such an advanced life.
As it stood, Sera could go to any university in the world she wanted to, or ask her grandparents to help her find a suitable husband if she’d rather start a family right away. She never had to work if she didn’t want to, nor would she be run out of the family home if she never found a husband or a career. Not many people could say that.
But, did it honestly make her a spoiled brat to feel like her life was empty and unhappy without her father’s love and attention?
Maybe not, but Serafina knew she wanted more than that from him. She wanted to give him her innocence and have him teach her all of the ways of his desires.
So, no, she decided. The craziness was probably just hers.
Chapter 2
A month and a half felt like an eternity, but the night of the Midsummer Masquerade was finally upon them. Her internal temperature had been skyrocketing all day. Especially, with a reel of recent incidents playing on a constant loop in her head.
Almost every day since her 18th birthday, she’d found herself drooling over her dad emerging from the pool; his tanned, muscular body dripping wet. He had a small patch of dark hair between his hard pecks that matched his arms and legs, and a tantalizing line of more dark hair from his belly button down to his massive cock.
Her dad was packing at least nine solid inches of dick under his designer clothes and when he was soaking wet with his shorts plastered to his body, there was no hiding its perfect shape or mouthwatering size.
He’d also taken to wandering through the house in nothing but a pair of drawstring pants that rode low on the delicious cut of his hips. It made Serafina’s panties wet just looking at them. It was almost like he wanted her to lust after him.
The hottest, and most helpful incident had happened just two weeks ago, when Serafina had daringly tiptoed into his wing of the house and watched him having sex with some random woman he’d brought home.
She hadn’t even told Julia about that because it felt too intimate to share. But it had given Serafina an insight to her father’s secret kinks. The things that turned him on the most, and that he demanded from his lovers. All of the things she longed to give him.
She spent hours getting pampered at the spa, going for the whole works–to include a full body waxing. Her father’s lover hadn’t had any pubic hair, and he’d praised the woman for it in a way that had sounded like she’d obeyed an order. He really seemed to like it when the woman obeyed him. Especially, when he’d demanded that she call him Daddy, and she had.
Over everything else, that part had given Sera her most confusing reaction. Her arousal had gone through the roof, but her mind had been all over the place about it. Still, the things she’d learned had given her more confidence in her seduction plan.
Serafina’s long, ebony locks had been curled just enough to create the perfect up-do, which showed off her backless gown of dark, shimmering gold. The simple straps and shallow v-neck might have looked dull on someone else, but Sera’s breasts were large and pert, and she wasn’t wearing a bra.
The floor-length skirt split clean up one side to the bottom of her hip, showcasing one long, curved leg that ended in six-inch gold sandal heels with a strap around the ankle and one across her toes. She had the perfect hourglass figure, but also the height prevalent on her father’s side of the gene pool. Throw in her mother’s exotic, pure brown eyes, and she was practically an Italian supermodel.
Okay, in her mind she was.
A delicate, platinum chain looped around her neck once to thread kars escort through a thin ring before disappearing between her breasts, and she hoped it captured her father’s attention. Of course, if anyone else recognized it for what it was, Serafina might end up with more than one man trying to corner her. She was prepared for that, though, and had no intention of letting anyone touch her outside of her father.
In complete contrast to her gown, Sera secured a shimmering black mask over her face that molded to her features, while helping to obscure them. It covered everything from her hairline to the tip of her nose, leaving only her mouth, chin, and lower cheeks exposed. Since her father never paid her any attention, she doubted he’d recognize her even without the mask.
The best part about the Midsummer Masquerade was that it was held at the Romano Ballroom right there at her family’s estate, so she already knew the exact layout of her hunting grounds. It was a separate building far from the main house they lived in. Since it was the largest ballroom in the city, it was often rented out, adding to her family’s fortune. With a full kitchen, dining room, bathrooms, bedrooms, and extensive gardens, countless weddings were held there every year.
When Serafina left her rooms and made her way downstairs to wait for Julia to pick her up, she was a little surprised to find her nonna, Arianna waiting for her. Nonna’s dark brown hair was swept up into an elegant chignon with wispy tendrils framing her face. The blue eyes she’d given to two of her children glowed through her shimmering silver mask.
At 36 years old, Serafina’s dad might be the youngest of four kids but his brothers were twins, so her grandparents were only in their early 5o’s and they still maintained their youthful bodies and appearances. Whether that was through diet and exercise, or hair dye and plastic surgery, she had no clue. All she knew was that they looked young enough to be her parents, rather than her grandparents.
Nonna opened her clutch and pulled out a small bottle to hand to her. “I know what you’re planning tonight,” she said.
Serafina’s heart leaped into her throat and started racing. How could she possibly know?
“You wouldn’t be the first young lady in our family to choose the Midsummer Masquerade to lose her virginity,” Nonna continued. “It’s practically tradition. This will keep you from getting pregnant.”
Some of Sera’s fear waned. Her grandma only thought she meant to have sex for the first time, she had no idea who she was planning to have it with.
“What is it?” she asked, eying the bottle.
“The Plan B,” Nonna answered. “Take it anytime after but no later than first thing in the morning.”
Serafina raised a brow. “I’ve been on birth control for almost a year, Nonna.”
Her grandma looked at her with worried surprise. “What?”
Serafina lifted her hand in assurance. “I’m still a virgin, I promise. I just wanted to be prepared in case that changed.”
Her nonna looked thoughtful, as she tucked the bottle back into her clutch. “How did you convince the doctor to give you birth control without being sexually active?”
“Bad cramps,” she answered. “Apparently the Depo shot is known to help relieve that symptom in some women.”
Nonna blinked at her, then started laughing. “You always have been clever,” she said proudly.
Their butler entered the room to announce Julia’s arrival, but when Sera made to step away, her grandma grabbed her arm to stop her.
“Guard your heart tonight, amore,” she said soberly with a secret knowledge gleaming in her eyes. “Plans rarely go the way we want them to.”
Serafina’s pulse picked up pace again and she wondered if her nonna knew exactly what she was planning after all, or if she was merely warning her in general from personal experience. Unable to speak, Sera gave her a short nod of acceptance, then left.
In the back of Julia’s limo, the willowy blond didn’t hesitate to jump right into questions.
“Are you nervous?”
“Of course. But, I’m also determined at unhealthy levels,” she answered, playing with the corner of her clutch. “I think Nonna knows.”
“Oh?”
The lack of surprise in Julia’s tone had Serafina looking at her with furrowed brows. “You don’t find that surprising?”
“Not really,” Julia replied on a sigh. “Your eyes get opened a lot when you become an adult, Sera. You learn things about people you thought you knew, and it changes the way you’ve always viewed the world at large. It’s not necessarily bad, but it is an adjustment.”
“So, ignorance really is bliss?” Serafina asked.
“Yes, in a lot of ways, it is,” Julia answered, though she sounded more accepting than sorrowful. She clasped Serafina’s hand. “Just promise me that if your plans fall apart, you’ll come looking for me right away, okay? I’ll bring you home whenever you’re ready.”
Sera gave her a warm smile of appreciation. “I promise.”
She had no plans of keeping it, of course. Serafina wasn’t joking about the unhealthiness of her determination. She would have her father this night, come hell or high water.
Chapter 3
When they were dropped off at the main entrance to the Romano Ballroom, Sera had to take several deep breaths to calm her nerves and reinforce her determination.
The interior was decked out in silver, gold, and black silk banners draping and sparkling under the crystal chandeliers as if kastamonu escort they were woven through with diamond dust. Massive urns overflowed with peonies and roses in some areas, lilies and dahlias in others. Music streamed out of the open doors from the ballroom to greet them, a live DJ on stage mixing the most sultry beats Serafina had ever heard. If foreplay could be made into a melody, they’d nailed it.
“We should hit the bar first,” Julia suggested when they entered the room.
Though plenty of people were dancing, even more guests were standing around or gathered at tables socializing. Everyone was dressed in haute couture gowns and tuxedos with custom masks covering portions of their faces. The servants wore all-white tuxedos with plain black eye masks.
On their way to the bar, Serafina spotted her father standing just in front of it, talking with a handful of other men. His tux was tailored to perfection, his mask mostly black with a slash of silver cutting diagonally through it from one corner to the other like a geometric shape tossed into the void. His black hair was styled more than normal and might have further disguised his identity if not for his eyes.
Despite his imposing presence and callous personality, his eyes were never cold or piercing. They were like divine fire; promising to burn you from the inside out, leaving every part that mattered in ashes.
Serafina forgot everything and everyone else, the entire room falling away as soon as their eyes clashed and held. His utterly kissable mouth was set, but as she got closer to him, she could have sworn the left corner turned up just a hair with arrogance.
She had no idea if he recognized her or if he just found it inevitable that a woman would be approaching him. Too bad she wasn’t.
Serafina held his gaze until she stalked right past him and approached the bar with Julia. After they ordered their drinks and had them in hand, Serafina purposely walked right past her father again without even sparing him a glance, giving him a clear view of her bare back and the hint of the chain connecting to another small circle right above her ass crack. The dimples in the small of her back were also visible, and she knew he had a thing for those.
“This is your plan?” Julia whispered, as soon as they were on the other side of the ballroom. “Playing hard to get?”
“My father is a total narcissist,” she replied. “His ego won’t be able to handle being brushed off like that.”
Julia sighed. “I don’t know, Sera. He doesn’t seem that bothered by it.”
Serafina let her eyes sweep over the dance floor so she could spy on her father without appearing to do so. It was like a poisonous dart stabbed her in the chest to see him talking to a woman with dark red hair and a gold mask. Their body language coupled with the way he leaned his face close to the side of hers, spoke of mutual desire or familiarity, possibly both.
“That doesn’t mean anything,” she said, more to convince herself than Julia. “Of course he’s not going to let it show that he’s bothered, but trust me, he is.”
Julia gave her a worried expression but didn’t say anything further. It wasn’t long before they were approached by a couple of attractive guys close to their age, asking if they’d like to dance. Though it hadn’t been part of her plan, Serafina decided to accept, hoping that maybe if her dad saw her on the dance floor with another man, it might amplify the insult of her brush off and have him making his move.
She hadn’t been expecting to enjoy the dance, but her partner was quite skilled. His hot, sexy moves made it fun to bump and grind with him on the dance floor, bringing back some of her better high school memories.
“Fuck, you’re so hot.” The man groaned as if he couldn’t keep the words in any longer. He grabbed her waist and rolled into her, following the rhythm of the song that demanded their bodies perform these mock-sex moves while fully clothed. “Do you want to get some fresh air and a drink? There’s a bar on the back terrace.”
Serafina’s first reaction was to turn him down, but a glance around the room showed no signs of her dad or Julia anywhere.
“Sure,” she agreed, trying not to sound as deflated as she felt.
The rear terrace was almost as crowded as the ballroom, but the atmosphere was notably more sensual. Separate seating arrangements and benches inside of flower-draped pergolas held couples already getting into the true purpose behind the party. Quiet sounds of pleasure were swallowed up by the streams of conversation and the music pulsing out of the ballroom.
They grabbed a drink from the bar first. Then, the man gestured toward the path that led off the terrace to follow behind the ballroom, rather than the one leading straight into the gardens.
“This must be your first time here,” he guessed, as they walked.
“Yes, why?”
“I’ve just never seen you before,” he answered. “I definitely would have noticed and remembered you.”
Serafina gave him a small smile. “Well, thank you, but you should know that I’m already here for someone else.”
He rolled a shoulder, as disappointment pulled at his mouth. “That doesn’t mean we can’t also have a little fun, right?” he said suggestively. “I mean, that’s what tonight’s all about, exploring a variety of options.”
“Maybe, but I’m already expected by someone else first,” she elaborated. “I’m not sure about afterward.”
“I see,” he replied, looking off into the distance.
They passed another pergola where a couple was in the throes of passion. Up ahead, at the end of the path, there was a smaller patio usually reserved for staff members but currently set up as another place for guests to socialize or make out.