Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 56267 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56267 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
“She screams and cries every time we go down there.” There is a sappiness to his words, and when I finally looked up, he kind of looks heart broken.
“When did you grow a heart?” I joke. Mack has been one of the most ruthless of my family friends. That’s why he is still here and no one else is. In this business, you can’t bless someone with mercy because if you do, they will take it and run. Plus, if you do it for one person, you have to do it for everyone.
“I didn’t grow a heart. I’m just not immune to a beautiful woman’s cries.” The smile he shoots at me sends a rage deep within me to the surface. Does he want her too? She is mine, and I won’t have any problem putting him in his place.
“Are you attracted to my debt?” I demand an answer. We won’t be leaving this office until I got one.
“No, sir… I didn’t mean it…” I cut him off, not wanting to hear his stuttering.
“Good. Leave her be. I will go down there in a few and take care of her.” Along with dealing with her and obtaining payment for debts owed, I have to contact Luccio and ask him if he has found anything out about my mother.
I slam the laptop closed and pull myself from the office. I can hear her pleas as I draw closer to the basement. If she doesn’t want to be punished, then why the hell does she act out in ways that she knows will get her punished?
I push the key into the lock and throw the door open. She has hit a nerve. My eyes land on hers, and her pleas stop immediately as her eyes widen. She drags herself to the far wall of the cell as if she is repulsed by my presence.
“I heard your pleas and my cock came to fulfill them,” I announce, smirking at her. I take a step closer and watch her body shake. She is afraid of me, as she should be.
“You’re a sick asshole…” Her words are flung at me with such intensity, I can practically feel her anger against my skin.
“I already know all those things. You’re not the first to say it and won’t be the last.” I am being a cocky bastard because her pissed off and angry demeanor makes me want to fuck her into oblivion.
“Don’t. Touch. Me,” she snarls. There is a fire in her eyes, something I have never seen before. If I were a betting man, which I am, I would bet she is slightly turned on.
“You tell me not to touch you, but your body says differently…. Your body says fuck me. Long. Hard. Strokes.”
I didn’t come down here to fuck her, but if the situation is right…
“I want nothing to do with you. Nothing. What you did to me…to those people…” Her eyes glaze over as she is reliving the whole scene. I am sorry for hurting her the way I did, but I am not sorry I did my job. People had to die. She doesn’t understand the business, and I am starting to understand where her distaste comes from, but she isn’t me and she needs to understand there are rules that must be obeyed.
“Those people made a deal with me. I have explained how this works many times…” I stop myself from calling her little one. “Bree. I understand that you can’t comprehend any of this, and that’s fine. But you had to be punished for your actions. My job is simple. I’m a leader. If I didn’t follow my own rules, then no one else would. There would be mass chaos, and more people would have to die.”
I am trying to be gentle, which is new to me. Her face lightens just a bit as if she is finally digesting what I am saying. Her bruise is lighter, and it looks like she is using the creams I had sent down with Mack. Even though she is being punished, I make sure she has clean clothes and food every day.
“You still killed people. People who had families, who could have been working hard to pay you off. People who come to you are in dire need. You’re their only hope. Just like my father…” Tears well up in her beautiful, brown, doe eyes. My chest constricts as I take another step forward.
“I don’t have to justify my….”
“You’re right. You don’t,” she agrees, cutting me off. “But you shouldn’t just go around killing people. You shouldn’t kill people without knowing their struggle.”
“Their struggle isn’t my problem. Not everything in this world is rainbows and fucking sunshine, Bree. Sometimes life is hard; it’s a bitch and no matter how many times you hit it, it gets back up. I can guarantee that none of those people would have my back if our roles were reversed. No one out there has your back as much as you do.”
She sniffles, her eyes filling with more tears, “I don’t fucking care. Kill me or let me go. I refuse to stay here with you. You’re a mindless, disgusting bastard who gets off on bloodshed, and that’s not okay with me. I didn’t sign up to be shacked with some lunatic.”
I laugh, because, well, it is funny, and if she thinks I am crazy, she should see some of the sick bastards who walk freely in the world.
“You didn’t sign up for this? Well, neither did I, darling. But I can tell you now that your father did sign for money, and he made a blood oath to pay it back. You’re the payment, so no you cannot go, and no I won’t be killing you. Yet. What good is money if it’s dead?”
I smirk because I am a fucking prick like that. I watch as her eyes skim the cell. There is nothing for her to throw at me. Her bed is shackled to the wall. The small toilet and sink can’t be moved, and she wasn’t given any sharp objects.