Dante’s in a hurry and I wonder where we’re going. The plush interior tells me we’re in an exclusive club and I’m surprised when he holds a key fob to the door that swings open on command, taking us into a room that fills me with fear and excitement at the same time.
I stare around in horror at the mass of people in this room. The noise is loud and hurts my ears and I see naked women dancing on a stage, grinding against poles as men throw dollar bills at them like confetti.
The men are loud and the smell of alcohol is almost too much, but Dante doesn’t stop until we cross the room and head through a different door.
The noise stays in that room because the next corridor is a silent one.
I almost can’t keep up as he heads through another door into a different room, and then I wish we had stayed in the last one because what I witness fills me with terror.
It’s made up of several small booths containing scenes that I never thought happened in real life. Naked men and women perform sexual acts that should be illegal in front of other couples who watch silently and with an excitement that reaches out and hits you as you pass. I see a woman tied to a cross as a naked man whips her body, drawing blood and groans of ecstasy. I stare in horror at a woman on her back on some kind of table while a man fucks her hard in full view of everyone.
Then I see a man on his back embedded in another woman while another man fucks her on top. I can’t take it all in because this is a life I never thought was happening and it’s a far cry from Eden Manners and the sheltered life I’ve lived until now.
Still Dante is silent as he carries on, not stopping and not appearing interested in the depravity going on around him.
My heart starts thumping as he stops outside another room and with one touch of his fob, the door clicks open and then we’re inside what can only be described as a dungeon of some kind.
My heart thumps as he pushes me inside so hard, I fall to the ground and before I know what’s happening, the door clicks shut, trapping me inside with a monster.
I look up in fear as he carefully removes his jacket and rips off his tie before looking at me with fire in his eyes.
“It’s time for your punishment.”
I can only stare as he looks down on me and growls, “I warned you what would happen and now you will pay the price.”
I swallow—hard.
I must be as twisted as he is because far from fearing what will happen next, I’m just interested and I watch in fascination as he rolls up his sleeves and sits astride a chair in the center of the room.
“Come here.”
“No.”
Immediately the word leaves my lips, I want to pull it back and slap my own ass for thinking that was a good idea because his eyes darken even more than they were already and I can taste the tension in the room. I feel desire pooling where it has no reason to be and from the look in his eyes, he feels it too.
He studies me hard and then growls a warning, “I said come here or it will be worse.”
Seeing I have no other way out than to accept whatever this punishment will be, I nod and make to stand until he growls, “Crawl.”
My cheeks burn with humiliation as I crawl like a cat toward him and as I reach his feet, he grabs my hair and pulls my face to look at him. I gasp when I see the lust in his eyes and it sends me wild. Fuck me, this is intense. Whatever’s going to happen next will be something that changes my life, I can feel it, taste it and I crave whatever it is more than my freedom. I am so wired I feel as if I’ll explode and as he pulls me across his lap, I know what’s coming. Well, he did warn me, I suppose.
The shame sets in as he rips the sweats from my body and pulls down my panties, exposing my ass to him high in the air. He hisses as he runs his palm across my cheeks and the tears of humiliation blind me as his palm connects with my skin, stinging, biting and so painful I feel the effects for longer than usual. He rains blows down so hard I scream and yet he doesn’t seem to care. The tears spill from my eyes as he humiliates me in the cruelest of ways and if hate was a tangible thing, the room would be full of it. It hurts so bad but there is no one coming to my aid. Nobody to witness the brutal assault and nobody who would care, anyway.
I’m not sure how long I sustain the beating for because it appears relentless. My ass is on fire as he inflicts his anger on me and punishes me relentlessly. Blow upon blow, scar me forever and I cry so hard it makes me ashamed of my own weakness.
Then he stops and instead of releasing me, pulls me into his arms and holds me so tenderly it surprises me more than anything.
His arms fold around me and I sink into them, the comfort they give me at odds with what just happened. He strokes my hair and kisses the top of my head and murmurs words of comfort in my ear.
Something changes between us in this moment as I relax into him and he whispers, “I got no pleasure from that.”
His rough stubble scrapes against my skin and sends a delicious feeling straight to my throbbing pussy. What the fuck, what is this, have I gone mad? Did he fuck with my head because suddenly I don’t want to be anywhere else?
His thumb strokes my cheek and I press my face against his hand. I can feel his heart beating against my chest and he grips me a little tighter. My ass hurts so bad and feels as if it’s on fire and as he shifts, I groan and he stiffens. “You’re in pain.”
“Obviously.”
Sounding unusually gentle, he whispers, “Let me help you.”
I pull back and stare at him in surprise, as see two dark pools brimming with emotion staring back at me. His finger traces a path down my cheek and stops at my lip, before pushing into my mouth. I just stare at him in fascination as I sense something happening that is exciting and dangerous and he says huskily, “Have you learned your lesson my little butterfly, will you try to escape again?”
“Yes and no.”
I whisper the words he obviously wants to hear, and I mean every word. Why would I want to escape from this feeling? Pleasure and pain mixed with so much hate it drives the passion because if I’m feeling anything now, it’s that.
He looks satisfied with my answer and before I know what’s happening, lifts me in his arms and lays me face down on a padded bench.
“Then let me make you feel better.”
My ass smarts and I wince as he applies some kind of lotion to it. Massaging it in taking the burn away. I almost groan as the pleasure hits me, replacing the pain, and the feel of his hard fingers against my bare skin makes me moan out loud.
He laughs softly and my face burns with shame and I’m just grateful he can’t see it as it’s pressed into the bench.
Then he says huskily, “I won’t let you run, you’re mine now and Luca’s. We own you and if you try, I will kill you next time.”
Oh, this old chestnut. Kill me, whatever. But then I remember Diego and shiver with fear. He’s not joking. I know that now and maybe I should feel fearful at his words, but I don’t. They need me. For the first time in my life someone actually wants me - needs me. I have a purpose and I’m not being rejected and cast aside. It’s a feeling I like and so as fucked up as this is, I whisper, “I’ll stay.”
Chapter 12
Dante
“I’ll stay”
Two words that change everything. After what happened tonight, everything I subjected her to, the full horror of the man I am and she will stay.
Even I’m not prepared for how much her words mean to me. They never stay. They always leave when they realize what a monster I am, we are—the Romanos.
First my mother when she killed herself to escape a life so cruel it destroyed her. Then Ava, the woman I loved, my childhood sweetheart who couldn’t bear my love. She ran with my child and then tortured him because he reminded her of me and I vowed never again to let another woman destroy me as she had.
Now I have captured a butterfly and I thought I’d break her wings so she couldn’t fly. Instead, she flutters in her cage, so beautiful, so breath-taking and so min
e.
I suppose I knew it the moment those smoky gray eyes looked at me. The pink rebel without a cause with the fuck off attitude wrapped up in a body made for sin.
She has no fear and doesn’t give a fuck which makes me more interested. Now as I massage her flaming ass bearing my mark, it causes my heart to swell. Mine.
As I run my hands over her ass, I contemplate the rest of her. The way she responds to my touch, moans under my hand and the little sighs that reach my ears, causes the blood to rush to my cock, making it unbearable.
I want her. I want my strong beautiful butterfly and I want her to stay for us, me and my son. Be part of our family and working as a team. Something has been missing and here she is. My butterfly.
Carefully, I lift her around to face me and see her heightened color and the lust-filled eyes and I wonder what she’d do if I made her mine. Would she want it, like it, desire it? Is this a step too far because I know it is? Would she regret it in the morning when the cold light of day illuminates the shadows and reveals the horrors of the night before?
She stares at me as the thoughts fill my soul and then does something that surprises me.
Leaning forward, she presses her soft lips to mine and moans. Then she runs her hand around the back of my head and pulls me in harder. I don’t respond the way she wants because I keep her out. For a reason.
Pulling back, I see the hurt in her eyes as I whisper, “Not yet.”
“But.”
“Not like this.”
Carefully, I pull her top tighter around her and pick up her clothes that I ripped down in haste. Her legs swing over the edge of the bench as I help her on with her sweats but pocket her panties with a smirk. “These are mine.”
“You sick bastard.”
Her eyes shine as she delivers her retort, and I nod. “Are you just finding that out?”
Then I help her from the bench and take the key from my pocket and unlock the handcuffs, noting the red marks that show how tight they were. Lifting each one, I kiss them to take away the sting and love the way she groans with desire.
Then I curve my hand around her waist and say softly, “Let’s go home.”
Isabella is quiet in the car, which is fine by me. She shifts a little in her seat and I get a perverse pleasure knowing it’s from my hand. What can I say, I’m a bastard and probably always will be? As soon as we get back to the house, I waste no time in taking her hand and pulling her along with me. If she’s surprised at this, she doesn’t say anything which makes me feel a little better. Our first stop is to check on Luca and as I push the door open to his room, my heart quickens when I see my little boy lying peacefully in his bed, his arm wrapped around a blue elephant that he’s adopted as his favorite and his thumb in his mouth.
We walk silently to the side of his bed and my heart lurches with love for the little boy who looks so like me it cost him dearly. What Isabella doesn’t know, is that under his pajamas is a scarred body courtesy of his ‘loving’ mother. Little scars. Burn marks and small wounds that have healed but litter his skin, and it’s no wonder he wears his haunted look so well. We all do. Being a Romano is a curse more than a blessing because a life of pain is guaranteed one way or another.
He stirs in his sleep and I almost wish he would wake up. I can’t get enough of holding my son and love him so fiercely I worry for him. I still have my fingers laced with Isabella’s and pull her over to get a better view, whispering, “He is the most important person in my life, I need you to understand that.”
She nods, her smoky eyes wide with something glittering in them I can’t work out. She appears lost and in a place I want to reach and see what’s bothering her.
As she watches him, she smiles softly and her eyes shine with unshed tears as she whispers, “He’s so perfect.”
I could watch Luca 24 hours a day but now we need to rest because he will be up soon enough, and then the day will be a busy one. For now, I need to set things in place to make sure his future is a bright one, so I lead Isabella away and softly close the door behind me.
There’s a sadness to her that I can’t place and I vow to discover what that is as soon as possible but time is moving on fast, so I turn the handle of the door beside Luca’s and reveal a pretty room I had decorated especially for his new nanny.
Isabella’s eyes can’t appear to get enough of it and she gasps with pleasure at the simple but elegant room I had furnished in white and pink. A room fit for a princess and how right that is. My princess, who looks so soft and vulnerable but has a warrior’s heart and I didn’t realize how perfect she would turn out to be. It was fate that brought her to me but my possessiveness that will keep her here.
“This is your room from now on. I’ll have your things transferred in the morning, but for now, you should find everything you need in the closet and bathroom.”
“What do you mean?”
She wanders around the room as if in a trance, and I shrug. “I had one of the maids pick you out some new clothes and stuff women need. If you don’t like it, we’ll order new. Draw up a list and I’ll send someone out for it, you need to start dressing like a Romano because I can’t have my son’s nanny looking like a tramp.”
“A tramp?”
Her eyes are wide and indignant, and I nod. “Yes, a tramp. The hair stays, but the clothes go. I have selected the clothes I want you to wear and I suggest you get used to them.”
“You selected my clothes.” She says it slowly and carefully, as if to confirm something she must have misheard. “Yes.”
“You’re a bit of a control freak, aren’t you?”
She stares at me in horror and I laugh softly, “You’re just finding that out?”
I watch as she rubs her wrists and winces a little and then laughs softly. “I think I found that out tonight, yes.”
She looks up from under her lashes and I swear I stop breathing as an image of her on her knees naked before me does strange things to me inside.
The soft lighting from the lamp creates an atmosphere that makes everything seem possible, and for a moment, I wonder if perfection really does exist. Two of my brothers appear to have found theirs but I never believed it was possible for me but here, in this room with this beautiful creature looking lost and vulnerable, makes me believe in miracles. I almost wonder what she’d do if I kissed her now. Normally, I don’t kiss women. I fuck them, but her lips tempt me more than any I’ve ever known.
She appears nervous, hesitant and unsure of what happens next, so shaking myself, I say abruptly, “Come with me.”
She looks up in surprise. “But I thought…”
“Now.”
My voice is firm and I expect her to obey, which she does luckily—for her.
I move to the room on the other side of Luca’s and head inside before I can change my mind. She follows me inside and stares from the doorway as if unsure whether to come fully inside and I snap, “Sit.”
Nervously, she crosses the huge room and perches on the side of the bed and I shrug off my jacket and toss it onto the chair nearby, before sitting astride it and facing her with a hard expression.
She appears nervous and whispers, “Am I in trouble?”
“Yes.”
Once again, she bites her bottom lip and it makes my cock physically ache.
Fixing her with a hard look that causes my enemies to shiver, I say roughly, “I want to discuss our arrangement.”
She plays with her fingers and I see her breath hitch as she nods. “Ok.”
“Have you ever slept with a man before?”
Her eyes widen and she looks at me in utter terror before shaking her head slowly.
“Not really.”
“What’s that’s supposed to mean?”
She colors up and says in a small voice, “I did get to second base with a boy in high school once. We spent the night together, but that’s all.”
The blood rushes to my head as what I suspected becomes a reality, she’s a virgin.
“Tell me, Isabella, do you find me attractive?”
She looks as if she wants the ground to open up and swallow her as she looks anywhere but at me. “A little.”
“Would you like a relationship with me—a sexual one?”
“Oh god.” She puts her face in her hands and groans. “Fuck, this is so embarrassing.”
I smile, enjoying tormenting her innocence. I’m glad I asked though because normally I would have ordered her to strip and spread her legs by now and this is as romantic as it gets with me.
“Answer me.”
I’m rough and cold, but she’ll get used to that. She’s lucky I’m playing nice because it’s unusual for me to even ask.
“I don’t know, maybe.”
“Look at me.”
She lifts her hands from her face and the color in her cheeks makes me smile. Her eyes are dilated and her breathing erratic and I know my answer.
Standing, I walk across and sit beside her on my huge emperor sized bed and take her hand in mine.
“I want to put to you another offer. One that will be mutually beneficial. I want you to be Luca’s nanny, that hasn’t changed, however I want to be with him as much as possible when I’m not working. I also have needs that can’t be ignored and once you experience what that involves, you will want them too. My proposition is that we take care of each other’s needs as well as my sons. I will care for you and you will become my partner. I can’t offer you a different kind of relationship because I’m incapable of that, but this is as good as it gets. So, will you become my partner, Isabella and take care of both our needs and in return I will treat you like a queen—my queen and give you the world?”
Chapter 13
Isabella
What the actual fuck?
I blink and look at him again, expecting to see the smile on his lips as he laughs at his own joke, but from the look in his eyes, he’s deadly serious. He’s obviously waiting for an answer to his preposterous question, and yet I can only stare at him in complete horror.
The Throne of Hate: A mafia romance (The Romano's Book 2) Page 6
