Old Money Roulette: Complete Trilogy
Page 16
He rebuckled his belt, promptly covering my mouth with his when he finished. He tasted of mint with a dash of cinnamon.
“Are you ready?” he asked, pulling away but not letting me go.
“I just need to know us...sex...isn’t about the money.”
He sighed exaggeratedly. “Menina tola, you have a lot to learn. So goddamn much. I see the gears spinning in your pretty little head.
“I assure you, us fucking has nothing to do with what I’m owed. If a man holds an unpaid debt over a woman’s head for the sole purpose of getting her beneath him, that’s not a man at all. That’s a little boy who doesn’t know the ethics of business and uses his tiny dick to collect useless payment.”
I nodded, accepting his explanation.
“You know there’s no going back from this? Once you start, that’s it. It’s going to change you, and the answers you find may change your perception of everything...and everyone.”
I knew he knew everything I didn’t, I knew I’d been manipulated into this. I was still doing this. I’d done some deep soul searching after he left, and this was my final decision.
I was going with my gut. My intuition had always been my internal compass and voice of reason.
I had a lot of questions that needed answers.
My father was fiercely protective over his daughters, so if he trusted Mateo of all people, he was at a point where he couldn’t trust anyone else.
I was so out of the loop, I couldn’t begin to name the catalyst for all this, but I intended to find out, along with finding my sister.
“I’m doing this. So are you going to tell me how to play?” I finally asked, preparing myself for his answer.
I could tell my response pleased him by the twitch of his lips as he fought back a smile.
“I’ll tell you on the way.”
“On the way?”
“You’ll see when we get there.” He shot me a wicked grin that almost had me stopping to rethink this whole thing. He laced our fingers together and began leading me towards the foyer.
My heart pounded faster with every step.
In order to survive, I would have to say goodbye to the old Elena, set fire to my tarnished halo, and entwine my life to that of a notoriously lethal kingpin.
I would play his game. I’d be his wife, I’d be his whore, and I’d be his enemy, because if it came down to it, the best place to destroy an empire was from the inside.
I wasn’t a heartless monster, a killer, or a criminal.
But I would be.
King Of Hearts
Part. 2
It was the catalyst for how my life blew apart in fragments of glamour and heartache––blood and riches––obsession and addiction.
–Elena–
Old Money Roulette: Book Two
Chapter Nine
Sheilding my eyes from the brazen sun, I studied the small UTV tram that resembled a golf cart, wondering why he even had something like this.
“Okay, seriously. Where are we going?” I asked when he began leading me towards it.
“The stables.”
Oookay. I didn’t even know he had a stable.
Wherever it was on the property, it wasn’t visible from the center of his circular driveway.
With that realization, the UTV made alot more sense. His property was do damn vast I couldn’t picture footing it.
He walked me all the way to the passenger side before dropping my hand. I tucked my dress beneath my legs and slid in.
Once he was situated, he reached into a blue vinyl bag on the seat between us, and retrieved a bottle of water with beads of condensation running down the plastic. He placed it alongside a gronola bar on my lap, and then we were off.
“Um, thanks?”
“I don’t think having a full stomach is the best idea for what you’ll be doing,” he explained, veering off the main drive onto a narrow tarmac path.
“What exactly will I be doing?” I asked, raising the plastic rim of the water bottle to my mouth.
“You need to always dress the part regardless of what you’re doing. People respect you more.”
What? My brows slammed together in confusion.
“What do you mean, dress the part?”
“You look beautiful. I want nothing more than to lift that dress up and have you ride me until you can’t take any more,” he added.
My mouth turned down and I glanced away. His answer served its purpose in throwing me off kilter.
After a silent minute or two, I became increasingly aware of my surroundings. The land his––our––home sat on was meticuously maintained. Grassy hills rose up around us like mountains. The heavy smell of sea salt was potent and the small glimpses of the coastline peeking out were stunning.
“What’s going to happen to my uncle and grandmother?” I tried next.
Thanks to her threat to have me put in the psyche ward, our already barely existent relationship was gone.
As for my uncle, we were never close to begin with. He was an alcholic with a chip on his shoulder. I felt that asking about them was the right thing to do, but they were far from my main concern.
“Nothing. Your grandmother will remain where she is, and your uncle will more than likely die from liver failure.”
I looked to the clouds feeling slightly relieved. Getting a clean cut answer out of him was usually like pulling teeth. He was impossible to read and he continually spoke in a way that was always cryptic. I couldn’t be sure if it was natural or intentional to fuck with my head. Whatever the reason, I was surprised by his sudden openness.
Eventually, paddocks began to spring up in the near distance and I spotted a few horses grazing about.
“The villa sits on fifty-three acres of private land,” Mateo volunteered.
I took that information in, wondering if I’d ever need to really know that.
When a large sandstone building began to take shape, my stomach dipped and my palms started to sweat.
“So, are you going to tell me how to play?” I asked again, begrudgingly.
“You have the wrong idea of how this works. This isn’t a game of chess or checkers, or something you get instructions for.”
He didn’t elaborate any further until we’d rounded the perimeter of the stables and parked in the back. I immediately noticed two things.
The first were the two men with guns that looked almost as long as my body, standing guard by a large steel door.
The second was a dark blue Jeep Cherokee sat parked off to the side. Anywhere else the truck would have been nothing to take a second glance at, but there was no way Mateo or any of his men would actually drive something like that, which meant it had a purpose.
He cut the UTV off and turned slightly towards me.
“The objective of roulette is simple. In a game of cards, what is the one thing you do when you don’t wish to participate any longer?”
“I don’t...” I stopped to think. I’d never played any card games aside from Go-Fish and Uno...but my parents had.
“Fold?” I guessed.
“That’s your safeword,” he said. “When you’re ready to yield, just say that and it will all be over.”
“Why would I need a safeword?”
“Because I’m dragging you into my world headfirst.”
“I thought I was already there.”
“Elena.” He said my name with an abrupt burst of warmth. “You’ve barely even skimmed the surface.”
He stepped away and claimed my hand, helping me out of the tram.
I couldn’t refute that statement. I was well aware of the fact that I was still an outsider looking in.
As we approached the large building the silence became deafening and a feeling of dread bloomed in the pit of my stomach, telling me shit was about to hit the fan.
The two guards remained utterly motionless aside from greeting Mateo with a respectful, “Patrón,” and sliding open the heavy steel door to what I now knew was much more than
just a stable full of horses.
Mateo urged me forward with a gentle tug. Just as the toe of my heel made it inside, a man’s agonized scream carried through the air.
I instantly attempted to back away, but Mateo’s grip tightened around my hand like a vise and I was all but dragged over the threshold.
The heavy door slammed shut behind us, and everything changed.
Chapter Ten
The screaming continued from a hall directly to my left, becoming hoarse and strained.
I inhaled deeply, trying to steady my nerves, and nearly choked on the overwhelming smell of chemicals.
As my eyes adjusted to the dull ambient lighting, I took notice of the large oil drums lining one wall. I’d heard many a rumor about what those were used for.
The back part of the massive room had been sectioned off by a chain link fence. Four men and one woman who didn’t even bother glancing our way sat at a table with face masks on, breaking down kilos of cocaine for distribution. Another two men stood guard over them.
“I pay twenty-five grand a kilo. That’s approximately thirty-six ounces. Selling at a price point of twelve-hundred dollars, that gives me ten thousand profit.”
“Why are you telling me this? And what...who is that?”
Ignoring my question, Mateo placed a hand on the small of my back and began guiding me towards the dreaded hall.
“Because I want to make sure you’re fully aware of what the man you’re marrying does for a living, and what he’s capable of.”
Another loud scream carried through the air as if to prove his point.
As we slowly began to pass right by the room it was coming from. I told myself not to look. I didn’t want to see because whatever was making a man scream in such a way couldn’t be anything good.
Of course, telling myself not to do something was a guaranteed way to compel myself into doing it, triggering me to turn my head and stare straight inside.
A man hung completely naked. His arms were suspended above him, pulled from their sockets and oddly angled. His feet, one of them broken with the bone coming through his big toe, were barely balanced on an unsteady stool sat beneath him.
Another man dressed in plastic stood in front of him, holding what looked like an ice-pick. The suspended man’s body had so many tiny holes in it, he resembled a honeycomb. His genitals were mutilated. Where his cock should have been was an ugly cauterized stump.
Blood was everywhere, coating, the floor, and every visible inch of his flesh.
His delirious eyes met mine a second before rolling back in his head as green vomit expelled from his gaping mouth. I looked away just as the man in plastic delivered a harsh jab to the guy’s ribs, knocking the stool over in the process.
A loud, sickening crack followed.
I repeatedly swallowed down my own bile. Placing a hand on my stomach, I swiftly moved away, leaving the horrid scene behind me.
“He caught him fucking his wife,” Mateo explained, not phased in the slightest.
“So he deserves to be tortured?”
He side eyed me as we reached another door that was shut, placing one hand on the knob, and turned to face me before opening it.
“If you ever let another man touch you, I’d skin him alive and then deliver a new piece of his body to you every day until there was nothing left.”
With a smirk and a cheeky wink, he opened the door.
My eyes widened as I took in the grossly scruffy man face down on what looked like a metal veterinary table. His dirty blonde hair had remnants of dried blood in it, and his bruised legs were spread wide. The skin on his face was so pink, he resembled a raw piece of shrimp.
“This is Alex,” Mateo gestured.
Sergio stood at the head of table, holding a bottle of baby oil. Diablo, Mateo’s main hit-man, stood beside him holding what looked like a pair of rubber salad tongs.
I watched on in sick, fascinated horror as he used them to lift a tied off condom from a container.
Sergio squirted baby oil on both the ends of the tongs and then the plastic bubble before Diablo inserted it into a struggling Alex’s rectum, leaving the tail end to stick hang out.
“He’s probably enjoying this.” Elias’ voice came from the other side of the room.
My eyes shifted to a pair that were strikingly similar to Mateo’s.
“Nice to see you again, sweetheart,” he said warmly, aiming a bright smile my way.
“What the hell is this?” I asked, my gaze darting between the two brothers.
“A test,” Mateo replied.
“Think of it as a draft,” Elias added.
“Explain.”
“You say you want to play. You agreed to my offer. Now I want to see if you can follow through.”
“Follow through with what? What do you want me to do with him?” I pointed to an exhausted Alex.
“Elias will explain everything on your way. I’ll see you soon, anjo.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek before making his way towards the door.
“I don’t understand. Where are you going?”
“To work.” And with that, he was gone. Sergio sat his bottle of baby oil down and gave me a smile of acknowledgement as he followed after him.
I folded my arms across my chest and raised one brow, giving Elias a glassy stare that said he’d better start telling me what the fuck was going on.
I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel, trying my best to ignore the man in my passenger seat and the smell of sweat and if I wasn’t mistaken, gasoline, coming from the hatch.
Elias looked uncannily similar to Mateo with just a bit more lightness to his overall aura.
I wasn’t sure how long we’d been trapped in the car together, but I knew I never wanted to do it again. He’d taunted, joked, and refused to tell me where it was we were going.
“Come on, don’t be pissed at me. You know we’re family now, eh?” he prodded.
I couldn’t tell if he was being serious or if he was joking. Glancing at him as I came to another red light, I assumed it was the former.
“The most poisonous people I know have all been disguised as family.”
“I don’t disagree with you. However, my family isn’t like yours. We’ll never abandon you. Besides, blood doesn’t determine who can be called family or not,” he replied.
I didn’t have a response for that.
I’d never really thought of myself as being abandoned. The definition of the word fit me like a puzzle piece. Deserted. Cast off. Both applied to me in some way due to my family’s actions.
As I drove further and further away from civilization, I didn’t have high hopes for the drug mule gagged and bound in the hatch of the Jeep.
The navigation system’s voice filled the heavy silence, telling to take a right on Juniper Road.
Following the directions, I turned onto a worn dirt road. The Jeep’s tires kicked up puffs of dust as I bumped along.
“Where does this go?” I asked when I had yet to see anything other than two fields of dandelions on either side of the path.
My question was answered when a tiny shack of a house came into view.
Further down the road was a large wooden garage. I pressed down on the break and looked over at Elias for some kind of explanation.
“Cut it off and get out,” he instructed, opening his door.
The cool air rushed out and heat swarmed in upon his departure. With a sigh, I put the Jeep in park and cut the engine.
Stepping out, I checked my surroundings, noting the little house had been maintained as well as the surrounding lawn.
I made my way to the back of Jeep where Elias had gone. He opened the hatch and not so gently pulled Alex out by his forearm, and then slammed it shut.
I remained where I was, watching him half drag the man towards the stairs.
“Come on, little lady,” he cheerfully called over his shoulder.
“Dammit,” I grumbled, following after him with another sigh.
I reached the porch just as he finished spinning a combination into a key-box. He opened the front door and all but shoved Alex inside face first, causing him to land on his knees.
Curiosity got the best of me and I trailed after them with no hesitation.
Chapter Eleven
I stepped around Alex, barely registering Elias shutting the door behind me and locking it.
My attention was ensnared by the lone chair in the room with plastic drop cloths lining the wooden floor beneath it. What looked like an antique treasure chest and a large duffel bag sat off to the side, giving me am inkling of what was about to happen.
But that didn’t explain why I was present or what Mateo wanted me to do.
“Why am I here?” I asked for what felt like the hundredth time.
Elias’ voice came in his native tongue the next time he spoke, and it took me a second to realize he’d called someone.
After a few brief exchanges and not a word meant for me, he passed off his cell and then retrieved Alex from the floor.
I raised the phone to my ear, already knowing who would be on the other end.
“Elena.” Mateo’s deep voice came through the speaker before I could say anything.
“Why. Am. I. Here?” I asked again, keeping my focus on what Elias was doing.
“Tell me what’s happening,” he replied, ignoring my question.
“He’s tying him up. Elias is tying up Alex,” I clarified.
“Talk me through it.”
“What do you mean? He’s tying him to a chair with a metal chain.”
“Put the phone on speaker and give it to my brother. Don’t ask questions just do what I say. You agreed to this.”
Ugh, fucking asshole.
“Here.” I walked to Elias and shoved the phone at him. He raised his perfect dark brows at me and put it on speaker-phone.
They began exchanging more words in Portuguese that I had no way of understanding. Irritated restlessness swiftly honed in and I started to pace, shaking the nerves from my hands and looking all around the room for answers.
“Elena, go to the chest and open it,” Mateo softly commanded.