Roman: A Triple Threat Novel

by Josephine Jade

  By five she was sobbing through the gag. By ten she was squealing and he had to trap her hands behind her back with his when she tried to stop him. By the twentieth she was thrashing. Only his hand heavy on her lower back and arms kept her on the bed.

  He’d never whipped her like this. Even when he’d used his belt on her he would stop after four or five blows and rub the sting. The crop didn’t provide nearly as much overall force as his belt, but Roman knew her entire hindquarters had to feel like they were on fire.

  He forced his emotions to turn off again as he looked at her abused flesh that twitched every time the horse hair brushed against it as she lay crying on the bed.

  She’d lied to him. She deserved this.

  “Good. Now everyone downstairs will know how a pony is punished when she’s been naughty. I’ll bring the crop downstairs with me since I’m sure we’ll need a few more swats with it.” He grabbed her arm and helped her get up from the bed. Her face was flushed, tears flowing down cheeks. She dared to look up at him with accusation in her eyes.

  He just stared back at her. “Anybody you saw today that you probably should’ve mentioned?”

  Awareness dawned.

  “That’s right. I know about Robbie’s visit today. Waited all day for you to tell me. Knew you would because you promised you would. But then I realized you’re a liar. Probably have been playing me the whole time.”

  She shook her head and pulled at the gag, but he had no desire to hear any of her lies now.

  “So you know what? We’re going to go back to our original agreement. The one I should’ve never lost sight of to begin with.” He marched her over so she was standing in front of the full length mirror, then turned her so her back was to it. “Bend over.”

  She shook her head and began crying again.

  “I wasn’t planning to crop you right now, but I’ll give you ten more if you don’t bend over right now and hold your ankles.”

  She folder herself in half and he took a large sharpie marker out of his pocket.

  On the top of her ass cheeks, where he’d deliberately left space that he hadn’t struck with the crop, he wrote what she was to him in large bold letters, one word on each cheek.

  FUCK. TOY.

  Ten seconds after he walked Sarah’s stiff form into his main living room where his guest would soon be arriving, his brothers were giving him the evil eye. Sarah was standing where he’d put her, facing a corner so everyone could see his handiwork. Two of their men, David and Saul, were also there.

  “Nice pony, Boss,” David said. “Looks like you’re having a little trouble breaking her in. Had to show her who her rightful owner is, I see.”

  Sarah stiffened. Roman did too. David had always been an asshole, but his crudeness had never bothered Roman before. He didn’t know it would bother him now.

  Saul stood. “I’ll be waiting out in the hallway. I don’t think I want to be a part of this party.”

  Roman watched the big man leave. “What’s his problem?”

  “What time is everyone else getting here?” Dominic asked, ignoring his question.

  “In about ten minutes. Why?”

  He saw a look pass between his two brothers. “Can we talk to you upstairs for a few minutes?”

  “Fine.” Roman rolled his eyes, knowing they wouldn’t let this drop until he went with them. They nodded when he led Sarah behind him. He didn’t know what they expected. There was no way he was going to leave her gagged and helpless without him being there to supervise.

  Dominic led them back to Roman’s bedroom. As soon as the door was closed Dom turned and gestured to Sarah. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Roman grit his teeth as Lukas moved more protectively towards her. “The guys coming here tonight are not just Cosa Nostra. All of them are friendly with our family, but not all of them are trustworthy.”

  “So?”

  “So maybe tonight’s not the night for a pony show. Especially since it looks like not all parties involved are excited about it.” Lukas slipped a hand onto Sarah’s shoulder. Roman looked into her eyes that held nothing but misery.

  He hardened himself against sympathy once again. “She’s been playing me from the beginning and I’m done being the fool. It’s time we get back to what this agreement was truly about. She offered herself in payment for her brother’s debt. It’s time to remind everyone that I get what is owed to me one way or another.” He looked directly at Sarah. “Is anything being done tonight outside the parameters of our agreement?”

  She shook her head no then stared down at her feet.

  “There you go, boys. Straight from the horse’s mouth, so-to-speak. As long as I don’t let anyone else touch her tonight, or don’t do any permanent physical damage to her, she’s agreed to all this. And before you feel too sorry for her, you should know she saw her brother today and didn’t tell me. All I’m doing is following her lead and bringing us back around to where we started.”

  Lukas looked like he was going to argue further, but Dominic stopped him. “She’s Roman’s to do with however he wants. We’re not going to interfere.” Dom turned to Roman. “Can we talk to you alone for a minute in the hall?”

  Roman didn’t know what they planned to say that couldn’t be said freely in front of Sarah, but he nodded. “Stand facing the bed,” he told her then followed them out the door, closing it behind him.

  “Like I said,” Dominic turned to him. “She’s yours and I enjoy a good pony show as much as anyone, so if you want to do this, that’s your prerogative.”

  “But?”

  “But if you do,” Dominic continued, “I want to make sure you know this will change everything with her. There will be no going back. It’s one thing to do something like this—humiliate her in this way—in front of our men; people we trust. Even that would be hard enough to come back from. But to do it in front of associates, strangers, people who will deliberately spread the word and tell every sordid detail about this night and talk about her with disrespect for months and months to come? There’s no coming back from that, Roman.”

  Shit. He scrubbed a hand across his face. “She lied to me.”

  “Did she?” Lukas asked. “Did she lie to you? Or did she just keep her mouth shut perhaps for good reason? Did you confront her about it?”

  An inch of doubt crept in. “No. But she should’ve come to me with the information.”

  Dominic nodded. “You’re right, she should’ve and that’s definitely something you’d want to address and punish. All I’m saying is make sure the punishment fits the crime.”

  “You send her out there like that and you’ll never be able to take her in public again,” Lukas said. “No more dates. No more galas. No more watching her eyes light up as she tries something new. You’ll be telling everyone as publicly as possible that she means nothing to you. That she’s open season for anyone who also would like to take a turn at her as soon as you’re done.”

  Dominic agreed. “And if that’s what you want, then that’s your right. Luka and I may not necessarily agree, but we’ll back you up because you’re our brother. So we’ll sit there and applaud as you make her prance around and show off her very well-whipped ass.”

  But that wasn’t what Roman wanted to do. Not anymore. “Saul left,” he muttered, beginning to understand the deadly precipice he was on.

  “He didn’t want to see what was about to happen in there. He cares about her. All of your men do. She made them muffins last week, brother,” Dominic said, sympathy clear in his voice. “For your men, while I was here. Took the muffins around to them, as proud as if she’d climbed fucking Mt. Everest or something. The men took them and ate them, oohing and aaahing over them like they were the most delicious things they’d ever eaten. I grabbed one off the kitchen counter as I was leaving.”

  Dominic chuckled as he continued. “Tasted like fucking cardboard. I spit the entire thing into the tras
h can. But every single one of your security team ate the whole damn thing with a smile.”

  Roman didn’t have to ask why. He knew why. “Because Sarah gave it to them.”

  Dom clapped him on the shoulder and nodded. “Because Sarah gave it to them. Men who have hunted, killed, and broke just about every law imaginable didn’t want to hurt her feelings so they ate a cardboard-tasting muffin. Because they think she’s sweet and kind and amazing.”

  “I would’ve done the same,” he whispered. He would’ve eaten every bit of the muffin for the exact same reason.

  “Find out what really happened with her brother today,” Lukas said. “And even if the worst is true, at least wait until you’re not so angry before you make a decision. But don’t cross a line you can’t back from. I’d hate for you to never eat her terrible muffins again.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Sarah flinched when she heard the door open again. What was going to happen to her her now? Would he drag her back downstairs, make her crawl on her hands and knees like a pony? Would he whip her with the crop more? The entire back half of her body still burned every time she moved.

  The plug was huge in her ass and the hair from the tail tickled the back of her thighs. It was humiliating in a dark, exciting way.

  And she would’ve done it all, gladly taken the bite of the riding crop, crawled around on all fours while he’d led her by the reins with a bit in her mouth.

  She would’ve even have done it all in front of the audience he’d wanted.

  But the moment he’d written those words on her ass, fuck toy, announced that they’d come full circle, she’d known it was over.

  She felt his hands reach into her hair and unlock the bit gag, pulling it from her mouth. Even with her lips freed she didn’t say anything. What was left to say?

  “You should’ve told me you saw Robbie today. As soon as it happened you should’ve called.”

  How was she supposed to explain? That she’d been trying to figure out a way to erase her declaration of love off the recording so things wouldn’t be awkward?

  Roman had proven tonight that nothing she’d thought was genuine affection from him for the last few weeks actually had been. She’d been ridiculous to think otherwise.

  “I was stupid,” she whispered. And she was. For so many, many reasons.

  Falling in love with someone who had announced from the beginning that he would destroy her being the biggest.

  His hands came around to her breasts and her breath hissed out as he released first one clamp then the other. He pressed his palms against her nipples to ease their ache.

  “Lay down on the bed.” She bent over the bed so he could reach her ass, legs hanging over the side, wincing again as he removed the plug with quick efficiency. He took all the items to the bathroom.

  When he came back out she hadn’t moved.

  “Sarah.”

  She didn’t look at him. Didn’t have anything to say.

  She flinched again when he eased her legs up so she was lying all the way on the bed on her side. He folded the comforter over her even though it should be impossible that she felt so chilled in the middle of the New Orleans summer.

  “I have to go back downstairs, but we’ll talk when I come back up. I think we both have things we need to say.”

  She laid there for a long time after he left, unable to bring herself to move. Because she knew that once she did she would be leaving here forever.

  Whatever he had to say didn’t matter. She couldn’t go back to being Roman’s whore like when she’d started. Not even to save her brother’s life. Especially since it looked like Robbie couldn’t make good enough choices to save his own life anyway.

  All she could do at this point was save herself. And staying here when Roman thought so little of her would destroy her piece by piece until she had nothing left of herself.

  Finally she got up out of the bed. Tears filled her eyes as her underwear and yoga pants scraped against abused skin, but she continued, following quickly with her bra, groaning as it touched her tender nipples, and t-shirt. She slipped her sandals on her feet.

  She wouldn’t take anything else. Not any of the clothes or jewelry he’d bought her. None of the designer shoes or handbags. She didn’t want anything that would remind her of their time together.

  But he needed to know what Robbie had said, in case something in their conversation might clue Roman in on what Robbie had done. Whatever new huge mistake her brother had made.

  Sarah could only hope that she’d paid enough that Roman wouldn’t kill him. That Roman would honor their agreement and spare Robbie’s life.

  Sarah set her phone on the bedside table next to Roman’s watch. She left a short note about the recorded conversation, and her hopes that Roman would be able to make more sense out of it than she had.

  He would hear the part where she announced to her brother that she was in love with Roman, but that didn’t seem to matter now. At worst, Roman would just feel sorry for her. If he felt anything at all.

  She finished writing the note and turned and walked out the door, down the back stairs far from the gathering and out the back door before circling to her car that she hadn’t driven in a couple of weeks and leaving.

  Her note would explain it all.

  I’m not paying for other people’s sins any more. The price is too high.

  Sarah stopped at the first ATM she saw and got out as much money as possible. If Roman tracked her in order to force her to tell anything else she knew about Robbie, she didn’t want to make it easy for him by using her credit cards.

  She drove until she hit Gulfport, Mississippi about two hours from New Orleans then decided to stop. It was well past midnight and the pain, neither the physical nor the emotional, wasn’t going to stop. No point in trying to outrun it. No one knew her here, or would expect her to talk. A beach town full of strangers was just what she needed.

  She stayed for two days. Spent most of that time staring out at the gulf from her balcony. She didn’t walk on the beach except for the late afternoon of the second day when a storm came up. Then she walked and let the rain pour down around her, her sobs and tears drowned out by the raging storm.

  She couldn’t stay. It was too expensive and she needed to get back to the real world. She’d already decided that she couldn’t remain in her job, or in New Orleans. She would have to make a fresh start somewhere else far away.

  It was the only way she would ever get over Roman Rinaldi.

  She drove back to New Orleans, but couldn’t force herself to go to her apartment. She knew it would seem empty and that Roman would be having it watched for signs of her. Her life hadn't really been part of this place for months. So instead she went to the tiny diner down the block. Maybe after a good brunch she would feel able to enter her empty home.

  She ordered her food then went to the tiny bathroom in the back to throw some water on her face. When she came out, hard hands grabbed her and pushed her out the back exit into the alley behind the diner.

  It was the man who had forced her to dance at the gala. Next to him was an attractive woman.

  "You," she stared at the man. "What are you doing here?"

  "Listening to my crazy cousin, which is probably going to get me in trouble.” The man gestured to the woman beside him. “But family is family, you know? You have to know after all the time you spent with the Rinaldi’s. Family is everything to them."

  "Look, Roman and I aren't seeing each other anymore. So I can't help you."

  She inched back towards the door, but the man’s hand shot up, keeping her in the alley.

  "For your sake, I hope that's not the case," the woman said. "You look just like your brother, you know. That lying piece of trash. He told us you would be able to get us a meeting with Roman.”

  Sarah didn't know who these people were and honestly really didn't care. “You know what? I’m out of that world. My brother, Roman… I don’t have anything to do with their business.
So if you have a problem with one of them, you’ll have to take it up with the source.”

  “That’s just it,” the man said. “Roman refuses to talk to us. To meet with us at all. So we’re forced to more drastic measures. All I want is a meeting with him.”

  “Who are you?” Sarah asked.

  "My name is Benas Vydūnas. This is my cousin Audra.”

  Color drained from Sarah’s face as she turned to the woman. “You’re the one who worked with Robbie to steal from Roman.”

  The woman held up a hand still wrapped in a bandage. Her eyes were crazed. “And your lover decided he had the right to take my finger as retribution.”

  “Look, all we want is a meeting with Roman. Just call him and set it up. Or just give us his private number.” Benas said. “Nobody needs to get hurt.”

  Audra’s expression said the opposite.

  Sarah shook her head. “I can’t call him or give you the number. He and I aren’t… together any more. I don’t have my phone with any of that information.”

  Benas wiped a hand over his face and turned to Audra. “This isn’t going to work. Let’s just go.”

  “No,” Audra spat. “I’ve seen how he looks at her. There’s no way he doesn’t care what happens to her. She comes with us.”

  Sarah took a step back as Audra pulled out a knife.

  “You know what this is? It’s the knife your lover used to take my finger. He left it with me as a ‘token so I could remember.’ As if only having nine fingers wasn’t enough to remind me of how I hate the Rinaldi family.”

  Before Sarah could even move the woman had brought the knife down in a shallow slice across Sarah’s arm forearm. Sarah cried out at the burn.

  “It hurts, doesn’t it? Imagine what it feels like to have an entire finger cut off.”

  “Audra—” Benas began.