Queen of Diamonds: A Dark Erotic Romance (Old Money Roulette Book 1)

by Natalie Bennett

  He let me go and made his way to the glass doors, pulling a long blackout curtain across them, making the room darker.

  I looked up at a diamond chandelier. The silence and nerves of being in his room needed a distraction.

  He made his way back to where I stood and pulled me further into the room. I tried to look anywhere but at him but he wasn’t having it. His hand cupped my jaw and held my head in place. He leaned down without warning and pressed his soft lips to mine, using his thumb to pull my mouth open.

  I felt like a juvenile all over again when he chuckled and stroked my tongue with his until I began to reciprocate.

  It didn’t take long before I began pulling at his clothes, needing to feel all of him. He pushed my hands away and stepped back, maintaining eye contact as he removed his shirt followed by his slacks.

  He moved forward again.

  His solid body pressed into mine, slowly walking me backward. The next kiss was hard–impassioned–a signature that marked his ownership of me without my full consent.

  “Off,” he broke away and demanded, tugging at the hem of my dress.

  I turned, pulling my hair over one shoulder and silently directing him to my zipper. With a well-practiced move, he had the dress undone and pooling at my feet within two seconds.

  He sealed his mouth over mine and eased me down on his plush mattress and downy comforter, moving me up until we were at the headboard. His hands firmly gripped my thighs, spreading them wide enough that I could feel the muscles stretch.

  “Say yes. Tell me your mine.”

  My heart felt like a caged butterfly. If I said no, I’d lose him. I could feel it.

  But what would be so different about our relationship if I said yes?

  I would get to be close to my mood stabilizer. It brought me closer to my overall goal. Wasn’t that reason enough?

  “I’m yours,” I nearly whispered, hoping I wasn’t making another massive mistake.

  He was pushing inside me on my next breath. A ragged moan reverberated from my chest, feeling the pleasurable burn that came with his thick cock sliding inside me.

  “Oh, god,” I breathed, as he fed my pussy more and more of him inch by inch until I was filled to capacity. I happily accepted the pain that came with it.

  He loomed over me with his muscular forearms braced on either side of my head. “Tell me you want me.” He thrust forward, pushing his cock into an erogenous zone.

  “I want you, just you.” I nearly pleaded as he began rocking in and out of me. I hadn’t expected this from him. I thought he’d be fast and hard. This was rough, yet soft and languid.

  “Fuck, your pussy is so tight, Elena.” My name rolled off his tongue, and he picked his momentum up. I grabbed his firm ass pulling him into me as deep as I could. Unabashed moans filled the air. I could hear him sliding in and out, feel the slickness dripping from me and coating his dick and balls. I relished in how good we felt together.

  He captured my lower lip and bit down, increasing the pace of his thrusts. I wrapped my legs around his waist, angling my hips. The orgasm hit me forcefully and unexpectedly.

  My moans sounded like breathy sobs as I buried my face in his neck, arching into him and repeating his name like a chant.

  He dropped his forehead to mine, fucking me harder, letting out a small groan, stilling as his cock twitched and he came inside me.

  Slowly, he pulled away and positioned himself on his back. I dropped my hand and traced a pattern over his tattoo once I caught my breath.

  “What does this mean?”

  “It’s from a myth. Old Money Roulette. It was a game of sorts. Think of a deck of cards. How many are inside?”

  “Twenty?” I guessed, wondering where he was going with this.

  “Twenty-four, but close enough. In that deck, there are three cards that single-handedly trump the others.”

  “Oookay,” I drew out, still lost.

  “Just like a deck of cards, there’s a ranking system––a hierarchy. Naturally, Old Money is the house you want to be in, and then there’s your queen of diamond, king of hearts, and ace of spades.”

  I began to understand somewhat. Something tickled the back of my mind, a memory of my father I couldn’t see clearly that was triggered by the name of his game.

  “So what’s the objective?” I asked, now fully intrigued.

  “Simple. Make the opposing house fold.”

  I side-eyed him and shifted. It wasn’t some huge secret that New Money would be the weakest of the houses–which was precisely what my family was.

  “And how do they go about this?”

  “Seduction, mind-games, murder, manipulation,” he shrugged, taking the back of my hand and kissing it. “The queen of diamonds represents you. Beautiful and powerful on her own,” he continued. “Unsure of what she can do.”

  “But still not the strongest in the deck, hierarchy, whatever,” I finished.

  “See, you’ll be a natural in no time,” he said..

  “A natural?” I questioned with more than a little amusement.

  Instead of responding he cupped the back of my head and gave me a bruising kiss. When we separated, I was graced with a dimpled smirk before he covered me with his comforter and placed my head on his chest.

  Chapter Ten

  I looked at the family hog-tied––face down on their stomachs, and continued stroking my chin, not really seeing them. They were background noise. Like a housefly buzzing around my head. An annoyance if anything else.

  My brother Elias lazily leaned against the wall watching a few of our men readying the oil drums in the center of the room.

  It had been a long day. Exhaustion trickled around the fringes of my mind, but in this line of work, sleep was seldom. Still, I would rather have been in bed with the beautiful woman I’d left sleeping beside me instead of handling this bullshit.

  Often, while one slept their enemies were awake doing everything in their power to work against them. That left no time for breaks or vacations. Being at the top didn’t mean I got to be lazy. My father had taught me that from the time I was twelve.

  He’d only recently passed the torch down––so recent no one was fully aware of it yet. And I was going to make damn sure I shouldered the full weight of my inheritance by ensuring my family always remained untouchable.

  I’d been preparing for this for years. I was getting to the point where my operations simultaneously ran like a well-maintained machine.

  The men and few women I allowed to have a slice of the proverbial pie were fiercely loyal to not only the Remmington name–but to me.

  It was with their unrevoked dedication that things were able to move forward at warp speed twenty-four seven. Nothing ever remained the same in Vice City.

  There was always money to be spent, profit to be flipped, someone who needed to find their way into a gutter or bath of acid, and new connections to merge.

  “I take it things went well with my future sis-in-law?” Elias joked, knowing exactly where my mind was.

  “Things are going as they should.”

  I glanced down at my wrist and waited for the minute hand on my watch to make one more cycle, withholding a sigh.

  I couldn’t recall the last time I’d wanted to put effort into a relationship, but then, I’d never had anyone in my life like Elena.

  “She’s nothing like Eva.” I freely volunteered what he really wanted to know.

  “Thank fuck for miracles.” He stopped beside me and grinned.

  I could hear the levels of relief in his voice. I knew he wanted me to have someone by my side for the long haul, someone to extend and strengthen our family with. I wanted the same for him.

  Family was everything in this world––with the exception of Elena’s, of course. I chalked that up to the generation gap. I came from old money––she came from new money.

  They only helped solidify that the old money roulette was doing exactly what it was designed to do. Though I had to give credit
where credit was due–her parent’s had been excellent players of the game. If Elena were anything like half of them, our union would be all the better because of it.

  I knew how people would perceive our relationship when the news broke that she was the official one and only woman in my life.

  I intended to let them think what they wanted until the full truth could be revealed.

  I already knew it––my family knew it––and a few very close friends knew it. That’s all that mattered. Elena wasn’t collateral for an owed debt. She was more of a bonus gift from my Ace. She was mine––mine to fuck, mine to corrupt, mine to cherish, mine to protect, and mine to damage.

  She was a breath of fresh air, a purified diamond in a pile of imitations. I refused to keep her away from this side of my life. She was naturally curious, and there was too much she didn’t know about the life she’d b leading soon. Being the wife of a narco was hard. Being the wife of a drug lord was ten times harder.

  Armed with endless knowledge and memories from watching over her the last five years, I had a good idea of what I was in for.

  I couldn’t recall being this excited about something in an extremely long fucking time.

  At precisely two in the morning–the large metal door soundlessly slid open and carried in a slight breeze of warm air that I deeply inhaled. My mind easily switched strictly to business mode, blocking everything else out.

  Alfredo, my doorman, escorted the man of the hour inside and then promptly stepped back out, closing the door behind him.

  “Joshua, I hope you weren’t too busy.” I greeted him with heavy sarcasm, taking in his mussed hair, bare feet, striped drawers, and white shirt. Elias laughed softly under his breath, reaching behind him for his gun.

  Joshua paid neither my baby brother nor me any mind. He was too busy staring at the three people with the hoods over their heads.

  “Oh, how rude of me. Joshua this is Ryan, his wife Denise, and their daughter. She just turned twenty today, by the way, so I do believe congratulations are in order.”

  As I gestured to each figure, their hoods were removed. The gags remained. I made sure to drop the age tidbit so he was aware that I knew he had a daughter around the same age.

  When one of my men began removing the lids on the drums, Joshua turned to me with wide eyes having a very clear idea of what was about to happen. Certain execution methods my family had adopted over the years were well known–this was one of them.

  “What is this about?” he asked, his voice slightly shaking.

  “Why don’t you get down on your knees and then I’ll tell you all about it.”

  His jaw clenched. His gaze darted around the room as he struggled with choosing to be emasculated or having his kneecaps broken.

  With a reluctant, subtle nod, he slowly lowered himself to the cold stone floor.

  Elias stepped behind him and placed his gun on the back of his head to make sure that’s was where he remained.

  “You had a shipment meant to be delivered two days ago,” I began, motioning for my executioner to move forward with the crook of a finger. When Joshua saw the ax in Diablo’s hand, his body went ramrod straight. “Mateo, I–––.”

  “Before you lie and tell me the shipment in question was delivered and nothing went wrong, I’m going to let you know I saw the man who was supposed to be shadowing you.

  He assured me he has no idea how a pallet of ten kilos suddenly became eight. He’s worked for me much longer than you have and is currently recovering from a broken nose and shattered hand because of your negligence.”

  With a slight jerk of my chin, Diablo pulled Ryan’s daughter from the line and dragged her closer to the three drums.

  Her parents screamed behind their gags but were forced to remain on their stomachs and watch the scene unfold as two of my men held their heads up by the hair.

  Diablo shoved the girl face first into the stone floor. She cried out and her head bounced up immediately upon impact. A split second later, his ax made a faint whooshing sound, cutting through the air.

  It found its mark, driving its well-honed blade into the back of her neck, severing muscle, bone, and tissue. He pulled back, leaving a wide gaping hole. Joshua keeled over and vomited when the second swing completely decapitated her head.

  It landed on the floor with a soft thud and rolled back towards her father. Blood pooled where the headless body came to rest.

  These kinds of scenes were nothing like in the movies. Sure, it was messy as hell, but it didn’t spray all over the damn place like an endless water fountain. Her parent’s struggled more determindedly now, their anguished cries growing louder.

  No one else in the room reacted. We were dehumanized to such tragedies. Growing up in Vice City, we had to be. Many of us had acquaintances, friends, or family members who had gone through this very thing at the hand of a rival cartel before the city was fully under my father’s control.

  Ryan and his wife watched on in despairing horror as Diablo made quick work of their daughter’s remaining limbs. There was a fascinatingly artistic aesthetic to his flawless proficiency that couldn’t be duplicated. He wielded an ax like Picasso wielded a paintbrush.

  The sound of sinew and bone-crunching and separating was a familiar soundtrack in this room.

  Diablo could have used any weapon he wanted––the chainsaw for example––but he was faithful to his ax––and that was fine with me. After successfully disposing of over at least two hundred bodies, I didn’t care what he used.

  “I thought my policy was simple and clear-cut. I have a two-strike rule. You fuck up once, I can consider allowing pieces of shit like yourself to waste oxygen in my city and more of my invaluable time. But if you fuck up twice, there is no do-over.”

  Joshua’s entire body quivered. He shook his head back and forth and convulsed with sobs, continuing to deny the truth to my face.

  “Mateo, you know I wouldn’t touch your product. I value my life–– Ah!”

  His head whipped to the side as my fist made impact with his face, a tiny spittle of blood landing on the floor.

  “I’ll advise you only once not to lie to me again.” I fisted his messy hair and pulled his head to the side, exposing his throat and making him look me in the eye.

  “You miraculously misplaced two kilos. Now you owe me twenty-five grand for each plus another ten for interest because I had to fix your fuck up by compensating a good friend of mine. You’re lucky I’m feeling generous and not making you pay me what I’m now going to lose in profit. And if you somehow can’t pay up, your family will––just like Ryan’s is.”

  I shoved his head away from me as Diablo began tossing severed limbs into one of the three drums, dropping the torso in last. A loud squelching sound emanated in the air as it was sucked down to the bottom.

  Giving one strike was as lenient as I allowed myself to be. The couple tried to fight their way to one another when it was their turn, but were ultimately pulled apart.

  Denise cried out behind her gag, her green eyes overflowing with tears. She knew their deaths wouldn’t be as painless as their daughters had been.

  They were going straight into ‘The Stew’, the oil inside the two remaining fifty-five-gallon drums. Joshua dropped his forehead to the floor, squeezing his eyes shut when they were forced inside foot first, screaming the entire time.

  Diablo pulled a butane lighter from his back pocket and set each drum aflame. My men were extremely cautious not to get themselves burned as they stood by and monitored the process.

  An audible hiss filled the air as the oil bubbled and popped the hotter it became, frying their flesh.

  With the gags in their mouths, the instant they were both fully submerged in the flaming liquid their screams abruptly cut off.

  Lids were placed on top of the drums, ensuring both equally experienced a rapid, searing, and agonizing death. I looked down at Joshua and delivered my ultimatum knowing Alfredo would see him off my land. “I expect my first pa
yment by this time next week.”

  My brother and I exited the warehouse together, leaving the men to handle the clean-up.

  “He’s going to run,” Elias noted with bemusement.

  “I know,” I grinned. “That’s why his family is going to endure a tragic home invasion within the next fifteen minutes.”

  I’d known from the start Joshua wouldn’t be able to come up with the money.

  The man let his greed get the best of him–consuming as much of the coke as he could and selling the rest of it to junkies for half its worth. It didn’t take much footwork to figure any of this out. It was a shame things had to end this way, but that was just business.

  If I didn’t make the hard decisions someone stronger would. I couldn’t allow one man to get away with stealing from me. If I did, ten more would choose to follow. Rules were rules, and I expected them to be abided.

  With that part of my night done, I refocused on Elena. She was always at the forefront of my mind, even when I told myself she wasn’t. I’d been with many women, but none of them had captivated me like this one.

  I would sell her a dream she couldn’t live without if it meant keeping her. I could only pray to the man upstairs and hope that he answered my prayers that she was strong enough to withstand all she would have to endure. I silently apologized for knowing I had to be the one to destroy such an exquisite creature. In the end it would be worth it. Me and my ace would both greatly benefit.

  I wouldn’t let history repeat itself.

  I refused to let her follow in her sister’s footsteps.

  Chapter Eleven

  He wasn’t in bed when I woke up, but that wasn’t surprising.

  The black-out curtains had been partially cracked, letting in a small stream of sunlight.

  Reluctantly kicking the comforter off, I tossed my legs over the side of the bed, my bare feet dangling.