Degrade: A Dark Mafia Romance (DeLancy Crime Family Book 1)

by Elizabeth Knox

  “I’m never going to let anything happen to you. Not now, and not ever. I know you’ve been hurt in the past, but your present and your future with me are safe. Anyone who dares to touch you will die at my hand.” His words cause me to remember the way his lips felt against my flesh, silently wishing he didn’t kiss my cheek. This is the type of shit women dream about, and yet I find the need to fight against him at every opportunity. “Now, I’ll keep you up in your room until you understand what being with me means, and until then I—”

  Ripping my face from his grasp, I stand up, and push at his chest, needing to force some sort of space between us. Heat swarms over my cheeks and before I know it tears are flooding down my face. “Yeah, right, lock me in my tower like a fucking prisoner. You’ve said I’m not one, that’s what you fucking said . . . and yet your actions prove I am one.” I shake my head and push past him, wiping my tears as I rush up the stairwell and go up to the third floor. I push my door open and slam it shut, then begin ripping this beautiful dress off, not caring if I love it. It means nothing. It’s only a reminder I’m a prisoner here, and I change into a pair of jeans and a regular t-shirt, though I do throw on a light sweater since it’s a bit chilly up here.

  I walk toward the windows since Snow is walking across the sill and scratch at her head. My first day here I tried every way to get out I could think of, but silly me, I didn’t even attempt to open the windows. Bringing my hands under it, I push it up and it opens without hardly any effort.

  I grab Snow and manage to somehow hold onto her and the outside of the window as I plan my great escape. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been staring at the ivy growing up the side of the house. It weaves in and out through lattice. I have my left hand on the lattice and my left foot, and while I’m maneuvering to the lattice, Snow jumps.

  I’m in such shock all I can do is gasp and pray she doesn’t fall the forty-two feet to the ground. Thankfully, she grasps onto the windowsill and pulls her pudgy butt up. “Stupid cat, I’ll come for you, I promise.” I begin to climb down the lattice and know for the first time since being here this is my shot at getting free.

  Chapter Twelve

  Félix

  My gaze goes to the stairway Madelaine just ran up to get away from me. I fucked up going off on her like I did. But seeing she’s been hiding a cell phone fuckin’ set me off. I don’t like it when people don’t listen to me. It’s a flaw I have and I know it. When I get pissed, my temper flares and I take it out on everyone around me.

  I need to go up there and talk to Madelaine and Olivia both, but first, I need to make sure I get my temper in check so I don’t go off on either of them again.

  Olivia isn’t damaged like she mentioned and needs to know I don’t see her that way. It doesn’t help I’m already livid since I have no choice but to marry her off. Finn may be my best friend, but no brother ever wants to marry his sister off, and now she’s gonna be sharing a bed with a man who is much like a brother to me. And I have no control over the situation, if we don’t do this, everything could come crumbling down.

  Dammit.

  I go in the living room and pour myself a bourbon straight into a short glass. I lift the glass to my lips and throw my head back, letting the liquor slide down my throat. I pour myself another and go to the window, lean against the frame of it while I contemplate what to do next.

  Normally, I would go back to the office and stay there for a while. Or possibly go handle one of the people who owe money to me, myself. But for some reason, I don’t want to leave the house. I need to calm down and go speak to Madelaine.

  A knock at the door tears me away, figuring no one should be coming up to my door, I head toward the front door. There have been a few occasions where the guards have let Girl Scouts pass to sell cookies, so hopefully it’s something like that. I need my fucking Thin Mints. There isn’t much I crave, but damn that minty shit is good. Sometimes Olivia will break up one of the bags and then mixes it with pudding. It’s the best thing she can make, but she’s not the best cook. Pudding and macaroni are kind of her specialties.

  Placing my hand on the door, I pull it open and think I’m seeing a ghost. “What have I done to earn a visit from the Gia Lopez?”

  “Something you probably haven’t even realized.” Gia pushes past me in her red dress and Louboutin heels, scanning her eyes around the foyer, peeking in the living room, and directly across into the dining room.

  “You looking for something?” I ask, shutting the front door. I cross my arms over my chest and stare at her.

  She immediately stops and looks right at me, raising both of her brows. “Where’s Madelaine?”

  I blink at her, immediately wondering how the fuck she knows her. “What’s your business with Madelaine?”

  “Dios Mio, Félix. You’re not an idiot and I know that, so how didn’t you figure out I’m a partial owner in OneEye? It’s a program Crave, LLC launched.”

  “You’re an owner in Crave, LLC?” I question, already getting my answer. I knew Gia’s a successful businesswoman here, but I never had the need to go researching what she owned, just like I didn’t find the need to look further into OneEye. How was I to know the world’s so small and Gia would end up on my front porch?

  “I received a call from Madelaine, saying a madman stole her away. She’s not wrong in saying you’re crazy, but damn, your crazy bit is hot,” Gia laughs, reminding me about the one-night stand we had many years ago. Delano had tried to set up an arranged marriage between Gia and I, considering her father is the now leader of the Mexican Cartel, but we weren’t ever interested in it. At least we both got a good fuck out of it, just to appease our fathers at the time.

  “I’m not my father, Gia. You of all people should know that,” I correct her, not finding anything amusing.

  “No, you’re not. My father’s been telling me good things have been happening since you’ve taken the reins from your father,” Gia states. I begin to walk into the living room and motion for her to follow me. “Care to tell me why Madelaine is here, and how you got her in the first place?”

  I turn to face her as I take a seat on the couch and she takes a seat on the other end of it. “Her father owes me quite the sum of money, instead of bringing me my money he offered his daughter to me to pay his debts.”

  She narrows her eyes in on me. “Our families are on great terms, Félix, though I sense you’re not telling me everything. I can’t do much since our families are allies, but I won’t stand by and allow one of my girls to be held against her will.” No, I’m not, and I’m right not to.

  I stare at her and clear my throat, clenching my fist on my lap. “Gia, all due respect, Madelaine is the safest here with me. She’s been attacked by multiple people who her father had business with and since being here no one has been successful in their attempts, and my men have heard whispers that people are looking for her. Look, I’ll be honest with you. Charles Rosseau has almost a million dollars in debt with my family alone, and I know for a fact he’s racked up quite the IOU with others. He’s a wanted man and people will do anything to get their money, including hurting and/or killing his daughter. I refuse to let that happen. The moment I saw Malcolm bring her to me, I wanted her. You’ve known me long enough to know I don’t give up on things I want, and rarely do I ever change my mind.”

  Gia takes in a deep breath and nods once. “Yes, I do, but you didn’t tell me about what happened with Malcolm.”

  “Oh, did I leave that part out?” There’s been so much shit that I can’t keep track.

  “Obviously,”

  “Her father drugged her before he brought her to Malcolm. As you can tell, he’s a good one.”

  Gia scoffs, “God, what a tool.”

  Things seem to be settling down with Gia and here’s to hoping things continue to go well. Even if they don’t, if she dares to try and take Madelaine away from me, I’ll have no problem starting a war. Madelaine is my woman, and that’s final.

  Chapter Thi
rteen

  Madelaine

  I’ve done a lot of stupid shit in my life but I can honestly say climbing down ivy covered lattice has not been one of my smarter decisions. The way the wood creaked whenever I took a step nearly made me shit myself, but somehow, I managed to get to the bottom and saw the back gate unattended. So, I ran as fast as I could and proceeded to run down the next street.

  I don’t know how long I’ve been walking the streets of New Orleans, but it must be over an hour. I’m already in the St. Claude neighborhood and I just have a little bit more to go before I’ll be back at my apartment. I’m in the home stretch and I’ll be there before I know it. Silently, I keep encouraging myself to keep going, to get there as soon as possible.

  “Madelaine Rosseau, I’ve been looking for you,” a man’s voice calls from the right of me. Out of instinct I turn and look, seeing one of the men who cornered me a couple weeks ago because my father owed them money. Shit. I’m fucked and I know it.

  “Richie, was it?” I say, acting like he’s not intimidating me. But he is, my heartbeat increasing and the way my hands grow sweaty tell me that my body’s going into its fight or flight response.

  “Mhm, and you’re Charles’ bitch of a daughter. You know he owes me money, sweetheart. He owes me lots of money . . . but I’m betting you and I could come up with a little arrangement.” Richie begins circling me like a wild animal, while men come out from the alleyway. I try to count and then stop once I’ve counted ten of them. Jesus Christ, what has my dad gotten me into now? “What would you think about that, Madelaine?” Richie asks, craning his neck to the side while he puts a hand over his jeans, rubbing his cock through the fabric.

  I look down at his groin area and then back up to his eyes. “What’re you gonna do with that little thing?”

  Suddenly, I’m grabbed at the base of my neck and my body’s thrown on the pavement. Richie releases the grip on my hair while another man comes up to the front of me and grabs me by the top of my head, yanking my hair as he drags me into the entrance of the alleyway. “We could run a train on her boss, she looks like the type of bitch who loves that shit.” The man who’s yanking my hair cackles, and I kick at the air while I’m being dragged. I know it’s useless, but I refuse to let these men have their way with me.

  As much as everyone thinks I’m a whore, I’m not, and neither are sex workers either. They’re women using what they have to make money, and no one can fault them for it, not in this world. “Let me go!” I scream with all my might, continuing to scream until tires screeching against the pavement cause everyone to stop what they’re doing and look toward the road.

  The man drops my hair and even I stare at the street, praying it isn’t someone worse than this group of heathens. “Rémy, to what do I owe this pleasure? You’re not normally in my neck of the woods,” Richie says, staring at Rémy. Something about his stare makes me feel like Richie either isn’t fond of Rémy, or he’s intimidated by him so he’s calculating his next move.

  Rémy walks toward the group of men, growing closer to me with each step. I watch the men’s eyes on Richie, and Richie’s eyes on Rémy. Once Rémy gets to me, he extends a hand which I gladly take. I rise and look to him for some sort of answer. “Stay quiet and you’ll be fine, okay?”

  I give him a curt nod, knowing I’ll do whatever I need to get out of this situation.

  Rémy clears his throat and looks over to Richie. “Want to tell me why you have my sister-in-law here? And why I saw your men dragging her by her hair?”

  Richie’s eyes go wide and he raises both of his brows. “Sister-in-law?”

  Rémy nods in confirmation. “Yes, Madelaine is Félix’s wife.”

  Um, say what?

  I glare at Richie to make him think I’ve married into the family. “I . . . I had no idea. I’m . . . I’m hopeful your brother won’t take anything we’ve done as a threat against him, or your family.”

  Rémy chuckles lightly and looks over to me. “Did they hurt you?”

  I look into Rémy’s eyes and don’t say a word, not wanting to cause an all-out fight . . . but Rémy must’ve seen some of what they did, otherwise he wouldn’t have said what he did a few moments ago.

  Rémy immediately sneers at Richie, yanks out his gun, and points it between his eyes. He takes a step further and his gun presses against Richie’s forehead. “Tell me one reason I shouldn’t put you out of your misery right now. You acted against a DeLancy. Are you a fool?”

  I don’t know why, but for some reason I find the urge to yank on Rémy’s arm. “Can we please go?”

  Rémy keeps his gun in his hand and slightly nods. “Alright,” he looks over to Richie again, “I’m leaving and I’m taking Madelaine with me, but my brother will be hearing about this and I’m sure he’ll make you pay however he sees fit.”

  Rémy and I walk to his car and he opens my door for me to get in the passenger side. He walks around to the driver’s side, gets in, and I buckle my seatbelt while he drives off. He buckles his seatbelt when we get to the first red light and while the light’s red he looks over to me. “You alright?”

  Inhaling deeply I nod. “Yes. No. I don’t know.”

  “Okay, let’s take it one question at a time,” Rémy says, as the light turns green and he pulls forward, he makes a left onto a side street and continues driving. “Did they hurt you, in a physical way?”

  “Besides yanking my hair, throwing me to the ground, and dragging me up the alley? Nope.”

  Rémy releases a held in breath. “Good, Richie and his boys have been known to sexually attack women . . . so I’m glad they didn’t get that far with you.”

  “To be fair, if you hadn’t shown up when you did, they probably would’ve.” Even as I speak my words don’t really sink in until now, nor does the power of them. If things were different, I would’ve been raped. Nausea swarms my entire body and I grab onto the handle of the door, trying to ride the waves.

  “You’re lucky I saw you climbing down the lattice. Otherwise, shit, things would’ve been fucking horrible.” Rémy shakes his head, and I’m sure we’re both glad he saw me rushing down the vines like some trapped princess.

  “Thank you, for coming after me.” I truly mean every word I’m speaking.

  “No need to thank me. My brother said you’re his woman, so I was going to protect you. I didn’t think you noticed me, but I was following you for about an hour and a half, pulling behind parked cars, keeping with the traffic, and everything else. It wasn’t easy to evade your watchful eyes. You were surveying your surroundings so damn much.”

  “It becomes habit when your father’s pissed off numerous people and they want to rape you, or worse.” I shake my head, wishing my life could be different. I clear my throat and change the subject. “You called me his woman.”

  “Yeah, because you are. My brother . . . you see . . . he’s never been the type to adamantly say someone’s his. He’s fucked women before, obviously, but they’ve never been on his mind for more than a day. He’s the brute of the bunch, the one who will throw the heads of his enemies on the table if necessary. Now, I’ll make sure my brother puts word out on the streets saying you’re part of our family. After that’s done, it should mean you can breathe a little easier when you’re out and about.”

  I furrow my brows together. “You speak as if I’m allowed to leave.”

  “You’ve never been a prisoner, Madelaine.”

  “What? How can you say that? He locked me up in a bedroom . . .” He can’t be serious. How is that not being a prisoner?

  “He wanted more time with you, Madelaine. Did you ask him if you could go home, like flat out asked the man?”

  I think long and hard, but I didn’t ever ask him to go home. I said I wanted to go home . . . but I never uttered the question ‘can I go home?’. “No, I didn’t.”

  “Félix would’ve taken you back himself if you asked. For some reason my brother is infatuated with you. Madelaine, I’m not sure how much yo
u know about Félix, but I do hope you’ll give him a chance . . . because he’s done so much for you already. Things you probably don’t even know about.”

  Rémy strikes a curious chord within me, but above all I’m even more confused than I’ve been thus far. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, though I do know I need to make up my mind, but now I do want to know more about the brute of the DeLancy family. He’s piqued my curiosity and as dangerous as it may be, I want to discover what I don’t know.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Félix

  Gia and I speak briefly for a bit more before I promise her she can see Madelaine tomorrow. I need tonight to see to my woman and show her what it means to be mine. Gia agrees and threatens to bust my balls if I hurt Madelaine, which I won’t do. The only thing I want to do is protect her. She’s had enough horrible events happen to her in the past that she didn’t deserve. And one of them I should’ve never thrown in her face when I yelled at her.

  I turn from the door and find my little sister standing at the edge of the stairwell, looking uncertain of herself. I suppose I can tackle the issue at hand with her first, then go find Madelaine.

  “Come here, Liv,” I murmur, opening my arms.

  Olivia hesitantly walks over and wraps her arms around my waist. She’s never been one to stay mad for long or hold a grudge.

  “Sorry for losing my shit at you,” I mutter, pressing my cheek to the top of her head. Olivia might be tall but I still have a good six or seven inches on her.

  “Are you going to apologize to Maddie too?” she asks.

  “Yeah, I’ll talk to her, but I need to talk to you first,” I state, pulling away from her.

  “About what?” I don’t want to have to tell her this shit.