To the Ends of the Earth (Stripped #5)

by Skye Warren

  She makes a sound of protest at the mention of bedtime. Her small fingers brush away the shape of the B. Instead she draws a heart. “Love,” she says, though it sounds like “lub.”

  “That’s right. Like your mommy loves you.”

  “I love.”

  He tweaks her nose. “And you love her too.”

  She stands, wobbling only slightly on the damp sand, before flinging her little arms around his neck. “Love you too.”

  Luca’s eyes widen. Slowly his large hand comes to cradle her back. I’m not sure he’s ever been hugged by a child before. Maybe not anyone else but me.

  The sight of them makes my heart squeeze.

  Delilah sprints off toward her colorful plastic shovels and buckets, innocently unaware that she’s left Luca looking shell shocked. He stands, almost gingerly, as if he’s been hit by a ton of bricks. And maybe that would have been easier for him to bear than love.

  I go to him, pressing my cheek against his hard chest.

  His arms come around me, crushing me. “Thank you,” he says, his voice thick.

  The only reason we’re free is because of him. “You saved me, Luca.”

  He presses his forehead against mine. “No, little bird. You saved me.”

  * * *

  Thank you for reading Luca and Beth’s story!

  TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH does standalone, but it also featured cameos from characters in both the Stripped series and the Chicago Underground series! If you’re new to the sensual and dark USA Today bestselling Stripped series about a mafia princess who goes on the run and winds up in a strip club, you can start with Tough Love. And if you want to find out how Allie met her rough prince, you can start the gritty USA Today bestselling Chicago Underground series with Rough.

  I’m so pleased to offer a sneak peek of my next release! THE PAWN is a brand new full-length dark contemporary novel about revenge and seduction in the game of love…

  "Sinfully sexy and darkly beautiful, The Pawn will play games with your heart and leave you craving more!" ~ Laura Kaye, New York Times bestselling author

  * * *

  Wind whips around my ankles, flapping the bottom of my black trench coat. Beads of moisture form on my eyelashes. In the short walk from the cab to the stoop, my skin has slicked with humidity left by the rain.

  Carved vines and ivy leaves decorate the ornate wooden door.

  I have some knowledge of antique pieces, but I can’t imagine the price tag on this one—especially exposed to the elements and the whims of vandals. I suppose even criminals know enough to leave the Den alone.

  Officially the Den is a gentlemen’s club, the old-world kind with cigars and private invitations. Unofficially it’s a collection of the most powerful men in Tanglewood. Dangerous men. Criminals, even if they wear a suit while breaking the law.

  A heavy brass knocker in the shape of a fierce lion warns away any visitors. I’m desperate enough to ignore that warning. My heart thuds in my chest and expands out, pulsing in my fingers, my toes. Blood rushes through my ears, drowning out the whoosh of traffic behind me.

  I grasp the thick ring and knock—once, twice.

  Part of me fears what will happen to me behind that door. A bigger part of me is afraid the door won’t open at all. I can’t see any cameras set into the concrete enclave, but they have to be watching. Will they recognize me? I’m not sure it would help if they did. Probably best that they see only a desperate girl, because that’s all I am now.

  The softest scrape comes from the door. Then it opens.

  I’m struck by his eyes, a deep amber color—like expensive brandy and almost translucent. My breath catches in my throat, lips frozen against words like please and help. Instinctively I know they won’t work; this isn’t a man given to mercy. The tailored cut of his shirt, its sleeves carelessly rolled up, tells me he’ll extract a price. One I can’t afford to pay.

  There should have been a servant, I thought. A butler. Isn’t that what fancy gentlemen’s clubs have? Or maybe some kind of a security guard. Even our house had a housekeeper answer the door—at least, before. Before we fell from grace.

  Before my world fell apart.

  The man makes no move to speak, to invite me in or turn me away. Instead he stares at me with vague curiosity, with a trace of pity, the way one might watch an animal in the zoo. That might be how the whole world looks to these men, who have more money than God, more power than the president.

  That might be how I looked at the world, before.

  My throat feels tight, as if my body fights this move, even while my mind knows it’s the only option. “I need to speak with Damon Scott.”

  Scott is the most notorious loan shark in the city. He deals with large sums of money, and nothing less will get me through this. We have been introduced, and he left polite society by the time I was old enough to attend events regularly. There were whispers, even then, about the young man with ambition. Back then he had ties to the underworld—and now he’s its king.

  One thick eyebrow rises. “What do you want with him?”

  A sense of familiarity fills the space between us even though I know we haven’t met. This man is a stranger, but he looks at me as if he wants to know me. He looks at me as if he already does. There’s an intensity to his eyes when they sweep over my face, as firm and as telling as a touch.

  “I need…” My heart thuds as I think about all the things I need—a rewind button. One person in the city who doesn’t hate me by name alone. “I need a loan.”

  He gives me a slow perusal, from the nervous slide of my tongue along my lips to the high neckline of my clothes. I tried to dress professionally—a black cowl-necked sweater and pencil skirt. His strange amber gaze unbuttons my coat, pulls away the expensive cotton, tears off the fabric of my bra and panties. He sees right through me, and I shiver as a ripple of awareness runs over my skin.

  I’ve met a million men in my life. Shaken hands. Smiled. I’ve never felt as seen through as I do right now. Never felt like someone has turned me inside out, every dark secret exposed to the harsh light. He sees my weaknesses, and from the cruel set of his mouth, he likes them.

  His lids lower. “And what do you have for collateral?”

  Nothing except my word. That wouldn’t be worth anything if he knew my name. I swallow past the lump in my throat. “I don’t know.”

  Nothing.

  He takes a step forward, and suddenly I’m crowded against the brick wall beside the door, his large body blocking out the warm light from inside. He feels like a furnace in front of me, the heat of him in sharp contrast to the cold brick at my back. “What’s your name, girl?”

  The word girl is a slap in the face. I force myself not to flinch, but it’s hard. Everything about him overwhelms me—his size, his low voice. “I’ll tell Mr. Scott my name.”

  In the shadowed space between us, his smile spreads, white and taunting. The pleasure that lights his strange yellow eyes is almost sensual, as if I caressed him. “You’ll have to get past me.”

  My heart thuds. He likes that I’m challenging him, and God, that’s even worse. What if I’ve already failed? I’m free-falling, tumbling, turning over without a single hope to anchor me. Where will I go if he turns me away? What will happen to my father?

  “Let me go,” I whisper, but my hope fades fast.

  His eyes flash with warning. “Little Avery James, all grown up.”

  A small gasp resounds in the space between us. He already knows my name. That means he knows who my father is. He knows what he’s done. Denials rush to my throat, pleas for understanding. The hard set of his eyes, the broad strength of his shoulders tells me I won’t find any mercy here.

  I square my shoulders. I’m desperate but not broken. “If you know my name, you know I have friends in high places. Connections. A history in this city. That has to be worth something. That’s my collateral.”

  Those connections might not even take my call, but I have to try something. I don
’t know if it will be enough for a loan or even to get me through the door. Even so, a faint feeling of family pride rushes over my skin. Even if he turns me away, I’ll hold my head high.

  Golden eyes study me. Something about the way he said little Avery James felt familiar, but I’ve never seen this man. At least I don’t think we’ve met. Something about the otherworldly glow of those eyes whispers to me, like a melody I’ve heard before.

  On his driver’s license it probably says something mundane, like brown. But that word can never encompass the way his eyes seem almost luminous, orbs of amber that hold the secrets of the universe. Brown can never describe the deep golden hue of them, the indelible opulence in his fierce gaze.

  “Follow me,” he says.

  Relief courses through me, flooding numb limbs, waking me up enough that I wonder what I’m doing here. These aren’t men, they’re animals. They’re predators, and I’m prey. Why would I willingly walk inside?

  What other choice do I have?

  I step over the veined marble threshold.

  The man closes the door behind me, shutting out the rain and the traffic, the entire city disappeared in one soft turn of the lock. Without another word he walks down the hall, deeper into the shadows. I hurry to follow him, my chin held high, shoulders back, for all the world as if I were an invited guest. Is this how the gazelle feels when she runs over the plains, a study in grace, poised for her slaughter?

  The entire world goes black behind the staircase, only breath, only bodies in the dark. Then he opens another thick wooden door, revealing a dimly lit room of cherrywood and cut crystal, of leather and smoke. Barely I see dark eyes, dark suits. Dark men.

  I have the sudden urge to hide behind the man with the golden eyes. He’s wide and tall, with hands that could wrap around my waist. He’s a giant of a man, rough-hewn and hard as stone.

  Except he’s not here to protect me.

  He could be the most dangerous of all.

  * * *

  The price of survival…

  Gabriel Miller swept into my life like a storm. He tore down my father with cold retribution, leaving him penniless in a hospital bed. I quit my private all-girl’s college to take care of the only family I have left.

  There’s one way to save our house, one thing I have left of value.

  My virginity.

  A forbidden auction…

  Gabriel appears at every turn. He seems to take pleasure in watching me fall. Other times he’s the only kindness in a brutal underworld.

  Except he’s playing a deeper game than I know. Every move brings us together, every secret rips us apart. And when the final piece is played, only one of us can be left standing.

  “Skye Warren’s THE PAWN is a triumph of intrigue, angst, and sensual drama. I was clenching everything. Gabriel and Avery sucked me in from the first few paragraphs and never let go.” – New York Times bestselling author Annabel Joseph

  One-click The Pawn now!

  Other Books by Skye Warren

  Stripped series

  Tough Love

  Love the Way You Lie

  Better When It Hurts

  Even Better

  Pretty When You Cry

  Caught for Christmas

  Hold You Against Me

  To the Ends of the Earth

  Chicago Underground series

  Rough

  Hard

  Fierce

  Wild

  Dirty

  Secret

  Sweet

  Deep

  Criminals and Captives series

  Prisoner

  Standalone Dark Romance

  Wanderlust

  On the Way Home

  His for Christmas

  Hear Me

  Take the Heat

  Dark Nights series

  Keep Me Safe

  Trust in Me

  Don’t Let Go

  The Beauty series

  Beauty Touched the Beast

  Beneath the Beauty

  Broken Beauty

  Beauty Becomes You

  Beauty and the Beast (Boxed Set)

  Loving the Beauty: A Beauty Epilogue

  About the Author

  Skye Warren is the New York Times bestselling author of contemporary romance such as the Chicago Underground and Stripped series. Her books have been featured in Jezebel, Buzzfeed, USA Today Happily Ever After, Glamour, and Elle Magazine. She makes her home in Texas with her loving family, two sweet dogs, and one evil cat.

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  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, the reproduction or use of this work in any part is forbidden without the express written permission of the author.

  To the Ends of the Earth © 2016 by Skye Warren

  Cover design by Book Beautiful

  Cover photograph by Sara Eirew

  Formatting by BB Ebooks