by Penelope Sky
I hadn’t even started, and I knew I didn’t want to stop.
She didn’t want me to stop either.
“All I can think about is coming inside you.” I wanted my dick to explode like a rocket, shooting my seed as deep as it could go. The instinct was unshakable. I wanted to claim her as mine in the most animalistic way possible. I wanted to make this pussy exclusively mine. The idea of letting Egor have her back pissed me off, especially when I was deep inside her like this. I wanted to fuck this cunt every single night and again in the morning. I didn’t want to share it with anyone.
“Me too…” She grabbed my hip and tugged me inside her. “I’m almost there…”
“I haven’t even started, sweetheart.”
“I know.” She squeezed her thighs around my waist. “I can’t help it…”
I watched her close her eyes and felt her dig her nails into me harder, fighting the explosion that was about to happen between her legs. “Looks like you have a new record.”
I would normally chuckle, but I was far too invested in this moment. I gave her three thrusts, moving slowly and rubbing against her clit every time I touched her. Somehow, I could feel her impending climax between her legs, and she could feel mine. We were moving as slowly as possible, but just enough for both of us to get off.
“There…” She breathed against my mouth as she cupped my cheeks, coming just from the feeling of my dick inside her. I’d never made a woman come that quickly, and I knew it didn’t happen now because of my skills. She’d wanted to come before I was even inside. She was aroused the second she put on that lingerie. And when she felt my hardness inside her, that was all she needed. I turned her on in a special manner, made her feel arousal in a whole new way.
Her cunt constricted around my dick as she came, moaning in my face as the desire swept her away. “Carter, give it to me…”
I was already holding on as best as I could, and once I had her permission, all the fight left my body. I moaned in her face as I filled her, dumping all my seed into her pussy instead of the tip of a condom. All the muscles in my body burned with the exertion, and I kept my dick deep inside her so she would get every last drop. Tonight, I would give her so much, she couldn’t keep it all. And for the last few days she was in my captivity, she would always be full of my come.
Until I had to give her back.
It was the middle of the day when my father called.
I was sitting in my office, taking some privacy away from my prisoner.
I wasn’t even sure if I should call her that anymore. She seemed like a sexy roommate that I was constantly fucking. When I dated women, sometimes they would stay at my place for the weekend, but their stay never lasted longer than that.
Mia had been there for an entire month.
From the day she arrived until the present moment, our relationship had changed so drastically.
It was hard to believe I’d ever chained her up in a room to begin with.
I cleared my throat. “Hey.” I’d been avoiding speaking to my family for a few weeks. Only Conway knew about my situation. Since he was so loyal to me, he would take the secret to the grave. But I felt awkward talking to my family, especially my parents. My father was a very candid man, speaking his mind with such bluntness, people thought he was an asshole most of the time.
Well, he was an asshole.
“Hey?” he asked. “We haven’t spoken in two weeks, and that’s all you have to say to me?”
“Hi?” I asked sarcastically. “Is that better?”
“Same shit, different word.”
“Alright, what do you want me to say?”
“I don’t know,” he snapped. “But a lot more than that.”
He turned aggressive when he was emotional. He wasn’t good with words, and he was even worse with feelings. The response turned him into an asshole…even more. I hadn’t understood any of that until my mother explained it to me. “Alright. How are you?”
“Pretty pissed off since we haven’t spoken for two weeks.”
I rolled my eyes. “We’re talking now.”
“I haven’t seen you in almost a month. I know you’re a hotshot with your cars and shit, but don’t forget where you come from.”
If only I could tell him the real reason for my absence. “I’ll be done with this project in a few days. Then I’ll be all yours.”
“That’s more like it.”
“I’ll take a trip down there. Sapphire is gonna have the baby soon anyway. I’ll help out at the winery, see Mom for a bit, and see what Carmen is up to without me. I’ll stay for a week.”
“Make it two.”
I tried not to grin. “A week and a half.”
“Two and a half.” All my father wanted was to spend time with me. Conway had been around a lot, so he was probably jealous he wasn’t spending as much time with his own son.
“Two.”
The victory in his voice was obvious. “Two, it is. Can’t wait to see you. Your mother and I miss you.”
“I know. I miss you too.”
“Maybe you should think about moving to Florence. Conway and Sapphire are doing it. You work from home a lot, and you can just fly out there when you need to. Makes sense to me…” My father would do anything to get me back to Tuscany. Carmen was still there, but that wasn’t enough for him. He wanted both of us.
Not having Conway around had already affected me. I used to see him all the time, but now that he was married and living five hours away, I missed him. He was my closest friend, not just my cousin. “I’ll think about it.”
“Great. Your mother would be so happy if she got to see you more often. And remember—”
“You won’t always be around.” He said the same thing to me all the time, for the last decade. “Yeah, I know. I said I would think about it.”
My father finally backed off, knowing he’d made his point. Now he just had to hope that I would take his words to heart and move there. I was the last Barsetti who wasn’t living in that vicinity. Being isolated from the herd had never bothered me because Conway was here, but without him as a neighbor, I really did feel separated from my family. I would think about it more seriously when I had time. Right now, I still had Mia to deal with. “Anything else new?”
“Actually, that’s the reason why I’m calling. Well, the main reason.” His tone changed, simmering down to a serious coldness. “Your uncle and I had a chat with Griffin.”
I’d come to accept that Griffin was a part of our lives now, as strange as that seemed. “Yeah?”
“This issue with the Skull Kings isn’t buried yet, so Griffin and your uncle are going to take a trip to the Underground to have a conversation.”
I sat up straighter in my chair, the muscles hugging my spine tightening.
“We killed the men they hired to take out Conway, but we have no way to know if the war is actually over. Instead of taking that risk, we want to bury it. Crow will meet with them to establish peace, to present them an offering to make them forget about us.”
“What does Griffin have to do with this?” Conway and I were the ones that started this mess. It didn’t seem right that my uncle had to take care of it.
“He has a close relationship with them,” he explained. “They’ve hired him for work in the past. Griffin also knows a lot of people, a lot of men at the Underground. He’s done favors in exchange for loyalty instead of money. He’s as close to untouchable as possible. He offered to intervene because it gives the Barsettis a lot of credibility.”
Griffin was the reason I still had all the members of my family. He had managed to take down all the enemies surrounding them. My father and uncle were the strongest men I knew, but Griffin was made of something else. “I should come too. I’m responsible for all this—”
“No.” My father’s cold tone silenced me instantly. “Crow and I have already talked about this. There’s no room for negotiation.”
“Father, Conway and I are both adults—”
<
br /> “Who were stupid enough to get mixed up in this,” he snapped. “Now your fathers are cleaning up your mess.”
“We never asked you to—”
“Be grateful that you don’t have to ask. Be grateful that your fathers are willing to sacrifice their lives for you. Be grateful that we would do anything for you, even walk into the monsters’ den and risk our necks.”
I stared at my desk, seeing the pile of bills and documents that needed to be addressed. I was just scolded by my father, and as much as it angered me, I knew I deserved it. “What about the money?”
“We can talk about that later. It’s not important right now.”
If we had to pay back the Skull Kings for the profit we made, it should come out of our pockets, not Crow’s. “When is this happening?”
“As soon as Griffin gets back from his mission.”
“He’s still doing that?” I asked incredulously.
“He’s quitting. He just has to finish two more before he can be done.”
I knew Crow wasn’t happy about that. He wanted a simple and peaceful life. Griffin wasn’t fitting the bill at all right now. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do.” I should probably tell him about Mia, but if she was leaving before the deal even went down, I didn’t see why it mattered.
“You know what you can do?” he asked coldly. “Learn your lesson.”
“I have.” More than he could possibly understand. The woman I was holding captive was actually an exceptional human being, someone who deserved better than the fate she would be forced to accept. I was ignorant and got myself into a bad situation, blinded by the greed the cash instilled in me.
I’d definitely learned my lesson.
Ten
Mia
Carter sat beside me on the couch with his arm wrapped around my shoulders. My legs were pulled over his thighs, and we cuddled on the couch together like a couple enjoying their evening together. His hand rested on my thigh, and his bare chest rose and fell gently with his even breathing. Instead of focusing on the TV, he glanced at me from time to time.
It felt so normal.
It didn’t seem like I was a prisoner anymore. It seemed like I was just a woman with her man. We’d already screwed on the couch, and now we were just enjoying each other’s company. He drank his scotch while I had my wine. I pulled my panties back on so his come wouldn’t drip down my thighs and onto the fabric of his furniture.
If I didn’t have a life to get back to, I would actually want to stay there.
My life had been stressful since I was young. A lot of stupid decisions put me in bad situations. Every day was a struggle, and I constantly worked to have a better life. Being a guest in Carter’s home showed me a luxurious life I’d never imagined. There was no such thing as stress, not when a man like him took care of me.
But it didn’t matter how much I loved being there. It couldn’t compare with the life waiting for me.
The true place where I belonged.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he fished it out to see the name on the screen.
Ever since I came into his captivity, I always looked for an opportunity to escape, to gain more knowledge about Carter and his behavior. So naturally, I looked at the screen even though I didn’t expect to see anything relevant.
But the name on the screen was very relevant.
Egor.
Carter immediately repositioned the phone in his hand to hide the screen. “I have to take this, sweetheart.” He left the couch and headed up the stairs, his black sweatpants hanging low on his hips.
Was that a coincidence?
What were the odds that he would be in contact with the same Egor?
It seemed unlikely, but that didn’t chase away the dread that settled in my heart. Carter and I had just experienced an evening of peace and quiet, but all of that faded away the second that phone rang. My body became heavy with terror, and my heart thudded with palpitations.
It couldn’t be the same Egor.
It just couldn’t.
The only way I was going to find out was by asking him or spying on him. If it really was the same Egor, Carter would probably lie about it. This whole situation had been a lie. The only true way to get my answer was to eavesdrop, to hear the conversation myself.
I sprang off the couch and sprinted across the rug until I reached the hardwood floor in front of the staircase. I was careful with my footfalls, making them quiet as I ascended to the next floor as fast as possible. When my feet hit the rug in the hallway, I moved quickly again, the sound muffled by the thickness of the rug. I stopped in front of his office door, which was closed. His voice was immediately audible.
“Friday, then?” Carter’s deep voice was calm as usual, borderline indifferent. He was quiet as he listened to the person on the other line. When he spoke again, it was nearly a minute later. “Yes, I’ll bring her. We’ll make the exchange at the border.”
My heart dropped into my stomach like a heavy stone. He never said my name, but his words were all the evidence I needed. Carter worked for Egor, and he was bringing me back to him like he planned.
Everything had been a lie.
Carter had never bought me for himself.
I ran away from Egor, throwing myself into the arms of crueler men in the hope I would be able to get away. But of course, Egor tracked me down, had someone else buy me, and now I was returning to him.
How could I have been so stupid?
I panicked in front of the door, the perspiration immediately marking my brow and palms. The adrenaline was so intense it knocked the energy out of me. I felt weak in the knees, felt my fingertips go numb, and lost all sensation in my lips. I couldn’t feel anything, but I could also feel overwhelming pain.
I thought Carter was a good man…but I’d been so wrong.
So fucking wrong.
He’d lied to me every single day, making up excuses for why he was keeping me. He was just babysitting me until Egor returned from one of his complicated business trips. Now he was back in the country, and he was ready to claim me.
I couldn’t believe I’d slept with Carter.
I couldn’t believe how fucking stupid I was.
Carter must have finished up the conversation because nothing else was said. His footsteps were audible on the other side of the door as he approached the hallway.
A part of me wanted to stand there and confront him, to scream at him for this terrible betrayal. But then I remembered my words wouldn’t matter because Carter didn’t give a damn about me. He’d been lying to me every single day. The time for conversation was over. I knew what I had to do.
I had to kill him.
That was the only way out of this nightmare.
I would kill him, use his thumb to unlock the security system, and then use it again to start one of his cars.
Then I would get the hell out of there—and disappear.
I sprinted down the hallway without worrying about the loud sounds I was making. I took the stairs rapidly and then made it into the kitchen. The knives were on the counter, so I grabbed the biggest one I could find, gripped the handle as tightly as possible, and then prepared to butcher my captor.
Even without a weapon, he was a serious opponent. Bigger and stronger than me, he would be able to take me down if I made the wrong move. I had to slice him across the throat or stab him in the heart. My movements had to be precise. The only comforting thought I had was my invincibility. Regardless of what I did, he wouldn’t kill me.
Egor wanted me alive.
I stepped out of the kitchen and spotted him at the bottom of the staircase. With the knife gripped in my hand, I was prepared to slice that beautiful skin until he bled out and died on the elegant Turkish rug. He had been a man I was fond of, someone I even liked, but now, he was just my enemy. I should have killed him in his sleep when I had the chance.
I wouldn’t make that mistake again.
He turned his gaze away from the couch, where he�
��d been searching for me. The instant his eyes settled on me, seeing the large knife in my hand, he knew exactly what had transpired. He saw the rage in my eyes, the intent of murder. He stared at the knife for a moment, not showing a hint of fear even though he was the one unarmed. When he lifted his gaze to meet mine, the same look of calmness was settled there. “Sweetheart, I don’t want to hurt you.”
I gripped the knife tighter, wanting to slice his heart out and watch the light leave his eyes. “You can’t hurt me when you’re dead.”
He stepped closer to me, his thick arms remaining by his sides. All the muscles of his body were tense in preparation of the fight about to ensue, but his handsome features remained as stoic as ever. “Even if you cut me, it’s not going to slow me down. And you’re more likely to cut off your hand in the process.” His brown eyes narrowed in hostility. “So just put down the knife down, sweetheart. I mean it when I say I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You mean it?” I asked coldly. “You expect me to believe that? You’ve been lying to me this entire time. I thought you were some kind of good guy, but now I know you’re just Egor’s bitch.”
His eyes narrowed even more as both of his hands tightened into fists. “Be careful, sweetheart.”
“I will,” I hissed. “The only way I’m getting out of here is by killing you. And I’m not gonna stop until—”
He charged me. His lean but ripped physique came at me quicker than a bullet. His heavy feet pounded against the hardwood floor as he propelled himself with a formidable momentum.
I barely had a second to react.
I steadied the knife and sliced at him, but my blade only hit air. I pointed the blade right at his heart, ready to claim his life. I was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for my freedom—by taking someone’s life.
I missed.
Carter moved with stealthy speed. He grabbed my wrist, slammed it hard onto his knee, and forced me to drop the blade on the floor.
“No!”
He kicked it away then shackled both of my hands behind my back with one of his. Without the same gentleness he showed me before, he shoved me against the wall and pressed his chest into my body, keeping me in anchored in place.
