To Love and Obey

by Vera Roberts

  Another scandal, another day. It was a similar situation he went through eight years ago, except the heat wasn’t on Scott so much. Still, Jeff didn’t like what was happening with his best friend. Scott didn’t get into the specifics on why he had to break up with Mariana, but Jeff knew Caprina played a role in it. Whenever Jeff and Scott met for lunch, Caprina texted Scott to see what he was up to. She just happened to be in the neighborhood one evening when all of the guys were playing poker. And then that one time she showed up unannounced wearing nothing but a rain coat and some lingerie…

  Not that any of it mattered to Scott. For the better part of two months, he was withdrawn and kept to himself as much as possible. If it wasn’t for Jeff, Dave, and Paul, forcing Scott to get out of the house and be productive, he would’ve been in the same shape as he was the last go-round. At least he kept himself in shape unlike the last horrible break-up. If anything, Scott seemed like he belonged on the cover of GQ.

  His spirit was empty, Jeff could tell. He would be the first to admit that the pairing between him and Mariana was a little unusual – she was ten years younger, Scott was wealthier, and they both didn’t seem like they would have a lot in common from the outside looking in. But as Jeff got to know Mariana and see how his best friend’s face lit up whenever she sent him a text or smiled at him, Jeff knew, without a doubt, Mariana was the one for his boy.

  “I don’t give a damn about the circumstances,” Scott’s voice broke the silence, “I do not want her name mentioned at all.”

  Jeff knew Scott was referring to Caprina. “Not a problem here.”

  “Good,” Scott glanced down at his Cartier, “we need to meet up with Jacob at the club. We should be going now.”

  *****

  Mariana

  Her makeup, flawless. Her makeup, Chanel. Her outfit, a hot little number she picked up at the mall recently. She couldn’t decide if she wanted an up do or wear her hair down. She decided to go with down. It seemed more alluring in that style.

  She wanted to get excited about her date. She really did. She wanted to show to everyone that she was not dependent on Scott. She was capable of being in love with someone else. She wanted to show that yes, she might have been submissive to him as her boyfriend, boss, and Dom but she was very much her own woman.

  Mariana Harlow shook her head in the mirror. Even she couldn’t buy that crock of shit she just sold herself.

  “He said he had to do it to protect you.”

  “To protect me? Protect me from what?”

  “He wouldn’t say. He just said he didn’t want you to get involved with what was going on, and it was best you were out of the picture for now.” Jerome sat beside his sister. “He said he still loves you and wants you back.”

  For the better part of the afternoon, Mariana wondered what was going on in Scott’s head. So many questions, no one was giving her a solid answer. She practically had to beat it out of Jerome when she saw him. Would Bella know? If she did, she probably wouldn’t tell Mariana. Same thing with Victoria and Trish.

  And she knew Scott wasn’t going to say a word. She was stupid to change her number. Maybe he was trying to get a hold of her. Maybe he wanted to communicate with her and couldn’t. Mariana shook her head to that. Scott had her e-mail address. He knew how to get in contact with her if he truly wanted to. Would she have read his e-mail? She couldn’t honestly answer that question. But at least she knew he attempted to reach out to her.

  He said he still loves you and wants you back. Why oh why did she have to listen to what her brother had to say? She was better off being ignorant and stupid to it all. Now she knew – she knew nothing and seemingly everything. Scott had to have known Jerome was going back to his parents’ home; why didn’t he just follow him? How would she have reacted if he did show up?

  She knew Scott wouldn’t show up, though. After what she had seen on TV during the past week, Scott was officially in hiding and nowhere to be found. She stalked her television, taping every news channel and rewinding it just to see a glimpse of Scott’s face. A few reporters were outside his home and Mariana loathed the invasion of privacy. That was her home. That was her driveway. That was her grass.

  Was. It was her home. It was her driveway. It was her grass. She could remember the breakup like it just happened and how she avoided him for the rest of the day. She soaked the pillows with tears and her eyes were bloodshot red. She slept in the guest room that night, only appearing to shower and other bathroom needs. But she didn’t eat; she couldn’t. Whenever she tried to sleep, thoughts of her relationship flooded her brain. The guest bed was cold and lonely, spurning her to think of the times Scott would nestle himself between her legs as he fucked her seemingly for hours.

  He said he had to do it to protect you. It started to make sense now. She remembered when Scott gave her access to her accounts, he had a look in his eyes like he was making a mistake. At the time, Mariana read it as he shouldn’t have given her any money at all and she was angry at him. When he went on a business trip that week, she made sure she was moved out by the time he came back. She quit the internship a short time later so there wouldn’t be any complications or distractions.

  Even if she stayed, there was no guarantee she was going to get hired, not with Scott at the helm. She was almost positive he was going to make her life unbearable to the point she had to quit. She knew if she concentrated on getting herself back together and finding a job, she would be over Scott in no time.

  That was two months ago. She wasn’t over Scott. Not even close.

  What’s done is done. Mariana had a date to get ready for. She wasn’t the type to have sex on the first date, but she was going to make an exception for B. She just needed to fuck the pain out of her heart.

  *****

  Sarah

  “Are you ready to go, babe? We’re going to be late for the doctor’s.”

  “Yeah, just a sec,” Sarah’s eyes were fixated on the screen, “I’m almost done here.”

  Eric walked into the living room and saw Sarah watching yet another “special report” on her mentor, Caprina Waters. “Oh for fuck’s sake, woman.”

  “I just can’t get over what I’m hearing,” Sarah explained. “It’s two different people.” Liar. Sarah knew that wasn’t the truth but she wouldn’t dare tell her fiancée that information. She had played her role as perfect girlfriend and soon-to-be wife and mother. What she knew about Caprina was not going to destroy any of that.

  “It’s always the ones you least expect,” Eric walked over to the sofa where Sarah was and turned off the TV, “but you’ve been watching this all damn week. Who cares? She’s crazy and ruined. None of our business.”

  “She was my mentor, baby,” Sarah explained. “If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have been contracted by Elite. I wouldn’t be scoring all these gigs. I have gigs lined up after I give birth, baby! I owe Caprina a lot.” I owe Caprina not a damn thing.

  “I understand how you feel and how upset you are. But all that she’s doing? And with my business partner?” Eric shook his head and helped Sarah stand up. He grabbed his car keys and they headed outside to the SUV. “She’s lucky he didn’t call the cops on her crazy ass.”

  Scott Reed. Just thinking of him made Sarah’s heart thump in her chest and a swarm of butterflies swarm in her belly. She lightly licked her lips and breathed a small sigh of relief. Goodness gracious that man was a walking sex advertisement. He was already gorgeous with his muscular build, lush dark brown hair, and studious green eyes. But when Sarah discovered Scott was also a Dom, he created something inside her that was animalistic, insatiable, and uncontrollable.

  He was all she ever thought about. It got to the point she thought about Scott when she was having sex with Eric because the fantasy was better than the reality. All she wanted was a taste – a small morsel, really – and then she would be on her way. Nothing more, nothing less.

  “How is Scott doing?” Sarah inquired.

  Eric gave a half
-shrug. “I guess he’s doing okay. He was going through something with Mariana. I guess they broke up. He’s been keeping to himself for a bit.”

  Sarah’s eyes lit up. The timing could not have been more perfect. “They broke up?”

  “Yeah. I thought you knew. Don’t you talk to Mariana still?”

  “It’s been a while.” Liar. “I haven’t really been in contact with her since the modeling thing has taken off.”

  “You should give your girl a call, ‘Rah.” Eric suggested. “I’m sure she would like to hear from you.”

  Why? They’re broken up and I don’t need her anymore. Come to think of it, I really don’t need you either, Eric. With Caprina out of the way, Mariana clearly not in the picture anymore, and Eric becoming close and fast friends with Scott, it seemed the heavens shined down on Sarah. “I will.”

  Sanora

  Patience. She was taught that at a young age from her parents. She instructed her submissives that on a regular basis. It was something instilled in Her. It was something She had perfected.

  And now, patience was something Sanora needed to hold onto for just a little longer.

  She watched all of the news reports. She went online to read the articles. She picked up the magazines and read them, sometimes twice. Some were decent. Some were good. A few were exceptional. She made a mental note; the exceptional ones were going to get pay raises.

  It was a trying task – destroying another person’s life and she would be lying if the thought of quitting didn’t cross her mind every now and then. Her father wanted to take care of Caprina on his own and she told him to stay out of it. Ms. Ricci was her problem and she was going to enjoy every fucking moment of ruining that cunt’s life and everything she has worked for.

  She never forgot about Caprina, not after what she had been through. For years, she watched her father parade her mother’s killer on yachts, celebrity parties, and trips around the world while she suffered in silence. Her father had other girlfriends, countless and nameless women who didn’t stick around for more than a few months. But Caprina…she always stayed. She was in the background. She was front and center. She was everywhere.

  She was in Sanora’s face.

  If Caprina loved a country, Dimitri would buy her a home in that specific area. If she wanted to fly to a specific restaurant for a meal, Dimitri made sure his plane was available. And Sanora could never forget the jewelry Caprina wore. She didn’t like the jewelry Dimitri bought for her, refusing to wear the ridiculously expensive baubles. Instead, she wanted to wear Akira’s jewelry. The jewelry she made famous and spurned a flurry of copycat designs.

  “What do you think?” Caprina paraded around the master bedroom. She was naked and only wearing stilettos and diamond jewelry. “It looks good on me, doesn’t it, caro?”

  “It looks beautiful on you, princess,” Dimitri smiled from the bed. “It looks great on you.”

  Sanora opened the bedroom door. “Papa, I’m almost ready for…” She paused seeing Ricci wearing her mother’s jewelry. Rage enflamed in Sanora’s eyes and she charged at Ricci. “Tha su skiso to muni!” I will rip your cunt apart.

  It took several security guards to pull Sanora off Caprina but the damage was already done. She could not stand to be in the same house any longer with her father and his new whore. She turned to her father and was confused by his eyes. He seemed proud to watch what took place

  For the longest time she thought maybe her father and Caprina were in cahoots with each other. Maybe it was planned all along to take Akira out of the picture. Maybe she was next.

  One night after the chef cooked dinner, Sanora sprinkled a little arsenic in her father’s plate. Not enough to kill him, but just the right amount to catch his attention. If they were planning on killing her, she would let them know she wasn’t going down without a fight.

  Dimitri seemed to have eyes everywhere. When it was time for dinner, he wanted them go out to a restaurant instead. Sanora shrieked in protest and insisted they stay home but Dimitri was not having any of that. He wanted to treat his only heir to his kingdom. Sanora pouted and got into the limousine, trying to figure out another way to kill her father and his girlfriend.

  On the way to the restaurant, Dimitri pulled out a loaded 9mm handgun with a silencer and handed it over to Sanora. “Here,” he said.

  Sanora was shocked by the huge gun on her lap. “Papa?”

  “You want to kill me, yes?” Dimitri looked directly into his daughter’s eyes. “Now’s your chance. I have instructed the driver to drive us over the bridge in about ten minutes. You can dump my body there. I have a ransom note already written out and a background story in case the police question you or anybody else on what happened.” He cleared his throat. “Go ahead. I’m ready.”

  “Papa! I don’t want to kill you!” Sanora’s tears streamed down her cheeks. “I thought you and Ricci were going to kill me!”

  “I would never, ever harm the only heir to my throne,” Dimitri reassured her.

  “But why are you with her?” Sanora cried. “After what she did to us? After what she did to you? Why, Papa? Why?”

  “I’m with her so it won’t happen again,” Dimtri looked out the window. “I’m with her so she won’t harm you.”

  “I can take care of myself.” Sanora wiped her tears.

  “I know you can. I never doubted you could, kardia mou. But I need to handle things on my own way and on my own terms,” he replied.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “The way the media works, kardia mou, is you have to build someone up before you can take them down. You wouldn’t kick an old man walking down a flight of stairs, would you? You wouldn’t harm an innocent child, would you? But a greedy person? A ruthless person? That’s the one you go after.”

  “So, what you’re saying is…”

  “Let me build her up to what she wants to be and then when I’m done with her….” Dimitri turned back to his daughter. He had a menacing look in his eyes that spelled murder. “…you can do whatever you want to take her down.”

  So it began…years of methodical planning to destroy the one of the world’s supermodels. She read the accolades. She saw the latest fashion designs she wore. She read about the celebrity parties and other famous boyfriends. But it didn’t matter who Caprina dated; she always went back to Dimitri, who seemingly welcomed her with open arms.

  Sanora knew what her father was doing. He was intentionally making her angry. So angry that it festered inside of her, boiling, bubbling, and blistering. It didn’t matter what Sanora did, what accomplishments she had achieved. Bringing Ricci down was the only thing that mattered. And it was finally happening.

  “Are you ready to go, Jessica?” Senator Jay Edwards adjusted his cufflinks as he walked into the bedroom.

  “Yeah, almost,” Sanora adjusted the long red wig on her head.

  Jay stood behind his wife and admired her in the mirror. “One day, you won’t need to wear that.”

  “One day,” she agreed, “when I’m dead.”

  “I doubt anyone would care outside the scene.” Jay offered.

  “It’s not the lifestyle I’m concerned with,” Sanora powdered her prosthetic nose, “it’s the other situation.”

  Jay thought about the staff who have helped his wife for the past several years. Dominic, Eduardo, Aileen, Dove, Moira, Monica, Rea, and Robin. When Sanora revealed to him what she wanted to do, he insisted he help with it. Destroying another person’s life was too big of a task for his wife to take on alone. It also meant they both had to do some creative erasing of both hers and his pasts so no one could trace anything back to them.

  Jay’s former career as a CIA operative came in handy for his wife’s ambitions. “It’s almost done.” He offered a smile.

  “Almost.” Sanora turned around and smiled at her husband. “How do I look, Senator?”

  “Like royalty.” He smiled.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  E
pilogue