Truth: A Sinful Series, Book One

by Trilina Pucci

  “Drew?”

  “Nick.”

  King’s hand slides across my back, his fingers curling around my waist cementing me to his side. His touch reminds me to breathe. I take a deep breath and look at King. “It seems your law offices now employ my ex.”

  King’s face is fixed on mine. Past the smile and the polite sentiments, he’s looking to see how I’m truly feeling. “Strange, I’ve never met…name?” The commanding tone makes my breath hitch, but I look to Nick to see him looking incredibly nervous.

  Suits you right, asshole.

  “Drew, what’s going on? Why are you here with Mr. King?” He seems genuinely confused.

  “I asked for your name.” King’s voice becomes darker, more serious. “I see you know exactly who I am. Then you’ll know that making me wait for my answer isn’t in your best interest.”

  Nick adjusts his suit jacket, giving away how afraid he is in this moment. Who exactly is my husband? The thought intrigues me more than it probably should.

  “I apologize… I, uh, I’m sorry. I’m the new associate here. Nick Taylor.”

  “You can refer to my wife by her married name, Mr. Taylor.”

  Nick’s shock is written all over his face, and his eyes burn into my half grin with anger.

  “Your wife? Is this some kind of joke? Forgive me, Mr. King, but I am familiar, very familiar, with your wife. Before she was your wife, she was my girlfriend.”

  His smug face makes me sick. I hate the look of him even now. Bastard.

  King tips his fingers to my chin, drawing it to his face, and mine softens when I look at him. “There she is…” He kisses my forehead. “What would you like, gorgeous? Would you like me to make him disappear?” He tilts his head, looking deep into my eyes. It takes me a moment to answer because I keep searching his face for validation that I’m misunderstanding him. It sounds as if King is asking me if I want Nick to disappear—as in the kind of disappear that has your face on a milk carton.

  “No.” I let out a tiny laugh. He’s a psychopath, and I married him. I don’t care. Even more disturbing, I love him so much more in this moment. “He lives another day. I’m sure there is someone out there that wants him alive.”

  King’s face contorts to convey a “maybe.” “Just bring me the papers for my beauty to sign, and let’s pretend none of this ever happened.” His eyes on me, always on me, as if nobody else exists.

  “Gladly.” Nick mumbles something to himself as he grabs a file from the desk and begins to walk it over.

  “Stop.” King breaks from his assessment of me to look at Nick and peels his hands from my waist. I can feel his anger, the rage always lying in wait. It’s calculating, strategic, and possibly cruel, and it’s found an opportunity to show itself. I should stop him. Instead, I look past my vicious husband and straight at Nick’s face. He looks terrified. He should be.

  King’s voice is smooth, deadly. “You’ll have to forgive my manners, but since you seem to know my wife, we should properly meet.” Extending his hand, he approaches Nick. It’s funny; I always considered Nick a big guy, but King makes him look like a boy. Not just in his physical size but in demeanor. Dominic is all male, testosterone, and sex appeal. Nick looks like a college frat guy. Goddamn, I love my husband.

  I wait for King to speak, but the two men stand in silence, just shaking hands, not even really shaking. I crane my neck to look closer because it’s going on for longer than expected, and then I notice Nick’s face is tense, red, and he’s letting out small breaths as King leans in and whispers something in his ear. King’s hand is strained and white; he’s crushing Nick’s with force. When he lets go, Nick pulls back, his breath coming out in a rush, and his other hand grabs the wrist of his injured one. Nick’s eyes dart to mine, and I can’t help the look of satisfaction that grows on my face. Try pinching me now, dick.

  King leans back, half sitting on the desk, grabbing the file we are to sign. He extends it to Nick and nods. “Go on, give this to my wife.”

  Nick’s face looks pleading as King crosses his arms, jaw tensed. Nick stands for a moment and then reaches out to take the file with his good hand. Turning his body to face me, he keeps his face to the ground and puts the file in his mouth, slowly kneeling down on one knee, then both. My eyes give away my shock as he begins to crawl using his good hand.

  My eyes shoot to King, who just gives me a wink, and back down to Nick in this pathetic position. One word and all of this stops; one word and I can put a stop to the most humiliating scene I’ve ever witnessed. It’s so different—I remember crawling to King, but it never felt embarrassing or degrading because our intention was tied to our love. King has a singular intention: cruelty. I could stop it. One fucking word. But none come to mind; in fact, all I can think of are all the times I was made to feel this low, this disrespected. I was the one forced to beg for his approval. I was his bitch, and now he’s mine. I watch him struggle all the way to my feet.

  Emboldened by my power trip, I squat down and pull the file from his mouth, pausing for a moment to take in the mix of fear and disgust on his face. “Good puppy,” I say, patting his head. I stand to look at my husband, who holds up an index finger, letting me know he’ll be a minute. I nod and walk out the door and through the offices out of the building, straight to the waiting car.

  WATCHING DREW DEBASE THIS LITTLE fucker might go on my highlight reel for the rest of my life. If I thought for a moment she didn’t want this, I would have just taken out my vengeance in private, but my dark angel exceeds even my own expectations. She’s ruthless. She’ll need that grit. I know she has her questions about why people seem afraid or why they know me before we meet. But I need to explain when the time is right. However, after tonight I know she won’t scare easily.

  My attention drops back to Nick, watching him stand and brush off the knees of his trousers.

  “You’ve gotten what you want, Mr. King. I hope we can just forget this. Please just forget my name. I’ll stay away and make sure to never be involved with any of your business here at the firm. I swear.”

  Pushing to stand, I grab a steel letter opener off the desk, turning it around on my hand, testing the sharp point against my finger. “I prayed we’d meet the moment she told me about you.” I walk toward him using my size to intimidate him. “Does that frighten you, Nick? Knowing that I know all the cruel moments she lived through with you?”

  “Yes.” The fear in his voice is satisfying. He should be afraid; I would do anything for her.

  “And you know what I can do to you. More importantly, you should know I would do anything for her. Including take your life.” His body begins to shake with the tears that start.

  “Please don’t kill me.” His pleas are met with my satisfied smile. In another life, he would already be dead.

  “I’m glad we understand each other. Lucky for you, she wants you alive. That’s why you’re still standing here. Be a better guy, Nick. Don’t be the kind of little prick that draws my attention again.” I reach up and pat his cheek as he starts to cry, still holding the letter opener in my hand. “This is a new lease on life for you. Dry your tears. Nobody likes a crier.” He nods pathetically before I add, “But if you become a problem for her, if you look in her direction, I won’t just kill you.” I grab his hand, placing the opener in it, and forcefully close his hand around it, feeling the pop in the skin when it pierces his palm, making his cries grow louder. “I will make you suffer before I do. I’ll take everything and everyone from you until you do the dirty work for me. Do you understand?” My words aren’t just a threat—they’re a promise.

  His sobs grow louder, and he looks to the large wet stain spreading over the front of his pants.

  Looking down, I shake my head. “Clean yourself up,” I say as I walk out of the room.

  I need to calm myself down before I get to the car. She doesn’t deserve this life, but she’s my wife, my love, and I won’t let her go. We need this conversation to happen now. When I reach
the car, I jump in, trying for nonchalance when I’m assaulted by slaps against my shoulder.

  “Ow, shit, stop it.” Grabbing her wrists, I try and settle her. “What the fuck is that for?”

  “You were gone for forever. I was worried and about two seconds from coming back or sending George, who, by the way, carries a damn gun. You’ve got some things to explain. Now, King.”

  I hate keeping this from her. She needs to know.

  Letting go of her wrists, I give a side glance to George, who just shrugs. “Home,” I growl at him and turn back to her. “We’ll talk when we get home.” My voice is harsh and leaves little room for argument, but I’m sure she’ll find some.

  “Don’t you order me around. I said now.” Always so damn feisty. She isn’t going to let this go, forcing my hand.

  “Out,” I bark, causing the car to pull to the side of the road and George to exit just as quickly. The shock on her face is appropriate. “This conversation is for us; the fewer ears, the better. Do you understand? I mean it.” I’m relieved at the understanding that crosses her face.

  “You have my word.” Her voice is serious and honest. I trust her implicitly, but I feel restless starting the conversation.

  “On second thought, let us take the walk.” She nods in agreement, grabbing the handle and exiting first onto the sidewalk. I follow behind and nod to the door, looking at George. “Stay close.”

  “Absolutely.” He takes his place at the steering wheel.

  I offer Drew my arm, and she wraps her hand around my bicep. We set off down the empty sidewalk, walking quietly for a block, in and out of the shadows cast by the streetlamps. This quiet in the city feels as ominous as the reality I’m about to share. We take a turn down another quiet street, and I release my tension with a breath.

  “Whatever it is, it won’t change how I feel.” Her words fill the spaces of doubt I didn’t even know I had.

  “I have a large family…the kind of family that has connections, debts to be paid from a lot of people.” She nods her understanding, letting her eyes grow a little wider. “My father left that family so that he could have a normal life, outside the morally flexible activity. He was dead to them. So were we, until they died.” She reaches out for my hand and squeezes it. Her gesture makes me feel guilty for what I’m about to say. “I did what I had to do to protect Luca, and sometimes that meant living in a grayer area. You have to understand, I was a very angry boy that became an angry man, which made me dangerous.”

  “Made? Makes…” She levels her stare at me.

  “Yes, you’re correct—makes me a dangerous man, and my uncle was all too happy to use my issues to his advantage. He helped fuel a monster willing to help him rise to power, but he’s my family. I would’ve helped him regardless. Those who live on the edges of this underbelly understand just how dangerous I am. I was the man you saw before taking your last breath.”

  The tears falling down her cheeks gut me. “Was or am?”

  Fuck, I swore I would never break her, and now I’m scared to death I have to, but if she wants me, I have to give her all of me. I have to give the truth. Reaching for her cheek, I wipe the tears away. “Was. But I will always be a dangerous man. My history can’t be erased, but you saw past the monster to the man my father created.”

  Her gorgeous blue eyes glisten with more tears but never break contact from mine.

  “Tell me how you got that scar by your lip again?” Her smile is her acceptance.

  “Coffee table, but this one—” I raise my hand showing a long white scar on the side of my palm. “This one was from a knife fight.” She grabs my hand and kisses my scar, a worried expression falling on her beautiful face.

  “Never again. No more blood.” Turning her attention forward, she releases my arm and puts her arms across her chest tightly. “You must have been so lost, so frightened as a child, but you were so brave.” I watch her walk ahead of me, bound by her own arms and her worry for me as a child. I want to take it away. I just stand, watching her walk, and then I step into the shadows of the alley we’ve passed, sinking into the anonymity of the dark. Just watching her.

  “King? Did you hear…” She turns, looking over her shoulder and then around for me. “King? Where the hell did you go?” She looks side to side, putting eyes on our car ahead. “King! Goddammit, this is not the time for fucking games.”

  “Are you afraid?” I whisper from the dark. She shoots in my directions, wild eyes searching the dark, cheeks flushed as understanding settles in. She needs this as much as I do.

  “Never. It’s you that should be afraid. My eyes are wide open, and this is still my only choice. You’re so scared that you won’t be able to be here in the light with me, but I’d prefer to join you in the shadows.”

  I’ve never loved another person more than I love her.

  I know she can’t see me, but her eyes seem to find mine as she walks directly toward me. The moment she reaches the edge of the darkness, she halts, nervous, scared by what she can’t see. I watch her eyes and the doubt in them and see it settle into resolve, so I reach out and grab her waist, pulling her into the blackness of the alley and pressing my hand over her mouth. “Shhh. I’m taking what I want, here in this alley. You have to be quiet, or people will start to investigate…”

  Nodding her head yes, I slowly release my hand from her mouth, then run it down her throat, down farther to her breast. She lets out a small moan and grabs the front of my shirt. “Quiet, baby, or we’ll have to find you a gag again.” The thought makes me unbearably hard, and I crash down into her mouth, mixing tongues and hitting teeth as we claw at each other. She rips at my suit jacket, pulling it down off my shoulders, but I catch one of her hands and bring it to the wall, spinning her around to face the brick. Her hands slap against the building, and her breath is almost as loud.

  I press her to the brick wall, grinding my cock against her rear. “I’ll never be the man you deserve, but I’ll always be the one who loves you most.”

  “And I you.”

  Grabbing her by the hair, I pull her head back and attack her neck, kissing and sucking while she grinds her backside into me over and over. She uses the wall as an anchor to build the pressure between us. I reach around and gather her skirt, slipping a finger between her wet, hot folds, caressing and rubbing her clit. She wraps one arm back around my neck as we find a rhythm, dry humping in the darkened alley.

  “King…” she moans.

  “More, I want more,” I growl, possessed by my desire to be inside of her.

  “You can have it all,” she breathes.

  I grab her arm, turning her around and pushing her back against the wall, hitching her right leg up and angling her body just right to thrust my hard cock inside her. “Jesus, I want to tear you apart, bury myself deep inside of you.” Pushing in over and over, harder and harder, I set the pace of my punishing motions, enveloped by her warmth. My cock is strangled by her own need to swallow me whole inside her. “Fuck, Drew, this is my home. I want to die inside this pussy. I’m going to fuck you against this wall and fill you with my cum. I want you to feel it dripping down your leg as we walk, to serve as my mark. Nobody will ever touch what’s mine.”

  “Fuck me, King, mark me. I want you to smell like my pussy as a warning to anyone that comes close to you. My bark is as big as my bite.” Her last words come out as a growl as she digs her nails into my shoulders.

  We fuck against the wall, hard and fast until she screams out my name, squeezing my cock with her muscles, milking it for all I can give.

  “No more, baby. No more. My past stays buried. This is my vow to you.” Wrapping my arms around her, I hold her close and kiss the top of her head.

  “I love you, Dominic King.”

  “Never more than I love you, Drew King.”

  We walk out of the shadows and to our waiting car. Holding the door open, she crawls into her seat, and I walk around, rebuttoning my jacket and taking my place next to her.

 
“Let’s go.”

  George slides back into the streets, rejoining the small traffic.

  When we get to the townhouse, we pull up behind the moving van I arranged to move her things into my home while we were in Vegas. I’m pleased she’s chosen the townhouse because it was already prearranged. I kiss the top of my sleeping beauty’s head again and direct George to pay the guys. “Cash. Only in cash, George. They had to break into her place to get her shit, so I figure cash is best.” I laugh at his agreement. “Tell them to come back tomorrow to finish. She needs rest.”

  “Will do.” He exits the car before pulling my door open and goes to handle the guys.

  I maneuver out of the car, keeping her in my arms. As we pass the guys collecting their cash, I give them a nod as I walk past their straightening backs and removal of hats. Respect is key in life. I may not be a made member of the Sovrano family, but they’re my blood. Nobody escapes their blood. I walk up the steps as George breezes past to get the door.

  “Anything before I go, King?”

  “Not here, but will you swing by and check on Luca tonight? He’s stopping by the club. Keep him out of trouble,” I say, walking through the opened door.

  “Will do, boss,” he answers, closing it softly so as not to wake Drew. I grin appreciatively as I walk the stairs to our bedroom. I lay her down and pull off her shoes, and she stirs awake but only for a moment. Her exhaustion is evident. I manage to undress her all the way down to her naked body, then tuck her into the covers placing a kiss on her lips. I exit quietly, heading down the stairs to my office. I have some calls to make before the night is done, and I don’t want Drew to wake.

  Sitting in my chair, I look at my cell, debating how this call will go. I’m not afraid of any man, but my uncle is the only man I know capable of more destruction than myself. But I love the old man. He’s a man created by his environment, but he always held my father in the highest regard. I think he was proud of him for being his own man but mostly appreciative of the sacrifices my father made for him.