Katie’s POVA brief image of me licking away the sweet-smelling alcohol flashes through my mind, but I quickly push it to the darkest corner of my brain. He’s attractive, but he is a monster. I can’t let my physical attraction to him distract me.Watching him more closely, I can tell he is of Italian descent, which explains why he used the word ‘piccolo.’ His dark complexion, along with his dark hair and eyes, tells me he is. His body and hands are large, his whole presence is large.“I hope you think of this place as a home, not a prison.” His words are gentle, and his eyes are soft as he looks at me. Either he is trying to comfort me or give me a false sense of safety. I’m guessing the latter. He probably wants me to let my guard down so his attack will be more vicious.“I hope you treat me like a person and not a prisoner,” I retort, taking a seat on the sofa and folding my hands in my lap. I don’t know what else to do or where I am supposed to go. I have been given no directions o
Katie’s POVIt’s not until I’m buttoning up the blouse that I wonder who this belongs to. Why does he have women’s clothing in his closet? Does he do this a lot, or does he have a girlfriend… or wife? Whoever she was, she happens to be my size.“Let’s go then.” Setting his glass down, he gently grabs my hand and leads me out of the room, stopping to close and lock the door behind us. I’m not sure why he feels the need to do that being it is his house, but I’m not curious enough to ask.I can’t help but admire Cephus’s house as we continue our journey to the kitchen. The house is large and has an elegance to it that I have never seen before. This is the type of thing that can’t be seen anywhere—magazines won’t even do it justice. It is designed and decorated to a specific standard, and I assume that standard is Cephus King.The kitchen is huge. Dark wood cabinets line the walls with stainless steel appliances accompanying them. The fridge is the biggest I have ever seen, and the eati
Cephus’ POVI watch her step back into my bedroom… our bedroom for the time being. She walks through my house like it’s a museum, scanning every room and every item with wonder and fascination. If it wasn’t for the lingering fear in her eyes, she would look like a kid in a candy store.She stops a few feet away from me, suddenly looking out of place. She eyes me curiously as if she is waiting for my direction.“Get undressed,” I ordered, leaning against the desk casually.She doesn’t move. Her gaze is locked on me, and even from across the room, I can see her chest rising and falling rapidly.“I know I agreed to do whatever you want, and I will, but I would really appreciate it if you would tell me what’s going to happen exactly? I mean, you said we’ll get to know each other first before we…”“Fuck?” I finished for her.“Yes, that.” Her cheeks turn an adorable shade of pink, and I feel a grin tuck on my lips.“I wasn’t planning on fucking you tonight. I simply asked you to undress so
Cephus’ POVShe looks relaxed and peaceful, which is odd, considering her situation. Or maybe I just think it’s odd because I sleep with one eye open, even in my own house.After a while, I get up to take a shower. The image of Katie in my bed without underwear is fresh in my mind.Under the hot spray of water, I grip my cock and start to stroke it. Imagining her tight pussy wrapped around it instead of my own hand. Fuck! I could go in there and have her now. I could make it good for her too, but something is stopping me.I want her to be more than a quick fuck. I want her to stay here with me, and even though I need her to obey me, I also don’t want her to hate my guts.My hips thrust into my hand on their own as I keep fucking my hand, thinking about the little temptress in my bed. Does she know how fucking sexy she is? Does she realize how she licked her plump lips, making me imagine she is licking my cum off?It doesn’t take long before I feel my balls draw together, and the tin
Katie’s POVEven strangers were seeing him walking around naked in front of me like it’s the most normal thing in the world. Maybe it is to him, we are in his bedroom after all. It was definitely new to me, and the way my body reacted was also new territory. The moisture between my legs, the throbbing of my pussy, and the way my nipples tighten… I’ve never felt like this before.Knowing who he is and what he has done, I’m ashamed that I react to him like this. What would my father think of me? The thought is like an ice bucket of water dumped on my head. I don’t want to sleep with him, or at least I shouldn’t want to.He didn’t take me last night. In fact, he stayed on his side of the bed all night. I know it won’t last long, though. One way or another, I will have to spread my legs for him.I really wish I wouldn’t have been such a prude until now. I’ve had two boyfriends, but didn’t do anything besides kissing with either. I don’t know why. It just didn’t feel right at the time.No
Katie’s POV“My mom taught me how to play, but I haven’t played in a very long time.” The memory of my mom and me sitting closely together and playing a few tunes hits me, and sadness fills my veins. “We had to sell our old piano at some point. I can’t remember why. I probably forgot how to play anything, to be honest.”“If you do want to play, that will be one of the rooms you can go to even without me.”“What about the library?”“No. I’ll take you there if you want me to, but do not go there on your own.”“Why?” I question as we walk down the stairs.“Because I said so.”I almost rolled my eyes at him. “Fine. Got it. No library. Where else can I go?”“If you are hungry, you can always go to the kitchen. The cook or a maid will be there most of the time to prepare something for you. If not, the fridge is always stocked.”“Got it. Music room and kitchen, green zone,” I say more to myself. “Where do you go during the day?”“You have a lot of questions,” he points out.“So? I like to k
Felix’s POV“You want me to do it?” Felix questions. His voice is hushed, as to not let the little snitch hear. The man who lies before me is someone who took our stash of drugs, sold them, and then took the money and ran. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, and it most certainly won’t be the last.“No.” I wave him off. I don’t need anyone to do anything for me. I have climbed my way to the top alone, and I can handle this alone too.Squatting down, I grab the man by the chin, forcing him to look at me. “Tony, why did you have to go and pull a stupid stunt like this?” There is nothing sincere about my questioning. It is mocking, taunting even. See, I like it when these people try to fight back because it makes me feel that much more powerful.He doesn’t say anything to me; it seems like he is looking straight through me rather than at me, which in turn just pisses me off more.“Any last wishes?” I ask, smirking, the gun cocked and ready. I generally never take this long to put
Chapter 49Cephus’ POV“Ahhh, continue telling me how much of a monster I am. Please,” I mockingly plead, tilting my head at her. She narrows her eyes, and her tongue dips out of her mouth and onto her bottom lip to moisten it. She looks like a snake ready to strike.Her eyes leave mine as she adjusts herself in the bed, her body rolling over as she pulls the covers up and over her head. I must have misread her. I thought for sure she was going to come at me with something snarky.I head into the bathroom to wash my hands and dispose of my blood-covered clothing before making my way back out to her. It’s strange seeing a woman in my bed, but at the same time, it fits. Like she belonged here all along.“Are we done playing games already?” I taunt her, walking over to the bed and sliding into my spot. She scoots closer to her side as if getting away from me is her number one priority. That’s too bad because getting closer to her is mine.Reaching out, I put my hand under the blanket an
Chapter 183Katie's POVAll I see is a blur of him as I try to get my mind and body to function so I can answer him. My legs hit the floor as he pushed me down, releasing me to walk away. His hand grips his hair as he stares at the gun in his other hand and back down to me.“No. No, it’s not true,” I whimper, tears still falling. “Don’t listen to him,” I plead, looking him straight in the eyes.“Silence,” he orders, walking over to me with his hand raised. Will he hit me? Will he hurt me?“That isn’t true!” I shoot back. “Nothing he is saying is true…”Silence ensues for a long second before Cephus speaks. “Get the ropes and tape!” he yells to Mack. I’m lying on the ground on my side when his face comes into my vision.“Was it all a lie, Katie? Was it all some fucked up lie so that you could get into my head? So you could get the inside job done and walk away unscathed?” His voice is so loud in my ears, I push away from him.“Was it?” he shouts, demanding a response, his fingers gripp
Chapter 182Katie's POV“I see it as more of a protective arrangement for both of us. There are legal protections for each of us… incentives to keep one another’s secrets.”I fixed him with what I hoped was the most vicious look I had in me. “I never went to the cops after you kidnapped me, didn’t go running to my parents begging them to find someone to break your kneecaps, and you thought you needed some other way of getting me to keep your secrets?”“It matters…” I can hear the anxiety in Mack’s voice. Something is very, very wrong.“Why does it matter? She was nothing before this whole incident and will be nothing after everything takes place. She’s clean. I know it.” Cephus sounds confident, and though I know I have done nothing wrong, if Mack convinces him I did something, I know I am as good as dead.“It matters because I know she’s not clean. After Jared called me and told me what Luccio said, I did a little digging on her and found some shit out.”Horror fills my mind. What i
Chapter 181Katie's POV“I was seven or eight, in a regular primary school not far from here.” His right hand moved, grasping for his phone, then he left it alone and pulled my hand he was still holding onto his knee, placing both of his hands over it. If the ring I was wearing was digging in, he didn’t give any sign. “It might surprise you to hear this, Katie, but I was not the best of children.”“Shocking revelation.”“I was always targeting kids a bit younger, a bit smaller. The ones I knew wouldn’t be able to give me any shit in return. Except this one time, there was this kid—Billy Burke, I remember his name vividly—and he did give me shit. He told me he wanted me to stop pushing him around and trying to scare him, and no he wasn’t going to give me his lunch money, by the way. I’d never run into this situation before when I was running this scam, so I panicked a bit. I hit him in the face. Told me to his parents.”I didn’t know what to say to this. It took me all too quickly b
Chapter 180Katie's POVEven when it gets worked out in the end, it sucks for long-term relationships.”It had to be even harder to find someone you could enter into the sort of long-term relationship most people were especially keen on with. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised Cephus had jumped at the chance to get me on board as a future wife.And speaking of my future husband, I had half-expected he wouldn’t be there when I returned. Then when I saw him sitting on the couch in front of the TV where he’d been when I ran out to get in Caroline’s car—where he’d probably slept for all I knew, he’d gone out the night before and hadn’t been back before I admitted defeat and crawled to bed—I half-expected to spot Angel somewhere in the room in the next moment. She didn’t have anything further to add to her roster of manipulations for the moment: we were alone.“What was your day like?” asked Cephus without looking at me. I let my bag slip by degrees from my fingers, frozen in place by the p
Chapter 179Katie's POV“Cephus isn’t supposed to be a part of this side of things, he can’t do it… and I doubt you’re in a position to ask your mother for assistance. Caroline is an ideal choice.”I didn’t like it, but she was right. I couldn’t go about this the wrong way if I ever wanted to be on Cephus’s good side. I didn’t want to go about it the wrong way. And while I was surrounded by Cephus’s family I needed to make connections unless I wanted to be treated the same way I was on my own. Caroline seemed like the safest option there so far.“If you’re sure I won’t be inconveniencing you,” I told Caroline. “I could use the help. I don’t have much experience with the whole wedding business, that much is for sure.”Caroline broke out in a little golf clap of delight. There might actually be some benefit in spending trying to absorb as much as I could of her elegance. “I’m so pleased to help. Now, I was thinking, I have the whole of tomorrow afternoon off work, so that would be a g
Chapter 178Katie's POVI sat up with a gasp.It was just like the morning before when I had woken to unexpected voices. But this time I was in a strange bed again, and at least one of those voices didn’t seem familiar at all.I’d learned my lesson from the day before. I couldn’t get myself into the single bathroom in the apartment, but I pulled on a proper outfit, brushed out my hair, and cleaned my face thoroughly with some wipes. I didn’t dare put on makeup without a full mirror, but I was young and fresh enough that I could probably get away without it.Once I was decent, I made a quick and quiet tidy of my room and then stepped up to the door for a bit of strategic eavesdropping before I joined the action.A childish female voice was doing most of the talking. “She’ll need someone to guide her through the process.”Cephus’s voice sounded both amused and exasperated. “Someone who has never been even close to getting married before?”“You know exactly what Caroline means.” The thi
Chapter 177Katie's POVI kept trying to convince myself that what I was craving was the worst craving anyone had ever had, including anything that had been thought up by a brain on pregnancy. But it was ridiculous to be so worried about whether I did or didn’t sleep with him when I was already making myself vulnerable to him, right? Or was this just how I was convincing myself to go along with wherever my lust took me?I don’t think about looking at my plate. Then when Cephus abruptly slid his chair backwards and stood, I startled like a tiny animal that could run away if provoked further. I knew damn well I couldn’t run.Cephus came to my side and put his hand out for mine, drawing me to my feet when I complied.“You have sauce on you,” he said and pointed it out on my shirt—his fingertip pressing slightly into my breast in a way that was, I’m sure, entirely necessary.I looked down at his hand there. Well, I’d managed to at least try to eat something.I thrust my chest forward in
Chapter 176Katie's POV“Madonna and child.” Cephus folded his arms and leaned back; it felt like an acknowledgment that I’d landed a hit, but I didn’t have any idea how. I’d just been trying to give a voice to my frustrations. “So you know a little bit about art, then.”“I think that’s kind of something I picked up through pop culture actually,” I said. I was hoping to screw with him while I seemed to have an advantage, and he did appear to deflate a little in response. “You’d be more eager to get a leg over if I was the kind of girl who t art and how to engage with you because I have any desire to ‘get a leg over’. And I have no intention of scorning you because you lack cultural polish. I assure you that I will be able to provide for you sexually in every way you might require.”“What kind of statement is that? Trust me, I’m a sexy beast, even though from the way I behave you would expect pretty much any Arctic land to be less frigid than I am?”“Do you want me to provide referen
Chapter 175Katie's POV“Am I supposed to believe you are shy?”I was so startled by Cephus's Voice that here I dropped the capsicum I’d been fidgeting with. It rolled across the bench, and Cephus caught it with one hand while he continued dicing its unlucky sibling with the other.“I guess you wouldn’t,” I admitted, “but if any situation was going to make me feel that way… I mean, we’ve gone from you having me dragged out If bed to trying to cook with me?”“You’ve got to roll with the challenges life presents you sometimes, Katie,” said Cephus, rolling the second capsicum into the path of his knife.“Are you talking about me here or you?”“Both of us, for once.” His expression visibly dulled. It struck me then just how much more animated he had become since we had first met. It was just a handful of hours but there was someone behind the mafia man front he was slowly letting me see, whether by choice or unconsciously I did not know.It bothered disappearing again. It was messing wi