My head slams into something hard on descent, stirring me awake. I moan at the pain, but my voice is muffled, my lips dried and hurt around a foul tasting piece of cloth.A gag.My vision is tinged with darkness and my air filtered as I breathe in deeply. It takes a moment to realize the darkness is a hood over my head and my legs and hands have been bound, skin chafed raw from restraints.I kick, frustrated, screaming into the gag, rolling and hitting into anything I can feel around me, but I only end up hurting myself. I instantly recognize the steady hum of aircraft and engines that drowns out the sound my assault, and my blood runs cold.Where am I being taken? I knew freaking out wouldn’t help but being somewhere in the skies, literally anywhere right now, in the entire world, doesn’t exactly calm my nerves.How long have I been out and who took me? Was it the enemies Rizzi spoke of?Was it Jaxon?Every hum, every shift of the engines sets my nerves on edge. My heart is pounding
“H-home?” My breath lodges in my throat, and for the first time, I notice the woman standing behind, speaking in hush tones into her cellphone. Waves of full red hair falls over the back of a black long dress and her arms drop, her body tilting to face me fully. Icy dread pours through my veins, turning my blood to frost as the world around me closes in on the click of red heels and equally red smile. A crushing weight presses down on my chest and the nauseating stench of wrongly layered perfume suffocates me. A hand comes down on my hair, running down my face and I curl back, my ass hitting the floor and my heels scraping against stone. “N-no. Get away from me!”Valentina gives an order and I am set back on my knees roughly, my head pushed down until my lips brush against Morwenna’s feet.“I’ve been looking for you, Susanna,” Morwenna says with faux worry, her hands threading lovingly through my hair. “Why do you do this to me? Do you have any idea how worried Jax is? How could yo
I didn’t know her name, but I knew every inch of her body. I knew what she looked like when she came—heart shaped lips parted, nostrils flared, cheeks flush with color and sweat, grey doe eyes crossed…and on some occasions, rolled back in her head, her back arched, her nipples hard and glistening with saliva, and more importantly, there was something about her long, black hair clinging to her sweaty skin, to the odd but sexy dip in her hip that made me want to masturbate.I didn’t know his name either, but he fucked her a lot. And hit her a lot. She took each beating as perfectly as she took his dick in her mouth—like a good girl, but I wondered if he saw the hate that flashed in her eyes sometimes. I wondered if he saw how many times her gaze flicked to the hammer she kept at the top of her dresser every time he slapped her.She never left the house. He never let her. They fought too many times on that issue, loud enough to stir me from sleep. She wanted to see the world. She wanted
“There has been an unexpected development regarding the Thompson acquisition,” my secretary, Mark, tells me, and something at the back of my mind tells me this is important, yet, all I can hear is the commotion coming from the other side of the wall demarcating my fence from hers. He’s hitting her again. I really should have fixed this meeting at the office, or a hotel. But HR had decided this was best for…relating better with my employees and old man, Dante, was a pushy bastard sometimes. While the HQ is situated at Milan, we’d recently branched out into LA and I’m here to oversee the start and growth of this branch myself. I’d planned to stay a few months but the product launch is taking longer than expected. And while I often prided in my virtue of patience, I’m starting to lose it. Dante’s analysis of the situation stated that 99.99% percent of my employees thought I was a grumpy jerk who had little to no value for human life and
Their sex tonight time is different. Rougher. They are in her bedroom and she is bent over the arm of a green, plush couch, her hair pulled back by his fist as he rams his dick into her, punishing her, hitting her. Her eyes aren’t closed. No, she’s gazing out the window and my blood heats when she narrows her eyes at me, standing by my window. Surprise shines in her eyes, and I expect her to scream. Instead, her lips part, and her eyelashes flutter, a lustful haze darkening her eyes. And she smirks at me, biting her bottom lip as she comes. “Fuck,” I breathe, stepping away from the window, hands instinctively hiding my erection. There’s no way she sees me. My windows are one way through. There is no fucking way she saw me. Heart seconds away from exploding, I flee into the bathtub, stepping into the shower without taking off my clothes. I’m unsure how long I let the downpour drench me. I don’t get out until my teeth is clattering and my lips are blue. I’m s
I met Jaxon when I was sixteen. We got married when I was seventeen. It wasn’t so much a union of love as it was of necessity. I owed him. He owned me. The first and second years of our marriage had been painful. But it got better when I learned how to submit. How to be a docile little bitch when he needed me to. When I learned to sit by his feet without thinking it…humiliating. When I learned how to stand naked and take his sadistic administrations. When I learned to pretend to enjoy it. I’ve been married to him for four years and I’ve only set foot outside our home twice. It isn’t really ours. He likes to pretend it is mine, give me the illusion of freedom by leaving me all alone. For days sometimes. For weeks. I could walk right out through the gates. There are no guards to stop me. But I won’t. Why? Jaxon knows everything. There are cameras everywhere, monitoring my every breath. He’ll find me if I run—I know this, because I’ve tr
She’s asleep in the backseat, in my fucking coat. So much for wanting to flee from the sight of her and there she lies, snoring softly, her nightdress covering absolutely nothing as she turns, trying to get comfortable amongst my luggage. Bloody, flying fuck. “Sir, if I may—” I raise a tired hand to the new chauffeur. “Leave it. Have the first room in the guest wing tidied.” I groan at the thought of her in my sheets, in my bed, in my fucking house, without clothes. “No, the last room should do. Have it freezing cold. Disconnect the heater.” The middle-aged man arches a brow at me as I meet out more instructions, but he doesn’t ask questions as he hurries across the yard, past the front doors. With a ragged sigh, I get out of the car and pull her door open. “Mrs. Hawke?” I call out. Her lips remain parted and her features peaceful. There are purple bruises along her cheekbones and cuts on her neck and arm
I hug myself as the car bumps roughly and pull to a stop. I toy with the hem of the pyjamas Mr. Zefiro provided me with last night—it is all I had to wear between my display of bravado last night and my pathetic attempt of an escape plan this morning. A door shuts in the distance and I close my eyes, praying to whatever gods exists—not that they’ve ever listened to me anyway.I stiffen when the lock clicks and the lid is lifted. And so, Mr. Zefiro finds me in the trunk of his car.Leave? Where was I supposed to go with no money? Or shoes for that matter? Planning to seduce some money and kindness out of him flopped when the man refused to leave his study the entire night. Stealing from him didn’t work either because after hours of sneaking around his house and locating his bedroom, it was locked.So, in the early hours of the morning while his chauffeur had prepared the car for his use, I knew the best way to leave without asking for the prick’s help was by hitching a ride without
“H-home?” My breath lodges in my throat, and for the first time, I notice the woman standing behind, speaking in hush tones into her cellphone. Waves of full red hair falls over the back of a black long dress and her arms drop, her body tilting to face me fully. Icy dread pours through my veins, turning my blood to frost as the world around me closes in on the click of red heels and equally red smile. A crushing weight presses down on my chest and the nauseating stench of wrongly layered perfume suffocates me. A hand comes down on my hair, running down my face and I curl back, my ass hitting the floor and my heels scraping against stone. “N-no. Get away from me!”Valentina gives an order and I am set back on my knees roughly, my head pushed down until my lips brush against Morwenna’s feet.“I’ve been looking for you, Susanna,” Morwenna says with faux worry, her hands threading lovingly through my hair. “Why do you do this to me? Do you have any idea how worried Jax is? How could yo
My head slams into something hard on descent, stirring me awake. I moan at the pain, but my voice is muffled, my lips dried and hurt around a foul tasting piece of cloth.A gag.My vision is tinged with darkness and my air filtered as I breathe in deeply. It takes a moment to realize the darkness is a hood over my head and my legs and hands have been bound, skin chafed raw from restraints.I kick, frustrated, screaming into the gag, rolling and hitting into anything I can feel around me, but I only end up hurting myself. I instantly recognize the steady hum of aircraft and engines that drowns out the sound my assault, and my blood runs cold.Where am I being taken? I knew freaking out wouldn’t help but being somewhere in the skies, literally anywhere right now, in the entire world, doesn’t exactly calm my nerves.How long have I been out and who took me? Was it the enemies Rizzi spoke of?Was it Jaxon?Every hum, every shift of the engines sets my nerves on edge. My heart is pounding
Rizzi snorts. "His life is never in danger, Mrs. Hawke." I bristle at the name, but say nothing, changing my direction and heading for our parking spot. I'd have loved to stay longer but I'm too young to die and a bullet through my head is a rather ugly sight. "How long have you known him?" I ask, sighting Rizzi's car down the lot. There's a black van directly behind it, parked vertically, blocking us out. I notice his frown and at a second glance, I add with a mouthful of chocolate dipped cones."There's someone in the driver's seat." He nods. "Thirty-four years." Rizzi's frown eases a little, the corner of his eyes softening into a secret smile. "He used to call me *frantello*." I start to smile but the air on my neck rises suddenly, a sense of unease coming over me. I huddle closer to Rizzi and match his brisk steps, unable to shake the off-feeling. "You're making a mess," Rizzi says as we reach the van, staring pointedly at the uneaten ice c
Sometimes, I wondered if I loved having my heartbroken, making choices that only left me in tears. Maybe I was a sucker for pain and didn't know it yet. The week crawled by rather slowly and all I wanted to do was bawl. I didn't leave my couch, I felt like death. And when I did go to work, I couldn't function. I counted down the hours until I had to return home. I looked outside, expecting to find him, or his men watching me. I woke up, longing to find my underwear stolen or my home breached. But there was no sign of him anywhere. It wasn't until the next week the feeling returned. The tingling sensation that ran down my spine. One that told me I was being watched, followed. My head snaps back as I hand over my credit card, eyes searching every face, looking for a familiar set of golden brown eyes and dark hair of head. I find a familiar face, one I don't like very much. Rizzi's. Bursting out of the Café violently, I take a different tu
I am cursed with a raging hard-on and a sulky mood, hearing the shower run while I make pasta. I’m fucking cooking with a damned boner. Rizzi would laugh so hard, I’d shoot his brains out if he was here.When I find her minutes later, she’s curled up in bed, sporting a large shirt and pink shorts, her eyes glued to her TV screen, a half-eaten chocolate bar hovering before her lips as she watches a show with severe concentration.It’s a domestic scene, wrong and so bloody perfect I pause in the doorway. “No way he said that!” She howls, her legs kicking in the air. Her eyes, they twinkle, and I don’t know what to do with myself. She catches sight of me by the door and squeaks a sound that should be unattractive, but makes my inside burn. She sits up, crossing her legs and absentmindedly patting down her hair. “Where’s yours?” she mumbles, eyeing the tray suspiciously.I shrug, dropping onto the mattress beside her. Soft. Too soft. Everything smells like her. “Not a fan of pasta”She
A small scream echoes through the small apartment, and I look over my shoulder turn just enough to catch her silhouette in the doorway, her mouth a slash of fury.It felt good--her returning home from work to me. Though her expression states otherwise. “How the hell did you--never mind. I don’t even want to know.” She stabs a finger toward the hallway, accusation, judgment—both aimed squarely at me. “Get the fuck out.”Wild curls curtain her face but the fire in her grey eyes blaze me to the core. Some bizarre flutter runs deep in my gut and I frown, puzzled by the clear anomaly. Must be indigestion. Only women had ‘butterflies’.My gaze drops, tracking the soft, gray camisole she wears, cloaked beneath a bulky brown wool coat and loose black jeans. Not even a sliver of skin.I suddenly despised the world that made a twenty-two year old hide her own body. I was hardly one to speak, though, lusting after said woman when I was over a decade older. Would she have laughed more if she gr
The click of heels against the checkered floors are especially violent and the clouds outside are stormy, much like Nonna’s mood.“Do you have any idea how much I paid to get these off the media?!” She yells, her voice cracking as she sets her tablet down on the table beside me.A side glance confirms pictures from my...engagements yesterday. Gianna sips her coffee with ridiculous concentration. Alessandro cuts me a surprised look before returning his attention to Sylvia, whose ass he seems rather fascinated with. Too bad he no longer has enough fingers to get her there, or any other woman for that matter.Valentina looks livid. She’s had that expression since last night, questions heavy in her emerald green eyes.Maybe I was an asshole, like Susanna would passionately call me, but we did have an agreement. I gave her my name, my money and never requested her presence in my bed as long as she never asked questions on who I chose to fuck, so long as it remained private.I suppose I did
My throat tightens and I snatch my hand back, hiding it from him and prying eyes. “Anything is better than being yours or another man’s ‘possession’, and yes, I do love it here.”His jaw ticks subtly and I might not have noticed if I wasn’t devouring his face with my eyes. He stares at me, long and hard, but he doesn’t speak.Feeling unusually tiny under the intensity of his gaze, I whisper, bitterness clogging my throat. “Does she know you’re here? Your wife?”His lips curl into a cruel smirk. “Valentina understands not to meddle in my affairs.”Blood rushes to my cheeks and I look away, curling my hands in my lap. “Why are you here, Zefiro? What do you want?”“I got impatient.” His eyes are dark. “You’ve had a year to think. It’s about time you came back to me.”“I’ll pass on that, thanks.”Dropping the stylus pen, he reaches into his pocket and withdraws a small box. He pushes it across the table slowly. “You see, that’s where you got it wrong, Sue. I wasn’t asking.”My pulse spike
There are natural disasters. Tornadoes, whirlwinds, hurricanes, floods. And then, there is Zefiro. Zefiro the man, Zefiro my lover, Zefiro my stalker. A destructive force made of flesh, bones and beautiful tan skin. The most handsome man I’ve ever seen—could ever see, with the loveliest set of eyes I’ll ever look into, no matter how often they haunt my waking moments.Golden brown like molten honey in the sunlight, his eyes are fastened on me as he cuts through the too eager crowd, who peer at him in awe.Pity they don’t know.He could melt hearts with a deceiving smile, convince those who couldn’t look past the surface that he was...just a man. Gorgeous, yes, but normal. But there was nothing normal underneath that hot, muscular skin. There was nothing sane behind those eyes. Only fire, blood and want.That he located my work place doesn't even surprise me. Frankly, I’ve been waiting since I found the tattoo at the base of my spine. I knew it was only a matter of time till he showed