SeraHurt gripped my body as I watched Killian walk away. Confusion blurred my senses. Only a nudge from the horse I’d been petting broke me out of a heartbreaking haze. I clucked at the Thunder, scratching his nose as a single tear rolled down my cheek.What just happened? Killian, who’d just opened up to me more than he had in all the weeks I’d been locked up in his home, had said he would sell me to someone who wanted to marry me?“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said to the Thunder. “Did it make sense to you?”A different horse whinnied behind me. It sounded to me like a comforting eyeroll in horse speak. I smiled over my shoulder at the brown mare. “Exactly.”I breathed deeply, trying to shake myself out of whatever spell Killian had cast before he left.Sleeping with him was one thing. But falling for him?“No,” I said to myself, then patted Thunder on the head before walking out into the crisp, overcast day.I expected guards to be visible outside. But Killian had left me comp
Sera“You’re going to get us both killed!” Mikey growled, pulling me up off the ground. My bloodied fingers cried out in pain as I got to my feet. Trying to break free from him, I stumbled, falling backward on my ass. I was soaking wet and bruised. He’d caught me, but the damage was already done. Leaves and twigs stuck to my expensive coat, and my boots were beyond repair at this point.I was a fucking mess in more ways than one. “Just leave me alone!” I begged him.“I’m not letting you fucking escape!” he shouted, throwing his hands in the air. “What the hell are you thinking?”“I’m thinking your boss is using me as collateral and fucking with my head!”Mikey went quiet. His dark eyes focused on the ground before lifting to me. “Killian wouldn’t do that.”“Wouldn’t he?”He looked up at me with a guilt-ridden expression. “You have to come back inside right now and get cleaned up before he sees you like this.”“Because he’ll be angry with me?” I mocked, rising unsteadily to my feet but
KillianThe quiet in my office didn’t ease the ache in my chest after abandoning Sera outside and running away from her. I’d had to do it. I couldn’t stand there and act like what I’d said about selling her to someone who wanted to marry her was actually how I felt.I knew what I’d meant. Maybe she had too. Maybe she’d seen the truth in my eyes before I’d turned my back on her.I couldn’t deny myself of her any longer. I’d proven that I was weak the second I slid back into her bed a few nights ago. I hadn’t just fucked her, either. It had started like that, with me bossing her around and denying her when she’d alluded to wanting to be on her knees for me. But something had snapped my resolve, and I’d needed to see her face while I’d felt every inch of her perfect body. I didn’t want it to be rough, not with her. I just wanted her, and that scared me to death.The Hand of Death didn’t scare easily.The power she had over me tore me to pieces. My mother had been right when she said my w
SeraA large, cozy parlor faced the eastern side of the property. The furniture and decor were masculine with black velvet couches situated around a large marble fireplace. Veins in similar dark tones coursed through the stone. Having never been here before, I took a moment to take it in, seeing Killian’s taste everywhere I looked.Mikey smiled broadly as a young woman with fiery red hair piled on top of her head turned to face us. Her dark eyes widened with both pleasure and surprise as she looked from him to me.“Hey, Pen.” He grinned, nudging me forward. “This is the woman I was talking to you about. Sera, meet my wife.”Penelope heaved herself up from the couch, her smile widening. The size of her stomach shocked me but I did my best to hide it. When Mikey told me she was pregnant I imagined her early in her pregnancy, but she looked like she was ready to pop.“Nice to meet you, Sera.” She offered her hand, but as I reached for it, she exclaimed, “What the hell did you do to her?”
KillianNiccolò Marino’s frustrated sigh cut through the room. I set my phone down, pressed a button, and put him on speaker.“Do you realize how much money I just offered you for that whore?” Every word he spat was laced with venom.“We’re not talking about just any whore, Niccolò.” I yawned loudly enough for him to hear it, even though anger flared inside me. The word whore left a bitter taste in my mouth. Sera was no whore, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing the full extent of my intentions toward her. “She is the only living child of Andre Bianchi.”“So? We’re talking about a female, Ricci.”I arched my brow and twisted in my chair. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree with this one. Riccardo Marino, Niccolò’s father, was the boss who hosted the auction every year. Though he treated his many personal dames like queens, he still didn’t see them as equal to men or else he wouldn’t buy and sell them the way he did.To Riccardo, ending up as one of his women
SeraPenelope meant for me to stay with her the entire afternoon, and I had no issue with it at all. Once the tense, somewhat awkward conversation about what being married to the mafia was like for her and Mikey, a major shift took place. We moved on to lighter topics, ones that helped me forget about my earlier escapade and my current status as a prisoner.“Mikey wants to name him Ronald.” Penelope groaned and rolled her eyes.“Why?” I laughed, adjusting the blanket over my knees. We were sitting in the parlor still, watching fresh snow fall through the window. The black curtains were a stark contrast to the fluttering white flakes.“I like the sound of Ronnie.” Mikey grinned, and I could tell he was only trying to get a rise out of his wife.“We’ve already crossed that name off the list,” she said with a dramatic flip of her hair. “Anyway, I can’t name him until I see him for the first time. What if we settle on Jackson, and he comes out looking more like a Theodore?”I giggled into
Killian“I’m serious, Mikey.” My stomps echoed down the hallway. I turned my head to project my voice behind me. “Next time she pulls a stunt like this, haul her back to her room, and tie her to her bed.”Mikey frowned and exhaled deeply while leaning against the doorframe that led into the garage. “What’s my punishment, Boss?”“What are you talking about?” I paused too and folded my arms across my chest.“I tried to teach her a lesson about how hard the world is out there. Might’ve roughed her up a little.” He looked apologetic. Mikey would never purposely hurt a woman.I shook my head, too wound up after my phone call with Niccolò to even process what transpired in the hour I’d left her alone by the stables.“I’m sure you didn’t hurt her, and if you did, she deserved it for trying to escape. Maybe you taught her a lesson she won’t forget.” I grabbed a set of keys off the wall and clutched them in my hand. “And I know you’d never touch her like that, like you meant to take advantage
SeraMikey and Penelope stayed the entire evening, which was a great change of pace for me. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d hung out with friends.Lounging in the parlor with Penelope and Olivia made me feel normal for the first time in weeks, even if it made me miss Emma. Emma and Penelope would have been fast friends. Emma and Olivia? Probably not. Olivia was definitely an acquired taste, but the more she forced me to hang out with her, the more I liked her.Mikey told me he was supposed to personally walk me back to my room after dinner, but some persuasion by his wife saw all of us in the theater room with buckets of popcorn well into the late hours of the night. Penelope fell asleep, Olivia scurried off to do whatever she did at night in the house, and Mikey decided he needed to get his wife home.I finished the rest of the movie by myself and decided I’d be a good girl and not get Mikey into any more trouble, at least for a while, so I walked myself to bed.I was just abou