Time Up

Ambrosia's P.O.V

Dinner was supposed to be perfect.

The table was set with my best china and the wine Steven loved chilling in its silver bucket. It was the kind of night where I could sit back and admire the life we’d built together–his success, and my quiet contentment. It was our wedding anniversary and I was the luckiest woman alive to be married to this handsome man in front of me.

“You know a letter came in for you today in the mailbox.” I suddenly said from across the dining table, making moon eyes at the man.

Steven looked up from his steak and frowned. “That’s strange. Who uses mailboxes in this day and age?”

I shrugged, sipping my wine. “I thought the same too. Maybe you’d check it after dinner and…dessert?”

His brows arched when I whispered the last word and I could see the telltale signs of his excitement. “And what’s for dessert, my love?”

Leaning back, I pushed back my plate and chair, showing him the sexy red dress I’d picked. “Maybe…me?”

“Oh, I’m gonna get you.” His eyes shone with lust that went right to my pussy and I grinned at him, watching as he began to eat with a sense of urgency. It was easy, this dance we had, the comfort of the routines I painstakingly built over five years of marriage to this man. God, I loved Steven so much.

But life doesn’t send you warnings before it shatters.

The front door suddenly slammed open so violently I heard wood splinter and our antique chandelier began to shake in the ceiling. My fork clattered to the plate as I jerked in my chair, my heart leaping into my throat.

“Baby, what’s going on?” I whispered, the fear lodged in my throat growing in mass at the terror in my husband’s light blue eyes. Ice water was leaking through my veins at this point.

“Steven Barnes.” A voice suddenly boomed and the food in my stomach threatened to greet the floor.

I turned toward the doorway and almost fainted at the sight of men flooding into our home. They moved like predators and pure instinct told me we were the prey.

“What the hell is this?” Steven barked, standing up abruptly. “The security at the estate didn’t stop you from coming here? What are–?”

The answer to all my husband’s questions came in form of a fist. It caught Steven right in the jaw and I could swear I heard a brutal crack. It sent him sprawling to the floor with a squeal that belonged to a dying pig.

I screamed in horror, wanting to rush to my husband but they soon surrounded him, sparing me no single glance.

One of the men grabbed Steven by his collar and hauled him up. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and they began to punch him in the gut over and over again. I was frozen in horror, I could hear myself screaming, and feel the tears leaking from my eyes but adrenaline triggered my flight or fight response and my body chose freeze. Today was our wedding anniversary. We were supposed to have a quiet dinner and make love. They were going to kill my husband. Were we getting robbed? Oh god, that’s what it is.

Grabbing one of the men by his shirt sleeve, I cried. “Is it money you want? Please tell me. We have plenty of that. Just stop beating my husband. Please you’re gonna kill him! I beg you. I have diamonds you can take!” frantically, I let go of his hands, and pulled off the rock on my ring finger, pushing it into his dark brown hands. “Please, I have more where this came from.”

I couldn’t see the men’s faces clearly through the horrid tears running down my cheeks but I knew they had all stopped beating him and were looking at me. Okay, okay. I can handle this. I wiped the tears from my face and choked out. “I will go upstairs now and bring every credit card we own and all my jewelry. Just please stop hitting him.” my voice caught on a sob but none of the eight, ten? I didn’t know how many they were, just that they didn’t respond.

But at least, they had only forced my husband to his knees now and were now staring at me. Gathering what was left of my terror-fried brain, I turned to leave to my bedroom so I could get those things when I became as frozen as the men behind me.

They hadn’t stopped because of my words. They were never even staring at me. At the doorway of my dining room was a man. Only he didn’t feel like a man. The room seemed to shrink around him as he approached. His leather jacket clung to his powerful frame and every inch of him exuded such power that almost made me turn on my heels and fucking bolt. Through my blurry eyes, I caught the jagged scar running down his left cheek, carving through his striking face. It didn’t even make him look ugly. It literally fucking terrified me.

This was someone that shouldn’t be in my fucking living room. And I could bet my right arm that he wasn’t a thief wanting to rob the rich couple in Top Hill estate.

Jesus. What was going on?

“Marcello. Fuck.” I heard my husband wheeze out of the blue and I spun my neck to the side in record time, seeing my husband tremble like a leaf before a blower. He knew the scarred man? And was also terrified of him?

“Steven, what is this?” I choked out, my heart breaking at the crumpled look of my poor husband. “What did you do?”

Just then, the Marcello man moved past me and crouched in front of my husband, his gloved fingers gripping Steven’s chin, forcing him to look up. “Hundred million dollars.” The man’s voice was heavily accented but smooth like water lapping over a rock. “One. Hundred. Million. And you’ve been running around like a little mouse, playing hide and seek with me? What do you think I am, Barnes? A fucking cat?”

“I just–just need some more time!” Steven pleaded, his swollen eyes leaking with tears as his words tripped over themselves. My husband was no fighter or a criminal but he was the CEO of a multimillion-dollar tech company, controlling two percent of the world’s finances and a boss to a hundred thousand staff. In all the time I’ve been married to Steven, I’d never seen him shed a tear or overreact. He would always say, a levelhead is a wealthyhead.

The nausea hit me once again and I bent over, hurling my food onto the carpet as the tears leaked out of my eyes.

I looked up just in time to see Marcello straightened, moving his thumb over a lighter in his left hand. “Time’s up, Barnes.”

Before I could think, I scrambled forward, placing myself between him and my husband. “Wait! Wait! You can’t just hurt my husband. What’s going on? Someone please tell me.”

That’s when his gaze shifted to me and pinned me in place. I couldn’t even tremble under those two black endless pools. My body entirely froze.

“I didn’t know Stevey boy was married. Anyway, your husband here,” he jutted his chin at my bloodied Steven. “Owes me money. And when people don’t pay, I make examples of them.”

Two of his men immediately pounced on me and grabbed my arms behind me, pulling me to the side.

“No!” I screamed and kicked as another set stepped forward, one of them holding a knife. They grabbed Steven’s hand, slammed it onto the table, and hovered the blade over his trembling fingers.

“I checked your finances already and I know you can’t give me my money today.” The man said in an ice-cold voice. “So, I will give you two days but in return for that, you’ll give me two fingers from each hand.”

“No!!” I shrieked, twisting and kicking against their grip. “Please, Don’t hurt him! Please.”

Marcello tilted his head as he began studying me. “Bella, you don’t want me to get my money?”

I shook my head furiously as the tears spilled. “No. I want you to. But you don’t have to hurt him. Please I will do anything.”

Steven’s head snapped towards me at that moment and his eyes grew like round plates. “Ambrosia! Stay out of this! Don’t say that. Don’t–”

Marcello only silenced him with a raised hand and then a wicked smirk twisted his thin lips. “Anything?” he asked me in a voice dripping with mockery

I nodded as the tears went everywhere. “Yes. anything.”

Marcello’s lips curled into a slow smile. “Interesting.”

“No! Don’t listen to her, Don. you can take my fucking fingers.” Steven yelled, thrashing against the men holding him down. One of them drove a fist into his stomach and he doubled over, spitting out blood. My heart lurched miserably at the sight. God, let me be able to save him.

“Hold him still!” the don ordered and a blade pressed against my husband’s neck. His struggles instantly stilled.

Marcello turned his attention back to me and those black eyes gleamed. “If you’re so eager to save him, prove it.”

I stared at the hulking terrifying man who claimed to have lent my husband money, uncomprehending. He snapped a finger and his men dragged my husband to the sitting room. He followed them after, leaving me stupefied in the dining room before I heard his voice.

“Crawl to me.” He boomed.

My knees hit the floor before my brain could catch up.

“Ambriosa, mio amore no!” Steven’s voice cracked and distantly I could hear him start to cry.

When I crawled to the sitting room, I saw my husband pinned down in the corner while Marcello stood in the center of the room like a king, feet planted apart. He crooked a finger and I began crawling slowly towards him. His hands moved to his belt and he unbuckled it, bottomless eyes never leaving mine. The room was utterly silent except for the blood rushing in my veins and Steven’s whimpers and labored breaths.

“Show me how much your husband means to you.” Marcello’s hand cupped my face once I was kneeling right in front of him. “Unzip my pants with your teeth and take my cock out.”