ERICAThe moment we entered I saw why it was named red velvet. The whole place had only one colour as its theme, and even the waitresses with trays in their hands wore red skirts and tops. My eyes went from one place to another, taking everything in. There was a raised dance floor where a crowd was swaying to the beats of music, compared to them I looked the odd one out with the dress I was wearing as with each step I took it trailed behind me, dragging on the floor like I was on a red carpet. And everyone was wearing black while the staff was in red uniforms, the only bright splash of colour seemed to be me as I walked beside Antonio.People started to notice us as we passed, a man in a black suit interrupted us and looked at Antonio as he asked, “Should I clear the VIP section for you, sir?”I looked at where he pointed and saw that there was another level with couches and a small dance floor with four poles where the women in skimpy lingerie were dancing. Antonio was telling the ma
ANTONIOErica was drunk, and not the type where she escaped from the world, the type where she wanted to enjoy the world around her. I knew that because I was watching her as she danced on the small stage and swayed with the music uncaring of the fact that even the dancers around the pole had stopped to watch her. I wanted them to not look at her, she was only mine but Erica loved it, it was in the way her eyes were closed and how her lips were curved up in a subtle teasing smile as she soaked in the attention. She loved the eyes on her. And I loved her like that, carefree and happy.The realisation settled down slowly and deeply in my chest, like my heart was just waiting for me to acknowledge the emotion that was making me act out this way. This possessive and obsessive, for a woman who was supposed to be just a pawn to get the revenge I was seeking, a collateral damage in all of the plans if had made with Nikolai. But now even the thought of her suffering just for a second makes my
ERICAMy head felt like it was on the verge of splitting open and everything would spill out. With a groan, I turned on my back and when I opened my eyes it took me a moment to understand where I was and what had happened. My hand patted the sides of the bed as I was in the middle and the cold touch of mattress told me that Antonio had left the bed quite some time ago. Closing my eyes, I skipped through my memories of last night and even though most of it were hazy, I remembered our visit to opera theatre and Antonio dancing with me... And our pretend... With a gasp I sat up and lifted my left hand as I started at it, but there was no ring on my ring finger. And yet I could've sworn that there was a blurry memory of Antonio putting one on when we were pretending and saying our 'I dos’. I shook my head as once again I looked down at my hand, turning it around like the ring would appear somehow that my mind had conjured up. But apart from the bracelet that blinked in the sunlight comin
ANTONIOErica doesn’t remember anything. That thought kept my mind in a twisted mess because half of me wanted her to remember it, especially the words she had said to me. I am falling for you, Antonio. I wanted her to remember those words, her sweet confession, but at the same time I didn’t want her to remember the papers I had made her sign. I didn't want her to say that she was drunk and she didn't mean it, and I didn’t want her to look at me like I betrayed her. And despite her feelings, I knew she would take it as a betrayal, she wouldn’t consider the fact that she wanted it. If she wanted to marry me just for pretend, then maybe somewhere part of her wanted it to be real. But my little devil still has a lot to discover on her own, especially her emotions that she had always ran from. Now as I sat with Ephraim in a meeting which was part of a truce I had called with Jeremiah, my mind still kept returning to Erica. I had told the three simpering idiots that I would skin them aliv
ERICAI still felt half drunk from last night and the cold had me wanting to hide in the bed with Antonio’s arms tightly wrapped around me. Even as we stepped down from the chopper, I leaned into him as it was colder here on the cliff than it was in the city. I wanted to hurry inside the castle but Antonio seemed to have other ideas as his steps slowed and then I felt the tension entering his body. Before I could ask him what was wrong or even understand what was happening, my attention went to the figure that appeared at the door of the castle. It was a girl.And then she was running towards us with a big grin on her face. I wasn’t even ready for the words she yelled and the way Antonio stepped away from me, I almost stumbled without his support as I was half tucked into his side. There were so many thoughts running through my mind at seeing the girl but none of them came close to what she could mean to Antonio and who was she, until she gave me the answers with her excited squeal,
ANTONIOI watched as Erica ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. For a moment, I stood there and watched the closed door as I went back to Gianna’s question to me. Who is she? And when I had answered, I had paused, because the words although were new in making, they were still on the tip of my tongue to tell her that Erica was my wife now. My wife. I raked my fingers through my hair, feeling fûcking annoyed that the contentment and the smooth relationship I was having with my little devil was already on a turbulent ground. I knew that it won't last for long as she’d come to know about my reasons for needing revenge from Gabriel, but I wasn’t ready for Gianna to come back home like this. My men will answer for that but I already knew that it wouldn’t be their fault. She was a spoilt brat especially after her kidnapping because I couldn’t help but be more lenient with her as I was afraid that she had a traumatic experience but instead she took it in a totally different way w
ERICAAntonio kept his arm around me as we entered the dining hall. For some reason, my mind pulled out the memories of the first time I had stepped into this room. It brought up a smile on my face to remember that that time I had been so fucking angry and I really hated Antonio for being so conceding and a cruel arsehole to kidnap me and treat me like an object. He had taken my choices away and no matter how much I had fought him he had made me surrender to his demands. Looking back at that it felt like I had stepped through a magical door that changed my feelings. Now, even as hurt as I was in the moment, I didn’t hate him, far from it and it was the reason why my chest ached so much as it did. Antonio walked ahead and pulled out a chair for me but before I could sit, Gianna slipped between us and kissed his cheek. “Thankyou, papa.” I took a step back from them but crashed into someone else. When I looked back, Ephraim stood behind me and arched a brow. I smiled at him, feeling mys
ANTONIOThis day might’ve started well when I had woken up with my little devil in my arms and my ring on her finger that I had slipped off and put it back in the bracelet around her wrist, but it only started to get on my nerves after my meeting with those Russian arseholes and then the sudden appearance of Gianna. I didn't mean to sound like a heartless bastard, I loved her. I loved her just like I’d love my own son or daughter if I had any, or the ones I’d have with my little devil, but like I mentioned before Gianna had become too much fûcking handful and too bratty since her kidnapping. I could've easily pulled her out of her school and locked her up in the castle after the incident with her running off to party with her friends and getting in jail for doing drugs and for possession, but I gave her a benefit of doubt, even though I was disappointed and worried I allowed her to continue her study. But it didn't matter to her that I wasn't talking to her, she was still doing what
ANTONIO“Fuck me, husband. Make me scream.”My balls drew up tight at her words, the sparkle in her brown eyes were my undoing and I slammed into her in one hard thrust. Fuck. More than twelve years of having this woman, of having her tight pussy wrapped around my cock and it still somehow feels like the first time. If I could, I’d turn into three of me and fuck her mouth, arse and pussy at the same time, claim every inch of her, every part of her like I wanted to. My hunger for this woman hasn’t abated in all these years and I doubted it’d ever until the day I died. “Oh, god, Antonio...”I grabbed her face, my fingers digging into her cheeks not so gently. “Yeah, baby, tell me.”“Don’t stop. Please.” Hearing her someone might think that she didn’t get proper and regular fucking, but they’d be fool to think that. The truth was my little devil was just hungry for my cock, was still covered in last night bruises and still was begging for more like the dirty little slut that she was fo
EPILOGUE IITwelve years later...ERICA“Mamma, perché siamo qui? Voglio tornare a casa e invitare i miei amici." My daughter asked, her golden brown eyes like her father’s stared up at me in exasperation. It was the third time she had expressed her displeasure to be here at the charity event Gianna has hosted at my behest because I wanted to do something good for their father’s birthday which was tomorrow. But knowing Antonio wouldn’t want anything to happen on the actual day of his birthday as he likes to spend it with us instead of celebrating it, we had made all the arrangements for a day before. (Mom, why are we here? I want to go back to the house and invite my friends over.)“I don’t understand why you want to be with your friends they are all stupid.” Unlike my daughter who had inherited all the explosive characteristics of her father along with his eyes, my son got all the indifferent genes from his father which make him look like an unfeeling brute most of the time but there
Epilogue ITwenty eight weeks later...ANTONIO“So, I thought you wouldn't come again?” Mrs Khan asked.We were sitting in her office. My wife was sitting opposite her own therapist a few doors down, as I sat here after two weeks ago when I had declared I won’t come again. But the problem with anxiety was it never fucking disappears and as the time for Erica’s delivery drew closer, my anxiety only grew bigger. For some reason I feel like I won't be enough for them. That there were hundred different things that could go wrong and my family would've to suffer, it keeps me up at night and makes it hard to get through a day.I rubbed a palm down on my face and I leaned forward to pick up the glass of water. Any other time I might’ve not drunk it but therapy had helped enough to not make me paranoid all the time. After taking a sip, I put the glass down and met her eyes as I said, “I thought that too. But,” Fuck. It was still fucking hard to express myself, to put my fears into words. “But
ERICASome people say the happiest moments come after you’ve lived the saddest ones. And for sure I have had my fair share of sad moments in my life so I guess my husband here was a god’s gift for all those tears and heartache I suffered. And if someone asked me now if I was given a choice to suffer through the same things, same monsters, if it meant getting him at the end of that dark tunnel then I wasn’t sure if my answer would be a no. As we pulled apart from a long hard kiss that wasn’t appropriate for a wedding, I heard our family and friends cheer around us and then a moment later I felt something soft touching my cheek. I looked up and a delighted laugh left me when I saw twp choppers circling over our heads and rose petals being thrown over us. A literal shower of roses. “Antonio!!” I exclaimed, my happiness unbound, and then I ended up squealing as Antonio lifted me up in his arms and took me to the little raised stage set up for dancing. As I danced in my husband’s arms, e
ANTONIO“What’s taking them so fucking long?” I muttered, tugging on my cuffs to straighten them for the sixth time. For the second time when I had woken up in the early hours of the morning, my little devil wasn’t in the bed where she had fallen in a exhausted sleep after I had carried her from the tower. But unlike before this time it was Mario and Summer who decided that it was a great fucking idea to keep Erica away from me until I see her walk down the aisle. It had been only a few hours but I already felt impatient and on the edge. I wanted her glued to my side for every breath I take. It was fûcking impossible to put into words how much I was obsessed with her, how much I loved her. But I swore to myself that I’ll try to convey that to her for the rest of my life. “Are you nervous, Antonio?” Ephraim asked from my side. I refrained from looking at him, unless I’d end up punching him in the face for what happened last night even though he didn’t do anything that I didn’t ask o
(Skip this chapter if you have problem with exhibition and voyeurism and other related elements).ERICA“Here.” As soon as the word left me, Antonio stepped back from me, leaving me feeling cold and adrift. I turned to him, panicked that I made a mistake but found him lowering himself in a loveseat. He crooked his finger and demanded, “Come here.”A calm washed over me when I saw the dark look of arousal in his eyes. When I took a step closer to him, he leaned back in his seat and pointed to his lap as he ordered, “Bend over my lap, baby, present me that arse.”My lower belly clenched at his words and a heated desire coursed through my veins. My eyes went to Z who was still staring at Kat but when I looked at her I found her gaze fixed on me. She arched her brows, silently telling me to go on. I smiled at her, feeling my blood heat at her attention as my heart started to beat in excitement. That smile turned to a hungry look when I faced my dark villain who grew impatient and grabb
ERICA“My handsome Duke!!” Ami stood up, waving on her two feet that were encased in heels and stumbled her way to Raphael, who looked only a little bit amused but his blue eyes darkened as they raked down his wife. She was wearing a red sequin dress that ended just below her arse and by the look on Raphael’s face, I’d say Ami will finally get what she was wishing for. “See, what I did? Are you going to punish me for it!” She asked, blinking her eyes at him as she stumbled and he caught her in his arms.Kat snickered behind me and I couldn't help as my own lips pulled up in a smile. Raphael picked her up in his arms and announced for our benefit or maybe to the men standing on either side of him. “I’ll leave you to deal with your wives, mine needs a strong hand.” We could hear Ami squeal in excitement as they disappeared from the view.“Gianna, go to your room. And for fuck’s sake get rid of that dress.” I shivered at his deep voice, my eyes barely fluttering to Gianna to take in the
ERICA“OH MY GOD! I think I am drunk!!” Ami squealed as the half naked man with a cat mask twirled her around and then took Gianna in his arms who was also half drunk.We were in one of the back towers that I was admiring earlier in the day and Kat had managed to invite the party we were supposed to have here in the castle right under the watchful gazes of our husbands and their men. She was a tricky one. I didn’t know how she managed it but it was awesome and I wasn’t complaining.There were four women out of which two were filling our drinks— unfortunately, non-alcoholic for me, and giving us snacks to munch on while the two men were entertaining us with half their bodies bare and muscles painted what seemed like glitter that shined in the lights. The music was loud but we had checked and the noise couldn’t be heard to the main part of the castle. It was really the bachelorette I didn't think I’ll be having after Antonio fucked me so har
ANTONIOI don’t know what woke me up but when my eyes opened, I instantly became aware of the fact that my little devil wasn’t by my side and that I wasn’t alone in the room. There was a heavy presence in the room that couldn’t be ignored. I slipped my hand beneath my pillow and pulled out my gun as surreptitiously as I could.I wasn’t afraid for myself but my mind was on Erica, she was sleeping in my arms and now she was nowhere in the room, I didn’t even have to check the bathroom to know she wasn’t there. Her absence was like an open chasm in my chest every time she was away from me. After dinner where we were joined by her sister and Gabriel, we had come to sleep in the bedroom but not before I had exhausted her by fûcking her in the mirror room where she had screamed her pleasure that I was sure everyone in the castle heard. Erica was really a voyeur, she came so many times by just looking at our reflection as I fucked her hard, warning her to not go anywhere her friends and sis