Iris’s POVThe boxing ring was not wide enough for me, and as I climbed the base of the ring and reached out for one of the bars, I felt his hand on my butt.And I froze.“What are you doing?!” I queried in hushed tones, not willing to let these men hear what we were saying.Oh. The horror I’d felt when I realized that all these men here worked for him. As lap dogs.“Trying to give you a helping hand?” He whispered back, lifting his shoulder in a careless shrug.“Get your hand off my butt!” I yelped, losing control for a moment there. “I don’t need your help,” I added in a quieter tone, then I lifted my eyes to see that not even one head in the room had turned in our direction, out of curiosity.Were they that scared of him?Damon scoffed, taking his hand off and lifting his hands in defense. “Alright, if you say so.” Then to my surprise, he slapped his palm on my butt cheek, drawing a sting and gasp from me.“Go on,” he urged, that enchanting devilish smile staining his lips. “Climb
Iris’s POV“Everyone, out, now!”I had broken into a hysteria, trying to jump out of the ring, and Damon was trying to hold me down while barking orders to his men to leave the entire gym.“Iris, listen to me!” He screamed, grabbing my flying wrists and fists in his grip and pinning me to the rugged floor of the ring, but the last thing I did was listen to him. I didn’t even try.“Get off me, twisted devil!” I screamed, fighting with all my strength to be free from him, but he still effortlessly held me pinned down, breathing heavily and harshly as he stared down at me.“Call me whatever you like, but I’m not getting off until I’ve given you some sort of explanation,” Damon stated matter-of-factly, his brows creasing into a frown. “I don’t know what you heard, but you seem to have some—““Who knew you’d be such a twisted pervert too?” I cut in sharply, glaring back at him defiantly. “I mean, you’re not innocent, but this is some next-level shit!”“Just listen to me!” He screamed, look
Damon’s POVThe ride back to the manor was uncomfortably quiet, the air in the car thick with unspoken words and an emotion I couldn’t put a finger on.I glanced her way in the passenger's seat now and then, but she hardly spared me even a glance. Her face was just folded into a frown, and I was still a bit amazed at how good she looked even with a frown.“What are you thinking about?” I asked, a subtle attempt to get her to look at me, but she was still adamantly facing the road.“Nothing,” she mumbled. “I’m just exhausted, and I’d like to sleep it off.”Her tone was cold, lacking even an iota of empathy.I sighed softly and gave up, returning my gaze to the road ahead. I had regretted my actions that night, even before I had carried them out. I knew I shouldn’t have spiked her drink, shouldn’t have made all those stupid plans. She wouldn’t have had that allergic reaction if I hadn’t been plain selfish.Now, I knew she hated me much more than she already did. She didn’t say it, but I
Damon’s POV“M-Mr. Vyon?”“That’s right. Now move along.”The old man’s breath suddenly became fast and wheezy, and I propped him forward with the gun to the back of his head.Even though he was visibly trembling with fear, he still tried to turn around. “But I wasn’t—““Hush, Mr. Volkov. You’ll only speak when I ask you to. For now, we should head in quietly.”His mouth snapped shut, the whimpering escaping instead through his nostrils, grating on my nerves, and although I was tempted to smack him in the back of his head for corrupting my auditory nerves, I just let him be. Fear is the thief of composure.We were soon inside the tastefully furnished duplex, and I nudged him into one of the exquisite couches.He bumped into it with his pot belly, then quickly turned around to stare at me with wide, puppy eyes.Still brandishing the gun within clear sight, I leaned on the back of the couch facing him, training my eyes on him.“Now, speak,” I ordered in a firm voice, then widened my mou
Damon’s POV“Call her.”I watched as Kyle Volkov reached for his phone with trembling fingers, slow as fuck. “Hurry it up, Mr. Volkov. I might be fucking rich, but I don’t have all the time in the world, you see. I’ve got things to do.”Breathing fast, he retrieved the phone faster and speed-dialed a number.We both stared at each other as the phone rang and a while later, Kyle looked away, unable to hold my intimidating gaze. “Put it on speaker,” I instructed, still pinning him with my gaze, and he quickly did as I asked. Just then, the call connected.Loud, jazz music filtered through the speaker, Alina’s rich voice climbing above it. “Papa? Hello, mi amore!” She screamed, her voice laced with that dramatic edge. “I’m in the club right now,” she shouted, trying to make herself heard above the music. “Can I call you back later?”“Come home, sweetheart,” Kyle said soberly into the speaker, lifting his eyes now and then to take a peek at me. “Something’s happened.”“What? I can’t hear
Damon’s POV“Speak, Alina!”She shuddered, scurrying from my ice-cold fingers, and then she passed a devastated glance at her father.Licking her dry lips, she turned back to look at me. “Look, let’s go elsewhere and talk. Keep my father out of this drama. Please,” she pleaded.“I’m running out of patience here, Alina. You don’t wanna know what happens after that,” I said in a voice that was filled with cold efficiency.Sighing, she rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air in frustration. “That naive little girl can’t be with you, Damon, and you know it. She won’t survive, so don’t deceive yourself any further.”“Stop speaking about what is of no business to you,” I warned, stepping in dangerously closer to her, “and tell me what I wanna hear.”“She’s nineteen, Damon! A naive nineteen-year-old under your wings. Tell me how that would go?”“What do you know?” I sneered, pulling her in. “Oh, good heavens, Alina. You tempt me, and the day I would unleash my wrath on you is coming—“
Damon’s POVWe pulled over at the club in less than thirty minutes, and I got out of the car and pulled Alina out from the passenger’s seat, making sure her wrists were properly strapped to the front with the paper ties.Then I slammed the door shut and roughly pulled her up against me, eliciting a gasp out of her. Alina was a naughty girl, yes, but I had a feeling my little petal would be a pro when it came to naughtiness. I hadn’t seen it yet, but there were underlying tendencies.Holy Moses. How did she get into this conversation right now?“Now, quietly lead me to this employee, Alina,” I ordered in a gruff whisper. “Let’s not play games, okay?”Stubborn as she was, she refused to give me a response, and I just nudged her forward quietly, making sure her cuffed wrists were visible to people as we passed by them.The club was already in full swing by this time, loud beats rolling out the speakers and the air thick with the smell of cigarettes and drugs and sweat and perfumes. The u
Damon’s POV“Took you long enough to call, Jacob,” I said into the speaker as I placed the phone against my ear.“Enjoying your sweet little vacation, aren’t you?” I added in a sarcastic tone as I resumed my steps, following closely behind Alina and her little informant, but not close enough to be heard.“Hello to you too, Damon Vyon,” Jacob’s mechanic voice filled the speakers, grating on my eardrums. “And we both know I’m not on a vacation. I told you it was an emergency.”“And this emergency has stretched on for three months, Jacob? Is that it?”“Yes, boss. I’m sorry, but you wouldn’t understand—““I don’t need to understand, Jacob,” I interrupted, running out of patience as I had to teach some miscreants a lesson. “Just get your ass down here. Three months without my consigliere sure isn’t great, or is it?” “Now look,” I continued, “if you called just to know if I was doing fine without you, there, you have your answer. So if you would get off the fucking phone right now, I’ve got
Damon’s POVThree months earlier“So, you got a new tattoo?”The voice of the therapist pulled me out of my thoughts, and I pulled my gaze away from the window facing the garden, looking down at the still-fresh tattoo on my arm.“Yeah..” I murmured, tracing a finger across the face on the tattoo, lingering around the eyes that stared back at me.“When?” The female therapist asked, and I shrugged, not taking my eyes off the tattoo.“Just a few weeks back, I guess.”“Really? Can I see?”“Sure,” I mumbled, heaving a sigh.She rose to her feet and moved around her desk, coming over to where I sat and leaning forward behind me.“Wow,” she exclaimed quietly, a little amazement in her voice. “That’s a unique face. A pretty one, at that.”“Yeah, I know right?” I replied, the corners of my lips tilting up in a small smile. “It’s a face I keep seeing in my dreams, Andrea.”Andrea, my therapist, stood back then and observed me closely, almost lik
Iris’s POVA year laterI stood at the floor-to-ceiling window on the balcony of the condo, admiring the beautiful night view, my mind a melancholic mess.It had been that way since that night after Damon had fallen off that cliff.And we hadn’t seen him since.There was nowhere we hadn’t looked.But Damon was nowhere to be found.I’d cried and cried for months, but to my greatest despair, that was all I could do.Sometimes I wished Luca hadn’t showed up with Gary when he did, because then I’d have been killed too, and I wouldn’t have to deal with this pain.At least I’d be dead and buried, probably alongside him.It was as I’d seen him falling off that cliff that I knew I was in love with Damon Vyon, my heart falling right out with him.And I never got a chance to tell him how I felt…“What are you thinking about?”I whirled around to see Luca standing at the balcony door, watching me with a sober expression on his face.He too, had not remained the same ever since Damon disappeared
Iris’s POVThe gun fell out of my trembling hand, clattering to the floor.Did he just ask me to shoot Damon?No, no. I couldn’t.Sighing and pushing his fingers through his hair, Zach bent down and picked up the gun, approaching me menacingly. “Don’t piss me off, pretty girl,” he snapped, his tone laced with derision, as he pressed the gun into my hand again. “Shoot him, I said.”“No!” I screamed now, intentionally throwing the gun far from me, and as it tumbled over the cliff, Zach let out a deep growl and whirling around, he struck me heavily across the cheek.“Fucking bastard!” Damon yelled, struggling viciously to break free of his chains, and tears blurring my vision, I stared down at him, knowing very well that this would end badly.How could we possibly get out of this?What miracle could happen?“Hey you,” Zach snapped his fingers at one of his men, “get me another gun.” They quickly came forward, presenting him with a new gun, and he took it, observing it closely.“Now,” he
Damon’s POVI stared up at the chief coward—Zach, was it?—my vision blurring.Ah. So it was him? The one I’d replaced?This story he recounted.. triggered the memory of a day I’d kept buried and locked up, unconsciously, the pain coming right back and whipping me emotionally.That little boy from back then. I stared at the scar on his chest, remembering how I’d felt seeing him bleed out on the floor that day.“You seem to be getting your fucking memories back, don’t you?” Zach spat, his eyes growing darker than they were already.Of course, that day had been a fucking bloody day. So how could I forget?*****Fifteen years ago“W-what are you doing here?” The man who called himself my father stuttered, staring at me with a fear I’d never seen in his eyes before.We stood facing each other on the rooftop of his new law firm, a stick of cigar in his hand, dark circles underneath his eyes.Had he even been sleeping? Well, how could he sleep, after he sold me off to that maniac of a mafia
Damon’s POVHe glared at me for a long time, saying nothing, his eyes taking on a distant look. Then rising to his feet, he cleared his throat.“It’s your money, quite alright,” he started, shoving his fingers in his pocket, alongside the flash drive, “but this money is nothing compared to what you stole from me, Damon.”What the heck was he talking about? What exactly would I steal from a stranger like him? Someone I knew nothing about?He stopped pacing for a while, staring down at me. “You might have forgotten,” he scoffed, “seeing how fucking clueless you look right now.”“Look,” I started, frustration climbing into my tone, against my will, “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, or how you got your hands on that. But if it’s the money you want, you can keep it.” “Just let her go,” I added, nodding in Iris’s direction. “She has nothing to do with any of this.”He looked back at her for a moment, then threw his head back in a maniacal laughter, shaking his head.“Who sai
Damon’s POVThe slap of the wind on my face was what woke me up this time. Slowly, I peeled my eyes open, every part of my body aching, my head throbbing painfully.Where was I now?Fuck…Iris..There was no time, and here I was..lying around, letting that weird woman keep putting me down.Looking around, I slowly realized where I was. On a cliff? How come? How did I get here? That weird woman couldn’t have carried me here all alone, right?This was a cliff..had to be. That was one explanation for this much breeze and open space.Grunting, I tried to move around, and I was a bit disappointed to find that I was still bound by wrists and ankles. What was I expecting?I tried to turn around then, and someone’s foot pressed into my back, pushing me back to the ground.“Well, well,” an unfamiliar voice rang out from behind me, cold and rusty, and excited, “look who we have here.”I tried to turn around, to see who had joined us, but the person that had their stinky foot on my back pressed i
Iris’s POV“Where the fuck have you been?”I was jammed in the backseat of the moving car, between a woman who smelled heavily of putrid blood, and the man who had slapped me earlier, my hands and feet still bound very tightly, the ropes cutting into my flesh.I had no idea where we were headed.“Well,” the woman cleared her throat, “is that how you thank me for making this fucking easy for you?”Sighing, the man leaned back in his seat and pulled the woman into his lap.“Unlock the windows, Dante,” he ordered, twisting his nose upwards, “it smells so fucking rotten in here.”Then he turned his attention to the woman in his lap. “I’m sorry, my beautiful Anna,” he murmured, stroking her hair. “I was just carried away with all that’s happening, you know. Everything’s happening all at once, and I mean, it’s good. Trust me.”She smiled, reaching into her pocket and retrieving a pack of cigarettes. “Okay..” she murmured, “what do you have to say about my performance?”“I’m duly impressed,
Iris’s POVI’d thought this vile-looking man could be bluffing when he’d insinuated that he had Damon, but from the way his eyes sparkled right now, I feared it wasn’t just an insinuation. He’d meant it.And what was that he said? He wanted me to kill Damon? Why would I do that? Why would he want that? I mean, it was clear now that this man was an enemy of Damon’s, but why would he want me to kill Damon?As I glared up at him, my eyes burning, my heart ramming hard against my chest, I tried to regulate my breathing. Tried to mask the fear that now clouded my senses, making my tongue as heavy as lead.I swallowed hard, wincing from the pain of my hair being pulled right down to the scalp. “You want me to do what?” I demanded, my tone laced with that same fear I tried so hard to mask.Scoffing, he let go of my hair and rose to his feet. “You try to hide it,” he started, “but you seem to be quite distressed by what I’d just said.” He paused, shoving his palms into his pockets and glaring
Zach’s POV“Anna did all of that?”I stood with my back to Dante, staring out the floor-to-ceiling window, the corners of my lips turned up in a satisfactory smile.“Yes, boss,” Dante replied. “We were just on our way to send a message across to Damon Vyon when she called with the information.”Throwing my head back, I let out a small chuckle, clapping my palms dramatically. “She’s a real vixen, isn’t she?” I muttered, shaking my head. “It baffles me, you know, how very alike we seem.”“So,” I continued after a few moments of silence passed, “we have Damon Vyon in our hands right now? Is that truly so?”“Yes, boss,” he replied. “He’s currently at the warehouse we’ve prepared. We await further instructions from you.”“Great,” I murmured, thumbing my beard.I didn’t think it would be so easy to capture Damon Vyon. I’d spent all these years planning, envisioning, dreaming, wishing. Seeing how deadly he was. And now, Anna had pulled it off like it was a fucking walk in the park.I was dul