CHAPTER 52
Iris’s POVIt was fun doing this with him. This dance.He seemed so much like a child as he gleefully jumped on his feet, deeply immersed in the moment.I had never seen this side of him before, and I wondered why it had been locked away. At this moment, he was a pleasant sight to behold.“Why aren’t you dancing?” He asked, his brows furrowing.“See, I’m doing it just like you said I should.”Just then, the music stopped and a slower music came on, something that sounded really…emotional. That was the word.I looked around me at the guests that had paired up already, breathing down each other’s faces, hand-in-hand, swaying their bodies to the slow rhythm.I suddenly felt Damon’s eyes on my face, and I cleared my throat awkwardly, wringing my hands together in front of me.Wordlessly, he closed the little gap between us and took my hands. I didn’t hesitate, or struggle, partly because I knew it’d be of no use, and the other partDamon’s POVWithout realizing it, I was slowly losing myself to her.This must be some sort of voodoo shit, because no woman, no matter how beautiful, fucking sexy, wild in bed, had ever had this much power over me.It was unexplainable.Each time I was with her, around her, bits and pieces of myself from my younger years, which I had kept safely locked away somewhere only I knew, resurfaced, stubbornly rearing their head.Since the day I’d picked a special interest in her on that auction floor, till now, I’d been asking the same question, which I still had no answer to.What was it about her?She somehow made everything easy… and difficult.I had felt something dark and green rising in my chest back at my street when she’d watched that shirtless boy dash out of the house from beneath her lashes.How would I control such a difficult emotion every time she looked at a man, or they looked at her? It was difficult because I always wanted to stab everyone who looked at her..or she looked
Damon’s POVWe soon realized that the doors were locked. From outside.What the hell?Whoever had locked us in wanted us all to die of suffocation.And what was this pouring from the sprinklers? Smelt so bad, like pigs' blood.The line connected and I slammed the phone against my ear. “Where are you?”I listened to the voice on the other end, my blood boiling, my jaw working.“Send some of the boys over here. We’ve been locked in. Looks like the Russians are here,” I ordered and cut off the line.I hooked the phone in my belt and pulled out a Glock from my waist holster, dragging Iris behind me. I was consumed by a blinding rage now, the smoke pouring into my lungs. How long did I have before I passed out? How long could I withstand this? These bloody Russians had just grated on my nerves. Putting my fiery doll in harm’s way.“Move out of the way,” I growled in controlled rage as I pushed through the crowd of guests to the front door. Then I spun on my heels to face every single panic
Damon’s POVI walked slowly behind them at first, prowling quietly like an astute hunter.But I guess my impatience to catch them overcame me and somehow reflected in my movement, because they suddenly broke into a run, sprinting across streets and highways and amusement parks and people’s houses and businesses.God. It was all a lot of work, but I kept up because I needed to show these bastards who were in charge around here.These men were super fast, but then, I was fast too, I guess all that pent-up sexual frustration was what’s slowing me down today. Of all days. Iris’s fault, again.I contemplated shooting one of them in the leg to slow them down, and at least catch one person that we would be able to extract information from. But then I looked around, and there were a lot of folks on these streets—The elderly, children, women… I couldn’t risk starting a gunfight in these streets.I cursed out loud when they barged into a WAKE n’ BAKE cafe, scaling on the chairs and tables as th
Damon’s POVI stood at the floor-to-ceiling window of one of my paper companies, soberly staring beyond it, at the beautiful nightscape of New York City. Fucking amazing. A great sight to behold.But right now, in these fucking moments, I wasn’t enjoying this view. My mind was a crowdfuck, and I could only barely try to clean it up.The events the night had taken on kinda shook me to my marrow, and that was unusual. Was I getting soft?I scoffed. Unbelievable. Maybe I need to see a doctor or therapist. Whatever they’re called. But someone that would help me walk through this bullshit.Because whatever that would make me go soft is a threat. A threat to my sweat, blood, and tears. A threat to the man I’ve built the sweet, innocent, young, old Damon to be. I couldn’t let whatever ruin that. No. Not some flimsy crush. Not some flimsy boner.But anytime I looked at her fucking face I go nuts with ughhh. Need. Want. One so scary I think I might have lost it.Wait a minute…how did I go from
Iris’s POVI sat in my room cross-legged, the loud news on the TV downstairs drifting up to me.I gripped the edges of the bed stand aggressively as the announcer reported news about some shootout on the downside of New York.“This group of gang members got into a violent fight in public,” the female announcer’s mechanic voice carried through the hallways, “exposing the lives of innocent citizens to a high level of risk. This is unacceptable as…”I sighed, the voice trailing off, and I sank backward into the sturdy bed, shutting my eyes in exasperation.It couldn’t be that he got into another fight and made himself three times more popular.Various channels were airing this news, and local, national, and international broadcasting stations were grasping for more. This would be bad for him, and if it was bad for him, that meant it was bad for me too, right?Floating on the turmoils of my thoughts, I drifted into a light sleep, somewhere between awake and asleep.Then sometime around mi
Iris’s POVHe stared at me for so long that I feared that I might have kissed him wrong.Maybe a bit too much of the tongue.Suddenly regretting my stupidly impulsive action, I took a step back, but he immediately pulled me back in, his cold palm freezing the skin on the small of my back. He made sure to press me into him, and I gasped at the thick length that came in contact with my skin.Holy smokes. Was that all of him? I was suddenly curious about what his dangly thing would look like, and as if he could read my very dirty thoughts, he smirked, I was mortified and horrified at my thoughts, a hotness climbing to my cheeks.“Can you see what I want, Iris?”I loved the way he said my name at this moment, in that gravelly, compelling, sexy voice—ugh God! I need help.“Can you feel it?” He pressed on, gently moving himself against me and seizing my breath at the size of it, and the sudden slickness it caused between my thighs. “This is what I want, Iris,” then he bent his head and caug
Iris’s POVI woke up the next morning feeling spent and really…good.But within the confines of very strong, ripply arms.Damon was snoring softly behind me, and I felt my heart starting to race all over again. Biting my lips, I slowly turned around to look at him, my heart almost exploding out of my chest as I saw his peaceful expression as he slept.He looked so calm..so beautiful.My stomach did a little jump thing as I remembered the previous night. It had been pure magic.I had drawn an orgasm from him with just my mouth, and it almost killed me how good it felt to hold that much power over the almighty Damon Vyon.I slowly lifted my head a little to peer over at the alarm clock on his bed stand table. It was 4. am, and I suddenly felt the need to be in my sheets.Glancing over at Damon to make sure he was asleep, I quietly pried his arm away and slipped out of bed, feeling a slight tingle between my legs.Then I turned around and squatted, leaning my folded arms on the bed and s
Iris’s POVI watched in a sort of dumbfounded trance as Carlos retrieved a remote from his pocket and hit a button.Then, a whirring sound that seemed to come from the ground started up, and soon, a pink vehicle similar to the ones in a line-up slowly came up from the mysterious doorway that had whirred open from the underground.I watched in part wonder as the car was set down on the side, and the underground doorway snapped shut.I heard Carlos behind me, and I turned to see him holding out a key to me. A car key. I just stared at his hand, refusing to take it.“Go ahead,” he urged, “take it. It’s yours.”I shook my head and turned to look at Damon. “Is he for real?” I queried, and Damon nodded slowly.“You don’t look too impressed,” he muttered, “is it not to your liking?”I sighed. “Trust me, it’s nice and all, but I’m a little confused about a few things.”“Which are?”“First off, why exactly are you getting me a car? And why’s it pink?!”Damon cocked a brow, a hint of genuine su
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