Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 115400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
A shiver sails down my spine, and I nod, my gaze dropping to the table. “I don’t like to run.”
He watches me a moment longer, and I feel that intense, dark gaze lingering on my face. As I look back up to meet his stare, I find a strange fondness in his eyes. “I find your awkward ramblings quite . . . amusing.”
I nervously worry at my bottom lip. “Is that why you haven’t threatened me with some kind of horrendous punishment yet?”
He nods and there’s a rich honesty in his eyes. “I believe so.”
I swallow hard, continuing to watch him, and the longer I hold his stare, the harder it becomes to breathe. “Why did you save me from that place?”
My Romanian captor leans forward, reaching across the table until his fingertips brush against my chin before curling them around my jaw and holding my stare. The tension booms between us, and I can barely breathe as a flurry of nerves shoots through me. He holds me there, refusing to let me look away. “Do not mistake me for your hero. I am not,” he says, that thick accent wrapping around me, his fingers so soft against my skin. “You are my property to do with as I please. And given time, you will learn to embrace it. Whatever life you had before this, forget about it. You belong to me now.”
I nod, the need to please him flourishing through my veins.
Why does he make me feel this way? I should be running or figuring out how to get out. Yet, every time he’s around me, I fall into his trap. He’s already warned me he’s not the hero in my story, and yet I crave to be near him.
In that warehouse, when he stood in the shadows with his stare locked on mine, I felt something. There’s a strange pull every time our eyes meet, and if he hadn’t felt the connection, surely he wouldn’t have claimed me as his own. The other men in that warehouse looked surprised to see him, shocked that he would take a girl as his own, so why now? There must be something more. Something he sees in me that intrigues him, draws him in. All I know is that if he didn’t care, he would have allowed Broken Nose to take me home, and my night would have been very different.
I shake my head, and his hand falls away. Maybe I’m reading too much into this. Maybe he just felt it was time he took someone home to fuck, and I just happened to be the easiest to claim. “Why me?” I ask him. “There were four other girls in that room. You could have easily taken any one of them.”
He leans back in his chair with a stiff stare, and I don’t bother waiting for a response that obviously isn’t coming. I get to my feet as a wave of disappointment crashes through me, scooping my glass of water off the table and lifting it to my lips before taking a quick sip.
Taking a breath, I fix him with a stare. “Are you ever going to tell me who you are?”
He doesn’t move, not even the slightest flinch of his lips, yet the way he stares back at me is filled with such cockiness that I’m ready to break all his rules and put this motherfucker right in his place. Knowing what’s good for me, I rein it in and let out a disappointed sigh before finally averting my gaze.
I stride past him, my appetite gone, when his strong fingers curl around my elbow, pulling me up short. “I must attend business this evening,” he tells me as my gaze drops to meet his, that thick accent doing wicked things to me. But it’s got nothing on his touch. “However, after I return, you will meet me in my chambers.”
I swallow hard, searching deep into those dark pits of hell. “Why?”
My Romanian captor stands, towering over me as my gaze rises, locked within his vicious stare. He leans in, his body pressed against mine as his fingers trail down to my wrist, his scent overwhelming me and making my knees weak. “Because I’m going to fuck you just hard enough to make you believe you want this.”
And with that, he releases his grip and strides past me, disappearing back inside his home. I’m left gaping after him with my heart racing, equal parts terrified and giddy for what’s about to come.
8
KILLIAN
My fleet of blackout SUVs rolls to a stop outside the home of Deago Donatelli, the scum who ordered the raid on my warehouse. He’s the head of a small mafia family trying to climb the ranks—and burning bridges in the process—but after tonight, the Donatelli family will be nothing but ruins.
Under the cover of darkness, my men are barely visible as they pour from the SUVs and surround the Donatelli estate. I’ve brought overwhelming numbers, and while I certainly don’t need it to be successful tonight, it also acts as a warning to anybody else who wishes to stand against the DeLorenzo family.